US high-yield bonds are a compelling alternative to US equities given the continued attractive yields of the asset class, according to London-based ETF issuer Source. Despite the fact that US high-yield spreads have gone above 7% for only the sixth time since 1986, the issuer believes that the asset class still represents a strong opportunity for investors. Fabrizio Palmucci, Fixed Income Specialist at Source, said: “In our view, US high-yield is a compelling substitute for equities given the attractive yields, and also offers better downside protection…Although the volatility has been higher in the US lately, even with a yield of 10% the US market looks compelling to us”.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has announced that a record number of exchange-traded funds were listed on its platform last month. February saw providers list 30 ETFs on the bourse with half of these focused on the fixed income sector. The strong listing activity brings the total number of ETFs/ETPs launched on the LSE this year to 37 ETFs/ETPs, 11 more than for the same period last year. The uptick in listings comes as the industry saw assets hit a record high of $372 billion last year, according to ETFGI.

Source, a leading European provider of exchange-traded funds, has launched two new funds on the London Stock Exchange providing targeted exposure to the financial services and real estate sectors of the S&P 500 equity index. The Source Financial Services S&P US Select Sector UCITS ETF (XFNS) and the Source Real Estate S&P US Select Sector UCITS ETF (XRES) each track the performance of their relevant S&P Select Sector Capped 20% Index. Weightings are based on market capitalisation, with individual constituents capped at 20% to ensure UCITS-compliance.

Source, a leading European provider of exchange-traded products, has reported record levels of demand for its physical gold ETP, the Source Physical Gold P-ETC (SGLD LN), in January. The product attracted $300m of inflows over the month, bringing total assets under management to over $2bn. Christopher Mellor, Executive Director, Equities Product Management at Source, commented: “Given the challenging start to 2016 and nervousness in the markets, there is clearly a renaissance in gold as a haven. We have seen record demand for our gold product, with investors attracted to its very low cost and high liquidity.”

Investors’ appetite for ‘risk off’ assets resulted in significant inflows into exchange-traded products linked to gold in January, reaffirming their status as a safe haven during times of heightened market volatility and economic weakness. Holdings of global gold bullion ETPs rose by 3.8% over the month, with issuers such as ETF Securities, Source and Market Vectors all seeing strong inflows as the metal delivered a shining return of 5.3%. According to Joe Foster, a gold strategist at Van Eck Global, the asset manager behind the Market Vectors line-up of ETFs, “Financial markets in January helped to remind investors around the globe why perhaps every portfolio should have an allocation to gold.”

European exchange traded fund provider Source has announced that Fidelity FundsNetwork (FFN) will list its PIMCO Sterling Short Maturity Source UCITS ETF (QUID LN) on its online investment platform. The fund, which as of 11 January 2016 had over £120m in assets under management, is the first actively managed ETF to be listed by FFN.

Despite the negative fallout from plummeting oil prices, the net effect will be positive for markets and the global economy in 2016, according to Source, one of the largest providers of ETFs in Europe. Paul Jackson, Head of Multi-Asset Research at Source, commented: “Based on recent evidence it seems that markets prefer an elevated oil price. However, this should not be the case. Of course, low prices cause distress for oil producers and their suppliers but everybody else benefits. For example, the fact that in the first 11 months of 2015 China imported 9% more oil than the preceding year but has paid 41% less for it means that there has been an enormous transfer of spending power to China.”

Recent economic data makes the decision of the Federal Open Market Committee on 16 December less clear-cut than the market seems to think, according to Source, a leading European exchange-traded fund provider. Paul Jackson, Head of Multi-Asset Research at Source, said that, despite the dip in ISM Manufacturing data, he still believes the Fed will raise interest rates. “Our research shows that since the mid-1930s there were only two periods of monetary tightening out of 16 during which investors lost money on the S&P 500. It is important, therefore, to counter misperceptions that a rate hike is necessarily bad news for markets.”

European-listed exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products have gathered a record $72.6bn in net new assets as of the end of November 2015. This figure is well above the previous year-to-date (YTD) record of $61.5bn set in 2014. Net inflows of $4.0bn for November marks the 14th consecutive month of positive net inflows in Europe. This came against the backdrop of what was a relatively benign market in terms of performance.

Source, a leading European provider of exchange-traded funds, has released research indicating that the cost benefits enjoyed by investors adopting exposure to leading equity indices through ETFs is potentially at record high levels when compared to using futures contracts. Previously, investors could capture an average annual benefit of 18 basis points (bp) on certain indices but the Source analysis now suggests the potential benefit could be between 30 and 50bp.