Global ETF News Older than One Year
Female hedge funds outperform those run by men
September 16, 2017--Returns were two times higher in 2017, piling pressure on male-dominated sector
Hedge funds run by women have generated returns two times higher than their male counterparts this year, piling further pressure on a sector that has been branded "male, pale and stale" to recruit more female portfolio managers.
Source: FT.com
U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight Report: Fund Investors Remain Risk Averse for the Week
September 15, 2017--For the second week in a row investors were net purchasers of fund assets (including those of conventional funds and ETFs), injecting $19.5 billion. Investors padded the coffers of money market funds (+$17.7 billion), taxable bond funds (+$1.9 billion), and municipal bond funds (+$241 million) for the week, while they were net redeemers of equity funds (-$410 million).
Despite an initial flight to safety at the beginning of the fund-flows week ended Wednesday, September 13, 2017, as a result of another major hurricane threatening the U.S. and on fear of North Korea's conducting another missile test, investors pushed the major indices to new records. For the fund-flows week the Russell 2000 Price Only Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average Price Only Index gained 1.73% and 1.61%, respectively, as Hurricane Irma's destruction-while still devastating-wasn't as severe as originally forecast and as North Korea didn't conduct a missile test.
Source: Thomson Reuters Lipper
DECPG Global Weekly-September 15, 2017
September 15, 2017--Taking Stock
US inflation rebounded in August; retail sales dropped. The U.S. headline consumer price index (CPI) rose from 1.7
percent (y/y) in July to 1.9 percent in August, slightly below the U.S. Federal Reserve's 2 percent target.
The increase in the CPI was mainly due to a sharp rise in gasoline prices as hurricane Harvey forced a temporary closure of refineries. Other prices, particularly home rent and housing costs, also increased. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 1.7 percent (y/y) in August-the same pace as in the previous three months. Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales contracted 0.2 percent (m/m sa) in August, following a 0.3 percent growth in July. Core retail sales-which exclude autos, petrol, and building materials-also fell 0.2 percent.
Euro Area industrial production rebounded in July; employment growth moderated in Q2. Euro Area industrial production expanded 0.1 percent (m/m sa) in July, recovering from a 0.6 percent decline in June. The recovery was driven by an increase in the production of capital and consumer durable goods.
Source: World Bank
Bitcoin plummets below $3,000 on rising China worries
September 15, 2017--Bitcoin dropped below $3,000 on Friday as the cryptocurrency extended a brutal eight-day sell-off that has reduced its value against the dollar by a third.
The currency traded as low as $2,,972, marking a 36 per cent fall from bitcoin's close on September 7, and a collapse of 40 per cent from the highs struck earlier this month.
Source: FT.com
G20 GDP Growth-Second quarter of 2017, OECD-G20 GDP growth accelerates to 0.9% in second quarter of 2017
September 14, 2017--Growth of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the G20 area* accelerated to 0.9% in the second quarter of 2017, compared with 0.8% in the previous quarter, according to provisional estimates.
Growth picked up strongly in Turkey, to 2.1% (as compared with 1.3% in the first quarter of 2017), the highest quarterly growth among G20 economies. Real GDP also increased significantly in China (by 1.7%, compared with 1.3% in the previous quarter), South Africa (by 0.6%, following a contraction of 0.1%) and in Australia and the United States (by 0.8%, compared with 0.3% in the previous quarter). Growth also picked up, although to a lesser extent, in India (to 1.4%, from 1.3%), Canada (to 1.1%, from 0.9%), Japan (to 0.6%, from 0.3%), and the United Kingdom (to 0.3%, from 0.2%).
Growth remained stable in Indonesia (1.2%), France (0.5%) and Italy (0.4%), while it slowed markedly in Brazil (to 0.2%, from 1.0%) and Korea (to 0.6%, from 1.1%). Growth also weakened in Germany and Mexico (to 0.6%, from 0.7%).
Source: OECD
Infographic-Comparing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Other Cryptos
September 13, 2017--Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you're probably aware that we're in the middle of a cryptocurrency explosion
In one year, the value of all currencies increased a staggering 1,466%-and newer coins like Ethereum have even joined Bitcoin in gaining some mainstream acceptance.
Source: visualcapitalist.com
IMF-Increasing Resilience to Large and Volatile Capital Flows: The Role of Macroprudential Policies-Case Studies
September 13, 2017--View the IMF Policy paper-Increasing Resilience to Large and Volatile Capital Flows: The Role of Macroprudential Policies-Case Studies.
Source: IMF
Global Talent Crisis Lies at Heart of Inequality Debate
September 13, 2017--The Human Capital Report 2017 finds countries' failure to adequately develop people's talents is underpinning inequality by depriving people of opportunity and access to a broad base of good-quality work
Investments in education often fail due to inadequate focus on lifelong learning, failure to develop high-skilled opportunities and a mismatch of skills required for entering and succeeding in the labour market
With only 62% of the world's human capital stock fully developed, the United States and Germany are among the best-performing nations in a top 10 dominated by smaller European countries
Efforts to fully realize people's economic potential-in countries at all stages of economic development- are falling short due to ineffective deployment of skills throughout the workforce, development of future skills and adequate promotion of ongoing learning for those already in employment.
view the World Economic Forum-The Global Human Capital Report 2017
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Monitor--August 2017-Gold & Silver: Risk-Off Sentiment Amid Volatility Adds Further Support
September 13, 2017--The macroeconomic environment year to date has been positive for gold and silver with the US dollar dropping nearly 10%, interest rates falling to lows not seen since November 2016, and inflation remaining persistently elevated.
This environment, while likely to remain supportive for gold, has been met with the catalyst of event risk driven demand. This August was full of events traditionally benefitting metals including geopolitical tensions with North Korea, political uncertainty in Washington, and static monetary policy as evidenced by the dovish commentary from both Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium (pushing market expectations for another US rate hike in 2017 down to 33%). These event risks may continue to be the key driver for gold and silver in the short term as investors attempt to navigate risk-off headlines and heightened volatility.
Source: ETF Securities
OPEC-Monthly Oil Market Report September 2017
September 12, 2017--Oil Market Highlights
Crude Oil Price Movements
The OPEC Reference Basket rose for the second-consecutive month in August to average $49.60/b,
representing a gain of $2.67/b or 6%. Year-to-date, the Basket was 30.9% higher at $49.73/b. Crude futures
prices also saw gains with ICE Brent increasing 5.5% to $51.87/b and NYMEX WTI up 3.0% at $48.06/b.
Year-to-date, crude futures prices were more than 20% higher. During the week of 29 August money managers cut WTI futures and options net long positions by 105,671 contracts to 147,303 lots, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said. Money managers slightly reduced Brent futures and options net length contracts by 1,296 to 416,551 lots during the same week.
World Economy
World economic growth has been revised up for 2017 to 3.5% from 3.4%, while the growth forecast for 2018
remains unchanged at 3.4%. OECD growth has performed better-than-anticipated in the current year-
particularly the Euro-zone and to some extent in the US – and is now forecast to grow by 2.2% in 2017 and
2.0% in 2018.
Source: OPEC
