WisdomTree has shot into the limelight, benefiting from the stellar performance from the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEArca: DXJ). With greater exposure, the company is giving back by spreading education on exchange traded funds.
ETF Trends’ Tom Lydon sat down with Jeremy Schwartz, Director of Research at WisdomTree, and Dave Abner, Head of Capital Markets at WisdomTree, earlier this month at the Morningstar ETF Invest Conference in Chicago.
Schwartz pointed out the growth in the yen hedged-equity ETF, which now has $10.7 billion in assets, as favorable Japanese fiscal and monetary policies help propel the trade.
“It was just one year ago when Shinzo Abe was elected as the Prime Minister of Japan,” Schwartz said. “[He] has done a lot to change the mentality, try to end deflation, stimulate the economy, and a lot of that is tied around the yen depreciating. As the yen has been depreciating, equities have been going up.”
“I do believe that Japan has a long ways to go from a 25 year bear market and just starting to turn the corner,” Schwartz added.
Additionally, Abner discussed the growing need for educating advisors and investors on how ETFs work as the investment vehicles gains wider acceptance.
For instance, many advisors are still holding onto traditional notions of trading volume and an investment’s liquidity.
“Volume is not a measure of liquidity in ETFs,” Abner said. “I think over the years that was the mistake people were making and they’re not doing it anymore.”
Watch the video below to see the full interview with Dave Abner and Jeremy Schwartz.
To view past video interviews, visit our videos section.