Exchange-traded funds tracking the STOXX 600 Europe Basic Resources Index have recorded impressive returns recently with the index gaining over 10% in the month to 25 July 2017. The index is tracked by ETFs from Lyxor, iShares, Deutsche Asset Management, ComStage and Source.

Morningstar has teamed up with Euronext to launch two new indices, the Morningstar Eurozone 50 Index and the Morningstar Developed Markets Europe 100 Index, providing exposure to large-cap European equities. The launch follows the announcement of a strategic agreement between Euronext and Morningstar in March 2017.

BlackRock has launched the iShares Diversified Commodity Swap UCITS ETF (LON: ICOM), providing exposure to 20 different commodities from across the energy, agriculture, industrial metals, precious metals and livestock sectors. The fund may appeal to investors looking to diversify their portfolios at a time when the correlation between equities and bonds is rising.

US large-cap equity ETFs have recorded gains recently as the S&P 500 Index hit intraday- and closing-high records on 25 July 2017. In a week where 180 of the index’s constituents are reporting their second-quarter results, several companies have delivered better-than-expected earnings, pushing the index to 2,477.08 at the close. ETFs tracking the index, such as the $19.3bn iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (LON: CSPX), have added around 10.7% so far in 2017.

More than nine out of ten (92%) of senior hedge fund professionals expect to see an increased value of ETFs being used within their industry this year, according to research commissioned by European ETF provider Source. Chris Mellor, executive director, equity product management at Source, said: “Hedge fund managers are sophisticated investors and it is clear they are increasingly seeing the benefits that ETFs provide them, such as a cost-effective means to execute their strategies.”

Invesco PowerShares has launched the PowerShares S&P 500 Minimum Variance ETF (Bats: SPMV), providing exposure to select constituents from the bellwether S&P 500 Index while producing lower volatility characteristics compared to the broader US large-cap equity market.

European ETF provider Source has reported that the Source NASDAQ Biotech UCITS ETF (LON: SBIO) has seen more than $300 million of net inflows over the past year with another $30 million added in the past week alone. There has been a big move up in US biotech in recent days with the underlying NASDAQ Biotech Index climbing more than 9% since the start of the last week.

UBS Asset Management has launched the UBS Bloomberg Commodity CMCI UCITS ETF (BCCU) on the London Stock Exchange. The fund offers exposure to the performance of a basket of commodity futures contracts, as represented by the constituent weights of the widely followed Bloomberg Commodity Index, while pursuing an advanced futures rolling methodology.

Source has launched a new ETF, the Source MSCI Europe ex-UK UCITS ETF (Xetra: MXUK), on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra platform. The fund provides investors with exposure to large and mid-cap stocks across 14 developed countries in Europe while excluding those from the UK. Chris Mellor, product specialist at Source, commented: “Some investors may want to separate their exposures to Europe and the UK, especially after last week’s election resulted in a hung parliament. This ETF effectively puts them in control of the allocation.”

ETF provider Source has launched a new commodity ETF on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra platform.