In a new report, Thomson Reuters Lipper has identified the ten least popular asset classes in Europe and the handful of ETFs within each that are at risk of closing down. The funds range from exotic exposures such as Kuwait equities to broader ETFs such as emerging market corporate bonds. Detlef Glow, Head of EMEA research at Lipper, said: “Some funds in the European ETF market are quite low in assets and may face the risk of being closed in the near future. They are obviously lacking investor interest and might therefore not be profitable for the respective fund promoters.”

While European investors in both ETFs and mutual funds poured into bonds during the third quarter of 2016 in the search for yield, ETF and traditional active fund flows majorly diverged when it came to equities, alternatives and money markets. Detlef Glow, head of EMEA research at Thomson Reuters Lipper commented: “ETFs are often used as short-term investments to gather exposure to specific markets or asset classes, while mutual funds are rather long-term products, since it takes a while until they are producing the expected alpha from the active management.”

Thomson Reuters has launched the Diversity & Inclusion Index, measuring the performance of 100 global companies with diverse and inclusive workplaces. The index may form the basis for future investment products such as ETFs. Debra Walton, Chief Product & Content Officer at Thomson Reuters, commented: “Our research shows that companies that make investments and focus on ESG matters can have a stronger stock performance and better long-term profitability.”

Commodities have enjoyed their biggest three month gain since 2009, according to a note from S&P Dow Jones Indices. The S&P GSCI (formerly Goldman Sachs Commodity Index) has seen a total return of 9.8% this year-to-date, with commodities now outperforming stocks for the first year since 2007. While not every broad commodity index has performed as strongly as the S&P GSCI, which is weighted by world production and significantly energy sector-heavy, 2016 has seen a rebound in most commodities from their five-year trend, providing benefits to investors in a range of exchange-traded funds linked to these indices.

Italian global banking and financial services company UniCredit has become the latest firm to list an exchange-traded fund on SIX Swiss Exchange. The firm has cross-listed the UC Thomson Rheuters Balanced European Convertible Bond UCITS ETF which was previously launched on Xetra. Convertible bonds are hybrid debt instruments that can be converted into a pre-determined number of the issuer’s shares. This allows the bond to participate in the upside potential of a company’s stock price. UniCredit will also act as market maker for the fund.

Structured Invest, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UniCredit Bank, has rolled out a second exchange-traded fund tracking the performance of convertible bonds from European issuers. The UC Thomson Reuters Balanced European Convertible Bond UCITS ETF (dis) (Xetra: ECBC) provides diversified investment opportunities in large, liquid convertible bonds across a variety of sectors and credit ratings. Convertible bonds are hybrid debt instruments that allow investors to participate in the upside potential of a company’s stock. The ETF may outperform in a rising rate environment when stock prices tend to increase.

Financial data vendor Thomson Reuters, who has over $2bn in exchange-traded fund assets linked to its indices, has launched the Islamic Asia Pacific Ex-Japan Islamic Agribusiness Index. The index covers 30 Shariah-compliant companies in the Asia Pacific region with revenues derived directly from agricultural products. It will be tracked by the MyETF Thomson Reuters Asia Pacific ex-Japan Islamic Agribusiness ETF (METAGR), launched on the Malaysian Stock Exchange by provider i-VCAP Management.

Thomson Reuters, a financial data vendor and index provider, and Future Super, an Australian superannuation fund with a focus on fossil fuel-free investments, have collaborated on two new environmental, social and governance (ESG) indices: the Thomson Reuters/Future Super Australia Fossil Free Index and the Thomson Reuters/Future Super Australia Sustainable Leaders Index. “At a time when ESG investing around the world gains momentum, we’re excited to be partnering with Future Super to raise awareness of the performance of fossil fuel-free companies and to provide investors with a mechanism to invest ‘responsibly’ in fossil-fuel free and ethical portfolios,” said Stephan Flagel, Head of Indices at Thomson Reuters.

Financial data vendor Thomson Reuters has launched the Thomson Reuters StarMine Quality Earners APAC ex-Japan Income Index, a new smart beta index tracking the most sustainable earning and high dividend-yielding companies in Asia Pacific excluding Japan. Stephan Flagel, Head of Indices for Thomson Reuters, commented: “Using our StarMine Earnings Quality model, not only can we identify the top earners at each point in time, but we can also tell which of these companies are the most reliable and likely to persist in being profitable.”

State Street Global Advisors has announced the launch of the SPDR Thomson Reuters Global Convertible Bond UCITS ETF (ZPRC), the world’s first passive global convertible bond ETF. The fund, which has been listed on the Deutsche Börse, aims to offer investors cost-efficient and transparent exposure to the unique risk-return profile of this asset class. Alexis Marinof, head of SPDR EMEA, said: “Convertible bonds have exhibited historically lower correlations to traditional equity and bond markets, and typically will have lower sensitivity to interest rate changes than normal bonds which makes them a great portfolio diversifier.”