News Round-up: Defence ETFs surge as military spending rises

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Investors have been pouring into defence ETFs amid expectations of increased military spending by European governments in preparation for potential threats from Russia. The VanEck Defense UCITS ETF (DFNG) pulled in net inflows of $375m in January, while the iShares Global Aerospace & Defence UCITS ETF (DFND) gathered net inflows of $127m so far this year. It comes against the backdrop of Morgan Stanley expecting European NATO members spending on military equipment to over double from last year's levels of €46bn to €110bn by 2030. Chris Flood has the full story.

ETF Stream revealed Gareth Parker departed his role as chief indexing officer at Morningstar. Parker co-founded Moorgate Benchmarks in 2018, which was later acquired by Morningstar in 2021. He played a key role in developing major indices such as the FTSE UK Series and FTSE4Good. His departure follows that of Tobias Sproehnle, former head of Europe at Morningstar indexes and fellow co-founder of Moorgate Benchmarks, who left in April 2023. Read the full story here.

Finally, US-based asset manager and insurance company Eldridge entered the European market with a US AAA CLO ETF. The Eldridge AAA CLO UCITS ETF (TAAA) joins the Invesco USD AAA CLO UCITS ETF (ICLO) in offering exposure to US CLOs. Currently, this type of exposure is less common in Europe, as fewer US CLOs can be marketed on the continent compared to European CLOs due to stricter regulatory requirements. Lauren Gibbons has the full story.

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Most read stories on ETF Stream:

1. Defence ETFs draw investors as Europe readies for Russia

2. Amundi extends fixed income ETF range with triple launch

3. Indexing veteran Parker departs Morningstar

4. HANetf launches Europe-first physical uranium ETC

5. Active ETFs to dominate 2025 launches and claim of 10% inflows, State Street predicts

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