Spread & Containment
First Trust rolls out cybersecurity and biotechnology ETFs on LSE
First Trust rolls out cybersecurity and biotechnology ETFs on LSE

First Trust has launched a pair of equity ETFs in Europe that seek to capitalize on two in-demand and widely received investment themes: cybersecurity and biotechnology.

The funds provide thematic exposure to companies operating in the fields of cybersecurity and biotechnology.
The First Trust Nasdaq UCITS Cybersecurity ETF (USD – CIBR LN; GBP – FCBR LN) and the First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology UCITS ETF (USD – FBT LN; GBP – FBTU LN) have listed on London Stock Exchange and provide exposure to companies operating in the fields of cybersecurity and biotechnology.
Both ETFs are offered with expense ratios of 0.60%. Income is accumulated within the portfolios.
First Trust offers the same underlying strategies in US-listed ETFs which collectively house $3.7bn in assets under management.
Cybersecurity
The First Trust Nasdaq UCITS Cybersecurity ETF tracks the Nasdaq CTA Cybersecurity Index which includes firms “primarily involved in the building, implementation, and management of security protocols applied to private and public networks, computers, and mobile devices, in order to provide protection of the integrity of data and network operations”.
Firms will be eligible for inclusion if they are classified as a cybersecurity company, as determined by the Consumer Technology Association (CEA), a standards and trade organization for the consumer technology industry in the United States.
To ensure adequate liquidity, the index only includes securities with a minimum market cap of $250m, a three-month average daily dollar trading volume (ADDTV) of at least $1m, and a free float greater than 20%. The fund itself invests in a collection of stocks and American Depository Receipts.
Companies that meet the criteria are weighted according to their three-month ADDTV with a single security cap of 6%. The index is reconstituted semi-annually and rebalanced quarterly.
First Trust’s US-listed cybersecurity ETF – the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR US) – was launched mid-2015 and has $1.7bn AUM.
Gregg Guerin, Senior Product Specialist, First Trust, commented, “Cyber-crime had already been on the rise but has been greatly accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis pushing millions of people to work remotely, the importance of a secure internet is now, more than ever, absolutely paramount. Further accentuating this need, there had already been and continues to be a growing trend of companies storing data in the cloud and businesses increasingly are digitalizing their systems to ensure scalability and profitability. Thus, the critical importance of cybersecurity has never been higher. Businesses, governments and individuals are keen to protect against the reputational and financial damage caused by potential cyber-attacks and data breaches.”
Guerin continued, “Recent times have seen us witness an unprecedented reliance on the internet and digital solutions pushing cybersecurity to become arguably the fastest-growing defense budget item of any government, as well as the immune system for the lifeblood of many large companies and small businesses around the world.
Cameron Lilja, Vice President and Head of Research and Development for Nasdaq Global Indexes, added, “We are currently seeing enormous growth, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, in sophisticated technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, and analytics. This growth has been matched by an increasing requirement for effective cybersecurity solutions, and the Nasdaq CTA Cybersecurity Index offers an effective method for tracking these trends. Our work with First Trust has accelerated opportunities for the investing public to access this strategy.”
There are several ETFs in Europe already covering the cybersecurity theme. The most established of these is the $1.5bn L&G Cyber Security UCITS ETF (USPY LN) which costs 0.75%. Newer competitors have looked to compete on price – the iShares Digital Security UCITS ETF (LOCK LN) and Rize Cybersecurity and Data Privacy UCITS ETF (CYBR LN) come with expense ratios of 0.40% and 0.45% respectively.
Biotechnology
The First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology UCITS ETF is linked to the NYSE Biotechnology Index which selects its constituents from a universe of US-listed common stocks and ADRs. Eligible companies include those carrying out operations in DNA technology, molecular biology, genetic engineering, monoclonal antibody-based technology, lipid/liposome technology, and genomics.
Firms must have a market capitalization above $1bn and an ADDTV greater than $1m. A total of 30 constituents are chosen so as to design a high-quality index that reflects large-, mid-, and small-cap biotechnology companies while limiting the impact of pending corporate actions, litigation, and geopolitical events. Constituents are equally weighted, and the index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly.
First Trust’s US-listed biotechnology ETF – the First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index (FBT US) – has been around since 2006 and currently houses $2.0bn AUM.
Guerin said, “As the world steps-up in the battle to beat Covid-19, the health care sector, especially biotechnology is taking a leading role in providing solutions. The outlook for investing here is positive with impending drug launches, cost-cutting efforts, an aging population, increasing health care spending, increased merger and acquisition activity as well as potential expansion into emerging markets.
