ETF Watch: First Trust Plans Dividend Family

First Trust has filed for a family of ETFs that will be derived from the Nasdaq’s cap-weighted global indexes and target dividend-paying stocks. The six funds will list on the Nasdaq stock exchange and include the following:

• Developed International Equity Select ETF                           
• Emerging Markets Equity Select ETF                                  
• Large Cap US Equity Select ETF                                      
• Mid Cap US Equity Select ETF                                        
• Small Cap US Equity Select ETF                                      
• US Equity Dividend Select ETF                                       

Each fund’s index will select its stocks from the cap-weighted parent index and screen out those components that have not paid out a dividend in the preceding 12 months. The fund index replicates the parent index’s sector weightings. All but one of the fund indexes will equal-weight the components in each sector; the US Equity Dividend Select ETF’s index will weight the components in each of its sectors by yield.

The proposed fund family combines a focus on dividends with an alternative weighting approach.

The filing did not include tickers or expense ratios.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].