Latest news with #DanielSotiroff
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ETF Sales: A Tale of Bitcoin and the S&P 500
Looking at ETF sales at two asset management giants, you'd think they're from different worlds. Flows at BlackRock were all about Bitcoin during the second quarter, while sales at Vanguard reflected demand for US equity. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) has become the fastest-growing exchange-traded fund ever, raking in $12.3 billion in that time, currently representing more than $87 billion in total assets, a report this week from Morningstar shows. Meanwhile, Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF (VOO) brought in $25 billion. While investors seemed to pull back from large cap US equity in iShares' line, the opposite was the case for Vanguard. That has a lot to do with the types of clients the firms attract, said Morningstar's Daniel Sotiroff, one of the authors of the paper. 'People are buying VOO because it's a forever fund,' he said. READ ALSO: Crypto ETFs Get Major Relief From SEC and Why Goldman Sachs Jumped Back into Lead Market Making Different Strokes Assets in the ETF, Vanguard's largest, are now over $714 billion, while the broader strategy, which includes mutual fund share classes, sits at more than $1.5 trillion. Investors buy that fund for different reasons than the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) or the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), Sotiroff said. Flows in and out of SPY seem to correlate more with performance, while those for IVV seem to be somewhere between SPY and VOO, he said. In IVV's case, about $15 billion evaporated from the fund in Q2, at least a small part of which appears to be due to BlackRock's model portfolios shifting allocations, as about $4 billion flowed into the US iShares Thematic Rotation Active ETF (THRO), the report noted. Additionally, 'since IVV is so large and so liquid, I have to imagine there are people out there using it for other tactical reasons,' Sotiroff said. Invest in Gold Thor Metals Group: Best Overall Gold IRA Priority Gold: Up to $15k in Free Silver + Zero Account Fees on Qualifying Purchase American Hartford Gold: #1 Precious Metals Dealer in the Nation One advisor said that recent ETF decisions have been all about taxes. 'We've maintained ETF positions largely in dividend-paying strategies and funds with high turnover, where using ETFs helps us avoid large capital gain distributions,' said Sean Beznicki, director of investments at VLP. 'This structure has been particularly useful in managing tax exposure while maintaining desired allocations.' While some of the flows at Vanguard and BlackRock show performance chasing, none of the top-selling ETFs at those firms were among the best performers during Q2. A separate Morningstar report found the best returns at two ARK ETFs and others: The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) returned nearly 48% during Q2, while the ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX) returned 36%. The TCW Transform Systems ETF returned over 29%, and the Franklin Focused Growth ETF returned nearly 26%. I Bet on IBIT: While it's hardly a clear-cut case of Bitcoin vs. the S&P 500 in ETF land, there are some unusual things happening, Sotiroff said. Investors have tended to buy IBIT while Bitcoin is on a hot streak, but they aren't really selling when it's down. 'It's like people buy in and hold,' he said. 'It's very odd. I've never seen a pattern like that before.' This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Are Faith-Based ETFs the Answer to Clients' Prayers?
