Investors look to be appeasing their appetite for thematic exchange traded funds (ETFs) given Global X’s remarkable 97% issuer asset growth.
Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Athanasios Psarofagis tweeted the feat:
Pretty remarkable, Global X has nearly doubled their AUM since the start of 2021. One of the fastest growing ETF issuers. Kraneshares also having a year with $KWEB dip buying https://t.co/YbJaEKvZ1m pic.twitter.com/nDuvBFMPnY
— Athanasios Psarofagis (@tpsarofagis) October 21, 2021
“Thematic strategies have become darlings of the ETF industry, with managers pumping out products that seek to combine outperforming stocks and a story that investors can easily understand,” a Financial Times article says.
Three Top Performers
Investors looking to add thematic funds can look at Global X’s best-performing funds. First up is the Global X Uranium ETF (URA), which seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the Solactive Global Uranium & Nuclear Components Total Return Index.
The fund is up 87% on the year as renewable energy alternatives could heading towards more nuclear power. As such, investors could be placing bets on uranium-focused funds like URA.
Another fund to consider is the Global X MSCI China Energy ETF (CHIE), which is up 57% this year. CHIE seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the MSCI China Energy IMI Plus 10/50 Index, which tracks the performance of companies in the MSCI China Investable Market Index that are classified in the energy sector, as defined by the index provider.
Another potential play is the Global X MLP & Energy Infrastructure ETF (MLPX), which is up 53% year-to-date. At a 0.45% expense ratio, MLPX seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance (before fees and expenses) of the Solactive MLP & Energy Infrastructure Index.
The fund invests at least 80% of its total assets in the securities of the index. It also invests at least 80% of its total assets in securities of master limited partnerships and energy infrastructure corporations.
The fund’s 80% investment policies are non-fundamental and require 60 days prior written notice to shareholders before they can be changed. The index tracks the performance of midstream energy infrastructure MLPs and corporations.
MLPs have become very popular in recent years for primarily two reasons: (1) required quarterly distributions provide a steady stream of current income, and (2) because they are partnerships, MLPs avoid corporate income taxes at both the federal and state level as the tax liability is passed through to the individual partners.
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