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ETF Strategies to Combat Aggravating Coronavirus Pandemic

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The number of coronavirus cases is rising at an alarming rate globally. The head of the World Health Organization has said that rapidly rising coronavirus cases are causing the global infections reach toward the highest point in the pandemic. In this regard, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled over the past two months. This is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far during the pandemic,” per a CNBC article.

Globally, 5,236,922 new coronavirus cases were recorded over the past seven days, per data published by the WHO (according to a CNN report). Unfortunately, the number surpassed the last record of 5.04 million new cases witnessed in the week of Jan 4, 2021. Moreover, the death toll has crossed 3 million in the past week, per a CNN report.

Raising concerns, U.S. health officials have warned that coronavirus vaccine supply will most probably outstrip demand, according to a CNN report. Despite keeping an impressive pace of 3 million reported vaccinations per day, the United States is witnessing around 67,100 daily new coronavirus infections, per a CNBC article.

Going on, the impact of the rising coronavirus cases can be seen on Wall Street. Despite impressive corporate earnings, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.8% on Apr 20. The other two broader indices, the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, have fallen 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively. The rising number of cases is being troublesome for the reopening stocks belonging to the airlines and cruise players.

ETF Strategies to Play                          

Investors are worried that another round of business restrictions and lockdown measures might derail the economic recovery achieved so far. In such a scenario, investors can take a look at the following ETF strategies to combat the coronavirus crisis:

Dividend ETFs to Take Shelter In

In a low-interest rate environment, dividend investing becomes a hot spot. The central bank has decided to maintain rates near zero until 2023, at least. Against this backdrop, dividend ETFs like WisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Fund (DGRW - Free Report) , FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund (QDEF - Free Report) , WBI Power Factor High Dividend ETF (WBIY - Free Report)  and Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) might be compelling picks (read: A Guide to 10 Most-Popular Dividend ETFs).

Invest in the ‘New Normal’ Trends

In view of the rising work-from-home and online-shopping trends, increasing digital payments, growing video streaming and soaring video game sales, Internet will remain a major requirement in daily lives. More and more people are spending time at home, in line with social-distancing guidelines due to the pandemic. Against this backdrop, let’s look at some Internet ETFs that will consistently gain traction from the spurt in demand for online gaming, shopping, video streaming and remote working trends due to the coronavirus crisis: First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index (FDN - Free Report) , ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW - Free Report) , Invesco NASDAQ Internet ETF (PNQI - Free Report) , O’Shares Global Internet Giants ETF (OGIG) and Global X Internet of Things ETF (SNSR) (read: Go Digital With This New ETF (DAPP) From VanEck).

Gold ETFs: Popular Safe-Haven Asset

Concerns about further pandemic-related lockdowns due to the aggravating coronavirus outbreak have once again prompted a flight to safe-haven assets. Moreover, the decline in U.S. dollar and the Fed’s continued dovish stance are supporting the upside in the yellow metal. Notably, gold is considered a great store of value and hedge against market turmoil. Gold ETFs mostly move in tandem with gold prices. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD - Free Report) , iShares Gold Trust (IAU - Free Report) , SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (GLDM) and GraniteShares Gold Trust (BAR) are some of the popular ETFs (read: U.S. Dollar at Four-Week Low: ETFs to Benefit).

Bet on Low-Volatility ETFs

Demand for funds with “low volatility” or “minimum volatility” generally increases during tumultuous times. These seemingly-safe products usually do not surge in bull market conditions but offer protection against unpredictable ones. Providing more stable cash flow than the overall market, these funds are less cyclical in nature. Here are some options --  iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF (USMV - Free Report) , Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF (SPLV - Free Report) , iShares Edge MSCI EAFE Minimum Volatility ETF (EFAV), iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol Global ETF (ACWV ) and Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD) (read: Opt for Minimum Volatility ETFs Amid Latest Covid-19 Worries).

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