Leading global asset manager Fidelity Investments has announced that it has lowered the fees on its range of US sector exchange-traded funds. The suite of ETFs will see their total expense ratios drop from 0.12% to 0.084%, effective from 1st July. Colby Penzone, senior vice president for Fidelity’s Investment Product Group, commented in a statement: “We are taking already one of the lowest cost index fund offerings in the industry and making it even more compelling. While cost matters, investors should also consider the overall experience and value a financial services firm can deliver when deciding where to invest.”

US-based exchange-traded fund provider Guggenheim Investments has launched the Guggenheim S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF (NYSE Arca: OEW), the first smart beta ETF to provide investors with equal-weight access to the S&P 100 Index, which is made up of 100 of the largest and most stable companies from the S&P 500. “OEW offers strategic beta exposure to large, blue-chip stocks across multiple industry groups and could serve as a core holding in a diversified portfolio,” said William Belden, Managing Director and Head of ETF Business Development for Guggenheim Investments. “OEW’s portfolio constituents typically are household names with strong brand recognition and global operations.”

ETF provider WisdomTree has launched an equity ETF targeting firms considered likely to increase their dividend payouts in the future. The WisdomTree Eurozone Quality Dividend Growth UCITS ETF (EGRA) has been launched on the London Stock Exchange in euros and British pounds. It tracks WisdomTree’s proprietary in-house Quality Dividend Growth Indices, which uses specific criteria to establish which companies are growing their dividends. The strategy focuses on growth and quality. Viktor Nossek, Director of Research at WisdomTree Europe, said in a statement: “We believe that companies that can grow their earnings also have the greatest potential to raise their dividends.”

The affordability and sustainability of dividends paid by FTSE 350 companies has dropped to its lowest level for seven years, signalling that dividend cuts could be on the horizon. In this environment, income-focused investors might be wise to look to smart beta exchange-traded funds that focus on companies with a strong capacity to maintain dividend payments.

Investment houses Standard Life, Aviva and M&G have frozen trading in their UK Real Estate funds following a rapid increase in redemption requests as a result of the Brexit vote. The move, which prevents investors withdrawing their money from the funds as managers seek to sell off parts of the portfolio to accommodate the backlog of redemption requests, serves to highlight the relative liquidity benefits of ETFs. The freezing of the two funds precipitated the Bank of England to state it was monitoring the behaviour of investors in open-ended commercial property funds, as one of the risks to financial stability in the UK.

Deutsche Asset Management has launched its fourth US-listed multi-factor ETF. The Deutsche X-trackers Russell 2000 Comprehensive Factor ETF (NYSE Arca: DESC) is a smart beta equities fund that favours companies within the Russell 2000 Index with strong exposure to targeted investment style factors: value, momentum, quality, low volatility and size. It tracks the Russell 2000 Comprehensive Factor Index and has a TER of 0.30%. Fiona Bassett, Head of Passive Strategy in the Americas, said: “Academic research has identified certain stock characteristics that are important in explaining a stock’s risk and performance. Emphasising these factors can potentially make a significant contribution to outperforming traditional market-capitalisation weighted benchmark indices.”

Global ETF provider iShares has expanded its suite of sustainable funds in the US with the launch of two new ETFs tracking Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) indices as investors look to enhance their portfolios with ESG exposures. The iShares MSCI EAFE ESG Select ETF tracks the MSCI EAFE ESG Select Index, providing access to large-and-mid-cap stocks in Europe, Asia and Australia, while the iShares MSCI EM ESG Select ETF tracks the MSCI EM ESG Select Index which includes large-and mid-cap emerging market stocks. Deborah Winshel, Managing Director and Global Head of BlackRock Impact, said: “Clients have repeatedly asked us for solutions to optimize their portfolios for ESG considerations.”

iShares has launched its Fallen Angels High Yield Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (WING) providing exposure to global bonds that were once rated investment grade and have since been downgraded to high yield status. The fund may provide a value opportunity to investors as the strategy seeks to take advantage of the price anomaly that can arise with a downgrade of these securities (the overly negative sentiment surrounding a downgrade into junk status, causes fallen angels to be regularly oversold prior to their downgrade). Listed on the LSE in US dollars and British pounds, and on the Deutsche Bourse in euros, the ETF has a TER of 0.50%.

Japanese asset manager Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai AM has launched an ETF tracking the iSTOXX MUTB Japan Proactive Leaders 200 Index. The MAXIS JAPAN Proactive Investment in Physical and Human Capital 200 Index ETF, launched earlier this week, is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Index provider STOXX announced that it had licensed its index to the asset manager to underlie the ETF earlier this year. The index was developed as part of a collaboration between STOXX and Japanese trust bank Mitsubishi UFJ Trust. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management are both part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

Exchange-traded fund provider State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has listed the SPDR S&P Technology Hardware ETF (XTH) and the SPDR S&P Internet ETF (XWEB) on NYSE Arca. The two new US equity ETFs are offered on the back of investor demand for refined exposures to the sub-industries of the technology and consumer discretionary sectors.The funds are part of SSGA’s suite of modified equal-weighted S&P Industry ETFs, which now includes 20 funds and more than $13bn in assets under management. The ETFs have net expense ratios of 0.35%.