BlackRock Supports Inclusion of China A-Shares in MSCI Benchmarks
April 19, 2017--BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, said for the first time it favors the inclusion of China's domestic shares in MSCI Inc.'s global benchmarks.
MSCI, which runs indexes tracked by trillions of dollars of global wealth, is consulting the market for the fourth straight year on whether to add Chinese domestic equities, also known as A-shares, to its flagship global benchmarks.
Source: foxbusiness.com
ETF Securities Equity Research: Energy equities starting to look interesting
April 19, 2017--Summary
The Energy sector's performance has lagged the recovery in oil prices
Energy sector valuations have already priced in a more bearish outlook for oil despite some supports in the near term
On consensus forecasts, Energy now has the highest dividend yield of any cyclical sector, and the highest EPS growth over the next three years.
Source: etfsecurities.com
IMF-World Economic Outlook, April 2017: Gaining Momentum?
April 18, 2017--Global economic activity is picking up with a long-awaited cyclical recovery in investment, manufacturing, and trade, according to Chapter 1 of this World Economic Outlook. World growth is expected to rise from 3.1 percent in 2016 to 3.5 percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018.
Stronger activity, expectations of more robust global demand, reduced deflationary pressures, and optimistic financial markets are all upside developments. But structural impediments to a stronger recovery and a balance of risks that remains tilted to the downside, especially over the medium term, remain important challenges.
view the IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2017: Gaining Momentum?
Source: IMF
Exchange traded funds attract record inflows
April 18, 2018--Investors continue their shift from active management in protest at high fees.
Source: FT.com
DECPG Global Weekly -April 14, 2017
April 14, 2016--Taking Stock
U.S. consumer prices fell in March; retail sales declined for a second consecutive month. The U.S. consumer price
index (CPI) dropped 0.3 percent (m/m, sa) in March, reflecting a broad decline in consumer prices.
The core CPI-which excludes food and energy prices-fell 0.1 percent, the first monthly decline since January 2010. Year-on-year, the headline CPI rose 2.4 percent, compared with a 2.7 percent increase in February. The core CPI edged down to 2 percent from 2.2 percent (Figure 1). Separately, U.S. retail sales fell 0.2 percent (m/m) in March, following a 0.3 percent decrease in February. Core retail sales-which excludes automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services-rose 0.5 percent.
Source: World Bank
UBS moves to resuscitate asset management business
April 14, 2017--Swiss bank tries to stem the tide of outflows it has suffered over the past decade.
Source: FT.com
Global sovereign fund assets stall at $6.59trillion-Preqin
April 13, 2017--Sovereign wealth fund (SWF) assets all but stalled at $6.59 trillion in the year to March 2017 due to a combination of weak markets, low oil prices and shifts in government policy, a report from research provider Preqin showed.
Source: Zawya.com
OMR: Half time
April 13, 2017--It is now half time for the six-month oil production cuts agreed by OPEC and eleven non-OPEC countries. So far, the game has gone fairly well for producers. Prices have stabilised again recently after falling by about ten percent in early March, with recent unplanned outages and rising political tension in the Middle East playing a role.
For OPEC countries, compliance has been impressive from the start while non-OPEC participants are gradually increasing their compliance rate, although in their case it is harder for analysts to verify the data.
Source: International Energy Agency (IEA)
Global repo markets in transition post-crisis, regulatory changes and central bank stimulus: CGFS report
April 12, 2017-A new report by the Committee on the Global Financial System analyses the changes in the availability and cost of repo financing, a key market for short-term funding, and how these changes affect the ability of repurchasing agreements to support the financial system.
Repo market functioning finds substantial differences in the way repo markets, which allow borrowers to pawn securities for short-term loans, work across countries. Markets are in a state of transition as borrowers and intermediaries adapt to the post-crisis economic and regulatory environment.
view the Repo market functioning April 2017 report
Source: BIS
Blockchain smart contracts raise systemic risk concerns
April 12, 2017--Automated swaps margin payments could exacerbate systemic risks, regulators warn
Regulators have raised concerns about the use of blockchain technology to automate the exchange of margin on derivatives transactions.
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) has been touted as a replacement for existing margin and collateral processes in the derivatives industry, which has struggled to cope with new rules on margining non-cleared trades. But regulators say smart contracts-software developed for DLT systems that can automate post-trade lifecycle events, such as margin calls
Source: Risk.net