The S&P 500 Equal Weight index mutual fund (Nasdaq: INDEX) is similar in composition to other equal-weight products.

After realizing that the top 10%—or top 50—stocks in the S&P 500 make up around 50% of its market capitalization, while the
bottom 40% of stocks are barely represented, Index Funds sought to create an indexed product that better represents S&P 500 constituents.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight index fund is Index Funds’ first product and carries an expense ratio of only 30 basis points 

Though the fund was launched months ago with $3 million in seed money, Index Funds began a marketing push after the August 24 market decline, when many indexed ETFs experienced price drops many times larger than the decline of their constituent stocks.

Unlike smart-beta ETFs, Index Funds’ mutual fund does not trade like a stock and is not subject to intraday volatility.  

The new fund will be rebalanced quarterly with the S&P 500 index, and will be managed by Index Funds president Michael Willis.

“There’s a good reason why $7 trillion USD are benchmarked to the S&P 500 index; most investors and managers can’t beat it,” Willis said. “We tried to beat the S&P 500 for 20 years and we couldn’t, so we launched a mutual fund company solely dedicated to creating low-cost index funds.”
 

Securian Introduces Guaranteed Minimum Accumulation Benefit
St. Paul, Minn.-based Securian Financial Group has launched SureTrack Plus 90, a new guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit for variable annuities.

The new benefit is available for use on select variable annuities issued by Minnesota Life Insurance Company and distributed through Securian Financial Services for an additional cost. On the benefit date, clients are guaranteed a contract value that equals their total purchase payments or 90% of the highest anniversary contract value, whichever is greater.

The SureTrack Plus 90 may suit clients within 10 years from retirement who are looking for market participation with a base guarantee.

 

Voth Nixon Group Launches Alternative Strategies Fund
Hong Kong-based Voth Nixon Group has launched a new fund aimed at delivering a mix of income and growth.

The Matured Capital Revenue Fund incorporates stocks, bonds, loans and convertibles, taking advantage of asset classes not typically found in conventional balanced funds. 

“Rather than just choosing a stock or a bond, we work in cooperation with our fixed-income research team to assess and comprehend a company’s complete capital structure,” said Alexander Wong Voth, CFO.

The fund will attempt to deliver higher returns using lower-grade fixed-income investments and equities with proven growth performance, which is the opposite of how conventional funds usually operate. 

 

BlackRock Launches New Fixed-Income ETFs
New York-based BlackRock has announced two new Canadian strategic fixed-income ETFs through subsidiary BlackRock Canada.

The iShares Conservative Strategic Fixed Income ETF and the iShares Conservative Short Term Strategic Fixed Income ETF join the iShares Short Term Strategic Fixed Income ETF to form a model-driven suite of fixed-income ETFs designed to respond to market volatility and the current low-rate environment.

The two new funds are designed to appeal to investors with conservative risk profiles by limiting their exposure to high-yield securities but getting them access to hard-to-reach international securities such as emerging market corporate bonds.

 

OppenheimerFunds Unveils Global Multi-Asset Growth Fund
New York-based OppenheimerFunds has launched a new Global Multi-Asset Growth Fund.

The new fund will invest across asset classes, attempting to efficiently provide risk-adjusted growth while mitigating downside risk and volatility.

CIO Mark Hamilton and portfolio managers Dokyoung Lee, Alessio de Longis and Benjamin Rockmuller will co-manage the fund.

Since joining OppenheimerFunds in 2013, Hamilton has led a 20-person investment team with deep experience across traditional and alternative assets and expertise in quantitative, fundamental and macroeconomic analysis.

Founded in 1959, Oppenheimer managed over $233 billion in assets as of July 31, 2015.

 

New Index Tracks Climate-Friendly Companies
San Francisco-based Etho Capital has launched the Etho Climate Leadership Index, the first index of climate change leaders.

The new index will exclude fossil fuel companies while focusing on climate efficiency and social responsibility in an attempt to take advantage of the growing fossil fuel divestment movement.

To find names for the index, Etho Capital reviewed more than 5,000 commonly traded public companies and identified the most carbon-efficient climate leaders in each industry, combining quantitative data, socially responsible investing expertise and broad sector diversification.

Etho Capital plans to launch an ETF comprising these equities later this year.