Prompted by Wednesday's 1.6% drop in the S&P 500, the analysts at S&P Capital IQ's MarketScope Advisor, led by Tom Graves, screened its ranked database of 650 equity ETFs to identify 13 ETFs which are attractive from both a risk and volatility standpoint.
Following S&P's approach of considering the holdings, trading and cost characteristics of investment vehicles, the 13 ETFs are also diverse by amount of assets, geography, recent performance and providers. Four different providers are represented, while seven concentrate on domestic equities (with the caveat that those domestic equities can include holdings like multinationals Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Exxon Mobil (XON).
All 13 are also ranked Overweight in S&P Capital IQ's Risk Considerations category and in Risk Factor; their individual betas of less than 0.8 indicate they have been less volatile than the S&P 500 over the past three years.
Nine are sector ETFs emphasizing healthcare and consumer staples stocks, usually considered defensive sectors during times of higher economic or stock market volatility.
