Global ETF News Older than One Year
Fork talk lifts bitcoin to all-time high near $8,000
November 17, 2017--Bitcoin hit an all-time high just below $8,000 on Friday, on talk that a software upgrade whose suspension sent the cryptocurrency into a tailspin at the end of last week was, after all, going ahead within hours.
Talk that the upgrade-which could split or "fork" bitcoin into two versions-would go ahead was driven by a statement on the website of Coinbase, the world's largest bitcoin company with operations in 32 countries.
Source: Reuters
iSTOXX Global Economic Growth Select 50 Index licensed to Citi
November 17, 2017--STOXX Ltd., the operator of Deutsche Boerse Group's index business, and a global provider of innovative and tradable index concepts, today introduced the iSTOXX Global Economic Growth Select 50 Index. It was licensed to Citi as an underlying for structured products.
It is a complementary index to the iSTOXX Europe Economic Growth Select 50 which was launched earlier this year. "We are delighted to build on the cooperation with Citi which has been growing for several years now. After the successful launch of the iSTOXX Europe Economic Growth Select 50 Index, we are now adding a global version to the index family The iSTOXX Global Economic Growth Select 50 Index comprises stocks that combine liquidity with high dividend yields and low stock price volatility. The entire basket is tilted towards companies with a substantial revenue exposure to countries with a strong economic outlook," said Matteo Andreetto, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited.
Source: Deutsche Börse Cash Market
Thomson Reuters-Estimated Net Flows Into ETFs Eclipse Those Into Conventional Funds for October
November 16, 2017--Conventional mutual fund investors continued their search for yield in October, padding the coffers of fixed income funds, while authorized participants (APs-those investors that actually create and redeem ETF shares) remained risk-seeking.
Mutual fund investors continued to give stock & mixed-equity funds a cold shoulder for the month, redeeming some $15.9 billion, while for the seventeenth consecutive month APs were net purchasers of stock & mixed-equity ETFs, injecting $36.9 billion. Year to date through October 31, 2017, conventional equity mutual funds handed back some $135.3 billion net, while equity ETFs took in $263.3 billion. On the fixed income side of the equation the focus of fund investors and APs stayed in step, with conventional bond funds attracting $239.1 billion year to date and bond ETFs drawing in $111.1 billion for the same period. In this segment I highlight the October fund-flow trends for both types of investment vehicles.
Source: Thomson Reuters
A Rebalancing China and Resurging India: How Will the Pendulum Swing for Russia?
November 16, 2017--Russia Pivots Towards China and India
Like most countries, Russia's economic prospects are closely linked to its ability to export and penetrate new dynamic markets. While both Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) remain the main destinations for Russia's exports, the country is beginning to strengthen its economic relationships with important new dynamic markets such as China and India.
In the global market, China is now the world's second largest importer, after the United States, and in many metal markets it represents more than half of global demand. Russia's trade with China has increased substantially in recent decades: merchandise trade between the two nations has almost tripled over the past ten years.
Source: World Bank
Industrial Commodities Prices Should Stabilize in 2018 After This Year's Gains
November 16, 2017--Prices for industrial commodities-energy and metals-are forecast to level off in 2018 after steep gains this year, while agricultural prices are anticipated to remain soft.
Among the most salient trends affecting commodity prices now are the evolution of the U.S. shale oil industry and China's role as a major consumer of industrial commodities.
The emergence of the United States as a dominant player in the global oil market-it is now on par with Russia and Saudi Arabia-is shaping the oil price outlook. Oil is expected to average $56 per barrel in the coming year, up from an average of $53 per barrel in 2017.
Source: World Bank
IMF Working Papers-Booms, Crises, and Recoveries: A New Paradigm of the Business Cycle and its Policy Implications
November 16, 2017--Summary:
All types of recessions, on average, not just those associated with financial and political crises (as in Cerra and Saxena, AER 2008), lead to permanent output losses.
These findings have far-reaching conceptual and policy implications. A new paradigm of the business cycle needs to account for shifts in trend output and the puzzling inconsistency of output dynamics with other cyclical components of production. The 'output gap' can be ill-conceived, poorly measured, and inconsistent over time. Persistent losses require more buffers and crisis-avoidance policies, affecting tradeoffs in prudential, macroeconomic, and reserve management policies. The frequency and depth of crises are key determinants of long-term growth and drive a new stylized model of economic development.
Source: IMF
IMF Working paper-Fear Thy Neighbor: Spillovers from Economic Policy Uncertainty
November 15, 2017--Summary:
High levels of economic policy uncertainty in various parts of the world revamped the debate about its impact on economic activity. With increasingly stronger economic, financial, and political ties among countries, economic agents have more reasons to be vigilant of foreign economic policy. Employing heterogeneous panel structural vector autoregressions, this paper tests for spillovers from economic policy uncertainty on other countries' economic activity.
Furthermore, using local projections, the paper zooms in on shocks originating in the United States, Europe, and China. Our results suggest that economic policy uncertainty re-duces growth in real output, private consumption, and private investment, and that spillovers from abroad account for about two-thirds of the negative effect. Moreover, uncertainty in the United States, Europe, and China reduces economic activity in the rest of the world, with the effects being mostly felt in Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
view the IMF Working paper-Fear Thy Neighbor: Spillovers from Economic Policy Uncertainty
Source: IMF
IMF Working Papers-Basel III and Bank-Lending: Evidence from the United States and Europe
November 15, 2017--Summary:
Using data on commercial banks in the United States and Europe, this paper analyses the impact of the new Basel III capital and liquidity regulation on bank-lending following the 2008 financial crisis.
We find that U.S. banks reinforce their risk absorption capacities when expanding their credit activities. Capital ratios have significant, negative impacts on bank-retail-and-other-lending-growth for large European banks in the context of deleveraging and the "credit crunch" in Europe over the post-2008 financial crisis period. Additionally, liquidity indicators have positive but perverse effects on bank-lending-growth, which supports the need to consider heterogeneous banks' characteristics and behaviors when implementing new regulatory policies.
Source: IMF
The Conflict-Free Gold Standard: Building an industry coalition to address the challenges of conflict gold
November 15, 2017--Cranfield School of Management and the Corporate Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School launched a joint report examining the creation of the Conflict-Free Gold Standard by the World Gold Council.
The report provides an important case study for Corporate Responsibility Coalitions and trade associations looking to develop common standards and self-regulatory mechanisms.
Source: World Gold Council (WGC)
IMF Working Papers-The Slowdown in Global Trade: A Symptom of A Weak Recovery
November 15, 2017--Summary:
Global trade growth has slowed since 2012 relative both to its strong historical performance and to overall economic growth.
This paper aims to quantify the role of weak economic growth and changes in its decomposition in accounting for the slowdown in trade using a reduced form and a structural approach. Both analytical investigations suggest that the overall weakness in economic activity, particularly investment, has been the primary restraint on trade growth, accounting for over 80 percent of the decline in the growth of the volume of goods trade between 2012-16 and 2003-07. However, other factors are also weighing on trade in recent years, especially in emerging market and developing economies, as evidenced by the non-negligible role attributed to trade costs by the structural approach.
view the IMF Working Papers-The Slowdown in Global Trade: A Symptom of A Weak Recovery
Source: IMF
