Janus Capital Group, a global investment manager, has rolled out two smart beta exchange-traded funds on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange: the Janus Small Cap Growth Alpha ETF (JSML) and the Janus Small/Mid Cap Growth Alpha ETF (JSMD). Linked to proprietary in-house indices, the funds utilise the firm’s “Smart Growth” strategy – a systematic process that seeks to identify resilient small- and mid-cap companies poised for long-run sustainable growth. Nick Cherney, Senior Vice President, Head of Exchange Traded Products at Janus, said: “These ETFs marry Janus’s expertise as a fundamental manager in the small-cap arena with our robust quantitative abilities in exchange-traded products. As client interest in ETFs grows, we will continue to look for innovative ways to create value for clients in the future.”

Recon Capital Series Trust, a Connecticut-based investment advisor, has announced that the Recon Capital FTSE 100 ETF (Nasdaq: UK) will close to new investors on 8 March 2016 and begin liquidation on or about 11 March 2016. Trading of the fund’s shares will be suspended at this point. Between 8 – 10 March 2016, shareholders may be able to sell their shares to certain broker-dealers.

Eaton Vance Corp has launched its long awaited exchange-traded mutual fund, the Eaton Vance Stock NextShares (Nasdaq: EVSTC), on Nasdaq. It is the first of eighteen anticipated NextShares funds expected to be launched. The fund is the first of its kind and is classed as a hybrid between an actively managed fund and an ETF. It will follow a research-driven core investment strategy, primarily holding a diversified portfolio of common stock to seek long-term capital appreciation. The initial fund launch has been made available to individual investors, financial advisors and institutions through leading online broker-dealers Folio Investing and Folio Institutional.

US-based WisdomTree has launched a new exchange trade fund tracking the PutWrite index, a reference that is often used by investors as a solution to potentially increase the yield and lower the volatility of equity returns over various market cycles. The CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Index (PUT) is used as a benchmark index to measure the performance of a hypothetical portfolio selling S&P 500 index put options against collateralized cash reserves held in a money market account. The CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Strategy Fund (NYSE Arca: PUTW) is launched on NYSE Arca.

US-based investment advisory house Amplify Investments has launched an exchange traded fund platform designed to introduce innovative investment strategies into the ETF marketplace. The new platform, Amplify Exchange-Traded Funds (Amplify ETFs), will complement Amplify Development, an affiliate of Amplify Investments providing strategic support to third-party ETFs that do not use the Amplify ETF brand or trust. Amplify ETFs aims to provide a full range of marketing, distribution and operational support to clients as a means of adding value relative to competitors. The first Amplify-branded ETF is anticipated to launch later this month.

Purpose Investments, a Toronto-based asset manager, has launched the Purpose US Cash ETF (PSU) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The fund aims to maximise monthly income while preserving capital and liquidity by investing primarily in US dollar-denominated high interest deposit accounts and high-quality money market securities. Securities chosen for inclusion will generally have term maturities of one year or less.

Gold exchange-traded products are continuing to enjoy a revival as investors flock to safe-haven assets amid volatile equity markets. Europe’s leading provider of gold ETPs, ETF Securities, has reported the seventh consecutive week of inflows into its gold-linked ETPs, which include the $4.3 billion ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and the $3.5 billion Gold Bullion Securities (GBS). James Butterfill, ETF Securities’ Head of Research & Investment Strategy, said: “Investors are buying into gold as an insurance asset – a hedge against what were seen as tail-risks which are now emerging. Fears over anti-establishment governments strengthening or a dislocation in financial markets are some of the concerns on investors’ minds.”

Strategy-based exchange traded fund provider Pacer has listed its Pacer Global High Dividend ETF (PGHD) on BATS ETF market place, which is part of BATS Global Markets (Bats). The move is yet another example of Bats pushing to become a serious contender in the ETF sector. The fund tracks the total return performance of the Pacer Global Cash Cows Dividends 100 Index and is the sixth ETF offered by Pacer on Bats. The Pacer Global High Dividend ETF initially employs a screen of the 300 firms in the FTSE All World Developed Large-Cap Index that have the highest free cash flow yield (free cash flow/enterprise value).

Los Angeles-based Cambria Investment Management has unveiled its seventh exchange-traded fund and first to target the fixed income space. Listed on the NYSE Arca, the newly launched Cambria Sovereign High Yield Bond ETF (SOVB) aims to deliver income and capital appreciation by investing in liquid sovereign and quasi-sovereign bonds with high yield characteristics. “Foreign bonds are the largest asset class in the world, yet are dramatically under-represented in investor portfolios,” said Meb Faber, Chief Investment Officer at Cambria. “Moving away from a market-cap strategy and employing a value lens to foreign government bonds could help investors gain smarter access to income in a yield-starved environment.”

India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced structural changes to the Nifty Indices, a leading benchmark series for the emerging market giant’s equity market. The move, which involves changes to the constituents of six existing indices, as well as the launch of five new indices, was undertaken to more closely align the index series with industry best practices and better reflect the large-, mid- and small-cap segments of the Indian equity market. Affected by the change is the well-known Nifty 50 Index which serves as the basis for several sizeable exchange-traded funds, including the $600m iShares India 50 ETF (INDY) and the $200m Deutsche Asset Management’s db x-tracker Nifty 50 UCITS ETF (XNIF).