Daily ETF Watch: New Dividend ETF Coming

WisdomTree is expanding its family of dividend-focused ETFs by filing regulatory paperwork for two payout funds: the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Dividend Growth Fund and the WisdomTree Europe Dividend Growth Fund. The new ETFs will focus on Japanese and European companies showing good dividend-growth prospects.

WisdomTree’s latest ETFs will look to slice and dice the segment of dividend-paying stocks to find sources of income for investors currently grappling with paltry yields in much of the traditional fixed-income space.

Turning to dividend-paying equities as a yield-replacement strategy continues to be a major investment theme in 2014, as it was in 2013. High dividend yield ETFs focused on developed markets outside of the U.S. currently manage $3.93 billion in total assets, according to data compiled by ETF.com.

The WisdomTree Japan Hedged Dividend Growth Fund will track the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Dividend Growth Index, which is a fundamentally weighted index that is generally comprised of 300 companies with the best combined rank of certain growth and quality factors, according to its regulatory filing.

The WisdomTree Europe Dividend Growth Fund will track the WisdomTree Europe Dividend Growth Index, which will provide investors exposure to dividend-paying common stocks of companies listed in developed countries such as Austria, Belgium and Denmark, among others, according to a regulatory filing.

Associated fees and tickers for the proposed funds were not available in the filing.

There are no further filings or launches this morning.