Daily ETF Watch: New SPDRs In The Works

State Street Global Advisors, the third-largest ETF issuer in the country and the firm behind the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY | A-99), has put into registration three new ETFs that offer different takes on the Russell 1000 by honing in on individual factors.

Each of the funds picks securities from the Russell 1000 universe, with a focus on those that show “higher value, higher quality and lower size core factor traits,” according to the prospectus. On top of that initial selection, a different factor then comes into play, and the securities in each portfolio are weighted based on market-cap and their respective factor scores.

The SPDR Russell 1000 Core Yield ETF will specifically focus on companies that deliver higher yields—in this case, yield is based on a trailing 12-month dividend yield, the filing said.

The SPDR Russell 1000 Core Momentum ETF will focus on companies that show higher momentum. Momentum here is based on returns over 11 months, the filing said.

The SPDR Russell 1000 Core Low Volatility ETF will focus on companies that show lower volatility, which, in this case, is based on the standard deviation of five years of weekly total returns, according to the filing.

The funds, when launched, would join other Russell 1000-focused ETFs, although there aren’t that many funds in the market right now slicing the broad large-cap benchmark into factors. In fact, iShares and Vanguard are the only providers to currently offer a growth-focused and a value-focused Russell 1000 ETFs. The biggest fund in the space is the $11.4 billion iShares Russell 1000 (IWB | A-95).

Volatility ETFs Reverse Split

Friday, two volatility-linked ETFs saw 1-for-10 reverse splits take effect. The splits increased the share prices for both the AccuShares Spot CBOE VIX Up Shares (VXUP) and the AccuShares Spot CBOE VIX Down Shares (VXDN) tenfold, and decreased the numbers of shares outstanding by that much as well. In the end, the value of an investor’s holdings in the funds was unchanged.

VXUP and VXDN, which came to market last May, have $1.1 million and $7.7 million in assets, respectively.

Contact Cinthia Murphy at [email protected]