FTSE Group, a London-based global index provider, has revealed that assets under management in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series have surpassed $10 billion. The index series is one of the most widely followed gauges of property and real estate investment trust (REIT) performance and has been adopted by numerous ETF sponsors, including iShares, Lyxor, Deutsche Bank and First Trust.

Source, a London-based provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has announced the launch of the Source Morningstar US Energy Infrastructure MLP UCITS ETF on the London Stock Exchange. The ETF is linked to the Morningstar MLP Composite Index and is the first in Europe to offer dedicated exposure to US energy infrastructure Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), which are booming as a result of the development of unconventional energy sources such as shale gas, tight oil and tar sands.

IndexIQ, a US-based specialist provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), best known for its hedge fund-style products, has surpassed $1 billion in assets under management. Adam Patti, IndexIQ’s chief executive officer, said: “In a few short years, liquid alternatives have gone from a novelty to playing an important role in a diversified investment portfolio and we’ve seen strong interest in our offerings from the institutional and retail advisor channels.”

Stoxx, a leading index provider, has introduced the Euro Stoxx 50 BuyWrite 100% Index. The index measures the performance of a buy-write or covered-call strategy based on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, the eurozone’s leading blue-chip equity index. The new index, which has been designed to underlie index-linked financial products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), represents a hypothetical portfolio of a long position in the Euro Stoxx 50 and a sold – or written – call option based on the same index.

The price of carbon has plunged in value after the European parliament rejected a plan to revive the Emissions Trading System, the European Union’s carbon trading programme, by shoring up the price of emissions permits. The sell-off has been mirrored in exchange-traded products (ETPs) indexed to emissions permits, with ETF Securities’ LSE-listed ETFS Carbon ETC (CARP) down around 43% since the vote and Barclays’ NYSE-listed iPath Global Carbon ETN (GRN) off some 46%.

Credit Suisse has added to its range of innovative exchange-traded notes (ETNs) with the launch of the Credit Suisse Silver Shares Covered Call ETN (SLVO), an ETN providing exposure to a covered call strategy on iShares Silver ETF (SLV). The new product, which is designed to pay out variable monthly coupons, is the second precious metals covered call strategy launched by Credit Suisse and follows the January launch of GLDI, an ETN tracking a similar strategy on gold.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and related exchange-traded products (ETPs) linked to the inverse performance of the gold price have surged over the past few weeks as the precious metal has tumbled following downgrades from a number of prominent research houses. One of the best performing ETPs in this space is the London-listed Boost Gold 3x Short Daily ETP (3GOS), which provides triple short exposure to the gold price. It is up 48.5% month-to-date on the back of the dramatic sell-off.

Alerian, the index provider to the JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMJ) and Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP), has unveiled two new indices tracking the North American energy infrastructure and Master Limited Partnership (MLP) sectors. The newly launched Alerian Energy Infrastructure Index and the Alerian MLP Equal Weight Index provide investors with new benchmarks encompassing a broader range of capitalisation, asset, and geographic exposure.

As global growth and risk appetite picked up in the first quarter of 2013, commodity investors rotated out of exchange-traded products (ETPs) linked to gold and into more cyclical commodity ETPs such as silver, copper, palladium, platinum and broad commodity trackers. Gold ETPs saw $9.2 billion of outflows during the quarter as improving US growth data drove up US interest rate expectations, increased speculation that quantitative easing might be ratcheted back and boosted the US dollar.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has collaborated with GSO Capital Partners, the global credit business of private equity giant Blackstone, to roll out the SPDR Blackstone / GSO Senior Loan ETF (SRLN), the world’s first actively managed senior loan exchange-traded fund (ETF).