Oil traders for the last two weeks have shrugged off reports that U.S. stockpiles are brimming at their largest levels ever recorded, as the market continues to bet that crude prices will climb higher. Oil has maintained its buoyancy because the market is betting that cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will largely rebalance the oil market, despite continued production increases from shale formations in the United States.

The iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (LON: CSPX) has become the first Europe-listed ETF to surpass $20bn in AUM. Bullish US equity markets (the underlying S&P 500 Index is up 26.0% over the past year) and strong fund net inflows (iShares reports US equity ETFs listed globally amassed $19.3bn in net new assets in January 2017 alone) worked together to tip the ETF past the threshold.

First Trust Advisors has launched the First Trust TCW Opportunistic Fixed Income ETF (Nasdaq: FIXD), a new actively managed ETF designed to give investors exposure to a multi-sector portfolio of fixed income securities, primarily focused on investment grade bonds. The fund is sub-advised and managed by TCW Investment Management. Ryan Issakainen, Senior Vice President and ETF Strategist for First Trust, said: “We believe fixed income markets provide significant opportunities for active managers to add value. TCW is a world class institutional investment manager.”

By Nicola Mai, Philippe Bodereau, and Eve Tournier, portfolio managers at PIMCO.

Market nerves in anticipation of the French presidential elections in April and May 2017 have driven a spike in 10-year French and Italian government bond spreads. Fueling investors’ unease was a series of surprises on the French political scene, including right-leaning François Fillon’s unexpected victory in the centre-right Republican Party primary (and his quick loss in the polls thereafter), along with the election of left-leaning Benoît Hamon in the Socialist Party primary.

Tortoise Index Solutions has launched the Tortoise Water Fund (Bats: TBLU), an ETF investing in North American companies that are substantially engaged in the water infrastructure and water management industries. The ETF utilizes fundamental weighting factors that recognize and adjust for the fragmented nature of the water space.

IndexIQ has launched the IQ S&P High Yield Low Volatility Bond ETF (NYSE: HYLV), a factor-based fixed income ETF designed to provide exposure to high yield bonds from US issuers while capturing returns attributable to investing in the low volatility factor. The move is the latest step to expand the firm’s factor-based fixed income ETF range following the launch last year of two ETFs tracking bond sectors displaying the strongest positive total return momentum.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X Founder-Run Companies ETF (Bats: BOSS), tracking an equal-weighted index of US large- and mid-cap companies led by CEOs who are the original founders of their firms. The smart beta fund is the fourth in Global X’s “Alpha” suite of ETFs, designed with the aim of delivering broad market-beating returns. Alex Ashby, Director of Product Development at Global X, said: “Founders bring a unique vision and innovative culture to their companies that we believe will translate into more sustainable long-term growth.”

Gold mining stocks have experienced a strong start to the year, with ETFs tracking the sector posting returns of approximately 18% YTD, significantly outperforming the broader market. Whether this run can continue is the subject of debate. But if the fiscal stimulus and tax cuts proposed under the Trump administration play out, gold may continue to look like an increasingly attractive asset, further lending support to gold mining equities and the ETFs linked to them.

By Nizam Hamid, Head of Strategy at WisdomTree in Europe.

Leverage has been around for hundreds of years and, today, there are many different types of short and leveraged instruments – from notes, to funds, to certificates – listed on exchanges globally. Because of the combined features of leverage and daily compounded returns, these types of trading instruments can enhance returns and be a robust, transparent, secure and cost-effective trading tool. As a provider of short and leverage ETPs through our Boost product range, we want investors to clearly understand how these products work before trading them.

THEAM, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, has launched three new fixed income ETFs on Euronext Paris, providing exposure to portfolios of Eurozone inflation-linked government bonds, US Treasuries from across the yield curve, and euro-denominated investment grade corporate bonds. Isabelle Bourcier, Head of Index Operations and ETFs at THEAM, notes the listing of these ETFs is a concrete expression of THEAM’s desire to diversify the firm’s current product offering.