etf

It’s a rare investor who makes enough profit from long-term currency investing activities to compensate for the risk involved.

Fund providers in Canada and the U.S. continue to actively introduce new ETFs. This month we highlight three recent additions.


Bank of Montreal (BMO) recently launched three asset allocation ETFs that invest in other BMO ETFs.


Each of the three ETFs acts as “fund of funds,” with its low 0.20% MER factoring out the underlying fees of its component funds.


BMO CONSERVATIVE ETF $31.31 (Toronto symbol ZCON) is designed to provide income and moderate long-term capital appreciation by investing in global equity and fixed-income ETFs....

Malaysia has an steady track record of economic growth and ranks as one of the most competitive nations among the emerging markets. Its stock market performance remains weak. However, greater political certainty following the the country’s 2018 election should help drive stock market growth....

The attraction of holding cash has diminished greatly over the past decade due to a low interest rates. Still, many investors hold it in their investment portfolios. That’s not necessarily to earn income, but as a byproduct of their normal portfolio activities or as a reserve, so they can take advantage of market opportunities as they arise.


Here are three low-risk money market ETFs that let investors hold cash and at the same time earn reasonable income....

Inflows into the ETF universe remain strong. So far this year, Canadian ETFs have attracted net inflows (that is inflows minus outflows) of $10.8 billion. That represents a 9% increase over the same period last year.


In the U.S., net inflows amounted to $68.1 billion through the end of May.


The ETFs with the lowest expense ratios still tend to attract the most investment.


A good example is the top gainer in the U.S....

Closed-end funds work with a fixed asset base invested in a portfolio of securities. The value of their assets rises and falls depending on how they invest. Their units trade like stocks, and most often on a stock exchange. They may trade above the per-unit value of the investments they hold—or, as brokers say, “at a premium” to their net asset value....

Our view hasn’t changed—virtually all Canadians should have, say, 20% to 30% of their portfolio in U.S. stocks, or in ETFs holding those stocks. In fact, for some investors, that’s all the foreign exposure their portfolios really need. U.S. stock markets have performed much better than most other equity markets over the past decade and our advice has paid off for those investors....

These two high-quality firms are a great way to diversify your Finance-sector holdings outside of the big banks. Given their current stock prices, we see just one of the two as a buy for right now.


GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $30 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 988.7 million; Market cap: $29.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 5.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial....

VANECK VECTORS VIETNAM ETF $16.26 (New York symbol VNM; buy or sell through brokers) holds Vietnamese companies and foreign firms that get a significant share of their revenue from the Southeast Asian nation.


The ETF’s top holdings are Vingroup (conglomerate), 8.0%; Vietnam Dairy, 7.6%; No Va Land Investment Group, 7.1%; Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, 6.0%; Vinhomes (real estate), 6.5%; and Mani Inc....

The six ETFs we update below mainly hold high-quality stocks that are widely traded on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. Each fund tracks the performance of a major stock market index. That’s different from ETFs focused on narrower indexes or themes such as cryptocurrencies or biotechnology.


Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these investments....