Little Harbor Advisors has become the latest investment firm to launch an ETF with the introduction of the LHA Market State US Tactical ETF (MSUS US) on Cboe ETF Marketplace. The actively managed fund uses Bayesian statistical techniques to infer the probability of change in price direction of the broad US equity market. Jeff Landle, Little Harbor Advisors’ CIO, said, “To maximize returns investors want to not only generate gains when the market goes up, but, importantly, to lessen losses when the market goes down.”

Deutsche Asset Management has cross-listed two income ETFs, the Xtrackers MSCI World High Dividend Yield UCITS ETF (XDWY SW) and Xtrackers iBoxx USD Corporate Bond Yield Plus UCITS ETF (XYLD SW), on SIX Swiss Exchange.

FTSE Russell has promoted Saudi Arabia to Secondary Emerging Market status. As a consequence, the country will now be added to the FTSE Emerging Index, underlying reference to Vanguard’s sizeable EM ETFs, with a projected overall weighting of roughly 2.7%. Khalid Al Hussan, chief executive officer of Tadawul, said the promotion “marks a significant moment in the development of our [Saudi Arabia’s] capital markets.”

By Christopher Gannatti, associate director of research, WisdomTree.

One of the most important macro stories of the last 15-months has been the dramatic decline in the US dollar. This has helped spur international equity indexes that package foreign currency returns on top of the equity investments.

BlackRock has announced the launch of the iShares MSCI World Small Cap UCITS ETF (WSML LN) on the London Stock Exchange. The new ETF provides exposure to small-cap companies in developed markets worldwide. While investors can expect higher risk and the prospect of higher returns compared to global large-cap equity ETFs, the fund has the potential to play a strategic or tactical role within portfolios.

Investors continued to trim equity exposure in March as the US-listed ETF industry experienced its second consecutive month of outflows ($1.7bn) – the first time since 2008 that US-listed ETFs had back-to-back months of outflows.

Lyxor has launched the Lyxor MSCI Emerging Markets Asia UCITS ETF on the London, Frankfurt and Milan exchanges. The new ETF offers exposure to Asian emerging market equities by tracking the MSCI Emerging Markets Asia Index, and with a total expense ratio of just 12 bps becomes Europe’s cheapest EM ETF.

Canadian asset manager Brompton Funds has converted two of its sector-targeting mutual funds – the Global Healthcare Income & Growth Fund and the Tech Leaders Income Fund – to ETF units. The actively managed funds seek to provide enhanced income through the use of covered call option overlays.

Lyxor has introduced the Lyxor Global Gender Equality (DR) UCITS ETF – Monthly Hedged to EUR (ELLH GY), a currency-hedged share class of its global gender equality ETF. Listed on Deutsche Börse, the share class hedges the fund’s US dollar exposure to the euro, the fund’s trading currency.

Canadian fund manager Harvest Portfolios has launched the Harvest Banks & Buildings Leaders Income ETF (HCBB CN), an actively managed equity ETF focused on income-paying financial and real estate stocks. “We want to provide our Canadian investors with convenient and lower cost access to our longest running income strategy,” commented Michael Kovacs, president & chief executive officer of Harvest.