Wall Street veteran 'Dr Doom' to enter $9.4T ETF space

Economist Nouriel Roubini, who earned the “Dr. Doom” moniker for his warnings of disaster ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, is looking to become the latest high-profile Wall Street veteran to make their mark in the $9.4 trillion ETF universe.

The Atlas America Fund, which would count him as one of three portfolio managers, would be actively managed and invest in a variety of assets, including potentially US government, corporate and municipal bonds, real estate, equities and gold, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It aims to generate stable returns with low volatility and limited correlation with broader equity markets, protecting against downside risks during periods of financial market stress.

Roubini, who runs Roubini Macro Associates, is the latest in a long list of prominent economists and investors to attach their names to ETFs. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee was listed on a Monday filing for the Fundstrat Granny Shots US Large Cap ETF. Fairlead’s Katie Stockton launched her ETF, which trades under the ticker TACK, in 2022, while Jim Bianco, of Bianco Research, lent his name to the WisdomTree Bianco Total Return Fund.

“ETFs are the present and future of asset management, so all kinds of market participants — whether tested or untested — are gravitating toward the wrapper to attempt to expand their investor base and revenues,” said Todd Sohn, an ETF strategist at Strategas. Still, “success is not guaranteed — ETF success is earned, not given.” 

After gaining prominence for his prescience on the housing bubble that sparked the 2008 crisis, Roubini has been a regular skeptic of the extended runup in US stocks, and has often questioned the health of the US economy.

Recently he co-authored a paper in which he accused the US Treasury of manipulating debt issuance in a way that lowers real borrowing costs across the economy, a charge US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen firmly rejected.

Roubini is the co-founder of Atlas Capital Team, where he’s helping develop investing strategies that protect against high-risk regimes including out-of-control inflation, climate change and civil unrest. The firm’s website says its leadership team includes individuals who have previously worked at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Binance and BlackRock Inc.