Global ETF News Older than One Year
Bidders circle Russell Investments arm auctioned by LSE-FT
April 29, 2015--At least six bidders are circling Russell Investments, the large US asset manager that is being sold by the London Stock Exchange Group, according to people close to the process.
An auction process for the business, which has $273bn in funds under management and is expected to fetch as much as $1.5bn, is now in the second round.
Source: FT.com
IMF Working paper-Financial Crisis, US Unconventional Monetary Policy and International Spillovers
April 29, 2015-- Summary: We study the impact of the US quantitative easing (QE) on both the emerging and advanced economies, estimating a global vector error-correction model (GVECM) and conducting counterfactual analyses. We focus on the effects of reductions in the US term and corporate spreads. First, US QE measures reducing the US corporate spread appear to be more important than lowering the US term spread.
Second, US QE measures might have prevented episodes of prolonged recession and deflation in the advanced economies. Third, the estimated effects on the emerging economies have been diverse but often larger than those recorded in the US and other advanced economies. The heterogeneous effects from US QE measures indicate unevenly distributed benefits and costs
Source: IMF
Multi-Asset Class Mutual Funds: Can They Time the Market? Evidence from the US, UK and Canada
April 29, 2015--Abstract:
The importance of asset allocation decisions in wealth management is well established. However, given its importance it is perhaps surprising that so little attention has been paid to the question of whether professional fund managers are skillful at timing market movement across asset classes over time.
The timing literature has tended to concentrate on the timing skill of single asset class funds. Using data on US, UK and Canadian multi-asset class funds, we apply two alternative methodologies to identify the asset class timing abilities of managers. Overall, whether we apply a returns-based method or a holdings-based testing approach, we find evidence of only a tiny minority of funds with asset class timing ability.
Source: http://papers.ssrn.com
IMF Working paper-Is Islamic Banking Good for Growth?
April 28, 2015--Summary: The rapid growth of Islamic banking has attracted much attention lately in the economic literature. At the same time, a mature body of the literature has shown that financial development is broadly conducive to economic growth, which raises the question as to whether a similar conclusion holds for Islamic banking.
Against this backdrop, this paper investigates the relationship between Islamic banking development and economic growth in a sample of low and middle income countries, using data over the period 1990-2010. The results show that, notwithstanding its relatively small size compared to the economy and the overall size of the financial system, Islamic banking is positively associated with economic growth even after controlling for various determinants, including the level of financial depth. The results are robust across across different specifications, sample composition and time periods.
view the IMF Working paper-Is Islamic Banking Good for Growth?
Source: IMF
IMF Working paper-Hong Kong's Growth Synchronization with China and the U.S.: A Trend and Cycle Analysis
April 28, 2015--Summary: This paper investigates the synchronization of Hong Kong SAR's economic growth with mainland China and the United States. This paper identifies trends of economic growth based on the permanent income hypothesis.
Specifically, the paper confirms whether real consumption in Hong Kong SAR and mainland China satisfy the permanent income hypothesis, at least in a weak form. It then identifies the permanent and transitory components of income of each economy using a simple state-space model. It uses structural vector autoregression models to analyze how permanent and transitory shocks originating from mainland China and the United States affect the Hong Kong economy, and how such influences evolve over time. The paper's main findings suggest that transitory shocks from the United States remain a major driving force behind Hong Kong SAR's business cycle fluctuations. On the other hand, permanent shocks from mainland China have a larger impact on Hong Kong SAR's trend growth.
Source: IMF
Global equity mutual funds, ETFs post $31.8 bln April inflows-TrimTabs
April 28, 2015--Global equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds showed $31.8 billion of net inflows in April through Friday, TrimTabs Investment Research said on Tuesday, putting them on track to surpass the record inflow of $34.8 billion in March.
U.S. equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds have posted net withdrawals of $15.4 billion this month through April 24.
Source: Yahoo News
Nasdaq to eclipse eurozone market value
April 27, 2015--Having reclaimed record territory after an absence of 15 years, the US Nasdaq Composite is close to eclipsing the broad eurozone market in dollar terms for this year.
The resurgence has propelled the market decisively beyond 5,000 points over the past week, as investors seek out companies with high growth prospects and pricing power for their products and services.
Source: FT.com
Deutsche funds arm in hiring mode for 2020 asset chase
April 25, 2015--Deutsche Bank has pledged to hire talent for its asset and wealth management business,
as part of an ambitious plan to keep pace with asset growth in the wider investment industry over the next five years...
Source: Financial News
IMF Unveils New Way of Assessing Country Reserves
April 24, 2015--IMF develops first comprehensive framework for assessing reserve adequacy
Aim is to help strike balance between benefits, costs of holding reserves
Prudent level depends on country's economic, financial structure
The IMF has developed a new framework for determining the appropriate level of international reserves held by its member countries, emphasizing the need to take account of the specific needs of different types of economies.
Reserves-the assets denominated in foreign currency, plus gold, held by a central bank-occupy an important place in the policy toolkit of most economies. Together with sound policies, they can help reduce the likelihood of balance of payment crises and preserve economic and financial stability. In addition to these important benefits, reserves also have costs.
view the report-Assessing Reserve Adequacy-Specific Proposals
Source: IMF
Swiss pensions bankrupt by 2025: US Social Security by 2030
April 24, 2015--Nobody would imagine that the SFr 800bn ($840bn) Swiss pension scheme could go bankrupt. But Swiss pension experts suggest it "will be bankrupt within 10 years (without)…a radical overhaul of the retirement system."
The problem is simple-a combination of low/negative interest rates and an increase in life expectancy.
A major analysis in the Financial Times sets out the key details:
Prof Martin Eling of St Gallen University estimates that "occupational pension funds will face a SFr 55bn ($57bn) hole in their funding by 2030 if the government does not overhaul the system"
Source: ICIS
