State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has launched the SPDR MSCI Quality Mix USA ETF on the NYSE Arca providing broad US equity exposure in a portfolio weighted toward attributes that have historically delivered an attractive long-term risk-return profile.
The fund tracks a benchmark that uses a transparent rules-based methodology that places an equal focus on three style factors: low volatility, quality and value.
“Investors are increasingly looking for next-generation advanced beta funds that are less subject to the cyclicality of individual styles, which have been shown to go in and out of favour depending on the market environment,” says James Ross, executive vice president and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors. “With the addition of QUS to our suite of MSCI Quality Mix SPDR ETFs, investors have access to a passive US equity style combination that is designed to capture gains in improving markets while at the same time mitigate risk during periods of market volatility, all at a fraction of the cost of active management.”
Advanced beta, also known as alternative or smart beta, refers to a rules-based approach that seeks to capture specific factors. Advanced beta strategies are increasingly being used to complement active and index holdings because they combine the transparency, liquidity and flexibility of indexing with the ability to take an active view on which risk factors may outperform over time. The SPDR MSCI Quality Mix USA ETF’s gross and net expense ratio is 0.15 percent. SSGA’s suite of Quality Mix SPDR ETFs now includes 13 ETFs offering access to developed, emerging, single country and global markets.
The SPDR MSCI Quality Mix USA ETF seeks to track the performance of the MSCI USA Quality Mix A-Series Index. The index is an equal weighted combination of the MSCI USA Value Weighted, MSCI USA Minimum Volatility and MSCI USA Quality Indexes in a single multi-factor index to represent the performance of quality, value and low volatility strategies. As of 27 February, 2015, the index was comprised of 631 large and mid-cap companies across the US markets.
