Global ETF News Older than One Year
STOXX introduces STOXX Japan Strong Balance Sheet Indices
March 19, 2014--STOXX Limited, a leading provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today introduced the STOXX Japan Strong Balance Sheet Indices, which select stocks according to their Altman Z-Score, a quantitative measure for the financial and fundamental health of a company. The new indices are designed to act as an underlying for exchange-traded products (ETPs) and other investable products, as well as benchmarks for actively managed funds.
Furthermore, they can be replicated passively.
The STOXX Japan Strong Balance Sheet Indices are the first indices to use the Altman Z-Score as a selection criteria for an index concept in the Japanese region.
"The Altman Z-Score is an established mathematical measure to determine a company's financial health. Research has shown that high Altman Z-Scores can serve both as indicator of downturn resilience as well as of outperformance within a market overall," said Hartmut Graf, chief executive office, STOXX Limited.
Source: STOXX
Urgent action needed to tackle rising inequality and social divisions, says OECD
March 18, 2014--Income inequality and social divisions could worsen and become entrenched unless governments act quickly to boost support for the most vulnerable in society, according to a new OECD report.
Society at a Glance 2014 says that despite a gradually improving global economy, medium-term fiscal consolidation in many countries will pose challenges for tackling the social fallout from the crisis.
Public spending on disability, family and unemployment benefits rose during the early phases of the crisis but these areas are now under pressure. Coverage has also been a challenge: while social protection programmes helped soften the blow for many people, others were left with little or no support, notably in southern Europe.
view Society at a Glance 2014 OECD Social Indicators-The crisis and its aftermath
Source: OECD
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Weekly-Does Gold/Copper Ratio Point to Market Correction Ahead?
March 17, 2014--Gold rallies and equities fall as Russia-Ukraine crisis intensifies. Sentiment towards the
gold price continued to improve last week with the gold price rallying 3.7%, for a year-to-date
gain of 15.1%, significantly outperforming global equities.
In direct contrast to 2013, investors have started to build positions in gold again as reflected in a pickup in gold ETP buying and increased longs in the futures market.
n recent weeks, short positions have quickly reversed, as emerging market jitters, Russia's take-over of the Crimea and weakerthan- expected data releases from the US and China have reminded investors that a straightline global economic recovery is far from certain. With political and market turbulence again highlighting the benefits of gold as an insurance asset and one of the better hedges against negative risk events, gold appears to be regaining its lustre after a difficult 2013. Does the gold/copper ratio indicate consensus global growth scenarios need to be scaled back? Higher stock prices, strong economic growth (notably in the US), higher bond yields, a stronger US dollar and lower gold prices were some of the key consensus expectations at the beginning of 2014. As we near the end of Q1, investors are beginning to question many of these 'slam dunk' views. Weaker than expected US and China economic data and the growing Russia-Ukraine crisis appear to have changed investor risk perceptions. More recently a China corporate bond default has raised concerns about a possible unwinding of copper collateralised financing deals. The combination of these factors has driven the copper/gold ratio, sometimes viewed as a leading global economic indicator, sharply lower (see chart below). The question now is whether continued strong consensus global growth forecasts are now going to need to be scaled back.
Source: ETF Securities
New York Strips London of Mantle as World's Top Financial Center
March 16, 2014--New York replaced London as the world's leading financial center for the first time, after the City was rocked by a series of scandals and questions over the U.K.'s place in the European Union.
New York holds the top spot in the latest Global Financial Centres Index with a "shaky, statistically insignificant" two-point lead, according to Michael Mainelli, chairman of Z/Yen Group Ltd., which compiles the index. Competition is heating up, with Hong Kong and Singapore, the two leading Asian centers, narrowing the gap between themselves and the top two to fewer than 30 points on a scale of 1,000, the index shows.
Source: Bloomberg
After Seven Years New York Knocks London From
March 15, 2014--Today the Z/Yen Group publishes the fifteenth Global Financial Centres
Index (GFCI 15), sponsored by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority.
New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore remain the top four global financial centres. New York is now the leading centre although its lead against London is insignificant-two points on a scale of 1,000. London being overtaken by New York in the index is mainly due to London falling (it is the largest faller in the top 50 centres).
It is easy to focus on New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore but others are catching up and now close behind. Three years ago (in GFCI 9) the difference between first and tenth was 117 points. The top ten centres are now within 75 points of each other.
view The Global Financial Centres Index 15 report
Source: longfinance.net
DECPG Weekly Brief
March 14, 2014--Industrial output growth in developing countries has weakened despite surging exports, reflecting growth at close to
capacity in some of the larger middle-income economies. In addition, domestic activity, including retail spending, has
been constrained by commodity market and financial headwinds over the past year.
