IEA Oil Market Report
June 11, 2015--Product market strength and rising tension throughout the Middle East supported global crude oil prices in May and through early June. At the time of writing, ICE Brent was trading at around $65.95/bbl, while US WTI was at $61.50/bbl.
Global oil supplies fell by 155 kb/d in May to 96 mb/d on lower non-OPEC output, but remained at a steep 3.0 mb/d above last year. Annual growth slowed marginally from March and April and remained roughly split between non-OPEC and OPEC countries. The forecast of non-OPEC supply growth for 2015 have been raised to 1 mb/d.
OPEC supply in May edged up 50 kb/d to 31.33 mb/d, the highest since August 2012. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the UAE pumped at record monthly rates to keep output over 1 mb/d above OPEC's official supply target for a third month running. Oil ministers agreed to maintain that target at their 5 June meeting.
Source: (IEA) International Energy Agency (IEA)
Implementation monitoring of the PFMIs: Second update to Level 1 assessment report
June 11, 2015--The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have today published the second update to the Level 1 assessments of implementation monitoring of the Principles for financial market infrastructures (PFMIs).
Level 1 assessments are based on self-assessments by individual jurisdictions on how they have adopted, within their regulatory and oversight frameworks, the PFMIs' 24 Principles for FMIs and four of the five Responsibilities for authorities.
view the Implementation monitoring of PFMIs: Second update to Level 1 assessment report
Source: IOSCO
Report Says Rich Nations Face Rising Risks of Cyberattacks
June 11, 2015--Wealthy nations face a high and fast-growing threat of cyberattacks while risks from terrorism increasingly are confined to poorer, conflict-stricken countries, according to a defense outlook report by the consultancy Deloitte.
Recent data breaches in the U.S. and Japan are sharpening concerns over cybersecurity and such worries are warranted, the report said.
Source: ABC News
G20 GDP Growth-First quarter of 2015, OECD
G20 GDP growth slows slightly to 0.7% in first quarter of
June 11, 2015--Quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the G20 area grew by 0.7% in the first quarter of 2015, slightly down from 0.8% in the previous quarter, according to preliminary estimates. However, patterns diverged across countries.
Among G20 economies, GDP contracted in Canada (by 0.1%), the United States (by 0.2%),and Brazil (by 0.2%), following positive growth of 0.6%, 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively, in the previous quarter. GDP growth also eased significantly in South Africa (to 0.3%, compared with 1.0% in the previous quarter), and to a lesser extent in Mexico (to 0.4%, compared with 0.7% in the previous quarter), Germany and the United Kingdom (to 0.3%, down from 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively, in the previous quarter). In China and Indonesia, GDP growth slowed slightly (to 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively, compared with 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively, in the previous quarter).
Source: OECD
MSCI Says Market Access Holds Key to China's A Shares
June 11, 2015--The firm is working with Chinese authorities to address access issues and pave the way for including A shares in MSCI's EM index.
China's booming A-share market and capital market reforms got a mixed review earlier this week as MSCI announced that the country would have to provide greater market access to foreign investors before it would include mainland-listed stocks in its benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Source: Institutional Investor
The 48% slump in SPDR holdings shows gold is out of favour
Assets in the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded product slumped to the lowest since the start of the financial crisis.
June 11, 2015--Assets in the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded product slumped to the lowest since the start of the financial crisis as equities rallied and investors prepared for the onset of higher U.S. interest rates, hurting demand.
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust dropped 0.2 percent to 704.22 metric tons on Wednesday, the lowest level since September 2008.
Source: MineWeb
DMS-Deciphering Developing Markets-Emerging Markets: India to revamp labour laws
June 11, 2015--Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now turned his attention to the antiquated labour laws that have seriously hindered the manufacturing sector in India. He will need to do so if he wants his signature programme "Make in India" to be a success.
Currently, any factory that has more than 100 workers needs permission from the government in order to lay anyone off. Of course, the government hardly ever grants that permission, so a lot of factories just don't hire that 100th person. Sound familiar? Mr. Modi has proposed that the 100 worker limit be raised to 300. He also proposes making it harder for unions to organize workers, or for the workers to go on strike.
Source: Peter Kohli of DMS for Nasdaq.com
Competition hots up among fixed income ETF brokers
June 10, 2015--Liquidity-starved bond investors are pouring money into fixed income exchange-traded funds
fuelling competition between broker dealers as they ramp up their market making businesses in the asset class.
Source: Financial News
Overberg Asset Management-This week's bottom line...
June 10, 2015--The emerging markets displaying the weakest currency fundamentals include Brazil, SA and Turkey, dubbed the "Threatened Three".
Countries with high current account deficits are especially vulnerable.
Among emerging markets SA has the largest deficit measuring 5.1% of GDP in the fourth quarter last year.
On the last six occasions when the Fed started tightening interest rates portfolio capital inflows into emerging markets either diminished or reversed.
SA's vulnerability is increased by the scale of foreign ownership of its financial assets. SA's bond market has the highest level of foreign ownership out of all emerging markets with the sole exception of Indonesia.
Source: Overberg Asset Management
Success of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect Hinges on Removing Barriers to Participation-According to Study
June 10, 2015--Launched in November, this path-breaking initiative provides international investors with direct access to China's A shares market for the first time
Continued participation among investors, brokers and custodians is a key focus area to ensure program achieves its goals
Market participants need to ensure their post-trade systems and operations can scale up to meet increased volumes and that best practice is employed to minimize operational risk
download the whitepaper-Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect: It's Just the Beginning
Source: DTCC