By David Fabian, NASDAQ OMX Guest Contributor

Leveraged ETFs are some of the most widely respected and feared investment vehicles to come to market in the last 10 years. They are lauded by hedge funds, professional investors, and day traders as excellent tools to access a specific index and quickly magnify your returns. However, they have also been derided by traditional Wall Street brokers and media outlets as a dangerous weapon in the hands of unsuspecting investors. Whichever side of the argument for leveraged ETFs that you come down on, you can’t deny the continued demand and success of these sophisticated investment vehicles.

Read the entire article.

In the first half of 2013, just one new ETF/ETP launched in the US joined the exclusive blockbuster or Billion Dollar Club.

Many ETF/ETP managers adjust their product offerings hoping to create and develop best-selling products that will enter the exclusive blockbuster or Billion Dollar Club, a milestone that indicates $1 billion in assets under management. Popular with investors, these are profitable and blockbuster products for firms. At the end of H1 2013, there were 1,478 ETFs/ETPs with assets of $1.44 trillion from 54 providers listed on three exchanges in the United States.

Just 14% or 201 of the ETFs/ETPs listed in the US have joined the exclusive blockbuster or Billion Dollar Club. The top 100 ETFs/ETPs ranked by assets, out of the 1,478, account for just over three quarters of the $1.44 trillion in assets. The top 20 or the top 1% of all ETFs/ETPs ranked by assets account for 40% of all assets.

Read Debbie Fuhr's entire Q1-Q2 recap.

In celebration of the launch of the first U.S. Mutual Fund based on the OMX Baltic Benchmark Index, DMS Funds employees joined CEO Peter Kohli to ring the NASDAQ Opening Bell on Tuesday, July 23. The OMX Baltic Benchmark index consists of the largest and most traded stocks on the NASDAQ OMX Baltic Market.

DMS Funds offers mutual funds based on established stock exchange and sector benchmark indexes in emerging and frontier markets.

Product sponsors, portfolio managers and other market participants now have even more choices when it comes to benchmarks for Global Equities. The NASDAQ Global Index Family is now calculated in USD, AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY and select local currencies to better meet the needs of the financial community. Totaling over 25,000 indexes, the complete family includes approximately 9,000 securities broken down by market segment, region, country, size and sector. Our rules-based selection criteria ensure that the family is a transparent and investable benchmark for the global equity market.

A differentiator from other global equity offerings is NASDAQ OMX’s segment designation process: NASDAQ OMX first determines and assigns all countries that fall within the Developed Markets segment. Countries that do not qualify for the Developed Markets segment are then reviewed using the criteria for Emerging Markets. View the methodology to learn more about our quantitative and qualitative approach.

"The expansion of the NASDAQ Global Index Family into various currencies underscores our premier global index operation," said NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President John Jacobs. "We recognized the need for cost-effective benchmark alternatives in multiple currencies. With the addition of these indexes, market participants can more effectively gauge and manage currency exposure as they track global equities."

View the press release.

Recent changes have occurred to the NASDAQ-100 Index. We are excited to welcome the following companies into this well-known large cap index:

• 6/5/13 Liberty Media Corporation (LMCA) replaced Virgin Media Inc. (VMED)
• 6/6/13 Netflix Inc. (NFLX) replaced Perrigo Company (PRGO)
• 7/15/13 Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) replaced Oracle Corporation (ORCL)
• 7/25/13 Charter Communications, Inc. (CHTR) replaced BMC Software (BMC)

BOOST ETP has launched nine new leveraged and inverse ETPs in the United Kingdom that are based on indexes in the NASDAQ Commodity Index Family. These are the second set of BOOST ETP products linked to this family, bringing the total number of BOOST NASDAQ Commodity Index linked products to 25.

Global assets under management for short and leveraged ETPs increased 12% to $49.3 billion this year through May 31, 2013, according to BOOST ETP.

Read our press release, BOOST ETP’s education resources, or visit our Commodity Indexes page for more information.

There are many dividend-themed indexes on the market, but each uses different criteria and methodologies. Make sure you’re using the appropriate index for benchmarking. In the latest research piece from NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes, we look at how component selection plays a role in dividend growth.

To read more about how the NASDAQ U.S. Broad Dividend Achievers (DAA), NASDAQ U.S. Dividend Achievers Select (DVG), and NASDAQ U.S. Dividend Achievers 50 (DAY) indexes perform compared to competitors and the broad market, DOWNLOAD our latest reseach piece.

NASDAQ OMX has consolidated performance data for our top 50 most-watched indexes.

Access one-month, three-month, six-month, one-, three-, five- and ten-year returns, as well as one-year volatility, as of June 28, 2013.

Download the June Performance Report.