Global ETF News Older than One Year
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly: Cyclical metals benefit as Greece debt meltdown averted, US manufacturing picks up
July 5, 2011--Cyclical precious metal prices recover as the near-term risk of a negative growth shock from a Greek sovereign debt crisis eases, US manufacturing rebounds. Japan and US manufacturers are seeing industrial production rise faster
than expected post-Japan’s earthquake, boosting risk appetite despite moderating China manufacturing growth.
Platinum and palladium supply uncertainties resurface. Talk of mining tax, nationalization and further labour unrest in Africa thrust platinum and palladium supply vulnerabilities back into the spotlight last week. The combination of a pick-up in expected US manufacturing growth and supply concerns helped push up both platinum and palladium prices.
Gold sees strong buying interest below $1,500/oz. Gold prices eased last week amidst retreating risk aversion as crucial Greek deficit reduction measures were passed and a IMF/EU funding was secured. Bargain hunting emerged under $1500/oz however, making the break below short-lived.
Supply chain bottlenecks appear to be easing as the US ISM unexpectedly rose in June and Japan posted its largest jump in manufacturing activity since 1953 in May. Number one global automaker Toyota has announced a return to near full production by September – two months earlier than previously estimated. Rival Nissan announced that it is expecting a 10% rise in global vehicle sales in the year to April, having stocked up on auto components prior to Japan’s March 11 earthquake.
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Source: ETFS Securities
Jovian in talks to sell ETF stake to Korea's Mirae
July 4, 2011--Jovian Capital Corp is in talks to sell its 60 percent stake in exchange traded funds business BetaPro Management to South Korea's Mirae Asset Global Investments Co, Jovian said on Monday.
Jovian said Mirae could also buy the stake held by minority shareholders based on an enterprise value of around C$150 million ($156.2 million) for the whole business.
If the negotiations are successful, a share purchase agreement could be signed in mid-July, Jovian said. It said there was no assurance the negotiations would lead to a deal.
Source: Reuters
D Börse-NYSE merger 'bad for markets'
July 4, 2011--Icap, the world’s largest interdealer broker, has hit out at the proposed combination of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext, saying it would create a monopoly that would be “fundamentally bad for markets”.
Michael Spencer, Icap founder and chief executive, also criticised exchanges’ control of access to their clearing houses, where they own such post-trade businesses in a “vertical silo”.
Source: FT.com
LSE open to approach from Nasdaq
July 4, 2011--The London Stock Exchange would be open to considering a merger of equals with Nasdaq OMX, the US exchange operator, in the first sign that the British bourse could yet turn its attention to securing its future in another big merger after its attempted tie-up with Canada’s TMX Group collapsed.
Nasdaq’s chief executive, Bob Greifeld, is considering an approach for the LSE but people familiar with the matter said advisers were not yet formally involved. Nor had Mr Greifeld spoken with his counterpart at the LSE, Xavier Rolet.
Source: FT.com
BRIC countries have 'strong potential' for securities lending
July 1, 2011--At a conference held by the International Securities Lending Association (ISLA) in Lisbon, 35% of attendees said Brazil had the biggest potential growth for businesses among the BRIC countries – which include Brazil, Russia, India and China – while 31% said China also presented a large number of opportunities.
At a conference held by the International Securities Lending Association (ISLA) in Lisbon, 35% of attendees said Brazil had the biggest potential growth for businesses among the BRIC countries – which include Brazil, Russia, India and China – while 31% said China also presented a large number of opportunities.
Source: IP&E
The Options Industry Council Announces June Volume Grew 21 Percent
July 1, 2011-- The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 372,928,893 total options contracts changed hands in June, representing a 20.59 percent increase over June 2010 when 309,262,866 contracts were traded.
Additionally, year-to-date volume for June stood at 2,217,548,977 contracts compared to 2,000,877,118 contracts traded during the first six months of last year and representing a 10.83 percent increase. June's average daily volume for the month came in at 16,951,314 contracts, 20.59 percent more than the 14,057,403 contracts traded during June 2010. Year-to-date average daily volume was 17,740,392 contracts, up 9.94 percent over 16,136,106 contracts in June of last year.
Equity options volume experienced an increase of 20.06 percent with 342,530,588 contracts exchanged in June compared to 285,302,265 contracts for the same year ago period. Year-to-date equity options volume for June stood at 2,065,770,914 contracts compared to the same point last year when 1,843,012,741 contracts were traded, representing a 12.09 percent increase. Equity options volume on average each day in June was 15,569,572 contracts, up 20.06 percent compared to 12,968,285 contracts for the same month last year.
Source: OIC
BATS Global Markets Reports Record June For Options, 11% U.S. Equities Market Share
July 1, 2011-BATS Global Markets (BATS), a global operator of
stock and options markets, today reported record BATS Options matched market share of 4.3% for the
month of June and U.S. Equities matched market share of 11.0%, equal to the same month last year.
The company’s BATS Europe division reported matched market share for pan-European equities trading of 5.6% compared to 5.3% a year ago. BATS operates two stock exchanges in the U.S., the BATS BZX Exchange and BATS BYX Exchange;
BATS Options; and BATS Europe, an FSA-authorised multilateral trading facility in Europe. June 2011 highlights for each of these markets are outlined below.
Source: BATS
IMF 2011 Financial Access Survey Data Now Available
July 1, 2011--The “Access to Finance” Project (the Project) aims at collecting annual geographic and demographic data on access to basic consumer financial services worldwide. This is done through the identification and development of appropriate high quality data that are comparable across countries and over time collected by means of periodic surveys.
The main envisaged users of these data are researchers and policy makers.
view the IMF 2011 Financial Access Survey Data
Source: IMF
Health: spending continues to outpace economic growth in most OECD countries
June 30, 2011-- Health spending continues to rise faster than economic growth in most OECD countries, maintaining a trend observed since the 1970s. Health spending reached 9.5% of GDP on average in 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available, up from 8.8% in 2008, according to OECD Health Data 2011.
But health spending as a share of GDP is likely to stabilise or fall slightly in 2011. This is due to improving economic growth and lower health spending as governments seek to rein in budget deficits. While governments must do more to get better value for money from healthcare spending, they must also continue pursuing their long-term goals of having more equitable, responsive and efficient health systems, according to the OECD.
The rise in the health spending share of GDP was particularly marked in countries hard hit by the global recession. In Ireland, the percentage of GDP devoted to health increased from 7.7% in 2007 to 9.5% in 2009. In the United Kingdom, it rose from 8.4% in 2007 to 9.8% in 2009.
view the OECD Health Data 2011
Source: OECD
Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER)
June 30, 2011--COFER is an IMF database that keeps end-of-period quarterly data on the currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves. The currencies identified in COFER are:
U.S. dollar,
Euro,
Pound sterling,
Japanese yen,
Swiss francs, and
Other currencies.
Source: IMF
