Global ETF News Older than One Year
DECPG Weekly Brief-February 28, 2014
February 28, 2014--GDP growth moderated in China, but firmed among other developing countries in the final quarter of 2013, and
remained steady in high income countries.
A fourth quarter acceleration in capital goods orders in both developing and high-income countries bodes well for future growth prospects. Price-to-earnings ratios of equities in developing countries have remained depressed since 2011, partly reflecting slower growth, weaker commodity prices, and increased risk perceptions.
Notwithstanding weaker Chinese growth, GDP growth in most developing countries picked up in Q4 2013. The annualized pace of GDP growth in developing countries (excluding China) picked up from 4.8 percent to 5.6 percent in 2013Q4. In China, growth slowed from an annualized 9.3 percent to 7 percent amid rising uncertainties about investment and corporate debt and the waning effects of an earlier mini-stimulus. Weak domestic demand (partly reflecting policy tightening) resulted in slowing industrial activity in India and disappointing fourth quarter GDP growth in Mexico. By contrast, growth in East Asian countries excluding China continued to strengthen, supported by acceleration in exports, as well as robust domestic demand in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Similarly, the Europe and Central Asia region benefited from strengthening Euro Area demand. South Africa’s growth accelerated in Q4 as the effects of earlier strikes on domestic activity waned. Growth in high-income countries remained stable at about 2 percent, buoyed by robust private demand, and a pickup in exports in Germany, France and the United States. Growth in Q4 in Japan was a modest 1 percent as the effect of stimulus measures waned and the country prepares for structural reform.
Source: World Bank
Proposed A-shares ETFs could transform investors' approach to China
They would gives Westerners access to a broader swathe of the economy
February 27, 2014--Filling the pipeline of SEC filings are more than a dozen new ETFs that could potentially change the way investors access Chinese stocks.
The proposed funds, which total at least 15-mostly, from Van Eck Associates and Deutsche Bank AG- promise to offer ETF investors fine-grained exposure to the newly liberalized market for Chinese A shares, which are stocks traded on exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Source: Invesstment News
China's yuan dislodges Swiss franc as 7th most-used currency: SWIFT
February 27, 2014--China's yuan surpassed the Swiss franc to become the seventh most-used world payments currency in January, global transaction services organization SWIFT said on Thursday.
With a market share of 1.39 percent, the yuan remained one of the top 10 most-used currencies for payments worldwide for the third consecutive month. It ranked eighth in December.
Source: Reuters
Source Aims to Grow ETF Assets to $50bn
February 27, 2014--Source, the European exchange-traded fund provider, aims to triple assets following its sale of a majority stake last month to Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm.
As a result of the deal Lee Kranefuss, an executive-in-residence at Warburg Pincus, has joined Source as executive chairman to work with the management team led by chief executive Ted Hood. Kranefuss was previously global chief executive of iShares but left after the ETF provider was sold by Barclays Global Investors to BlackRock.
Source: MaketsMedia.com
World Bank Food Price Watch, February 2014: Prices Decline at a Slower Pace; Focus on Food Loss and Waste
February 27, 2014--Prices of internationally traded food commodities continued to decline-by 3%-between October 2013 and January 2014, adding another quarter to previously observed price declines since the August 2012 historical high. Record harvests in wheat, maize and rice, increasing availability of supplies, and stronger global stocks have continued to drive down prices.
Yet, international prices are still not overly far from their historical peak. Upward pressures from weather concerns and increasing demand, and downward risks from the effects on export prices of an increasingly contested Thai rice procurement program continue to require close monitoring.
view the World Bank report-Food Price Watch
view the infographic-Food Loss and Waste
Source: World Bank
Schroders Global Investment Trends Report 2014
February 26, 2014--Investors worldwide turn to equity markets for growth in 2014 with four-fifths planning to maintain or increase the amount they invest and save this year.
This is the first major sentiment study into investor confidence and attitudes this year, and indicates that if 2013 was the year of returning hope, 2014 is set to be the year of returning growth opportunities.
However, it will also be a year of challenges for investors, with a backdrop of uncertainty regarding how the steady withdrawal of Quantitative Easing (QE) will impact economies,, and how sustained the growth story will be in individual countries.
view the Schroders Global Investment Trends Report 2014
Source: Schroder Investment Management Limited
Top 10 Emerging Technologies That Will Reshape the Future
Smarter drugs, super-light cars and computers operated by thought among 10 breakthroughs highlighted
The World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies is composed of top experts on new technologies around the world, representing both the academic and business world
February 26, 2014--From super-light cars to smarter drugs, the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies has identified the top 10 emerging technologies of 2014 that could reshape the society of the future.
Comprised of leading thinkers from academia and industry, the Council selected the innovations with input both from experts within the Network and after discussions with industry leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2014 in Davos-Klosters. Each innovation was selected for its potential to have a real and positive impact on the world.
The list includes a new technique for extracting metals along with drinking water from the sea, new ways of treating cancer using microbes found naturally in the human body and computer interfaces operated by the power of thought.
view the World Economic Forum Top 10 Emerging Technologies 2014 report
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
Can We Prevent Financial Crises?
February 26, 2014--To answer that question, the World Bank in February held a panel discussion led by authors of three books examining lessons learned from financial crises. Mahmoud Mohieldin, World Bank Group president's special envoy, said the three books can help policy makers examine the current turmoil affecting emerging markets, along with the hypothetical diagnoses proposed by some commentators: distorted asset prices, questionable growth foundations, human behavior, and overborrowing by households and the private sector.
"The underlying cause is the structural problem in the financial system, which distorts incentives to rational human behavior, generates excessive credit growth, distorts prices, and results in overstretched balance sheets," said Asli Demirguc-Kunt, the World Bank's research director and co-author of a report, the Global Financial Development Report 2013: Rethinking the Role of the State in Finance.
Source: World Bank
World Bank-Infographic: Tapping the Market-Expanding Access to Sanitation to the Poor Through the Domestic Private Sector
February 26, 2014--The World Bank-Infographic: Tapping the Market-Expanding Access to Sanitation to the Poor Through the Domestic Private Sector is now available.
Source: World Bank
UPDATE 2-Barclays pulls down shutters on European, U.S. power trading desks
February 25, 2014-Britain's Barclays Plc said on Tuesday it has closed its power trading desks in London and New York, joining a string of global investment banks that are paring down their commodity market activities as increased regulations bite.
Barclays, a top-five banking player in commodities trading which is in the process of shrinking its investment banking activities, said its "core commodities franchise continues to operate business as usual".
Source: Reuters
