By the ETF Research team at Direxion.

Traders with an interest in bonds and treasury notes can take their cues from prior instances of economic crisis to inform how they may want to position themselves as the economic drama unfolds.

CSOP Asset Management has unveiled a new ETP in Hong Kong providing leveraged exposure to the NASDAQ 100. The CSOP NASDAQ – 100 Index Daily 2x Leveraged Product (7266 HK) has listed on Hong Kong stock exchange and comes with an expense ratio of 1.99%. The ETP uses derivatives to provide twice the daily return of the index.

By Emily Doak, Managing Director of ETF Research for Charles Schwab Investment Advisory.

The record volatility of 2020 has been accompanied by a higher than usual number of exchange-traded product closures, especially among leveraged and inverse products.

Inverse and leveraged ETF specialist Direxion has made several adjustments to its product line-up in response to the unprecedented market volatility arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and oil price war. The changes include scaling down the magnitude of exposure offered by ten of its most highly leveraged ETFs, as well as permanently shuttering eight ETFs no longer considered to be economically viable.

AgioFunds and its listing partner Beta Securities Poland have announced the launch of the WIG20lev Beta ETF (BETAW20L PW) on GPW, the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The fund provides investors with 200% daily leveraged exposure to the WIG20 Index, the foremost gauge of the Warsaw stock market. Robert Sochacki, Member of the Management Board of Beta Securities Poland, commented, “The launch of WIG20lev BETA ETF is a natural continuation of the November launch of WIG20short BETA ETF. These funds are dedicated to investors who expect WIG20 to change sharply.”

IHS Markit and MSCI have announced a collaboration in which IHS Markit will apply MSCI’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) expertise to a broad range of fixed income and credit indices. As a first phase of the collaboration, IHS Markit has introduced ESG versions of iBoxx indices that cover the short maturity segments of the US dollar, euro, and pound sterling corporate bond markets. Sophia Dancygier, Head of Indices at IHS Markit, commented, “Investors have a growing appetite for exposure to ESG funds, creating a need for indices that integrate these principles while accurately representing the underlying market and continuing to deliver strong returns.”

Amun, a Switzerland-based issuer of exchange-traded products linked to crypto-assets, has announced the launch of the 21Shares Short Bitcoin ETP (SBTC SW) on SIX Swiss Exchange. It is the first ETP globally to provide inverse exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Hany Rashwan, CEO of Amun, commented, “Our platform is now near complete and marks an important step towards the introduction of derivative products in conventional ETP form for the still-nascent crypto market. I am proud that the Amun team continues to pioneer innovation and bring new investor-friendly institutional-grade products to the market.”

Kenanga Investors, the asset management arm of financial services giant Kenanga Investment Bank, has introduced its first ETFs with the launch of two inverse & leveraged funds on Bursa Malaysia. The Kenanga KLCI Daily 2X Leveraged ETF (KLCI2XL MK) and Kenanga KLCI Daily (-1X) Inverse ETF (KLCI1XI MK) are linked to the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index, Malaysia’s most prominent stock market benchmark.

MSCI has introduced its first sole-branded fixed income indices with the launch of two suites providing factor-based and ESG-screened exposures. The MSCI Fixed Income Factor and MSCI Fixed Income ESG indices are built around a universe of investment-grade, US dollar-denominated corporate bonds and derived from the parent MSCI USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index – also a newly created index. Peter Zangari, Global Head of Research and Product Development at MSCI, said, “Building on our four decades of experience, this next generation of indices brings increased clarity to the traditionally opaque fixed income asset class to support ESG and factor-based fixed income strategies.”

By the ETF research team at Direxion Investments.

Negative-yielding debt has declined from its all-time peak, but it still represents close to 24% of all global bonds. Until recently, the idea of negative-yielding debt was unfeasible to many and now it is nearly a quarter of all debt issued around the world. Even $900 billion of corporate bonds trade at negative yields highlighting the pervasiveness of this phenomenon.