Despite unprecedented market volatility in March 2020, the structures for creating, redeeming, and trading shares of ETFs – including ETF issuers, authorised participants (APs), and ETF liquidity providers – proved their resilience, according to a new paper on the Covid-19 market crisis from the Investment Company Institute (ICI) entitled “Experiences of US Exchange-Traded Funds During the Covid-19 Crisis.”

By Kieran Fox, Irish Funds – We are all well aware of the human and public health cost which Covid-19 has had since March of this year when its impact reverberated around the globe. Although general consensus is that we still have some way to go until there is a vaccine or other resolution to the pandemic, central banks and regulators are now beginning to look into the effect the crisis had on capital markets during the early days of its impact and seeking to learn lessons from this. 

BTIG extends WFH policy to the end of 2020BTIG staff are to continue to work from home (WFH) until the end of 2020.

Despite being the launch pad for the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the world and changed it forever, China as an investment destination has kept up in the performance stakes, both in terms of offering performance to external investors and in growing its own domestic asset base.

While many investors believe the recent recovery in stock markets could be built on shaky foundations, the bounce back is similar to those seen in the wake of previous pandemics, says ETF provider GraniteShares.

Investors need to reconsider their approach to dividends in this new investment climate, says Chris Huemmer, Senior Investment Strategist at USD16 billion FlexShares Exchange Traded Funds.

TrueMark Investments’ Principal and Chief Investment Officer Jordan Waldrep, Principal, provider of the ESG Active Opportunities ETF (ECOZ), comments that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated new societal trends such as working from home and contactless payments.

Leveraged and short ETPs have seen growth over the period of market volatility. REX Shares’ US Big Oil Index 3x Leveraged ETN (NRGU) has had its principal amount increased by USD250 million, to a new total of USD975 million and 19.5 million notes, respectively, its eighth upsize in 2020, so far.

Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) senior vice president of ETF investor services, Ryan Sullivan, has reached for his crystal ball and made some predictions for the ETF industry for the rest of the year – a brave initiative given the background of what he calls: “The unprecedented environment that we have found ourselves in.”

The current situation, with so many people in isolation, is leading to increased demand for cloud services says Dan Ives, Wedbush technology analyst and manager of the Wedbush ETFMG Global Cloud Technology ETF (NYSE Arca: IVES).