ETF NEWS - ULTUMUS

Ishares Tech Breakthrough

Written by Ultumus | 6 October 2020

Leuthold Group enters ETF market

Research firm Leuthold Group is entering the ETF industry, listing an actively managed “fund of funds”.

The unpretentiously-named Leuthold Core ETF (LCR) will invest in a mix of shares, bonds, alternatives and cash. It will do so by buying other ETFs and creating a multi-asset ETF portfolio. 


The funds limits the amount of shares and bonds it can hold to 70% each. It then limits cash to 20%. What limits there are on alternatives – such as managed futures, commodities and volatility products – is not clear. 

Asset allocation is determined by Leuthold, and is based on economic indicators like interest rates, the prospectus says.

The fund charges a greedy 1.45%, however a fee waiver will lower it to 0.98% for the first three years.

iShares lists tech breakthrough ETF

BlackRock is listing a technology breakthrough ETF that looks and smells very similar to its $2.7B iShares Exponential Technologies ETF (XT).

The new ETF, called the iShares U.S. Tech Breakthrough Multisector ETF (TECB), will invest companies developing cutting edge technologies in healthcare, finance and computing. It will track an index from NYSE and FactSet. 

To qualify in the index, companies must pass de minimis size and liquidity requirements. Those that do then have their quarterly reports cracked open to see if they make 50% of their revenue from pioneering technology, as judged by FactSet. 

Those that do are then added to the index and weighted by market cap.

The fund charges 0.40%.