More positively, diminished financial market tensions have reduced developing country bond spreads, which coupled with still relatively low long-term US rates has helped ease borrowing costs for developing countries somewhat.
Developing country industrial production growth remained weak in Q4, despite a surge in exports. China's industrial output growth slowed sharply, to a 5.6% (3m/3m) annualized pace in February vs. 13% in October. Although the weakness is likely overstated by the Lunar New Year celebration -a ten day period when most of the country shuts down -activity, spending and confidence data suggest that the economy is cooling in response to policy efforts to rebalance and reduce growth to a more sustainable pace. Industrial activity in India remains volatile, having fallen at a 4.9% pace in Q4 2013 (after 9% growth in Q3). Output appears to be stabilizing since then, with manufacturing PMI surveys suggesting a return to positive momentum in Q1 of this year. Activity in the remaining developing countries picked up at the end of 2013, although growth remained weak, averaging 2.4% in the three months to January. The lackluster industrial performance contrasts with developing country (ex China) exports which surged at a 20.8 (15.6)% annualized pace in Q4. The softness partly reflects capacity constraints, especially in some of the larger middle-income countries. Financial headwinds, including modest monetary policy tightening, and lower commodity prices have likely contributed to the slowing of domestic activity.
Source: World Bank
IMF-The Regulatory Responses to the Global Financial Crisis: Some Uncomfortable Questions
March 14, 2014--Summary: We identify current challenges for creating stable, yet efficient financial systems using lessons from recent and past crises. Reforms need to start from three tenets: adopting a system-wide perspective explicitly aimed at addressing market failures; understanding and incorporating into regulations agents' incentives so as to align them better with societies' goals; and acknowledging that risks of crises will always remain, in part due to (unknown) unknowns-be they tipping points, fault lines, or spillovers.
Corresponding to these three tenets,, specific areas for further reforms are identified. Policy makers need to resist, however, fine-tuning regulations: a "do not harm" approach is often preferable. And as risks will remain, crisis management needs to be made an integral part of system design, not relegated to improvisation after the fact.
Source: IMF
Fidelity institutional chief steps down after five months
March 13, 2014--Fidelity Worldwide Investment's institutional business head, Colin Fitzgerald is stepping down just five months after taking over from Chris McNickle.
Prior to joining Fidelity Worldwide Fitzgerald led international marketing at sister company Pyramis Global Advisors. He is leaving following the merger of the marketing divisions of the two firms under Fidelity Worldwide's lead.
Source: Arcus
ETF Industry Milestone a Win for Investors
March 13, 2014--Increased market volatility, sparked by emerging market turmoil and disappointing U.S. economic news, dominated headlines in recent weeks. But a record-breaking event within the investment industry stayed just under the radar.
The total number of global ETFs exceeded 5,000 for the first time this year, a significant milestone that signals greater value available to investors.
ETF Growth Accelerates
Since their introduction in the early 1990s, the pace of new ETF launches was gradual. It took more than 15 years for global ETF listings to hit the 2,000 product mark. But as more investors sought ETF solutions, growth quickly accelerated, more than doubling in the past 6 years to surpass 5,000 funds. Today, the United States accounts for the largest share of ETF assets, making up 71%, or $1.6 trillion, of the overall market across 1,556 funds.
Source: blackrockblog.com/
State Street Global Advisors Revolutionizes Advisor Education with an ETF Education Solution that Fills Knowledge Gap for Investors
March 12, 2014--State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the asset management arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) announced today the launch of ETF Ed, an interactive exchange traded fund (ETF) education learning center. ETF Ed is a new curriculum at SPDR University, SSgA's existing educational site for advisors, and helps investment professionals and their clients advance their understanding of ETFs, their benefits and their many roles in portfolios.
"With the ETF universe expanding rapidly, investors have questions about trends and how new products can be applied and implemented in a portfolio," said Jim Ross, executive vice president and global head of SPDR ETFs at SSgA. "What is revolutionary about ETF Ed is that it evaluates where the knowledge gaps are for the investment professional and creates a very customized syllabus that helps fill those gaps. It is self-paced and designed to guide the user through various lessons to develop and strengthen their ETF expertise. It's a resource that's unlike any other in the industry."
Source: Wall Street Journal
