5 Best ETFs For December
This weekend I let my boys, ages 3, 8, and 9, stay up well past their bedtime. We bundled up, went outside, and enjoyed one of best meteor showers of the year.
The annual meteor shower is called the Geminids because the shooting stars radiate from the constellation Gemini. This year’s show was especially good for viewing because the moon set early.
Today, we’re looking at the 5 Best ETFs for December.
These ETFs delivered the best 1 month performance…. excluding leveraged ETFs.
Here they are…
5 Best ETFs For December Based On 1-Month Performance
- 9.74% – WisdomTree Weak Dollar US Equity Fund $USWD
- 7.04% – Deutsche X-trackers MSCI EuroZone High Dividend Yield Hedged Equity $HDEZ
- 6.46% – First Trust Australia AlphaDEX $FAUS
- 5.72% – iShares Residential Real Estate Capped $REZ
- 4.49% – Guggenheim S&P Equal Weight Consumer Staples $RHS
Important Details About The 5 Best ETFs For December
Let’s look at the holdings, amount of money investors have put in the ETF (also called assets under management or AUM), expense ratio, and dividend yield.
WisdomTree Weak Dollar US Equity Fund $USWD tracks an index of stocks that has no more than 60% of revenue from the US. These companies have a large portion of sales from exports. The 248 stocks held by this ETF benefit from a weak US Dollar. This ETF has only accumulated $1.1 million in assets since it launched in July. It has an expense ratio of 0.33%. It hasn’t paid a dividend.
Deutsche X-trackers MSCI EuroZone High Dividend Yield Hedged Equity $HDEZ tracks a currency hedged index of 34 stocks in the Eurozone with high and stable dividends. It has accumulated $2.45 million in AUM since launching in August. It has an expense ratio of 0.45%. It will pay its first dividend to anyone that owns this ETF on December 16th.
First Trust Australia AlphaDEX $FAUS uses a quantitative model to seek outperformance of the Australian stock market. It tracks and index of 40 stocks. It has only accumulated $1.3 million in assets even though it has been around since 2012. The expense ratio is 0.80%. It has a dividend yield of 4.5%.
iShares Residential Real Estate Capped $REZ tracks a market cap-weighted index of US residential, health care, and self-storage REITs. It holds 37 REITs. It has $314.6 million in AUM. The expense ratio is 0.48%. It pays a dividend yield of 3.28%.
Guggenheim S&P Equal Weight Consumer Staples $RHS holds an equal weighted basket of 37 consumer staples stocks from the S&P 500. It has $447.4 million in AUM. The expense ratio is 0.40%. It has a dividend yield of 1.88%.
Can You Make Money With The 5 Best ETFs For December?
There is a serious red flag with 3 of the best ETFs for December. The amount of assets in USWD ($1.1 million), HDEZ ($2.45 million), and FAUS ($1.3 million) put them at risk for closure.
These ETFs simply aren’t capturing investors’ attention or money. If that doesn’t change, they’ll likely be shut down. This can be a headache for investors that have money in them. You’ll get your money back but it’s better to just avoid ETFs with very low AUM.
REZ ($314.6 million) and RHS ($447.4 million) have sufficient assets to be viable investments.
REZ is bit of a hodgepodge of REITs. Its largest holding is Public Storage $PSA. This REIT specializes in self-storage facilities. It’s up 33% year-to-date but it could run into headwinds in a rising interest rate environment.
Finally, we come to RHS. The equal weighted consumer staples ETF is up 9.8% this year and outperforming the S&P 500 by a wide margin.
The technical indicators show RHS is building bullish momentum. It should continue its strong performance through the end of the year.
You can find more of the best ETFs with an ETF screener.
Good Investing,
Corey Williams
Note: Corey Williams writes and edits ETFTradingResearch.com. Sign up for our free ETF reports and free e-letter at http://www.etftradingresearch.com/free-sign-up. We’re devoted to helping you make more money from ETFs.
Category: ETFs
