There are no changes to any of the models this week. The iShares model lineup and weekly iShares reports will be changing. We also take a look at the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 (FM).
There are no changes to any of the iShares models this week. We wanted to take this opportunity to alert you to some upcoming changes to the iShares models lineup and the weekly iShares reports. First, the iShares Alternative Report and iShares Equity Report will be consolidated into a single, all-encompassing iShares report, the “iShares ETF Report”. Additionally, the models will be streamlined and reduced to four models that can be seen as the essential portfolio building blocks. The inventories of the remaining models are currently going through an evaluation to determine if there are ways to expand coverage within the model’s asset class. The models that will remain are:
- The iShares Fixed Income Model ISHRFIXED;
- The iShares Sector Rotation Model ISHRSECT;
- The iShares International Model ISHRINTL; and
- The iShares Tactical Model ISHRTACTICAL.
The models that will no longer be available are:
- The iShares Alternatives Model ISHRALT;
- The iShares Developed Market Model ISHRDEV;
- The iShares Emerging Market Model ISHREMERG;
- The iShares Income Model ISHRINCOME;
- The iShares Sector Six Model ISHRSECT6; and
- The iShares Smart Beta Model ISHRSMART
Over the last 30 days, Frontier Markets has been one of the most improved groups in the Asset Class Group Scores system and has also crossed above the 4.0 score threshold for the first time since we've been tracking it. Frontier Markets are developing countries, which are more developed than so-called least developed countries (LDCs), yet are generally not large enough to be considered emerging markets.
If you have clients for whom you would like to gain exposure to Frontier Markets, you may wish to consider the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 ETF FM. FM’s five largest country exposures are currently Argentina (21.79%), Vietnam (17.91%), Kuwait (16.71%), Morocco (7.15%), and Kenya (6.89%). FM offers a 4.26 fund score, a positive score direction of 1.42, and offers a 1.14% yield. In addition, it comes with a bullish price objective of $60.50, indicating the potential for additional appreciation from here. Meanwhile, even after rallying from a February pullback, FM remains near the middle of its trading band, making it attractive for new exposure at current price levels.
