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The FT Nasdaq ABA Community Bank Fund (QABA) has gained 50% since spring 2025, but Rob Isbitts, a semi-retired chief investment officer, former fiduciary investment advisor, and Barchart columnist, wrote this week that the rally has likely run its course.
QABA is a 17-year-old exchange-traded fund that holds more than 150 community bank stocks outside the S&P 500 Index. Isbitts framed the fund as one of the few ETFs he considers genuinely distinct from the broad market.
He noted in his column that identifying such funds has become more difficult as markets have converged into what he called a single risk-on, risk-off trade.
The headwinds he cited center on net interest margin, the difference between what banks earn on loans and securities and what they pay depositors.
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