Invesco PowerShares, an investment advisory firm providing exchange traded funds, premiered its PowerShares Global Wind Energy Portfolio ETF last Tuesday on the NASDAQ to offer diversified exposure to investors. “Investors get the instant asset allocation of the index which can now be bought with a single trade, which we believe may minimize the company-specific risks inherent with individual stock investments,” says Ed McRedmond, senior v.p. of portfolio strategy at Invesco in Wheaton, Ill. “Since the underlying index is from the NASDAQ OMX index group, NASDAQ was a logical choice for the listing.”
Nine of the top 10 companies in the fund are located outside the U.S., including Spain’s Iberdrola and Denmark’s Vestas. “We make sure the portfolio is going to be investable.” “It’s a nice complement to the lineup we have.”
McRedmond acknowledges the volatility in the space, but notes the fund includes a range of companies from manufacturers to developers. “It won’t be a core part of the portfolio,” he says. “Anything in of itself is potentially volatile or risky when you are investing on a stand alone basis.” He notes that any one company does not make up a large chunk of the portfolio, which mitigates the risk.