In the Margins

Thematic ETFs: Gimmick or smart strategy?

April 19, 2017

By MarketWatch

Fund issuers have been looking for ways to tap into the market for exchange-traded funds, and as a result, the market has been flooded by new “thematic” ETFs, which track a narrow sliver of the equity market, focusing on a specific sub-sector of a broader industry. In the past year alone, funds dedicated to wearable technology, medical marijuana, health and fitness, 3D printing, the Internet of Things, and mobile payment—among many others—have all been launched. "The problem investors have isn’t that there aren’t enough products, it’s that the products aren’t good. You don’t create 40 solutions by launching 40 funds; you just create new questions about how or if they should be used,” said Kevin Quigg, chief strategist at ACSI Funds. Read the original story from MarketWatch.

 

 

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