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Euro falls to seven-month low against dollar
September 22, 2011-- The euro extended falls against the dollar, dropping to a seven-month low, with sentiment damaged by an ECB study saying fiscal imbalances in the euro zone risked undermining the stability and sustainability of the EMU.
The study also warned states should go into financial receivership if adjustment programmes were not on track.
The euro fell as low as $1.3465, its weakest since late February, with traders saying stop loss orders were triggered on the break below $1.3500.
EURO STOXX 50 Index Voted Most Important Index For Product
September 22, 2011--STOXX Limited, the market-moving provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today announced that the EURO STOXX 50 Index has been named “Most Important Index for Product” in the inaugural European SRP Euromoney Structured Retail Products Awards sponsored by www.StructuredRetailProducts.com and Euromoney Magazine. Award winners were chosen based on votes cast by nearly 400 members of Europe’s structured products community.
We first launched the EURO STOXX 50 Index over a decade ago when the euro was first introduced. Our vision then was to create a tool that offers investors exposure to blue-chip companies in the euro zone. Today, it continues to be the leading underlying for financial products, including structured products, exchange-traded funds and derivatives contracts,” said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Ltd. “Winning this award by Structured Retail Products acknowledges our efforts in providing market participants with reliable, innovative and state-of-the-art indices and challenges us to further develop reliable and thorough index underlyings.”
DB Global Equity Index & ETF Research :European ETF Market Weekly Review : Moderate rise in ETF assets as equity markets recover
September 22, 2011--Investment Outlook: Mostly quiet
In the week that ended on September 16th, European domiciled ETPs registered net cash outflows of €51 million. Most of the European equity benchmarks ended higher than the previous week’s close: DAX, Euro Stoxx 50, FTSE 100 & CAC gained 7.4%, 4.1%, 3% and 1.9% respectively.
Fixed Income ETFs attracted cash inflows of €291 million over the last week. Most of these inflows were shared by ETFs offering credit exposure and money market ETFs; €176 million and €143 million respectively.YTD cash flows for fixed income ETFs are now at €1.4 billion.
Equity ETFs registered outflows of €206 million in the past week taking their YTD flows tally to €15.6 billion. Across the board cash outflows reflects the cautious approach of investors towards equity offerings. Within equities, ETFs tracking broad developed market (DM) benchmarks like the MSCI World registered the highest cash inflows in the past week (€157 million). Developed non-European ETFs (mostly US) attracted inflows totaling €117 m illion.
Cash flow activity within commodity ETPs was low in the past week, with flat flows across most of the commodity segments. Commodity ETPs registered outflows totaling to €129 million in the past week. Gold products and broad commodity ETFs witnessed outflows of €78 and €56 million respectively over the past week. YTD cash flows for gold ETPs are now at €2.5 billion.
Assets Under Management (AUM): Moderate rise in assets
Total European ETP assets increased by 0.5% and ended the previous week at €231 billion. Equities gained €2.7 billion to end the week with €136 billion in assets. Overall commodity assets ended the week with €48 billion with a weekly loss of €1.7 billion. Gold ETPs lost close to €1.2 billion in assets mostly due to decrease in the [US$/oz] price of gold [2.3%]. Fixed income ETF assets remained flat to end the week at €44.5 billion.
Exchange Total Weekly Turnover: Modest increase in Turnover levels
Weekly on-exchange ETP total turnover increased by a modest 1.4% to end the week at €15.5 billion. Equity turnover gained close to 6% from its previous levels and ended the week at €11.5 billion. Commodity turnover decreased by over €500 million from its previous levels and ended at €2.6 billion in weekly totals. Fixed Income turnover gained €90 million to reach €1.4 billion.
New ETP Product Launch Calendar: 4 New launches, 11 cross listings
RBS launched an alternative ETF providing exposure to a range of CTA strategies by tracking the RBS CTA indices. This ETF was listed on the Deutsche Boerse.
Lyxor listed an equity ETF offering exposure to the MSCI All country World Index. This ETF was listed on NYSE Euronext Paris.
iShares launched two fixed income ETFs tracking the Markit iBoxx $ High Yield Capped Bond and Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond respectively. These ETFs were listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Lastly, 11 ETFs were cross listed over various European exchanges in the past week. Please refer to figure 10 for details.
