Global ETF News Older than One Year
IOSCO Publishes the Responses to Financial Benchmark Consultation
March 11, 2013--The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published today the comment letters on the Consultation Report on Financial Benchmarks that was issued on 11 January 2013.
The report sought comments from the public on policy issues arising from the work of its Board Level Task Force on Financial Market Benchmarks. More than 50 responses were received.
The Consultation Report discusses concerns regarding the potential inaccuracy or manipulation of Benchmarks and identifies Benchmark-related policy issues across securities and derivatives and other financial sectors including:
The appropriate level of regulatory oversight of the process of Benchmarking;
Standards that should apply to methodologies for Benchmark calculation;
Credible governance structures to address conflict of interests in the Benchmark-setting process within the reporting financial institutions as well as in the oversight bodies; and
The appropriate level of transparency and openness in the Benchmarking process.
view the IOSCO-Financial Benchmarks-Consultation Report
Source: IOSCO
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Weekly: A Roller-Coaster Ride For Precious Metals
March 11, 2013--US payrolls data sent precious metals on a rollercoaster ride, with palladium and silver ending higher. The large upside surprise in US non-farm payrolls (+236k vs. +165k expected) on Friday surprised the market.
Gold, silver and platinum initially fell steeply reflecting the 'risk-on' sentiment of investors who felt that there will be less easing from the Fed with such bullish job numbers. However after some consideration the market realised that loose monetary policy will remain in force for the foreseeable future from the ECB, BOE, BOJ, RBA, BOC who all had policy meetings earlier last week. All precious metal prices reversed most of the initial losses with silver and palladium ending the day higher on the back higher industrial demand expectations.
Also weighing on investors mind is what is store for the rest of this month. March will prove to an important month for US fiscal policy, with the need to pass a mini-budget by the 27th to avoid a suspension of government services. Political paralysis remains the key threat to unwinding the recent optimism in the US recovery, but is not unique to the US, with the Eurozone having its fair share of political problems. With precious metal prices having fallen so much, the cost of insuring against such events looks particularly attractive.
Source: ETF Securities
Benchmarks: EDHEC-Risk Institute warns against the false promises of governance
Transparency key to informed decision-making and mitigating conflicts of interest
In the context of the ongoing regulatory debate on financial benchmarks and the recent consultations
by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)/European Banking Authority (EBA), EDHEC-Risk Institute wishes to underline that transparency is both crucial to allowing users to assess the risks, relevance and
suitability of indices and the most powerful tool to mitigate conflicts of interests existing across the
indexing industry.
EDHEC-Risk Institute is concerned that discussions pertaining to define an “adequate level of transparency” and balance the needs of index users with the purported necessities of confidentiality or intellectual property protection may result in a framework that falls short of providing users with the information they need to discharge their due diligence responsibilities (at a reasonable cost or at all).
Source: EDHEC-Risk Institute
Caution urged over -shares
March 10, 2013--Flows into institutional shares of mutual funds have outpaced those into any other share class, driven by the growing use of fee-based accounts that open it to previously excluded investors.
Some asset managers have expanded their line-up of institutional shares – known as I-shares –
Source: FT.com
Investors pulled $5.6bn from gold ETPs in Feb-BlackRock
The exodus from gold pulled down the entire commodities ETP complex in February, showed global data from BlackRock.
March 8, 2013--Investors pulled $5.6 billion from gold exchange-traded products (ETPs) in February after poor performance by the yellow metal, but appetite for riskier, growth-oriented industrial metals ETPs remained intact.
In February, the gold price dropped for the fifth month in a row, with the S&P GSCI Gold Index off 5.04 percent.
Source: MineWeb
EPFR Global News Release-US Funds outshine EM, Gold and Europe counterparts in early March
March 8, 2013--The first week of March saw the Eurozone's unemployment rate and a benchmark US equities index climb to record highs, China's new leaders move to tighten their grip on the country's property market, North Korea threaten nuclear strikes and central bankers meet in Brazil, Europe and Japan.
Investors responded by pivoting towards the US, with flows into EPFR Global-tracked US Equity and Bond Funds climbing to five and 17 week highs respectively while China Equity Funds posted back-to-back weekly outflows for the first time since early 3Q12.
For the second week running flows sent mixed signals about investors’ risk appetite. Money flowed out of funds tied to gold and cash, Equity Funds outgained Bond Funds overall, Alternative Funds took in over $900 million and High Yield Bond Funds enjoyed their best week since mid-September. But Emerging Markets Equity and Bond Funds struggled, with flows into the latter the lowest in over seven months, and several defensive Sector Fund groups attracted solid amounts of fresh money.
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Source: EPFR
Russell announces exclusive agreements with NYSE Euronext and CBOE Holdings for Russell U.S. index options
New focused "dual-listing" for Russell U.S. Index-based options includes commitment by the two companies to help expand selection, support, service and education for options clients globally.
March 8, 2013--Russell Investments today announced that NYSE Euronext, one of the world's premier exchange operators and technology innovators and home of the NYSE Amex and NYSE Arca exchanges, and CBOE Holdings, Inc., home of Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the creator of listed options and leader in index options trading volume, will trade Russell U.S. Index-based options exclusively.
Russell Indexes, which are used as benchmarks by nearly 70% of U.S. institutional equity investors (as of 12/31/11), believes that this semi-exclusive, dual-listing strategy will allow it to fully harness the complementary strengths of these two leading exchange operators in U.S. options. The semi-exclusive trading in Russell Index-based options will begin in late April.
Source: NYSE Euronext
Exchange Traded Derivatives Trading Volumes Decrease 15% in 2012
March 7, 2012--For the first time since 2004, the number of Exchange Traded Derivatives (ETD) worldwide decreased in 2012 by 15% to 21 billion, according to statistics compiled by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
The WFE, which annually conducts a survey on derivative markets, found that in 2012, 21 billion derivative contracts (11 billion futures and 10 billion options) were traded on exchanges worldwide-a decrease from the 25 billion traded in 2011.
Source: World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
China Macro-Venezuela -limited impact on China
March 7, 2013--The president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez passed away on Tuesday 5 March, triggering market speculation over further turmoil in the country's oil sector and a gradual pick-up of oil production and exports under a new leader.
China’s trade with Venezuela has grown rapidly over the past decade but remains a small share of its total. Therefore, the short-term impact on China is limited. Over the longer term, if China manages to develop a good relationship with Chavez’s successor, China’s imports of petroleum products could see further increases.
view China Macro-Venezuela: limited impact on China report
Source: irae Asset Securities (HK) - Global Research Center
China equities on track to go global
March 6, 2013--Mainland Chinese shares are set to join global equity benchmarks as early as three years'time, FTSE's chief executive has forecast, raising the prospect that international investors will have to shift billions of dollars into the market.
Reforms by Beijing have had a “big impact” on how investors view mainland markets, said Mark Makepeace, FTSE chief executive, who is in Asia to “kick off a process” he believes will lead to Chinese equities joining his company’s global indices.
Source: FT.com
