New Product Profile: PIMCO Low Duration ESG Fund (PLDIX)
Synopsis Like its counterpart the PIMCO Total Return ESG Fund, the PIMCO Low Duration Fund, which is a short-term corporate bond fund, changed its name to PIMCO Low Duration ESG Fund effective January 6, 2017. At the same time, the fund modified its investment strategy to take into account the efficacy of an issuer’s […]
PIMCO Total Return ESG Fund (PTSAX) – New Sustainable Product Profile
PTSAX Synopsis Effective January 6, 2017 the PIMCO Total Return Fund, which is an intermediate-term diversified investment grade portfolio of fixed income instruments, including non U.S. dollar denominated securities, changed its name to the PIMCO Total Return ESG Fund and at the same time modified its investment strategy to take into account the efficacy of […]
BlackRock ESG Fixed Income ETF Launches – Sustainable Exchange Traded Funds Analysis
Last week BlackRock announced the launch of two fixed income ETFs, the iShares ESG USD Corporate Bond ETF (SUSC) and the iShares ESG 1-5 Year USD Corporate Bond ETF (SUSB). These are intended to track fixed income indexes designed to deliver similar risk and return characteristics as the traditional benchmarks but further qualified on the […]
JPMorgan Municipal Income Fund (OTBAX)- New Sustainable Product
Assessment Low Conviction Synopsis As of February 28, 2017, the date of the fund’s updated prospectus, it was noted that this municipal bond fund now invests the majority of its assets in securities whose proceeds provide positive social or environmental benefits, including investments in green bonds. This was not previously the fund’s main […]
Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund (VFTSX)-ESG Product Profile
Vanguard Social Index Fund Summary Assessment:High Conviction Advised by the Vanguard Group, Inc., this index tracking fund offers an effective US equity-focused sustainable strategy that combines an exclusionary approach along with the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. The fund has been in existence since May 2000, although its current underlying index, the FTSE4Good […]
Van Eck Vectors Green Bond ETF (GRNB)-New ESG Product
Assessment Monitor Synopsis On March 3, 2017 Van Eck Associates Corp.launched the VanEck Vectors Green Bond ETF, an index fund that seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the S&P Green Bond Select Index. The index is market value weighted and designed to capture […]