Vanguard has launched a new fixed income ETF on Toronto Stock Exchange, providing low-cost exposure to a globally diversified portfolio of bonds issued across multiple sectors. The Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond Index (CAD-hedged) ETF (VGAB CN), which comes with a management fee of 0.30%, is designed to serve as a one-ticket solution covering the entire global investment-grade bond space.

Invesco has broadened its range of US Treasury bond ETFs with the launch of the Invesco US Treasury Bond 0-1 Year UCITS ETF on the London Stock Exchange. The fund is linked to the Bloomberg Barclays US Treasury Coupons Index and comes with an expense ratio of just 0.06%, becoming Europe’s cheapest ETF to focus on Treasury securities at the shortest end of the maturity curve.

Vanguard has added 14 new accumulating share classes for various fixed income and equity ETFs on Borsa Italiana. The share classes are tradeable in euros and aimed at investors who wish to reinvest (or capitalize) income within the fund. The underlying funds range in size from $280m to $27bn.

Sydney-based ETF issuer BetaShares has launched a new fixed income ETF, the BetaShares Sustainability Leaders Diversified Bond ETF – Currency Hedged (GBND AU), providing exposure to a globally diversified portfolio of ‘green’ and ESG-screened bonds. The ETF has been listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and is linked to the Solactive Australian and Global Select Sustainability Leaders Bond TR Index. It has been seeded by Future Super, a leading Australian retail superannuation fund.

By Christopher Dhanraj, Head of iShares Investment Strategy at BlackRock. “Pressure Drop,” the classic Toots and the Maytals song, comes to mind as we see a de-escalation in trade tensions with China, diminishing risks of a no-deal Brexit, and few signs that the record US economic expansion is ending or reversing.

Cathay Securities, a division of Cathay Financial Holdings, has launched a new ETF in Taiwan providing investors with exposure to short-term US Treasury securities. The Cathay Bloomberg Barclays US Short Term Treasury ETF (00865B TT) has listed on Taiwan Stock Exchange and comes with an expense ratio of 0.14%.

By the research team at Invesco Asset Management.

The choice between credit and duration risk is increasingly important especially in today’s low/negative yield environment. With 10-year Treasury yields converging towards the shorter end, investors are not being compensated sufficiently for taking on duration risk. In our view, investment-grade corporate bonds offer enough pick up in yield over government bonds to make credit risk arguably more appealing.

First Trust has unveiled its second factor-based fixed income ETF in Europe with the launch of the First Trust Low Duration Global Government Bond UCITS ETF (FSOV NA) on Euronext Amsterdam. The fund is actively managed and aims to provide attractive levels of income and capital growth with low levels of duration risk. The fund’s managers seek to achieve these objectives by systematically exploiting carry and value factor premia present in global sovereign bond markets while simultaneously using interest rate derivatives to synthetically reduce the duration of the portfolio.

State Street Global Advisors has introduced a currency-hedged share class for its SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Emerging Markets Local Bond UCITS ETF, offering exposure to local currency emerging markets debt while mitigating the effect of foreign exchange movements for euro-referenced investors. The new share class hedges international currency exposures relative to the euro on a monthly basis using one-month forward rates. It has listed on Xetra (SPFD GY) and Borsa Italiana (EMDE IM) and comes with an expense ratio of 0.60%.

Taipei-based asset manager Shin Kong Investment Trust has launched a new ETF in Taiwan providing exposure to a US sector rotational strategy developed jointly by Barclays and Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Robert Shiller. The Shin Kong Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector Value ETF (00866 TT) has listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and comes with an expense ratio of 0.55%.