Gotta have faith … in ETFs. Though still niche, faith-based ETFs are gaining traction. Six have launched this year, including two just last week from Crossmark, led by industry veteran Bob Doll, and the segment now holds roughly $10 billion in assets. The funds aim to align investment strategies with religious values, but that often means a stronger focus on beliefs than returns. Plus, like ESG or tech funds, many end up looking similar to S&P 500 products, only with higher expense ratios. While clients may be looking to practice what they preach, it's up to advisors to make sure any investments are truly aligning with their values and financial goals. 'Are you just buying an expensive S&P 500 tracker at the end of the day?' asked Daniel Sotiroff, Morningstar research analyst. READ ALSO: Crypto ETFs Get Major Relief From SEC and ETF Sales: A Tale of Bitcoin and the S&P 500 Keeping the Faith Currently, there are 46 faith-based ETFs in the US — 38 Christian, 7 Muslim and 1 Jewish — according to Morningstar. And year-to-date, they've seen roughly $832 million in inflows, per CFRA Research. Some funds have strict filters. The Inspire 100 ETF (BIBL), for example, excludes companies with ties to abortion, LGBT activism, gambling and more. Its largest holding is Caterpillar, and it doesn't contain any of the Mag 7. Similarly, the SP Funds S&P 500 Sharia Industry Exclusions ETF (SPUS) omits over half the index for non-compliance with Sharia law, and it has slightly underperformed the broader market. Invest in Gold American Hartford Gold: #1 Precious Metals Dealer in the Nation Priority Gold: Up to $15k in Free Silver + Zero Account Fees on Qualifying Purchase Thor Metals Group: Best Overall Gold IRA 'The goal of these funds is generally not to generate alpha; rather, it is to be a faith-aligned alternative to a core holding,' said Aniket Ullal, head of ETF research & analytics at CFRA Research. Not So Different, You and I. Then there are also faith-based funds that come off as fairly typical: The JLens 500 Jewish Advocacy US ETF (TOV), which aims to combat antisemitism, and the Global X S&P 500 Catholic Values ETF (CATH), the largest Christian ETF, have quite a lot in common with the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). When compared with VOO, TOV and CATH have 'active shares' of 4.7% and 17%, respectively, according to Morningstar. The lower an active share, the more alike two funds are in terms of holdings, weight and strategy. But while VOO's expense ratio is just 0.03%, TOV's and CATH's are significantly higher at 0.18% and 0.29%, respectively. 'Some faith-based funds look very different to a comparable broad market fund, but then others might just have a light touch and very low active risk,' Sotiroff told ETF Upside. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive exclusive news and analysis of the rapidly evolving ETF landscape, built for advisors and capital allocators, subscribe to our free ETF Upside newsletter.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vanguard Dividing Fund Lineups Between Two Teams
The Vanguard Group is dividing its multi-trillion dollar lineup of ETFs and mutual funds—which includes the world's largest ETF, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)—between a pair of investment advisor teams for the first time, as asset managers encounter an investing landscape reshaped by technology and the demand for fresh products. Vanguard, the world's second-largest asset manager with $10 trillion across a range of funds, is creating a pair of teams called Vanguard Capital Management and Vanguard Portfolio Management, according to a statement. Both had previously been under a single entity, The Vanguard Group. As Vanguard turns 50 years old, asset managers are confronting challenges, including surging demand for exchange-traded funds, slowing mutual fund inflows, active fund growth, and surging investor interest in cryptocurrency and technologies like blockchain that may replace physical assets in some cases. Vanguard, the No. 2 ETF issuer behind BlackRock's iShares, has also come under criticism for a failure to improve aspects of its customer service. 'Their mammoth size now requires more focus than a single team could handle,' Daniel Sotiroff, CFA, Morningstar Direct senior manager research analyst, wrote in a note. Vanguard manages both the world's largest ETF, the $681.6 billion VOO, and mutual fund, the $1.8 trillion Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX). The sheer size of the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company's holdings is creating other problems, Sotiroff noted. Vanguard owns big stakes in most publicly traded stocks and, with some of those stakes exceeding regulatory limits, the company may have to cap ownership of some stocks, he wrote. 'They may not track their target index as accurately as they had in the past,' Sotiroff wrote. 'Likewise, it may restrict an active manager's ability to express their best ideas.' Vanguard Top 5 ETFs—Source: FactSet Vanguard Capital Management will include fixed income led by Sara Devereux, and global equity index management led by Rodney Comegys. Vanguard Portfolio Management will include Quantitative Equity Group, and will also lead Strategic Equity Index Management led by John Ameriks. They will report to Vanguard President and Chief Investment Officer Greg Davis. Vanguard, with $3.3 trillion in 92 exchange-traded funds, said the changes take effect next year. Note: Second-to-last paragraph recast to better reflect groups' structures. Permalink | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Issuers File for ETFs Tracking Newly Debuted Circle Stock
