Global ETF News Older than One Year
SPAIN AID-WORRIES FADE:Spain asks for 126$ Billion-Greece
June 11, 2012--HIGHLIGHTS
INR
against the USD. bid at 55.5650 as of 9:04 a.m. in Mumbai versus 55.5800 the previous day,Offer prices were indicated at 55.5700 per USD, versus 55.5900 the previous day. Asian Currencies Gain as Spain Aid, Chinese Data Boost Sentiment
Asian currencies rose, led by the biggest rally in Malaysia's ringgit in six weeks, as a financial bailout for Spain and data showing China's exports climbed twice as fast as economists estimated supported stocks. JPMorgan Asia USD Index added to its first weekly gain since April, while the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of shares advanced 1.7 %. Spain asked euro-region governments over the weekend for as much as 100 billion euros ($126 Billion USD).
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Euro Strengthens to Two-Week High After Spain Seeks Bailout Fund
Euro Gains Seen by Stiglitz Removing $445 Billion Greek Debt
Spain's $125 Billion Rescue Gives Rajoy Best Chance to Fix Banks
Italy Enters Debt-Crisis Crosshairs After Spain Bank Rescue
Asian Currencies Gain as Spain Aid, Chinese Data Boost Sentiment
Euro Strengthens to Two-Week High After Spain Seeks Bailout Fund
The euro rose against most of its major counterparts after the region's governments agreed to provide Spain with a bailout loan, fanning expectations European leaders will step up effort to counter the debt crisis. The 17-nation currency climbed to a two-week high after Spain asked for as much as 100 billion euros ($126 billion) to rescue its banking system, making it the fourth member in the currency bloc to seek rescue.
Euro Gains Seen by Stiglitz Removing $445 Billion Greek Debt
Rather than a euro failure, an orderly Greek exit from the currency has Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Nomura Holdings Inc. chief strategist Jens Nordvig predicting a stronger and more stable monetary union. While Societe Generale SA suggests that the euro might break up because of the cost of Greece's departure, the nation accounts for just 2.3 % of the 17-nation trading bloc's GDP
Aussie, N.Z. USDs Climb to 4-Week Highs on Spanish Bailout
The Australian and New Zealand USDs climbed to their highest levels in almost four weeks as Spain's request for a bailout of its banking system revived demand for higher-yielding assets.
Source: DGCX Academy
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly: Gold futures see largest jump in speculative net long positioning in 4 and a half Years
June 11, 2012--Largest jump in gold speculative net long futures positions in 4½ years as bargain hunters step in. Although Fed Chairman Bernake's
testimony to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee last week was
non-committal on the potential for QE3, bargain hunters appeared to take
price weakness as an opportunity to accumulate net long gold futures
positions at the fastest pace since December 2008, surging 28%.
Despite the sharp rise, net longs still remain near end 2008 lows (see pg 4). The announcement over the weekend that the Eurozone has agreed to lend Spain €100bn to rescue its collapsing banking system caused most risk assets to rally Monday morning, with gold also benefiting. This week investor focus will likely be on the follow-through on the announcement, with key details and the mechanics of the package still to be revealed. Italy’s debt auctions this week will also be a key focus, to see if contagion has been halted by Spain’s package. On the data front, European industrial production and unemployment will be looked at closely as investors assess the strength of the European economy. US industrial production and CPI will also be monitored as a weakening US economy and weak inflation would increase the likelihood of the Fed moving towards QE3. Major upcoming signposts to monitor are the Greek elections on June 17th, the G20 summit on June 18/19 and the FOMC meeting statement on June 20th.
China gold imports surge over 65% in April to over 100 tonnes. Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong hit a record monthly level of over 103 tonnes in April according to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. The 65% month-on-month surge in gold imports comes at a fortuitous time for the physical gold market given the recent weakness of Indian demand as a weak Rupee has continued to hold back demand.
South African platinum group metals (PGMs) production down over 28% in April compared to year-ago levels.
visit www.etfsecurities.com for more info
Source: ETF Securities
Pensions: Raising retirement ages and expanding private pension coverage essential, says OECD
June 11, 2012--Governments will need to raise retirement ages gradually to address increasing life expectancy in order to ensure that their national pension systems are both affordable and adequate, according to a new OECD report. At a time of heightened global economic uncertainty, such reforms can also play a crucial role in governments' responses to the crisis, contributing to fiscal consolidation at the same time as boosting growth.
