Global X Funds, a New York-based provider of exchange-traded funds, has unveiled the Global X Next Emerging & Frontier ETF (EMFM), a new ETF providing exposure to an exciting crop of less developed emerging and frontier market countries. Bruno del Ama, chief executive officer of Global X Funds, said: “Investing in emerging markets continues to be an important strategy for portfolio diversification and growth, but investors must now look beyond more mature [emerging market] economies to regions with accelerating growth rates and expanding populations.”

Brokerage firm Charles Schwab has added 16 new exchange-traded funds to its Schwab ETF OneSource platform. Launched in February, the platform enables investors and advisors to buy and sell 121 ETFs commission-free. The platform includes ETFs from six leading providers: SPDR ETFs, Guggenheim, PowerShares, ETF Securities, United States Commodity Funds, and Charles Schwab.

Guggenheim Investments has announced that the Guggenheim BRIC ETF (EEB) will change its benchmark index to the BNY Mellon BRIC Select DR Index, effective October 31, 2013. William Belden, Managing Director at Guggenheim Investments, said: “Transitioning to the BNY Mellon BRIC Select DR Index will provide more representative exposure to the BRIC super region. We see this as an opportunity to track an index where the capitalization weights of the four countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – are more appropriately weighted.”

Nasdaq OMX Group has expanded the Nasdaq BulletShares Index Family with the launch of eight new Nasdaq BulletShares Ladder indices. The indices are traditional bond ladders implemented through indices utilising defined-maturity bond ETFs sponsored by Guggenheim Investments. John Jacobs, Executive Vice President, Nasdaq OMX Global Indexes, said: “These new indexes will provide the financial community a benchmark for tracking one of the most common types of fixed-income investing, bond-laddering.”

Guggenheim Investments, the eighth largest provider of ETFs in the US, has announced the results of a study highlighting a number of investment headwinds. The study reveals that the current low-yield environment and the uncertain future of the US economy have caused concern amongst investors about their ability to save enough for upcoming life events. William Belden, Managing Director, Product Development at Guggenheim Investments, said: “For investors looking to save for life events such as retirement, defined-maturity products [such as Guggenheim’s BulletShares ETFs] could be attractive, given the current volatile economic environment.”

Guggenheim Investments has added a further two funds to its popular range of defined-maturity “BulletShares” ETFs. Listed on the NYSE Arca, the newly listed Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (BSJJ) and Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (BSJK) provide exposure to high-yield corporate bonds with effective maturities of 2019 and 2020 respectively.

NYSE Euronext has announced the launch of the NYSE Diversified High Income Index, a new strategy index measuring the performance of a highly diversified, multi-asset portfolio of high yielding securities. The index has been licensed to UBS to underlie the newly launched NYSE Arca-listed ETRACS Diversified High Income ETN (DVHI). The strategy provides exposure to a basket of 138 publicly traded securities that provide exposure to several different asset classes, sectors and segments across multiple geographies that have historically paid high dividends or distributions.

First Trust, a provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has launched a new ETF designed to provide low-volatility exposure to a diverse international portfolio of high-yielding instruments. The fund is latest addition to a growing roster of multi-asset income ETFs, which includes products from iShares, Guggenheim, ArrowShares and SPDR.

By David Stevenson – In this column I am going to touch on the rather sensitive and controversial subjects of emerging markets (EM) and smart beta. Crucially, I want to argue that investing in EM equities could have been a far more rewarding pursuit over the last 12 months if (and it’s a big if) you’d have focused on the right kind of stocks.

Guggenheim Investments, a US-based provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has expanded its suite of defined-maturity corporate bond ETFs with the launch of two new BulletShares funds on the NYSE Arca. The new funds, which are linked to indices developed by Accretive Asset Management, provide access to a diversified portfolio of corporate bonds with effective maturities in 2021 and 2022 respectively – the years in which the funds themselves mature.