With uncertainty about economic growth and Federal Reserve policy, the global exchange-traded product (ETP) industry experienced outflows of $15.0 billion in August, according to the latest ETP Landscape report from BlackRock. This was the largest monthly outflow on record and the second month of redemptions this year following very strong asset gathering in July. Similar to June, outflows were driven by fixed income with $5.3 billion, including $8.1 billion from funds with longer/broader maturity profiles versus inflows for short maturity funds.

By David Stevenson – This week I’m looking at what I call the ‘Picks, Shovels and Roughnecks’ theme. I am absolutely convinced that the human race is degrading its way through this planet’s bountiful treasure trove of energy and key materials. Anticipated increases in the global population can only have a negative impact on resource balances. As a consequence, we will need to spend a vast amount of money digging and drilling stuff out of the ground, at ever-larger scale and in more difficult circumstances. Thus starts an investment journey which suggests that energy and mining equipment manufacturers and suppliers are the place to be – but what to actually own?

First Trust, a provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has launched a new ETF designed to provide low-volatility exposure to a diverse international portfolio of high-yielding instruments. The fund is latest addition to a growing roster of multi-asset income ETFs, which includes products from iShares, Guggenheim, ArrowShares and SPDR.

IndexUniverse, a US-focused publication covering the global indexing industry, and Brown Brothers Harriman, a custodian and administrator with some $170 billion in exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets, have released some early findings from their first joint ‘Annual Advisor Survey’. Shawn McNinch, Senior Vice President, Global Head of ETF Services at Brown Brothers Harriman, said: “We are thrilled to be working with IndexUniverse to publish the results of this insightful and important survey”.

By Stephen Cohen, Chief Investment Strategist, iShares EMEA – Performance-wise it has been a weak year for fixed income, a mixed bag for equities and a truly miserable time for gold. The two themes that have dominated 2013 are changing expectations for central bank policy and the continued outperformance of developed markets amidst rising challenges for emerging markets. For the rest of the year, the de-synchronisation of central bank policies and the diverging growth outlook that caused recent turbulence will remain key drivers of market uncertainty.

Investors shed their optimism on emerging markets in the second quarter, according to the latest Citywire db X-trackers Emerging Market Sentiment Indicator, sponsored by exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management. Kai Bald, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management’s Head of Public Distribution, Passive Investments, said: “The latest sentiment report is in line with the ETF flows we saw in the second quarter.”

Near-record net inflows of $44.08 billion and strong market performance helped to push global exchange-traded fund (ETF) and exchange-traded product (ETP) assets to $2.16 trillion at the end of July 2013, according to preliminary data from ETFGI, a London-based ETF consultancy. Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI, said: “Dovish comments from the Fed and positive market performance encouraged investors to put net inflows of $44.08 billion back into the market through ETFs/ETPs.”

By Bill Chambers, Vice President and General Manager of Wealth Solutions, Interactive Data. Money managers certainly know the importance of gauging an ETF’s liquidity. In a Greenwich Associates survey of institutional managers last year 83% of them identified “liquidity/trading volume” as their top selection criterion for ETFs. Why is that? Well the first element for consideration is that not many ETFs trade every day or in very large amounts. So if ETF volume is your biggest selection criteria your choices start getting pretty slim. In reality, investors have to go beyond just looking at the trading volume.

Stoxx, a leading provider of securities indices, has launched the Stoxx Global 3D Printing Pure Play Index, a new index tracking the investment performance of listed pure-play 3D-printing companies. The index has been designed to underlie index-linked investment products such as certificates, notes and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Commenting on the launch, Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer of Stoxx, said: “The new index focuses solely on pure-play or highly-involved companies in the 3D-printing business, making it truly representative of this expanding market.”

AdvisorShares, a US-based sponsor of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has unveiled its latest collaborative effort: the AdvisorShares Athena International Bear ETF (HDGI) listed on the NYSE Arca. The fund, managed by AthenaInvest Advisors, seeks capital appreciation via a short-only international equity strategy and tactical overlay. AthenaInvest utilises a behavioural factor-driven investment process to determine potential short candidates based on pricing distortions created by emotional investors.