Global ETF News Older than One Year
RI Interview: Mark Wilson, CEO of Aviva Plc, launches the World Benchmarking Alliance for sustainability
September 18, 2017--Aviva chief kicks off one of the world's biggest open-source sustainability data and ranking projects.
Mark Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Aviva, the London-based global insurer, may not be the most popular man amongst un-enlightened executive peers by the end of this week, but it will be for the good of serious corporate comparison on sustainability.
Source: responsible-investor.com
A.T. Kearney 2017 Global Services Location Index Spotlights Automation as Massive Job Displacer
September 18, 2017--Over the next five years, automation could put a million jobs at risk in four countries. New job creation is at a 1:4 ratio to jobs lost.
A.T. Kearney today released its 2017 Global Services Location IndexTM(GSLI), a study that analyzes and tracks the contours of the offshoring landscape in 55 countries across three major categories: financial attractiveness, people skills and availability, and business environment. The GSLI brings rigor to companies' decisions about where to locate offshore operations and sheds light on their complex and shifting choices, particularly in the business process outsourcing (BPO) arena.
view the A.T. Kearney 2017 Global Services Location IndexTM The Widening Impact of Automation report
Source: A.T. Kearney
Most of the world's countries could run on 100% renewable energy by 2050, says study
September 18, 2017--Worldwide fossil fuel use could end as early as 2050.
By then renewable energy could entirely power the countries that today account for more than 99% of all energy use, according to a new study.
Researchers at Stanford University and other US and European universities have plotted out roadmaps for 139 nations to transition to 100% renewables by 2050.
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
Global debt may be understated by $13 trillion: BIS
September 17, 2017--Global debt may be under-reported by around $13 trillion because traditional accounting practices exclude foreign exchange derivatives used to hedge international trade and foreign currency bonds, the BIS said on Sunday.
Bank for International Settlements researchers said it was hard to assess the risk this "missing" debt poses, but that the main worry was a liquidity crunch like the one that seized FX swap and forwards markets during the financial crisis.
Source: Reuters
September 2017 BIS Quarterly Review:Strong outlook with low inflation spurs risk-taking
September 17, 2017--Low inflation despite a stronger economic outlook helped push markets up in recent months and reduced the expected pace of tightening of monetary policy in major economies.
Signs of increased risk-taking have become apparent in a number of areas, including narrow credit spreads, increased carry trade activity and looser bond covenants.
Source: BIS
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
