Vanguard has announced plans to expand commission-free online trading to the vast majority of ETFs available in the US. Karin Risi, managing director of Vanguard’s retail investor group in the US, commented, “Vanguard has led the industry in reducing the cost and complexity of investing for all investors for more than four decades. We’ve driven down the costs of funds. We’ve driven down the cost of advice. Now, we’re driving down the cost of investing in ETFs.”

More than half of Millennials would consider placing their entire investment portfolio in ETFs in the next year, according to a study of US-based clients of Charles Schwab. The study, which includes a sub-section entitled “Millennials are Mad for ETFs”, found that ETFs are the investment vehicle of choice for 91% of Millennial investors.

Investment research firm Morningstar has published the latest instalment of its ETF Managed Portfolios Landscape Report. The report, which covers the fourth-quarter of 2017, found that total AUM in the ETF managed portfolios segment increased by 7.0%, to $123.0 billion. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory holds the top spot with over $12.4bn in AUM across 15 strategies.

One sector has more than recouped its losses from February’s volatility. Technology has stormed ahead over the past month; 12 of the 15 top-performing London-listed ETFs over one-month track a tech-based index. But, as Chris Dhanraj, Head of the ETF Investment Strategy team at iShares, notes, “In investing, past is not prologue… the question is: Can the good times roll on?”

Invesco is to take a chunk out of the management fee on its NYSE Arca-listed PowerShares Active US Real Estate ETF (PSR US), knocking it down from 0.80% to 0.35% as of 1 April 2018.

Deutsche Asset Management has announced it is offering two new ETFs on Schwab ETF OneSource, Charles Schwab & Co.’s program that provides investors and advisors with access to commission-free ETFs. Fiona Bassett, head of passive asset management in the Americas, said, “Through the addition of these funds to the program, Schwab clients will have the ability to access the Chinese and German equity markets in a cost-efficient way.”

Morgan Stanley has become the latest entrant into the US robo-advisor market following the official launch of Morgan Stanley Access Investing after a successful six-month pilot programme. The automated digital wealth management service consists of ten portfolios, comprising a mix of blended active-passive solutions, as well as purely passive portfolios constructed using ETFs.

ETF flows have started to chase the fund fee cuts that have become a staple of the industry in recent months, according to new research released by FactSet. The report comes in the wake of numerous announcements in the last few months of fee reductions and new ultra-low-cost funds from major players, including Charles Schwab, State Street Global Advisors, Franklin Templeton, Deutsche Asset Management and Invesco PowerShares.

Year-to-date (YTD) net inflows for ETFs globally reached a record $433 billion at the end of September 2017, according to ETFGI, an increase of 79% from the same period in 2016. The $49bn of net new assets gathered during September marked the forty-fourth consecutive month of inflows and brings total global ETF assets to $4.5 trillion.

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has unveiled the SPDR Portfolio ETFs, a suite of “ultra-low-cost” ETFs that aims to assist investors in the construction of a core portfolio strategy. Comprising 15 existing funds with reduced expense ratios, the SPDR Portfolio ETFs provide access to a range of asset classes including fixed income, and US, emerging market and international equity. Commenting on the move, Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF & mutual fund research with CFRA, said SSGA has “aggressively crashed the low-fee ETF party consisting of iShares, Vanguard and Schwab.”