July 18, 2014--Bank of New York Mellon, under pressure to boost flagging returns to shareholders including the activist investor Nelson Peltz, has shelved the sale of its corporate trust business
after failing to find a buyer willing to pay enough for the division...
Source: FT.com
Gold Fix Banks Said to Propose Changes to Pricing Process
July 16, 2014--The banks running the century-old London gold fixing that's used by miners and central banks to trade and value metal are proposing changes to the process, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The proposal is for an independent chairman and third-party administrator, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Source:Bloomberg
Wealth gaps lead investors to rethink risk in emerging markets
July 16, 2014--Middle-class anger at not seeing enough of the fruits of economic growth is growing in developing economies, and that anger is forcing the world's biggest investors to rethink how they rank emerging markets.
Political risk has always been a fact of life for investors focused on the developing world, but many money managers are now assessing which countries have institutions and governments robust enough to stop the kind of anger boiling over into the chaos seen after the Arab Spring uprisings.
Source: Reuters
iShares architect to leave Barclays (again)
July 16, 2014--Rory Tobin, one of the Barclays executives instrumental in the development of the iShares exchange-traded funds business that was acquired by BlackRock in late 2009, is to leave the UK bank for a second time.
Ashok Vaswani, head of personal and corporate banking at Barclays, said in a statement: "Rory Tobin, head of global investments and solutions at Barclays' wealth and investment management business, has decided to step down from Barclays and return to institutional asset management."
Source: Financial News
9th quarterly BNY Mellon ETF Services Newsletter
July 14, 2014--Market Commentary
At the end of May 2014, the global ETF industry had 3,749 ETFs, with 8,015 listings and total
assets of $2.40 trillion. The global ETF asset growth YTD 2014 through the end of May is
6.6%. This is from a total of 192 ETF providers on 57 exchanges.
Global inflows into ETFs in 2014 through the end of May was $88.74 billion.
U.S. Market Commentary
As of the end of May 2014, the US ETF industry had 1,314 ETFs/listings and total assets of$1.71 trillion. The US ETF asset growth YTD 2014 through the end of May is 6.2% from a
total of 42 providers on 3 exchanges. In 2014 through the end of May, there have been 74 new ETFs launched by 18 providers, while 19 ETFs have delisted.
Source:BNY Mellon
Regulators discuss "clock drift"
July 14, 2014--As trading hits warp speed, market cops have a growing headache: Clocks can't always keep up.
Most brokers and trading firms now use high-speed computers to fire off thousands of orders in the blink of an eye, and the acceleration is hindering regulators' ability to know precisely when buyers and sellers are matched up.
Source: Wall Street Journal
CME/Thomson Reuters to Run Replacement for Silver Fixing
July 14, 2014--CME Group Inc. and Thomson Reuters Corp. will run the replacement for the 117-year-old silver-fixing benchmark that's ending in August, the London Bullion Market Association said.
Testing is set for early August with the new mechanism to go live on Aug. 15, the LBMA said today in an e-mailed statement. The London Metal Exchange, Autilla Ltd., Bloomberg LP, Intercontinental Exchange Inc., ETF Securities Ltd. and Platts had also proposed alternatives last month.
view more
Source: Bloomberg
World Gold Council-Investment Commentary: First half 2014
This latest edition examines gold's performance during the first half of 2014 and focuses on two trends that, in our view, support adding gold to portfolios as a means of protection and risk management:
The record issuance of lower-rated bonds across markets
view the World Gold Council-Investment Commentary: First half 2014
Source: World Gold Council (WGC)
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Weekly-The Gold Rally Gains Momentum as Equity Volatility Picks Up
Some prudent diversification into safer assets has been the early H2 trend, with geopolitical risks
escalating in the Middle East and Russia, economic risks increasing in Europe and volatility
returning to equity markets. Gold and silver were the best performing precious metals last
week, with gains of 1.2% and 1.4% respectively. Contrary to consensus expectations at the
onset of 2014, all four of the precious metals ended the week with year-to-date gains above
the 6.5% year-to-date increase in the S&P 500 index. FOMC meeting minutes released last
week noted that some Fed officials believe "market participants were not factoring in
sufficient uncertainty about the path of the economy and monetary policy." Gold rallied
sharply with the VIX volatility index which ended the week at 12.1, up from 10.3 the previous
week, which was the lowest since Feb. 2007. Gold should be a primary beneficiary if
volatility returns to the equity markets.
Source: ETF Securities
DECPG Weekly Economic Brief--July 10, 2014
Supported by the current favorable financial market conditions, gross capital flows to developing countries in June were robust. The easing of financial market conditions in recent months is reflected in the decline in developing country bond spreads, including those from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: World Bank
July 14, 2014-- This Investment Commentary explores the main macroeconomic drivers behind gold's price performance.
The historically low volatility environment
July 14, 2014--Increasing uncertainty benefits gold and silver. The second week of the second half of
the 2014 year concluded with precious metal prices continuing to rally, real interest rates
declining and potential cracks forming in the historic 5+ year equity market rally.
July 11, 2014--The post crisis recovery in imports has been uneven. Developing countries have recorded robust growth across all import groups, whereas in high-income countries, reflecting weaker domestic demand conditions, growth especially in durable and capital goods imports has been relatively weaker.
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