ETF investors may be interested in research from S&P Dow Jones Indices, which broadly shows that volatility is diminishing across countries and asset classes, suggesting a more stable investment outlook. Tim Edwards, Senior Director of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices, commented: “In the last four weeks, another Greek crisis has come and been duly kicked down the road for a few more months; meanwhile the popping sounds emanating from China’s equity markets appear to have been nipped in the bud by the local authorities.”

Boost ETP, a leading European provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products and a subsidiary of WisdomTree Europe, has changed the underlying index for its 3x short and leveraged US large-cap equity products. The products were previously linked to the Russell 1000 Index but are now referenced to the more widely followed S&P 500 Index. In line with the index change and to reflect the superior brand recognition of the S&P 500, the two ETPs have been renamed Boost S&P 500 3x Short Daily ETP (3USL) and Boost S&P 500 3x Leverage Daily ETP (3USS).

WeatherStorm Capital, a subsidiary of US-based investment fiirm Vident Financial, has launched the WeatherStorm Forensic Accounting Long-Short ETF (FLAG) on Nasdaq. The fund seeks to provide US large-cap equity exposure while enhancing returns through stock selection based on forensic accounting analysis. Andrew Alden, WeatherStorm’s Head of Quantitative Research, commented: “We are excited to offer investors an efficient and transparent way to utilise forensic accounting in their US large-cap investing. Investors will be able to utilise the fund as a core strategic tool while harnessing factors with enhanced risk-adjusted returns potential.”

Ossiam, a leading provider of smart beta exchange-traded funds, has unveiled the Ossiam Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector Value TR UCITS ETF on the London Stock Exchange, the latest in a suite of value-focused sector-rotation ETFs. The new ETF tracks the Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector Value Index and builds upon the success of Ossiam’s European sector value ETF which was listed in February 2015. The underlying indices are based on the Cyclically Adjusted Price-to-Earnings (CAPE) ratio devised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller.

With ETFGI announcing that the ETF market has exceeded hedge funds this week, Tim Edwards, Senior Director of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices looks at why this might be the case. By replicating a hedge fund strategy and comparing it to the HFRI Weighted Composite benchmark he notes: After fees, the hypothetical hedge fund performs more or less in line with the benchmark; and the average hedge fund looks like a fixed blend of cheap investments, but at a high cost.

Exchange-traded funds have reached another milestone, overtaking the hedge fund universe in terms of assets under management (AUM), reports ETFGI, a specialist research and consultancy firm focused on ETPs. According to ETFGI, the total AUM of the over 5,800 globally listed ETFs reached $2.971tn at the end of June. A similar report into the global reach of hedge funds, released by Hedge Fund Research Inc in Chicago, revealed total AUM of $2.969tn.

IG Group, the online trading platform, has partnered with BlackRock, a leading global asset manager and the parent company of iShares, to launch a range of ETF-based portfolios. As the largest provider of CFDs and financial spread betting worldwide, IG Group are broadening their offering through this partnership. “The launch of these ETF portfolios is a natural progression in our commitment to provide our clients with an increasingly comprehensive offering. Portfolios composed of passive instruments, such as ETFs, have the potential to disrupt the investment management industry, challenging the traditional high-fee approach to asset management,” said Ian Peacock, Head of UK and Ireland at IG Group

Assets tracking the smart beta indices of the EDHEC-Risk Institute have risen to over $8bn, with the success of their Multi-Beta Multi-Strategy offering, available in ETF format from Amundi and Morgan Stanley, helping to drive triple-digit growth over the past 12 months. Noël Amenc, CEO of ERI Scientific Beta, commented: “Smart beta is a commoditisation of two essential contributions from modern portfolio and asset pricing theory, namely allocating to factors that are well rewarded over the long term and reducing unrewarded risks through diversification. These two ingredients are the core of the Smart Beta 2.0 offering marketed by Scientific Beta.”

Funds following European property markets have enjoyed a strong upswing since October 2014. The iShares European Property Yield UCITS ETF (IPRP), for example, netted gains of 25.3% from 1st October 2014 to end of April 2015. Similarly, the iShares Stoxx Europe 600 Real Estate UCITS ETF (EXI5) returned 25.2% over the same period. Growth in property prices has been widely dispersed across the Europe rather than isolated in a few major cities.

The spot price of gold sunk to $1,084 per ounce during Asian trading on Monday, its lowest price since November 2009. The futures market recorded excessively large trading volumes in a short period of time, about 20% of daily volume within a few minutes, causing the price of the yellow metal to sharply drop by 4%. Experts surmise that the timing of the trades indicate a direct desire to influence pricing in the market and likely reflective of a trader attempting to profit from a short position. Investors holding short leveraged ETPs tracking gold were well positioned to profit from the move: the Boost Gold 3x Short Daily ETP (3GOS LN) opened up 6.9%.