Global ETF News Older than One Year
ULTUMUS-Global ETF Monitor-2 New Isreali ETFs & New ETFs in Asia Pacific Region
August 4, 2017--Middle East
It's been some months since the Middle East got new ETFs. Today there are two-both in Israel.
Israel's largest issuer KSM has listed two new Index Linked Certificates- Israel's equivalent of ETFs (KSM6, KSMM205)...
Asia
Korea's ETF market grows larger every day.
Daishin Securities has listed two new industrial metals trackers in Korea, in a sign that Korean issuers are increasingly embracing commodity ETFs...
Korea's oldest bank, Shinhan Bank, has listed two new leveraged inverse ETFs for those who like to take a punt...
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, major Chinese investment house E Fund has teamed up with Taiwanese issuer Yuanta to list a 2x leveraged ETF on the Hang Seng Index (7242), which lists the biggest H shares.
Source: ULTUMUS-Financial Data Management
IMF Working paper-Structural Reforms and External Rebalancing
August 4, 2017--Summary:
Empirical research on structural reforms has focused primarily on their impact on growth and productivity. Yet an often-invoked rationale for structural reforms is their impact on external adjustment.
This paper finds little evidence that structural reforms improve the current account in the short run, but they can increase the responsiveness and resilience of the economy to external shocks. In particular, elasticities of exports with respect to the real effective exchange rate increase with some structural indicators, suggesting that structural reforms facilitate the reallocation of resources to the tradable sector in response to a negative external shock. The paper concludes that structural reforms, while not having an immediate positive impact on the current account balance, can be an important complement to traditional macroeconomic adjustment.
view the IMF Working paper-Structural Reforms and External Rebalancing
Source: IMF
BlackRock reports global bond ETFs going strong in 2017
August 4, 2017--Stephen Cohen, Head of Fixed Income Beta at BlackRock writes that the global bond ETF industry achieved another strong quarter with USD43.3 billion inflows in Q2 2017, just short of the industry record set in Q1 2017 when the products attracted USD44.5 billion in assets.
Source: .owler.com
ETF Securities Investment Insights Commodities vs Producers: an in-depth comparison
August 3, 2017--Key points
Commodity prices have outperformed their respective producers, while experiencing a lower price volatility.*
Lack of dividends and negative roll yields have dragged commodity total returns lower, but holding longer dated futures contracts may help mitigate this negative yield.*
Commodities historically are less sensitive to equity factors and may serve as a better source of diversification compared to commodity producers.*
Source: etfsecurities.com
Impact Investing in Affordable Housing
August 3, 2017--The concept of impact investing has been around for several years, although it is still a largely underutilized tool in advancing social and economic benefits in the real estate industry.
The idea of specialized funds was first brought to Rainbow's attention more than a year ago by a board member who desired to put it in practice to benefit residents of affordable communities. Cost is always a factor when evaluating the use of operating funds and capital in affordable multifamily housing as there are limited resources that must be deployed in the most efficient manner possible.
Source: National Real Estate Investor
The proof is in the pudding-Passive and active investing are beginning to merge
August 3, 2017--It can be difficult for investors to identify the consistent active managers, and many of them have been asking themselves why they pay high management fees for underperforming results.
As such, over the last 15 years or so, there has been a prevailing trend for institutional and retail investors to move their monies out from active into passive strategies.
Source: asiaasset.com
WFE Enhancing Emerging Market Retail Trading Report
August 3, 2017--Executive Summary
Our research sought to understand the impact of retail participation on equity markets and the levers that may impact
levels of participation. Our research reviews the existing academic literature and analyses qualitative and quantitative
data gathered from 14 participating exchanges.
On balance, the academic literature suggests retail investors have a positive impact on markets-improving liquidity and the depth of the order book-although there is also evidence that retail investors contribute to greater market volatility. While individual investors may be driven more by emotional rather than pure economic factors, their participation in the market may improve the legitimacy and perceived relevance of the market.
view the WFE Enhancing Emerging Market Retail Trading Report
Source: WFE (The World Federation of Exchanges)
IMF Policy paper-Negative Interest Rate Policies-Initial Experiences and Assessments
August 3, 2017--Summary:
The depth of the crisis and the weakness of the ensuing recovery led to new ways to implement monetary policy. At the onset of the crisis, central banks in several advanced economies quickly moved policy rates to zero and initiated large-scale asset purchases. In more recent years, with inflation still below target and limited support from fiscal policy, several central banks lowered their policy rates below the previous zero lower bound, embarking on so-called negative interest rate policies (NIRPs).
This paper explores the implications of NIRPs for monetary policy transmission and banks' behavior. It considers potential differences between interest rate cuts in positive versus negative territory on deposit and lending rates, as well as banks' interest rate margins and profitability, and market functioning. The paper focuses on the bank transmission channel, where differences between positive and negative policy rates could arise. Finally, the paper reviews cross-country experiences through case studies.
Source: IMF
World Gold Council-Gold Demand Trends Q2 2017-Q2 and H1 gold demand down on slower ETF inflows
August 3, 2017--Q2 gold demand of 953.4t was 10% lower than 2016, while H1 demand slowed 14% to 2,003.8t. Y-o-y comparisons are affected by record ETF inflows in 2016: demand from this sector slowed dramatically after last year's H1 surge.
Central bank net purchases of 176.7t were also slightly lower in the first half (-3%). By contrast, bar and coin investment improved, as did jewellery demand, although the latter remains weak in a long-term context. Technology demand also made modest gains.
Source: World Gold Council (WGC)
Index trackers break basic rules of prudent portfolio management
August 2, 2017--In the great passive versus active management debate, it is beginning to feel like game, set and match to the index trackers.
But notwithstanding the formidable advantages of passive management, most notably the much lower fees, the outcome of the game is not yet conclusive.
Source: FT.com
