ETF Securities Weekly Flows Analysis: Industrial metal basket ETP flows benefited the most as trade wars intensify
June 18, 2018--Industrial metal basket ETPs took the lion's share of inflows surging the most since December 2017.
Gold ETPs suffered outflows last week after hawkish comments by the Federal Reserve.
Bargain hunters appear to drive inflows into crude oil ETPs ahead of the OPEC meeting on June 22.
Investors Continue to be Net Purchasers of Bond Funds and ETFs in May
June 18, 2018--For the first month in three money market funds witnessed net inflows, taking in $59.3 billion for May (their largest monthly net inflows since November 2017). For the third month running the fixed income funds macro-group witnessed net inflows, taking in $6.0 billion.
However, for the first month in three stock & mixed-asset funds witnessed net outflows (-$7.9 billion). Authorized participants (APs, those investors who actually create and redeem ETF shares) were net purchasers of stock & mixed-asset ETFs-injecting $24.1 billion. And for the thirty-fifth consecutive month they were net purchasers of bond ETFs-injecting $6.8 billion for May.
Trust is the missing link in today's cryptocurrencies, BIS says
June 18, 2018--Cryptocurrencies' model of generating trust limits their potential to replace conventional money, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) writes in its Annual Economic Report (AER), a new title launched this year.
In a special chapter on cryptocurrencies, the BIS argues that the decentralised technology underpinning private digital tokens is no substitute for tried and trusted central banks. Today's cryptocurrencies become more cumbersome to use as the number of users increases, in contrast to conventional money, which works better the more people use it and trust it.
view the Cryptocurrencies: looking beyond the hype
Bain Study: if Implemented Right, Blockchain Will Dramatically Reduce Costs for Banks
June 15, 2018--Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize transaction banking according to a study by major global management consultancy firm Bain & Company, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports today, June 14.
According to Bain, "transaction banking revenues tend to be less volatile than other types of banking revenues, and bankers can cross-sell products, which is critical for client loyalty." Bain concludes in its study that this particular area of banking will change substantially in the future through the use of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), like blockchain:
DECPG Global Weekly
June 15, 2018--TAKING STOCK
U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates; consumer price inflation rose in May
U.S. government announced import tariffs on China
ECB to end quantitative easing in December 2018; Euro Area industrial output fell in April.
China's industrial production, investment, and retail sales growth slowed in May
The Argentine peso and Turkish lira continued to fall
U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates; consumer price inflation rose in May. As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 1.75-2 percent at its June meeting-the second rate rise this year. The FOMC also signaled that it may raise interest rates two more times by the end of 2018 because of solid economic growth and rising inflation.
First Bridge Data-ETF Global Snapshot-June 2018
June 15, 2018--Monthly Global ETF Snapshot:
Highlights
Global ETF assets were $5.085T as of May 31, 2018.
As of May 31, 2018, MSCI began to include China 'A' shares in its emerging markets
index that is tracked by large ETFs like the iShares Emerging Markets ETF ('EEM').
Schwab published its annual ETF investor study, which showed that 91% of
'millennial' investors (currently aged 25-37) consider ETFs as their investment
vehicle of choice.
There were 152 new ETF listings globally in May 2018.
US small caps ('IWM'; 5.3%) significantly outperformed US large caps ('SPY'; 2.8%)
in the trailing 1-month through June 14, 2018.
In the US large cap equity space, growth outperformed other popular 'smart beta'
strategies like value and low volatility in the trailing 1-month through June 14, 2018.
IMF Working Papers-A Macroeconomic Approach to the Term Premium
June 15, 2018--Summary:
In recent years, term premia have been very low and sometimes even negative. Now, with the United States economy growing above potential, inflationary pressures are on the rise.
Term premia are very sensitive to the expected future path of growth, inflation, and monetary policy, and an inflation surprise could require monetary policy to tighten faster than anticipated, inducing to a sudden decompression of term and other risk premia, thus tightening financial conditions.
This paper proposes a semi-structural dynamic term structure model augmented with macroeconomic factors to include cyclical dynamics with a focus on medium- to long-run forecasts. Our results clearly show that a macroeconomic approach is warranted: While term premium estimates are in line with those from other studies, we provide (i) plausible, stable estimates of expected long-term interest rates and (ii) forecasts of short-and long-term interest rates as well as cyclical macroeconomic variables that are stunningly close to those generated from large-scale macroeconomic models.
view the IMF Working Papers-A Macroeconomic Approach to the Term Premium
Millennial Money: When ethical funds aren't so ethical
June 13, 2018--Do you really know what you're buying with ESG assets?
The younger generation are a caring bunch. We're worried about climate change, get angry when companies abuse human rights and want to know that our money isn't funding those kinds of companies. That makes us prime targets for a growing crop of ethical funds that claim to strip out the corporate baddies from the goodies, leaving us with morally gleaming portfolios that we can feel good about while earning stock market returns.
Cryptocurrency tether used to boost bitcoin prices, study finds
June 13, 2018--There is evidence that tether, a digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar, may have been used to manipulate the price of bitcoin BTC=BTSP and other cryptocurrencies, according to a research paper released by the University of Texas on Wednesday.
"Tether seems to be used both to stabilize and manipulate bitcoin prices," said the paper's co-authors, professor John Griffin and doctoral student Amin Shams.
Critics of tether have raised concerns over the past year about whether Tether Limited actually holds $1 in reserve for each tether issued, as it claims.
ETFGI reports that assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed globally are again above the US$5 trillion milestone at the end of May 2018
June 12, 2018-ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm on trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed globally broke through the US$5.000 Tn milestone at the end of May 2018 to reach $5.004 Tn (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed globally broke through the
$5.000 Tn milestone at the end of May 2018
Assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed globally increased by 0.71%, or
$35.15 bn, during May, to reach $5.004 Tn
In May 2018, ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered net inflows of
$50.00 Bn, the highest since January 2018, which saw $105.75 Bn net inflows