New products and changes introduced over the last week include a commodities ETF from BlackRock and a bond ETF from Vident. Also, Wolf Hedge launched a global fund and Allianz Life added a fixed indexed annuity.
Here are the latest developments of interest to advisors:
1) BlackRock Launches Commodities ETF
BlackRock has launched the iShares Commodities Select Strategy ETF (COMT), which is designed to provide cost-effective access to a diversified mix of commodities through futures and commodity-related companies.
COMT is intended to be an all-in-one commodity solution by providing comprehensive commodity exposure in a more efficient way through both futures and equities, removing a tax barrier that may have kept investors away from commodities and utilizing a roll methodology that seeks to improve returns. The fund manager uses a roll methodology designed to minimize the negative return impact of contango, which describes a term structure of the futures curve where the future price is above the expected future spot price. Additionally, the ETF structure of COMT alleviates the need for investors to file a K-1 at tax time.
2) Vident Adds Bond ETF
Vident Financial LLC has added the Vident Core U.S. Bond Strategy ETF (VBND), a fixed-income strategy that seeks to track the performance of the Vident Core U.S. Bond Strategy Index (VBNDX).
The rules-based strategy index is designed to try to diversify some of the risks (credit, inflation, counterparty and star-manager) associated with fixed-income strategies through the use of economic and investment principles. The fund aims to improve corporate bond exposure by including companies Vident believes to have stronger leadership, governance and creditworthiness characteristics.
