The month of April began with a fast and furious market selloff that was accelerated by the U.S. trade war. With widespread losses and a historic selloff across Asian financial markets, tariff fears continued to rattle traders throughout the month.
Gold appeared to be the best place to take cover as tariff turmoil sparked its climb to record highs, reaching more than US$3,400 per ounce.
BMO Asset Management held the top spots for best performing ETFs for April, with BMO Junior Gold Index ETF (ZJG-T) experiencing a 6.8% price appreciation. The fund closely tracks the Dow Jones North America Select Junior Gold Index. The BMO Equal Weight Global Gold Index ETF (ZGD-T) trailed with a price appreciation of 5%. This fund is designed to replicate the Solactive Equal Weight Global Gold Index. Harvest Global Gold Giants Index ETF (HGGG-T), which primarily invests in large gold mining issuers, took third place with a price movement of 4.9%
Additions
April was a busy month as it welcomed 36 new ETFs to the Canadian marketplace.
RBC Global Asset Management
RBC GAM launched five new ETFs to its fixed income repertoire, four of which focus on corporate bonds from companies in North America (RQT-T, RUQT-T, RUQT-U-T).
The RBC Target 2031 Canadian Government Bond ETF (RGQT-T) is the lone fund of the list that invests in government bonds. These new issues are designed with a 2031 calendar year maturity, after which the ETF is to be terminated.
The RBC Canadian Ultra Short Term Bond ETF (RUST-T) focuses primarily on short-term fixed income securities by Canadian corporations that have a remaining term to maturity of 12 months or less.
Finally, the RBC Global Large-Cap Equity Fund (RGLE-NE), listed on the Cboe Canada exchange, seeks long-term growth through a core global equity investment strategy concentrating on large-cap companies across a range of sectors.
Global X ETFs
Global X added a range of equal weighted sector-based funds, offering targeted exposure to real estate (REIT-T), banks (UBNK-T), consumer staples (UMRT-T), healthcare (MEDX-T), and telecommunications (RNCC-T). Its Enhanced Equal Weight lineup employs a covered call strategy to provide high monthly cash distributions to its unitholders and also targets the telecommunications sector (RNCL-T) and additionally gold (GLCL-T). The Global X Defense Tech ETF (SHLD-T) invests in companies positioned to benefit from the growing use of defence technology. This includes companies that deal with cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and big data.
Lastly, Global X listed two bitcoin ETFs on the Cboe exchange. The Global X Bitcoin Covered Call ETF (BCCC-NE, BCC-U-NE) aims to generate income through a dynamic covered call writing program. The Enhanced version (BCCL-NE, BCCL-U-NE) also employs a covered call strategy but endeavours to enhance income potential and mitigate portfolio volatility.
Harvest ETFs
Harvest Portfolios Group announced two offerings that aim to provide investors with lower overall volatility of portfolio returns. The Harvest Low Volatility Canadian Equity ETF (HVOL-T) will invest in 40 top Canadian equities, ranked and weighted by their risk score and market capitalization, with a 4% maximum weight per name. Harvest Low Volatility Canadian Equity Income ETF (HVOI-T) follows the same strategy with added covered call/put options to reduce volatility and generate month cash distributions.
Invesco ETFs
Invesco Canada launched the Invesco S&P/TSX 60 Equal Weight Index ETF (EQLT), adding to its Equal Weighted ETF Suite. The fund tracks the S&P/TSX 60 Index with equal weighting and will be rebalanced on a quarterly basis.
Additionally, the Invesco RAFI U.S. Index ETF II, both the CAD hedged (PXS-T) and the USD version (PXS-U-T), invests primarily in U.S. equities to replicate the performance of the RAFI Fundamental Select US 1000 Index.
Mackenzie ETFs
Mackenzie designed two target maturity bond solutions to provide predictable income for specific target dates with the assurance of principal safety. The Mackenzie Target 2027 North American IG Corporate Bond ETF (MTBA-T) and the Mackenzie Target 2029 North American IG Corporate Bond ETF (MTBB-T) are fixed income options for portfolio diversification, offering attractive yields similar to GICs while allowing a portfolio to be tailored to time frames and objectives. These funds will invest primarily in investment-grade debt instruments of North American issuers that have an effective maturity in each respective year.
Other launches
TD Asset Management issued the TD All-Equity ETF Portfolio (TEQT-T) to provide broad global market exposure through investments in other equity-oriented ETFs for a low cost of 0.15%.
The Hamilton Enhanced Mixed Asset ETF (MIX-T) strives to enhance growth potential by employing a modest 25% leverage as it seeks to replicate a 1.25 times multiple of the Solactive Hamilton Mixed Asset Index.
Crypto ETFs
Four asset managers launched ETFs that provide exposure to Solana tokens (SOL), a digital currency that originated from the Solana blockchain platform.
CI Global Asset Management introduced the CI Galaxy Solana ETF along with its US dollar-denominated unhedged version (SOLX-B-T, SOLX-U-T). The fund invests directly in Solana tokens, one of the world’s largest digital currencies by market capitalization and the cryptocurrency that powers the Solana blockchain network. The ETF is sub-advised by Galaxy Asset Management.
Evolve Funds Group listed the Evolve Solana ETF along with its US dollar unhedged units (SOLA-T, SOLA-U-T). The fund’s objective is to provide investors with exposure to the price of Solana by holding the token through Coinbase and other reputable trading platforms. Evolve will effectively waive the management fee for the 2025 calendar year.
Purpose Investments debuted three Purpose Solana ETFs to capitalize on growth of the Solana token. The FX hedged (CAD) (SOLL-T), the non-FX hedged (CAD) (SOLL-B-T), and the USD unhedged units (SOLL-U-T) offer easy access to this leading blockchain technology while earning rewards from its growth potential.
Collateralized loan obligations (CLO)
Collateralized loan obligations (CLO) have emerged as a source for potential return. It is an investment vehicle whereby a diverse pool of broadly syndicated loans is securitized by an investment bank. The various tranches of debt are sold to a subset of investors depending on their risk appetite. Since CLOs do not trade on an exchange, they can be accessed via ETFs.
Brompton Funds unveiled the Brompton Wellington Square AAA CLO ETF (BAAA-T, BAAA-U-T) to offer investors high monthly income and capital preservation through investment in an actively managed portfolio of primarily AAA rated CLOs. CLOs will be selected by the Sub-advisor and will generally range in credit quality from AAA to BBB, with a minimum of 75% of the portfolio invested in AAA rated CLOs.
Amy Mak is ETF Specialist at Inovestor.
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