Samsung Asset Management Launches Four KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Sector ETFs

Samsung Asset Management announced on the 21st that it will newly list four types of U.S. S&P 500 sector exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The newly listed ETFs are ▲KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Financial ▲KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Healthcare ▲KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Consumer Staples ▲KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary, totaling four types.

The U.S. S&P 500 sector ETFs have an intermediate nature between investing in a representative index and individual stocks, allowing efficient diversified investment in major companies of the U.S. representative index S&P 500, while simultaneously enabling investors to focus intensively on desired sectors.

In fact, the U.S. S&P 500 sector ETFs can adopt a rotation strategy by selecting sectors that show differentiated movements according to the economic cycle. During periods of economic adjustment or decline, the healthcare and consumer staples sectors recorded differentiated performance, while the consumer discretionary sector showed a distinctive upward trend during economic recovery and growth. In this way, investors can concentrate their investments on promising sectors or sectors they desire according to the economic phase. Samsung Asset Management has added four new sectors to meet the demand of domestic investors for U.S. investments, following the previously listed energy and industrial sectors among U.S. sectors.

△KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Financial represents traditional industries related to capital financing and has the characteristics of value stocks with high dividend yields. Due to recent changes in sector classification (GICS), payment companies such as Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal have been added, increasing investment attractiveness. It includes commercial banks, consumer finance, insurance, asset management, and credit card companies, investing in Berkshire Hathaway, JP Morgan, VISA, etc. Recently highlighted banks such as Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and European banks are not included.

△KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Healthcare covers industries related to human health, including medical care, promotion, and health management. Due to the nature of the industry, it has low economic sensitivity and includes large pharmaceutical companies, showing characteristics of value stocks, but it is also sensitive to major policies and research results, showing growth stock characteristics. It includes large pharmaceutical companies, medical devices, medical supplies, and service companies, investing in UnitedHealth Group, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie (ABBVIE), etc.

△KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Consumer Staples invests in industries related to products consumed closely in daily life regardless of the economy. It has strong defensive stock characteristics and high dividend yields. It includes food and beverage, daily necessities, and apparel companies, investing in Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, etc.

△KODEX U.S. S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary invests in industries related to products sensitive to the economy and consumed according to consumer preferences and conditions. Due to the nature of the industry, it has mixed growth stock characteristics influenced by large-cap stocks at the top of the market capitalization. Since it is affected by the consumption of high-priced items, it tends to be profitable during low-interest-rate periods and stock market downturns. It includes automobile, apparel, hotel, and leisure companies, investing in Amazon, Tesla, Nike, etc.

Im Tae-hyuk, Executive Director of ETF Management Division at Samsung Asset Management, said, “The ups and downs of the U.S. representative index and the movements of the U.S. S&P 500 sectors always accompany the departure of foreign investors and the arrival of domestic investors, and there have been many requests from domestic investors wishing for U.S. S&P 500 sector ETFs in Korea.” He added, “With the listing of these four sector ETFs, we now have a total of six sector ETF lineups tracking the same indices as the beloved XLF, XLV, XLY, XLP, XLE, and XLI by foreign investors.”

He continued, “In the future, we plan to add five more sectors tracking the same indices as XLK, XLC, XLB, XLU, and XLRE to complete the U.S. S&P 500 sector series,” and said, “KODEX U.S. S&P 500 sector ETFs will provide investment tools tailored to the global and U.S. economic conditions.”