IMF-Global Financial Stability Notes-Cryptic Connections
					
January 11, 2022--Summary:
Crypto assets have emerged as an increasingly popular asset class among retail and institutional investors. Although initially considered a fringe asset class, their increased adoption across countries-in emerging markets, in particular-amid bouts of extreme price volatility has raised concerns about their potential financial stability implications. 
This note examines the extent to which crypto assets have moved to the mainstream by estimating the potential for spillovers between crypto and equity markets in the United States and in emerging markets using daily data on price volatility and returns.
The analysis suggests that crypto and equity markets have become increasingly interconnected across economies over time. Spillovers from price volatility of the oldest and most popular crypto asset, Bitcoin, to the S&P 500 and MSCI emerging markets indices have increased by about 12-16 percentage points since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, while those from its returns have increased by about 8-10 percentage points. Spillovers from the most traded stablecoin, Tether, to these indices have also increased by about 4-6 percentage points. In absolute terms, spillovers from Bitcoin to global equity markets are significant, explaining about 14-18 percent of the variation in equity price volatility and 8-10 percent of the variation in equity returns. These findings suggest that close monitoring of crypto asset markets and the adoption of appropriate regulatory policies are warranted to mitigate potential financial stability risks.
Source: IMF
Volatility managed multi-factor portfolios
					
January 10, 2022-Abstract
This paper shows that portfolio performance can be improved significantly when jointly using volatilities of past factor returns and option-implied market volatilities to determine factor exposures. 
Improvements are much larger in risk regimes characterized by option-implied right-skewed and/or high vola market returns. When model parameters are estimated separately for different regimes, risk-adjusted portfolio returns improve even further. The results are not driven by a specific set of factors but also achieved when principal components of a large universe of factors are used as factors. The findings are robust to transaction costs and to out-of-sample estimation.
Source: ssrn.com
World Economy Will Exceed $100 Trillion In 2022
					
January 4, 2022--The world economy will reach $100 trillion by 2022 instead of 2024, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. 
China will lead the way of being the global top economy and gross domestic product, the London-based group noted.
Global economies will see their GDP increase while they recover from the pandemic, but could be stymied from higher inflationary risks.
"The important issue for the 2020s is how the world economies cope with inflation," said Douglas McWilliams, the CEBR's deputy chairman.
Source: thestreet.com
As the ETF world booms, so do the risks
					
January 3, 2022--A brilliant financial innovation is being pushed to the extremes.
It is a heady time for the ETF world. Total inflows final yr topped $1tn for the primary time.
Source: FT.com
ETFGI reports record year to date net inflows of US$148.28 billion invested into Smart Beta ETFs and ETPs listed globally at the end of November
					
December 30, 2021--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETFs/ETPs ecosystem, reported today that equity-based Smart Beta ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered net inflows of US$12.72 billion during November, bringing year-to-date net inflows to US$148.28 billion which is higher than the US$42.59 billion gathered at this point last year. 
Year-to-date through the end of November 2021, Smart Beta Equity ETF/ETP assets have increased by 31.7% from US$999 billion to US$1.32 trillion, with a 5-year CAGR of 22.8%, according to ETFGI's November 2021 ETF and ETP Smart Beta industry landscape insights report, the monthly report which is part of an annual paid-for research subscription service. (All dollar vales in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Assets of $1.32 Tn invested in Smart Beta ETFs and ETPs listed globally are 2nd highest on record.
Assets have increased 31.7% YTD going from $999 Bn at end of 2020 to $1.32 Tn at end of November.
Smart Beta ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered net inflows of $12.72 Bn during November 
Record YTD net inflows of $148.28 Bn beat prior record of $81.37 Bn gathered YTD 2019.
$148.28 Bn YTD net inflows are $58.48 Bn or 65% greater than the full year 2019 record net inflows of $89.80 Bn.
$159.65 Bn in net inflows gathered in the past 12 months.
16th month of consecutive net inflows
Source: ETFGI
ETFGI reports a record US$20.23 billion invested in Crypto ETFs and ETPs listed globally at the end of November 2021
					
