Global ETF News Older than One Year
Global growth is slowing amid rising trade and financial risks
November 21, 2018--Global economic growth remains strong but has passed its recent peak and faces escalating risks including rising trade tensions and tightening financial conditions, according to the OECD's latest Economic Outlook.
Growth forecasts for next year have been revised down for most of the world's major economies. Global GDP is now expected to expand by 3.5% in 2019, compared with the 3.7% forecast in last May's Outlook, and by 3.5% in 2020.
Source: OECD
Slowing Growth and Interest Rate Fears Weigh on Fund and ETF Investors in October
November 19, 2018--For the second month in a row investors were net redeemers of mutual fund assets, withdrawing $28.7 billion from the conventional funds (ex-ETFs) business for October. Rising interest rates and fears of slowing global growth weighed on flows into long-term funds.
For the first month in eight the fixed income funds macro-group witnessed net outflows, handing back $20.4 billion for the month. And for the sixth consecutive month stock & mixed-asset funds witnessed net outflows (-$42.1 billion for October, their largest monthly net outflows since November 2016), while money market funds (+$33.8 billion, for their third month of inflows in four) witnessed the only net inflows.
Source: Refinitiv
FSB and standard-setting bodies publish final report on effects of reforms on incentives to centrally clear over-the-counter derivatives
November 19, 2018--The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published today their final report on Incentives to centrally clear over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.
The central clearing of standardised OTC derivatives is a pillar of the G20 Leaders' commitment to reform OTC derivatives markets in response to the global financial crisis. A number of post-crisis reforms are, directly or indirectly, relevant to incentives to centrally clear. The report by the Derivatives Assessment Team (DAT) evaluates how these reforms interact and how they could affect incentives.he central clearing of standardised OTC derivatives is a pillar of the G20 Leaders' commitment to reform OTC derivatives markets in response to the global financial crisis. A number of post-crisis reforms are, directly or indirectly, relevant to incentives to centrally clear. The report by the Derivatives Assessment Team (DAT) evaluates how these reforms interact and how they could affect incentives.P>view more
Source: BIS
Oil's slide hands junk bond ETFs their biggest weekly drop since February
November 16, 2018--The tumbling price of crude oil in the past fortnight has put two of the biggest junk bond exchange traded funds on track for their worst weekly performances in nine months.
The two ETFs, with a combined market capitalisation of nearly $22bn, are both heavily weighted towards oil and gas companies, including a plethora of indebted shale producers, and are therefore particularly sensitive to swings in crude prices.
Source: FT.com
Stablecoins are crypto sector's next big bet
November 16, 2018--'Hybrid' cryptocurrencies are often pegged to real assets, including fiat currencies
When Elizabeth White set up a company in early 2017 to help new-found bitcoin millionaires buy luxury goods such as Lamborghinis and yachts, she quickly encountered a major problem: crypto price volatility.
Source: FT.com
Basel Committee publishes more details on global systemically important banks
November 16, 2018--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision today published further information related to its 2018 assessment of global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), including additional details to help understand the scoring methodology.
The publication accompanies the Financial Stability Board's release of the updated list of G-SIBs and includes:
a list of all the banks in the assessment sample;
the denominators of each of the 12 high-level indicators used to calculate the banks' scores;
for the first time, the 12 high-level indicators for each bank in the sample used to calculate these denominators;
Source: BIS
Islamic Countries Challenge USD 'Sanctioning Tool' With Planned Common Cryptocurrency
November 16, 2018--Muslim countries around the world are planning to push back against the U.S. dollar's long global dominance by creating a common digital currency for use in Islamic states.
The dollar has evolved into a "sanctioning tool," charged Erol Yarar, chairman of the Muslim-focused business lobby group International Business Forum (IBF). It has lost its purpose as an international trading currency, he said.
Source: bitcoin.com
IMF Working Papers-Populism and Civil Society
November 16, 2018--Summary:
Populists claim to be the only legitimate representative of the people. Does it mean that there is no space for civil society? The issue is important because since Tocqueville (1835), associations and civil society have been recognized as a key factor in a healthy liberal democracy.
We ask two questions: 1) do individuals who are members of civil associations vote less for populist parties? 2)does membership in associations decrease when populist parties are in power? We answer thesequestions looking at the experiences of Europe, which has a rich civil society tradition, as well as of Latin America, which already has a long history of populists in power. The main findings are that individuals belonging to associations are less likely by 2.4 to 4.2 percent to vote for populist parties, which is large considering that the average vote share for populist parties is from 10 to 15 percent. The effect is strong particularly after the global financial crisis, with the important caveat that membership in trade unions has unclear effects.
view the IMF Working Papers-Populism and Civil Society
Source: IMF
Big investors demand greater non-financial reporting disclosure
November 15, 2018--BlackRock and Vanguard sign up to common set of metrics for societal and workforce issues.
Source: FT.com
Sounding the Alarm on Leveraged Lending
November 15, 2018--We warned in the most recent Global Financial Stability Report that speculative excesses in some financial markets may be approaching a threatening level. For evidence, look no further than the $1.3 trillion global market for so-called leverage loans, which has some analysts and academics sounding the alarm on a dangerous deterioration in lending standards. They have a point.
This growing segment of the financial world involves loans, usually arranged by a syndicate of banks, to companies that are heavily indebted or have weak credit ratings. These loans are called "leveraged" because the ratio of the borrower's debt to assets or earnings significantly exceeds industry norms.
Source: IMF
