Germany
Lyxor lists Rise of the Robots ETF
French asset manager Lyxor is listing an ETF to tap into the theme of 2018: robotics and AI. The Lyxor Robotics & AI UCITS ETF (ROAI) will track an index with the best name we have ever seen: the Rise of the Robots NTR Index.
The index will pick stocks “whose business is positively impacted by the increasing development of artificial intelligence, automation and robotics,” the index website says.
How it defines the theme and determines its selection universe we are unclear. But we know ROAI will choose 150 stocks and weight them according to R&D to sales, return on invested capital and sales growth.
It will charge 0.40% and rebalance quarterly. It’s top 10 holdings are below, showing it is more US-focussed for a robotics ETF. Most robotics ETFs have a heavier Japan tilt.
London
Invesco lists new ETF for new sector
Keeping up to speed with the GICS changes, Invesco is listing a fund (like most other ETF providers) that provides exposure thereto. The fund is called Invesco Communications S&P US Select Sector UCITS ETF (XLCS) and charges 0.14%. We expect there are more products to come of this sort from other providers.
Canada
PIMCO lists ETF share class of income fund
PIMCO is listing an ETF share class of its C$705 million monthly Canadian mutual fund. The PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (PMIF/U) will do as its mutual fund does: provide maximum income while trying to preserve capital. The fund is actively managed but benchmarks itself against the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index (CAD Hedged).
From what we can, the fund appears to be thoroughly beating its benchmark. But our superficial analysis (we looked at the website) suggests to us that PMIF is doing this by taking on more risk. The fund appears to juice up returns by buying asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities and EM debts in far greater proportion than its benchmark.
PMIF will charge 0.75% compared to the 1.25% charged by the mutual fund.