Consumer spending is a powerful economic driver. That’s why Harry Dent’s firm is launching an actively managed exchange traded fund (ETF) that seeks to capitalize on these trends.
HS Dent Publishing is a research firm that analyzes demographic trends and how people spend money as they move through various life changes, and then how that spending impacts the overall economy.
That’s the basis of a new ETF from AdvisorShares: the Dent Tactical ETF (DENT), the first actively managed ETF of ETFs. While no market is off limits, Johnson says they’re more interested in emerging areas with a lot of internal growth such as India, China and Taiwan.
“Personal consumption is a big part of any economy,” says HS Dent President Rodney Johnson. “If you can forecast what they’ll buy next you can get a sense of areas that might grow.”
HS Dent already runs a fund based on the concept, and it contains a number of Pacific Rim emerging markets.
Noah Hamman, AdvisorShares’ CEO, says depending on how a financial professional manages money, the fund can be used as a core alternative, but because it is tactically managed, it could also be viewed as a satellite alternative allocation.