Global ETF News Older than One Year
Prospects Group Global Monthly-November 2021-Global activity is firming despite a nascent resurgence of COVID-19 and continued supply bottlenecks
November 23, 2021--Overview
High-frequency indicators point to an improvement in the United States and several commodity-exporting EMDEs, but to moderation in the euro area and Central and Eastern Europe.
Rising inflation pressures have yet to materially weigh on global financial conditions.
Special Focus: Informality, Poverty and Income Inequality
Informality is associated with significantly higher poverty and income inequality and less effective fiscal policies.
Informality, poverty, and inequality may interreact through various channels, including systematically higher wages in the formal sector, lower tax revenues, less government spending on essential public services, and weaker social safety nets.
Source: worldbank.org
Quantum Computing's Possibilities and Perils
November 23, 2021--Quantum computers could crack the cryptography that underpins financial stability
Soldiers in ancient Greece would send secret dispatches by wrapping a strip of parchment around a staff and writing across it. Their messages could be deciphered only by someone with a staff of the same thickness. It is one of the earliest examples of cryptography.
Today's secrets, such as Internet communication, digital banking, and electronic commerce, are protected from prying eyes by powerful computer algorithms. Yet these hitherto impenetrable cryptographic codes could soon be history.
Quantum computers can reach a level of optimization that would crack many of today's encryption keys in less time than it takes to generate them using conventional digital computers. Financial institutions should future-proof their cybersecurity systems without delay. Failure to do so will imperil financial stability.
Source: imf.org
Major sector ETFs face risk of large tech companies being reclassified
November 16, 2021--Three of the world's four largest sector-based exchange traded funds face a shake-up due to proposed changes in their composition that would reclassify major companies in information technology indices...
Source: ft.com
Vulnerabilities, resilience in global trading system examined in World Trade Report 2021
November 16, 2021--The 2021 edition of the WTO's World Trade Report examines why the interconnected global trading system is both vulnerable and resilient to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, how it can help countries to be more economically resilient to shocks, and what can be done to make the system better prepared and more resilient in the future.
The flagship publication, launched on 16 November, notes the need to address these issues in light of the prospect of increasingly frequent and more intense natural and man-made disasters.
The report conveys three main messages: first, today's hyper-connected global economy, characterized by deep trade links, has made the world more vulnerable to shocks, such as natural and man-made disasters, but also more resilient to them when they strike.
Second, policies which aim to increase economic resilience by unwinding trade integration - for example, by re-shoring production and promoting self-sufficiency -can often have the opposite effect, effectively reducing economic resilience.
view the World Trade Report 2021 Economic resilience and trade
Source: WTO (World Trade Organization)
ETFGI reports assets invested in actively managed ETFs and ETPs are a record 439 billion US dollars having increased 53.6 percent YTD in 2021
November 16, 2021--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that actively managed ETFs and ETPs gathered net inflows of US$10.36 billion during October, bringing year-to-date net inflows to US$120.28 billion.
Assets invested in actively managed ETFs/ETPs finished the month up to 5.1%, from US$418 billion at the end of September to US$439 billion, according to ETFGI's October 2021 Active ETF and ETP industry landscape insights report, the monthly report which is part of an annual paid-for research subscription service. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Record $439 Bn invested in actively managed ETFs and ETPs industry at end of October 2021.
Assets increased 53.6% YTD in 2021 going from $285.83 Bn at end of 2020 to $438.94 Bn.
Record YTD 2021 net inflows of $120.28 Bn beating prior record of $58.56 Bn gathered in YTD 2020.
$120.28 Bn YTD net inflows are $29.18 Bn greater than the full year 2020 record net inflows $91.10 Bn.
Source: etfgi.com
Crypto trading puts pressure on bourses to open all hours
November 14, 2021--Ability to buy and sell digital assets 24/7 is driving calls for weekend trading of forex and shares.
Source: ft.com
Crypto trading puts pressure on bourses to open all hours
November 14, 2021--Ability to buy and sell digital assets 24/7 is driving calls for weekend trading of forex and shares
Nonstop trading in cryptocurrency markets is pushing traders of traditional assets towards working longer hours-in a reversal of pre-pandemic campaigns by banks and fund managers to shorten opening times for bourses.
Since March last year, Bitcoin and other digital assets have entered the professional investor world, with pension funds and conservative custody banks following family offices and hedge funds into the risky but fast-growing crypto market.
Source: FT.com
OECD-Assets in retirement savings plans rise despite the shock of COVID-19
November 12, 2021--Assets in retirement savings plans continued to grow in 2020 despite the shock of COVID-19, exceeding USD 56 trillion worldwide at year end and amounting to an 11% increase over 2019 figures.
This growth was supported by an increase in the number of people participating in a retirement savings plan, an increase in the overall contributions into these plans and positive investment returns in many countries.
A special feature looks into public pension reserve funds, providing an overview of their features and highlighting some of the commonalities and differences with providers of retirement savings plans.
Source: OECD
Trust in climate science is strong, but optimism about progress is limited: Global survey
November 1, 2021--Global public trust in climate science is rising-and has nearly doubled in some regions, according to a survey published today by the World Economic Forum.
When it comes to the environment, consumers held more confidence in climate science than many existing sustainability efforts from business and government leaders.
Respondents note renewable energy solutions among the top priorities that both world and business leaders should focus on addressing.
The report, The Climate Progress Survey: Business and Consumer Worries and Hopes, coincides with the global COP26 climate summit and drives home the importance of trust and collaboration for meaningful action. Read it online here.
A global study of public opinion published today by the World Economic Forum finds that while trust in climate science has surged, optimism is in shorter supply.
Most participants felt a strong personal responsibility to the environment, even as they felt businesses and governments could do more to make a difference. The majority felt that everyone should work together to tackle climate change.
The study reinforces the World Economic Forum's message that the climate crisis will require urgent cross-sector collaboration using every mechanism available to make meaningful action possible, including policy, finance, technology and education.
Source: weforum.org
Not Yet on Track: Climate Threat Demands More Ambitious Global Action
October 31, 2021--New IMF analysis shows gaps in ambition and policy needed to achieve emissions curbs that contain global warming.
In 1785, Robert Burns reflected on how humanity has come to dominate our planet:
"I’m truly sorry man's dominion, has broken nature's social union," he wrote.
The Scottish poet's words still ring true two centuries later.
Man-made climate change threatens our planet's ecosystem and the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. From the IMF perspective, climate change presents a grave threat to macroeconomic and financial stability.
Now, the window of opportunity for containing global warming to 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius is closing rapidly.
As world leaders gather in Glasgow for COP26, a new IMF Staff Climate Note shows unchanged global policies will leave 2030 carbon emissions far higher than needed to "keep 1.5 alive." Cuts of 55 percent below baseline levels in 2030 would be urgently needed to meet that goal, and of 30 percent to meet the 2 degrees Celsius objective.
Source: IMF.org
