15m government scheme towards renewable heating Homeowners will be able to benefit from grants towards renewable energy heating systems, as part of a £15 million government scheme. Full Article…

An exchange traded fund that invests in Sweden was lower Friday after auto manufacturer Volvo said its second-quarter earnings and profit rose from the year-ago period.

Scania, the Swedish truckmaker controlled by Volkswagon, recently missed analysts estimates on second quarter profit, due to slower sales. The lower than anticipated results were blamed on slow tractor orders in Brazil, and the company is considered to have the best operating margin of the business in Sweden, reports Ola Kinnander for Bloomberg.

Scania is looking to merge with MAN SE in Germany, which would create Europe’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer.

July 22 – The Financial Markets Authority has appointed Elaine Campbell as head of compliance monitoring, giving her purview of finance companies, trustees, KiwiSaver providers and market participants.

Campbell has been executive counsel at the NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal and was previously head of Market Supervision at NZX Ltd. She also had a spell at the FMA’s predecessor, the Securities Commission.

Her job will be to “develop and lead the commercial and infrastructure monitoring functions” of the FMA, the fledgling regulator said in a statement.

The regulator also named Liam Mason as head of legal and board secretary. He was previously general counsel at the Securities Commission and was an adviser to the select committee that developed the FMA legislation.

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Investors are beginning to explore riskier market sectors with exchange traded funds in search of fatter profits, buying patterns suggest.

The first half of 2011 has given niche or alternative ETF asset classes a chance to shine, as sectors such as Asian local debt, managed futures and senior loans were some of the most popular, reports Jessica Toonkel for Investment News.

For instance, WisdomTree Asia Local Debt Fund has garnered $471 million since its March inception, according to IndexUniverse research.

“The alternatives theme is really resonating with people right now, and managed futures was one of the few hedge fund strategies that not only held up but performed well during the market disruption,” said Scott Burns, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. According to analysts, the success of ALD is proof that investors are seeking non-correlated returns.

The Asia Local Debt ETF’s success also shows that investors are more willing to go outside of the U.S. Full Article…