Global ETF News Older than One Year
Bassanese Bites: Trade tantrum
August 4, 2019-Global Markets
Global equities slumped last week reflecting two negative events: disappointment with regard to Fed guidance and Trump's new tariffs. A flight to safety saw long-term bond yields plumb new lows, the $A weaken, and $US and gold prices firm. The $A has now hit my target level of US 68c, somewhat earlier than expected, while local 10-year bond yields are close to breaking below 1%!
Although the Fed cut rates by 0.25% as widely expected, Fed chair Powell's declaration that this "was not the beginning of a long series of rate cuts" disappointed the market, although he did add "I didn’t say it's just one or anything like that". That's consistent with my view that the Fed would likely cut rates twice this year but, barring a US recession, the four rates cuts seemingly expected over the next year always seemed unlikely.
Source: BetaShares
IEEFA report: BlackRock's fossil fuel investments wipe US$90 billion in massive investor value destruction
Investors need to ask why
August 1, 2019--BlackRock, the world's largest fund manager with US$6.5 trillion of assets under management-bigger in value than the third largest economy in the world-continues to ignore the serious financial risks of putting money into fossil fuel-dependent companies, a new report has found.
Produced by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the report places a price tag on BlackRock's fossil fuel-heavy strategy-saying the firm's failure to effectively address risk has lost investors over US$90 billion in value destruction and opportunity cost from just a select few holdings over the past decade.
Source: Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
IOSCO issues Statement on Benchmarks Transition
July 31, 2019--The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published the Statement on Communication and Outreach to Inform Relevant Stakeholders Regarding Benchmarks Transition.
The Statement seeks to inform relevant market participants of how an early transition to Risk Free Rates (RFRs) can mitigate potential risks arising from the expected cessation of LIBOR.
IOSCO wishes to raise awareness of the impact of LIBOR's likely cessation and the need for relevant stakeholders to transition from the widely used USD LIBOR to RFRs -particularly to the new US preferred Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). Raising awareness is important to facilitate prudent risk management across corporate and financial institutions and mitigate potential financial stability and conduct risks.
Source: IOSCO
LSE surges on $27bn Refinitiv takeover talks
July 29, 2019--London Stock Exchange shares soared Monday after confirming talks over a vast $27-billion takeover of US financial data provider Refinitiv, potentially placing it in direct competition with Bloomberg.
The mooted takeover, which is worth the equivalent of 24 billion euros and marks a major switch in strategy under LSE CEO banker David Schwimmer, sent shares spiking to a record peak.
Source: france24.com
"Gender lens' ETFs seek to promote workplace diversity
July 29, 2019--Demand is growing but some products suffer from lacklustre returns
Exchange traded funds that screen for a variety of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria offer more opportunity for impact investment across the board, including for those seeking to boost diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
The overall amount invested in such ETFs remains small but is growing rapidly. Assets in gender lens investing (including mutual funds, equality bonds, as well as ETFs) grew by 85 per cent to $2.4bn in the 12 months to June 2018, according to Veris Wealth Partners.
Source: FT.com
Leading index providers maintain grip as margins fall
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Source: FT.com
Source: FT.com
Quants seek human touch in reboot of investing strategy
Source: FT.com
Basel Committee and IOSCO agree to one-year extension of the final implementation phase of the margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives
In the final phase of implementation, initial margin requirements are scheduled to apply to a large number of entities for the first time. In March 2019, the Basel Committee and IOSCO published a statement noting that the framework does not specify documentation, custodial or operational requirements if a covered entity's bilateral initial margin amount does not exceed the framework's €50 million initial margin threshold.
Further, the Basel Committee and IOSCO have agreed to extend by one year the final implementation of the margin requirements.
Source: BIS
Bassanese Bites: Fed fatigue
Meanwhile, US consumer spending held up nicely, with June retail sales comfortably beating market expectations. Gold and iron-ore prices reached new six-monthly highs, though oil slumped due to an easing in US-Iranian tensions.
The bottom line of all this, however, is that trade tensions have helped modestly slow global growth in recent months and US earnings are also going through a slow patch.
Source: BetaShares
New Survey: 49% of Americans and Brits Don't Trust Facebook's Libra
Citing a survey from instant messaging application Viber, the news outlet reveals that 49% of users in the United Kingdom and the United States said that they would not put trust in the social media giant when it comes to its own digital currency. Those respondents specified that they would not trust Facebook at all in regards to keeping their private information secure when using Libra.
Source: cointelegraph.com
July 29, 2019--Brand recognition still counts as some work moves in-house
The four leading index providers, S&P Dow Jones Indices, MSCI, FTSE Russell and Bloomberg have enjoyed market domination for years.
July 26,-2019--The technique has since spread among computer-powered, algorithmic money managers that scour the raw data of thousands of recommendations and slices of commentary for signals to trade, paying investment banks for the best data.
July 23, 2019--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) acknowledge the progress that has been made to implement the framework for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives.
July 22, 2019--Global Markets
Global equities pulled back from record highs last week-reflecting an early batch of mixed US earnings results and continuing disappointment that the Fed is still not inclined to cut rates by an aggressive 0.5% next week. Trump's renewed sabre rattling-suggesting a deal with China was still some way off and he could still raise tariffs-didn’t help.
July 22, 2019--July 22, 2019--Almost half of Americans and Brits would not trust Facebook in regards to its long-awaited stablecoin Libra, technology and market-focused news platform Telecoms.com reported on July 22.
Facebook's trust issues could hurt Libra project
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