Markets continued to recover in November, with global equities and government bonds rallying during the month on softer U.S. inflation data and expectations the Chinese government would relax its zero-COVID policy. While risk appetite improved in November, investors were still looking to quality, more balanced strategies for their U.S. equity exposure. In SS&C ALPS Advisors’ lineup of ETFs, the ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL) and the ALPS O’Shares U.S. Small-Cap Quality Dividend ETF (OUSM) led in November flows.
EQL saw $24 million in inflows in November, more than any other ETF offered by SS&C ALPS Advisors, ending last month with $334 million in assets under management. The fund has accreted $135 million in year-to-date inflows.
Year-to-date through the end of November, EQL has returned -6.3%, compared to the S&P 500 Index’s decline of -13.10%.
EQL delivers exposure to the U.S. large-cap equity market by investing equal proportions in 11 Select Sector SPDRs and rebalances quarterly. EQL delivers moderate, yet meaningful exposure to every sector of the market.
The equal-weighting strategy results in a drastically different composition relative to market cap-weighted products such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). EQL is designed to offer more balanced exposure and has the added benefit of avoiding the potentially adverse impact of rallies or crashes in specific sectors of the economy.
EQL charges 27 basis points.
OUSM took in $10 million in November flows, ending the month with $178 million in assets under management. The fund has seen $25 million in year-to-date inflows and has returned -3.6% through the end of November.
OUSM is designed to provide cost-efficient access to a portfolio of small-cap, high-quality, low-volatility, dividend-paying companies in the U.S. The fund’s holdings are selected based on fundamental metrics including quality, low volatility, and dividend growth.
The fund aims to provide strong performance with less risk than a market cap-weighted approach. The quality dividend growth strategies are designed to reduce risk and exposure to stress events by avoiding lower-quality stocks.
OUSM charges 48 basis points.
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