Global ETF News Older than One Year
New travel and tourism study shows need to prepare for future headwinds, as sector shows signs of recovery
May 24, 2022--The World Economic Forum's biennial travel and tourism study finds a recovering sector following pandemic lows, but the recovery has been uneven and challenges remain.
Development strategies are crucial to build resilience and support those who depend on the industry for work.
The Travel and Tourism Development Index assesses 117 economies, identifying key factors in enabling the sustainable and resilient growth of travel and tourism economies; Japan takes the top spot.
The World Economic Forum released today its latest travel and tourism study, revealing that the sector is showing signs of recovery in many parts of the world after being hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Japan, the United States, Spain, France and Germany are at the top of the list.
The Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable and Resilient Future, ranks 117 economies on a range of factors that are crucial to the development, sustainability and resiliency of their travel and tourism industry, which in turn contributes to economic and social development.
Source: weforum.org
Global Carbon Pricing Generates Record $84 Billion in Revenue
May 24, 2022--Global carbon pricing revenues increased by 60% over past year, according to latest World Bank report
Global carbon pricing revenue in 2021 increased by almost 60 percent from 2020 levels, to around $84 billion, providing an important source of funds to help support a sustainable economic recovery, finance broader fiscal reforms, or invest in communities as part of the low-carbon transition future, according to the World Bank's annual "State and Trends of Carbon Pricing" report released today.
The report, which presents the latest carbon pricing developments around the world, finds that there are 68 direct carbon pricing instruments operating today: 36 carbon taxes and 32 Emissions Trading Systems (ETSs).
Source: worldbank.org
ETFGI reports ESG ETFs listed globally gathered net inflows of 6.83 billion US dollars during April 2022
May 23, 2022--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETFs/ETPs ecosystem, reported today that Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ETFs listed globally gathered net inflows of US$6.83 billion during April, bringing year to date net inflows to US$31.45 Bn which is much lower than the US$66.65 Bn gathered at this point last year.
During the month, total assets invested in ESG ETFs decreased by 7.3% from US$398.33 billion at the end of March 2022 to US$369.31 billion, according to ETFGI's April 2022 ETF and ETP ESG industry landscape insights report, the monthly report which is part of an annual paid-for research subscription service. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Assets of $369.31 Bn invested in ESG ETFs listed globally at the end of April 2022.
Assets decreased 7.5% YTD in 2022, going from $399.46 Bn at end of 2021 to $369.31 Bn at the end of April.
Net inflows of $6.83 Bn during April 2022.
YTD net inflows of $31.45 Bn are the second highest on record, after YTD net inflows in 2021 of $66.65 Bn.
$128 Bn in net inflows gathered in the past 12 months.
Source: ETFGI
GDP Growth-First quarter of 2022, OECD
May 23, 2022--OECD GDP growth slows sharply in the first quarter of 2022
In the first quarter of 2022, gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD rose by just 0.1% quarte-on-quarter according to provisional estimates, a sharp slowdown compared with the 1.2% increase in the fourth quarter of 2021.
In the G7, quarter-on-quarter GDP growth turned negative in Q1 2022, falling by 0.1% compared with an increase of 1.2% in Q4 2021. The G7 result in the first quarter of 2022 reflects negative GDP growth in the United States (minus 0.4%), Italy (minus 0.2%) and Japan (minus 0.2%), as well as zero growth in France and weaker positive growth in the United Kingdom (0.8%) and Canada (1.4%) than in the previous quarter.Germany was the only G7 country where the pace of growth increased, with GDP growth of 0.2% in the first quarter of 2022 compared with a contraction of 0.3% in the previous quarter.
Source: OECD
WEF-Chief Economists Outlook: May 2022
May 23, 2022-The May 2022 edition of the Chief Economists Outlook comes out amid extremely high uncertainty about geopolitical developments, the trajectory of the global economy and the next steps for economic policy.
Instead of entering a post-COVID recovery phase, economies are experiencing additional shocks, first and foremost from the war in Ukraine and associated geopolitical repercussions, but also from new outbreaks of COVID-19 and lockdowns in major industrial centres.
