San Antonio, June 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- U.S. Global Investors, Inc. (NASDAQ: GROW) is thrilled to announce that assets under management (AUM) in the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) crossed above $1 billion for the first time ever as of Tuesday, June 2. That’s a 30-fold increase from the $33.18 million in AUM as of March 2, its recent low. The smart-beta 2.0 ETF—the only pure-play airlines investment product currently available, with a distinctive portfolio structure that uses five key factors to pick stocks—also saw record daily trading volume of 12.6 million shares on May 27.
In the weeks since airline stocks fell 50 percent due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions, JETS has seen significant inflows by deep-value investors and hedge funds seeking exposure to an industry that most consider essential in today’s interconnected world. These inflows have accelerated as the outlook for an effective COVID-19 vaccine has become more promising, pushing airline stocks higher.
“This is by far the most exciting thing to happen to JETS since its debut in 2015,” explains Frank Holmes, CEO and chief investment officer. “Most fund groups probably wouldn’t have kept a product on the shelf for five years if it had under $100 million in assets, but we believed so strongly in JETS that we continued to offer it to investors. Our patience and commitment to keeping the ETF alive has been greatly rewarded.
“We’ve seen an explosion in the number of retail investors who hold JETS,” continues Mr. Holmes. “In the three months through June 3, the number of Robinhood clients investing in JETS rose from 386 at the beginning of March to more than 30,000, a remarkable 77-fold increase. This has made JETS one of the top 10 most popular ETFs on the Robinhood platform as of June 3. Investors also came from Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade. As of May 29, JETS saw 63 straight days of positive fund flows.”
A recovery in commercial air travel may already be underway. The number of passengers screened daily in the U.S. by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has steadily been gaining momentum since carriers were first grounded in an effort to limit the spread of the pandemic. On June 1, as many as 353,261 people boarded commercial flights in the U.S., up more than 300 percent from a low of 87,534 people on April 14.
That’s still well below the 2.4 million passengers who flew on average each day a year earlier, but judging from the recent record inflows into JETS, investors appear to be betting that the commercial airline industry will have a strong rebound following the crisis.
Please consider carefully a fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. For this and other important information, obtain a statutory and summary prospectus by visiting www.usglobaletfs.com. Read it carefully before investing.
Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Shares of any ETF are bought and sold at market price (not NAV), may trade at a discount or premium to NAV and are not individually redeemed from the fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. Because the fund concentrates its investments in specific industries, the fund may be subject to greater risks and fluctuations than a portfolio representing a broader range of industries. The fund is non-diversified, meaning it may concentrate more of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund. The fund invests in foreign securities which involve greater volatility and political, economic and currency risks and differences in accounting methods. These risks are greater for investments in emerging markets. The fund may invest in the securities of smaller-capitalization companies, which may be more volatile than funds that invest in larger, more established companies. The performance of the fund may diverge from that of the index. Because the fund may employ a representative sampling strategy and may also invest in securities that are not included in the index, the fund may experience tracking error to a greater extent than a fund that seeks to replicate an index. The fund is not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the index. Airline companies may be adversely affected by a downturn in economic conditions that can result in decreased demand for air travel and may also be significantly affected by changes in fuel prices, labor relations and insurance costs.
Smart beta refers to a type of exchange-traded fund (ETF) that uses a rules-based system for selecting investments to be included in the fund portfolio.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting actions to control or slow the spread has had a significant detrimental effect on the global and domestic economies, financial markets and industries, including airlines. U.S. Global Investors continues to monitor the impact of COVID-19, but it is too early to determine the full impact this virus may have on commercial aviation. Should this emerging macro-economic risk continue for an extended period, there could be an adverse material financial impact to the U.S. Global Jets ETF.
Distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC. U.S. Global Investors is the investment adviser to JETS.
All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Opinions are not guaranteed and should not be considered investment advice.
Attachment