Couldn't resist quoting RoboCop, even though it's not quite relevant.
Today's listings
Australia
ETF Securities lists robotics ETF in Sydney
ETF Securities has teamed up with US index provider ROBO Global to launch the ETFS ROBO Global Robotics and Automation ETF (ROBO) on the Australian Stock Exchange. ROBO will track an index of companies that make cutting edge technologies, like high-level robotics, cloud computing and AI. Most companies the index tracks are Japanese and American. With the listing, Australia becomes the fourth country to have an ETF tracking this index. The UK also has one, again by ETFS, Exchange Traded Concepts has one in the US, and Korea has one from Samsung Kodex.
The global robotics industry was valued at $64 billion in 2015. But it's predicted to grow rapidly over the next ten years. Demand for AI is particularly strong, with businesses pushing for productivity gains and wanting to shield their intellectual capital from staff exoduses.
Taiwan
An ETF everyone will want
Everyone wants high dividends and low volatility. So why not make an ETF for it. Taiwan's biggest ETF provider Yuanta has listed a new factor ETF in Taipei, the High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (00713). As its name suggests, 00713 will target Taiwanese stocks that pay higher dividends while keeping their volatility low.
Today's news from around the web
US universities retreat from ETFs
American universities have huge endowments and have historically held large sums of it in ETFs. But the past year universities have moved away from ETFs and into mutual funds or plain old equities. Their reasons for moving are not clear.
Lithium ETF gets its time in the sun
At long last lithium is booming, thanks to Chinese demand for electric vehicles (lithium is a major element in car batteries). There is only one ETF exposed purely to lithium: The Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT), which was launched in 2010 in belief that one day lithium will boom. With year-to-date performance of 48 percent, LIT's time has finally come.
