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Fund Formation
February 24, 2011--The online report where fund managers, both established and emerging, examine the key steps to creating a succesful fund in the face of changing tax laws, market regulation and investor appetite.
In the first 5 months of 2010 1,300 new investment funds opened up, comparable to 1,000 closing. This is a turnaround for the investment industry which had seen many funds shut their doors after the financial crisis.
Any company looking to launch a new fund in late 2010 / early 2011 is likely to face restrictive legislation and unforeseeable legal changes not to mention investor sentiment that has shifted dramatically since pre-financial crisis times. ‘Fund Formation' is the first report to be written primarily by fund managers and end-investors about the prominent issues and challenges to consider when setting up a new investment fund Presented from a strategic, marketing and operational perspective, the report will assess the key drivers and issues and is set to include thought provoking ideas from some of the industry's most influential personalities.
New Indicators for Tracking Growth in Real Time-IMF Working paper
February 24, 2011--Summary: We develop monthly indicators for tracking growth in 32 advanced and emerging-market economies. We test the historical performance of our indicators and find that they do a good job at describing the business cycle.
. In a recursive out-of-sample forecasting exercise, we find that the indicators generally produce good GDP growth forecasts relative to a range of time series models.
view New Indicators for Tracking Growth in Real Time-IMF Working paper
February 2011 Monthly Preliminary Performance Report - Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Indexes
February 23, 2011--The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index was down 0.62% for the month of February. The Dow Jones-UBS Single Commodity Indexes for Cotton, Silver and Coffee, had the
strongest gains with month-to-date returns of 17.59%, 14.52%, and 10.53%, respectively. The three most
significant downside performing single commodity indexes were Natural Gas, Sugar and Crude Oil, which
were down 12.53%, 11.10%, and 6.60% respectively, in February.
Year to date, the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index is up 0.36% with the Dow Jones-UBS Cotton Sub-
Index posting the highest gain of 36.78% so far in 2011. Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Sub-Index has the
most significant downside YTD performance, down 12.57%.
NASDAQ OMX Appoints New Board Member
Borje Ekholm, President and CEO of Investor AB, Appointed to the NASDAQ OMX (Hold Co) Board
February 23, 2011--NASDAQ OMX (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced the addition of Borje Ekholm to the NASDAQ OMX board of directors following his confirmation by the board on February 17, 2011.
Mr. Ekholm is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Investor AB, the Nordic-based industrial holding company, where he has held a variety of management positions since joining the firm in 1992. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ekholm was a Member of the Management Group of Investor AB, where he had oversight of the New Investments business and President of Novare Kapital AB, an early-stage venture capital company. Previously, Mr. Ekholm worked at McKinsey & Co Inc.
Mr. Ekholm has extensive experience in overseeing the activities of a company. He currently sits on the board of directors for Chalmersinvest AB, EQT Partners AB, Husqvarna AB, Lindorff Group AB, Scania AB, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
"We are pleased to welcome Mr. Ekholm to the NASDAQ OMX Board of Directors," said Robert Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer, NASDAQ OMX. "Mr. Ekholm brings years of international management experience, and we look forward to the expertise he will add to the diversified skills and depth of knowledge of our board members."
NASDAQ OMX's board of directors is comprised of 16 members with the addition of Mr. Ekholm.
Fiscal Policy during Absorption Cycles-IMF Working Paper
February 23, 2011--Domestic absorption cycles are relevant in assessment and design of fiscal policies. Our cross-country analysis covers 59 advanced and emerging countries for the 1990-2009 period. We show that ignoring domestic absorption cycles leads to biased fiscal stance indicators, for both advanced and emerging economies, by up to 1.5 percent of GDP.
The estimates of fiscal policy reaction functions indicate that absorption booms are associated with pro-cyclical fiscal policy. We tackle the endogeneity problem in reactions functions through stripping the cyclical component of the fiscal aggregates. We also find that simple filtering methods in the computation of absorption gaps perform as better as indirect methods of estimating trade balance gaps and stripping of output gaps.
Move to cap sugar price volatility
February 22, 2011--The world’s largest sugar exchange and top traders are mulling “circuit breakers” to cap the recent surge in price volatility, people familiar with the discussions said.
The move comes as the sugar market has been suffering the largest one-day price swings in 30 years, prompting the protest of trading houses, consumers, producers and investors. The ICE Futures US exchange, based in New York, and the World Sugar Committee (WSC), an advisory group of top traders, are setting up a working group to agree on the new “circuit breakers”.
