The iShares minimum volatility suite has enjoyed a great year with $2.8bn of net inflows this year and a total of $15.1bn in assets under management. iShares expansion into the smart-beta space has been exponential as they now have $125bn in assets under management in their smart beta products globally. (iShares Minimum Volatility Suite Tops $10bn AUM)
The ETFs will track MSCI indexes that their minimum volatility cousins are already indexing. Diana Tidd, Managing Director and Global Head of MSCI Equity Index Products said, “With the continued growth of global investing, the importance of managing currency exposures has moved to the forefront of many investors’ minds. Likewise, a growing number of investors are targeting specific factor exposures such as low volatility. MSCI’s Minimum Volatility 100% Hedged to USD Indexes reflect the performance of the combination of these two investment strategies. We are pleased BlackRock has further expanded their suite of iShares ETFs based on MSCI Minimum Volatility Indexes.”
The lone product in the suite that doesn’t feature a minimum volatility approach is HEUS. HEUS takes a small-cap spin to their European currency-hedged strategy. Small-caps tend to surge in recovery environments and Mario Draghi’s recent economic stimulus measure’s may stoke smaller enterprises’ growth.
A snapshot of a popular iShares minimum volatility ETF shows some good signs. HEMV will duplicate the results of iShares MSCI Europe Minimum Volatility ETF (AMEX: EUMV) with the currency-hedged spin, and EUMV kicked above its 200 day moving average in the October rally.
