Cathie Wood's newest ARK ETF rises in first day of trading

Reuters

Published Dec 08, 2021 04:53PM ET

By David Randall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new socially focused fund from star stock picker Cathie Wood's ARK Invest rose 1.5% in its first day of trading Wednesday.

The ARK Transparency ETF, which the firm says will focus on the "100 most transparent companies in the world," gained ground on the strength of top holdings including Maxlinear (NYSE:MXL) Inc and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc. The gains came as the broad S&P 500 index rose 0.3% for the day.

ARK Invest's new fund comes as its flagship ARK Innovation fund remains down 17% for the year to date. The $17.2 billion fund outperformed all other U.S. equity funds last year thanks in part to its bet on technology companies that rallied during the early stages of the pandemic, helping turn Woods into a household name among retail investors.