MSCI, the world’s second largest provider of indices to exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has launched two new environmental, social and governance (ESG) indices – the MSCI Emerging Markets ESG Index and the MSCI ACWI ESG Index. The new indices, which have been designed to act as benchmarks for actively managed funds or underlyings for index-linked products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), reflect an increased emphasis among investors to incorporate ESG practices into investments.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has announced the launch of two ‘industry-first’ exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the NYSE Arca: the db X-trackers Municipal Infrastructure Revenue Bond Fund (RVNU) and the db X-trackers Regulated Utilities Fund (UTLT). The new funds offer unique investment opportunities in markets not previously served by ETFs – an increasingly tough ask given the recent explosive expansion of the ETF universe.

SSgA has added two more funds to its roster of ETFs on the NYSE Arca with the launch of the SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF (WDIV) and the SPDR Barclays 1-10 Year TIPS ETF (TIPX). WDIV is designed to provide investors with exposure to both developed and emerging market dividend-paying companies, through a globally diversified income portfolio strategy. TIPX, meanwhile, is designed to provide investors with access to Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS), a type of inflation-adjusted US government bond.

FTSE Group, a London-based global index provider, has revealed that assets under management in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series have surpassed $10 billion. The index series is one of the most widely followed gauges of property and real estate investment trust (REIT) performance and has been adopted by numerous ETF sponsors, including iShares, Lyxor, Deutsche Bank and First Trust.

Global short and leveraged exchange-traded product (ETP) assets rose by $4.4bn in the first four months of 2013, to $48.5bn, according to data released by Boost ETP. The growth in assets is a reflection, in part, of the increased breadth and depth of products available, improved education and understanding, and a general move by investors towards more transparent, exchange-traded products.

SPDR ETFs, the exchange-traded funds platform of State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), has expanded its equity income line-up with the launch of global and pan-Asian ‘Dividend Aristocrats’ ETFs on the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse (Xetra). Scott Ebner, head of global product development at SSgA, said: “Our approach to dividend investing at SPDRs has been centred around indices that not only favour high-yielding stocks, but also focus on the sustainability of yield”.

Global inflows into exchange-traded products (ETPs) slowed a little in April 2013 to $10.3 billion, according to the latest ETP Landscape report from BlackRock. However, as of April month end, ETPs have seen inflows of $79.9 billion in the year to date, which is more than $13 billion ahead of the $66.3 billion of inflows collected during the same period last year. This is despite a major setback for gold ETPs, which have been hit with outflows of almost $18 billion.

FTSE Group, a leading global index provider, has launched the FTSE ET100 Index, an index measuring the performance of companies whose core business is in the development and operation of environmental technologies. There are now 21 indices in the wider FTSE Environmental Markets Series, a number of which are linked to by investment products, such as the Euronext Paris-listed EasyETF FTSE Environmental Opportunities 100.

ETF Securities believes that the commodity super-cycle is far from over, despite recent falls in commodity prices which have wiped billions off the firm’s assets under management. The London-headquartered exchange-traded product (ETP) provider asserts that the main fundamental drivers of the super-cycle are still in force and that recent commodity price weaknesses are more related to business-cycle fluctuations and short-term commodity-specific supply increases than a change in structural fundamentals.

Smart beta is a term that seems to have suddenly emerged out of nowhere to describe the rise of a new form of ‘passive’ investing. The very words themselves conjure up a certain egg-headed technical prowess, implying that all the other beta trackers out there are just “back of the class” dullards, market capitalisation based, one-trick ponies that don’t do all the clever stuff that smart beta trackers can accomplish with their quantitative prowess. Scratch beneath the surface though and we discover a slightly more honest admission by the ETF industry.