By Fong Yee, Senior Product Manager, Sustainable Investing, FTSE Russell.

Carbon intensive sectors are facing unprecedented scrutiny from governments, regulators, and markets. Since this can have a significant impact on liquidity and asset values – indeed, the effects are already becoming visible – it is a factor that investors cannot afford to ignore. The real estate sector, which is characterized by long-lived and energy-intensive assets, is one such target.

BlackRock has introduced a new share class for the iShares China CNY Bond UCITS ETF providing currency-hedged exposure to renminbi-denominated government and policy bank bonds issued in China. The new share class, which hedges exchange rate risk between renminbi and the US dollar, trades on Euronext Amsterdam under the ticker CYBU NA.

Australian online broker and investment adviser SelfWealth has launched its first ETF with the introduction of a rules-based fund that mimics the holdings of Australia’s top-performing Self Managed Super Funds (SMSFs). The SelfWealth SMSF Leaders ETF (SELF AU) has listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and comes to market in collaboration with ETF Securities Australia. It has been seeded with A$100m.

Direxion has added two pairs of funds, linked to the S&P 500 High Beta Index and Dow Jones Internet Composite, to its line-up of triple leveraged and inverse ETFs. Dave Mazza, Managing Director at Direxion, commented, “We’re very excited to offer traders leveraged exposure to these two indexes to express bullish or bearish positions.”

Global gold-backed ETFs (including ETPs) recorded $1.9 billion of net inflows in October, swelling their collective holdings by 44.4 tonnes to a new record high of 2,900t, according to World Gold Council.

ProShares has expanded its suite of dividend growth ETFs with the launch of two new funds on Cboe BZX: the ProShares S&P Technology Dividend Aristocrats ETF (TDV US), which focuses on dividend growers within the US technology sector; and the ProShares Russell US Dividend Growers ETF (TMDV US), which explores the broad US stock market. Michael Sapir, co-founder and CEO of ProShare Advisors, commented, “Consistent dividend growth may be one of the best indicators of a company’s health. We are committed to offering this powerful strategy across a broad array of market caps, geographies and sectors.”

EMEA-listed exchange-traded products providing exposure to European equities have recorded their largest monthly inflow thus far in 2019 with $4.4 billion added in October, according to BlackRock’s latest ETP Landscape report.

First Trust has unveiled four ‘target outcome’ ETFs in partnership with Cboe Vest, offering a structured play on S&P 500 equities. Target outcome strategies target a defined return profile with an allowance for a specific level of risk, at a particular point in time. Ryan Issakainen, Senior Vice President, ETF Strategist at First Trust, commented, “We believe these ETFs will be effective for those seeking equity-like upside potential for their clients with a limited downside buffer.”

Invesco has lowered the fees on a pair of fixed income ETFs providing exposure to USD and EUR corporate bonds. The Invesco USD Corporate Bond UCITS ETF and Invesco Euro Corporate Bond UCITS ETF have had their expense ratios reduced by six basis points from 0.16% to 0.10%.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has introduced its third European-domiciled ETF with the launch of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity UCITS ETF on London Stock Exchange (GSEM LN) and Xetra (GACB GR). The fund seeks to outperform traditional emerging market benchmarks by systematically exploiting value, momentum, quality, and low volatility factor risk premia. Peter Thompson, Head of GSAM’s European ETF Business, commented, “The latest addition to our European ETF business provides investors with a sophisticated route to diversification, which leverages our quantitative investment expertise, and deep knowledge of emerging markets in a simple structure.”