Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and high-frequency trading are not responsible for market volatility, Vanguard has said in a research note, Index Universe reports. The current global economic scenario is still extremely unclear, it said. The sort of choppiness in markets witnessed last month historically stems from macroeconomic factors.

Vanguard pointed out that there has been no “systematic upward shift in the volatility level over time” because of changing market participants. Concerns over Europe’s solvency, a likely new recession and ongoing worries in the U.S., in particular the August 5 credit rating downgrade on U.S. long-term debt by Standard & Poor’s, was more because of the market’s struggle to price risk than because of the investment instruments or investors themselves.

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