This past Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of single-stock ETFs in the U.S., when Direxion and GraniteShares first launched their lineups of bull/bear ETFs for the likes of Tesla and Apple. And there’s been no shortage of activity, with the Daily Tesla Bull 1.5X Shares ETF (TSLL) just reaching $1 billion in total assets. But apart from ETFs betting on those names and Nvidia, other single-stock plays haven’t seen nearly as much action.
Join us Monday on ETF Edge when we discuss the promise and the pitfalls of single-stock ETFs and much more – including the fate of gold, bitcoin, China and commodities – with our guests Will Rhind, Founder and CEO of GraniteShares, and Dave Nadig, Financial Futurist at VettaFi.
SEC delays decision on ARK bitcoin ETF. Perhaps to no one’s surprise, the SEC has punted on its decision to approve Cathie Wood’s spot bitcoin ETF proposal. With the original deadline looming this Sunday, the Wall Street watchdog has just said in a filing today it will seek comments on the proposal – a move that effectively delays the decision. At its maximum, the SEC could theoretically delay a final response until Jan. 10, 2024. Right now, eight other organizations, including BlackRock, Bitwise, VanEck and WisdomTree have also filed for applications for a spot bitcoin ETF.
BOJ snapping up equity ETFs. The Bank of Japan has been buying a lot of Japanese equity ETFs – amassing roughly 37 trillion Japanese yen at the end of last month. But despite the central bank’s sizeable haul, it hasn’t actually impacted the overall stock market as much as one might expect. This is all due to securities lending.
Activist firm exits ETF business. Engine No. 1, best known for taking on ExxonMobil’s board in 2021, is now leaving the ETF game and selling its budding suite of ETFs, like the Transform Climate ETF (NETZ), to asset manager TCW. The firm will opt to instead focus on private investments – taking a stake in Brazilian miner Vale through its private capital arm last month.
…and so does another firm called 2nd Vote Funds. After failing to attract enough assets, index provider and asset manager 2nd Vote Funds plans to sell its two anti-ESG ETFs first created in November 2020. Both funds – the Society Defended ETF (EGIS) and the Life Neutral Plus ETF (LYFE) – were targeted at conservative investors and have stopped trading on Cboe. The former ETF screened out companies opposing 2nd Amendment rights and border security, while the latter excluded investments in companies that support abortion.
Cash cows ETF soaring to record highs. After taking a backseat in the first half of 2023, one popular cash flow-oriented ETF shows cash could be king once more. The Pacer U.S. Cash Cows ETF (COWZ) has set several recent highs over the past two weeks, closing at a record high on Wednesday. The fund is up 12% year-to-date, which might look meager compared to the Nasdaq’s stellar 30% gain – but the fact is, all of the ETF’s gains have come in just the past three months, coinciding with a spike in oil prices. COWZ has brought in $200 million over the past month and now has more than $14 billion in assets under management.