Over the next 50 years, life expectancy at birth is expected to increase by more than 7 years in developed economies. The long-term retirement age in half of OECD countries will be 65, and in 14 countries it will be between 67 and 69. The Pensions Outlook 2012 says that increases in retirement ages are underway or planned in 28 out of the 34 OECD countries. These increases, however, are expected to keep pace with improved life expectancy only in six countries for men and in 10 countries for women. Governments should thus consider formally linking retirement ages to life expectancy, as in Denmark and Italy, and make greater efforts to promote private pensions.
Source: OECD
EPFR Global Fund Data News Release
June 8, 2012-Fund flows favor bonds, gold and whatever the BoJ is buying
The combined forces of deeply disappointing employment data in the US and another week of no clear policy consensus in Europe, along with the nagging fear that Chinese economic growth is slowing faster than previously thought, rattled global markets and encouraged investors to stay on course with the current bond buying spree while continuing to dump equities.
In the week ending June 6 EPFR Global tracked Bond Funds absorbed another $3.4 billion of inflows, their 31st consecutive weekly inflow and extending YTD total inflows to about $190 billion, a pace that is set to break the full year inflow record set in 2010. Investors were retreating from the perceived higher risk of equities as they made net withdrawals of $7.6 billion from Equity Funds during the week, the second strongest weekly outflow this year.
Japan Equity Funds again bucked the trend of equity fund outflows by recording their eighth consecutive week of inflows on the back of Bank of Japan’s asset-purchase program that includes direct purchases of domestic ETFs. And Dividend Equity Funds enjoyed continuing investor demand and posted their 44th consecutive week of inflows.
Meanwhile, Money Market Funds attracted nearly $9 billion of net inflows, but it was only European based investors feeling the love for this cash equivalent and ultra-low yielding fund vehicle, pumping in nearly $13 billion of net inflows while US domiciled Money Market Funds saw another week of substantial withdrawals. So far this year Europe domiciled funds have taken in about $38 billion of net inflows while the US domiciled funds have seen $107 billion of redemptions.
Visit http://www.epfr.com for more info.
Source: EPFR Global
FSB publishes a report entitled A Global Legal Entity Identifier for Financial Markets: FSB Report to the G20
June 8, 2012--The Financial Stability Board (FSB) today published "A Global Legal Entity Identifier for Financial Markets -FSB Report to the G20". The aim of the global Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) system is to uniquely identify counterparties to financial transactions and to provide high quality reference data on them (such as the name, address, and basic ownership information).
The FSB report responds to the mandate issued by the G20 at the Cannes Summit and will be transmitted for consideration at the forthcoming Los Cabos Summit. It sets out 35 recommendations for the development and implementation of the global LEI system. These recommendations are guided by a set of ‘High Level Principles’ which outline the objectives that a global LEI system should meet.
FSB Chairman, Mark Carney noted: “The FSB strongly supports the implementation of a global legal entity identifier system that uniquely identifies counterparties to financial transactions. This system would be a ‘building block’ for many financial stability and regulatory objectives, and it would deliver substantial benefits to financial firms.”
view FSB report-A Global Legal Entity Identifier for Financial Markets
Source: Financial Stability Board (FSB)
DCGX Academy-PROMISES- US, UK, ECB, All Plan Stimuli to stop Slide
June 7, 2012--HIGHLIGHTS
Indian Rupee
India's rupee strengthened against the U.S. dollar. Indicative bid prices for the rupee were at 55.1450 as of 9:04 a.m. in Mumbai versus 55.3650 the previous trading day; prices were indicated at 55.1450 versus 55.3700 the previous day.
Rupee advanced for a third day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged measures to revive economic growth, echoing similar statements from global policy makers. The Dollar Index weakened 0.6 percent yesterday as Fed President Dennis Lockhart said more stimulus should be considered if it becomes clear U.S. growth is slowing. The BSE India Sensitive Index rose 0.9 percent. The rupee advanced 0.3 percent to 55.2087 per dollar as of 9:22 a.m. in Mumbai. It earlier touched 55.05, the strongest level since May 28.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Dollar Is Near One-Week Low Before Bernanke Speaks on Economy
Draghi Stresses Limits of ECB Tools as Pressure to Act Mounts
Japan Confronts Flight to Quality With Brutal Yen Repeating 1995
King Confronts Stimulus Revival Case as U.K. Recession Persists 11.
