PIMCO plans to launch an active currency ETF designed for investors who want to protect against a devalued U.S. dollar with the bond giant’s expertise in global markets.
The ETF will invest in foreign currencies and is expected to list on the NYSE Arca on Tuesday with the ticker FORX. The fund will charge a management fee of 0.65%, according to the prospectus.
It will be called PIMCO Foreign Currency Strategy ETF.
PIMCO is putting the ETF together for investors who want to diversify with currencies if the U.S. dollar depreciates, said Don Suskind, head of global ETF product management, in a telephone interview Monday.
The fund will be actively managed so it won’t use market-cap-weighting schemes common in many passive indices.
The ETF will hold currencies “we believe make the most sense for investors,” Suskind added. It will invest in both emerging and developed markets, although its exposure to emerging markets will be capped at 50%.
PIMCO Total Return ETF (NYSEArca: BOND) manager Bill Gross at last month’s 2013 ETF Virtual Summit announced the firm had an actively managed currency fund in the works.
Gross said most currencies are yielding less than inflation due to central bank stimulus, although there are some exceptions such as Mexico and Brazil.
“A currency fund these days can be very attractive because central banks are repressing investors around the world,” Gross noted in January. “That’s what we hope to exploit – find central banks that run the printing press at the slowest rate. There are central banks playing by the rules with more conservative policies. These currencies can appreciate relative to the dollar.”
Hedging a weaker dollar