ETFdb Logo
ETFdb Logo
  • ETF Database
  • Channels
    • Active ETF
    • Alternatives
    • Beyond Basic Beta
    • China Insights
    • Climate Insights
    • Commodities
    • Core Strategies
    • Crypto
    • Disruptive Technology
    • Dividend
    • Dual Impact
    • Emerging Markets
    • Energy Infrastructure
    • ESG
    • ETF Building Blocks
    • ETF Education
    • ETF Strategist
    • Fixed Income
    • Free Cash Flow
    • Future ETFs
    • Global Diversification
    • Gold & Silver Investing
    • Innovative ETFs
    • Institutional Income Strategies
    • Leveraged & Inverse
    • Managed Futures
    • Market Insights
    • Megatrends
    • Modern Alpha
    • Multi-Asset
    • Night Effect
    • Portfolio Strategies
    • Retirement Income
    • Richard Bernstein Advisors
    • Tax Efficient Income
    • Thematic Investing
    • Volatility Resource
  • Tools
    • ETF Screener
    • ETF Country Exposure Tool
    • ETF Sector Tracker Tool
    • ETF Database Categories
    • Head-To-Head ETF Comparison Tool
    • ETF Stock Exposure Tool
    • ETF Issuer Fund Flows
    • Indexes
    • Mutual Fund To ETF Converter
    • ETF Data for Journalists
    • ETF Nerds
  • Research
    • First Bitcoin ETF
    • ETF Education
    • Equity Investing
    • Dividend ETFs
    • Leveraged ETFs
    • Inverse ETFs
    • Index Education
    • Index Insights
    • Top ETF Sectors
    • Top ETF Issuers
    • Top ETF Industries
  • Webcasts
  • Themes
    • AI ETFs
    • Blockchain ETFs
    • See all Thematic Investing ETF themes
    • ESG Investing
    • Marijuana ETFs
  • Multimedia
    • ETF 360 Video Series
    • ETF Trends on Videos
    • ETF Trends on Podcasts
    • ETF Prime Podcast
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Swag Store
  • PRO
    • Pro Content
    • Pro Tools
    • Advanced
    • FAQ
    • Pricing
    • Free Sign Up
    • Login
  1. This Week’s ETF Launches: Little Harbor Uses Artificial Intelligence for New Tactical ETF
News
Share

This Week's ETF Launches: Little Harbor Uses Artificial Intelligence for New Tactical ETF

David DierkingApr 11, 2018
2018-04-11

A little over a week after iShares dropped their new “Evolved” line of ETFs on the marketplace, newcomer Little Harbor Advisors joins the party with its own artificial intelligence-fueled offering. Not to be outdone, iShares adds two more products to its lineup that could be very timely in the current economic environment.

Here are this week’s new fund launches:

TickerNameIssuerLaunch DateETFdb.com CategoryExpense Ratio
(IFRA B)iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETFiShares04/03/2018All Cap Equities0.40%
(CMDY )iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETFiShares04/03/2018Commodities0.28%
(MSUS )LHA Market State U.S. Tactical ETFLittle Harbor Advisors LLC04/04/2018Long-short1.25%

For a list of all new ETF launches, take a look at our ETF Launch Center.


Content continues below advertisement

Using Artificial Intelligence to Manage Market Exposure

The trend of using artificial intelligence to manage a portfolio seems to be growing almost daily in the ETF world. Little Harbor Advisors is using it in a very straightforward way with the launch of the LHA Market State U.S. Tactical ETF (MSUS ). Using a momentum-based strategy, the fund’s adviser will actively manage the portfolio by performing a statistical analysis on the distribution of equity prices to determine how exposed it should be to equities at any given time. The fund’s exposure could be as little as 0% and as much as 160% of net assets.

To achieve normal equity exposure, the fund will use a portfolio of ETFs that the adviser believes has the greatest probability of outperforming, on a risk-adjusted basis, the broader U.S. equity market by looking at factors, such as strategy, holdings, performance, volatility and expense ratio. If the advisor chooses to go above 100% exposure, it will utilize futures contracts to create additional leverage. The fund’s objective is to outperform the broader U.S. stock market on a risk-adjusted basis.

For more ETF news and analysis, subscribe to our free newsletter.

iShares Focuses on Infrastructure and Commodities

BlackRock continues to expand its ever-growing ETF lineup with a pair of economically relevant offerings.

The iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF (IFRA B) looks to provide exposure to U.S.-based companies that stand to benefit from potential increases to infrastructure investment. In other words, if Congress decides to pass its long-rumored infrastructure bill, the companies in this fund could benefit the most. In order to qualify for the index, companies must derive at least 50% of their annual revenue from the United States. The fund’s index provider splits potential components into two distinct groups – owners and operators, which could include railroads and utilities, and enablers, which could be companies that provide raw materials or construction services. The two groups each account for half of the overall portfolio, with the components within each group receiving an equal weight. The underlying index for the fund will be reconstituted annually, with weightings getting rebalanced quarterly.

The other new fund is the iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF (CMDY ). This fund invests in futures contracts on as many as 20 physical agricultural, energy, precious metals and industrial metals commodities. The “roll” part of the ETF’s name comes from its need to roll out of existing positions in the underlying futures contracts and establish new positions on an ongoing basis. One of the fund’s biggest benefits is that it does not require K-1 tax reporting. The Schedule K-1 is the tax form used to report income and losses from partnerships. Many commodities-based funds issue K-1’s, which can make individual tax reporting much more complicated. CMDY will issue traditional 1099 tax forms, if needed. The fund’s expense ratio of just 0.28% instantly makes it one of the cheapest commodities funds available to investors.

The Bottom Line

The reason for the launch of the iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF is pretty clear. If the infrastructure bill gets passed, a lot of attention will be focused on this sector. Its focus on U.S.-based business will also add some likely appeal, as investors should be less impacted by any potential trade war with China. The Commodity Strategy ETF is also making its debut at an interesting time as its holdings could easily be impacted by tariffs as well. The debut product from Little Harbor is an intriguing entry into the AI space. This won’t be the first fund to use the technology to build its portfolio, but its use of AI to determine both the level of equity exposure and the composition of the underlying funds used to execute the strategy makes for an interesting product.

ETFdb.com has ETF investing guides and other ebooks to help you navigate the investing landscape using ETFs. Sign up to ETF Database Pro to get access to all the PDFs located on our ETF Guides page.

» Popular Pages

  • Tickers
  • Articles

Jan 30

Impact Bonds: Bumps in the Road Give Way

Jan 30

JRNY Rallies Over 16%

Jan 30

Focus on Free Cash Flow Over Tech Earnings With TTAC

Jan 30

Gain Exposure to GE HealthCare With RYH and CSD

Jan 30

Markets Dip, Anticipating Earnings and Fed Decision

Jan 30

Strong January for ARK Sees 3 Top-Performing ETFs

Jan 30

Time for Value? Watch AI-Backed Value ETF AIVL

Jan 30

China Gears Up To Boost Consumption

Jan 30

Fixed Income “Has a Huge Potential” to Outperform

Jan 30

Disruptive Commerce ETF BUYZ Goes Shopping

QQQ

Invesco QQQ Trust

SPY

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

VOO

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

VGT

Vanguard Information...

SMH

VanEck Semiconductor ETF

XLK

Technology Select Sector SPDR...

VTI

Vanguard Total Stock Market...

SOXX

iShares Semiconductor ETF

BLOK

Amplify Transformational Data...

META

Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF


Content continues below advertisement

Loading Articles...
Help & Info
  • Contact Us
Tools
  • ETF Screener
  • ETF Analyzer
  • Mutual Fund to ETF Converter
  • Head-To-Head ETF Comparison
  • ETF Country Exposure Tool
  • ETF Stock Exposure Tool
  • ETF Performance Visualizer
  • ETF Database Model Portfolios
  • ETF Database Realtime Ratings
  • ETF Database Pro
More Tools
  • ETF Launch Center
  • Financial Advisor & RIA Center
  • ETF Database RSS Feed
Explore ETFs
  • ETF News
  • ETF Picks of the Month
  • ETF Category Reports
  • Premium Articles
  • Alphabetical Listing of ETFs
  • Best ETFs
  • Browse ETFs by ETF Database Category
  • Browse ETFs by Index
  • Browse ETFs by Issuer
  • Compare ETFs
Legal
  • Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
  • © 2023 VettaFi LLC. All rights reserved.
Follow ETF Database
Follow ETF Database

Advertisement

Is Your Portfolio Positioned With Enough Global Exposure?

ETF Education Channel

How to Allocate Commodities in Portfolios

Tom LydonApr 26, 2022
2022-04-26

A long-running debate in asset allocation circles is how much of a portfolio an investor should...

Core Strategies Channel

Why ETFs Experience Limit Up/Down Protections

Karrie GordonMay 13, 2022
2022-05-13

In a digital age where information moves in milliseconds and millions of participants can transact...

}
X