Goldman Sachs is taking on Cathie Wood in the market for innovation-focused exchange-traded funds. On Thursday, Goldman Sachs Asset Management unveiled Goldman Sachs Future Tech Leaders Equity, an actively managed fund investing in tech companies with market capitalizations of less than $100 billion. The fund is trading on the NYSE under the ticker GTEK.
In a call with reporters, portfolio managers Sung Cho and Brook Dane noted that the fund is a version of a strategy that Goldman has used outside the U.S., with about $5 billion under management. They said that investors should diversify their tech holdings from the five mega-caps that now make up about a quarter of the S&P 500— Apple , Alphabet , Amazon.com , Facebook , and Microsoft .
The new fund resembles Wood’s ARK ETFs, in particular, ARK Innovation, which has some $25 billion in assets. But there are differences. Goldman targets small- and mid-cap stocks, which would rule out some ARK names, notably Tesla . Goldman also has nearly half its holdings in non-U.S. companies, with 25% to 35% in emerging markets.
The fund will target cloud computing, online entertainment, semiconductors, and fintech. The managers cited Atlassian , an Australia-based provider of workflow management software, and Kingdee International Software , a Chinese company that sells cloud-based enterprise resource planning software; Adyen , an Amsterdam-based payments platform; Bill.com , which sells financial software for midsize businesses; Palo Alto Networks,
a security software company, and
Entegris , which makes specialty chemicals and materials for semiconductors.
Last Week
Back to School
Blue September is back. Inflation cooled, but stocks slid as producer prices raced ahead of consumer prices. Rising energy prices fueled a midweek rebound, which then fizzled. The Federal Reserve announced an ethics review of senior officials trading stocks, while an inquiry found that the World Bank altered China ranking data for support on a funding boost. On the week, the Dow industrials slipped less than 0.1%, to 34,584.88; the S&P 500 shed 0.6%, to 4432.99; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%, to 15,043.97.
Oil Prices 101
OPEC raised its forecast for 2022 oil demand by nearly a million barrels a day, but cut supply estimates for 2021 by 200,000 a day, blaming Hurricane Ida. For its part, the International Energy Agency said Ida would reduce supply this year by 150,000 barrels a day, but the Delta variant would shrink demand by 100,000. Prices rose.
Tax Planning
House Democrats floated changes to a tax-reform package, seeking a smaller increase in corporate taxes, 26.5% rather than the White House’s 28%, and a smaller capital-gains levy, 25%, rather than 39.6%. However, they also included a surtax of 5% on individual incomes over $5 million, which the White House hadn’t included. House Democrats also compromised on voting rights, hoping to attract GOP votes and possibly setting up a clash over the filibuster in the Senate.
Say Hello to 13
Apple ’s “California streaming” event—it was virtual again—introduced four updated iPhones (the iPhone 13s), new iPads, and an Apple Watch. The day before the rollout, Apple said it fixed a software flaw that Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO had exploited through its Pegasus surveillance tool.
Ant Under Attack
China isn’t finished with Ant Group yet. Regulators had ordered Ant to spin off credit card and unsecured lending units into a separate entity with new shareholders. Now, officials have ordered the unit to build an app separate from Ant, and turn over user data to a company partially owned by the government. Chinese officials are also scrutinizing Macau’s casinos, tanking the stocks, and fears spread that real estate giant China Evergrande would default on $89 billion in debt after it hired restructuring advisers.
Annals of Deal Making
The Wall Street Journal reported that Invesco has been talking about a merger with the asset management business of State Street…TransUnion agreed to buy information services company Neustar, owned by Golden Gate Capital, for $3.1 billion… Canadian Pacific Railway won Kansas City Southern for $27 billion, beating out Canadian National Railway
…TurboTax owner Intuit said it would pay $12 billion for email-marketer Mailchimp, its largest deal ever… Goldman Sachs
agreed to buy point-of-sale lender GreenSky for $2.2 billon.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
