The world's largest asset manager plans to launch an ETF focused on stay-at-home companies

• BlackRock filed to create a new exchange-traded fund on Friday with exposure to increasingly popular stay-at-home stocks.
• The iShares Virtual Work and Life Multisector ETF will focus on firms that benefit from the growing use of remote work, entertainment, education, and wellness products, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
• The move arrives as markets begin to reconcile with the possibility of a prolonged pandemic. After surging through May on hopes for a rapid recovery, indexes have slumped amid spiking case counts throughout the US.
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Investors are betting on stay-at-home trends to boost specific stocks. BlackRock is betting that interest grows.

The world's largest asset manager filed to create a new exchange-traded fund on Friday to capitalize on remote-living firms' success. The iShares Virtual Work and Life Multisector ETF will focus on firms that benefit from individuals' growing use of remote work, entertainment, education, and wellness products, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The fund will pick companies across sectors including information tech, communication services, consumer discretionary, and healthcare. The underlying index holds stocks deemed "tele-work" or "tele-services" firms by ICE Data Indices. The index held 75 companies as of December 23, 2019, according to the filing.

Read more: Main Street traders have been crushing Wall Street in recent months. Goldman Sachs breaks down what retail investors should buy to keep winning — and lists the 12 stocks leading the charge.

Bloomberg first reported on the ETFs creation. The fund's holdings and management fees aren't yet public.

The filing arrives as investors begin to reckon with a prolonged economic recovery studded with smaller coronavirus outbreaks. Markets dipped on Monday after the weekend revealed spikes in COVID cases throughout the US. Firms specializing in stay-at-home trends could see a second surge in popularity as Americans settle in for a longer period of remote work.

BlackRock isn't the first firm to create such an ETF. Direxion filed in early April to create a work-from-home ETF with exposure to infrastructure used by cyber security, cloud tech, project management, and online communication companies. The fund will trade under the ticker WFH.

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