Global ETF News Older than One Year
Regulators concerned at banks scaling back market making commitments
December 9, 2014--Global financial regulators worry that banks are scaling back costly market making functions and that this could leave investors stranded, as well as squeezing funds to drive economic recovery, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Some banks have already warned that tougher rules designed to make the financial system safer since the crisis of 2008-2009 have pushed up the cost of market making, or providing facilities for investors to buy and sell shares, bonds and derivatives.
Source: Reuters
BetaShares Global Market Review: November 2014...
December 9, 2014--The major development over the month of November was the sharp drop in commodity prices which caused the A$ to fall and the local equity market to underperform globally.
On the other hand, global equity markets rose strongly, reflecting the strength in the US economy and hopes that further central bank policy stimulus will help to foster growth in the more challenged economies of Japan, Europe and China. Lower commodity prices and accommodative policy helped bond yields fall further, supporting fixed income returns.
Source: BetaShares
BlackRock ETP Landscape: Flows break annual record
December 9, 2014-- NOVEMBER SURGE IN EQUITY ETP FLOWS PROPELS 2014 ASSET GATHERING TO NEW ANNUAL RECORD
Global ETPs attracted $40.1bn to lift year-to-date asset gathering into record territory at $267.9bn, with investors returning to equities after October's stock market correction boosted fixed income
US equities brought in $36.1bn concentrated in large cap funds as the outlook for the U.S. economy improved and slowing global growth led to accommodative central bank activity in other regions
Japanese equity ETPs listed in the U.S. and Europe accumulated $4.1bn in response to announcements of expanded stimulus and GPIF equity purchases, though Japan-listed funds saw offsetting outflows following a significant stock rally
Source: BlackRock-ETP Research
Economic stagnation compounds demographic pressure on pension systems, says OECD
December 8, 2014--Low growth, low interest rates and low returns on investment linked to the slow global economy are now compounding the problems of population ageing for both public and private pension systems, according to a new OECD report.
The OECD Pensions Outlook 2014 says that the crisis spurred most countries to speed up reforms to make their pension systems more financially sustainable. These included raising taxes on pension income and pension contributions, reducing or deferring the indexation of pension benefits, and increasing the statutory retirement age.
view the summary-OECD Pensions Outlook 2014
Source: OECD
ETF records tumble as assets swell
December 8, 2014--Records continued to tumble for exchange-traded-funds in November as
assets both globally-and in the United States-reached record levels.
Source: Financial News
China, US and EU post-2020 plans reduce projected warming
December 8, 201--For the first time since 2009 the Climate Action Tracker calculates a discernibly lower temperature increase than previously estimated because of new proposed post-2020 actions.
Recent announcements by China, the United States and European Union, who comprise approximately 53% of global emissions, indicate a rising level of ambition, which are reflected in the slightly improved outlook for global warming by the Climate Action Tracker, should these and other governments fully implement their pledges.
Source: Climate Action Tracker (CAT)
The doubts that linger over solution to 'too big to fail'
December 8, 2014--Three big questions hanging over banking regulation.
When big banks fail...
Source: FT.com
Commodity benchmarks seen open to manipulation
Almost two-thirds of commodity market participants say that benchmarks are vulnerable to manipulation.
December 7, 2014--Almost two-thirds of commodity market participants say that benchmarks used to set the price of everything from crude oil to ethanol to zinc are vulnerable to manipulation, according to a new study.
The report, to be published today by U.K. law firm Clyde & Co., shows that 64 percent of 170 respondents are concerned methods used by price reporting agencies to set commodity benchmarks could be manipulated. Reasons given in the survey include sample groups that are too small, a lack of independent oversight and the fact price creators are also traders who can benefit from influencing prices.
Source: MineWeb
BIS December 2014 Quarterly Review: Buoyant yet fragile?
December 7, 2014--Flip-flopping from "risk-on" to "risk-off" sentiment in financial markets suggests that fragility underlies the current buoyant mood.
International banking activity expanded in the first half of 2014, regaining some of the ground lost in the previous two years.
China is now by far the largest emerging market borrower from BIS reporting banks. Outside the EME world, China ranked seventh overall. More and more CDS contracts are cleared centrally. This should reduce counterparty risk.
The risk profile of debt from EME non-financial corporations may vary considerably, depending on whether it is issued through non-financial subsidiaries abroad or via financial affiliates.
The co-movement of exchange rates is the main factor behind the choice of reserve currencies. Country size alone is less relevant, argue Robert McCauley and Tracy Chan of the BIS.
view the BIS Quarterly Review, December 2014
Source: BIS
DECPG Weekly Economic Brief
December 5, 2014--An environment of exceptionally low interest rates has continued to support capital flows to developing countries, as investors search for higher yields.
A lift-off in U.S. policy rates next year should eventually result in tighter conditions, but declining inflation expectations in the United States, global economic headwinds and additional policy easing in the Euro Area and Japan have continued to put downward pressure on long-term yields. This allowed many emerging and frontier market economies to tap international bond markets on relatively favorable terms in recent months.
Global interest rates remain exceptionally low. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield -a key benchmark for international bond markets- has fallen to 2.3 percent since mid-October and is currently predicted to stay below 3 percent until 2018 (Figure 1). Such low yield levels, despite a broadening recovery in the United States and approaching tightening cycle by the U.S. Federal Reserve, have been tightly connected to falling inflation expectations. These have been driven down by a number of factors, including sharply lower oil prices, an appreciating U.S. dollar and increasing global economic headwinds. Signs of persistent stagnation in the Euro Area and Japan led their respective central banks to commit to more aggressive stimulus measures in recent months, contributing to a broad-based appreciation of the U.S. dollar and a further compression of global term-premia. Emerging market bond spreads increased only modestly since August despite rising volatility on foreign exchange markets and increasing pressure on some commodity exporting countries.
Source: World Bank
