Global ETF News Older than One Year
World Gold Council-Gold as long-term strategic asset-infographic
October 30, 2013--The Gold as long-term strategic asset infographic is now available.
Source: World Gold Council
New UK Bitcoin exchange to bar US clients
October 29, 2013--A new Bitcoin exchange launching in London on Tuesday will bar customers from the US, citing diverging regulatory approaches to the experimental digital currency.
Coinfloor, which is being pitched by its founders as a forum for high-frequency trading in Bitcoin, will open initially only to customers in the UK and the rest of Europe.
Source: FT.com
China Financial Futures Exchange And NASDAQ OMX Sign MOU
October 29, 2013--China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) and the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc (Nasdaq:NDAQ), signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the World Federation of Exchanges' annual meeting to strengthen cooperation and promote mutual development.
CFFEX Chairman Zhang Shenfeng and NASDAQ OMX Vice Chairman Sandy Frucher signed the MOU.
"In recent years, CFFEX has been exploring its global strategy, which includes learning from the experience of overseas markets, strengthening cooperation with them and exploring development opportunities," said Zhang Shenfeng, Chairman, CFFEX. "CFFEX and NASDAQ OMX have previously cooperated, and this new MOU can be seen as an opportunity to explore other areas of cooperation for the mutual benefit of each exchange."
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire, Burundi Lead Sub-Saharan Africa in Improving Business Regulation
Singapore is first on ease of doing business
See how economies have improved over time
Read case studies on implementing business reforms
Coverage expanded to include Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan
October 29, 2013--A new World Bank Group report finds that Sub-Saharan Africa continues to record a large number of reforms aimed at easing the regulatory burden on local entrepreneurs, with 66 reforms adopted in the past year.
Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burundi were among the 10 economies globally improving business regulation the most.
Released today, Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises finds that of the 20 economies improving business regulation the most since 2009, 9 are in Sub-Saharan Africa: Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Togo, Benin, Guinea, Liberia, and CCôte d'Ivoire.
Source: World Bank
SPDR University-Quarterly Forecast-Fourth Quarter 2013
October 29, 2013--Economic Outlook for Developed Markets
CHRISTOPHER PROBYN, PhD, CHIEF ECONOMIST
The recovery from the Great Recession began well enough, withglobal GDP surging 5.2% in 2010, but a combination of factors
slowed growth to 3.9% in 2011, 3.2% last year and 3.0% this year. However, this should prove the nadir, with growth
reaccelerating to 3.6% next year as the emerging markets stabilize and the advanced economies finally gain some traction.
Oil prices have largely driven headline inflation over the last five years. We expect oil prices to trend sideways through the rest of this year but begin to drift higher next year as global growth accelerates and the call on OPEC increases. Consequently, headline inflation decelerates in 2013 and stabilizes in 2014. Meanwhile, core inflation remains benign as output gaps narrow only slowly.
Most of the major central banks are on hold at extremely accommodative levels. That should not change appreciably through the end of next year. While the overall stance of monetary policy will become slightly less accommodative, most noticeably in the US, administered interest rates should not rise before 2015, except possibly in Canada and Australia.
Global growth seems unlikely to surprise on the upside. Rather, the risks seem more skewed to the downside, with the single largest one being a further growth disappointment in the developing economies. Meanwhile, the risks to inflation seem broadly balanced. Any disruption to the flow of OPEC crude could push oil prices to new all-time highs, while a growth disappointment would impart downside risks.
Source: State Street Global Advisors
FTSE launches new Shariah Developed Minimum Variance Index
October 29, 2013--Methodology is a design-first in Shariah finance world; combining Shariah investment principles with advanced risk management techniques
Specifically designed to meet the needs of the Shariah market globally
New index series builds on the success of existing FTSE Shariah equity indices
Index series certified Shariah-compliant by independent consultants, Yassar Limited
Strengthens FTSE's leading position as a developer of innovative, alternatively-weighted indices
FTSE Group ("FTSE"), the global index provider, is pleased to announce the launch of its new FTSE Shariah Developed Minimum Variance Index. The index series aims to deliver reduced index volatility through ethical and financial screening. The methodology for the FTSE Shariah Developed World Index has been designed to target a balanced index risk profile by overweighting stocks that reduce index volatility and underweighting stocks that increase index volatility.
Source: FTSE
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly-Gold Continues to Shine in the Aftermath of the US Government Shutdown
October 28, 2013--Key points
Gold and silver prices rally on the weak US data and dollar.
Gold is shining in the US government shutdown post-mortem.
Platinum and palladium remain attractive as global economic prospects improve.
Source: ETF Securities
SPDR gold ETF sales have no effect on gold price
Sales from the SPDR gold ETF holdings yesterday had no effect on the gold price as it rose slightly to $1,350, reports Julian Phillips.
October 28, 2013--Gold closed stronger at $1,351.50 up $6.10 in New York on Friday.
Asia held it there and London dropped it $4 ahead of the Fix, where it was set at $1,351.00 up $9.25 over Friday's Fix. In the euro it Fixed at €978.28 up €6.25 over Friday's Fixing.
Source: MineWeb
Research costs reform seen squeezing fund firm profits
October 28, 2013--Moves to revolutionise the way global fund managers pay banks for company research could slash the profitability of their equity funds business by up to 50 percent, research has showed.
Most fund firms pass on the cost of equity research, valued in the region of $5 billion a year, to their own clients, who pick up the bill as part of commissions paid to brokers for buying and selling stocks on behalf of the fund.
Source: Reuters
IEA-Key World Energy Statistics 2013
October 26, 2013--The Key World Energy Statistics 2013 report is now available.
Source: IEA
