Nouriel Roubini launched the Atlas America Fund on Wednesday.
The ETF is marketed as a hedge against incoming risks, such as price instability under Trump.
Trading under the ticker USAF, the fund will invest in inflation-protected Treasurys and gold, among other assets.
Nouriel Roubini is taking his gloomy predictions to Wall Street by introducing an exchange-traded fund meant to withstand threats during Donald Trump’s second presidency.
The “Dr. Doom” forecaster launched the Atlas America Fund on Wednesday, anticipating that the traditional 60/40 split between equities and bonds will disappoint future investors amid mounting risks.
Instead, his USAF fund will hedge against price instability by investing in inflation-protected Treasurys, gold, REITs, and food commodities.
Roubini expects heightened volatility in the coming years, telling Bloomberg that even a “mild version” of Trump’s protectionist trade policies could upend the market. The president-elect has pledged broad-sweeping tariffs across US trade, with as much as a 60% rate promised on Chinese products.
Separately, Roubini warned that Trump’s policies risk stagflation, a scenario more dreaded than a recession. In this situation, tariffs and Trump’s immigration curbs could reignite inflation while knocking down growth.
USAF’s actively managed portfolio will look to shield against inflation, and will offer an alternative to the Treasury market. According to Roubini, government debt will lose its appeal if inflation keeps pushing interest rates higher, forcing bond yields up.
“In a world where long rates may go higher, either because of inflation or because large debt and deficit imply higher real rates, that’s a world in which the defensive asset makes you lose money and sometimes makes you lose money more than the risky asset,” he told Bloomberg.
In an August interview with the Financial Times, Roubini argued that the ETF will perform well in both good and bad times. He cited that backtesting returns did better than fixed income, with less volatility than equity assets.
The USAF fund is the first exchange created by Atlas Capital Team, a firm co-founded by the permabear economist. It will have an expense ratio of 75 basis points.
Beyond upcoming inflation threats, Roubini has marketed the fund as bulwark against broader risks and a need to help direct US investment.
“We want to invest in rebuilding US infrastructure. We want to ensure food security, reshore production of green metals and rare earths,” Roubini said in August.
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