Lyxor has launched two pairs of commodity ETFs providing investors with the ability to go long or short specific commodity sectors. One pair tracks agriculture and livestock, while the other tracks industrial metals. All are based on S&P GSCI commodity sub-indices. According to Lyxor, the new range enables investors to enhance diversification within their portfolio by targeting specific commodity sectors.

Global ETF provider Invesco PowerShares has launched two new ETFs that provide investors with access to low volatility strategies covering emerging and international developed markets. Volatility has become a popular theme for ETF issuers as investors seek to manage risk in an increasingly uncertain world. The launch follows the highly successful PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF, which listed in March 2011 and now has over $1bn in AUM.

BlackRock has launched three new developed-market equity ETFs on the NYSE. The ETFs are the iShares MSCI World Index ETF, iShares MSCI Hong Kong Small Cap Index ETF and iShares MSCI Singapore Small Cap Index ETF. The World fund responds to client interest in a global developed equities “pure play” without emerging markets exposure, while the Hong Kong Small Cap and Singapore Small Cap funds offer access to smaller developed markets.

Despite little sign of any easing of the eurozone’s troubles, investors reduced exposure to precious metals and increased allocations to equities in December, according to a study of ETF flows by Morningstar. US equity ETFs topped the list of inflows with about $14.7bn, while commodity ETFs – primarily those tracking precious metals – suffered the greatest outflows. The Morningstar study corroborates data from Charles Schwab, who report a similar trend for FY 2011.

BlackRock, the company behind iShares, has agreed to buy Canadian ETF issuer Claymore from Guggenheim. The transaction augments BlackRock’s roster of ETFs and deepens BlackRock’s footprint in Canada. From the perspective of Guggenheim, the disposal reflects the company’s strategy to focus on its growing presence in the US ETF market, where it ranks eighth in terms of AUM.

Direxion, the ETF provider perhaps best known for its range of triple-leveraged funds popular with high-frequency traders, is fast becoming a name in the buy-and-hold space, after the US-based company announced that it had launched a range of ETFs tracking the S&P Dynamic Rebalancing Risk Control Index Series.

The latest British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) economic survey points to a period of stagnation, but recession is not inevitable, says John Longworth, BCC Director General. While the findings are a cause for concern, a new recession is not a foregone conclusion. “A slowdown across the eurozone is inevitable, but Britain need not suffer a similar fate. The UK does have the potential to recover”.

Marking its entry into the fast-growing ETF market, Legal & General has teamed up with exchange-traded product specialist Source to launch the LGIM Commodity Composite Source ETF. The fund tracks the LGIM Commodity Composite Index and uses LGIM’s expertise as an index manager, and an in-depth quantitative and qualitative screening process, to deliver broad-based exposure to commodities.

The euro is still in search of a government, says Neil Williams, economist at Hermes. Proposed treaty changes for strengthening the eurozone’s inadequate economic union are, as Germany’s Chancellor said, “a step forward”. However, the proposals are not binding and still look more a political compromise than the economic solution the eurozone’s needs. Even if credible, the proposals will be no panacea, says Williams.

Just one trading week into 2012 and oil, having risen 5.5% to over $113/bbl, is back in the headlines. A number of factors, economic and geopolitical, are behind the sharp spike. First, there’s been a dramatic rise in tensions in the Gulf region, with Iran threatening to close the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which 35% of all seaborne oil flows. Second, better-than-expected economic data out of the US and China point to a brighter outlook for the global economy.