Source: weforum.org
BIS Working Paper-Banking in the shadow of Bitcoin? The institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies
May 18, 2022--Summary
Focus
The market capitalisations of cryptocurrencies and related economic activities have grown phenomenally in recent years. While the role of retail investors has received much attention,we know less about the role of financial intermediaries in this sector. How significant is the presence of traditional intermediaries such as banks and investment funds in crypto markets,and what motivates them to take on cryptocurrency exposures? And how important are novel intermediaries such as crypto exchanges?
Contribution We gauge the significance of financial intermediaries in crypto markets,using a novel global supervisory database of banks' cryptocurrency exposures and a range of additional data sources.
We assess the factors that determine banks' holdings of cryptocurrencies. In addition,we investigate the role played by novel crypto exchanges,and examine the cross-country drivers of institutionalisation.
Findings
The potential for cryptocurrencies to scale up quickly calls for a comprehensive approach to assessing and mitigating risks,even though the interlinkages between crypto markets and mainstream finance have remained limited. The exposures of major banks to cryptocurrency exposures are currently still very modest,amounting to less than USD 200 million in 2020. We find that banks are more likely to hold cryptocurrencies when country indicators for greater innovation capacity,more advanced economic development,and financial inclusion are high.
Source: BIS.org
BIS-Commodity market disruptions, growth and inflation
May 18, 2022--Key takeaways
Higher commodity prices will erode global growth, as the modest growth boost for commodity exporters will only partly offset the output losses of commodity importers.
Rising commodity prices will also intensify global inflationary pressures. The effects will be strongest for food and energy prices, but spillovers to other components of inflation are likely.
Recent shocks have been smaller than the 1970s oil shocks but broader-based, encompassing food and industrial commodities as well as energy. Nonetheless, structural changes, as well as stronger policy frameworks and nominal anchors, make stagflation less likely to return.
Source: BIS
Climate change is hurting insurers, report says
May 17, 2022--Climate change is hurting the insurance industry and only 8% of insurers are preparing adequately for its impact, consultants Capgemini and financial industry body Efma said in a report on Tuesday.
Insured losses from natural catastrophes have increased 250% in the last 30 years, with perils such as wildfires and storms, seen as particularly impacted by climate change, causing an even faster rise in insured losses, the report said.
Insurers' main catastrophe risk in the past was typically from hurricanes in U.S. states such as Florida and Texas, Seth Rachlin, global insurance industry leader at Capgemini, told Reuters.
Source: reuters.com
IMF Working Paper-Bilateral Trade Imbalances
May 13, 2022-Summary:
If sectoral trade flows obey structural gravity, countries' bilateral trade imbalances are the result of macro trade imbalances, "triangular trade", or pairwise asymmetric trade barriers. Using data for 40 major economies and the Rest of the World, we show that large and pervasive asymmetries in trade barriers are required to account for most of the observed variation in bilateral imbalances.
A dynamic quantitative trade model suggests that eliminating these asymmetries would significantly reduce bilateral (but not macro) imbalances and have sizeable impacts on welfare. We provide evidence that the asymmetries we measure are in part related to the policy environment: trade inside the European Single Market appears to be subject to more bilaterally symmetric frictions. Extending the same symmetry to all parts of the global economy would give a large boost to the real incomes of several non-E.U. countries.
Source: IMF.org
Amid Multiple Crises, Major Transformation of Commodity Markets Is Underway
May 12, 2022--Demand growth to decline over next three decades; energy transition will be challenging
Global commodity markets are being reshaped in lasting ways as a result of COVID-19, the war in Ukraine,and the impacts of climate change-a transformation that is likely to have profound implications for developing economies over the coming decades, a new World Bank study has found.
The study, Commodity Markets: Evolution, Challenges, and Policies, offers the first comprehensive analysis-encompassing all major commodities-of how these markets evolved over the past 100 years and the directions they are likely to take over the next 30. It predicts that growth in overall global demand for commodities is likely to decelerate as population growth slows and developing economies mature, although demand for some commodities is likely to rise.
Source: worldbank.org
