Imminent ETF Shakeup | 15 May 2020

“It’s just the big trying to get even bigger.”

Financial giants reared on their hind legs this week in an attempt to position for a shakeup by influencing the reclassification of the risk categories for the ETF markets including BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, and Invesco. It brings the already visible dominance of these firms who comprise 90%+ of the U.S. ETF markets though mainly in an effort to provide better clarity to the investor where complaints have been on the rise due to the recent oil market volatility and proliferation of leveraged products during the outbreak. The debate is remains open on whether the clarification efforts will create greater confusion particularly with the the advent of non-transparent ETFs.

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Evaluating SMAs through Portformer

The Portformer team is looking to speak with interested advisors who are currently using the Schwab Managed Account Marketplace and the Client Proposal generator tool who are seeking an alternative after Schwab discontinues the service in June, 2020. Portformer is evaluating the development of a proposal tool that utilizes our underlying portfolio technology to import an existing client portfolio and provide suitable replacements and unique insights such as opportunities for tax loss harvesting.

We are looking to speak with interested advisors to understand:

• The growing demand from advisors for this type of tool or service.
• How the tool was providing value and determine additional product specifications, if required.
• Evaluate the SMA review and proposal creation experience.

If there is interest from select advisors, we will develop and beta-test product in exchange for the final product at a deep, pilot program discount. Should you have any interest or would like to learn more, please reach out to us via Portformer chatbox or directly to Sean Kruzel at sean.kruzel@portformer.com.

Alternative data for COVID-19 Resource Center

We add new resources weekly that we have reviewed which highlight the environmental and economic impact to the U.S. and global systems.

• Upshot: Economy Before Government Orders – Graphic detaining consumer activity was waning prior to government shutdown orders.
• How Investors Reacted to COVID-19 – Excellent data visualization how investors reacted since outbreak commenced.
• USA Economy – Impact of Jobs Reports – Data visualization showing details of impact from deteriorating jobs reports.
• Bloomberg Green – Live Climate Databoard – Live data interaction showing impact to global climate from different manufacturing and environment activities.

Our advisor community is constantly sharing ideas for alternative data and trend information to enhance their research process so your suggestions are always welcome.

Posts

Here are the posts most read on Portformer.com this week

• Week in Review – 5/1/2020 | Sell in May and Go Away ?
• Portformer Performance During Market Correction
• Week in Review – 4/20/2020 | Who’s Slacking, Who’s Adapting

Question of the week

How has your external communication and media plan been impacted this year and modified to go forward ?

Please share with us via our chatbox at Portformer or reply to this email and the information will remain confidential.

What we’re reading:

Here is a snapshot of the best articles compiled and read by our team this week:

• Bond ETFs Survive March Debt Market Selloff with Fed’s Help – Article laying out the benefit of Fed support to the Bond ETF market.
• Market is 2nd Most Overvalued since 1999, David Tepper Says – Brief comments from hedge fund pro on the overvaluation of the current U.S. equity markets.
• Nouriel Roubini on shitcoin the Mother and Father of All Bubbles – CFA article from renown economist providing commentary on demand and price behavior of Bitcoin.
• Where are the Equity Market Returns Coming From– Analyst commentary on Seeking Alpha discussing what sectors are providing contribution to stock market recent gains.
• Morningstar Settles SEC Conflict of Interest Charges – $3.5M fine – Investment News article detaining settlement of fine with conflict of interest charges associated with credit ratings and sales teams.
• Eric Balchunas: Tweet on JPM closing Hedge Fund ETFs – Tweet from Bloomberg expert on signal from JPM for demand of hedge fund ETFs.
• Federal Reserve Starts to Buy Bond ETFs – First Step into Corporate Bond Markets – Article discussing the Fed’s first foray into the corporate bond markets and the response.
• Meet the Hedge Fund Beating Markets by Trading in only 3 ETFs – Forbes article detailing performance success at Alpine Quantitative Management through fund of Treasuries, long-term bonds and S&P 500 ETFs.

If you have any difficulty accessing these articles and papers, please reach us through our chat window or directly at john.dibenedetto@portformer.com.

The valuation of small businesses have been dramatically impacted during this period and the business owner is doing everything to survive from filing for PPP to preparing their employees for the reopening of the economy. Whether they are a client or a prospect, we can help with resources through a quick, scheduled 15 min – Zoom call.

For more real-time content updates and links, please follow us on social media at Twitter @Portformer and LinkedIn at Portformer.

Let us help you keep your business moving forward !

Stay safe,

John DiBenedetto and the Portformer™ Team