Daily ETF Watch: WisdomTree Plans EM Fund

WisdomTree plans a basic dividend-weighted emerging market ETF.

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Reviewed by: Heather Bell
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Edited by: Heather Bell

A new filing from WisdomTree fills a curious blank spot in its lineup. The WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Fund will track its WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index, which is the parent index of the benchmarks underlying most of WisdomTree’s other broad, emerging market ETFs.

The proposed fund’s underlying index consists of dividend-paying stocks from 17 different emerging markets. Component stocks must meet liquidity requirements in addition to paying out at least $5 million in dividends during a 12-month period and having at least $200 million in market capitalization.

Component companies are weighted by dividends paid over the preceding 12 months, with individual countries and sectors capped at 25% of the index.

The closest thing in the WisdomTree lineup to the fund outlined in the filing is the WisdomTree Emerging Markets High Dividend ETF (DEM | B-80), which launched in 2007 and has $1.2 billion in assets under management. It tracks an index of stocks falling within the top 30% of companies included in the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index in terms of dividend payments. The proposed fund would appeal to investors who are more concerned with broad market coverage.

The new filing indicated the fund would list on the BATS exchange, but it did not include an expense ratio or ticker.


Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].

Heather Bell is a former managing editor of etf.com. She has also held editorial positions at Dow Jones Indexes and Lehman Brothers. Bell is a graduate of Dartmouth college and resides in the Denver area with her two dogs. 

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