Global ETF News Older than One Year
Nasdaq adopts bitcoin backbone for stocks
May 11, 2015--Nasdaq is to start using the technology behind the virtual currency bitcoin to handle transactions on its market, making it what is thought to be the first major financial market to adopt the idea.
The blockchain-the backbone on which bitcoin depends-has attracted wide interest in the financial world as a potentially revolutionary way to streamline many different types of transactions, though few alternative applications have yet been tried beyond bitcoin.
Source: FT.com
Assets in ETFs Linked to MSCI Indexes Reach Record High of $418 Billion
May 11, 2015--MSCI Inc., leading provider of research-based indexes and analytics, reports that assets in ETFs linked to MSCI indexes grew more than 12 percent in the first quarter of 2015, reaching an all-time high of $418 billion.
ETF providers launched 56 products based on MSCI indexes during the period, three times more than the next index provider.
Source: MSCI
WisdomTree downplays concerns over concentration risk
May 8, 2015--While a gust of interest in hedging out a declining US dollar has sent WisdomTree's sales soaring, executives are shaking off questions about whether the firm's'sales and revenues are overly concentrated in in its two
marquee currency-hedged funds.
Source: FT.com
State Street Global Advisors-Weekly Market Report
May 8, 2015--This Week's Highlights-Economies
Manufacturing activity is sluggish across the G7. Employment
rises solidly in the US. Unemployment is unchanged in Canada. Solid services continue to bolster activity in the UK. Industrial production rises in Italy but falls in Germany and France.
The monetary base is still expanding rapidly in Japan. Unemployment edges up in Australia.
Markets
A volatile week in markets fueled by turmoil in eurozone bonds
and a blunt market assessment from Yellen. But a surprisingly
decisive Conservative victory in the UK National Election bolsters risk appetites. Equities are mixed. G7 government bond yields rise again. Sterling jumps. Oil falls.
Next Week Previewed
Spotlight
The Bank of England should make no change to monetary policy. Retail sales are expected to rise modestly in the US.
The labor market continues to tighten in the UK. GDP likely rises moderately in the eurozone. Wage inflation should
7remain low in Australia.
Source: spdru.com
DECPG Global Weekly
May 8, 2015--Taking Stock
The sell-off in Eurozone government bonds continued throughout the week. The yield on German 10-year bunds
jumped as much as 21 basis points (bps) to 0.80 percent Thursday morning before easing to 0.6 percent on Friday.
Similarly, France's 10-year bond yields climbed above 1 percent for the first time since early December, while Italy's 10-year borrowing costs rose to as high as 2.1 percent. The recent volatility in government bond markets has puzzled analysts. Some pointed to the pick-up in inflation in the U.S. and Eurozone, and others suggested that the increased volatility could be due to the fact that yields in European bond markets were reaching unsustainably low levels.
U.S. unemployment rate went down to its lowest level since May 2008, while the trade deficit climbed to its highest level in 6 years. U.S. non-farm payroll employment increased by 223,000 jobs in Aprilm following the downwardly revised 85,000 jobs gained in March. The unemployment rate eased from 5.5 percent in March to 5.4 percent in April, the lowest since May 2008. The trade deficit soared more-than-expected in March, to its highest level since October 2008, partly due to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar (Figure 1). Imports surged 7.7 percent (m/m), while exports rose 0.9 percent
Source: World Bank
BIS Working Paper-Leverage dynamics and the real burden of debt
May 8, 2015--In addition to leverage, the aggregate debt service burden is an important link between financial and real developments. Using US data from 1985 to 2013, we find that it has sizable negative effects on credit and expenditure growth.
Strong interactions between leverage and the debt service burden lead to large and protracted cycles in credit and expenditure that match the stylised facts of credit booms and busts. Even with real-time estimates, the predicted adjustment to leverage and the debt service burden from 2005 onwards imply paths for credit and expenditure that closely match actual developments before and during the Great Recession.
view the BIS Working Paper-Leverage dynamics and the real burden of debt
Source: BIS
Assets in ETFs/ETPs globally reached a new record 2.998 trillion US dollars but fell short of breaking through the 3 trillion milestone at the end of April according to ETFGI
May 8, 2015--Assets in ETFs/ETPs globally reached a new record 2.998 trillion US dollars but fell short of breaking through the 3 trillion milestone at the end of April according to ETFGI's preliminary monthly ETF and ETP global insight report for April 2015.
Our forecast was that assets will break through 3 trillion by the middle of 2015.
Source: ETFGI
UN predicts world food import bill to fall to five-year low, amid hefty commodity supply
May 7, 2015-- A report on agricultural commodity prices released today by the United Nations agricultural agency says that hefty supply levels mean rates will continue to decline despite pressure from a slight reduction in global harvests.
"The world food import bill is forecast to reach a five-year low in 2015,” says Food Outlook, a biannual publication by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. "Currency movements and macroeconomic developments may have important implications for markets again in 2015-16."
Source: UN
STOXX signs MOU to license smart-beta indices to Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking (MUTB)
May 7, 2015--STOXX Limited, the market-moving provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp. (MUTB), the leading Japanese trust bank, to create and market new smart-beta indices.
Under the terms of the agreement, MUTB plans to license a wide variety of STOXX indices-in particular, from STOXX's smart-beta suite- to create investment products to increase its smart-beta offering to retail and institutional clients. STOXX also plans to develop smart-beta indices with support from MUTB.
Source: STOXX
Upcoming Launch of MSCI Saudi Arabia Indexes
May 7, 2015--MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of research‐based indexes and analytics, is pleased to announce that it plans to launch MSCI Saudi Arabia Indexes as Standalone Market Indexes effective June 1, 2015, coinciding with the expected opening of the Saudi Arabia equity market to foreign direct
investments.
On May 4, 2015, the Saudi Arabia Capital Market Authority (CMA) adopted the "Rules for Qualified Foreign Financial Institutions Investment in Listed Shares" which are expected to become effective on June 1, 2015.
Source: MSCI
