Boost, a London-based provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products (ETPs), has listed five new products on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) offering exposure to the FTSE 250 and FTSE 100 indices. The products, based on specialist short and leveraged versions of their parent FTSE indices, offer -1x and 2x exposure to the mid-cap FTSE 250 and 2x, -2x and -1x exposure to the large-cap FTSE 100.

David Stevenson has joined ETF Strategy as a weekly columnist. David is the author of the popular Financial Times Guide to Exchange Traded Funds and Index Funds and writes for the FT, Investors Chronicle and Investment Week. “I’m really excited to be writing a regular weekly column for ETF Strategy – in a very short period of time this online publication has established itself as the best source of analysis and research for investors who use ETFs here in Europe. Over the next year I can guarantee you that there’ll be many more developments at ETF Strategy, so watch this space!”, said Stevenson. In his debut column he considers European equity ETFs.

Leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which provide magnified exposure to various financial markets, have provided everyday investors with powerful hedging and speculative trading instruments that were once the reserve of institutional investors. These instruments typically provide two or three-times exposure – long or short – to a specific index tracking equities, bonds, commodities or currencies.

Risks continued to ease in the fourth quarter of 2012, with no signs of a reversal ahead, according to risk specialists Axioma. Melissa Brown, Senior Director of Applied Research at Axioma, said: “The decline in risk should give investors the opportunity to focus on achieving active returns.” With predicted risk considerably reduced, now could be the time for risk tolerant sophisticated investors to consider tactically adding a degree of leverage to their portfolios via leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offering geared exposure to various markets.

ComStage, the ETF business of Commerzbank, has rolled out a new ETF based on the S&P SMIT 40 Index. The fund has been listed on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra platform. The S&P SMIT 40 Index, which was launched by S&P Dow Jones Indices in October 2012, is designed to measure the performance of 40 leading companies from four long-term growth emerging markets, as identified by Goldman Sachs: South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey (SMITs).

Nearly two-thirds of investors believe the FTSE 100 will finish 2013 higher than it did at the end of 2012, according to a survey by Barclays Stockbrokers. Almost half of respondents reckon the FTSE will close between 6,001 and 6,500 and one in seven believes it will close above 6,500 at the end of the year. For investors looking to access the FTSE, a range of exchange-traded products exists to suit varying levels of risk appetite, from conventional passive ETFs to triple-leveraged ETPs.

Boost, Europe’s newest exchange-traded product (ETP) provider, has begun to roll out an initial line-up of ETPs on the London Stock Exchange. The first batch of products provide triple-leveraged long and short exposure to key European, UK, German and US equity markets. Aimed at sophisticated and experienced investors, leveraged long and short ETPs provide instant leverage to underlying markets in one single trade, making it possible to accentuate and exploit opportunities in sideways-trending markets.

Despite ongoing difficulties in Europe, German corporates continue to benefit from positive underlying domestic economic fundamentals and strong demand for their goods and services globally. For investors seeking exposure to the country’s equity market, which remains attractive on both a relative and historic basis, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) benchmarked to indices such as the blue-chip DAX or the broader MSCI Germany provide targeted, liquid access for as little as 12 basis points a year.

Boost ETP has revealed plans to launch a suite of triple-leveraged long (3x) and short (-3x) exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the London Stock Exchange. The company expects to list up to 100 ETPs in the next two years, starting with a broad range of equities and commodities. Aimed at sophisticated and experienced investors, leveraged long and short ETPs provide instant leverage to underlying markets in one single trade, making it possible to accentuate and exploit opportunities in sideways-trending markets.

STOXX has expanded its ‘Maximum Dividend Strategy Index’ family with the launch of the STOXX Global Maximum Dividend 40, the STOXX Asia/Pacific Maximum Dividend 40, the STOXX North America Maximum Dividend 40 and the STOXX Japan Maximum Dividend 40 indices. The new indices reflect growing appetite for high-dividend equities and have designed to act both as a benchmark for actively managed funds and as an underlying for exchange-traded funds (ETFs).