Political Animals - Donkey or Elephant

USA

More political ETFs

In another sign that ETFs are becoming more like active management, new issuer Event Shares has listed two new actively managed ETFs that use politics to decide which companies to buy.

The Democrat Policies Fund (DEMS) will look at which companies are most likely to benefit from Democrats and long those likely to benefit, short those likely to lose out. While the prospectus says that DEMS will expose investors to “Democratic Policies”, it does not say how it will do so when there are no Democratic policies to speak of. At present, the White House, Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court and most Governors’ mansions are controlled by Republicans.

The Republican Policies Fund (GOP) will do the same as DEMS, but for Republicans. It will seek to pick the winners of Republican governments across the US and across the world, while shorting the losers. That the fund is actively managed may make sense given the unpredictability of the Trump administration.

Europe

UK and France

Lyxor wants the best of Japan

Lyxor has listed a new Japanese dividend ETF in London and Paris that tracks large Japanese companies based how big and how consistent their dividend payments are. SGQJ will track an index produced in-house by Societe Generale, Lyxor’s parent company, and use swaps to track its index.

Lyxor already has similar dividend trackers for European and global companies.  

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