Global ETF News Older than One Year
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
MSCI Introduces Diversified Multi-Factor Indexes
March 19, 2015--MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI), a leading provider of equity factor indexes and models, today announced that it has launched a series of Diversified Multi-Factor Indexes.
Research has shown that stocks reflecting certain factors have, over time, provided a higher return than the overall market. MSCI Diversified Multi-Factor Indexes use Barra risk tools to construct indexes that track the performance of four of these factors- Value, Momentum, Quality and Low Size-while keeping risk at the level of an underlying parent index.
Source: MSCI
Low oil prices and monetary easing triggering modest acceleration of global recovery
March 18, 2015--Low oil prices and monetary easing are boosting growth in the world's major economies, but the near-term pace of expansion remains modest, with abnormally low inflation and interest rates pointing to risks of financial instability, according to the OECD's latest Interim Economic Assessment.
Strong domestic demand is driving growth in the United States, which, combined with dollar appreciation, is adding to demand in the rest of the world. The euro area should benefit from low oil prices, monetary stimulus and euro depreciation, which combine to offer the chance to escape from stagnation.
Source: OECD
Basel Committee and IOSCO issue revisions to implementation schedule of margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives
March 18, 2015--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today released revisions to the framework for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. [The revised framework is available on the websites of the Bank for International Settlements and IOSCO.]
The framework was originally published in September 2013, after two public consultations. Recognising the complexity of implementing the framework, the Basel Committee and IOSCO have agreed to (i) delay the implementation of requirements to exchange both initial margin and variation margin by nine months; and (ii) adopt a phase-in arrangement for the requirement to exchange variation margin.
Source: IOSCO
Schwab, Guggenheim make their mark in ETFs
Low fees and strong performance draw investors, but buyer beware
March 18, 2015--The business of exchange-traded funds is dominated by three big players: BlackRock's iShares, Vanguard Group, and State Street, which collectively control 82% of the roughly $2 trillion invested in ETFs.
Other firms are fighting to gain market share, and several have made their way into Bloomberg Markets' annual ranking of the fastest-growing funds over the three years ended on Dec. 31.
Source: Investment News
