Global ETF News Older than One Year
China and Germany launch green initiative
June 28, 2011--Germany and China are planning a big expansion of joint research and investment in green technologies, including production of electric cars in China and development of carbon-capture systems.
A series of business and inter-governmental agreements were signed between the world’s two largest exporters in Berlin on Tuesday after Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, chaired joint government talks. Including a contract for 62 Airbus A320 aircraft, the total value of the Sino-German deals was put at about $15bn – dwarfing the £1.4bn ($2.2bn) of trade agreements with British companies signed when Mr Wen was in the UK on Monday.
Source: FT.com
China offers EU a helping hand
June 28, 2011--Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered Europe a "helping hand" with its debt crisis during a visit to Germany on Tuesday, and said his country could buy the sovereign debt of some troubled eurozone nations if needed.
"China has expressed support for Europe at various times. In other words, when Europe is in difficulty we will extend a helping hand from afar," the Chinese prime minister told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Source: FIN24
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly: Gold bucks the commodity price downtrend as sovereign risk concerns drive demand
June 27, 2011--Gold price holds its ground in the face of volatile commodity markets roiled
by sharp oil price declines and falls in broader commodity prices. The Greek debt saga and reduced expectations for US rate hikes is keeping gold demand high despite generally weaker sentiment towards many commodities as growth
expectations are ratcheted down.
Retail investment in silver providing offset to drop in futures investment. Record silver coin sales in Australia reported by the Perth Mint together with continued strong retail demand in the US for American Eagle Silver Coins in June highlight continued strong retail demand for silver.
Platinum and Palladium prices fall on rising risk aversion and Fed downgrades to US growth outlook. The Greek debt saga and continued concerns about US growth knocked back cyclical assets last week, including platinum, palladium and silver. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, however, highlighted the Fed’s view that many of the factors pushing down growth may be temporary.
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Source: ETFS Securities
Deutsche Börse Acquires Assets of Kingsbury International
June 27, 2011--Deutsche Börse has acquired the assets of Kingsbury International Ltd., a U.S.-based business and economic consulting firm known for creating and releasing the monthly Chicago Business Barometer, also known as the Chicago
Purchasing Managers’ Index (Chicago PMI). The acquisition was completed for a US$ amount in the single-digit million range that includes a performance-related payment. This transaction further enhances the Market Data & Analytics segment by expanding its global product offering.
“The Chicago Business Barometer is one of the most widely followed barometers among professional traders and market participants who use macroeconomic figures to make informed trading decisions,” said Holger Wohlenberg, Managing Director, Market Data & Analytics for Deutsche Börse Group. “With this transaction, we are able to offer our customers direct access to an important U.S. data source.”
Source: Deutsche Börse
Dow Jones Indexes Launches Dow Jones Global Commodity Equity 100 Index
Index Will Measure Stock Performance of Companies Engaged in Exploration or Production of Scarce, Renewable Commodities
Subindexes to Gauge Agriculture, Energy, Scarcity; Shari’ah-Compliant Islamic Market Subindex Also Launched
June 27, 2011--–Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced the launch of the Dow Jones Global Commodity Equity 100 Index, the flagship of a new index series that measures the stock performance of companies engaged in the exploration or production of both scarce and renewable commodities.
Commodity sectors represented in the Index include agriculture, energy, metals, precious metals and water.
In addition to The Dow Jones Global Commodity Equity 100 Index, the series includes four subindexes:
Dow Jones Global Equity Agriculture Index;
Dow Jones Global Equity Energy Index;
Dow Jones Global Equity Scarcity Index, which defines “scarcity” as natural resources that can’t be replenished; and
Dow Jones Islamic Market Global Equity Commodity Index, which measures all companies in the parent index that pass the Shari’ah screens.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Professor Frank J. Fabozzi joins EDHEC-Risk Institute
June 27, 2011--EDHEC-Risk Institute is delighted to announce that Professor Frank J. Fabozzi, one of the most respected figures in the academic community in finance worldwide and author and editor of over 100 reference textbooks in finance, will be joining EDHEC-Risk Institute on August 1, 2011.
Professor Fabozzi will be joining EDHEC-Risk Institute as part of its North American strategy and will be working on the development of EDHEC-Risk Institute North America with Professor Lionel Martellini, Scientific Director of EDHEC-Risk Institute, who will be in charge of North American development for the Institute from the beginning of the 2011/2012 academic year. Professor Fabozzi will also supervise dissertations of candidates to the EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in Finance, a programme opened to finance practitioners.
