Global ETF News Older than One Year
IMF Working Papers-Shadow Economies Around the World: What Did We Learn Over the Last 20 Years?
January 24, 2018--Summary:
We undertake an extended discussion of the latest developments about the existing and new estimation methods of the shadow economy. New results on the shadow economy for 158 countries all over the world are presented over 1991 to 2015. Strengths and weaknesses of these methods are assessed and a critical comparison and evaluation of the methods is carried out. The average size of the shadow economy of the 158 countries over 1991 to 2015 is 31.9 percent.
The largest ones are Zimbabwe with 60.6 percent, and Bolivia with 62.3 percent of GDP. The lowest ones are Austria with 8.9 percent, and Switzerland with 7.2 percent. The new methods, especially the new macro method, Currency Demand Approach (CDA) and Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) in a structured hybrid-model based estimation procedure, are promising approaches from an econometric standpoint, alongside some new micro estimates. These estimations come quite close to others used by statistical offices or based on surveys.
Source: IMF
IMF Working paper-Can Countries Manage Their Financial Conditions Amid Globalization?
January 24, 2018--Summary:
This paper examines the evolving importance of common global components underlying domestic financial conditions. It develops financial conditions indices (FCIs) that make it possible to compare a large set of advanced and emerging market economies. It finds that a common component, "global financial conditions," accounts for about 20 percent to 40 percent of the variation in countries' domestic FCIs, with notable heterogeneity across countries.
Its importance, however, does not seem to have increased markedly over the past two decades. Global financial conditions loom large, but evidence suggests that, on average, countries still appear to hold considerable sway over their own financial conditions-specifically, through monetary policy. Nevertheless, the rapid speed at which foreign shocks affect domestic financial conditions may also make it difficult to react in a timely and effective manner, if deemed necessary.
What is a blockchain and a distributed ledger?
view the World Bank Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Blockchain Note
Source: World Bank
IMF-World Economic Outlook Update, January 2018-Brighter Prospects, Optimistic Markets, Challenges Ahead
The revision reflects increased global growth momentum and the expected impact of the recently approved U.S. tax policy changes.
The U.S. tax policy changes are expected to stimulate activity, with the short-term impact in the United States mostly driven by the investment response to the corporate income tax cuts. The effect on U.S. growth is estimated to be positive through 2020, cumulating to 1.2 percent through that year, with a range of uncertainty around this central scenario. Due to the temporary nature of some of its provisions, the tax policy package is projected to lower growth for a few years from 2022 onwards. The effects of the package on output in the United States and its trading partners contribute about half of the cumulative revision to global growth over 2018-19.
Source: IMF
All-Night ETF Trading Arrives for TD Ameritrade Customers
The second-biggest discount broker now lets customers buy and sell 12 U.S. exchange-traded funds 24 hours a day on weekdays. Clients in Asia will be among the beneficiaries, gaining the ability to trade U.S. products during their daylight hours. But Americans wanting to key off late-breaking news can participate, too.
Source: Bloomberg
DTCC Outlines Vision for Modernizing U.S. Equity Market Structure
Following the successful transition from trade date-plus-three days (T+3) to trade date-plus-two days (T+2) settlement last year, one of the last remaining exposures in the settlement system today is time. Time increases the risk of an unpredictable event that could significantly affect the transfer of cash or ownership of securities from the point of execution through settlement.
Source: Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)
Index Industry Association Surveys the Index Universe-First Annual Survey Reveals 3.288 Million Indexes Globally
According to the survey, there are 3.288 million indexes globally with equity indexes representing over 95 percent of benchmarks calculated. The survey, which was conducted as of June 30, 2017, sought information only about the total number of indexes administered by each IIA member. It is estimated that these indexes represent approximately 98 percent of all indexes globally available.
Source: Index Industry Association (IIA)
FTSE Russell 2018 smart beta survey
Notable findings:
Show me don't tell me
Source: FTSE Russell
Distributed ledgers (DL) use independent computers---referred to as nodes---to record, share and synchronize transactions in their respective electronic ledgers, instead of keeping data centralized as in a traditional ledger.
January 23, 2018--Global economic activity continues to firm up. Global output is estimated to have grown by 3.7 percent in 2017, which is 0.1 percentage point faster than projected in the fall and 1⁄2 percentage point higher than in 2016. The pickup in growth has been broad based, with notable upside surprises in Europe and Asia. Global growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 have been revised upward by 0.2 percentage point to 3.9 percent.
January 22, 2018--Asian clients of TD Ameritrade can trade during their day
List of equities that can be traded after-hours to grow
Stock traders who want to pull all-nighters can now do so through TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.
January 22, 2018--January 22, 2018--Looking beyond T+2, DTCC examines ways to optimize and accelerate securities settlement to free up liquidity, reduce risk, and improve straight-through processing
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced its vision for the evolution of the U.S. equities market structure, unveiling a series of proposals to provide seamless access to new shortened settlement processing options, both pre-and post-trade.
January 22, 2018--Index Industry Association (IIA), a global organization of index administrators, today announced the results of a revealing new survey of its fourteen member firms that quantifies the total number of indexes available globally for the first time ever.
January 22, 2018--The 2018 FTSE Russell advisor smart beta survey shows a bright future for smart beta among financial advisors in the US, UK and Canada, yet a long way to go toward broad-based knowledge and usage of smart beta strategies.
A bright future
Outlook on future usage is strong in all three countries (more than half of financial advisors surveyed in the UK & Canada and 40% of those surveyed in the US expect to increase usage).
Financial advisors in the US & Canada are looking for more information about smart beta before increasing their usage while UK advisors are skeptical as to the benefit. Notably, UK advisors express concern about smart beta strategy performance and short track records. In the US, 47% of advisors say they "don’t know enough about" smart beta strategies.
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