BlackRock has rolled out a UCITS version of its popular US medical devices ETF in Europe, on Euronext Amsterdam.

First Trust has unveiled the First Trust Dow Jones International Internet ETF (FDNI US) on Nasdaq. The fund provides exposure to 40 of the largest and most actively traded internet companies listed outside of the US. It has a significant leaning towards China, with stocks from the country making up over half of the total exposure and contributing the fund’s top five holdings.

Exchange-traded funds providing exposure to Turkish equities are the worst performing ETFs on European exchanges this year on the back of a tumultuous domestic political landscape, dwindling investor confidence, and a 23.5% depreciation in the lira versus the dollar. The iShares MSCI Turkey UCITS ETF, Europe’s largest pure-play Turkish equity ETF, is down 35% YTD. 

An increasingly assertive US foreign policy and a strengthening dollar have contributed to a global sell-off in emerging markets, with Turkey and Latin America among those suffering the biggest falls. ETFs tracking Turkish equities are down almost 15% over the month, and ETFs linked to Mexico and Latin America are down about 10% and 6% respectively. Flows into EM ETFs have also been pared.

Assets invested in smart beta equity ETFs/ETPs have reached a new record high of $592 billion at the end of June 2017, according to ETF industry consultant ETFGI. Smart beta equity ETF/ETP assets have increased by nearly 15% from $515bn during the first half of 2017.

Charles Schwab has filed a regulatory request with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list its first ETF since 2013. The fund, named the Schwab 1000 Index ETF, will track an in-house index composed of the largest 1,000 US stocks by market cap putting the fund in direct competition with ETFs that track the Russell 1000 Index.

Potential changes to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) being proposed by MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) could cause a shake-up of the constituents of ETFs tracking the telecom, technology and consumer discretionary sectors. The two indexing firms are currently running a consultation to potentially change the current telecommunications services sector to a new communications services sector.

Barclays and Time Inc have announced they have entered into an exclusive agreement to launch a new family of indices based on the Fortune 500, the annual list of the largest public and private corporations in the US ranked by revenue. The indices, which will focus on listed stocks, will be designed to be investable and thus suitable to underlie index-linked investment products such as ETFs.

The VIX Index, a widely-followed measure of the uncertainty investors have around the short-term outlook for US equities, has been subdued for the best part of a year, despite a backdrop of seemingly heightened political uncertainty. So why is the VIX so low, and should investors be worried?

Arrow Funds has placed two ArrowShares exchange-traded funds on E*TRADE’s commission-free ETF platform. The firm’s flagship ETF, the Arrow Dow Jones Global Yield ETF (NYSE: GYLD), as well as the Arrow DWA Tactical ETF (NASDAQ: DWAT) can now be bought and sold without paying brokerage commissions via E*TRADE’s platform.