WisdomTree has announced the launch of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Growth Fund (DGRE). The ETF provides exposure to dividend-paying emerging markets stocks with growth characteristics. Jeremy Schwartz, WisdomTree Director of Research, said: “In contrast to many popular emerging markets equity strategies, DGRE has heavy exposure to the consumer sectors – which tend to be more closely tied to the economic growth potential of domestic markets, as well as defensive sectors – which have historically lower volatility.

AVANA Invest, a Munich-based investment manager specialising in exchange-traded fund (ETF) portfolios, has listed its first ETF: the AVANA Emerging Market Equity UCITS ETF Feeder. The fund, which has an actively managed component, has been listed on the Deutsche Börse (Xetra) and provides exposure to emerging market equities.

First Trust, a global provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has launched an actively managed ETF providing investors with access to a managed futures strategy. The fund, the First Trust Morningstar Managed Futures Strategy ETF (FMF), which has been listed on the NYSE Arca, seeks to provide investors with positive returns and to exceed the performance of the Morningstar Diversified Futures Index, the fund’s benchmark.

Near-record net inflows of $44.08 billion and strong market performance helped to push global exchange-traded fund (ETF) and exchange-traded product (ETP) assets to $2.16 trillion at the end of July 2013, according to preliminary data from ETFGI, a London-based ETF consultancy. Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI, said: “Dovish comments from the Fed and positive market performance encouraged investors to put net inflows of $44.08 billion back into the market through ETFs/ETPs.”

MSCI, a leading global index provider, has launched the MSCI Quality Mix Indices, an equal weighted combination of the provider’s value weighted, minimum volatility and quality indices in a single composite index. Baer Pettit, Managing Director and Global Head of the MSCI Index Business, said: “We are delighted to bring to the market a set of new indices designed to reflect the beta represented by combining quality with value and low volatility strategies.”

By David Stevenson – This week I have a small piece of mid-summer madness. Now that all those sensible people have quite rightly vanished from the office, I’m fairly sure that only the most clinically insane are left staring at their computers (like me), hunting down new investment ideas. If you are indeed one of these bemused loners, may I suggest a very contrarian call – Turkish equities?!

KraneShares, which only last month made its exchange-traded fund (ETF) debut, has launched its second new fund: the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB). The fund, which has been listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, provides exposure to Chinese internet and internet-related companies. Brendan Ahern, Managing Director of KraneShares, said: “We see two powerful demographic trends driving China’s internet sector: since 2000, internet spending by urban Chinese has increased 14% annually, and China’s rural population continues to migrate to urban areas, further fueling internet usage.”

VelocityShares, a US-based developer of exchange-traded products, has launched the VelocityShares Equal Risk Weighted Large Cap ETF (ERW), an innovative new fund providing an alternative to traditional low volatility and market cap-weighted equity ETFs. Nick Cherney, Chief Investment Officer and Co-founder of VelocityShares, said: “Investors are interested in low volatility equity portfolios, and equal risk weighting represents an important step forward as a means of intelligently allocating to low volatility stocks.”

Boost ETP, a London-based provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products (ETPs), received a significant boost late last month when a single investor traded $19 million of the Boost Euro Stoxx 50 3x Short Daily ETP (3EUS), the equivalent to a total notional exposure value of $57 million. The magnitude of the trade, which may have been executed to hedge a large existing position or to profit from a pullback in European equities, further reflects the growing acceptance of short and leveraged ETPs as a viable alternative to derivatives.

Index giant S&P Dow Jones Indices has added to its expanding equity income offering with the launch of the S&P Brazil Dividend Indices, a new family of indices tracking the performance of dividend-paying securities focused on the Brazilian market. The index family is composed of three different indices offering a range of exposures from dividend stability to pure high yield to small- and mid-cap stocks.