Coffee supply squeeze set to push price higher
February 22, 2011--Coffee roasters are likely to increase retail prices for the fourth time in less than a year, industry executives said, after the cost of Arabica,
the higher-quality bean, rose 2 per cent to $2.780 a pound on Tuesday, the highest since 1977.
Component Changes Made to the Dow Jones Netherlands Titans 30 Index
February 22, 2011--Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced component changes in the Dow Jones Netherlands Titans 30 Index.
Crucell N.V. (Netherlands, Health Care, CRXL.AE) will be deleted from the Dow Jones Netherlands Titans 30 Index and replaced by ASM International N.V. (Netherlands, Technology, ASM.AE).
Crucell N.V. is being removed due to its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson (U.S., Health Care, JNJ). The changes in the Dow Jones Netherlands Titans 30 Index will be effective as of the open of trading on Friday, February 25, 2011.
Further information on the Dow Jones Netherlands Titans 30 Index can be found at http://www.djindexes.com.
CRD Analytics Research added to NASDAQ OMX Global Corporate Solutions Platform
February 22, 2011-- CRD Analytics (CRDA) announced today the addition of CRDA’s proprietary Industry and Company Research to the NASDAQ OMX Global Corporate Solutions platform.
What is ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) “Sustainability”?
CRDA’s products distill large sets of complex financial and extra-financial data to produce comprehensive, relevant and actionable information for chief executives, chief financial officers, chief sustainability officers, marketing and communications executives, investor relations professionals and investors. Through an existing partnership with Trucost, the leading global environmental data provider, custom analysis will also be offered directly to NASDAQ OMX’s listed companies and prospective companies in North America.
Initially, three products will be offered:
• Industry Benchmark Reports: These reports are packed with proprietary data and analytics to reveal the sustainability dynamics in an industry. They benchmark the leading companies in an industry against each other and the industry as a whole, highlighting leaders and laggards across the four dimensions of financial, environmental, social and governance performance.
•Company Focus Reports: These reports drill down on the performance of the top performing companies in each industry, providing an in-depth look at the key sustainability performance indicators generated by CRD Analytics' SmartViewTM Platform highlighting the company’s strengths and identifying areas for improvement.
•Custom Analysis: Designed to help NASDAQ-listed companies analyze and report on their environmental impact, supply chain footprint and/or corporate operations, these reports utilize Trucost’s comprehensive database of more than 750 granular environmental impacts. Reports typically focus on peer analysis, verification of environmental reporting practices, and supply chain foot printing.
CRDA’s product line will be a valuable tool for CEOs, CFOs, IROs and CSOs to help analyze and measure the impact of sustainable business practices, relative to their bottom line, stock price and peer group. In addition, it will augment the Corporate Services offerings for NASDAQ OMX issuers and prospective clients.
"CRD Analytics’ proprietary research provides companies with the measurable and actionable business intelligence they need to analyze their sustainability platform against key peers and competitors," said Demetrios Skalkotos, Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Solutions, NASDAQ OMX. "Our partnership with CRDA marks another innovative addition to our ever-expanding suite of Corporate Services products, and helps our clients stay ahead of the curve in developing and implementing best practices in transparency and sustainability.”
"The opportunity to join NASDAQ OMX’s stable of corporate services is very exciting for us and is a testament to NASDAQ OMX’s commitment to transparency and sustainability. We can assist listed companies in highlighting their sustainability practices and how they communicate the progress and improvements to investors," said Michael Muyot, President & Founder of CRD Analytics. "Increasingly, the link between sustainable business practices, the bottom line and stock price is being understood and the SmartView platform gives companies and investors a solid analytical framework for evaluating and tracking companies who are actively pursuing long-term risk-adjusted performance."
NYSE Euronext And APX Complete Transaction And Form NYSE Blue
NYSE Blue will operate leading environmental exchanges while providing governments and corporations with the tools and solutions to adapt to the changing energy markets.
February 22, 2011--NYSE Euronext (NYX) today announced the completion of its transaction with APX, Inc. to create NYSE BlueSM, a new global company with an exclusive focus on environmental and sustainable energy markets.
NYSE Euronext contributes its ownership in BlueNext in return for a majority interest in NYSE BlueSM. The transaction has been approved by regulators and APX shareholders, who will retain a minority stake in NYSE Blue in return for their shares in APX. BlueNext is one of the world's leading spot markets in carbon credits, and APX is a leading provider of market infrastructure and services for the environmental and sustainable energy markets. Brian Storms, who served as Chairman and CEO of APX, is the new Chairman and CEO of NYSE Blue.