Music legend Quincy Jones is adding an exchange-traded fund (ETF) to his collection of Grammys and platinum records. The US musician and record producer has lend his name to be used in a new fund tracking an index comprising companies involved in the music, media & entertainment industry.
The Quincy Jones Streaming Music, Media & Entertainment ETF, which was listed on the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 22, seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, track the performance of the Quincy Jones Streaming Music, Media & Entertainment Index. The ETF launched by Exchange Traded Concepts with Vident Investment Advisory acting as a sub-adviser, is available for trading on the Nasdaq Exchange.
According to the SEC filing the ETF will 'normally invest' at least 80% of its total assets in securities of the index. In order to provide such exposure, the universe of index constituents consists of companies engaged in a range of business activities relating to streaming music, media, and entertainment and select supporting sectors, including media and entertainment companies, telecommunications companies, wireless communication service providers, amusement and recreation companies, technology manufacturers, and internet-based companies, among others. To be eligible for inclusion in the index, a company's common stock must trade on a US exchange, and the company must have a market capitalization of at least $1.5bn and a six month average daily trading value of at least US$5m. Of these eligible companies, the 100 securities with the highest market capitalization are included in the index. If fewer than 100, but at least 20, securities satisfy the criteria, then all such securities are included in the index.
Beans Markets, the index provider, is not affiliated with the fund, the adviser, or the sub-adviser. The index was developed in conjunction with Solactive.
Exchange-traded products (ETPs) listed in Europe hit US$682bn record
ETFs/ETPs listed in Europe reached a new record high of US$682bn at the end May 2017 surpassing the prior record of US$658bn set at the end of April 2017, according to ETFGI.
ETF/ETP assets have increased by 3.7% from US$658bn in April 2017 to $682bn in May 2017. Year to date, ETF/ETP assets have increased by 19.1% from $572bn to $682 bn. At the end of May 2017, the European ETF/ETP industry had 2,276 ETFs/ETPs, with 7,157 listings, assets of $682bn, from 59 providers listed on 27 exchanges. ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe gathered net inflows of $12.65bn in May marking the 33rd month of positive net inflows. Year to date, net inflows stand at $53.21bn. At this point last year there were net inflows of $17.60bn.
Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered net inflows of $8.06bn in May, bringing year to date net inflows to $32.27bn, which is greater than the net outflows of $6.08bn over the same period last year. In May, European equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $4.28bn, followed by ETFs/ETPs providing exposure to global equity indices with $1.88bn, and emerging market equity ETFs/ETPs with $1.55bn, while North American equity ETFs/ETPs experienced net outflows with $229m.
Fixed income ETFs and ETPs experienced net inflows of $3.52bn in May, growing year to date net inflows to $12.38bn, which is less than the same period last year which saw net inflows of $16.15 Bn. In May, Corporate bond ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $1.97bn, followed by emerging market bond ETFs/ETPs with $1.13bn, and government bond ETFs/ETPs with $725m, while inflation ETFs/ETPs experienced net outflows with $619m.
Commodity ETFs/ETPs accumulated net inflows of $1.1bn in May. Year to date, net inflows are at $6.2bn, compared to net inflows of $6.3bn over the same period last year. iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in May with $6.2bn, followed by db x/db ETC with $1.6bn and UBS ETFs with $1.4bn net inflows. Year to date, iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows with $16.2bn, followed by UBS ETFs with $6.5bn and Lyxor AM with US$6.3bn net inflows.
Source's Biotech ETF attrcats record inflows
ETF provider Source has seen record flows into its Nasdaq Biotech Ucits ETF. The fund has seen more than $300m of net inflows over the past year with another $30m added in the past week alone. The fund now stands at more than $500 million of assets under management. Listed on the London Stock Exchange it is the only European-domiciled ETF offering exposure to the Biotech sector.
There has been a big move up in US Biotech in recent days: the Nasdaq Biotech Index is up more than 9% since the start of the last week (June 19). This is the biggest one-week return since the US Presidential election result in November 2016, which prompted the biggest one week return in the history of the index.
There are a number of potential catalysts that have been suggested for the sharp move higher including positive results in late-stage clinical trials that have lifted biotech stocks that are most exposed to cancer treatments' signs of renewed M&A activity in the sector; and Republican wins in the special House elections that could increase the probability of supportive tax changes.
Source saw its market-leading biotech ETF almost double in size the day after the US presidential election in November last year as investors returned to the sector. There was $170m of inflows into the ETF on November 9, 2016, alone.
Ossiam adds ESG screening to US minimum variance ETF
Smart beta ETF provider Ossiam has made changes to the Ossiam US Minimum Variance ETF to include ESG screening and switch from synthetic to physical replication. As a result, the name of the ETF will change to Ossiam US Minimum Variance ESG ETF (LON: USMV).