Circle Internet Group Inc. (CRCL) may have just made its debut as a public company last week, but that hasn't stopped fund providers from looking to launch exchange-traded funds based on its stock performance. On Friday, Bitwise submitted a preliminary prospectus to the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Bitwise CRCL Option Income Strategy ETF, an actively-managed ETF that tracks the share price of Circle using a covered call strategy. On the same day, ProShares submitted a filing for the ProShares Ultra CRCL ETF, a 2x leveraged fund also tracking CRCL. The management fees and tickers weren't shared in either filing. The effective dates would be August 20, 2025. Bitwise declined to comment to as it's in a quiet period. ProShares and Circle did not respond to requests for commentary. Founded in 2013, peer-to-peer payments company Circle is the issuer of USDC, the second-largest stablecoin. It's one of the few pure-play crypto companies listed on the U.S. stock market. Circle's shares were priced at $31 Wednesday and opened at $69 on the New York Stock Exchange amid investor demand. Funds like the Bitwise CRCL Option Income Strategy ETF and ProShares Ultra CRCL ETF are aimed at very short-term speculative investors, and should be avoided by most other investors, said Daniel Sotiroff, senior manager research analyst for Morningstar Research. Leveraged ETFs, he explained, tend to succumb to volatility drag and perform poorly over the long run. 'It always goes wrong,' Sotiroff added. 'I've never seen those things work.' When it comes to covered calls, they're typically a play on yield: The more volatile the underlying asset is, the higher the premiums are that you're going to be able to write, he said. 'There's a lot of this stuff out there, and it fits into the same mold of stuff that investors should ignore—and they'll be better off for it,' said Sotiroff, who recently analyzed the 4,000 ETFs that traded on U.S. exchanges at the end of March 2025 and found that only 461 of them might be considered good, long-term | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vanguard, Blackstone, Wellington Partner on Private Assets
Fund giant Vanguard is teaming up with alternative asset manager Blackstone and Wellington Management to develop multi-asset investment solutions that integrate public and private markets to investors. The goal is to build 'fully diversified portfolios that incorporate private assets and pursue higher returns,' according to a Blackstone news release. The firm didn't share any information on what these solutions would be, but said that those details are expected to be announced in the coming months. News first broke that The Vanguard Group was reportedly holding talks with two of the world's biggest private equity companies about offering private assets to investors in March. Vanguard has a long history of disrupting the investing industry by providing access to investors and driving fees down—and doing so in the private marketplace is the next natural step for the company, Daniel Sotiroff, senior manager research analyst at Morningstar Research, told 'This is a big opportunity for them,' Sotiroff said. 'I think it's also kind of a test.' The firm's CEO Salim Ramji joined just last year, and the industry is watching to see if Vanguard still executes in the way we expect—low-cost, well-managed and transparent with the right vehicles, he added. Instead of relying solely on its own capabilities, Vanguard is partnering with Blackstone. It's a move that Sotiroff said isn't surprising given Blackstone's size. 'When you consider the scale that Vanguard operates at, you need somebody that's really big that can handle a lot of deals and handle a lot of private assets,' he added. 'It makes sense that they would partner with one of the bigger players in the space and they would go with somebody who has a pretty big reputation.' Throwing Wellington into the mix was a bit of a curveball, Sotiroff said. But considering Wellington has been Vanguard's go-to sub-advisor for equity products and the two companies have a long history, the move also makes sense. Vanguard isn't the first to explore private asset solutions. State Street and Apollo Global Management launched the SPDR SSGA Apollo IG Public & Private Credit ETF (PRIV) earlier this year, which aims to invest in private credit among other instruments, for example. But shoehorning an illiquid asset into a highly liquid ETF vehicle doesn't tend to work, so Sotiroff highly doubts the new offerings from Vanguard, Blackstone and Wellington will be in an ETF vehicle. He speculated it might be something like a tender offer fund, interval fund or a collective investment trust (CIT) for retirement. Wellington spokesperson Robyn Tice told the firm cannot comment on the details of any specific solutions that are not yet | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved Sign in to access your portfolio
