CNBC, pros launch model ETF portfolios

CNBC has teamed up with three experts on exchange-traded funds to develop model portfolios for advisers and investors.

The timing, of course, couldn’t be better: ETFs remain a hot investment, with $21 billion in inflows so far this year. And yet many advisers are scratching their heads over how they should trade the funds in the wake of the “flash crash” this month when more than two-thirds of ETFs temporarily lost most of their value.

The cable news channel tapped Jim Lowell, a partner and chief investment strategist of Adviser Investment Management Inc.; Matt Hougan, publisher of IndexUniverse.com; and Tom Lydon, president of Global Trends Investments, to launch six model ETF portfolios. They are online at CNBC’s website.

“Many advisers are making the shift out of stocks and actively managed mutual funds into exchange-traded funds,” Mr. Lydon said. “As they make this shift, many of them want more education, and they are asking for more help so these portfolios might give them good ideas.”

Designed to address various markets, the six model portfolios are: Diversified Global Core; Global Bull; Global Sideways Market; Global Bear; Emerging Market; and Rising Inflation. They went live last week.

“The discussion of best practices and how to effectively trade ETFs is at the forefront of what we are talking about,” said Mr. Lydon, who writes the ETF Intelligencer blog for InvestmentNews.

The link to the portfolios is tradertalk.cnbc.com.