Global ETF News Older than One Year
OECD launches updated version of Your Better Life Index
May 22, 2012--The OECD today released a new version of its pioneering Your Better Life Index-- an online, interactive index that allows people to measure and compare their lives in a way that goes beyond traditional GDP numbers.
Launched last year, Your Better Life Index (watch video in English) enables people to compare well-being based on 11 topics - housing, income, jobs, community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance. The updated version, launched today as part of the 2012 OECD’s annual Forum and Ministerial Meeting, integrates data on gender and inequality and strengthens existing topics. Visitors to Your Better Life Index will now be able to compare their well-being priorities to those of other users by country, age and gender, and share their results. The updated Index also includes two new countries, Russia and Brazil. The Index is available in French and is embeddable for web sites and blogs.
Source: OECD
Yen Falls Most in a Month as Fitch Downgrades Japan; Pound Drops
May 22, 2012--The yen weakened the most in a month against the dollar after Fitch Ratings cut Japan's credit ranking, saying the nation isn't acting quickly enough to tackle its public debt burden.
Japan's currency fell versus all its 16 major peers as the central bank started a two-day meeting amid speculation it will boost stimulus measures to spur flagging growth.
Source: SF Gate
IMF Working paper-The Future of Oil: Geology versus Technology
May 21, 2012--Summary: We discuss and reconcile two diametrically opposed views concerning the future of world oil production and prices. The geological view expects that physical constraints will dominate the future evolution of oil output and prices.
It is supported by the fact that world oil production has plateaued since 2005 despite historically high prices, and that spare capacity has been near historic lows. The technological view of oil expects that higher oil prices must eventually have a decisive effect on oil output, by encouraging technological solutions. It is supported by the fact that high prices have, since 2003, led to upward revisions in production forecasts based on a purely geological view. We present a nonlinear econometric model of the world oil market that encompasses both views. The model performs far better than existing empirical models in forecasting oil prices and oil output out of sample. Its point forecast is for a near doubling of the real price of oil over the coming decade. The error bands are wide, and reflect sharply differing judgments on ultimately recoverable reserves, and on future price elasticities of oil demand and supply.
view the IMF Working paper-The Future of Oil: Geology versus Technology
Source: IMF
Barclays to sell $6.1 billion BlackRock stake
May 21, 2012--British bank Barclays is selling its near-20 percent stake in U.S. asset manager BlackRock, worth $6.1 billion, as tougher global regulations have cut the attraction of such holdings.
Barclays has held the stake for almost three years, a legacy of BlackRock's $15 billion purchase of Barclays Global Investors, but Basel III regulations mean banks have to hold more capital against minority stakes in asset managers and other firms, making it less profitable.
Source: Reuters
Cash pulled from financial funds
May 21, 2012--May 21, 2012--Equity investors redeemed more cash from mutual and exchange traded funds that invest in banks last week than at any point since the height of the financial crisis, according to data from EPFR Global.
Just under $1bn was withdrawn from financial funds globally, the largest outflow since the fourth quarter of 2008 in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, as investors weighed the possibility of a Greek exit from the eurozone and a $2bn trading loss at JPMorgan.
Source: FT.com
Semi-Annual Changes to the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index
May 21, 2012--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. and CRD Analytics announced today the results of the semi-annual re-ranking of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index, which will become effective prior to market open on Monday, May 21, 2012.
The following two securities will be added to the Index: Bank of America Corporation and TELUS Corporation.
The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index is an equally weighted equity index that serves as a benchmark for stocks of companies that are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting and are traded on a major US stock exchange. The Index is made up of companies that have taken a leadership role in disclosing their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, workforce diversity, management composition and community investing.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Institutional Investors Spur Hedge Funds to Grow Operational Infrastructure and Increase Transparency, says AIMA/KPMG study
May 21, 2012--New global report from KPMG and AIMA covered 150 managers with US$550 billion in assets under management.
Almost 60 percent of global assets under management are now from institutional investors.
Nearly 90 percent of respondents reported increased due diligence since 2008.
The post-2008 influx of institutional money into hedge funds has resulted in a marked increase in the global industry’s operational sophistication and transparency to investors, according to a new report by KPMG International and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global hedge fund association.
The report, entitled “The Evolution of an Industry”, is based on a survey and in-depth interviews of 150 hedge fund management firms globally with more than US$550 billion in combined assets under management. It found that hedge fund management firms have improved their operational infrastructure in areas like investor transparency and regulatory compliance as allocations from institutional investors have increased.
view the report-The evolution of an industry
Source: KPMG
Barclays to sell $6.1 billion BlackRock stake
May 21, 2012--British bank Barclays (BARC.L) is selling its near-20 percent stake in U.S. asset manager BlackRock (BLK.N), worth $6.1 billion, as tougher global regulations have cut the attraction of such holdings.
Barclays has held the stake for almost three years, a legacy of BlackRock's $15 billion purchase of Barclays Global Investors, but Basel III regulations mean banks have to hold more capital against minority stakes in asset managers and other firms, making it less profitable.
Source: Reuters
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly: Gold Price Rebounds Sharply as Investors Appear to See Sell-Off as Excessive
May 21, 2012--Gold price bounces following net speculative futures positioning dropping to its lowest level since December 2008. The gold price bounced sharply at the end of last week as investors appeared to view the recent sell-off as excessive.
With the gold price nearing a 10-month low, investors jumped in at the end of last week, pushing the gold price up 2% on Friday as the odds of further quantitative easing from the main reserve currency central banks rising, and a reconfiguration of the Euro a very real risk. Despite the rally, the gold price is likely continue to face near-term headwinds to strong gains until the Greece Euro issue is resolved one way or another. However, with futures positioning at multi-year lows. As detailed in the World Gold Council (WGC) report released last week, physical demand from central banks and China remained strong in 1Q 2012 and the removal of India’s gold excise tax may stimulate pent-up demand in India. While the gold price has suffered as Europe has teetered on the edge of, but not quite fallen into, the potential abyss of a disorderly Greek departure from the Euro, any indication Greece might actually go over the edge will likely reverse the usual gold price-EUR/USD correlation as extreme panic drives safe-haven flows into gold (and the US dollar) as occurred in late 2008. An alternative scenario that involves a convincing solution to the Greek crisis will also likely benefit the gold price as EUR/USD rallies and gold follows. Until one of these two scenarios becomes clear, however, the gold price is likely to trade in a range. Greece’s June 17 repeat general election will be an important event for gold. In the run-up to the election any large scale ECB intervention to stabilise Spanish and other peripheral European bond markets would also likely be Euro and gold price positive.
visit www.etfsecurities.com for more info
Source: ETF Securities
TASE opens NASDAQ Trading-New York, May 17, 2012
May 20, 2012--Ten Israeli "biomed" companies, together with representatives of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and NASDAQ, opened NASDAQ trading on May 17th.
The companies participated in a conference dedicated to introducing U.S. investors to Israeli life science industries.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