Source: EDHEC
Strong decline in EU27 investment flows with the rest of the world in 2010
June 27, 2011--Following the economic crisis, EU27 FDI1 (foreign direct investment) in the rest of the world (outflows) declined significantly in 2010, falling by 62%, from 281 billion euro in 2009 to 107 bn in 2010, while FDI into the EU27 from the rest of the world (inflows) dropped by 75%, from 216 bn to 54 bn. This continues the trend of recent years, with EU27 outflows in 2010 standing at more than five times lower than in 2007, and inflows around eight times lower.
These figures2, published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, come from the first FDI results for 20103.
USA and Canada main investors in the EU27
The strong fall in EU27 investments in the rest of the world in 2010 is explained by the significant declines recorded with the Offshore financial centres4 (from 89 bn euro in 2009 to 21 bn in 2010), the USA (from 79 bn to 12 bn) and Switzerland (from 44 bn to disinvestment of 7 bn).
The USA was the main source of investment in the EU27, although down strongly from 97 bn euro in 2009 to 28 bn in 2010. Investments in the EU27 also decreased significantly from Switzerland (from 25 bn to 6 bn) and Offshore financial centres4 (from 46 bn to a disinvestment of 4 bn). However, investments increased strongly from Canada (from 12 bn to 28 bn), Hong Kong (from 1 bn to 11 bn) and Brazil (from 0.4 bn to 4 bn), and to a lesser extent from Japan and China.
Source: EUROSTAT
Citi, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Leading ECNs and Traiana Launch New Era in Risk Management for the FX Industry
Bloomberg Tradebook, Currenex, EBS, FXCM, Hotspot FX, Thomson Reuters and Traiana Partner to Reduce the Risk Associated with Algorithmic and High Frequency Trading
June 27, 2011-– Traiana announced today that it has partnered with leading foreign exchange (FX) prime brokers, Citi, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley, together with leading FX platforms, Bloomberg Tradebook, Currenex, EBS, FXCM, Hotspot FX and Thomson Reuters, to launch an industry-wide initiative to centrally monitor and manage foreign exchange (FX) ECN trading activity and trading limits globally.
By connecting prime brokers and ECNs in real-time, the service will provide the FX industry with the control and real-time risk management capabilities to manage risks from algorithmic and high frequency trading. The launch of the new version of Harmony CreditLink culminates a comprehensive effort by all partners over many months, and is now live and available to all Harmony members.
The increase in high frequency and algorithmic FX trading has made the provision of adequate controls and real-time risk capability critically important to prime brokers managing risk across clients trading on ECNs. Using Harmony CreditLink, prime brokers now have the ability to monitor their clients’ credit risk across multiple ECNs on a real-time basis, act on exceptions in a single integrated dashboard, and open, change or close credit lines to manage risk while maximizing clients’ trading ability.
Source: ICAP
Economy: Global shocks to become more frequent, says OECD
June 27, 2011--- Disruptive shocks to the global economy are likely to become more frequent and cause greater economic and societal hardship. The economic spill-over effect of events like the financial crisis or a potential pandemic will grow due to the increasing interconnectivity of the global economy and speed with which people, goods and data travel, according to a new OECD report.
“Future Global Shocks” analyses five potential major risks in the years ahead: a pandemic, a cyber attack disrupting critical infrastructure, a financial crisis, socio-economic unrest and a geomagnetic storm.
The growing threat of a pandemic was highlighted by the SARS outbreak in 2002, which spread quickly from Hong Kong around the world as travellers caught the virus and then flew home. The increasing number of heavily populated megacities, notably in Asia, exacerbates the risk, particularly in business travel, tourism and migration hubs like Dhaka, Manila and New Delhi.
Source: OECD
LSE plan for TMX wins key backing
June 27, 2011--London Stock Exchange Group PLC is counting on a last-minute wave of support from the Canadian financial community to help it win a crucial vote on its plan to merge with TMX Group Inc., the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
LSE chief executive officer Xavier Rolet said he is expecting Canadian firms that support the LSE-TMX plan to come forward before Thursday’s vote to help him defeat a rival plan from a group of 13 Canadian banks, brokerages and investors known as Maple Group Acquisitions Corp.
Source: The Globe and Mail
