New Report Shows How to Decarbonize Development with 3 Steps to a Zero Carbon Future
May 11, 2015--A new World Bank Group report lays out three steps countries can follow to reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero and stabilize climate change: Plan for the end goal, not just the short-term; get prices right as part of a broad policy package that triggers changes in investment and behavior; and smooth the transition for those most affected.
The actions necessary to make the transition to zero net emissions are affordable if governments start today, the report Decarbonizing Development: Three Steps to a Zero Carbon Future says, but it warns that the costs will grow if action is delayed. Waiting until 2030 would increase the global cost by 50 percent.
view the report-Decarbonizing Development: Three Steps to a Zero Carbon Future
Source: World Bank
China Eclipses U.S. To Become World's Largest Importer Of Crude Oil
May 11, 2015--China has overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest importer of crude oil for the first time, according to a report from the Financial Times (FT).
Highlighting a seismic shift in global energy flows over the past decade, China has eclipsed the U.S. in April and has became the top global crude importer.
Source: Emergingequity.org
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.
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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