Global ETF News Older than One Year
Palladium ETFs see biggest weekly outflow since August
Palladium ETFs saw outflows of nearly 50,000 ounces in the week to Friday.
March 24, 2015--Palladium-0backed exchange-traded funds saw their biggest weekly outflows since August last week as prices of the white metal reversed the trend of the last two years to fall as gold, silver and platinum rose.
Palladium ETFs, popular investment vehicles which issue securities backed by physical metal, saw outflows of nearly 50,000 ounces in the week to Friday, Reuters data showed.
Souirce: Mineweb.com
MSCI and The Nigerian Stock Exchange Sign Strategic Agreement to Develop and Commercialize Co-branded Indexes
March 23, 2015--MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, and The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock exchange servicing the largest economy in Africa, today announced a strategic co-operation agreement to develop and market a co-branded family of indexes for the Nigerian equity markets.
Existing and future indexes will be co-branded as the MSCI/NSE Indexes, including the flagship NSE 30 Index and NSE 50 Index, which will become the MSCI/NSE 30 Index and the MSCI/NSE 50 Index, respectively. Additional indexes will also be jointly developed and launched in the future based on client demand and market development. The indexes will be used as performance benchmarks and as the basis for index-linked products for investors seeking exposure to the Nigerian capital markets.
Source: MSCI
ETF Securities Precious Metals Weekly-Waiting for Inflation Lifts the Tide
March 23, 2015--The Fed lifts most markets by acknowledging disinflation. Bonds should be the key indicator. There is no inflation. Unfortunately, there is very little risk of inflation. It remains the elusive dream. At last weeks' meeting, the FOMC lowered the unemployment rate target expected to generate inflation (NAIRU) to 5.0-5.2% and appeared to shift focus to waiting for actual inflation.
So why has the Fed's rhetoric been so hawkish previously? There are likely two primary reasons: the declining unemployment rate (which the Fed mentions) and the increasing bubble risk in the stock market (which the Fed does not mention). Essentially, the stock market has been among the few areas with persistently inflated prices. More recently, bond prices have been moving persistently higher. Since the end of 2013, treasury bonds have returned about double that of the S&P 500. The bottom-line indicator for the fed to tighten should be the bond market. Inflation expectation is the primary driver of treasury bond yields. The US 10yr ended the week at 1.94% and yields have been trending lower over the past 12-months. When the fed last started a tightening cycle, in June of 2004, the 10yr was yielding above 4.5% and trending higher. The table below depicts how off-base fed tightening rhetoric may be with 47mn people on food stamps (about 15% of the population) and total debt to GDP above 100%, and still growing. Increasing fed tightening expectations, the stronger US dollar and low equity market volatility have been some key pressure factors on precious metals. A few of these bearish factors appear close to reversing.
Source: ETF Securities
WEF-Socially Responsible Supply Chains Create Triple Advantage: Increased Revenue, Reduced Cost and Greater Brand Value
March 23, 2015--Beyond Supply Chains-Empowering Value Chains finds that socially responsible supply chains contribute to local development, shrink carbon footprints and boost the company's competitiveness
Socially responsible products increase revenues by up to 20%, reduce supply chain costs by as much as 16% and boost brand value by up to 30%; they also shrink carbon footprints by as much as 22%
Report identifies 31 socially responsible practices to help companies gain a "triple supply chain advantage"
view the WEF report-Beyond Supply Chains Empowering Responsible Value Chains
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
New York remains just ahead of London but the leading Asian Centres continue to close the gap
March 23, 2015--New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore remain the four leading global financial centres. All four centres gained points and retain their relative ranks. New York remains the top centre, though by only one point on the 1,000 point scale.
Tokyo, in fifth place, is 32 points behind the leaders. Western European centres are a mixed bunch. The top five European centres are in the same rank order as in GFCI 16 London, Zurich, Geneva, Luxembourg, and Frankfurt. Dublin sees the largest increase in ratings. The Channel Islands regain ground lost in GFCI 16. Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, and Reykjavik languish as the Eurozone crisis continues.
view the The Global Financial Centres Index 17 report
Source: The Z/Yen Group of Companies
Global fund managers warn of a bond bubble
March 22, 2015--A growing number of professional investors are warning that bonds are overvalued as fears grow that a fixed income bubble will collapse in a disorderly sell-off.
Four out of five fund managers said bonds were overvalued in a survey of 300 global managers by CFA UK. Corporate bonds are more overvalued than ever before, while government bonds are the most overvalued asset class, the group said.
Source: FT.com
DECPG Global Weekly--March 20, 2015
March 20, 2015--Taking Stock
Latest FOMC statement cleared path toward first rate hike since the 2008 financial crisis. On Wednesday, the Fed
dropped its commitment to be "patient" in beginning to normalize monetary policy. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) stated that it will be appropriate to raise the federal funds rate "when it has seen further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent objective over the medium
term".
Following the dovish FOMC statement, U.S. Treasuries rallied with the benchmark 10-year note yields sliding to 1.92 percent on Wednesday from 2.05 percent before the statement. The dollar fell sharply, depreciating 1 percent against the euro at one point, before paring some of its losses.
Deflation continued in the Eurozone. In line with the flash estimate published earlier, Eurozone inflation remained negative for the third consecutive month. The harmonized index of consumer prices fell 0.3 percent (y/y) in February, following January's 0.6 percent decline. Consumer prices have been falling due to declining oil prices. The core inflation rate, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose to 0.7 percent in February from 0.6 percent in January.
Source: World Bank
FTSE 100 shoots past 7,000 mark
March 20, 2015--The FTSE 100 powered above the 7,000 threshold for the first time on Friday,
closing in record territory as global equity markets continue to soar on the back of signs that interest rates will remain low.
Source: FT.com
ETFs pour into top US oil contract
March 20, 2015--Almost a third of the most active US oil futures contract is now controlled by exchange traded funds, turning smaller investors into a muscular force on global commodities markets.
ETFs track baskets of securities or commodities in a convenient wrapper that trades on a stock exchange.
Source: FT.com
The Liquidity Conundrum: Increasing Regulatory Risk for the Buy Side & More Structural Change for the Sell Side, Finds Annual Oliver Wyman & Morgan Stanley Report
March 19, 2015--Banks have shrunk their balance sheets by 20% since 2010 and another 10-15% reduction is still to come by 2017, significantly reducing liquidity in secondary markets
Interviews with asset managers, totalling assets under management (AuM) of more than USD10TN, indicate liquidity in fixed income markets is one of their top concerns
For asset managers, regulatory risks and earnings risks are rising as policymakers grow more concerned about the transition out of Quantitative Easing (QE) and into rising interest rates, while the sell side will have to restructure further and faster
Oliver Wyman and Morgan Stanley published their joint annual report about wholesale and investment banking today titled, The Liquidity Conundrum: Shifting risks, what it means. The report finds that a reduced provision of liquidity in fixed income markets faces policy makers and investors and how it's resolved will have long-term investment implications.
Source: Oliver Wyman
