Rolle im Portfolio
The Amundi ETF MSCI USA is best suited as a core building block for a portfolio, providing broad exposure to many of the largest companies in the world’s biggest economy. With over 600 large-cap and mid-cap constituents, the MSCI USA Index covers more than 80%of the U.S. equity market. It is well diversified by sector and security, with no industry accounting for more than 20% of the total, and no individual stock more than 3%. Increasingly, the underlying companies themselves are becoming geographically diversified, earning more of their revenue from outside the U.S.
U.S. equities comprise a large portion of many global equity indices. For example they make up roughly 55% of the MSCI World. So combining this fund with a global product might result in an overweighting to U.S. equities. It would therefore work better in conjunction with an EAFE or World ex-U.S. exposure.
Fundamentale Analyse
Over six years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the U.S. economy has taken the lead of countries on the path to economic recovery. With the main US equity benchmarks reaching their all-time highs in late 2014, the financial market nosedive in 2008 and the subsequent Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which bailed out AIG, Bank of America and Citigroup and rescued the automotive industry giants, seem like a distant memory.
Economic growth has had a 3% average annualised pace over the last 30 years but is expected to remain lower in 2015. The US is in the midst of its longest— and slowest— economic expansionary period since World War II. But the expansion doesn’t show signs of stopping in the short-term, with unemployment staying comfortably under the Federal Open Market Committee’s 6.5% target, and inflation remaining below the Fed’s 2% target.
The housing market continued its upward climb with improved home sales throughout 2014, all the while home prices have continued to rise year-on-year. The S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index 20-city composite rose 4.6% in the 12 months through the end of December 2014.
Improved economic conditions led the Federal Reserve to announce it will likely raise interest rates later in 2015. Janet Yellen, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, indicated interest rates would only be increased in small increments, not necessarily on any type of fixed schedule, and all changes would be data-driven, not automatic.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is in the early stages of a potentially game-changing energy revolution. The U.S. has become the world’s biggest gas producer, and the economy stands to benefit from a competitive advantage that follows the development of hydraulic fracturing technology, also known as fracking.
Indexkonstruktion
The MSCI USA Index is weighted by free-float-adjusted market capitalisation. It currently contains about 600 large- and mid-cap constituents, and covers over 80% of the U.S. equity market. Inclusion in the index requires passing screens for minimum total size and free float, trading volume and length of trading history. The index is formally reviewed on a quarterly basis, although adjustments can be made at any time in the case of a significant corporate action. New size cut-offs are recalculated semi-annually. The ongoing reviews are meant to ensure that eligible new stocks are added to the index, and that existing stocks continue to meet criteria. To control portfolio turnover, buffers are used for existing constituents, so that they are not immediately removed upon falling out of line with any of the index’s entrance criteria. The index is broadly diversified by industry. The most significant sector exposures are information technology at 17-21% and financials at 14-17%. Health care, consumer discretionary, industrials and consumer staples all had weights between 9% and 13%. There is limited portfolio concentration, with the top 10 positions accounting for just about 16-17% of the total. Top holdings include Apple, Exxon Mobil and Microsoft, at respective weights of 1-3% each.
Fondskonstruktion
The fund uses synthetic replication to provide exposure to the underlying benchmark, entering an unfunded swap transaction with counterparty BNP Paribas. The fund uses investors’ cash to buy a basket of securities. Eligible securities for the substitute basket include stocks of the MSCI Europe, the S&P 500, the Nikkei 225, as well as stocks from the underlying index. In compliance with UCITS III rules, the fund cannot have net counterparty exposure exceeding 10% of its net asset value (NAV), implying that the substitute basket must at a minimum be valued at 90% of the fund’s net assets. Amundi aims to maintain zero daily counterparty exposure. To achieve this, the portfolio manager resets the swap on a daily basis regardless of exposure. At the time of writing, the substitute basket was valued at 100.4% of the fund’s NAV. Under the terms of the swap, the counterparty agrees to provide the fund with exposure to the total return of the underlying index, net of any associated taxes, costs or fees. The fund does not engage in securities lending activity.
Gebühren
The fund’s total expense ratio (TER) is 0.28%, which is comparable to most of the other funds offering similar exposure. Other costs potentially borne by the unitholder but not included in the total expense ratio include swap fees and bid-ask spreads and brokerage fees when buy and sell orders are placed for ETF shares.
Alternativen
Many providers offer ETFs tracking the MSCI USA Index, including ComStage, HSBC, Lyxor, Source, db x-trackers, iShares, and UBS. Of these, the ComStage product has the lowest TER at 0.10%.
In addition, there are a large number of ETFs tracking index alternatives for U.S. equities, including the very popular S&P 500, which has fewer constituents, but has a comparable market cap breakdown and offers similar sector exposure. With a TER of 0.05%, the synthetic UBS ETF S&P 500 is among the cheapest.
For investors seeking a currency-hedged alternative, UBS offers an MSCI USA ETF hedged to GBP, CHF and EUR, each with a TER of 0.30%. There are also a number of currency-hedged ETFs that track the S&P 500, including db-x trackers S&P 500 (hedged) ETF and Amundi S&P 500 EUR Hedged Daily ETF, with TERs of 0.30% and 0.28%, respectively.
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