Horizons ETFs Management has changed the underlying index for the Horizons S&P 500 Covered Call ETF (NYSE Arca: HSPX). According to Jonathan Molchan, head of product development at Horizons ETFs, the primary rationale behind the conversion was to “enhance the tax efficiency of the covered call strategy”.

ETFs and Index funds continue to take market share off their actively managed counterparts on an almost one-for-one basis. Active manager warnings grow ever more shrill, ‘a ticking time bomb,’ ‘the cause of the next financial crisis.’ But are they right?

After registering dynamic growth in the first half of the year, demand for Europe-listed ETFs slowed considerably in August, according to Morningstar’s monthly ETF asset flows analysis.

Assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) have reached a new record high of $155 billion as of the end of August 2017, according to ETF industry consultant ETFGI.

The ongoing price war in smart beta ETF fees has the potential to negatively impact the credit ratings of traditional active asset managers as well as smart beta ETF providers, according to credit rating agency Moody’s.

ETFs and ETPs listed in the US have gathered $300 billion of net inflows in the first eight months of 2017 after attracting $24.2bn net new assets during August, according to ETF industry consultant ETFGI. The net inflows in August marked the 19th consecutive month of positive net gatherings for the region.

By George Bonne, executive director of equity factor research, MSCI.

In May, we wrote that despite the generally low market volatility that has prevailed this year, investors were paying relatively high prices for downside protection as measured by “options skew” – the difference in implied volatility between an out-of-the-money option and an at-the-money option. Low market volatility largely continued through the summer, but how has options skew behaved – has it fallen to more “normal” levels?

Solactive has launched the Solactive US Large Cap Equal Weight Index, a new index that tracks an equal weight exposure to the US large-cap equity segment. The index will include the 500 largest US-domiciled equities and will underlie the forthcoming Goldman Sachs Equal Weight US Large Cap Equity ETF (Bats: GSEW). Steffen Scheuble, CEO of Solactive, said: “We’re excited to once again serve as an index provider to Goldman Sachs through the creation of such a timely and unique index.”

By Chandra Seethamraju, vice president of systematic modelling, Franklin Templeton.

For decades, Franklin Templeton has been a vocal advocate for active management. We believe the skills and insight human oversight brings should play a crucial role in the investment process. The emergence of risk-factor investing and the evolution of traditional indexes have opened up fresh opportunities to bring a human touch to what has traditionally been considered the passive exchange-traded fund space.

Barclays and data analytics platform Novus have launched the Novus Barclays Public Ownership HF Conviction Index family, a new addition to the Barclays range of Quantitative Investment Strategies. The smart beta indices track equities which, according to regulatory filings, are commonly being held in high conviction positions across some of the largest funds in the hedge fund industry.