“In many ways, as the name suggests, biotechnology has always been at the center of two of the longest mega-trends in human history, in that as humans, we innovate and we live longer. In this case, we innovate to live longer, healthier lives.”
Rupert Haddon, Managing Director, Head of Sales and Distribution, First Trust, added, “Cybersecurity and biotechnology are two of the world’s fastest-growing themes and we are incredibly excited to be adding to our suite of innovative thematic UCITS ETFs which should give investors precise tools to better express their own investment beliefs.
“Given the challenges of lockdown and the current global situation, never have these technologies been more relevant and in demand, one could make the argument that along with cloud computing, they are becoming modern-day utilities. These flexible, liquid ETFs provide an efficient, low cost and diversified way for investors to capitalize on this growing market, and we are excited to be able to offer advisers a vehicle to assess these important themes.”
Invesco and BlackRock also offer biotechnology ETFs in Europe. The $620m Invesco NASDAQ Biotech UCITS ETF (SBIO LN) comes with an expense ratio of 0.40%, while the $220m iShares Nasdaq US Biotechnology UCITS ETF (BTEK LN) costs 0.35%. Both funds are linked to the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index.
International
A Climate Of Fear
A Climate Of Fear
Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,
The medical, media, and political elites’ focus has shifted from facts…

Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,
The medical, media, and political elites’ focus has shifted from facts to fomenting and magnifying fear.
In Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address in 1933, the new president told a nation in the depths of the Great Depression that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Those words were true and rightfully spoken at that time. Roosevelt knew that fear is a powerful emotion that limits our ability to reason, act wisely, and work together. It’s also an emotion that’s contagious and not easily diminished or dissipated.
The Power of Fear to Fragment Society
Unfortunately, Roosevelt’s words are even more applicable today.
On a personal level, decisions made under the emotional duress of fear are rarely the best ones and often the worst. Fear can bring out the best in us, but can often bring out the worst. That’s more likely to occur the more fragmented a society becomes. Fear among different groups of people creates an us-versus-them context in the minds of individuals, or even an “every-man-for-himself” attitude, which pits one group against another or even each of us against each other.
Now elevate that sense of fear to the level of the national electorate. A people or a nation that's paralyzed with fear makes rash decisions based on their fears of what could happen, not necessarily what the current situation truly is. When that happens, a society can quickly degenerate, where our base instincts determine our behavior in a law-of-the-jungle social environment.
Roosevelt knew this, as do our leaders today. The difference is that today, rather than seeking to dispel fear, our political and media elites create it, expand it, and revel in it. Rather than promote hope and strength of character in us, in a Roosevelt- or even a Reagan-like fashion, they traffic in fear and its fellow traveler social division in order to fragment our society.
It’s the old but effective divide-and-conquer strategy, and sadly, it works far too well. The mechanism for divide and conquer is the constant drumbeat of the Big Lie, which is also a tried and true method for controlling society. It was first practiced and perfected by Joseph Goebbels in Nazi Germany using the mass media, but has been successfully used by the USSR and every other communist and dictatorial regime in the world since the 1930s.
Social Media Is Magnitudes More Powerful Than Legacy Media
The difference today is the massive and pervasive presence of social media. Its reach and social saturation throughout society are magnitudes greater than have ever been possible before. What’s more, our political and media elites create and exaggerate fear without even mentioning the word. “Fear” is driven into our collective psyches under the guise of our government keeping us “safe,” while demonizing anyone who challenges that narrative.
The repetition by the media and the pharmaceutical industry of how to stay safe from COVID-19 always involves more drugs and less freedom. That’s by design. The elites that run society know that once enough of our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and others with whom we interact become more fearful than rational, they’re easily manipulated and divided into confrontational groups.
Does that sound like a conspiracy theory?
Yes, it probably does, but it’s also how the Stasi, the East German security agency, turned virtually every neighbor into an informant. The result was that people were fearful of doing anything that could be construed as being against the communist East German government. In light of what we’ve been through the last three years—and what looks to be on the horizon—the conspiracy theory accusation has lost its sting.
From Conspiracy Theory to Fact
Recall, for example, how those who received the COVID-19 vaccine turned against those who remained unvaccinated. The contrast and social division couldn’t have been clearer or more deliberate. Vaccinated people were characterized by the media and government agency spokespeople as selfless, smarter, and better human beings than those who refused the vaccine.
