Global ETF News Older than One Year
A Call for Countries & Companies to Support a Price on Carbon
May 5, 2014--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Through a statement of support to be launched at the UN Climate Summit, countries and companies could work to strengthen carbon pricing policies and implementation to better manage investment risks and opportunities and also share their expertise.
The proposed statement reflects a sense of urgency and inevitably for carbon pricing. Growing momentum by countries and businesses in support of carbon pricing was evident at a global meeting of government officials, corporate leaders and investors ahead of the Summit.
The debate over carbon pricing has shifted, with the focus moving from whether to have carbon pricing to how to put an effective price on carbon. The change comes in the face of scientific warnings, clear evidence of countries acting to spur low-carbon development, companies moving to develop business strategies for a carbon-constrained world, and a groundswell of interest in how to use economic policy and business planning to transition to low-carbon and resilient development.
view the infographic- Carbon Markets of the World
Source: World Bank
ETP Landscape: Record April with $33.5bn inflows
May 5, 2014--ETP flows exceed $30bn in record April as economic outlook stabilizes after a volatile first quarter.
Global ETP inflows surged to a six-month high of $33.5bn in April and were broad-based, led by emerging markets, US large cap equity and renewed strength for non-US developed markets equity
April marked a return to fundamentals-based investing with the global economy on more solid footing, headline risks muted, US earnings season off to a good start and the emerging markets driven equity volatility of Q1 out of the picture
Emerging markets ETPs led both equity and fixed income flows during the month
Broad EM equity gathered $5.9bn-the first positive month since October-though the late-March surge that continued into April slowed to close the month
EM debt ETPs contributed $1.3bn-the best month since October 2012-and investors continue to favor hard currency over local currency funds
Non-US developed equity ETPs, which remain an attractive option for investors seeking relative value as the US bull market continues, generated flows of $9.9bn in April to regain momentum after a flat March
Source: BlackRock-ETP Research
Make growth socially inclusive for improved well-being and stronger economies-OECD report
May 5, 2014--But policies to tackle the widening gap between rich and poor will only succeed if they also look beyond income and address better access to high-quality education, health care and public infrastructure, it adds.
The wealthy have overwhelmingly captured the benefits of growth. The average income of the richest 10 percent of the population in OECD countries was nine and a half times higher than that of the poorest 10 percent in 2010, compared with a level seven times higher 25 years ago.
In the United States, the richest 1 percent took 47 percent of total income growth between 1976 and 2007, compared with 37 percent in Canada and around 20 percent in Australia and Britain. The gap between rich and poor has widened even faster since the financial crisis.
view the OECD All on Board: Making Inclusive Growth Happen report
Source: OECD
Healthy, happy and wise', users top priorities as OECD releases its 2014 Better Life Index
May 5, 2014--Japanese users of the Better Life Index (BLI) worry most about safety, Australians seek work-life balance, Latin Americans strive for better education, and Danes want to be happy-user feedback shows as the Index marks its third birthday.
More than 3.6 million people in 184 countries have used the wellbeing barometer to measure and compare their quality of life based on their own priorities. Typically people have used it to compare countries according to the weighting they give to 11 categories ranging from income to the environment.
A new feature for 2014 reveals to users for the first time what more than 60,000 people around the world believe to be the most important factors for quality of life. This living database, viewable via an interactive map, allows policymakers everywhere to see what matters to users of the Better Life Index.
Source: OECD
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Weekly-Precious Metals Decline as US Growth Prospects Improve
May 5, 2014--Strong April US unemployment report overshadows weak Q1 GDP, pushing gold price down. The gold price continued to decline last week as equities recovered despite a
mere 0.1% print for US Q1 GDP, with investors' preferring to focus on the green shoots of spring. Better than expected US unemployment data on Friday with the rate dropping to 6.3% from 6.7%, confirmed what most analysts have been expecting, a pickup in economic
growth following the extremely harsh winter.
