Russell Investments launched four Small Cap Investment Discipline exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on NASDAQ today, expanding its line-up of innovative Investment Discipline ETFs. Each is designed to provide investors with access to specific investment strategies that mirror the way equity managers tend to invest.
"We created these unique products to answer a very specific need in the market," said James Polisson, CEO of Russell's global ETF business. "Sophisticated investors now have an investment vehicle that provides them with focused exposure in the small cap asset class beyond the strict classification by sector and style."
The four ETFs listed today are based on corresponding and newly launched Russell U.S. Small Cap Investment Discipline Indexes, which were constructed to give focused exposure to investment approaches commonly practiced by professional small cap equity managers. These underlying indexes leverage Russell's long history and expertise in small cap index creation as well as Russell's unique understanding of how managers invest. By evaluating the characteristics of thousands of managers in specific disciplines, Russell identified a set of key characteristics that define a small cap portfolio within each discipline.
The new suite of small cap ETF consists of the following:
- Russell Small Cap Aggressive Growth ETF (Ticker: SGGG)
- Russell Small Cap Consistent Growth ETF (Ticker: SCOG)
- Russell Small Cap Low P/E ETF (Ticker: SCLP)
- Russell Small Cap Contrarian ETF (Ticker: SCTR)
"The new Small Cap Investment Discipline ETFs offer multiple benefits to investors looking for small cap equity exposure," said David Koenig, Investment Strategist at Russell Investments. "Not only can they be used as a standalone way to implement a specific investment discipline within a portfolio, they also represent potential complements for existing Russell 2000® Index exposures or small cap actively managed mutual funds."
Following the launch of Russell ETFs in the U.S. market in May of this year, Russell now offers a total of 21 ETFs in the United States as well as two in Australia.