December 30, 2021-- ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETFs/ETPs ecosystem, reported today a record US$20.23 billion invested in Crypto ETFs and ETPs listed globally at the end of November 2021. Crypto ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered net inflows of US$1.11 billion during November, bringing year-to-date net inflows to US$9.26 billion which is much higher than the US$278 million gathered at this point last year. 
Total assets invested in Crypto ETFs and ETPs increased by 3.7% from US$19.52 billion at the end of October 2021 to US$20.23 billion at the end of November, according to ETFGI's November 2021 Crypto ETFs and ETPs industry landscape insights report, a monthly report which is part of an annual paid-for research subscription service. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Record $20.23 invested in Crypto ETFs and ETPs listed globally at the end of November.
Assets increased by 3.7% from $19.52 billion at end October to $20.23 billion at end November.
Assets have increased 549% year to date in 2021 going from $3.12 Bn at end of 2020 to $20.23 Bn at end November.
Crypto ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered net inflows of $1.11 billion during November.
Record YTD net inflows of $9.26 Bn beating the prior record of $278 Mn gathered YTD in 2020.
$9.40 Bn in net inflows gathered in the past 12 months.
4 Consecutive months of net inflows.
Source: ETFGI
2021 was the year clean energy finally faced its mining problem
					
December 29, 2021--A clean energy revolution will hinge on getting mining right
This year, the clean energy sector finally started grappling in earnest with one of its biggest challenges: how to get enough minerals to build solar panels, wind turbines, and big batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage. Figuring that out will be critical for escaping fossil-fueled ecological disaster. 
It'll also be crucial for policymakers and industry to move forward without throwing certain communities under the bus in the transition to clean energy.
Source: theverge.com
ETF assets close to $10tn after second year of record growth 
					
December 24, 2021--Investors pour in more than $1tn of new cash during 2021 despite coronavirus concerns.
The inflows took global ETF assets under management to $9.92tn at the end of the month, meaning the figure is likely to surge beyond the $10tn....
Source: ft.com
Global Investors Pump Money Into China Equity ETFs-FT
					
December 22, 2021--ChinaAMC MSCI China A 50 Connect, E Fund MSCI China A 50 Connect ETF and China Universal MSCI China A 50 Connect ETF were among the top 15 globally for net inflows in November.
Investors are pumping money into exchange traded funds (ETFs) focused on Chinese equities despite jitters over government interventions that have rattled stocks and sectors this year, the Financial Times reported.
Source: asiafinancial.com
ISS Insights-Financial Clarity: Passive Investment 2021 Q3 Report-Net Flows Fall to Lowest Level in Years
					
December 22, 2021--Stock pickers have their work cut out for them; building a portfolio that can beat the market is difficult and competition among other fund managers in the UK is fierce. Competing against passive funds? That makes their job even more difficult. Passive investors don't overwork themselves trying to find the right fund that can beat its benchmark, they'd rather pick a passive fund that closely tracks an index of their choice. Yes, it does remove the chances of outperforming the market, but it also removes the risk of underperforming the market. 
On top of this, passive funds charge significantly lower management fees. Judging by the speed at which the passive investment market has grown over the last decade, many retail investors are more than willing to make this performance-fees trade-off. Particularly when most active funds underperform their passive counterparts in short to long-term horizons.
Not everyone is sold on passive investing though, sceptics have long claimed that active fund managers would prove their worth in times of market uncertainty. We heard this a lot at the beginning of the pandemic too. Supposedly, stock pickers are better able to navigate the turmoil of difficult market conditions and can be more nimble than passive funds. Unfortunately for the passive fund sceptics, it appears as though most active funds failed to meet their benchmarks in 2020 according to research by SPIVA[1]. Now there's a new challenge though, one that passive funds haven't faced before, high inflation.
Source: insights.issgovernance.com