ECB's Nowotny Says Spanish Bailout Request Would Be 'Sensible'
Pound Gains Most in 11 Weeks Versus Dollar on Europe Optimism
Aussie Dollar Rises on Unexpected Job Gains, U.S. Easing Bets
China Delays Bank Capital Rule Tightening as Economy Slows
Dollar Is Near One-Week Low Before Bernanke Speaks on Economy
Source: DCGX Academy
IMF paper-Policies for Macrofinancial Stability: How to Deal with the Credit Booms
June 7, 2012--EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Credit booms buttress investment and consumption and can contribute to long-term financial deepening. But they often end up in costly balance sheet dislocations, and, more often than
acceptable, in devastating financial crises whose cost can exceed the benefits associated with
the boom. These risks have long been recognized.
But, until the global financial crisis in 2008, policy paid limited attention to the problem. The crisis—preceded by booms in many of the hardest-hit countries—has led to a more activist stance. Yet, there is little consensus about how and when policy should intervene. This note explores past credit booms with the objective of assessing the effectiveness of macroeconomic and macroprudential policies in reducing the risk of a crisis or, at least, limiting its consequences.
view the IMF paper-Policies for Macrofinancial Stability: How to Deal with the Credit Booms
Source: IMF
IMF Staff paper-Externalities and Macro-Prudential Policy
June 7, 2012--EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The recent financial crisis has led to a reexamination of policies for macroeconomic and financial stability. Part of the current debate involves the adoption of a macroprudential
approach to financial regulation, with an aim toward mitigating boom-bust patterns and systemic risks in financial markets.
The fundamental rationale behind macroprudential policies, however, is not always clearly articulated. The contribution of this paper is to lay out the key sources of market failures that can justify macroprudential regulation. It explains how externalities associated with the activity of financial intermediaries can lead to systemic risk, and thus require specific policies to mitigate such risk.
The paper classifies externalities that can lead to systemic risk as: 1. Externalities related to strategic complementarities, that arise from the strategic interaction of banks (and other financial institutions) and cause the build-up of vulnerabilities during the expansionary phase of a financial cycle;
view the Externalities and Macro-Prudential Policy paper
Source: IMF
IMF Working paper-Inflation and Income Inequality: Is Food Inflation Different?
June 7, 2012--Summary: There is an extensive literature noting that high inflation can add to income inequality, and a parallel literature assessing the effect of rising food prices on the poor. This paper attempts to combine these strands by dividing inflation into food and nonfood inflation and assessing whether food inflation affects income inequality differently from nonfood inflation.
In an international sample and a sample of Chinese provinces, nonfood inflation exacerbates income inequality while the role of food inflation is more mixed. In a sample of Indian states broken down into urban and rural areas, we find that nonfood inflation adds to income inequality in both areas, while food inflation has a neutral to positive effect on income inequality in rural areas, providing support for the theory that rural wages may respond elastically to food prices.
Source: IMF
Component Change Made In STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index
June 7, 2012--STOXX Limited, the market-moving provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today announced component changes in the STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index due to the fast exit rule. Component changes will become effective with the open of markets on June 18th, 2012.
Addition
NWS HOLDINGS (Hong Kong, Construction & Materials, 0659.HK)
KEPPEL LAND LTD. (Singapore, Real Estate, KLAN.SI)
Deletion
XINYI GLASS HOLDINGS (Hong Kong, Automobiles & Parts, 0868.HK)
SINGAPORE AIRLINES LTD. (Singapore, Travel & Leisure, SIAL.SI)
Component changes in STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 are based on the fast exit rule, which states that if a company lowers its dividend, it will remain in the index until the next selection list is available. If the company falls below the lower buffer, it is removed and replaced by the highest-ranked non-component on the selection list. The changes are then implemented together with the review implementation date.
For further information on the STOXX indices, please visit www.stoxx.com.
Source: STOXX
