ETF Spotlight: Ultra-Short-Term Bonds | ETF Trends

ETF Spotlight on the FlexShares Ready Access Variable Income Fund (NYSEArca: RAVI), part of an ongoing series.

Assets: $101.8 million

Objective:  The FlexShares Ready Access Variable Income Fund is actively managed and tries to generate maximum current income consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity through short-term, investment-grade debt securities and cash equivalents.

Holdings: Top holdings include Canada Imperial Bank of Commerce 12/11/2015 1.9%, Sumitomo Mitsui 01/10/2017 1.9%, Korea Development Bank 1/22/2017 1.7%, Rabobank Nederland 7/31/2015 1.2%, Bank of Montreal 11/06/2015 1.2% and Pfizer 03/15/2015 1.1%.

What You Should Know:

  • Northern Trust’s FlexShares sponsors the ETF.
  • RAVI has a 0.25% expense ratio.
  • The ETF has 114 components and the top ten holdings make up 13.4% of the overall portfolio.
  • Sector allocations include corporate 64.4%, cash 27.6%, government and agency 2.3%, municipal 1.8%, commercial paper 1.5% and MBS/ABS 0.1%.
  • Country weights include U.S. 74.9%, Canada 9.0%, Netherlands 3.3%, U.K. 2.9%, Japan 2.1%, France 2.0%, South Korea 1.7%, Australia 1.1%, Sweden 0.9% and Italy 0.9%.
  • RAVI has a 0.68 effecitve duration and a 0.49% 30-day SEC yield.
  • The fund is down 0.07% over the past month, down 0.06% over the past three months and up 0.64% over the past year.
  • Due to the fund’s ultra-short-term debt exposure, investors may utilize the ETF as a cash or money market alternative.

Next page: The latest news