Strong net inflows of $35 billion in September and positive market performance helped to push global exchange-traded fund (ETF) and exchange-traded product (ETP) assets to $2.22 trillion, a new record high, at the end of Q3 2013, according to ETFGI, a London-based consultancy. The global ETF/ETP industry now has 4,982 ETFs/ETPs, with 10,019 listings, across 57 exchanges, from 212 providers.

NYSE Euronext has announced the launch of the NYSE Diversified High Income Index, a new strategy index measuring the performance of a highly diversified, multi-asset portfolio of high yielding securities. The index has been licensed to UBS to underlie the newly launched NYSE Arca-listed ETRACS Diversified High Income ETN (DVHI). The strategy provides exposure to a basket of 138 publicly traded securities that provide exposure to several different asset classes, sectors and segments across multiple geographies that have historically paid high dividends or distributions.

Institutional demand for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has increased markedly in recent years, fuelling rapid growth of a product originally geared towards retail investment, according to a report from Moody’s Investors Service. Moody’s notes that institutional investors – including even traditional mutual fund managers – now hold over half of all US ETF shares and that the products are increasingly attracting flows that once would have gone into traditional mutual funds or to hedging vehicles such as futures and swaps.

Some of the largest and most popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to the semiconductor industry are set for a makeover following a re-ranking of the index they track. Among the funds affected are the iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares ETF (SOXL) and the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares ETF (SOXS).

PowerShares Canada has reduced the management fee on its TSX-listed PowerShares Senior Loan (CAD Hedged) Index ETF (BKL). The move appears to be a direct response to the launch of a competing fund from First Trust. The fee on the PowerShares fund, which was introduced in April 2012, has been cut by 0.10% to 0.80%. This makes it marginally cheaper than the recently launched First Trust Senior Loan ETF (CAD-Hedged) (FSL), which debuted on the exchange in August and charges 0.85%.

United States Commodity Funds, a US-based provider of commodity-focused exchange-traded funds, has cross-listed five products on the Mexican Stock Exchange, or Bolsa Mexicana de Valores. They are the United States Oil Fund (USO), the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG), the United States 12 Month Oil Fund (USL), the United States Gasoline Fund (UGA) and the United States Commodity Index Fund (USCI).

There are now more than 300 exchange-traded products listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange following the launch of five exchange-traded funds from ETF debutant Purpose Investments, the firm founded by former Claymore Canada CEO, Som Seif. Ungad Chadda, Senior Vice President, Toronto Stock Exchange, said: “We are pleased to have achieved this new milestone and we are very proud of our solid track record of fostering innovation in the ETP universe.”

By David Stevenson – In this column I am going to touch on the rather sensitive and controversial subjects of emerging markets (EM) and smart beta. Crucially, I want to argue that investing in EM equities could have been a far more rewarding pursuit over the last 12 months if (and it’s a big if) you’d have focused on the right kind of stocks.

First Asset, an independent Canadian investment management company, has seen the highest percentage asset growth among Canadian exchange-traded fund (ETF) providers during the months of June and July, with C$47.5 million in ETF asset inflows. The firm has found success in both the fixed income and equity ETF categories through collaboration with DEX Universe Bond Indices and Morningstar Indices.

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.”