Anti ESG ‘God Bless America ETF’ has launched

Kutay Tanir/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Wall Street has received a new thematic exchange traded fund that works to fight against the growing ESG trend. The God Bless America ETF (NYSEARCA:YALL) launched on Tuesday, and finished slightly in the red as it dipped alongside the S&P 500 which also closed lower on the session.

YALL is an anti-ESG exchange traded fund that attempts to screen out companies that are listed as "activists." The ETF has been launched by Toroso Investments and is sub-advised by Curran Financial Partners.

Per the fund’s perspective: “The Sub-Adviser eliminates companies that, in the Sub-Adviser’s assessment, have emphasized politically left and/or liberal political activism and social agendas at the expense of maximizing shareholder returns.”

Moreover, YALL is an actively managed fund that is attached with a 0.65% expense ratio and will hold 30-40 companies. Of the ETF’s holdings, its top three positions are in Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA), and Amgen (AMGN). TSLA has a 7.98% weighting in YALL, whereas NVDA and AMGN have 5.79% and 5.06%portfolio stakes.

On Wednesday’s premarket trading session, YALL trades at $20.24 a share and has found itself +1.5%, after it closed lower by 0.5% on its debut. On its first trading day, YALL also experienced volumes of 502K.

YALL is not the first conservative type ETF to come to market, the Point Bridge America First ETF (MAGA) is another fund available that caters to investors with deep Republican political beliefs.

In broader financial news, stock index futures point to a higher open on Wednesday as major averages look to open in the green.

Dear readers: We recognize that politics often intersects with the financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to join the separate political discussion.

Comments

[mac ron]

Then there’s the Biden fund that invests in Biden policy driven agendas. Can’t pronounce the name with out stumbling, nor remember the ticker symbol and the fund fee is 10% for the big guy.

[Papparoach]

Redneck jamboree

[wanster]

Obama Investment advisors launching a new ETF - 'You didn't build that' fund (YDBT) . Fee is 4%, all taxes on cap gains and dividends go to build the Obama library (homeless shelter) on public park space near downtown Chicago. You didn't build that either - but that's another story in itself.

[george the animal steele]

@wanster I just bought his CHOOM ETF

Paypal, Pelaton and beyond meat

[Churchill32]

Great news, Four Red States Withdraw $1B In Gov't Investments In BlackRock:

www.mrctv.org/...

[mutsavj]

Love the sarcasm in the comment section. LMAO.

[george the animal steele]

Thank God we have strong competent leadership in Biden, Pelosi, AOC, Schumer. We will thrive as a nation under these super heroes!!!!

[Option Dog]

Brilliant idea. So many companies are WAY too political and woke (talking at you Starbucks and BlackRock) to the detriment of the people who invest in the company. SHUT UP and grow your business!

[Seeking Greater Fools]

@Option Dog Are you familiar with either stock? Hard to argue that any management "wokeness" has done has been detrimental to long-term shareholders.

[Surrational]

@Seeking Greater Fools I can see it firsthand in tech, DIE hires are useless for the most part.

[redriverd5452]

@Seeking Greater Fools While Starbucks, Blackrock & others may make money and be great investments for now, if their boards support & promote anti-capitalist politicians and agendas, we end up with Joe Biden, inflation, recession (stagflation), shortages, etc.. Oh, that's happening now! Thanks Joe, thanks Starbucks, thanks Blackrock, etc..

[Blowback2]

Never underestimate the power of the ‘New’ scam to rope them in…..

[george the animal steele]

@Blowback2 I agree Biden and build back broke has been terrible for America.

[GearDownBigShifter]

The irony of these types of funds is, if they succeed, it sets a precedent that activists truly do ruin everything. (that leftists will still ignore, because they are blinded by their weird, irrational & emotional lens of the world), but if these funds fail, it will just be “told you so”.

[User 56360468]

@GearDownBigShifter
The MAGA ETF has outperformed QQQ, SPY and EFIV, the SPDR S&P 500 ESG ETF over the last 5 days, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months.

[george the animal steele]

@Found.Alpha "Prosperity is the root of all evil". Joe Biden

[LenAnthony]

@george the animal steele
yeah, as long as it's someone else's prosperity. Or ... maybe I'm just wired backwards.

[Are you kidding]

Where can I find the anti-ETF ETF?

[User 56360468]

@Are you kidding it’s called picking individual stocks and bonds

[User 56360468]

How liberals started: “These Republican themed funds are to sucker MAGA fans”

How its going: The MAGA ETF has outperformed QQQ, SPY and EFIV, the SPDR S&P 500 ESG ETF over the last 5 days, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months.

www.barchart.com/...

[Thomas Mazzarino]

@Found.Alpha Get back to me in 10 years and adjust for expense ratio and dividend yield for total returns. I guarantee it will underperform the market bigly.

