An ETF launched earlier this month combines two powerful investment themes with risk-averse investors in the current market: low volatility and dividends.
PowerShares S&P 500 High Dividend Portfolio (NYSEArca: SPHD) follows an index of 50 stocks taken from the S&P 500 index that have historically provided high yields and exhibited lower relative volatility. The benchmark also has a modified cap-weighting methodology that weights securities based on dividend yields.
“You’ve got to give a tip of the hat to the marketing department,” writes Kyle Woodley at InvestorPlace.
“I probably don’t have to tell you, but dividend yield is the absolute hotness of the markets this year. Investors have piled into junk bonds, REITs, MLPs — you name it — amid fears of volatility and economic uncertainty across the globe,” he says.
Those worries have also made low-volatility ETFs extremely popular in 2012. [Low-Volatility ETFs Help Limit Downside Risk]
For example, Invesco PowerShares — the firm behind SPHD — also manages the largest low-volatility ETF, PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility (NYSEArca: SPLV).