Crypto Performance 20x Higher Than Traditional Asset Classes
September 7, 2017--Bitcoin and other digital currencies outperformed traditional assets by 20 times in the second quarter, according to a report released Wednesday by CoinDesk.
In the second quarter, Bitcoin returned 150.6% year over year, the report found, and returns for all digital assets were 445%. Global equities returned nearly 15%, followed by U.S. equities at 9.2%, gold at 7.75% and global real estate at 3.2%.
Source: thinkadvisor.com
World Gold Council-Gold-backed ETFs increase by 31.4t in August to 2,295t in global holdings
September 6, 2017--Regional fund flows
North American ETFs drove global inflows in August as investors added 27.8 tonnes ($1.3bn, 2.6% AUM)
Flows in Europe were mixed with a net increase of 6.4t ($321mn, 0.78% AUM)
Asia funds lost 2t ($80mn, 3.0% AUM), with many of the Chinese gold-backed funds losing assets
Source: World Gold Council (WGC)
BetaShares-Global Market Outlook: Sabre rattling stalls stocks
September 6, 2017--After consistently solid monthly gains since late 2016, global stocks seem due for a period of consolidation at least, if not a corrective pull back.
While the specific catalyst for this pull back remains unclear, likely candidates include concerns over North Korea, government shutdown/debt ceiling concerns in Washington, or a more abrupt lift in bond yields.
Source: BetaShares
ULTUMUS-One Belt, One Road, One ETF
August 6, 2017--USA
One Belt, One Road is a Chinese government initiative aiming to build a new silk road through Central Asia and better connect China with its trading partners...
And there's something in it for ETF issuers too. KraneShares has listed a fund that (OBOR) aims to get exposure to One Belt, One Road through the MSCI Global China Infrastructure Exposure Index....
iShares is listing two plain vanilla corporate bond tracker, which track US dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds with long maturities...
Asia
Australia
Continuing in the Asian infrastructure theme, ETF Securities is listing a fund in Australia that will track global infrastructure. The index interprets infrastructure broadly....
ETF Securities will also be launching an AI tracker in Australia, which tracks the ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index.
Source: ULTUMUS-Financial Data Management
STOXX Research: Comments By Jan-Carl Plagge, Head Of Applied Research, STOXX-Oil & Gas Sector Struggled Over Hurricane Harvey
September 6, 2017--With ongoing tensions in North Korea, the recent terrorist attacks in Spain, and severe damage caused by hurricane Harvey in the US, August was a turbulent month with overall volatile global markets.
Moreover, a strong euro led European shares to reach its lowest in the past half a year. As a reaction to occurrences such as these, investors increasingly bought into safe haven assets such as gold. This in combination with recovering commodity prices led the basic resources sector to flourish in August.
Source: mondovisione.com
The World Federation of Exchanges launches joint report into role of exchanges in fostering economic development with the United Nations Conference On Trade And Development
September 6, 2017--The World Federation of Exchanges ("The WFE"), which represents more than 200 market infrastructure providers including exchanges and CCPs, today published a report examining the role of stock exchanges in promoting economic growth and sustainable development, with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ("UNCTAD").
The report-entitled The Role of Stock Exchanges in Fostering Economic Growth and Sustainable Development-will form the opening sessions of the 57th WFE Annual Meeting taking place in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday 7 & Friday 8 September 2017. The report explains how stock exchanges operate, and why they matter; longer-term developmental challenges; and finally, how exchanges might be able to address some of those challenges.
view the The Role of Stock Exchanges in Fostering Economic Growth and Sustainable Development report
Source: WFE (The World Federation of Exchanges)
LSE completes $685 million bond indices deal with Citi
September 6, 2017--Deal to acquire Citi's fixed income indices and the Yield Book announced in May this year has closed.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has completed its acquisition of Citgroup's fixed income indices and The Yield Book for $685 million.
First announced in May, the deal is set to provide the exchange operator with revenues and cost synergies of up to $30 million and $18 million respectively.
Source: thetradenews.com
Bitcoin Is Getting Easier To Understand, And It's Pushing Up Prices
September 5, 2017--"Crypto needn't be cryptic."
That was the tagline on an advertisement for the Crypto CopyFund, an investment vehicle offering a bunch of "the world's biggest digital currencies" in a single "innovative portfolio."
Sold by social trading network etoro, the portfolio brings together bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Dash, Ripple and Litecoin into one package.
Source: Forbes.com
A Decade After Crisis, Investors Have Stopped Hunting for Black Swans
September 5, 2017--Those who invested in tail-risk funds at their peak in September 2011 would have lost 55% of their money by now
In the wake of the global financial crisis, fear of such "black-swan" events drove some investors into hedge funds that offered protection should markets plunge. But the swans have yet to return, and such strategies have fallen out of favor.
Source: Wall Street Journal
IMF-Oil Prices and Inflation Dynamics: Evidence from Advanced and Developing Economies
September 5, 2017--Summary: We study the impact of fluctuations in global oil prices on domestic inflation using an unbalanced panel of 72 advanced and developing economies over the period from 1970 to 2015.
We find that a 10 percent increase in global oil inflation increases, on average, domestic inflation by about 0.4 percentage point on impact, with the effect vanishing after two years and being similar between advanced and developing economies. We also find that the effect is asymmetric, with positive oil price shocks having a larger effect than negative ones. The impact of oil price shocks, however, has declined over time due in large part to a better conduct of monetary policy. We further examine the transmission channels of oil price shocks on domestic inflation during the recent decades, by making use of a monthly dataset from 2000 to 2015. The results suggest that the share of transport in the CPI basket and energy subsidies are the most robust factors in explaining cross-country variations in the effects of oil price shocks during the this period.
view the IMF-Oil Prices and Inflation Dynamics:Evidence from Advanced and Developing Economies
Source: IMF