New products and changes introduced over the last week include an announcement by PIMCO and Research Affiliates that they are adding new equity strategies; a new ETF from J.P. Morgan Asset Management; and Nasdaq's announcement that it would acquire Dorsey, Wright & Associates.
Also, W.E. Donoghue & Co. added a new class of shares for one of its funds, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management has changed the name of one of its funds to reflect a repositioning of its strategy.
Here are the latest developments of interest to advisors:
1) PIMCO, Research Affiliates Team on New Strategies
PIMCO and Research Affiliates LLC announced that they are extending their relationship to include a global range of seven additional equity strategies.
The seven equity strategies involved in the expanded collaboration between Research Affiliates and PIMCO will cover U.S. large, U.S. small, international, international small, emerging markets, global, and global ex-U.S.
They will select stocks using Research Affiliates' RAFI fundamental index methodology, which picks and weights securities based on fundamental measures of company size rather than security price, and then refine weights using additional measures and processes designed to enhance risk-adjusted returns.
2) J.P. Morgan Asset Management Adds ETF
J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPM) announced the launch of the JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM), which seeks to provide investors with enhanced risk-adjusted returns and to help financial advisors keep clients invested in equities over the long term.
JPEM addresses drawbacks inherent in market-cap-weighted indices, specifically excessive risk concentrations and a large number of securities with unattractive characteristics. The ETF tracks the FTSE Emerging Diversified Factor Index, which employs a framework to distribute risk across regions and sectors and a multifactor stock filter to rank and select stocks based on value, quality and momentum. The index construction also incorporates quarterly rebalancing and liquidity screens.