On the flip side, the “anti-vaxxers,” as they came to be called, were publicly derided by the medical, pharmaceutical, media, and government elites. They were accused of being low-intelligence conspiracy theory nuts who wouldn’t or couldn’t “follow the science,” even when they followed the science from experts such as Robert Malone, one of the inventors of the mRNA technology, and other medical doctors in Europe and Asia, including former Pfizer Vice President Dr. Michael Yeadon, all of whom were de-platformed from mainstream media and social media.
In fact, any “alternative” remedy to the experimental and highly dangerous mRNA vaccines, such as ivermectin, was summarily dismissed, even though nations that used ivermectin had the lowest mortality rates. As noted above, many media personalities and even medical experts with contrary opinions were silenced, shamed, and shunted into professional oblivion, being substituted by compliant replacements. That practice continues to this day, with Russell Brand being the latest example of being de-monetized by YouTube.
In light of vaccine injuries and deaths, and the staggering profits that vaccines have delivered to the pharmaceutical industry, the number of people who believe the mainstream media, the government, and in the vaccines, is much smaller today than three years ago.
Conspiracy theory narratives have become conspiracy facts.
The Endgame of Fear
So, what’s the endgame of promoting and enforcing a climate of fear throughout society?
It’s simple. Fearful people are far more compliant and, therefore, are easily controlled, pacified, monitored, and dehumanized. Next thing you know, we’ll all be eating bugs and liking it.
The antidote to fear, of course, is freedom and access to real and contrary information so that each person can make up his or her own mind. The encouragement, enablement, and empowerment of private individuals to exercise informed judgment about their health and their livelihoods are also part of the solution. A vibrant, thinking, and active society of informed individuals isn't nearly as vulnerable to the polarizing climate of fear our elites are foisting upon us.
In short, to live in fear is to live in bondage.
International
COVID-19 Vaccine Found In The Hearts Of Dead People: Study
COVID-19 Vaccine Found In The Hearts Of Dead People: Study
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
COVID-19 vaccine…

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
COVID-19 vaccine was detected in patients who died within a month of vaccination, according to a new study.
U.S. researchers analyzed tissue samples from the autopsies of 25 people, including 20 who were vaccinated.
Samples from the hearts of three patients, all of whom died within 30 days of a Pfizer shot, tested positive for messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA).
Eight bilateral axillary lymph node samples, from people who died within 30 days of a Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, also tested positive. The companies' shots utilize mRNA.
The research shows "the vaccine can persist for up to 30 days, including in the heart," Dr. James Stone, with the departments of pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told The Epoch Times via email.
The study was published by npj Vaccines. Authors declared no conflicts of interest. They said the research was supported by Massachusetts General Hospital, which is in Boston.
In testing of heart and bilateral axillary lymph node tissues from other vaccinated people who died, no vaccine was detected.
Additionally, no vaccine was detected in the liver, spleen, or mediastinal lymph nodes—vaccine was detected in the liver and spleen in preclinical rodent studies before—nor was any detected in tissues from the unvaccinated patients.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are known to cause myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation that can result in death.
The people who had mRNA detected in the heart did not have myocarditis, though they did have detectable heart injuries, researchers found.
The researchers said they believed the heart injuries stemmed from underlying diseases and not the vaccines.
"There is no indication as yet that the vaccine in the heart is causing any problems in these patients; neither the causes of death nor the causes of the myocardial injury were linked to the vaccines in that study," said Dr. Stone, one of the authors of the paper.

That position was challenged by Dr. Clare Craig, a British pathologist who reviewed the research.
"The vaccine should not have been there. There was evidence of heart damage. Those three people are now dead," Dr. Craig told The Epoch Times in a message.
She said the researchers were setting too high of a bar for causality.
"At postmortem if there is significant narrowing of the coronary arteries then heart damage is attributed to it on the balance of probabilities. Here this is a clear cut association, an unusual picture of myocardial injury, and a failure to call it out for what it is," Dr. Craig said.
More on Research
The tissues were collected from autopsies performed between January 2021 and February 2022 at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Researchers excluded tissues from some dead people, including from patients who had no clear history of vaccination or non-vaccination and those who had a documented prior COVID-19 infection.
The researchers wanted to test the tissue for vaccine in light of research that has found both spike protein and mRNA persisting in axillary lymph nodes and blood for weeks or even months after vaccination. The testing would help "gain a better understanding of the biodistribution and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines," they said. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.
Researchers ended up with tissues from 20 vaccinated patients, including six who received one dose, 12 who received two doses, and two who received three doses. They also formed a control group of five unvaccinated patients.
Six bilateral axillary lymph node samples were available for people vaccinated with Moderna's shot. Two tested positive for the vaccine. Thirteen were available for people vaccinated with Pfizer's shot. Six tested positive for the vaccine.
