Global ETF News Older than One Year
Vanguard Lowers Fees on 42 Funds
The latest round of reduced expense ratios saved investors $55 million, according to the fund giant
February 29, 2016--Vanguard says that 42 of its mutual funds, including seven ETFs and four target-date funds-are now being offered to investors with lower fees.
According to the fund group, those invested in the funds recently saved $55 million as of Friday. This is the third announced reduction in Vanguard's fiscal year 2015; the reported changes have helped investors in 130 fund shares save a total of $142 million.
Source: thinkadvisor.com
Institutionalizing Countercyclical Investment: A Framework for Long-term Asset Owners
February 29, 2016--Summary: Do portfolio shifts by the world's largest asset owners respond procyclically to past returns, or countercyclically to valuations? And if countercyclical investment(with both market-stabilizing and return-generating properties) is a public and private good, how might asset owners be empowered to do more of it? These two questions motivate this study.
Based on analysis of representative portfolios (totaling $24 trillion) for a range of asset owners (central banks, pension funds, insurers and endowments), portfolio changes typically appear procyclical. In response, I suggest a framework aimed at jointly bolstering long-term returns and financial stability should:(i) embed governance practices to mitigate 'multi-year return chasing;' (ii) rebalance to benchmarks with factor exposures best suited to long-term investors; (iii) minimize principal-agent frictions; (iv) calibrate risk management to minimize long-term shortfall risk (not short-term price volatility); and (v) ensure regulatory conventions do not amplify procyclicality at the worst possible times.
Source: IMF
The Decarbonise/ Re-energise Green Paper
February 29, 2016--Ahead of the Decarbonise/Re-energise one day workshop series commencing on March 10th 2016, Responsible Investor has published a Green Paper which serves as a guide for the workshop discussions.
The Green Paper highlights the market movements, with a particular focus on post COP21 objectives, that have driven the discussion and key questions around low carbon investing that industry participants are considering today.
Source: responsibleinvestor.com
Pimco ETF and wealth management boss exits
February 26, 2016--A Pimco veteran who headed both the bond giant's UK global wealth management division and its exchange-traded fund business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has left the firm after 15 years, months after assuming overall ETF responsibilities for the region.
Source: Financial News
Infographic-The March to a Billion Users-How long did it take for each app to hit the 1B mark?
February 26, 2016--With approximately 3.3 billion people now using the internet, how hard can it possibly be to reach one billion of them each month?
It turns out that it's quite a challenge.
Apple, the largest company by market capitalization, doesn't have a single product with that kind of penetration.
Source: visualcapitalist.com
OECD-Global economy urgently needs a stronger and more coherent policy response to promote robust and inclusive growth
February 26, 2016--Policymakers need to deploy broad-based reform plans that incorporate monetary, fiscal, and structural policies to stimulate persistently weak demand, re-launch productivity growth, create jobs and build a more inclusive global economy, according to the OECD's annual Going for Growth report.
Going for Growth 2016 offers a comprehensive assessment of how government policy reforms affect economic performance and their citizens' well-being. It identifies new priorities to revive growth and underscores the importance of synergies among policies in designing reform programmes.
view the OECD Economic Policy Reforms 2016 Going for Growth Interim Report
Source: OECD
When Currency Pegs Break, Global Dominoes Fall
February 25, 2016--The U.S. dollar has risen by more than 35% against other major trading currencies since mid-2014.
If all currencies floated freely on the global foreign exchange (FX) market, this dramatic rise would have easily predictable consequences: everything other nations import that is priced in dollars (USD) costs 35% more, and everything the U.S. imports from other major trading nations costs 35% less.
Source: emergingequity.org
IMF Survey-World to Experience Myriad Formidable Demographic Changes
February 25, 2016--Increased longevity boosts age-related spending in much of the world
Africa can reap a demographic dividend from a growing working-age population
Increasing female workforce participation could offset some problems of aging and shrinking populations
The world is being buffeted by potent and sometimes contradictory demographic changes, all of which pose formidable social, economic, and environmental threats, Harvard professor David E. Bloom writes in the March 2016 issue of Finance & Development magazine.
Source: IMF
Oil up 3 percent on March producers meeting, U.S. project delays
February 25, 2016--Crude oil futures jumped 3 percent on Thursday, reversing earlier loses after confirmation of a meeting of major producers and news of project delays and job cuts in the industry.
Venezuela reaffirmed a mid-March meeting of oil producers that would include Saudi Arabia, Russia and Qatar, to stabilize prices that have slumped 70 percent in a 20-month rout.
Source: Reuters
EM ex-China growth slips below that of developed world
February 25, 2016--Emerging markets, by definition, are meant to emerge. Strip out China, however, and the economies of the developing world are now growing more slowly than the developed world for the first time since 1999.
Emerging markets ex-China eked out output growth of just 1.92 per cent last year...
Source: FT.com
