Joining us on Monday to talk all things indexing is Dan Draper, CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices – along with John Davi, Founder and CEO of Astoria Portfolio Advisors. Tune in for a special early edition show on Monday at 12:45 pm ET.
Vanguard's ETF assets top $2 trillion. The behemoth asset manager keeps getting bigger, now surpassing the $2 trillion mark in U.S.-listed ETF assets for the first time ever. While other ETF providers have pivoted toward thematic trends and actively managed funds, Vanguard has often relied on classic pure-vanilla products like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) to garner the bulk of its assets over the past several years. Right now, Vanguard is the second largest ETF provider behind BlackRock, which has $2.3 trillion in AUM.
More muni ETFs come to market. As investors looking to lock in current yields, retail demand is mounting for munis, and two firms are aiming to strike while the iron is hot. Next week, Vanguard is rolling out its new Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF (VTES) – its first new launch in two years – which will primarily invest in short-term investment-grade municipal bonds in a more tax-efficient way. And Goldman Sachs Asset Management just unveiled its Community Municipal Bond ETF (GMUN), a new socially conscious fund with remaining maturities between one and 15 years. And there's an ESG component: The fund targets "municipalities and projects with positive impact that provide the opportunity to invest in education, healthcare, clean energy" and other "community-related initiatives."
There's been a lot of debate over growth vs. value… But those monikers are getting messier lately, especially with the upcoming sectoral GICS changes going into effect late next week. JPMorgan Asset Management just announced the launch of its new Active Small-Cap Value ETF (JPSV) – the latest addition to its lineup of actively managed funds – which seeks to identify high-quality small-cap companies at attractive valuations and to outperform the Russell 2000 Value Index. Top holdings include insurers like Selective Insurance Group, health care names like Patterson and manufacturers like Watts Water Technologies.
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