U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) Surpassed $4 Billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) as Commercial Flight Demand Hit a 12-Month High

San Antonio, TX, March 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- U.S. Global Investors, Inc. (Nasdaq: GROW) (“the Company”), a boutique registered investment advisory firm that focuses on niche markets around the world, is pleased to announce that its airlines ETF, the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS), reached a new milestone by surpassing $4 billion in assets under management (AUM). As of market close on March 15, 2021, JETS AUM stood at approximately $4.24 billion, a more than 2,600% increase from a year earlier.

In addition, JETS closed at a 52-week high of $28.59 on March 15, 2021, an approximately 140% increase from its pandemic low set on May 15, 2020.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled with how JETS has done over the past 12 months, and we want to thank investors big and small for making it a $4 billion ETF,” says Frank Holmes, CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors. “Our smart-beta 2.0 ETF is still the only pure-play global airlines investment vehicle currently available, with a distinctive portfolio structure that uses five key factors to pick stocks.”

Launched in 2015, JETS began attracting significant assets when airline stocks plunged in February and March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first 50 trading days of 2020, before the crisis, average daily trading volume was about 315,000 shares. A year later, this figure jumped to approximately 6.7 million shares traded per day on average, a 21x increase. Participants have been as varied as retail investors to hedge funds to insurance companies.    

Now, as we head into the busy spring and summer travel seasons, we’re starting to see a substantial recovery in commercial flight demand. Close to 1.4 million passengers were screened at U.S. airports on Friday, March 12, 2021, representing the greatest volume for a single day since March of last year. In the first half of March 2021, nearly 16.5 million total passengers boarded commercial jets in the U.S., the most for any month since March 2020.

“We make sure to track the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) daily report on passenger volume because we’ve found it to be a reliable proxy for investor appetite,” continues Mr. Holmes. “Before the pandemic, approximately 2.2 million people were cleared by the TSA per day, with international arrivals and departures making up the bulk of the volume. A year later, domestic leisure travel is beginning to rebound while international flights remain muted due to lockdowns in Canada, the European Union (EU) and elsewhere.”