When it comes to industry conferences and the potential impact on exchange traded funds, few ETFs are moved by industry gatherings in similar fashion to biotechnologyfunds.
Major industry conferences in January are part of the reason why the first month of the year is often a fine time to be long biotech ETFs. However, the PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF (NYSEArca: HACK) is making its claim as a conference play. HACK, which hit an all-time high earlier, is up 2% today on volume that is over triple its daily average as President Obama is hosting the first-ever cyber security summit. The even is taking place at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
“Participants will discuss opportunities to spur collaboration and develop partnerships in the cybersecurity and consumer financial worlds to share best practices, promote stronger adherence to security standards, improve cyber threat information sharing, and encourage the adoption of more secure payment technologies,” according to the White House.
HACK’s rise into the cyber security summit is another example of the ETF’s as a useful thematic, event-driven trade. Earlier this month, HACK popped 2% intraday after hackers gained access to the personal data of millions of Anthem health insurance customers and the December flap over North Korea cyber criminals allegedly hacking Sony (NYSE: SNE), prompting the company to scrap the release of the “The Interview,” was a boon for the ETF. [Anthem Hack Lifts Cyber Security ETF]
Cementing that credibility is that flows data indicate some investors were prepared for President Obama’s cyber security summit to be a catalyst for HACK just as biotech gatherings are for that industry’s ETFs. From Feb. 6 through Feb. 13, HACK added $14.6 million in new assets, bringing its year-to-date inflows total to $103.1 million. Said another way, HACK topped $100 million in assets on Jan. 6 after debuting in November and the ETF has basically doubled in size just this year. [HACK Tops $100M in AUM]