Speedread:
USA
Xtrackers Europe small capper goes OTC in the US
DWS’s $770M Europe small cap tracker is now getting traded OTC in the US. The Xtrackers MSCI Europe Small Cap UCITS ETF (DBXVF) tracks an index of small caps in the 15 richest European countries put together by MSCI.
The UK is the most heavily weighted country in the index by far – taking 33% of the weight. Germany and Sweden come second and third, with 11% and 10% weight respectively. For sectors, the index tilts towards industrials and financials, which can be more cyclical.
Analysis – small cap premium or high beta?
Academics debate whether the small cap premium exists and if it does, whether it works well outside the US.
But for ETFs, most small cappers appear to work (just check out BlackRock’s IVV compared with IJR; or today's listing, which trades under the ticker XXCS in London, compared with XMEU). The question then becomes whether they outperform because they’re small cap trackers? Or do they outperform because they’re higher beta?
Here in fact it helps to notice that the small cap funds are higher beta funds. And beta has been one of the best performing factors in recent years. Beta funds have the further benefit of incurring less transaction costs.
Japan
Equal weight REIT
Daiwa, Japan’s third-largest ETF provider with $60bn in ETF assets, is listing a new REIT ETF that tracks an index from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The DAIWA ETF TSEREIT Core Index ETF will track an index of equally weighted Japanese REITs. The Daiwa ETF Tokyo Stock Exchange REIT Core Index (2528) will enter a crowded market at home; there are eight JREIT ETFs in Tokyo, almost all of which are competitively priced.
The fund will charge 0.20%.
France
Lyxor widens ESG offering
Lyxor is building out its ESG offering in Europe, in attempt to tap further into the world’s largest ESG market. The new Lyxor MSCI Europe ESG Leaders DR UCITS ETF (ESGE), will list in Paris and charge 0.20%.
Index factsheet here.