In Chelsea, Massachusetts, a 2-year-old boy owes his life to a stuffed cow. The Boston Globe reports that the boy was bouncing on his bed and accidentally sailed right through an open window. He landed on a concrete slab in the backyard, but avoided serious injury because he was clutching his two-foot tall stuffed cow.
In Orlando, Florida, a man was stopped for driving without headlights. Police found a white power substance in his car and said a field test showed it tested positive for co.caine. The man said he repeatedly told officers that it was drywall, according to the Associated Press. He spent 90 days in jail before lab results determine it was drywall. The news report did not say whether the man is seeking restitution.
In Alpharetta, Georgia, police stopped a man for speeding. But the officer was not prepared for what he saw in the car. In the passenger seat was a life-sized alien doll with a seatbelt on. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the man did not explain why he had this “passenger.” The driver got off with a verbal warning—and some laughs from the officer—who took pictures and posted them on social media.
In Sydney, Australia, Opal cards are part of the smartcard ticketing system used for public transport services in the greater Sydney area and can be used for transport via bus, rail, light rail and ferry services within the city. The near-field communication chip within each of the cards is required for entering and exiting the transport stations. To avoid losing his card, a man had the near-field communication chip from an Opal card cut down, encased in bio-compatible plastic, and inserted into his body just beneath the skin on the side of his left hand, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. But, that wasn’t what struck me about the story. The man’s name is Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow.
At Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China, an airplane passenger’s superstitious actions ended up grounding a China Southern Airlines flight for several hours. The woman threw a handful of coins into an Airbus 320’s engine to “wish a safe flight,” according to police. Fellow travelers said they saw the elderly woman toss the change from halfway up the boarding staircase. Crew members ordered passengers who had already boarded off the aircraft so engineers could inspect the engine. They found one coin inside the engine and eight on the ground nearby, the South China Morning Post reports. The flight eventually departed about five hours later than scheduled.
Irish weather man experiences winds he’s reporting.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management today announced the launch of
GSSC, the sixth product in its ActiveBeta suite of exchange traded funds
(ETFs). The fund seeks to provide low-cost access to small capitalization U.S.
equities by tracking GSAM’s proprietary Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Small
Cap Equity Index.
GSSC will be passively managed by GSAM’s Quantitative Investment
Strategies team.
“Over the last two years, we have
focused on building a suite of
innovative, low-cost ETFs that allow investors to access key markets
while
harnessing the time-tested benefits of a factor-diversified approach,”
says Michael Crinieri, GSAM’s global head of ETF strategy. “After
applying our
ActiveBeta approach to large cap equities in the U.S. as well
as in emerging markets, developed international equities, Europe and
Japan, we are
thrilled to now apply it to a market as dynamic and diverse as U.S.
small cap
equities.”
The index seeks to emphasize and underweight certain securities
according to performance factors including value, momentum, quality and low volatility.
It aims to remain broadly in-line with traditional market-cap weighted U.S. small
cap indices.
“GSSC is a result of continued investor demand for products that
offer a multi-factor investment approach, providing exposure to small cap
equities by leveraging our quantitative investment expertise,” says Gary Chropuvka, head of customized beta strategies
within the Quantitative Investment Strategies team.
NEXT: WisdomTree Sprouts New Smart Beta ETF
WisdomTree Sprouts
New Smart Beta ETF
WisdomTree has launched a new smart beta exchange-traded
fund (ETF), the WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor Fund (USMF), on the BATS Exchange.
USMF seeks to track the price and yield performance of the WisdomTree U.S.
Multifactor Index and has a net expense ratio of 0.28%.
The ETF
employs what WisdomTree calls an alpha-driven smart beta strategy,
meaning the fund will directly target multiple smart beta factors. The
WisdomTree
U.S. Multifactor Index was designed to beat the market through a
selection and
weighting methodology allowing for exposure to value, quality, momentum,
size
and low correlation, while managing volatility and maintaining sector
neutrality.
Luciano Siracusano, chief investment strategist at
WisdomTree explains, “WisdomTree’s existing suite of dividend- and
earnings-weighted ETFs have typically tapped into the smart beta factors of
value, quality and size and, in many instances, have outperformed their market
capitalization-weighted benchmarks, while exhibiting relatively low tracking
error against those benchmarks. But, for investors willing to assume higher tracking
error relative to traditional market capitalization-weighted benchmarks, a
multifactor approach, such as the WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor Fund, has the
potential to enhance returns, while providing greater factor diversification
and thus, may lower volatility compared to single-factor approaches.”
For more information about the USMF, visit WisdomTree.com.
NEXT: Manning & Napier Rolls out Disciplined
Value CIT
Manning & Napier
Rolls out Disciplined Value CIT
Manning & Napier have launched the Disciplined Value
Collective Investment Trust Fund (CIT). It will be offered as a U-class, zero-revenue share product with a trustee fee of 0.25%.
First established in 2003, Manning & Napier's Disciplined Value
strategies are a suite of value-oriented, systematic equity portfolios. These
strategies aim to provide competitive returns consistent with the broad equity
market while also providing a level of capital protection during market downturns.
Securities are selected from a universe of mid-to-large capitalization
companies based on factors such as free cash flow yield, dividend yield,
dividend sustainability, and financial health.
"According to a recent Manning & Napier survey, 83%
of employers are concerned about the current increase in litigation pertaining
to investment selection and fee reasonableness," observes Shelby George,
defined contribution practice leader at Manning & Napier. "CITs are an
increasingly important part of the fiduciary due diligence process. While it
has always been important for fiduciaries to consider CITs because of the many
benefits they provide to participants, today's 401(k) fee litigation is making
it essential for fiduciaries to give CITs a hard look."
"We
continue to develop solutions to meet participant needs," George adds.
"Today's slow growth outlook and volatility coupled with low
interest rates create a challenging environment, particularly for
participants
nearing retirement. The Disciplined Value CIT is designed to help these
participants generate strong absolute returns with lower volatility
while
providing consistent downside risk management."
The Disciplined Value strategy is available as a separately managed
account with a minimum investment of $250,000, and as a mutual fund.
NEXT: SEI Trust Releases U.S. CIT with Canadian Firm
SEI Trust Releases U.S. CIT with Canadian Firm
SEI Trust Company
has partnered with Montreal-based investment management firm Addenda Capital to
launch a collective investment trust (CIT) fund in the United States.
SEC-registered Addenda will serve as adviser to the fund.
The company
conducts research integrating ESG (environmental, social and governance)
factors into its investment processes with an aim for long-term returns and low
turnover.
“Building
on our success in Canada, we want to intensify our business development
activities in the United States,” says Roger Beauchemin, president and
CEO of Addenda Capital. “Our international equity strategy has
performed well above industry average and we are confident that we can
deliver
superior results to investors thanks to our 20-plus years of experience,
our
innovative approach and the CIT’s low-cost structure. We now have
dedicated
resources to build relationships with institutional investors and
consultants
across the U.S.”