Daily ETF Watch: New Infrastructure Fund

ProShares plans an infrastructure fund designed to deliver steady cash flow.

ProShares has put into registration a new global infrastructure fund reflecting the investment market’s need for steady income at a time when bond yields remain rather low and the threat of rising inflationary pressures could lead to capital losses in fixed-income markets.

The ProShares DJ Brookfield Global Infrastructure ETF will track the performance of the Dow Jones Brookfield Global Infrastructure Composite Index, which consists of companies that own and operate infrastructure assets, activities that generally generate long-term stable cash flows, according to a regulatory filing.

Yields continue to be a major theme for investors in 2014 as it was in 2013 when the S&P 500 Index surged by more than 30 percent. This year, industry observers are expecting a correction in the equity markets, making yield and defensive plays a key strategy in investors’ playbooks going forward.

Companies in the fund manage infrastructure assets such as airports, toll roads and ports, among other assets. The fund has an annual expense ratio of 0.45 percent, or $45 for every $10,000 invested.

ETF.com Analytics Data

Year-to-date, 50 ETFs have launched versus 19 for the same period in 2013, according to data from ETF.com Analytics. There are currently 1,576 ETFs managing more than $1.713 trillion.