Flows into global ETPs slowed in May to $10.7bn, just shy of the $11.1bn net inflows seen in April. The slowdown reflected the pullback in global risk sentiment, with fixed income exposures accounting for the majority of net inflows, according BlackRock’s ETP Landscape report. Fixed income net inflows registered $9.7bn, pushing cumulative flows into the asset class this year to $61.8bn – the best year-to-date performance in the history of the product. Ursula Marchioni, Chief Strategist, iShares EMEA at BlackRock, said: “With government bond yields at record lows, the influx of fixed income flows are going into credit-based exposures in the hope of getting whatever yields are left to scrap.”

Californian asset manager Franklin Templeton Investments has launched LibertyShares, its new exchange-traded fund arm. The provider has officially begun operations with the launch of four new smart beta funds known as LibertyQ ETFs, offering exposure to global, emerging market and international stocks. Each fund tracks a proprietary, research-driven index which targets exposure across four factors (value, quality, momentum and low volatility) which have historically provided superior returns to market cap-weighted benchmarks over the long-term.

Leading index provider to the exchange-traded fund industry FTSE Russell has launched ten smart beta sustainability-themed equity indices based on a new analytical tool which scores companies by the proportion of their revenues derived from ‘green’ pursuits – goods, products and services that directly help the world to alleviate the impact of climate change, resource depletion or environmental erosion. Mark Makepeace, Chief Executive of FTSE Russell, said in a statement: “FTSE Russell has long been a pioneer in the development of ESG benchmarking tools. As such, we identified a significant gap in the ability of portfolio managers to track exposure to the increasing shift towards a green economy.”

Global exchange-traded fund provider Invesco PowerShares has launched two new ETFs offering smart beta exposure to UK-listed and emerging market equities: the PowerShares FTSE UK High Dividend Low Volatility UCITS ETF (UKHD LN) and the PowerShares FTSE Emerging Markets High Dividend Low Volatility UCITS ETF (EMHD LN). Bryon Lake, Head of Invesco PowerShares – EMEA, said: “These new ETFs complement our existing High Dividend Low Volatility range and, collectively, provide a suite of products seeking to help in the search for yield in the UK and emerging markets, while operating in an uncertain equity environment.”

Assets tracking the indices of smart beta index provider ERI Scientific Beta, a commercial venture of EDHEC Risk Institute, has reached the $10bn milestone. Part of these tracking assets can be attributed to a range of exchange-traded funds from providers such as Morgan Stanley, ETF Securities, Amundi and Global X Funds. Noël Amenc, CEO of ERI Scientific Beta, commented in a statement: “ERI Scientific Beta’s approach to smart beta index provision is based on three guiding principles: more academic rigour, more transparency, and less cost. It is extremely gratifying to see that these principles have proven to be attractive to our clients.”

Commodities have enjoyed their biggest three month gain since 2009, according to a note from S&P Dow Jones Indices. The S&P GSCI (formerly Goldman Sachs Commodity Index) has seen a total return of 9.8% this year-to-date, with commodities now outperforming stocks for the first year since 2007. While not every broad commodity index has performed as strongly as the S&P GSCI, which is weighted by world production and significantly energy sector-heavy, 2016 has seen a rebound in most commodities from their five-year trend, providing benefits to investors in a range of exchange-traded funds linked to these indices.

Global exchange-traded fund provider State Street Global Advisors has teamed up with Dorsey, Wright & Associates (DWA) to launch a fixed income strategy ETF. The SPDR Dorsey Wright Fixed Income Allocation ETF (DWFI) is a fund of funds and is based on DWA’s signal-driven, momentum-focused technical index. The ETF, listed on NASDAQ, tracks the performance of the Dorsey Wright Fixed Income Allocation Index. The index is designed to provide targeted exposure to the SPDR fixed income ETFs that offer the greatest potential to outperform within the selection universe. The selection universe includes US-listed SPDR fixed income ETFs.

The S&P 500 Index, one of the most widely followed indices in the world and a bellwether for the US economy, has recorded a turbulent start to the year, prompting market watchers to believe the index is poised to suffer a sharp decline. The index – acting as a reference for several hugely popular ETFs, including the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) – has dropped 10.5% from its opening value this year of 2044 to its lowest point YTD of 1829 on 11th Feb. Despite a brief recovery in the market – where it gained 14.6% from its February low to 31 May 2016 – investors who endured the ride would still have only netted a 2.6% increase in capital value. An examination of fundamental and technical factors may suggest the widely-followed index may be due a correction.

Traditional portfolios consisting of equities, bonds and cash may reap further diversification benefits through the inclusion of a broad commodity investment, according to research from leading exchange-traded fund provider WisdomTree (Europe). The findings illustrate that investors may reduce the risk and enhance the return of multi-asset portfolios by allocating funds to a diversified commodity-based ETF. Furthermore, WisdomTree maintains to maximise the benefit to the risk/return profile of the portfolio, investors should select commodity ETFs that provide an enhanced roll strategy. These approaches seek to minimise the costs associated with the loss of value from buying new, more expensive futures contracts when selling contracts close to expiry.

Index provider FTSE Russell has announced changes to the FTSE 100 Index, the flagship reference for large cap blue-chip stocks listed in the United Kingdom. Following a rules-based process, this quarter’s review will see only one substitution as satellite communications company Inmarsat will be relegated from the index in favour of multinational pharmaceuticals firm Hikma Pharmaceuticals. The move is set to prompt significant buying and selling activity amongst a wide range of ETFs that currently track the prestigious index.