By Talley Léger, Investment Strategist in the Global Thought Leadership team at Invesco.

Chinese stocks have outperformed their US counterparts, a trend we expect may continue…

Amundi has cross-listed the Amundi Physical Gold ETC on the London Stock Exchange. With an expense ratio of just 0.15%, the ETC offers the lowest fixed annual fee of any physical gold exchange-traded product available in Europe. Ashley Fagan, Head of ETF, Indexing and Smart Beta Development for UK and Ireland at Amundi, said, “With this listing on the London Stock Exchange, we will provide UK investors with a robust, transparent, and cost-efficient way to gain exposure to gold in a local sterling trading line.”

Fixed income investors have become increasingly interested in emerging market debt and ESG exposures, according to research from Invesco, highlighting an opportunity for ETF issuers to develop products along these lines. Nick Tolchard, Head of EMEA, Invesco Fixed Income, said, “Many investors used to assume that integrating ESG would compromise performance, but attitudes have changed.”

A proposal by a cabal of dominant ETF issuers that calls on exchanges to adopt a new naming convention for exchange-traded products has prompted a backlash from smaller, innovative rivals who claim the move is anti-competitive.

Invesco has announced that QQQ, the firm’s flagship ETF, has surpassed $100 billion in assets under management courtesy of robust investor inflows and impressive market performance. The fund has sustained positive month-on-month inflows throughout the Covid-19 crisis while its underlying Nasdaq 100 Index has rebounded strongly from the February-March rout.

Gold ETFs experienced global net inflows of $9.3 billion in April, increasing their collective holdings by 170 tonnes to reach a new all-time high of 3,355t, according to data from the World Gold Council. April marked the sixth consecutive month of net inflows for gold ETFs which have seen demand pick up since Covid-19 concerns escalated.

DWS has launched new physically backed, Irish-domiciled exchange-traded commodities in Europe providing exposure to movements in the spot price of gold and platinum. The newly launched Xtrackers IE Physical Gold ETC and Xtrackers IE Physical Platinum ETC have listed on London Stock Exchange and Xetra, and come with competitive fees of 0.18% and 0.38% respectively. The ETCs are 100% backed by LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) physical metal bars stored in secure London vaults.

Fixed income ETF specialist PIMCO has announced the end of its European distribution partnership with rival asset manager Invesco with plans to continue on the continent solely under its own brand. Craig Dawson, Managing Director and Head of PIMCO EMEA, commented, “Integrating our European UCITS ETF business with our global platform will enable us to continue to offer superior fixed income ETF solutions to clients and prospects throughout EMEA.”

Physical gold ETCs are prospering from strong returns and record inflows as investors continue to seek safe havens amid ongoing market turbulence. Products from BlackRock and Invesco have led the way with both issuers seeing their gold ETCs surge past the $10 billion AUM mark in recent days. Chris Mellor, Head of ETF Equity and Commodity Product Management at Invesco, said, “Gold has been shown to be a safer store of value during the recent market turmoil than most other assets, and demand from investors has continued to grow.”

Amundi has reduced the expense ratio on its $1.7 billion physical gold ETC from 0.19% to 0.15%. Following the price cut, the Amundi Physical Gold ETC offers the lowest fixed annual fee of any physical gold exchange-traded product available in Europe. Nicolas Fragneau, Head of ETF Product Specialists at Amundi, commented, “Gold has such an important role to play in times of uncertainty. Our aim was to make it as cheap, easy and safe as possible for investors to add this precious commodity to their portfolio.”