Global infrastructure’s outlook is bright

Article Excerpt

Governments around the world know the benefits that flow from the development of better infrastructure. However, their stretched budgets and a reluctance to increase taxes hamper their ability to initiate these projects. This provides opportunities for publicly listed companies to develop and manage these assets. Meanwhile, those stocks with exposure to U.S. infrastructure (and the ETFs that hold those stocks) currently offer extra appeal. That’s because of the big spending plans passed by the U.S. government to expand the country’s transport, electricity and water infrastructure and more. Here are two ETFs that invest in publicly listed companies that own infrastructure assets (plus see the supplement on page 99 for more information on the risk and return profiles of these assets). FLEXSHARES STOXX GLOBAL BROAD INFRASTRUCTURE ETF $58.66 (New York symbol NFRA; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $2.35 billion) tracks the STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index. Stocks are weighted by market cap, and they are capped at 5% of holdings; country weights are limited to 40%. U.S….