by Kyle Woodley | April 30, 2012 1:26 pm
It took April until its final full week, but the month finally saw a boom in launches as 10 exchange-traded products came to life. And they’re a diverse bunch, covering everything from a Warren Buffett concept to blended commodities.
Van Eck channeled the Oracle of Omaha when it launched the Market Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat Research ETF (NYSE:MOAT[1]). The ETF follows Morningstar’s Wide Moat Focus Index, which is an equal-weighted index following stocks with “wide moats” — a term Buffett used to describe sustainable competitive advantages one company has over its rivals. Such advantages include low-cost production or high costs of switching from one product or service to another.
Holdings thought to have such “wide moats” include e-tailer Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN[2]), search giant Google (NASDAQ:GOOG[3]), business octopus General Electric (NYSE:GE[4]) and money mover Western Union (NYSE:WU[5]). Expenses run at 0.49%.
State Street (NYSE:STT[6]) launched three of an expected six total entries as its first foray into the actively managed ETF field. All three use a fund-of-funds structure mixing equities with debt to provide better returns as a response to the exodus of cash that has fled to bond markets.
State Street’s SPDR SSgA Global Allocation ETF (NYSE:GAL[7], 0.35% expenses) uses 16 exchange-traded products to expose investors to a heavy mix of U.S. stocks, international stocks and investment-grade bonds, as well as TIPS, global real estate and high-yield assets. It includes a hefty 28% weighting in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY[8]).
The SPDR SSgA Income Allocation ETF (NYSE:INKM[9], 0.7%) uses 18 income-based ETFs such as the
S&P Dividend ETF (NYSE:SDY[10]), the Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF (NYSE:JNK[11]) and the Wells Fargo Preferred Stock ETF (NYSE:PSK[12]) to earn its returns.
Lastly, the SPDR SSgA Multi-Asset Real Return ETF (NYSE:RLY[13], 0.7%) aims to battle inflation through 13 exchange-traded products dedicated to natural resources, inflation-linked bonds, commodities and REITs. Holdings include the Global Natural Resources ETF (NYSE:GNR[14]) and Dow Jones Global Real Estate (NYSE:RWO[15]), among others.
Other funds launching last week included:
Last week’s additions doubled the total in April to 20, and all in all, 105 new funds have been launched this year, according to XTF.com. The previous week’s offerings[23] included an MLP ETF, an emerging-market corporate debt fund and a Chinese “trend-following” fund.
Kyle Woodley[24] is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com[25]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Follow him on Twitter at @KyleWoodley[26].
Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/10-new-etfs-feature-blends-bonds-and-buffett/
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