My favorite ETF reads over the past week, along with my ETF tweet and chart of the week!
Price wars, newcomers heat up international ETF market by Ari Weinberg
“The international equity ETF market has become crowded.”
Morgan Stanley Doubles Down on ESG Despite the Politics by Tim Quinson
“ESG is all we do and we believe we have a better investment strategy than anyone else in the marketplace.”
Fund companies, in no-win situation, test shareholder proxy voting by Jeff Benjamin
“The proxy push has become a political football.”
SEC targets built-in marketing fees in fund-to-ETF conversions by David Isenberg
“Gary Gensler was focused on retail investor access to the proliferation of new investment products that just look different than even in the recent past.”
Wall Street’s Mutual Fund-to-ETF Magic Trick Is Failing to Wow by Emily Graffeo
“More than one-third of converted funds have posted net outflows since they made the switch.”
A New Evolution for ETFs Looks Hopeful, With Caveats by Diana Britton
“Perpetual US Services (PGIA) became the first to file an exemptive application with the SEC to establish an ETF multishare class structure for its mutual funds.”
ETF Tweet of the Week: Bond ETFs are off to their best start to a year ever, with the category vacuuming-up some $20 billion in January. Why? Well, there’s now actually income in “fixed income” and ETFs offer an efficient way to access it. BlackRock, in particular, has benefited from recent investor interest in the space.
ETF Chart of the Week: One of the biggest stories so far in 2023 is flows into international stock ETFs. On a rolling one-month basis, these products have captured 65% of all ETF flows. Broadly speaking, international stocks have outperformed US stocks since the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2022. After a decade-plus of underperformance, will this recent outperformance have staying power? The answer to that question will likely determine the fate of future flows.
