DB X-trackers, the ETF platform of Deutsche Bank, has rolled out four new ETFs aimed at professional investors who want daily double-leveraged (2x) long or short exposure to US and UK sovereign debt. The four ETFs, which have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), have been designed to enable investors to implement daily double-long or double-short positions in UK Gilts and US Treasuries for the purposes of short-term tactical trading or hedging.

Huatai-PineBridge, a joint venture between asset manager PineBridge Investments and broker Huatai Securities, has listed its Mainland China equities ETF, the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF, on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, raising $5.3bn in the process. The fund represents the largest ETF IPO in the Mainland Chinese capital market since 2006 and is expected to be the second largest equity fund in the A-share (local) market. It also becomes the largest ETF debut globally of the year so far.

Accuvest Global Advisors, a US investment manager, has announced plans to launch a new model strategy that will combine Accuvest’s top-down country-selection process with First Trust’s AlphaDEX ETF range. Each First Trust AlphaDEX ETF tracks the performance of a custom enhanced index following a rules-based fundamental stock-selection methodology. The goal of each index is to identify those stocks from within a traditional broad-based index which exhibit the fundamental characteristics that enable them to provide the greatest potential for capital appreciation.

Facebook’s stock market debut on Friday was more of a sputter than a splash. The company, which many thought would fly out of the blocks LinkedIn style, just about held its IPO price. Despite this, the social-networking giant’s reach is huge (over 900m users) and many investors are backing it to achieve great things. Facebook will eventually gain inclusion into a number of ETFs. We profile those, such as the Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL) and the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index ETF (FDN), that are likely to hold it as a significant weight.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Bank Index, which tracks the performance of Europe’s largest listed banks, closed the week down 8.7% as European banks were hammered jointly by investors, credit rating agencies and depositors. Conversely, specialist short ETFs that track this index inversely, such as the DB X-trackers Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Short Daily ETF and the Lyxor ETF Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Daily Short, rallied strongly and look set to continue to outperform as the spectre of a Greek eurozone exit looms.

ETF use is on the rise in Australia, according to a survey carried out by BetaShares, a leading Australian ETF provider. The survey showed that diversification and low cost were the main reasons driving investment in ETFs, though liquidity and access also polled well. Drew Corbett, Head of Investment Strategy at BetaShares, said: “It’s not surprising investors are finding multiple reasons to use ETFs, ranging from accessing investments and liquidity as well as the core benefits of diversification and low cost.”

US-based ETF provider Direxion has announced plans to remove the leverage capacity built in to its suite of dynamic ‘Risk-Control Volatility Response’ ETFs. During times of low, below-target volatility, the exposure to equities will, as of 14 June, be capped at 100%, compared to the current level of 150%. The funds affected are the Direxion S&P 1500 RC Volatility Response Shares (VSPR), the Direxion S&P 500 RC Volatility Response Shares (VSPY) and the Direxion S&P Latin America 40 RC Volatility Response Shares (VLAT).

Institutional investors are increasingly turning to ETFs to facilitate a variety of essential operational, tactical and strategic portfolio management practices, a study released by Greenwich Associates shows. The results reveal that once institutions integrate ETFs into manager transitions or cash equitisation processes, they quickly use ETFs for additional purposes such as liquidity management or longer-term strategic exposures. The study also reveals that the average institutional holding period for ETF investments has expanded meaningfully over the past year.

After much anticipation among followers of the European ETF industry, indexing giant Vanguard has formally announced that it has received regulatory authorisation for a suite of Irish-domiciled ETFs, and that an initial five will be listed on the London Stock Exchange shortly. The five ETFs, all of which are physically-backed and come with fees of between 0.09% and 0.45%, are the Vanguard FTSE 100 ETF, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF, the Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF and the Vanguard UK Government Bond ETF.

Recent gloomy economic data points to the prolonged need for accommodative monetary policy, and thus low interest rates, which should bode well for high-yield bonds backed by cash-rich corporates. At least, that’s the view of Tim Gardner, Co-Manager of Legal & General’s Multi-Manager fund range, who last week increased allocation to high-yield bonds. For investors looking to access high-yield bonds, there’s a plethora of ETFs to consider.