The fund will track the US ESG Minimum Variance Index which reflects the performance of a dynamic selection of 90% of the most liquid stocks satisfying ESG criteria from the Solactive US Large Cap Index. The Solactive US Large Cap Index tracks the performance of approximately 500 leading companies in major industries in the US. The ESG data is provided by Sustainalytics, and includes screening processes whereby companies engaged in weapons manufacturing or those embroiled in controversy are eliminated. All final constituents are weighted in such a way as to minimize portfolio volatility.
Compared to the US large cap universe, the ESG screening and volatility optimization process has resulted in a significantly reduced exposure to the information technology sector (6.8% vs 22.6%) and considerably larger exposures to the consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors (19.6% vs 9.4% and 19.4% vs 12.5% respectively). Other significant sector exposures include healthcare (15.0%) and industrials (13.5%).
By end of May 2017, the fund had total assets under management (AUM) of €328m. It has a total expense ratio of 0.65% and is also listed on the Borsa Italiana, Euronext Paris and Deutsche Börse Xetra.
ICE submits 4x leverage ETF SEC listing
Intercontinental Exchange Inc's NYSE Arca exchange has submitted with the US securities regulator a filing requesting permission to list a new set of ETFs seeking to provide exposure quadruple the performance of the market.
The exchange wants to list two ProShares QuadPro ETFs that would aim to deliver four times the return of an index of S&P 500 or Russell 2000 futures over a single day. Another two QuadPro funds would target four times the inverse of those benchmarks.
The SEC has approved the use of ETFs offering three times leverage to trade in the United States, but more reactive products have been limited to listing in Europe. However, in mid-May, the securities regulator said it was reconsidering its initial approval of the first-of-its-kind, quadruple-leveraged ETFs designed to provide four times the daily price moves of the S&P 500.
A separate ProShares filing shows the company is planning additional QuadPro funds targeting crude oil and US Treasury bond futures.
Alpha Vee Solutions rollsout Radix, a new online ETF 3.0 custom indices development system
Boston-based Alpha Vee Solutions has launched a free trial use of Radix ETF 3.0 Custom Index Development platform.
The Radix platform aims to provide diversified exposures through empirically robust factor strategies building on the firm's latest research for equity factor models, multi factor indexes, market and sector indicators. Alpha Vee Radix Multi-Factor Dynamic Indices can combine up to 10 multi-factor strategies with a range of tilts, smart beta weighting and hedge options.
The new online investor research tool has been designed to facilitate product development and idea generation, and provides attribution and expected index performance. Users will receive, within minutes, a 10-year historical index research attribution and performance report for their custom indices.
Deutsche Bank debuts Solactive Spain 40 index via tracker
Deutsche Bank has licensed the new Solactive Spain 40 Index to launch the db x-trackers Spanish Equity Ucits ETF (DR) in the Spanish market. The new benchmark tracks the performance of the forty largest and most liquid companies listed in Spain. The new ETF, formerly db x-trackers Ibex 35 Ucits ETF (DR), will switch from the Ibex 35 index to the Solactive Spain 40 Index.
The Solactive Spain 40 Index is a free-float market capitalization weighted index covering approximately 63% of the Spanish equity market. The three most represented sectors are Finance, Technology and Utilities, with a composite weight of 66% of the total index. The five largest positions by market-value weight are Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Telefonica, Iberdrola and Inditex.
The Solactive Spain 40 Index is denominated in euro and calculated as a gross total return (GTR), price return (PR) and net total return (NTR) index. Shares must be listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange. The forty largest companies among the sixty most liquid according to 6-month ADTV are chosen as final index components. The index composition is readjusted quarterly.
Candraim teams up with Solactive for ETF launch
Solactive and Candriam have joined forces to launch the Solactive Candriam Factors Sustainable Index Family offering exposure to companies with sustainable and responsible investing criteria as determined by Candriam's SRI screening methodology.
The family is composed of five fundamentally-weighted indices with factor tilts, including three equity and two fixed-income indices, which are used as the basis for five new ETFs issued by Candriam and trading on the Paris Euronext Stock Exchange (and cross-listed on Amsterdam Euronext).
The indices are engineered to exploit the return potential of socially responsible companies through a smart beta scheme allocating weight to shares and bonds that display specific value, quality and low-volatility features. In doing so, these indices combine two powerful trends in the investment landscape: the increasing awareness regarding environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects and the strong interest in Factor Investing/Smart Beta.
On the equity side, the Solactive Candriam Factors Sustainable Indices offer access to Candriam's socially responsible investing (SRI) and fundamentals weighting strategy by providing targeted exposure to different geographic regions. Other indices in this series include the Solactive Candriam Factors Sustainable Europe Equity Index, the Solactive Candriam Factors Sustainable EMU Equity Index and the Solactive Candriam Factors Sustainable Japan Equity Index.
In the fixed-income space, the Solactive Candriam Factors Sustainable Sovereign Euro Bond Index and the Solactive Candriam Factors Sustainable Corporate Euro Bond Index provide exposure to Candriam's SRI approach through different segments of the investment grade bond market, precisely sovereign and corporate issues denominated in EUR.