ETF Watch: Direxion, Goldman Sachs Launch New Funds

Today Goldman Sachs rolled out a new ETF that tracks an index of short-term Treasury obligations. The Goldman Sachs Treasury Access 0-1 Year ETF (GBIL) is tied to the Citi US Treasury 0-1 Year Composite Select Index and launched on the NYSE Arca. It comes with an expense ratio of 0.14%.

The fund covers U.S. Treasury obligations that have no more than 12 months of remaining maturity. The prospectus notes that as of Aug. 1, the index covered 75 securities and had a weighted average maturity of 0.41 years.

Direxion Debuts Silver Miners ETFs
Direxion launched an inverse/leveraged pair of ETFs targeting the silver miners space, offering -200%/200% exposure. The Direxion Daily Silver Miners Index Bear 2X Shares (DULL) and Direxion Daily Silver Miners Index Bull 2X Shares (SHNY) both launched on the NYSE Arca and come with expense ratios of 0.82%.

They are tied to the Solactive Global Silver Miners Index.

PowerShares Plans Low Vol, High Div Fund

A recent filing from Invesco PowerShares outlines the firm’s plans for an ETF that will serve as a developed-market complement to the $2.7 billion PowerShares S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD), which it launched in 2012. The PowerShares S&P International Developed High Dividend Low Volatility Portfolio is set to list on the Bats Global Markets Exchange and will track an index derived from the S&P BMI LargeMidCap Index. Bats Global Markets owns ETF.com.

The fund’s index selects 300 stocks from the parent index based on 12-month dividend yield; it further winnows its components by selecting from those 300 high-yielding stocks the 100 stocks with the lowest 12-month volatility. The prospectus notes that no sector can be represented by more than 25 securities and no country can be represented by more than 20 securities.  

SPHD uses a similar approach, selecting the 75 highest-yielding stocks in the S&P 500 Index, and then selecting the 50 stocks with the lowest volatility from that pool.

High-dividend, low-volatility strategies have been getting a certain amount of attention in the ETF space. The Legg Mason Low Volatility High Dividend ETF (LVHD) launched at the end of 2015 and currently has $81 million in assets under management. However, the Legg Mason International Low Volatility High Dividend ETF (LVHI) rolled out this summer and currently only has about $3 million.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].