BIL offers a risk-free, highly liquid yield of 4.5%, making it ideal for conservative investors seeking income and capital protection. Persistent inflation and potential tariff impacts may keep rates higher for longer, supporting BIL's attractive yield relative to inflation. In a downturn, BIL provides capital safety and liquidity, allowing investors to redeploy funds into equities at opportune moments.
Mid-2025 is approaching, and exchange traded fund demand continues its robust growth. Last year was a landmark year for the ETF industry, with industry net inflows for the first time surpassing $1 trillion and one ETF exceeding $100 billion in net inflows.
Investors were eager to close the books on April's tariff-fueled market tantrum, which left both the Dow and S&P 500 riding three-month losing streaks despite a recent rebound. Equity ETF flows cooled, while fixed income ETFs put on a decisively skittish performance.
Some advisors are taking a tactical approach to investing. Many others are strategic and making 3-4 allocation changes a year.
Investors bet on defensive investments in short-term or ultra-short-term bond ETFs amid heightened uncertainty.
It's been another strong year for ETF demand. ETFs gathered approximately $350 billion of new money year-to-date through April 16.
On this week's episode of ETF Prime, host Nate Geraci and VettaFi Investment Strategist Cinthia Murphy analyze ETF flows and trends after a wild week in the markets. Later, Geraci welcomes VistaShares CEO Adam Patti to discuss the firm's unique approach to ETFs.
Tariffs have caused havoc on the market, with double-digit equity drawdowns and sky-high volatility. Lots of investments are tailor-made for these conditions, experiencing either negligible losses, or seeing significant gains, during recessions. There are ETFs tracking these investments. A look into six such ETFs follows.
BIL offers exposure to ultra-short U.S. government bonds with attractive yield and market volatility shield. The future interest rate path remains uncertain, as the hike in trade levies may result in lower GDP growth and higher inflation for the U.S. economy. BIL provides an attractive yield to shareholders, which could benefit further with up to a 4% return in a 12-month horizon.
We highlight some defensive investment strategies for investors amid the ongoing chaos.
Cash is becoming increasingly attractive due to negative equity risk premiums, widening credit spreads, making highly liquid instruments appealing. BIL ETF, with a 0.13% expense ratio and 4.31% yield to maturity, offers a stable, cash-like investment with minimal bid/ask spread. T-bills, once overlooked, might be the “lesser evil” in the market due to economic uncertainties, negative S&P 500 ERP, and risks in long-duration bonds.
It is remarkable how Wall Street was bullish just six short weeks ago, and the major indices were printing all-time highs.