The silver price also declined, dropping 2.5% on the week. Palladium bucked the trend adding 1.4% for a year-to-date (YTD) gain of 14.0%. Inflation and inflation expectations remained non-existent as demonstrated by declining bond yields. On the first day of May, the US 30-year bond yield dropped to the lowest yield since June 2013 at 3.41%, down from near 4.0% at the end of 2013.
Gold GOFO rates continued to indicate a tight market with rates ending the week in negative territory out to 6-months. Expanding economic growth with disinflation from such low levels is not usual but appeared to be the state of things at the end of last week, overshadowing Russian aggression fears. Historically, gold has performed best in strong inflationary and deflationary environments but not so well during disinflationary periods. There is not much disinflation left from 1.1% CPI, the YOY level at the end of 2013. .
A lack of resolution of labour dispute in South Africa boosts palladium price.
Source: ETF Securities
Average daily volume of 8,7 million contracts at Eurex Group in April
May 2, 2014--In April, the international derivatives exchanges of Eurex Group recorded an average daily volume of 8, 7 million contracts (April 2013: 9.8 million). Of those, 6.1 million were Eurex Exchange contracts (April 2013: 7.1 million), and 2, 6 million contracts (April 2013: 2.7 million) were traded at the U.S.-based International Securities Exchange (ISE).
In total, 177.2 million contracts were traded, thereof 122.2 million at Eurex Exchange and 54.9 million at the ISE.
In its largest segment -equity index derivatives- Eurex Exchange achieved 47, 6 million contracts (April 2013: 54.3 million). Futures on the EURO STOXX 50 Index stood at 18.6 million contracts and 17.1 million on the index options. Futures on the DAX index totalled 2.1 million contracts while the DAX options reached another 2.6 million contracts.
Source: Eurex
Global flows in a digital age
April 30, 2014--Global flows have been a common thread in economic growth for centuries, since the days of the Silk Road, through the mercantilist and colonial periods and the Industrial Revolution. But today, the movement of goods, services, finance, and people has reached previously unimagined levels. Global flows are creating new degrees of connectedness among economies-and playing an ever-larger role in determining the fate of nations, companies, and individuals; to be unconnected is to fall behind.
Flows of goods, services, and finance reached $26 trillion in 2012, or 36 percent of global GDP, 1.5 times the level in 1990. Now, one in three goods crosses national borders, and more than one-third of financial investments are international transactions. In the next decade, global flows could triple, powered by rising prosperity and participation in the emerging world and by the spread of the Internet and digital technologies. Our scenarios show that global flows could reach $54 trillion to $85 trillion by 2025, more than double or triple their current scale.
Source: McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)
MSCI Completes Sale of ISS
April 30, 2014--MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, announced today that it has completed the sale of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS"), its wholly-owned subsidiary comprising MSCI's Governance segment, to Vestar Capital Partners for total cash
consideration of $367 million, subject to customary post,closing adjustments.
Source: MSCI
Eurex to launch index futures contracts based on TASE's main index in June
New contracts available as of 9 June 2014
The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and Eurex Exchange, the international derivatives marketplace and part of Deutsche Börse Group, announced today during a joint press briefing, that Eurex Exchange will list index futures based on the TA-25, Israel's blue chip index, as of 9 June 2014.
The TA-25 index is one of the most heavily traded regional equity indexes. Eurex Exchange's TA-25 index futures will be denominated in US dollars.
Source: Eurex
IMF Working paper-Monetary Policy Coordination and the Role of Central Banks
April 29, 2014--Summary: The unconventional monetary policies (UMPs) pursued by the advanced economies (AEs) have posed macroeconomic challenges for the emerging market economies (EMEs) through volatile capital flows and exchange rates. AE central banks need to acknowledge and appreciate the spillovers resulting from such UMPs.
Central banks of the AEs, who have set up standing mutual swap facilities, should explore similar arrangements with other significant EMEs with appropriate risk mitigation measures. These initiatives could do much to actually curb volatility in global financial markets and hence in capital flows to EMEs, thus obviating the need for defensive policy actions on the part of EMEs.
IMF Working paper-Monetary Policy Coordination and the Role of Central Banks
Source: IMF
