The May interim Financial Stability Report from the Bank of England (BoE) shows that during the worst of the market volatility in March, ETF pricing in the secondary market held up better than the pricing of open-ended funds. The bank says that price discovery was often occurring via ETFs rather than their underlying assets, offering evidence that ETF prices incorporated new information more rapidly than the net asset values (NAV) of assets held within their, and equivalent, funds.
Good news also comes from both BlackRock and the Lipper team at Refinitiv whose data captures a picture of broad recovery in ETF assets over April, both globally and specifically within Europe.
More good news, (can we bear it?), at least for the first ETF provider to tip a toe into the semi-transparent ETF waters in the US, is that American Century Investments and Precidian’s ActiveShares have been rewarded for all their patience during a lengthy regulatory exercise. The American Century Focused Dynamic Growth ETF (FDG) is in the top 10–15 per cent of all growth funds, including mutual funds and ETFs, and outperformed its mutual fund sibling over April. Read our interview with American Century’s Ed Rosenberg and Precidian’s Dan McCabe.
We also cover a new ETF launch based on cloud technology – one that is lying close to the hearts of us all during these days of self-isolation and digital meetings. Wedbush Securities’ technology analyst Dan Ives, with ETFMG, has launched the Global Cloud Technology ETF, IVES, focused on what Ives calls ‘undercover gems of cloud technology’. The current situation, with so many people in isolation, is leading to increased demand for cloud services says Ives, who estimates that spending will rise to USD800 billion to USD1 trillion in cloud technology, enterprise cloud, cyber security and 5G.
Talking about the cloud, the etfLIVE European digital summit is just days away, running from 19-21 May next week. Tickets to hear an amazing array of speakers on all things ETF are free to professional investors who want to learn more about ETFs. Sign up here…
Beverly Chandler
Managing Editor, ETF Express
Companies in this issue
American Century Investments
BlackRock
Dillon Eustace
ETFMG
Lyxor
Precidian
Refinitive
State Street
UBS Global Asset Management
Water Island Capital
Wedbush Securities