etf

ETFs are flooding the market and Canadians are increasingly spoiled for choice. Here’s four new, or upcoming, launches. We’re not entirely convinced of their investment merits, but we are impressed by the diversity and creativity.

WISDOMTREE EMERGING MARKETS DIVIDEND INDEX ETF $27 (Toronto symbol EMV.B; Market cap: $2.6 million) invests in dividend payers based in emerging markets....

Four large global ETF providers dominate the global industry, with an estimated 75% market share. Three of them—Blackrock (iShares), Vanguard and State Street Global Advisors (SPDR)—are U.S. based. Deutsche Bank is the fourth. Sheer size allows each provider to offer exceptionally low management fees on many of its products.

The relatively small but fast-growing Canadian ETF market is dominated by Blackrock Canada, with 117 ETFs and $57 billion in assets under management....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $24 (Toronto symbol XIU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative Market cap: $10.8 billion) is a low-fee way to buy the top Canadian listed stocks. Specifically, the ETF holds stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index—the largest, most heavily traded equities on the TSX.

The ETF’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.7%; TD Bank, 8.0%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.9%; Enbridge, 5.3%; CN Railway, 4.8%; Suncor Energy, 4.5%; Bank of Montreal, 3.8%; TransCanada Corp., 3.3%; BCE, 3.3%; Manulife Financial, 3.1%, Canadian Natural Resources, 3.0%; CIBC, 3.0%; Brookfield Asset Management, 2.8% and Canadian Pacific Railway, 1.9%.

The industry breakdown is as follows: Financials (41%), Resources (29%), Industrials (9%), Telecommuncations (6%), Consumer discretionary (5%), Consumer staples (4%), Information technology (2%), Utilities (2%) and others (2%).

Still, this ETF’s assets are highly concentrated in the financial and resources sectors.

The fund began trading in September 1999....

Indonesia’s 250 million citizens make it the world’s fourth-most-populous country and Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The nation’s successful and popular president is focused on further growth and is the first leader to emerge from outside of Indonesia’s military elite.

ISHARES MSCI INDONESIA ETF $26 (New York symbol EIDO; TSI Network ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $470.8 million) provides broad exposure to the main publicly listed companies in Indonesia....

We think it’s all but impossible to duplicate the investment success of celebrated investors such as Warren Buffett, Bill Ackman, Carl Icahn, Daniel Loeb and David Tepper. That hasn’t kept these two ETFs from trying. Each aims to track the holdings of the most prominent investors.

DIREXION IBILLIONAIRE INDEX ETF $32 (New York symbol IBLN; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $14.2 million) tracks the iBillionaire Index, which aims to replicate the largest stock holdings of a select group of 10 billionaires.

The fund invests in large companies listed in the U.S....

After a slow start in the early 1990s, the ETF industry gained traction around the turn of this century as more and more investors realized the benefits of making room for those funds in their portfolios.

The global ETF industry has now gathered assets valued at $4.2 trillion U.S., spread across 13,125 listings in 56 countries....

With yearly revenue of $4 trillion, the global agriculture industry offers enormous opportunities for firms ready to satisfy growing food demand. (For more on agriculture, see supplement, page 10.)

VANECK VECTORS AGRICULTURE AGRIBUSINESS ETF $59 (New York symbol MOO; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $831.4 million) tracks the MVIS Global Agribusiness Index and provides exposure to companies involved in the business of agriculture....

What is an ETF? An Exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a pooled investment vehicle that trades like a common stock on the market. Investors own a portion of all the assets held by the ETF.

What assets do ETFs hold? Publicly traded equities, bonds, commodities, currencies, stock options and futures.

What are the associated costs of investing in ETFs? Direct costs are broker trading fees to buy and sell ETF units on the stock exchange....

HORIZONS MARIJUANA LIFE SCIENCES ETF $13 (Toronto symbol HMMJ; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $180.9 million) offers exposure to a basket of North American companies involved in the marijuana industry.

The fund’s top holdings include many Canadian growers such as Canopy Growth, Aphria and Aurora Cannabis....

Born between 1980 and 2000, about 90 million residents in the U.S. belong to Generation Y. The oldest of those “millennials"—a name coined for members of this large demographic group—will reach their prime earning years starting in 2020. Over the next two to three decades, millennials as a group will also inherit from their baby-boomer parents the single-largest transfer of wealth from one generation to the next....