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Eurozone economy into reverse in September
September 22, 2011--Private sector economic activity across the eurozone hit reverse in September for the first time in more than two years, a closely watched survey showed on Thursday.
"Germany and France both saw growth rates deteriorate to near-stagnation in September, while the rest of the single currency area suffered the steepest contraction for over two years," he added.
"An increased rate of decline of incoming new business and falling confidence about the year ahead in the service sector raise the risk of further contraction in the coming months," said chief economist Chris Williamson of Markit.
European risk board: Leaders must take swift action to head off danger to banks, economy
September 21, 2011--The risks to the EU’s financial system from the continent’s government debt crisis have increased considerably in the past 90 days, Europe’s crisis watchdog said Wednesday.
The European Systemic Risk Board urged “decisive and swift action” from eurozone nations, including passage of anti-crisis measures agreed on by leaders in late July and still awaiting final votes from parliaments.
Fears of a government default have driven up borrowing costs for several European governments and raised questions about their financial viability, doubts which in turn push up borrowing costs even more. Meanwhile, some banks are struggling to get the financing they need to operate.
Germany plans crisis group for euro emergencies: draft law
September 20, 2011--Germany is poised to establish a small group of deputies empowered to give rapid parliament decisons, such as buying bonds, in future debt crises, according to a draft bill seen by AFP Tuesday.
The draft legislation, drawn up by lawmakers from Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition, would allow a sub-committee of the parliament's budgetary group to give its assent in situations where extreme speed is required.
Members of this committee "will be able to take the necessary decisions quickly and confidentially," the draft says, adding that the number of people should be kept "as small as possible."
Standard and Poor's downgrades Italy debt rating
September 20, 2011--Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded Italy's sovereign debt rating, citing economic, fiscal and political weaknesses in a fresh blow to Silvio Berlusconi's fragile coalition government.
The rating agency said it had downgraded Italian debt to "A/A-1" from a "A+/A-1+" grade because of "Italy's weakening economic growth prospects."
It added that Italy's weak governing coalition would "limit the government's ability to respond decisively" to events.
iShares launches physically-backed commodity ETFs
iShares launches three ETFs tracking newly constructed Standard & Poor’s (S&P) equity indices
September 20, 2011--iShares, the Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) platform of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) announced it has expanded its commodities offering with the launch of three UCITS compliant physically-backed equity ETFs that provide cost-efficient exposure to companies in the commodities exploration, production and operations markets.
The Dublin domiciled iShares S&P Commodity Producers Oil and Gas, iShares S&P Commodity Producers Gold and iShares S&P Commodity Producers Agribusiness funds are now trading on the LSE, and are based upon the S&P Commodity Producers Index Series. They offer direct and liquid exposure to a range of companies that operate in these markets in a single trade.
Alka Banerjee, Vice President at S&P Indices, commented:
“The S&P Commodity Producers Index Series is designed to provide investors with an investable benchmark for measuring the equity performance of some of the world’s largest commodity producers. We are pleased to license our indices to iShares, making the launch of these ETFs a reality.”
4th Deutsche Börse China-Europe Equity Forum in Shanghai
Record year for Chinese listings in Frankfurt, despite crisis
September 20, 2011-Deutsche Börse held its fourth China-Europe Equity Forum in Shanghai on Tuesday 20 September. The more than 300 participants included investment bankers, lawyers, PE investors, IPO consultants, financial services providers, auditors and entrepreneurs from China.
“The forum in Shanghai has established itself as a valuable event for the European and Chinese capital market. The focus is on both European investments in China and Chinese IPOs in Europe,” said Barbara Georg, Head of Listing & Issuer Services at Deutsche Börse. “It’s not unusual for the forum to initiate an IPO in Frankfurt.”
Ten Chinese companies have become listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2011. As many as four have opted for an IPO in the Prime Standard – considerably more than in previous years. With this decision, these companies have chosen the highest transparency standards in Europe.
European Commission threatens ETF clampdown
September 20, 2011--Providers of synthetic exchange traded funds are using the Ucits brand denoting funds suitable for sale across the European Union to retail investors “as a shield” to reassure investors, according to European regulators.
“They are using the Ucits brand to say that synthetic ETFs are safe products,” said Tilman Lueder, head of the asset management unit at the European Commission.