Overall, of the 11 bilateral axillary lymph node samples from patients who died within 30 days of a shot, eight tested positive. None of the samples from patients who died beyond 30 days of vaccination tested positive.
Researchers also examined samples from each of the vaccinated people from the cardiac left ventricle and cardiac right ventricle. Of those, four samples tested positive across three patients. These were the three who received Pfizer's shot within 30 days of dying. The samples also tested negative for COVID-19.
Vaccine was not detected in any of the unvaccinated people.
The vaccinated patients were on average older, with a mean age of 64 compared to 57. A higher percentage—55 percent to 20 percent—had recent heart injury.
Read more here...
Government
T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ: TTOO) Breaks Ground: FDA Clearance, Market Trends, and Healthcare Impact
Shares of T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ:TTOO) are soaring up over 20% today on the heels of receiving a 510(k) clearance for its T2Biothreat from the FDA. This…

Shares of T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ:TTOO) are soaring up over 20% today on the heels of receiving a 510(k) clearance for its T2Biothreat from the FDA. This unique test directly detects six biothreat pathogens from a blood sample.
Spotting Biothreats Faster:
T2Biothreat Panel is a game-changer, being the first and only FDA-approved product that can spot these critical biothreat pathogens simultaneously. T2 Biosystems proudly stands as the first U.S. company to achieve this milestone, reshaping the field of biothreat detection.
Big Investor Sells:
Interestingly while celebrating this achievement, a significant investor, CR Group (CRG), decided to sell off a substantial chunk of shares. This sell-off, totaling 24.81 million shares, took place between Sept. 20 and Sept. 26. The timing of this sell-off alongside the FDA clearance raises some eyebrows.
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New CDC Guidelines:
Regardless of CR Group selling, there still appears to be a massive opportunity according to many retail investors. Following new CDC guidelines, the U.S. government now mandates that all hospitals in the country must adopt rapid testing protocols to combat the sepsis pandemic by 2026, or risk losing Medicare funding.
Buying opportunity of the year!!! Update
byu/den1183 inTTOOstock
T2 Biosystems stands as the exclusive FDA-cleared product capable of achieving 100% accurate sepsis detection within 3 to 5 hours. Anticipating widespread adoption of T2 instruments in hospitals, the CEO foresees significant revenue generation, potentially reaching $1.3 billion annually, given the mandate.
This development drastically alters the landscape, potentially influencing the stock’s trajectory positively. With the ongoing surge in manufacturing hires and likely acceleration in orders, coupled with potential government contracts or international sales, many beleive T2 Biosystems presents an undervalued opportunity for investors.
What Borrowing Costs Tell Us:
Another interesting indicator to look at is the cost to borrow (CTB) fee. In terms of TTOO’s case, the stock has seen a massive surge in CTB fees, indicating a high demand from short sellers. When compared to the average CTB fee for other stocks, it’s pretty drastic. While this is typically not a very positive sign, retail investors seem to be buzzing with interest, given there also could be a potential short squeeze if enough buying comes in to trap the shorts.
Better News for Patients:
But let’s not forget the real impact and that’s what TTOO can do for patients. @ChengKeki a user from Twitter also shared an article about Butler Memorial Hospital and their approach to Sepsis. The hospital came up with a 2 step approach to expedite patient care. They’re utilizing the Beckman Coulter automation line to identify changes in a person’s blood cells that might indicate the development of sepsis. Which apparently has only been used in Europe and they’re the first in the US with the technology. Then shortly after, they use T2 Biosystems panels that as you know, quicken the process from 36 hours, to just 3-5 hours.
Catching sepsis quickly is crucial because it’s a life-threatening condition that rapidly progresses throughout your body and can lead to death if not promptly diagnosed and treated. Sepsis occurs when the body responds improperly to an infection, causing widespread inflammation and potentially damages multiple organ systems. Early detection allows for immediate medical intervention.
Conclusion:
T2 Biosystems is hitting major milestones, not only in the market but in improving critical healthcare processes. The company is also a major hit with retail investors and continues to trade an astronomical amount of shares daily, the current average is ~115M shares. The FDA approval and its implications, along with the positive shift in sepsis diagnosis, showcase T2 Biosystems’ growing role in healthcare. Keep an eye on how this progresses—it’s exciting for both investors and patients alike.
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Picture by jarmoluk from Pixabay
The post T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ: TTOO) Breaks Ground: FDA Clearance, Market Trends, and Healthcare Impact first appeared on Micro Cap Daily.
The post T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ: TTOO) Breaks Ground: FDA Clearance, Market Trends, and Healthcare Impact appeared first on Micro Cap Daily.
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