WisdomTree US Efficient Core Fund

NTSX

Market cap $1.35B

Stocks and bonds are the lynchpins of core investing, but investors can face capital constraints when it comes to building efficient, diversified portfolios. In a hypothetical example, say an investor with $10,000 wants access to rising equities with the diversification and protection benefits offered by high-grade bonds.

In today's environment, where geopolitical risk and macro uncertainty are converging, gold is attracting renewed interest. But traditionally, adding it has required trimming core exposures.

NTSX is a 90% equity / 60% treasury ETF. The fund's strategy and portfolio should deliver strong returns to shareholders and could easily outperform the S&P 500 at current interest rates. Inflation is the fund's Achilles heel and led to moderate underperformance in prior years. I don't foresee this being a problem moving forward.

WisdomTree U.S. Efficient Core Fund ETF offers a 90/60 equity/treasury blend with 1.5x leverage from Treasury futures. Compared to a 60/40 benchmark, NTSX has underperformed the expectations of the leverage factor. The 60/40 strategy, whose purpose is hedging equities with treasuries in market downturns, has failed several times over the last few years.

WisdomTree U.S. Efficient Core Fund ETF employs a 60/40 strategy, using Treasury futures for leverage and tax efficiency. NTSX has underperformed the theoretical 1.5 leverage factor due to fees, rebalancing, and roll yield. Compared to the S&P 500, the Fund shows similar volatility and lower risk-adjusted performance.

NTSX is a leveraged balanced ETF. It has exposure to 90% equities, 60% treasuries. Leverage is gained through futures. NTSX tends to outperform, but sees significant losses and underperformance during periods of higher inflation.

WisdomTree U.S. Efficient Core Fund ETF implements a 60/40 equity-bond allocation with a 1.5 leverage factor. NTSX holds stocks for the equity part and leverages its portfolio thanks to Treasury futures. NTSX's performance looks great compared to other multi-asset ETFs, but it slightly underperforms expectations based on the leverage factor.

Equities and fixed income have been moving in tandem as inflation fears cast doubt on whether there will be any Fed rate cuts in 2024. The WisdomTree U.S. Efficient Core Fund ETF offers potential benefits for index investors when Treasury securities offset moves in the stock market, but we aren't seeing that today. NTSX has produced strong risk-adjusted returns in the past and offers tax advantages for investors, but recalcitrant inflation negates the ETF's diversification benefit for now.

The WisdomTree U.S. Efficient Core Fund ETF (NTSX) is an active core allocation product that blends stocks with Treasuries. NTSX primarily invests in large-cap U.S. equity securities and U.S. Treasury futures contracts, implementing an active management strategy. The fund offers diversified exposure, capital efficiency through leverage, and risk management, but also carries risks and dependence on quantitative models.

By Bradley Krom, U.S. Head of Research The potential for stubborn inflation, a higher-for-longer policy from the Federal Reserve and structural $1 trillion deficits have all contributed to an abnormal shape in the U.S. Treasury curve. In this piece we look to other periods of curve inversion and conclude that inverted yield curves are generally not an impediment to equity returns.