By Viktor Nossek, Director of Research at WisdomTree Europe: “At last. The long awaited decision on America’s 45th president has been decided. But regardless of whether you were Team Clinton or Team Trump, now’s the time to take a closer look at what you are holding in your portfolio. In the below, we outline our thoughts on positioning for both the short-term and the long-term using Exchange Traded Products (UCITS ETFs and Exchange Traded Notes).”

European ETF provider Source believes the US economy still has momentum – and equities may still outperform – despite several economic indicators “flashing red”. While investment and corporate profits have declined recently, the gradual pace of growth during this expansion may indicate the economy still has room to grow. Paul Jackson, Head of Research at Source, commented: “…the fact that wage and price inflation is not excessive, that the Fed is tightening only very slowly and that the yield curve is far from negative gives some hope that this cycle will get a second wind over the coming quarters. If so, stocks will go higher.”

BNP Paribas has launched six industrial metal exchange-traded commodities on Deutsche Börse, allowing investors to participate in the price performance of futures contracts for aluminium, lead, copper, nickel, zinc and tin. The ETCs track ‘enhanced’ indices from the Rogers International Commodity Index (RICI) family which utilise optimised rolling strategies to help mitigate the impact of negative rolling yields.

Nick Leung, Research Analyst at ETF provider WisdomTree, investigates the performance of BNP Paribas’ Optimised Commodities Index compared to ‘traditional’ broad commodity strategies such as the Bloomberg Commodity Index. The results show that the Optimised Commodity Index has outperformed year-to-date both in terms of return, attributable to the benefits of an enhanced rolling strategy versus a front-month approach, and in reducing risk by enhancing diversification through sector cap constraints.

US-based investment company Elkhorn Investments has partnered with smart beta specialist Research Affiliates to launch the Elkhorn Fundamental Commodity Strategy ETF (Bats: RCOM). The Bats-listed ETF provides exposure to a broad basket of commodity futures weighted according to momentum and roll yield. Ben Fulton, Founder and CEO of Elkhorn, added: “Commodities are a forgotten asset class in today’s market. As a result, product innovation has lagged that of other asset classes for the better part of a decade. Together with Research Affiliates, we are excited to create a better way for investors to access the broader commodity market in an ETF.”

According to the weekly flows report from ETF Securities, investors have increased their holdings of gold and bearish European equity ETPs ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy meeting to take place on Thursday 8 September 2016. Investors channelled $63.2m into their gold ETPs in the week ended 2 September 2016, marking the seventh week of positive inflows for the space, while inflows into short German and Italian equity ETPs surged to their highest level in 11 and 15 weeks respectively.

A note from S&P Dow Jones Indices suggests that the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) could be poised to increase sharply from this week, citing seasonal trends as well as expectations derived from the VIX futures curve. For investors looking to protect their portfolios from rising volatility, VIX-linked exchange-traded products, such as the Boost S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures 2.25x Leverage Daily ETP (VIXL), could provide an effective hedge. Similarly, for traders with shorter time horizons the current calm could present an opportunity to take out speculative long positions in such products, which would profit from an increase in volatility.

iSectors, a US investment strategist firm, has debuted an actively managed multi-asset ETF designed to optimize investor return and minimize downside risk. Listed on Nasdaq, the iSectors Post-MPT Growth ETF (NASDAQ: PMPT) is based on the firm’s flagship quantitative factor-driven investment model, the iSectors Post-MPT Growth Allocation. “We developed the iSectors PMPT Growth ETF to answer advisors’ call for a more easily accessible form of iSectors Post-MPT Growth Allocation,” noted Chuck Self, Chief Investment Officer of iSectors. “We launched PMPT for risk-averse investors, seeking downturn protection while still benefitting from possible market gains.”

State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE Arca: SPY), the first exchange-traded fund to launch in the US in January 1993, has hit more than $200bn in assets, making it by far the largest ETF in the world. “Since its inception in 1993, SPY has offered all investors tax efficient, cost effective and liquid exposure to US large cap stocks,” said David Mazza, head of ETF and Mutual Fund Research at SSGA. “Crossing $200bn in assets under management on August 12, 2016 is testament to SPY’s prominence in the market and broad use by investors.”

Investors have increased their exposure into long oil and gold exchange-traded products by $113.0m and $74.4m respectively over the past week (ended 5 August 2016), according to the latest weekly flows analysis of ETPs offered by London-based ETF Securities. The demand for the firm’s long oil ETPs is the highest recorded since March 2015 as the price of WTI fell below the $40 per barrel for the first time since April. Gold ETPs have attracted $3.5bn in net new flows year-to-date, and the yellow metal is currently trading near a 2-year high at $1362.10 per ounce, up 28.5% year-to-date.