Let's Talk ETFs

Investors have been hearing prognostications of “runaway” inflation since the end of the global financial crisis, more than a decade ago. With central banks and governments around the world offering up unprecedented stimulus spending to combat pandemic-induced economic disruption, these inflation calls have now reached a fever pitch. Dynamic Beta's Andrew Beer joins Let's Talk ETFs to make the case for why his firm's hedge-fund replication ETFs are the perfect antidote for inflation's effects on traditional 60/40 portfolios.
Show Notes

3:45 - The Dynamic Beta back-story: After so many years in the hedge fund space, what prompted Andrew to offer these types of strategies in an ETF wrapper?

5:30 - iM DBi Hedge Strategy ETF (DBEH) and iM DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF (DBMF): Breakdown of retail vs. institutional ownership

6:15 - Why are these and so many other ETFs not available via platforms like Merrill Edge?

14:00 - 2021: The year when inflation concerns could finally become a reality for investors

20:00 - Is growing government debt the world over inflationary or deflationary?

24:30 - What effects would inflation likely have on a typical 60/40 portfolio of stocks and bonds?

28:00 - What can the Fed do to fight inflation? Is raising rates really on the table?

31:30 - Two strategies for combating inflation within your portfolio: iM DBi Hedge Strategy ETF (DBEH) and iM DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF (DBMF)

42:15 - Are these ETFs meant to be core or satellite portfolio holdings?


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The rise in thematic ETFs in 2020 was remarkable, with assets increasing by 78% in Q4 alone to $104B in AUM. This meteoric growth has been powered by firms like Defiance ETFs, a relative newcomer to the ETF space that has already produced a $1B fund in FIVG. Founded in 2018 by a group of ETF professionals that came from more traditional issuers like Blackrock and Direxion, Defiance has focused exclusively on creating products that resonate with a younger, forward-looking generation of investors. Defiance's CIO Sylvia Jablonski joins Let's Talk ETFs to discuss where the firm sees itself among its more established ETF issuer peers - and how each of its five current funds can help investors capitalize on key trends taking place right now.
Show Notes

2:00 - Why start a new ETF issuer when there are so many out there already: Defiance's mission statement

7:00 - How does Defiance manage to stay ahead of the ETF thematic curve?

Drilling into Defiance's lineup:

12:30 - Defiance Next Gen Connectivity ETF (FIVG): How big of an opportunity is the move to 5G for investors? 

16:15 - What sectors are offering this exposure?

19:00 - Weighting holdings within FIVG

20:30 - Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF (SPAK): To what do you attribute the current popularity of SPACs?

23:45 - What parts of the SPAC process does SPAK focus on?

30:00 - Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM): What is quantum computing and how does this ETF offer exposure to this theme?

33:45 - How do you address the lack of companies in the portfolio that represent "pure plays" in the quantum computing space?

38:00 - Defiance NASDAQ Junior Biotechnology ETF (IBBJ): What makes a company a junior biotech company?

40;00 - What's the basic underlying strategy of IBBJ?

43:00 - How do you deal with companies that become successful and are no longer "junior"?

44:00 - Defiance's newest ETF: The Defiance Next Gen H2 ETF (HDRO)


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"Runaway inflation or continued deflation?" "Rising rates or rates dropping below the zero bound?" These are just some of the questions investors are starting to ponder as the economy re-opens. The current interest rate environment is particularly complex because there are so many competing forces and known unknowns on the horizon. Quadratic Capital's Nancy Davis rejoins the podcast to talk investors through the current uncertainty and explain how her firm's increasingly popular Quadratic Interest Rate Volatility and Inflation Hedge ETF (IVOL) simultaneously protects against inflation and interest rate volatility.
Show Notes

4:45 - A quick two billion: Why has IVOL increasingly resonated so much with investors?

6:45 - How does IVOL offer higher distributions than funds like the Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF (SCHP) and iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP)?

10:30 - Who is holding IVOL: Break down of institutional vs. retail ownership

13:00 - How are investors using IVOL in their portfolios?

15:15 - Nancy's current outlook for U.S. interest rates?

19:00 - What would it take policy-wise for the yield curve to widen meaningfully?

26:45 - How concerned do investors need to be with inflation right now?

