Global ETF News Older than One Year
First Bridge-Global ETF Sponsor Market Share
May 22, 2014--The global ETP industry ended April 2014 with assets of $2.5T. The growth in the space over the last several years has continued to attract new entrants as well as product launches from existing players.
There are now a little over 225 ETF sponsors globally. The table below shows the global market share numbers (as of end April 2014) for the top 15 ETF sponsors. The data is sourced from the First Bridge ETF database that includes all globally listed ETPs.
Source: First Bridge
IMD releases its 2014 World Competitiveness Yearbook Ranking
The US leads, Europe recovers, and big emerging markets struggle
A country's image abroad can also influence future competitiveness
May 22, 2014--IMD, a top-ranked global business school based in Switzerland, today announced its annual world competitiveness ranking. As part of its ranking of 60 economies for 2014, the IMD World Competitiveness Center also looks at perceptions of each country as a place to do business.
"The overall competitiveness story for 2014 is one of continued success in the US, partial recovery in Europe, and struggles for some large emerging markets," said Professor Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center. "There is no single recipe for a country to climb the competitiveness rankings, and much depends on the local context."
Highlights of the 2014 ranking
The US retains the No. 1 spot in 2014, reflecting the resilience of its economy, better employment numbers, and its dominance in technology and infrastructure.
There are no big changes among the top ten. Small economies such as Switzerland (2), Singapore (3) and Hong Kong (4) continue to prosper thanks to exports, business efficiency and innovation.
view the World Competitiveness Ranking 2014
Source: IMD World Competitiveness Center
BlackRock calls for international fund redemption rules
May 22, 2014--BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is calling for international rules that could impose redemption fees for some kinds of funds, to cut the chances of damaging runs during times of market panic.
The company says regulators should eliminate any "first-mover advantage" to investors who sell out of a fund as market liquidity is starting to dry up.
Source: FT.com
ETP inflows pick up, with EM ETPs benefiting
May 22, 2014--April saw record fund flows into ETFs and ETPs as the overall economic outlook began to stabilise after a tumultuous first quarter says ETFGI,
the research and consultancy firms established by industry expert Deborah Fuhr. ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered $34bn in net new assets in April which, when combined with a small positive market performance in the month, pushed assets in the global ETF/ETP industry to a new record high of $2.49trn...
Source: FTSE Global Markets
Four Game-Changers that Will Revolutionze Travel and Transport by 2025
May 21, 2014-- A new report released at the Annual Summit of the International Transport Forum today by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group, shows how travel and transport will be transformed by 2025.
According to the report, Connected World: Hyperconnected Travel and Transportation in Action, the lack of cross-industry cooperation, conflicting policies and missing standards, and the inherent risks of hyperconnectivity are the main barriers for seamless travel and transport. These barriers, notes the report, can be overcome through four solutions based largely on existing technology: a game-changer for using intermodal travel; a future traffic management system for megacities; a new answer for visa, airport security and border control processes; and logistics optimization.
view the Connected World: Hyperconnected Travel and Transportation in Action report
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
LSE nears $3bn Russell deal
May 20, 2014--London Stock Exchange Group PLC is in exclusive talks to buy Russell Investments, the index and asset management business, the Financial Times reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the FT, the deal for Russell Investments could be valued at USD3 billion. However, talks "may still fall apart" and no outcome is expected for at least a couple of weeks...
Source: Morningstar
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Weekly-Fall in US Real Yields Confounds the Consensus and Boosts the Gold Price
May 19, 2014--U.S real yields have declined sharply in 2014, confounding the consensus and supporting the gold price. The US 10yr yield dropped to 2.5% last week, declining 50bps
from 3.0% at the end of 2013. The fall has gone against consensus expectations and also helps explain why the consensus has been so wrong on the performance of the gold price
so far this year. Real (inflation-adjusted) yields have fallen even more, with US CPI rising from 1.5% at the end of 2013, to 2.0% in April.
This has led to around a 1% decline in the US 10yr real yield in just five months. If inflation continues to creep up, while bond yields remain subdued, the gold price may continue to rally.
Platinum and palladium prices continue to rise as strikes in South Africa turn violent. Last week, platinum led the precious metals higher with a 2.4% gain as South Africa strikes turned violent, adding to concerns about possible supply shortages. The palladium price reached its highest closing level since August 2011, with price support also boosted by Russian sanction fears as Russia remains the world’s largest palladium producer.
Meanwhile, reports on Friday that Russia’s state may be considering buying palladium, if true, would also likely be price supportive. Labour strikes at the mines in South Africa have resulted in over 13% of platinum and 9% of palladium global mine supply lost to the strikes so far. Amplats, Implats and Lonmin have declared force majeure on some of their contracts, highlighting the difficulty in getting supplies of metal to buyers. Even if the strikes are resolved soon and prices dip, we would view the declines as a potential longer-term buying opportunity as supply demand deficits and production costs continue to rise.
Source: ETF Securities
For investors, diamonds might be the new gold
May 19, 2014--Gold has lost its luster--at least as an investment. Since hitting $1,900 an ounce in the summer of 2011,the price of the shiny metal has plunged some 30%.
That fall has prompted an exodus from gold-backed ETFs. But now investors are setting their sights on another precious material: diamonds.
Excitement has been building in recent months around the potential of diamonds to become a veritable asset class for the first time.
Source: CNN Money
Gold Demand Trends First Quarter 2014
May 19, 2014--Gold jewellery demand totals 571t in Q1, biggest start to year since 2005
Jewellery demand grew 3% year-on-year to reach 571t, the largest Q1 volume since 2005, as consumers responded positively to lower average gold prices. Geographically, demand was wide-spread; however it was China that posted the largest volume increase, rising by 18 tonnes from Q1 2013.
Shifts in the components of investment cancel out: net investment demand little changed, down 2%
First quarter investment demand of 282t was just 6 tonnes below Q1 2013. Bar and coin demand was down 39% from last year's elevated levels, while outflows from ETFs slowed to a virtual halt compared with outflows of 177t in Q1 last year.
view the World Gold Council Gold Demand Trends Q1 2014 report
Source: World Gold Council
The New Frontier: Economies on the Rise
May 19, 2014--There is a group of fast-growing low-income countries that are attracting international investor interest-frontier economies. Understanding who they are, how they are different, and how they have moved themselves to the frontier matters for the global economy because they combine huge potential with big risks.
Get to know them
The first thing to note is that some of these countries already have moved to the lower-middle income group. While a working definition of frontier economies is subject to further discussion, broadly speaking, these countries have been deepening their financial markets, such as Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Vietnam.
Some also have been able to tap the international capital markets, such as Bolivia, Ghana, Honduras, Mongolia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia. Their markets are, however, not as deep and liquid as those of the emerging markets, but compared to the latter, they offer higher returns and the benefits of a diversified portfolio.
Source: IMF Direct
