IMF Working paper-When Do Structural Reforms Work? On the Role of the Business Cycle and Macroeconomic Policies
March 15, 2016--Summary: Structural reforms are expected to lift growth and employment, but their effects are surprisingly difficult to pin down empirically.
One reason is their potential endogeneity to the economic environment in which they are conducted. For example, the impact of a reform implemented shortly before a cyclical upswing is difficult to distinguish from the recovery itself. Similarly, macroeconomic policies conducted along a structural reform could affect the estimated impact. Exploring various options, this paper develops robust estimates of the impact of labor and product market reforms by using local projection techniques while controlling for endogeneity of reforms and other biases. The results suggest that labor and product market reforms have a lagged but positive impact on employment creation, and the positive effect remains even after controlling for the endogeneity of the decision to reform. Supportive macroeconomic policies are found to increase the effect of labor and product market reforms, consistent with the view that some structural reforms are best initiated in conjunction with supportive fiscal or monetary policy.
Source: IMF
Invesco PowerShares expands capital markets team
March 15, 2016--Invesco PowerShares, a unit of investment manager Invesco Ltd, appointed Jim Goldie and Michael Delew to its capital markets team.
Goldie, who joins as head of ETF capital markets for EMEA, was previously ETF and capital markets specialist at Vanguard.
Source: Reuters
ETF Securities Commodities Research -Sentiment turns more positive for industrial metals
March 15, 2016--Summary
Industrial metals have been in a bear market since 2011. But over the past few months, their prices have been
rising.
Zinc copper and nickel are likely to be in a supply deficit this year, as mining activity has been pared back and demand remains robust.
After decelerating since 2009, Chinese industrial output appears to be forming base, providing a platform for industrial metals to shake off the negative sentiment that has beset the asset class.
Source: ETF Securities
Van Eck Global Unites Offerings under Universal Brand: VanEck
Market Vectors ETFs, other entities to adopt VanEck brand.
March 14, 2016--Van Eck Global today announced an initiative to unite its businesses and investment offerings under a single brand: "VanEck".
As part of this broad effort, the well-known Market Vectors exchange-traded products will adopt the VanEck name and be known as VanEck Vectors ETFs. The change supports VanEck's growing global presence in markets ranging from China and Australia to the European Union and the U.S.
Source: VanEck
86% of investment managers stunk in 2014
March 12, 2016--People pay investment managers a lot of money to do one thing: Beat the market.
The skills and expertise of fund managers are supposed to give them the ability to select better stocks and bonds than an index like the Dow or S&P 500.
Source: CNN
Bats Reports Strong U.S. Equities Market Share of 21.4% in February; Tops 70 ETFs Listed on Bats ETF Marketplace
March 11, 2016--Bats Global Markets (Bats) today reported February data. Highlights include the third-best month on record for its U.S. Equities business with 21.4% market share, as well as continued market share strength in its U.S. Options and European Equities businesses.
Additionally, Bats welcomed three new ETFs to its U.S. market in February bringing the total number of ETFs listed on Bats to 70.
Source: Bats Global Markets, Inc
FTSE Russell signs collaboration agreement with Trendrating
March 10, 2016--FTSE Russell, the global index provider, has today announced that it has signed a collaboration agreement with momentum investing specialist and analytics firm, Trendrating.
The agreement will see Trendrating work with FTSE Russell to develop new innovative momentum indexes. The range of products will incorporate Trendrating's unique momentum model and supporting data as a core component of the methodology.
Source: Finextra
Emerging Economies Drive Global Trade Volatility in 2015
March 9, 2016--After dramatically declining in the first half of 2015, global trade recovered but at a slower pace over the rest of the year, so that world imports grew by only 1.7 percent in 2015 compared to 3 percent in 2014.
According to a new World Bank Group paper, Global Trade Watch: Trade Development in 2015, by World Bank Group Economists Cristina Constantinescu, Aaditya Mattoo and Michele Ruta, global trade in 2015 reflected persistently weak demand and structural changes in world trade, compounded by falling commodity prices and China's transition to a new growth path.
view the Global trade watch: trade developments in 2015
Source: World Bank
Deutsche Borse AG to divest International Securities Exchange Holdings, Inc.
March 9, 2016--Deutsche Börse AG ("Deutsche Börse") and NASDAQ, Inc. ("NASDAQ") have today entered into an agreement regarding the sale of International Securities Exchange Holdings, Inc. ("ISE"), operator of three US equity options exchanges, and ISE's holding company U.S. Exchange Holdings, Inc. to NASDAQ for a total cash consideration of 1.1 billion US$.
The agreement excludes ownership interest in Bats Global Markets, Inc. and in Digital Asset Holdings LLC, which will continue to be owned by Deutsche Börse.
At the time of the acquisition ISE was allocated to the Eurex segment from a balance sheet perspective.
Source: Deutsche Börse
MSCI ESG Research Scores Funds on Sustainability
Over 100 ESG Metrics for each fund measuring exposure to ESG factors including carbon footprint
March 8, 2016--MSCI today announced it has expanded its MSCI ESG Research coverage to include approximately 21,000 mutual funds and ETFs
MSCI ESG Fund Metrics will measure the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) characteristics of portfolio holdings and rank or screen funds based on a diverse set of factors including sustainable impact, values alignment and ESG risks, including carbon footprint.
Source: MSCI