Global ETF News Older than One Year
ISO Standard Provides Global Solution For Legal Entity Identification For Financial Services
ISO has just published a new standard for the financial services industry which provides a global solution for the accurate and unambiguous identification of entities engaged in financial transactions.
May 30, 2012--ISO 17442:2012, Financial services -Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), is aimed at meeting the data collection and analysis needs of both national and global regulators in their responses to problems arising from the world financial crisis.
The development of ISO 17442 has been positively received by the financial services sector and by regulators. These include the Financial Stability Board (FSB) which was established to coordinate at the international level the work of national financial authorities and international standard setting bodies, and to develop and promote the implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies in the interest of financial stability.
Source: ISO
Statistics : OECD annual inflation rate slows to 2.5% in April 2012
May 29, 2012--Annual inflation in the OECD area slowed to 2.5% in the year to April 2012, compared with 2.7% in the year to March 2012.
This slowdown in the annual rate of inflation mainly reflected developments in energy prices, with inflation (4.8% in April, compared with 6.5% in March) slowing to its lowest rate since August 2010, and food prices (3.1% increase compared with 3.5%). Excluding food and energy, the annual inflation rate was broadly stable at 2.0% in April.
Source: OECD
European Chamber of Commerce China-Business Confidence Survey 2012
May 29, 2012--As China continues to be the largest contributor of growth for the global economy, its strategic importance for European companies increases.
Yet stalled regulatory reform combined with rising costs are impacting the development of the business environment and the Chinese economy as a whole. The European Business in China Business Confidence Survey 2012, published annually since 2004, provides insight into European business perception of China’s current commercial environment, examining developments and improvements along with increasing concerns.
view the Business Confidence Survey 2012- European Chamber of Commerce-China
view the European Chamber Business Confidence Survey 2012-in Chinese
Source: European Chamber of Commerce China
Moody's warns retail investors of rising institutional ETF use
May 29, 2012--The latest note from the ratings agency argues that retail investor risks appear to be increasing as institutional players trade in ETFs in greater volumes, while warning of the implications for ETF sponsors such as State Street, BlackRock and Invesco.
On May 10 the SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF – State Street Global’s high yield bond ETF – went through an in-kind redemption of 19.7m shares, giving an investor control of about £500m in bonds directly from the fund’s portfolio, Moody’s notes.
Source: Fund Web
State Street refutes ETF criticisms
May 29, 2012--State Street Global Advisors, the world's second largest ETF manager by assets, has rejected criticisms suggesting that the growing institutional use of exchange traded funds in the high yield bond market could deter retail investors.
Jim Ross, global head of ETFs at SSgA, said he was “surprised” by Moody’s warning on Monday that retail investors and their advisers would be deterred from holding ETFs if they found themselves exposed to increased volatility and execution risks from large block trades done by institutions
Source: FT.com
Hedge fund trade breaks ETF model
May 29, 2012--An unexpected systemic risk in exchange-traded funds has just been brought to light in a research note from credit
ratings agency Moody’s, which says a recent trade by a large investor caused a breakdown in an ETF and left investors nursing losses.
Source: Efinancial News
DCGX Academy-ITALY AUCTION: Greece Eases; Italy concerns, INR volatility @ 13.7%, gold demand falls 14%
May 29, 2012--HIGHLIGHTS
INDIAN RUPEE
India'' rupee weakened for the first time in four days on speculation importers stepped up purchases of the dollar to pay month-end bills. The currency also dropped after Oil Minister Reddy said yesterday India isn't planning to raise prices of state-subsidized fuels, spurring concern the government's plans to narrow the budget deficit will be delayed.
Global funds cut holdings of local shares by $553 million in the past two months and investments in debt fell $1.4 billion, exchange data show.
The rupee declined 0.7 percent to 55.5525 per dollar as of 10:18 a.m. in Mumbai, The currency's one-month implied volatility, a measure of exchange-rate swings used to price options, was unchanged at 13.7 percent, after rising to this year's high of 14.5 percent on May 23.
Euro Poised for Monthly Decline Before Italy Auctions Bonds
Dollar Scarce as Top-Quality Assets Shrink After Stimulus
Pound May Decline Against Yen on Fibonacci: Technical Analysis 10.
Swiss Franc Drops Against Euro on Greece as SNB Weighs Controls
Pound Snaps 4-Day Gain Versus Euro as Greece Exit Concern Eases
Broadbent Says BOE Will Respond If Worst Euro Fears Realized
Euro Poised for Monthly Decline Before Italy Auctions Bonds : The euro was poised for the biggest monthly decline since September, before a sale of Italian debt. EUR was 0.2 % from the lowest since July 2010 after yield premiums on Spain's securities over Germany's rose to the most in 17 years.
Source: DGCX Academy
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly: Greece Euro exit fears drive safe haven flows, central banks buy gold
May 28, 2012--Fears of disorderly Greek Euro exit prompts flight to safe havens. Growing investor concerns about the potential negative implications of a disorderly exit of Greece from the Euro caused a flight of investor capital into cash and G-3 bonds last week.
According to Institute of International Finance (IIF) managing director Dallara, a Greek Euro exit would more than wipe-out the ECB’s capital, drive it into insolvency and make it unable to stabilize the Euro area’s financial sector. As the potential costs to the ECB, the European banking system and the European and global economy begin to sink in, investors appear to be taking the recent gold price decline as an opportunity to build their strategic gold holdings.
Central banks continue to aggressively build gold reserves.
Data
released by the IMF last week shows that the official sector has
continued to buy gold in large size this year. According to the latest
statistics, Mexico added around another 3 tonnes in April to its near 17
tonne buying spree in March, while Kazakhstan purchased 2 tonnes. The
Phillippines, which reported March data, added 32 tonnes to its reserves,
the largest official purchase in over a year since Mexico’s 78 tonne
purchase in 2011.
Swiss palladium imports from Russia drop to zero in April. Switzerland is where the bulk of Russian state stockpiles are exported for sale onto the global market. Russian exports dropped from around 65,000 ounces in March to zero in April, indicating that forecasts of dwindling Russian state palladium reserves may be correct. Platinum group metal consultant Johnson Matthey forecasts that a drop of Russian palladium sales in 2012 to 250,000 ounces from over 1,000,000 ounces in 2011 will drive palladium supply into deficit this year. Swiss platinum imports hit a 4-year low in April on the back of reduced supply from South Africa.
visit www.etfsecurities.com for more info
Source: ETF Securities
Trading volume misleading on ETFs
May 27, 2012--Exchange-traded funds have come a long way since they were first introduced 19 years ago, but apparently not far enough, as the majority of ETF assets remain concentrated in a small minority of the available funds.
Although there are more than 1,400 ETFs on the market, more than two-thirds of the trading volume and more than half the assets are linked to just 25 funds.
Source: Investment News
US groups have a head start in UK post RDR
May 27, 2012--Asset managers in the UK may want to keep an eye on their US counterparts when the retail distribution review banning commission on advised sales comes into force at the beginning of January.
In the US, a gradual shift away from a commission model for advice started about two decades ago, triggered in part by brokers – employing financial advisers – keen to gain steady fee revenues rather than commissions on individual transactions.
Source: FT.com
