These are trying times for fixed income investors. There is the obvious concern of rising interest rates coupled with increased criticism of disadvantages faced by advisors and investors when dealing with the aggregate bond indexes used by popular fixed income exchange traded funds.
The WBI Tactical Income Shares (NYSEArca: WBII) is becoming a standout among actively managed ETFs and can help investors deal with the aforementioned bond issues in stride.
WBII has benefited from being at the right place at the right time, coming to market amid a surge in volatility that sent investors flocking to low volatility strategies. WBII provides “provides low volatility, low correlation and an optimal blend of bear market capital preservation and bull market return,” according to WBI Shares.
“WBI’s proprietary bond model strives to reduce interest rate risk on core bond holdings in an effort to protect invested capital. The goal is to actively shorten duration to minimize loss as interest rates rise, or to lengthen duration to increase yield and potential for capital gain as interest rates decline,” according to the issuer. [A Simple Short-Term Bond ETF]
WBII, which debuted in August as part of WBI’s 10-ETF suite of actively managed funds, has been a key driver of the New Jersey-based firm’s growth. All 10 WBI ETFs are now home to over $100 million in assets under management, with WBI housing over $303 million in assets. Only PIMCO, First Trust, WisdomTree, StateStreet and iShares have more actively managed ETF assets under management than WBI. [A Rising Active ETF Power]