Impact Shares Introduces Trio Of Nonprofit-Focused ETFs
Impact Shares introduced three ETFs that aim to help specific nonprofit organizations and the causes they espouse. The Impact Shares NAACP Minority Empowerment ETF (NACP) is structured to reflect the social mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The Impact Shares YWCA Women's Empowerment ETF (WOMN) invests in companies with strong policies and practices in support of women’s empowerment and gender equality. And the Sustainable Development Goals Global Equity ETF (SDGA) contains companies deemed to have a commitment to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals designed to make a positive impact in the world’s 47 least-developed countries. All three products carry expense ratios of 0.76%.
Based in Frisco, Texas, Impact Shares is an investment management firm and 501(c)(3) nonprofit with financial backing from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Zero Gap portfolio. Its goal is to partner with leading nonprofit organizations that want to leverage capital markets to further their missions and increase their social impact.
Impact Shares donates its net management fee to the nonprofit linked to a specific ETF. That would be the NAACP for the NACP fund; YWCA USA for WOMN and the United Nations Capital Development Fund for SDGA. The last is an agency whose mission is to unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development in the least-developed countries.
Defiance Debuts Quantum Computing ETF
Quantum computing seems like an abstruse concept. But it is here and growing and has potentially powerful capabilities. The Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM) tracks the BlueStar Quantum Computing and Machine Learning Index, an equal-weight benchmark of roughly 60 companies involved with the research and development or commercialization of systems and materials used in quantum computing. That includes advanced traditional computing hardware, high-powered computing data connectivity solutions and cooling systems, and companies that specialize in the collection and management of big data used in machine learning.
According to QTUM’s product literature, quantum computers use principles of quantum mechanics to perform highly complex computations, at exponentially faster speeds, than conventional computers. It is believed quantum computing will enhance machine learning, as well as benefit a range of industries including aerospace and defense, autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, drug discovery, energy and finance.
Quantum computers differ from electronic computers in that they exploit the behavior of subatomic particles as described by quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanical mathematics requires fewer steps, which makes quantum computing more efficient and much faster than traditional computers. But there are serious engineering challenges to building quantum computers, which essentially means the QTUM fund is an entrée into an early-stage industry.
QTUM sports an expense ratio of 0.65%.
New Gold ETF Can Be Exchanged For Physical Gold
The Perth Mint Physical Gold ETF (AAAU) is billed as the first gold ETF/ETP that lets investors exchange their shares for physical gold. Investors who cash out of AAAU have the option to exchange their shares for delivery of physical gold in the form of bullion bars and coins from the Perth Mint, Australia’s largest precious metals refining, minting and depository business. The gold can be delivered to an approved location of the investor’s choice.
The AAAU fund, which trades on the NYSE Arca exchange, is backed by physical gold with a purity of at least 99.5% and is secured within the mint’s network of vaults. The underlying gold is guaranteed by the state government of Western Australia, which happens to be the owner of the Perth Mint. That’s why the fund is touted as the first of its kind in which the underlying physical gold is guaranteed by a sovereign entity.
The fund has an investor-friendly expense ratio of 0.18%.