Russell Investments, a leading investment manager and index provider, has announced the launch of the Russell UK Mid 150 Index, an index providing a highly tradable representation of the UK mid-cap market. The index has been designed in response to specific sell-side demand for exposure to the UK mid-cap market that can be traded with high efficiency, and can be used as the basis for index-linked investment products such as swaps, futures and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Commodities look set to underperform developed market equities for the third consecutive year in 2013. However, ETF Securities, a leading provider of exchange-traded commodities, argues that 2014 will be a turnaround year for this laggard asset class. Nicholas Brooks, Head of Research and Investment Strategy at ETF Securities, says: “Healthy demand growth in the US and China, disappointments to current highly optimistic supply forecasts for a number of key commodities, and continued ample global liquidity should support commodity prices in 2014”.

MTS, one of Europe’s largest electronic fixed income trading venues, is to launch request-for-quote (RFQ) trading for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) via its multi-dealer-to-client MTS BondVision platform. The new service will offer liquidity providers access to a diverse community of global institutional investors and will support ETF products listed on the Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange. ETF issuers available via platform will include Amundi, db X-trackers, ETF Securities, iShares, Lyxor, Ossiam, PowerShares, RBS, Source, SPDR and UBS.

Cambria Investment Management, a California-based investment adviser, has announced the launch of its third exchange-traded fund, the Cambria Foreign Shareholder Yield ETF (FYLD). Listed on the NYSE Arca, the fund is linked to the Cambria Foreign Shareholder Yield Index, an index consisting of 100 non-US developed market stocks offering a high shareholder yield.

MSCI, a leading global index provider and a major supplier of indices to exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has announced the launch of the MSCI Multi-Factor Indexes, a suite of indices designed to offer institutional investors a basis for passively implementing index-linked multi-factor strategies. Alain Dubois, Head of Index Product Development for MSCI, said: “MSCI is the first index provider to give institutional investors tools that provide an easy way to analyze and adjust their allocations among factor indexes when their views of the market change.”

FinEx ETF, a division of international investment manager FinEx Group and a leading provider of exchange-traded funds to the Russian market, has introduced a US dollar share class for its Russian corporate Eurobond ETF. Listed on the Moscow Exchange, the FinEx Tradable Russian Corporate Bonds UCITS ETF (FXRU) tracks the Barclays EM Tradable Russian Corporate Bond Index, providing dollar-based investors with access to shorter maturity liquid bonds issued by Russian non-sovereign issuers.

UBS Global Asset Management has listed eight new sterling-hedged ETFs on the London Stock Exchange. Aimed at sterling-based investors, the ETFs contain in-built currency hedges enabling investors to mitigate the risk of exchange rate fluctuations. Andrew Walsh, Head of UBS ETF Sales UK, explained: “These currency-hedged UBS ETFs are ideal building blocks for investors looking to minimize their currency risks. In this way, we are responding to a growing need of investors who would like to better hedge their portfolios against exchange rate fluctuations.”

Boost, a London-headquartered provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products (ETPs), has listed two more products on Borsa Italiana, Italy’s main stock exchange. The new products, which provide triple leveraged long and short exposure to the price of silver, are linked to the performance of the Nasdaq Silver Index. They are the Boost Silver 3x Short Daily ETP (3SIS) and the Boost Silver 3x Leverage Daily ETP (3SIL), and follow on from the provider’s successful listing of eight ETPs four weeks ago.

Vanguard Asset Management has unveiled an index designed to measure and monitor over time the level of value advisers deliver to their clients. Called the Value Index, the measure is essentially a barometer of client satisfaction in the new post-RDR, fee-based world. Neil Cowell, Head of UK Retail Sales, said: “The Value Index will support advisers by helping them identify the drivers of a high value client relationship and allowing them to benchmark themselves against industry standards.”

Boost, a London-headquartered provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products, has made an impressive debut on Borsa Italiana, with its products capturing a significant portion of the exchange’s ETP trading volumes. Hector McNeil, Co-CEO of Boost, commented: “For the second week running Boost’s products have set the pace on the Borsa Italiana. All our recent listed products, most notably three times short and leverage ETPs tracking FTSE MIB and natural gas, have seen significant rises in trading volumes.”