Assets invested in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products listed globally reached the $4 trillion milestone during April, finishing the month at $4.002tn, according to analysis from London-based ETF industry consultant ETFGI.

Flows into non-US equity ETFs were robust during April, reaching $15.2bn for the month, driven by favourable outlooks for broad Europe and emerging market exposures, according to BlackRock’s latest ETP landscape report.

New analysis from SPDR ETFs, the exchange-traded fund division of State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), reveals there has been a fivefold increase in assets invested in globally-listed sector ETFs since 2008, reaching $394 billion in AUM by the end of 2016.

Index Industry Association (IIA), a global organization of index administrators, has announced the addition of three new members – CBOE Holdings (CBOE), China Central Depository & Clearing (CCDC) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

By Naoki Kamiyama, chief strategist, Nikko Asset Management.

We often read that Abenomics continues to divide people as to whether it is working, and if this policy platform advocated strongly by Prime Minister Abe since his election in 2012 will ever achieve its objective of moving Japan’s economy forward. We believe that Abenomics is working, however we feel that its success cannot be determined by viewing government policy frameworks in isolation.

Against a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, April’s total traded volume on the Tradeweb European-listed ETF marketplace was just shy of €13.8 billion. While the figure is down from the record €17.7bn seen during March 2017, the figure is still above the average recorded through 2016. Adriano Pace, managing director of equity derivatives at Tradeweb, said: “The platform has maintained momentum following the surge in activity around the US election last November, both in terms of traded notional and key metrics, such as quote and hit rates.”

Deutsche Asset Management has harmonised its suites of UCITS-compliant exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded commodities under a collective ‘Xtrackers’ branding, replacing the existing ‘db X-trackers’ and ‘db-X’ branding used for ETFs and ETCs respectively. Reinhard Bellet, Deutsche AM’s head of passive asset management, said: “Our business is the provision of efficient index tracking solutions, and this branding initiative encapsulates that focus. In marketing terms it will create a more coherent, distinctive product suite that investors will immediately recognise.”

French equity markets have been largely subdued in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s French presidential election run-off, confirming that Emmanuel Macron’s victory over Marine Le Pen had been widely priced in. The Lyxor CAC 40 UCITS ETF (Euronext: CAC) saw some profit taking to end Monday 8 May down 0.59%, reversing some of the 7.2% gains it has made since the first round of voting on 23 April.

VanEck Australia has partnered with financial research house Lonsec Investment Solutions to launch a range of ETF model portfolios tailored to three risk/return profiles: balanced, growth and high growth. Arian Neiron, managing director, VanEck Australia, commented: “We believe the new VanEck ETF model portfolios will provide financial advisers with a set of tools to build cost effective and diversified investment portfolios to help meet the needs of their clients across a range of risk profiles.”

By Lyxor’s Cross Asset Research Team.

Investors breathed a sigh of relief after centrist, pro-EU candidate Macron’s victory in the 1st round of French elections. Since then, European markets have come out swinging. Now he’s secured the presidency, is another surge likely? In our view, the answer is “oui”