36:00 - Rates, credit spreads and understanding what you own: IVOL within a broader portfolio strategy


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In the decade-plus since the post-global financial crisis bull market rally began, the DJIA has been crushed by top U.S. index benchmark peers the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100. The fact the Dow is "price weighted" has meant high-flying growth stocks have been left out of the index relative to value-oriented names in underperforming sectors like healthcare and financials. In today's episode of Let's Talk ETFs, WingCapital Investments' Vincent Yip and Seeking Alpha's Jonathan Liss discuss recent Dow outperformance - and why DIA's "weaknesses" have been transformed into strengths as investors rotate away from tech and growth.
Show Notes

5:00 - Revisiting Vincent's Vietnam thesis (VNM) (IEMG)?

9:15 - The Dow Jones Industrial Index: One of the best known, oldest and strangest indexes for U.S. investors (DIA)

11:00 - Is the Dow still relevant for modern investors?

16:30 - How bad has the underperformance of the Dow been relative to the S&P 500 (SPY) and Nasdaq 100 (QQQ)?

20:00 - Why does the Dow Jones Transportation Index's (IYT) breakout bode well for DIA's performance?

23:30 - How does the sector composition of DIA set it up for success in this environment?

27:00 - What are other ways you recommend playing this trend? (RSP)


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Essentially unheard of a decade ago, investing strategies that screen holdings for compliance to Environmental, Social and Governance values have captured increasing investor interest. Tony Campos, Head of Sustainable Investment, Americas, FTSE Russell, joins the podcast to explain how the process of ESG screening works at FTSE Russell. Not wanting to leave things purely academic, we go under the hood of the two largest ETFs that track FTSE Russell Indexes, Vanguard's ESG U.S. (ESGV) and International (VSGX) ETFs.

2:30 - Meet Tony Campos, Head of Sustainable Investment, Americas, FTSE Russell.

4:00 - What are the origins of ESG investing?

6:45 - The "E" in ESG: What does FTSE Russell look for in companies that have positive environmental characteristics?

10:00 - Is it safe to say that energy companies will not end up in ESG portfolios?

14:30 - The "S" in ESG: What does FTSE Russell look for when building the social part of these indexes?

19:00 - How is it that a company like Facebook (FB) is a top 5 weighting in FTSE Russell Index trackers like the Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF (ESGV)?

24:00 - The "G" in ESG: What's the governance piece even doing here?

29:00 - Tax transparency and corporate tax shelters

32:30 - How do you ensure the accuracy of the ratings data?

36:45 - How do you select and weight index components?

42:30 - Does ESG investing mean exchanging values for performance?

44:30 - On ESG beyond equities: Fixed income and beyond

46:45 - The U.S. is catching up to rest of the world in its adoption of ESG


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Despite the S&P 500 being up an impressive 18% in 2020, the utilities sector did not take part in the rally finishing the year flat. Reaves' John Bartlett has spent nearly 30 years closely tracking Utilities names through every type of investing environment. Bartlett currently co-manages the firm's flagship Reaves Utility Income Fund (UTG), as closed-end fund with nearly $1.7B in AUM. He also co-manages Reaves' first exchange-traded fund, the Virtus Reaves Utilities ETF (UTES). With a blue wave sweeping the U.S., Bartlett believes utilities are well positioned to benefit from a likely rise in corporate tax rates and a broader societal move to clean energy.
Show Notes

2:00 - John's background: When did you become interested in utilities?

5:00 - An overview of the utilities sector: Gas, Electricity and Water

7:45 - UTG: A "wider" view of the utilities sector

10:00 - What's the outlook for utilities given the underperformance in 2020?

18:00 - Utilities for 2021 and beyond

23:00 - Utility stocks and energy prices

25:30 - Riding the Blue Wave: Expectations regarding the regulatory environment under Biden and a democratic controlled congress? What about at the state level?

29:00 - The history and future of clean energy adoption. What does it mean for utility companies?

37:15 - Is the growing embrace of ESG investing a headwind or a tailwind for the sector?

41:00 - On managing UTES: Why go with active management?

42:30 - Quantitative vs. qualitative analysis

45:45 - How much portfolio turnover is there?

46:30 - How does the fund look from a tax management standpoint?

48:00 - Differences between UTES and XLU (NEE) 

50:00 - Top pick for 2021: Atmos Energy Corp (ATO)


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When Fidelity rolled out its first semi-transparent active equity ETFs in June 2020, it was far from certain these new types of ETFs would resonate with investors. With $350M in assets between FBCV, FBCG and FMIL just seven months in, Fidelity's Greg Friedman has termed the initial interest in Fidelity's semi-transparent active equity ETFs "better than anticipated". Greg re-joins Let's Talk ETFs to discuss the famed asset manager's next steps in the semi-transparent active ETF space, including four ETFs going live this week.
Show Notes

3:00 - Half a year later: Checking in on Fidelity's first three semi-transparent active equity ETFs

4:45 - Who has invested in these funds so far?

