(Washington)

Advisors better get ready because the Trumpian era of relatively loose SEC enforcement is about to come to an abrupt end. The SEC has just appointed a new enforcement chief and his record says everything about where the Commission is heading. Gurbir Grewal, former State Attorney General for New Jersey has been appointed as the SEC’s top enforcer. Very notably, Grewal proactively proposed a uniform fiduciary standard in his home state of New Jersey, which speaks volumes about his views.

FINSUM: So the bottom line here is that this is the clearest sign yet that the SEC seems likely to rather dramatically scale up its enforcement. Many are now expecting that the SEC will define “best interest” and then employ Grewal as a strongman on enforcement.

With so much of the innovation driving our economy coming from venture capital-backed companies, why can’t you find VC in most people’s investment portfolios? It’s because early-stage investing has been the sandbox of institutions and the wealthy. These savvy investors allocate to VC to take advantage of the high-growth prospects of startups. It helps that they have the means to withstand the massive financial commitments and fees, the risks of betting on a small number of companies and the years of illiquidity.

No fair. Ordinary investors could also benefit from enhancing their equity holdings with exposure to companies outside the public realm. What if they could have both the exposure to gross returns of the venture capital universe and the daily liquidity of public stocks? One index solved for that back in 2012. The Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Index (TRVCI) uses private company data to identify the systematic drivers of performance in the VC world and then assembles a portfolio of publicly traded securities that replicate those drivers.

Only one mutual fund, the AXS Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Return Tracker Fund (LDVIX), tracks this index by holding what is in the portfolio. That means retail investors can circumvent the restrictions of traditional VC investments and add well-diversified exposure to the high growth potential of the VC space.

(Washington)

In what would come as very welcome news for financial advisors, the newest version of the fiduciary rule may have its implementation delayed. The rule was first thrown out by the fifth circuit court a few years ago, then reproposed and accepted in the early part of Biden’s term. Now it is set to go into effect in December. However, a large contingency of trade groups are putting together a formal request to have the DOL delay the full implementation of the rule to give firms more time to get into compliance.

FINSUM: This is potentially good news, but in the longer term it is likely a moot point since it is widely expected that Biden’s DOL will be redrafting an entirely new version of the rule, and probably one that is closely aligned with the original iteration from the Obama era.

The market has almost everyone worried. Indices have been back and forth for months, but valuations keep grinding inexorably higher even as anxieties about the Fed and the economy proliferate. So how can advisors find the best returns for their clients in a way that potentially offers upside but also protects against a correction? The answer may be to add quality.

Take a look at the O’Shares US Quality Dividend ETF (OUSA). The fund is a quality-focused ETF that selects highly profitable, high quality companies with stable dividends. Investors intuitively understand that profitability is tied to returns, but many don’t understand the extent. Looking at five year returns in the S&P 500 using return on assets as a measure, one can see that top quartile companies have averaged a 20% return per year, more than double that of companies in the 4th quartile* . In other words, high quality companies provide a great deal more upside than their peers, and in a down market, these uber-profitable companies have also shown to exhibit better downside mitigation. Since inception (7/14/2015), OUSA has only captured 85% downside vs. 109% for the Russell 1000 Value Index using the S&P 500 as the reference benchmark, as of 6/30/2021.

Get ahead of the flight to quality in a down market. Get OUSA.

Performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost. For performance current to the most recent month-end, please visit https://oshares.com/ousa-us/#performance. Returns beyond 1 year are annualized. The total expense ratio is 0.48%. Click here for the fund's standardized returns.

Shares of the Funds are not individually redeemable and the owners of Shares may purchase or redeem Shares from each Fund in Creation Units only. The purchase and sale price of individual Shares trading on an Exchange may be below, at or above the most recently calculated NAV for such Shares.

Market Price returns are generally based on market value at 4:00PM Eastern time (when NAV is normally determined), and do not represent the returns you would receive if you traded shares at other times. Fund returns assume that dividends and capital gains distributions have been reinvested in the Fund at NAV.

*Definitions:

Russell 1000 Value Index: Measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth values.

S&P 500: The S&P 500® is widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities and serves as the foundation for a wide range of investment products. The index includes 500 leading companies and captures approximately 80% coverage of available market capitalization.

1st Quartile: Contains the top 25% of companies in the S&P 500 based on average 5-year return on assets. 2nd Quartile: Contains the top 25%-50% of companies in the S&P 500 based on average 5-year return on assets. 3rd Quartile: Contains the top 50%-75% of companies in the S&P 500 based on average 5-year return on assets. 4th Quartile: Contains the bottom 25% of companies in the S&P 500 based on average 5-year return on assets. ROA (Return on Assets): Indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets, in percentage. Calculated as (Trailing 12M Net Income / Average Total Assets) x 100. Higher ROA: Defined as companies with ROA that is above the average for the sector. Lower ROA: Defined as companies with ROA that is below the average for the sector.

- This is sponsored content by O’Shares ETFs -

Before you invest in O’Shares ETF Investments Funds, please refer to the prospectus for important information about the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. To obtain a prospectus containing this and other important information, please visit www.oshares.com to view or download a prospectus online. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest.

There are risks involved with investing including the possible loss of principal. Concentration in a particular industry or sector will subject the Funds to loss due to adverse occurrences that may affect that industry or sector. The Funds may use derivatives which may involve risks different from, or greater than, those associated with more traditional investments. A Fund's emphasis on dividend-paying stocks involves the risk that such stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform the market. Also, a company may reduce or eliminate its dividend after the Fund's purchase of such a company's securities. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Shares are bought and sold at market price (not NAV), are not individually redeemable, and owners of Shares may acquire those Shares from the Funds and tender those shares for redemption to the Funds in Creation Unit aggregations only, consisting of 50,000 Shares. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. The market price of Shares can be at, below, or above NAV. Market Price returns are based upon the midpoint of the bid/ask spread at 4:00 PM Eastern time (when NAV is normally determined), and do not represent the returns you would receive if you traded Shares at other times. O’Shares ETF Investments Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Foreside Fund Services, LLC is not affiliated with O’Shares ETF Investments or any of its affiliates.

(New York)

Usually big Wall Street banks are pretty moderate in their outlooks, and they are mostly bullish in general. Well, Bank of America Merrill Lynch didn’t hold back this week when they said the S&P 500 was at risk of a 16.5% tumble in the near term. The bank said that it expects the S&P 500 to fall 20 to 30 bp for every basis point increase in the ten-year Treasury. The bank thinks yields will rise 55 bp by the end the year, implying an up to 16.5% tumble in stocks. The bank says valuations are overstretched by almost every metric.

FINSUM: The bank did point out three sectors it felt were safer, which are energy, communications services, and health care.