The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to be sending out contradictory signals regarding the use of leveraged ETFs following the approval and subsequent review of two new quadruple leveraged ETFs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a request to list quadruple-leveraged exchange-traded funds in the US.

US ETF provider ProShares has found that dividend-grower strategies have historically outperformed high-dividend-yield strategies in both periods of rising and falling rates. Dividend-grower strategies target stocks that consistently grow their dividends over time while high-dividend-yield strategies choose to focus on the stocks with the highest dividend yields.

ProShares has launched two new ETFs providing triple leveraged and triple inverse leveraged access to West Texas Intermediate crude oil. The ProShares UltraPro 3x Crude Oil ETF (NYSE: OILU) and ProShares UltraPro 3x Short Crude Oil ETF (NYSE: OILD) track the daily performance of the Bloomberg WTI Crude Oil Subindex, providing 3x and -3x exposure respectively.

Oil traders for the last two weeks have shrugged off reports that U.S. stockpiles are brimming at their largest levels ever recorded, as the market continues to bet that crude prices will climb higher. Oil has maintained its buoyancy because the market is betting that cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will largely rebalance the oil market, despite continued production increases from shale formations in the United States.

The ETF industry has a revenue-generating potential of around $6bn per year in the US alone, according to data from FactSet Research Systems. The figure, approximated by summing the “annual revenue potential” of each US-listed ETF, is mainly derived from low-cost, “plain vanilla” ETFs which generate roughly $3.8bn in revenue. More exotic and specialised products, although making up just 28% of US ETF assets, generate a healthy $2.2bn in revenue due to their ability to command higher fees.

ProShares has launched the first crude oil ETF to deliver 1099 tax forms to the investor instead of the less desirable K-1 tax form. The ProShares K-1 Free Crude Oil Strategy ETF (Bats: OILK) is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, unlike other crude oil ETFs which are commodities partnerships. The fund uses active management to enhance returns through an optimised futures rolling strategy.

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.

Japanese equity exchange-traded funds have experienced significant declines recently as traders reacted to the Bank of Japan’s decision not to add further monetary stimulus and the upcoming Brexit vote weighed heavily on risk sentiment. The iShares MSCI Japan USD Hedged UCITS ETF (LSE: IJPD) and the SPDR MSCI Japan EUR Hedged UCITS ETF (LSE: JPEH), two of the largest funds to cover the space, are both down 9.3% between 31 May and 16 June 2016.

Leading global index provider S&P Dow Jones Indices has celebrated the 120th anniversary of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), a widely followed indicator for US stock market performance. The index, designed to reflect the health of the broad US economy, is a price-weighted average of 30 stocks traded on the New York and NASDAQ exchanges. It also serves as the benchmark for several exchange-traded funds from providers such as State Street Global Advisors, iShares and ProShares.