6:45 - Has there been any cannibalization of Fidelity mutual funds by this new type of active equity ETF?

9:00 - Fund basics: Trading liquidity and spreads?

11:45 - Breaking down the performance so far

13:00 - How does the licensing relationship work with outside firms such as Invesco and Goldman Sachs?

16:45 - An overview of new semi-transparent active equity strategies Fidelity is bringing to market this week


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Investors searching for the ETF with the highest allocation to GME at the start of 2021 would have turned up the Cambria Shareholder Yield ETF (SYLD). A quant by nature, SYLD's portfolio manager Meb Faber accumulated his outsized position in GameStop (GME) patiently over nearly a decade, sticking to his guns as shares moved consistently lower (Meb is the co-founder, CEO and CIO of Cambria Investment Management). Rather than taking a victory lap, Meb views his experience with GME as an important teaching moment for investors. This may be the most important investing podcast you listen to this year.
Show Notes

2:15: How the Cambria Shareholder Yield ETF (SYLD) ended up being the ETF with the largest allocation to Gamestop (GME) at the start of 2021

8:30: 90% of investors don't have a plan - and that's a huge mistake

10:30: Market-cap weighting works - until it doesn't: A word on position sizing

13:30: Chasing multi-baggers is hazardous to most investors' health: Having a process and sticking to it

18:30: An asset allocation strategy built with low-cost funds is the right approach for the vast majority of investors


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After 15 years as an analyst at top financial institutions, Dan Victor stepped out on his own in 2018 as an independent investor and market strategist. The result is his increasingly popular Seeking Alpha handle, BOOX Research, where he combines a data-driven, fundamentals-first approach to offer nearly daily stock and ETF ideas, as well as his Seeking Alpha Marketplace service, Conviction Dossier. In today's podcast, we stress test three of his' top ETF picks for 2021: Emerging Markets (IEMG), shorting the long-end of the Treasury yield curve (TBF) and international dividend growth (VIGI).
Show Notes

2:30 - BOOX Research's back-story

3:30 - What does it take for an investor to be sufficiently diversified?

8:30 - Process for finding new investing ideas

10:00 - Top ETF picks for 2021: 1) iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG)

13:30 - After a decade of underperformance, what's the long case of emerging markets right now?

16:15 - Why IEMG over other comparable ETFs like (EEM), (VWO) and (SCHE)?

24:00 - Top ETF picks for 2021: 2) ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury ETF (TBF)

34:30 - Top ETF picks for 2021: 3) Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIGI)

40:00 - Would you recommend the US-focused version of VIGI, (VIG)?


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The focus of a multitude of conspiracy theories across the nether regions of the internet, the returns provided by playing the move to 5G have been anything but fake. According to Esoterica Capital CEO Bruce Liu, the move to 5G is not so much an upgrade to an existing tech cycle as a re-envisioning of the entire tech stack. Investors should take note when Liu discusses anything 5G-related: his firm's flagship ETF, WUGI, has doubled up on peers FIVG and NXTG since launching in late March, returning nearly 100%.
Show Notes
Show Notes

4:00 - What exactly is 5G? Defining the parameters of the conversation

9:15 - The 5G investing universe: Which sectors stand to benefit the most?

13:15 - "A re-envisioning of the entire tech stack": 5G, the Internet of Things, and autonomous driving

16:15 - Liar, liar, cellphone tower on fire: Why is there so much conspiracy thinking around the move to 5G?

20:00 - WUGI vs. FIVG vs. NXTG: In a space this fluid, does active trump passive?

29:30 - The move to 4G vs. to 5G: All in on the chipmakers (AMD) (QCOM) (TSM) (NVDA); avoiding the handset manufacturers (AAPL) (SSNLF) and networking players (NOK) (ERIC) this time around

38:30 - What's WUGI's research and stock selection process?

43:00 - A word on position sizing

45:15 - How "active" is WUGI? Reviewing annual turnover

50:00 - What are large FAANG type stocks like Netflix (NFLX) and Facebook (FB) doing in the portfolio?

55:00 - A name in the portfolio that will drive performance in the coming year: Meituan (MPNGF)


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