UBS Launches Products Tied to UN Development Goals: Portfolio Products

SummerHaven Launches Liquid Investable Private Equity Strategy Indexes

SummerHaven Index Management announced the launch of the SummerHaven Private Equity Strategy Index (SHPEI) and the SummerHaven Private Equity Natural Resources Strategy Index (SHPEN).

Both are investable indexes that seek to replicate the long-term return characteristics of diversified private equity allocations. The indexes will be calculated and disseminated by ICE Data Services, part of Intercontinental Exchange.

The SHPEI and SHPEN indexes seek to produce returns similar to private equity investments by investing in public companies with the characteristics of companies that have historically been acquired by private equity fund managers. The indexes capture two important aspects of private equity investment: first, including companies that private equity firms are perceived to be likely to buy; and second, closely matching the historical sector allocations of private equity firms.

The indexes will be published daily and on a real-time basis on NYSE Global Index Feed under the tickers SHPEI and SHPEN and will be available through most market data vendors. 

Global X Launches U.S. Preferred ETF

Global X Funds launched the Global X U.S. Preferred ETF (PFFD), tracking the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Diversified Core U.S. Preferred Securities Index.

The fund provides investors with broad exposure to the income-oriented U.S. preferred asset class. PFFD's expense ratio is 0.23%.

PFFD offers investors a low-cost option for accessing the preferred market and is Global X's twelfth ETF in its income suite. It is aimed at investors looking for cheap funds with attractive yields, particularly those looking for income-focused options.

BlueStar Indexes and Aperio Launch Israel Exposure Tilt Strategy 

Aperio Group and BlueStar Indexes launched an investment strategy designed to overweight public companies that have a strong connection to the Israeli economy and its widely recognized innovation ecosystem.

BlueStar's Israel Exposure Universe features more than 350 leading global multinationals — such as Intel, Apple, Cisco, Nestle, Mylan, HP, Berkshire Hathaway and Singapore Telecoms — and represents a broad cross-section of companies in diverse sectors, from information technology to health care, financials and consumer discretionary/staples.

BlueStar has identified these companies as having a major or material presence in Israel's economy and/or participating in Israel's technological dynamism. Approximately 70% of the companies are American, 25% developed international (mostly from Europe), and 5% from emerging markets.

Aperio's Israel Exposure Strategy is designed to track a broad global, international or domestic equity market benchmark, depending on a client's preference. Investors can further customize the strategy to reflect additional ESG/SRI values, focus on harvesting tax losses, and/or tilt the portfolio toward factors such as high quality, low volatility or momentum. 

Solactive Releases Solactive US Large Cap Equal Weight Index

Solactive announced the release of the Solactive US Large Cap Equal Weight Index, an equally weighted benchmark mimicking the performance of the 500 largest US companies, which will be tracked by the Goldman Sachs Equal Weight U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF (GSEW).

With this launch, Solactive is expanding its range of countrywide benchmarks relying on an equal-weighting system, which at the moment covers France, Germany and Switzerland. The index can provide an alternative indicator of the performance of the U.S. equity market to the market-cap weighted version.

In addition, aside from constituting the underlying index for ETFs, the Solactive US Large Cap Equal Weight Index can also be used as a starting universe for smart beta strategies.

The index is calculated as a price return and gross total return index denominated in U.S. dollars. It is composed of 500 U.S. stocks with the highest float-adjusted market capitalization. The index is readjusted semiannually and equally weighted on a monthly basis.

— Check out Goldman Starts Smart Beta ETF Price War on ThinkAdvisor.