DECPG Global Weekly-March 13, 2015
March 13, 2015--Taking Stock
The European Central Bank began its sovereign debt purchase program this week. Government bond yields fell
across the monetary union.
German 10-year bond yields, the currency bloc's benchmark, dropped 6 basis points (bps) to 0.34 percent while comparable yields on Italian and Spanish government bonds slid by 2 and 3 bps, respectively, to 1.28 percent and 1.31 percent. Greek yields, however, rose amid renewed concern that a provisional accord to extend the country's bailout funds may not hold. The euro depreciated against the dollar by as much as 1.5 percent to a 12-year low of $1.056 on Wednesday.
Japan exited recession. Marking the end of a recession that began in Q2 2014, Japanese GDP expanded 0.4 percent (q/q) in Q4 following Q3's 0.6 percent decline. For 2014 as a whole, GDP contracted 0.1 percent. Amid low oil prices and improving employment prospects, Japan's consumer confidence index strengthened for the third consecutive month, rising from 39.1 in January to 40.7 in February, beating economists' forecast of 39.5.
Source: World Bank
New Onshore Bond Index Series Strengthens FTSE's Offering in China
March 13, 2015--New benchmarks give access to world's third largest onshore bond market
Complements existing FTSE offshore RMB bond indices
Hierarchical pricing approach accurately reflects live market prices
FTSE TMX Global Debt Capital Markets has underlined its leading position tracking Chinese bond markets, following the launch of the FTSE China Onshore Bond Index Series. The new suite of benchmarks provides a tool for international investors seeking access to the world's third largest onshore bond market. The series marks another milestone in the region, following the success of the FTSE-BOCHK Offshore RMB Bond Index Series which were launched in October 2013.
Source: FTSE
Infographic: Development Solutions for Disaster Risk Finance
March 13, 2015-The financial impact of natural disasters is growing. Over the last 10 years, direct financial loss reached an average of US$165 billion per year.
Economic losses can slow down development progress, keep people in poverty, or push them back into it. At a time of increasing resource constraints, governments are faced with an ever broader array of risks ranging from natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes and hurricanes.
Source: World Bank
Continued Egyptian Revival
March 12, 2015--The more I read about Egyptian President Sisi, the more I'm impressed with the reforms he is instituting, and as an investor, none more important than economic.
I have written previously about the investment conference being hosted later this week in Sharm el-Sheik to attract foreign direct investment, and now days before the conference the government has decided to lower the top tax rate for both corporations and individuals from 25% to 22.5%.
Source: Peter Kohli of DMS for Nasdaq.com
World Bank-Building a New Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
March 12, 2015--Last year, torrential rainfall and landslides in the Balkans affected more than 1 million people, setting back the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina by about 15 percent of GDP.
As temperatures warm, the frequency and intensity of storms of that magnitude and droughts is expected to rise.
In this context, over 9,000 people are gathering in Sendai, Japan, this week for the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction with the goal of launching a new international framework to guide implementation of disaster risk management efforts worldwide in years to come.
Source: World Bank
BIS-CPMI and IOSCO begin review of CCP stress testing
March 11, 2015--The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) announced today that they are undertaking a review of stress testing by central counterparties (CCPs).
Stress testing is an essential component of risk management by CCPs. The Principles for financial market infrastructures (PFMI), published by the CPMI and IOSCO in 2012, require CCPs to carry out rigorous stress testing to determine the financial resources they need to manage both credit and liquidity risk, including a wide range of stress scenarios covering a variety of extreme but plausible market conditions.
Source: BIS
Eurex Supervisory Board member and ISE Holdings Chairman inducted in FIA Hall of Fame
March 11, 2015--David Krell, Chairman of ISE and a member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG, and Jürg Spillmann, member of the Supervisory Board of Eurex Frankfurt AG and member of the Board of Directors of Eurex Zürich AG, have been inducted into the Futures Industry Association (FIA) Hall of Fame at the yearly FIA Boca derivatives conference.
This honor recognizes a lifetime of outstanding contributions of members of the futures and options community.
Source: ISE (International Securities Exchange)
CPMI-IOSCO Begins Review of Stress Testing by Central Counterparties
March 11, 2015--The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) announced today that they are undertaking a review of stress testing by central counterparties (CCPs).
Stress testing is an essential component of risk management by CCPs. The Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI), published by the CPMI and IOSCO in 2012, require CCPs to carry out rigorous stress testing to determine the financial resources they need to manage both credit and liquidity risk, including a wide range of stress scenarios covering a variety of extreme but plausible market conditions.
Source:IOSCO
Deutsche Boerse and BSE extend cooperation
March 10, 2015--Eurex and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) have further extended their strategic cooperation offering connectivity services of Deutsche Börse to certain overseas market participants.
As of Q2 2015, participants of BSE will be able to use Deutsche Börse's resilient and low latency N7 network services to connect to BSE back-ends in India via the respective Deutsche Börse Access Points (data centers) in the two major financial centers Hong Kong and Singapore.
Source: Deutsche Börse
Global ETF assets approach $3 trillion as industry turns 25
March 10, 2015--Assets invested in ETFs/ETPs globally are just shy of the $3 trillion mark, having reached a new record high of $2.92 trillion at the end of February 2015, according to data from ETFGI.
There were $50.7 billion in net new asset inflows in February, the second largest month on record.
Source: etfstrategy.co.uk