State Street Offers New Preferred Share ETF

State Street Global Advisors launched a new ETF with investments in non-convertible preferred stocks (ticker PSK, IndexUniverse). Similar ETFs already on the market, PGX and PFF, are up 20% and 33% YTD, respectively. The preferred shares in the fund are rated investment grade and have minimum trading volume requirements. The ETF has an expense ratio of 0.45%. The PSK exchanged traded fund would be attractive to investors that are looking for income, potential capital gains growth, and safety given that preferred shares pay a fixed dividend, can appreciate like normal common stock, and are higher on the food chain compared to common stock in the event of bankruptcy.