[User 56360468]

@Thomas Mazzarino There were also people telling me my Apple stock would be worthless 30 years ago and that my Amazon stock would be worthless 20 years ago. It takes brass balls to invest in risky tech companies. www.youtube.com/...

The MAGA ETF's component companies aren't even that risky, except to the crowd believing in eating ESG bugmeat and rainbow-powered solar cars. I myself have never joined the ESG green movement, Moonies or Hari Krishna. The Hari Krishna parades definitely look more fun than the leftist environmental protests calling for the end of oil and nuclear energy.

MAGA Top 10 Sectors
Finance 18.42%
Utilities 10.38%
Energy Minerals 9.69%
Electronic Technology 7.56%
Process Industries 6.99%
Transportation 6.29%
Health Technology 6.02%
Retail Trade 5.67%
Producer Manufacturing 5.48%
Industrial Services 4.69%

MAGA Top 10 Holdings
APA Corp. 0.78%
Allstate Corporation 0.77%
AutoZone, Inc. 0.77%
Globe Life Inc. 0.77%
Northrop Grumman Corp. 0.76%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation 0.76%
DiamonGas Energy, Inc. 0.76%
ConocoPhillips 0.76%
Eli Lilly and Company 0.76%
Pioneer Natural Resources Company 0.76%

[Thomas Mazzarino]

@Found.Alpha The prospectus, just like the YALL prospectus, warns:

"Political Criteria Risk. Because the Sub-Adviser evaluates the political activity of the companies in the Fund’s investment universe as part of its portfolio management process, it may forego some market opportunities available to other funds that do not consider political factors. The Fund’s consideration of political activity as a consideration in the portfolio management process may also prompt the Fund to sell a security at inopportune times. As a result, the Fund may underperform funds that do not evaluate companies based on political activity."

Additionally, you're paying a ridiculous 0.72% management fee for an ETF. It's hard to be more of a rube than that. If you don't see the lunacy of this arrangement, you deserve to lose money.

[Greenhorn Investor]

Ticker YALL. I have to say that's pretty clever.

[Papparoach]

@Greenhorn Investor bubba

[Pepsiguy5]

lol!

I'm holding my hard earned investment dollars back until the "rent is too damn high" fund gets launched.

[pg guy]

Proposed ETF for the opposite end of the God Bless America Fund spectrum, the Jeremiah Wright and B. Obama fund:
God D@mn America Fund.
Ticker: FUSA

[Big Tex 6988]

@pg guy Maybe Hunter can run it, but 10% for the Big Guy will make for a pretty fat expense ratio.

[Dividend Power]

For an ETF, the expense ratio is much too high at 0.65%.

[stark1606]

@Dividend Power The article said that it is a managed fund, not an index fund that would have a lower expense ratio right out of the gate.

[Dividend Power]

@stark1606 - It's an ETF, so it should have lower expenses as opposed to a regular active mutual fund.

www.investopedia.com/...

[CALgoldenBears]

@stark1606 I love how so-called investors focus on the expenses < performance. Yes expenses are important, but performance and churning are far more important. Plus, by now, one would know about “hidden expenses.”

[winthorp]

If this is an anti ESG fund we’re is Chevron, Conoco, Oxy and Enterprise Partners? And how aren’t some of these top five positions? Tesla and Nvidia, really- cmon man. How about some LNG stocks like Cheniere or Flex LNG.
Looks like a marketing gimmick to me.
Lewis Winthorp III

[Destroys_Groomers]

No dumber than Blackrock, to be fair.

[coroscant72]

@Destroys_Groomers - This was my take as well. It's just inverse Blackrock.

[Mollypik]

If I invest in this, can I put it on my resume? lol

[Seeking Greater Fools]

@Mollypik If you want to be broke and unemployed, go right ahead.

[Excalibur5]

And then there's the God Bless CCP ETF, which holds positions in Chinese companies. Big Guy always gets his 10%.

[Orangejulius]

Wow, a .65% expense ratio. Congrats to anyone foolish enough to fall for political pandering without looking under the hood.

The MAGA ETF at least seems to be an American fossil fuels focused ETF that is doing reasonably well compared to the S&P 500, but is massively underperforming pure-play XLE which has crushed the market over the past year. The .73% expense ratio on MAGA isn't helping it. XLE's .1% expense ratio simply makes it a better choice.

[Thomas Mazzarino]

@Orangejulius That's the point, everything with a MAGA or "Anti-Woke" label is designed to lure in rubes and extract their hard-earned dollars in exchange for subpar performance.

[Orangejulius]

@Thomas Mazzarino You know the saying... A fool and their money...

[Surrational]

@Thomas Mazzarino Or they simply like investing in companies who don't bring politics into business.