Bassanese Bites-Fire and Fury
August 14, 2017--Global Markets Review & Outlook
The global highlight last week was an intensification of the war of words between America and North Korea, which saw US stocks pull back from record highs despite ongoing positive economic data and earnings results. Gold, the Japanese Yen and Swiss franc appeared to be the world's favoured safe havens-and not notably the $US!
In other news, a strong US "job openings" report underlined the ongoing strength in its labour market, while weaker than expected producer and consumer prices meant Fed hopes that inflation would quickly bounce back toward its 2% target level- which it almost reached in February- remain elusive. Indeed, contrary to Fed hopes, the post-February dip in US inflation is looking less and less "transitory" by the month.
Source: BetaShares
Record ETF inflows fuel price bubble fears
August 13, 2017--Growing numbers of investors moving into low-cost vehicles that track an index
Record-breaking inflows into exchange traded funds this year are fuelling fears that the tide of money surging into passive investment is helping to inflate a bubble in the US stock market.
Source: FT.com
Active management stages a comeback
August 13, 2017--Industry has closed the gap on passive's rapid growth since the start of the year
When Warren Buffett revealed in 2014 that he had advised his wife to invest in a low-cost index fund rather than bother with stock pickers after his death, it seemed to signal the final nail in the coffin for active asset management.
Source: FT.com
Inforgraphic-Millennials are Investing With a Purpose, and It's Changing Wealth Management
August 11, 2017--22% of Total AUM in U.S. are Sustainable Investments
If you've been paying attention to your social media feeds or most news outlets, it should be pretty clear to you that millennials seem to be "killing" just about everything-from Applebee's to the entire golf industry.
Source: visualcapitalist.com
ULTUMUS-Global ETF Monitor-Direxion, Mirae and iShares
August 11, 2017--Americas
Leveraged ETF specialist Direxion will be listing a new 3x leveraged ETF, which takes a bullish outlook on emerging market bonds....
Korea
Mirae Asset Daewoo, the largest Korean investment bank, is listing two new ETFs in Korea that track American loans...
Europe
iShares will be listing a new ETF into Milan, targeting small and medium cap Italian comipanies...
Source: ULTUMUS-Financial Data Management
OMR: Highlights August 2017
August 11, 2017--New data for non-OECD countries for 2015 reduces global oil demand by an average 330 kb/d in 2015-2018. For 2017, growth has been revised up to 1.5 mb/d, with demand reaching 97.6 mb/d.
In 2018, growth slows slightly to 1.4 mb/d when demand will be 99.0 mb/d. In 4Q18, demand will reach 100.1 mb/d. In July, global oil supply increased by 520 kb/d versus June. It was the third consecutive monthly increase. Global supply is up 500 kb/d on a year ago. Non-OPEC output is expected to expand by 0.7 mb/d in 2017 and 1.4 mb/d in 2018, including 0.6 mb/d and 1.0 mb/d, respectively, for the US. The ten non-OPEC countries cooperating with OPEC saw their compliance rate improve to 67% in July.
Source: International Energy Agency (IEA)
OPEC-Monthly Oil Market Report
August 10, 2017--Oil Market Highlights
Crude Oil Price Movements
The OPEC Reference Basket averaged $46.93/b in July, representing a gain of about 4% m-o-m. Y-t-d, the
Basket was almost 34% higher at $49.75/b.
Oil futures in New York and London recovered in July, both ending the month above $50/b, supported by falling inventories, higher demand and stronger refining margins. NYMEX WTI improved 3.3% to $46.68/b and ICE Brent ended 3.4% higher at $49.15/b. Y-t-d, both were more than 22% higher. The Brent-WTI spread widened to $2.47/b in July, despite successive weeks of US crude inventory draws. In July, short covering, rather than increased long positions, drove oil prices higher, as hedge funds reduced short positions by the equivalent of 163 mb.
World Economy
The forecasts for world economic growth in 2017 and 2018 remain unchanged from the previous report at
3.4%.
Source: OPEC
WGC-Gold ETF holdings update August 2017-Gold-backed ETF holdings fell to 2,245.0t in July, 3% lower m-o-m
August 10, 2017--At the end of July, total holdings in gold-backed ETFs and similar products stood at 2,245.0t (72.2moz), 67.7t lower than in June. These holdings were valued at US$91.5bn, 1% lower compared to the previous month.
North American funds bore the heaviest losses-holdings were 60.6t lower (-5%) at1,166.1t. European funds also declined, shedding 6.8t collectively to 970.9t. Funds in Asia gained marginally (+0.7t) to 62.5t, while gold holdings by the rest of the world dropped 1.0t to 45.3t.
In North America, SPDR Gold Shares saw an outflow of 60.6t (-7%) to 791.9t. iShares Gold Trust saw marginal growth (+0.5t) to 210.9t.
Source: World Gold Council (WGC)
Vanguard to spend $5m on analyst research under Mifid II
August 10, 2017--US fund house plans to absorb external research costs under new European rules.
Source: FT.com
MSCI Equity Indexes August 2017 Index Review
August 10, 2017-MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of research-based indexes and analytics, announced today the results of the August 2017 Quarterly Index Review for the MSCI Equity Indexes-including the MSCI Global Standard, MSCI Global Small Cap and MSCI Micro Cap Indexes, the MSCI Global Value and Growth Indexes, the MSCI Frontier Markets and MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Indexes, the MSCI Frontier Emerging Markets Index, the MSCI Global Islamic and MSCI Global Islamic Small Cap Indexes, the MSCI PanâEuro and MSCI Euro Indexes, the MSCI US Equity Indexes, the MSCI US REIT Index, the MSCI China A Indexes and the MSCI China All Shares Indexes.
All changes will be implemented as of the close of August 31, 2017.
Source: msci.com