Global ETF News Older than One Year
Automated Trader: "Eurex Exchange releases results of proprietary HFT research"
May 27, 2013--Eurex Exchange is the first exchange in Europe to share part of its proprietary quantitative research on high-frequency trading (HFT) with the public. Key findings of this research include: (a) HFT participants played an important and beneficial role during one of the most extreme market situations Eurex Exchange has seen in recent years,
(b) HFT participants play a unique and indispensable role in the recovery of market quality right after large trades, and (c) Eurex Exchange did not find evidence of abusive HFT activity. In contrary, in the article in Automated Trader, Vassilis Vergotis, Dr. Randolf Roth and Bernard Hosman explain why, according to the study, high-frequency trading activity is an important positive contributor to overall market quality and stability.
Source: Eurex/Automated Trader
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Weekly: Palladium Rallies on Supply Concerns, Gold Retraces 1976 Patterns
May 27, 2013--Precious metal prices saw divergent trends last week, with two of the more
industrially-oriented metals-palladium and silver-seeing gains, while gold was
whip-sawed by Fed comments and US growth data.
Looking forward, we continue to expect the white metals to outperform on the back of continued improvements in global growth data and supply side constraints on palladium and platinum. The gold price in the near term will likely remain under pressure on perceptions the Fed's monetary stance will soon become less accommodative and the related strength of the US dollar.
Medium-term, however, strong physical buying by the public and central banks and a reversal of highly stretched short positions in the futures market make a strong case for a gold price rally later this year. Gold price whip-sawed by perceptions of Fed policy. With the Fed’s policy now tightly tied to highly unpredictable economic data, gold price volatility has increased and technical short-term trading has dominated the futures market.
Source: ETF Securities
Silver prices to remain under pressure this year-Barclays
Barclays says it expects the silver market to produce a its second largest surplus on record in 2013.
May 27, 2013--Silver is likely to be the weakest performer of the precious metals complex over 2013, Barclays says.
Writing in its Weekly Commodities note, the bank said it expects the silver market to deliver its second largest surplus in record this year, which is likely to put pressure on prices.
Source: MineWeb
Fund flows continue to dance to QE tune ahead of warning that the music may stop
May 24, 2013--Going into the third week of May QE was unequivocally shorthand for quantitative easing, the fuel that has propelled a number of benchmark equities indexes to multi-year highs during the current quarter.
By the end of the week, however, some investors were wondering if the acronym may be associated with “quick escape” in the weeks ahead as markets digested fresh signals from the US Federal Reserve that it is looking to normalize monetary policy as soon as the US economy is strong enough to cope.
Overall, flows into EPFR Global-tracked Equity Funds remained strong during the week ending May 22. But daily data showed commitments to all the major groups except Japan Equity Funds tailing off as the week progressed while flows into Bond Funds gained momentum. Bond Funds ended the week having taken in a net $4.49 billion versus $7.49 billion for Equity Funds and $16.03 billion for Money Market Funds.
Visit epfr.com for more info.
Source: EPFR
Eurex may copy CME swap futures
May 24, 2013--German exchange seeking legal advice on scope of Goldman Sachs patent behind CME's interest rate swap futures
Eurex is consulting with dealers and buy-side firms on the potential launch of a euro-denominated interest rate swap future contract that may mimic the design of contracts traded on US rival CME Group, Risk has learned.
Source: Risk.net
IOSCO Emerging market regulators emphasised the need for stronger voice in shaping global regulatory reform to reflect emerging markets' position
May 23, 2013--Global emerging market securities regulators met in Panama City from 21-23 May 2013 and reinforced the need to play a more active role in global regulatory reform efforts and being involved at early stages of new international regulatory reforms to ensure emerging market considerations are reflected in the reform efforts.
In defining the future role of the Emerging Markets Committee (EMC) of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the group also agreed to rename the committee as the Growth and Emerging Markets (GEM) Committee to better reflect the nature of the markets in which its members operate. The 86 members include some of world’s fastest growing economies and 10 of the G-20 members.
Source: IOSCO
Coming to America-Safe expands its horizons
May 23, 2013--Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and now New York. The world's biggest currency reserves manager has reportedly opened its first US office:
Wall Street executives will be rubbing their hands in anticipation.But China ... view more
Source: Asian Investor
UN Report-Global economic growth still sluggish, with prospect of gradual improvement
May 23, 2013--Global economic growth will continue to be "below potential" this year, according to a report released today by the United Nations that adds that job creation will be vital to spur recovery.
The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2013 mid-year update notes that, since late 2012, new policy initiatives in major developed economies have reduced systemic risks and helped stabilize consumer, business and investor confidence, but with very limited improvement in economic growth. view the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013 report-Update as of mid-2013*
Source: UN
Em Monthly-EM Sentiment Gradually Improve
DM equities continue to outperform EM while EM equities valuation remain at compelling level.
May 23, 2013--Weak economic trend continued.
Chinese stock market dropped as it continued to reflect a weaker economic trend while Fitch downgraded the country's credit rating due to high indebtedness and the incidence of bird flu in eastern China continued.
Weaker-than-expected economic growth was seen across a number of measures. First-quarter GDP growth came in at 7.7% and HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for April was 50.4. Industrial production for March was 8.9%.
India-Improving economic data helps markets.
India’s trade deficit, which has been a major source of concern in recent months, surprised positively on the back of strong export growth and falling commodity prices. In fact, exports grew 7.0% year-over-year in March, while imports fell 2.9%. Meanwhile, WPI inflation also continued on a downward trajectory, rising 6% year-over-year, lower than the consensus estimate. The Reserve Bank of India still voiced caution about inflation.
There is a possibility that the RBI will cut rates further in the second half to boost the sagging economy. Foreign direct investment (FDI) also continues to reflect a positive trend and given increased visibility of FDI and slowing gold imports, it is likely that the rupee will remain stable in the near term.
ASEAN markets-The ASEAN markets are attractive despite each economy’s own challenges.
The ASEAN markets continued to represent a compelling investment case in the region, each economy faces its own set of challenges.
After rising to nearly a two-year high in March, Indonesia’s inflation fell slightly in April to 5.57% year-over-year. Bank Indonesia lowered its growth forecast range for 2013 to 6.2%-6.6% in light of the slow recovery in the global economy. The World Bank also cut Indonesia’s growth estimate by 10 basis points to 6.2%.
Brazil-Expecting gradual improvement.
While Brazil outperformed the region, Brazilian equities continue to lag global markets, though large caps are beginning to show indications of improving earnings momentum, suggesting a more favorable outlook.
Across Latin America, Peru continues to be the weakest regional performer due to high exposure to precious metals and copper mining as these industries have shown extreme price weakness year-to-date.
Commodity price drops led to the region underperforming.
EMEA-The Russian market underperformed the EMEA region, emerging markets and developed markets in April. Russian equities declined due to both macro and company specific factors.
At the macro level, falling oil prices and overall weak commodity prices were detrimental to the Russian market, while at the company level, increased speculation that the government would delay planned natural gas tariffs caused major providers to sell off. In the Middle East and Africa region, South Africa underperformed the global index as the local market was led down by declining gold and other commodity prices.
Source: Mirae Asset Management
BlackRock-Credit Suisse ETF deal delayed after OFT asks for more time
May 23, 2013--The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said it needs more time to look into BlackRock's acquisition of Credit Suisse's exchange traded funds business.
The watchdog had been due to report on the takeover on Wednesday, but according to the Times has asked for another 10 days to look into the deal.
Source: CityWire
