Global ETF News Older than One Year
ETF Securities-Research Note: Platinum Group Metals Outlook: Palladium Still Favoured
May 15, 2013--Report Summary
After a strong start to the year, platinum and palladium have given back most of the gains accumulated since the beginning of 2013, as the recent sell-off in precious metals has weighed on performance.
We expect the soft patch in US and Chinese economic indicators to be temporary and healthy growth will resume in the coming months, supported by on-going central bank policy stimulus. With platinum prices currently trading an estimated US$400 per ounce below miners' cash operating costs, more production cut backs are expected. While supply-side dynamics are price-supportive for both platinum and palladium, demand drivers are likely to favour palladium, which is more exposed to the strong growth of the US and Chinese auto sectors.
Source: ETF Securities
IMF Staff Discussion paper-Creating a Safer Financial System: Will the Volcker, Vickers, and Liikanen Structural Measures Help?
May 14, 2013--Summary: The U.S.,, the U.K., and more recently, the E.U., have proposed policy measures directly targeting complexity and business structures of banks. Unlike other, price-based reforms (e.g., Basel 3 and G-SIFI surcharges), these proposals have been developed unilaterally with material differences in scope, design and implementation schedules.
This may exacerbate cross-border regulatory arbitrage and put a further burden on consolidated supervision and cross-border resolution. This paper provides an analysis of the potential implications of implementing different structural policy measures. It proposes a pragmatic and coordinated approach to development of these policies to reduce risk of regulatory arbitrage and minimize unintended consequences. In doing so, it also aims to identify a set of common policy measures that countries could adopt to re-scope bank business models and corporate structures.
Source: IMF
Supply shock from North American oil rippling through global markets
IEA's Medium-Term Oil Market Report sees companies overhauling global investment strategies; meanwhile, surge in non-OECD refining capacity shakes up product market
May 14, 2013--The supply shock created by a surge in North American oil production will be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand over the last 15, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its annual Medium-Term Oil Market Report (MTOMR) released today.
The shift will not only cause oil companies to overhaul their global investment strategies, but also reshape the way oil is transported, stored and refined.
According to the MTOMR, the effects of continued growth in North American supply – led by US light, tight oil (LTO) and Canadian oil sands – will cascade through the global oil market. Although shale oil development outside North America may not be a large-scale reality during the report’s five-year timeframe, the technologies responsible for the boom will increase production from mature, conventional fields – causing companies to reconsider investments in higher-risk areas.
Source: International Energy Agency (IEA)
Number of Cross-Listed Futures Doubles as Investors Search for Better Access to Global Markets, Says TABB
Number of Cross-Listed Futures Doubles as Investors Search for Better Access to Global Markets, Says TABB
Majority of 30 Contracts are Found on Exchanges in India, Hong Kong and Russia
May 13, 2013--In a new report, international capital markets research firm TABB says cross-listed futures, which have more than doubled since 2010, can succeed as investors across the financial markets continue to allocate a greater percentage of their assets to non-domestic exposures.
Cross-listed futures allow investors to trade foreign-based futures contracts on their local exchange. They benefit institutional investors looking to simplify their trade and settlement processes. For exchanges, they create a new revenue base at a relatively low cost.
Source: TABB Group
Euronext Weighs Postdeal Plans
May 13, 2013--NYSE Euronext is considering a dual-track process to either sell or spin off a European stock-trading business that is attracting interest from potential private-equity suitors, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Euronext arm is due to be separated after the Big Board operator's planned $10 billion acquisition by IntercontinentalExchange Inc. ICE +1.95% The enlarged company is to focus on its more profitable derivatives business and the U.S. stock and options trading.
Source: Wall Street Journal
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Weekly: Platinum and Palladium in Focus as South African Production Cuts Support Prices
May 13, 2013--Today, Johnson Matthey kicks off London Platinum Week by releasing its 2013 platinum review. Both platinum and palladium recorded a substantial deficit in 2012, as social tensions in South Africa reduced PGM production by 13% last year; hence it will be interesting to see what the company forecasts for 2013.
The focus on platinum group metal supply will remain in coming weeks after Anglo American Platinum unveiled details of its recent restructuring plan last weeks. With production cuts expected to be in the range of 4% of total platinum supply in 2013, the platinum market might be tighter than originally estimated.
Platinum and palladium head higher as Anglo American Platinum announces restructuring plans. At the beginning of the year Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world's biggest producer of platinum, announced its intention to close four mine shafts and is looking to sell another mine complex as part of a radical overhaul of its South African operations. The planned restructuring could cost the industry as much as 6,000 jobs and 250,000oz of production, equivalent to 4% of total platinum supply. Although the plan involves fewer job layoffs than originally anticipated, mine workers have signalled their intention to strike.
Source: ETF Securities
Bulls leave their footprints on both Equity and Bond fund groups during early May
May 10, 2013--EPFR Global-tracked Bond Funds set their second consecutive weekly,inflow record in early May, outgaining Equity Funds for the third straight week despite the strong rally underway in many major equity markets.
The week ending May 8 also saw Money Market Funds snap an outflow streak stretching back to late February.
Overall flows into Bond Funds totaled $13.07 billion while Equity Funds, helped by the first retail commitments in three weeks, absorbed a net $10.49 billion and Money Market Funds took in $21.67 billion, their biggest inflow since early January Funds dedicated to the US accounted for over 50% of the flows into all Bond Funds and over 70% of the flows into Equity Funds.
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Source: EPFR
Heat-Trapping Gas Passes Milestone, Raising Fears
May 10, 2013--The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years.
Scientific instruments showed that the gas had reached an average daily level above 400 parts per million — just an odometer moment in one sense, but also a sobering reminder that decades of efforts to bring human-produced emissions under control are faltering.view more
Source: New York Times
Ahead of 2013 Russell Indexes reconstitution, a look back shows dynamic stocks helped drive a return of 26% for the Russell Developed Europe Index since 2012 reconstitution, while defensive stocks have led the Index year-to-date as of May 7
May 9, 2013--The European equity market as reflected by the Russell Developed Europe Index returned 26% since the completion of the Russell Indexes 2012 annual reconstitution, the annual rebalancing of the Russell Global Indexes, on June 25, 2012 to May 7, 2013, with dynamic stocks as reflected by the Russell Developed Europe Dynamic Index significantly outperforming defensive stocks as reflected by the Russell Developed Europe Defensive Index for the same time period.
Since the start of 2013, defensive stocks have led within the Index, with the Russell Developed Europe Defensive Index outperforming the Russell Developed Europe Dynamic Index year-to-date as of May 7.
Source: Russell
Thomson Reuters Global Equities Monthly Market Share Data Reports-April 2013
May 9, 2013--Trading is fragmenting between exchanges and competing venues. But by how much and which venues? Find out in the summarised monthly reports.
Source: Thomson Reuters
