First Trust, a provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has launched a new ETF designed to provide low-volatility exposure to a diverse international portfolio of high-yielding instruments. The fund is latest addition to a growing roster of multi-asset income ETFs, which includes products from iShares, Guggenheim, ArrowShares and SPDR.

IndexUniverse, a US-focused publication covering the global indexing industry, and Brown Brothers Harriman, a custodian and administrator with some $170 billion in exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets, have released some early findings from their first joint ‘Annual Advisor Survey’. Shawn McNinch, Senior Vice President, Global Head of ETF Services at Brown Brothers Harriman, said: “We are thrilled to be working with IndexUniverse to publish the results of this insightful and important survey”.

ETF Securities, a London-headquartered provider of exchange-traded commodities (ETCs), has partnered with The Royal Mint to offer investors the opportunity to exchange holdings in Gold Bullion Securities (GBSS) for actual gold bullion. Rather than simply providing exposure to the precious metal, investors in GBSS ETC will now be able to exchange their security holdings for physical gold bullion coins produced by mint – specifically Sovereigns and Britannias – for a fee of 4.5%.

China Asset Management Company (ChinaAMC), China’s largest fund management firm, has listed its second RQFII exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The new fund is linked to the CES China A80 Index, an index developed by the China Exchanges Services Company (CESC), a joint venture between Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

S&P Dow Jones Indices has added two new sector indices to its flagship S&P GSCI commodity index family. They are the S&P GSCI All Metals 3 Month Forward and the S&P GSCI All Metals 3 Month Forward Capped Component. The indices are designed to measure the performance of precious and industrial metal commodity markets while seeking to reduce negative roll yield in times of contango.

By David Stevenson – In this column I am going to touch on the rather sensitive and controversial subjects of emerging markets (EM) and smart beta. Crucially, I want to argue that investing in EM equities could have been a far more rewarding pursuit over the last 12 months if (and it’s a big if) you’d have focused on the right kind of stocks.

Professionally managed portfolios that have more than 50% of assets invested in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are one of the fastest-growing segments of the managed account universe. In the US, these portfolios, which are often referred to as ‘ETF managed portfolios’, have in excess of $70 billion in assets managed across more than 600 different strategies offered by around 140 firms. The segment continues to develop at pace with a host of new portfolios launched in the past week or so.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are playing a more significant role in US fixed income markets, particularly the corporate high-yield segment, according to a recent report from Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency. Although US corporate bond ETF assets total less than 2% of the US corporate bond market, their influence on trading activity is relatively more significant. Moreover, Fitch suggests that increased ETF trading volumes might amplify overall bond market volatility, as redemptions of ETFs can, in turn, drive selling in the underlying bonds.

By Stephen Cohen, Chief Investment Strategist, iShares EMEA – Performance-wise it has been a weak year for fixed income, a mixed bag for equities and a truly miserable time for gold. The two themes that have dominated 2013 are changing expectations for central bank policy and the continued outperformance of developed markets amidst rising challenges for emerging markets. For the rest of the year, the de-synchronisation of central bank policies and the diverging growth outlook that caused recent turbulence will remain key drivers of market uncertainty.

Icelandic fund management company Landsbref, a subsidiary of state-owned Landsbankinn, has listed a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Nasdaq OMX Iceland. The fund, known simply as Landsbref Equity ETF (LEQ), is the first ETF to be issued on the Icelandic exchange since 2004 and the only one to be based on the Icelandic market. It is linked to the OMX Iceland 6 Cap Index.