Global ETF News Older than One Year
Annual inflation in OECD area falls to 1.5% in June 2010
August 3, 2010--Excluding food and energy, the annual inflation rate held steady at 1.3 % in June for the third consecutive month. Food prices rose by 0.6% in the year to June 2010 compared with 0.5% in May.
Deflation continued in Japan, albeit at a slower rate: consumer prices fell by 0.7% in the year to June, compared with a decline of 0.9% in May. Lower energy prices caused annual inflation to slow in all other G7 countries. Annual inflation in June was 1.1% in the United States, down from 2.0% in May. In Canada, consumer prices rose 1.0% in the year to June, compared with an annual 1.4% in May. In Germany, prices rose 0.9% in the year to June, down from an annual 1.2% in May. In France, annual inflation was 1.5% in June, down from 1.6% in May. Consumer prices rose an annual 1.3% in Italy, down from 1.4% in May. In the United Kingdom annual inflation was 3.2%, down from 3.3% the previous month. Euro area annual inflation (HICP) was 1.4% in June 2010 compared with 1.6% in May.
Source: OECD
BATS Reports 11.1% July US Market Share, Also Sets Overall Europe Record With 5.6%
August 2, 2010--BATS Exchange earned 11.1% US matched market share for the month and awaits approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission for its second equities exchange, BYX (BATS Y-Exchange). In Tape B securities, BATS set a third straight monthly record in July with 18.1% matched market share.
The fast-growing BATS Europe multilateral trading facility (MTF), which offers trading in 15 European markets, earned a new monthly overall European market share record with 5.6%. BATS Europe also set new monthly market share records in Frankfurt's DAX (5.2%), Milan's FTSE MIB (7.0%), Amsterdam's AEX (6.1%), Helsinki's OMXH25 (7.8%), Stockholm's OMXS30 (5.5%) and the STOXX50 (6.3%).
BATS Europe also reports continued strong FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 market share with 8.6% and 6.2% respectively and its second best month to date in the SMI with 7.5%.
Among top global equities market operators in June, BATS Exchange remained in third place after NYSE and NASDAQ and well ahead of exchanges in Tokyo, China, Paris, Germany and London in terms of value of shares traded.
"We are pleased with July's results and expect market share to continue to grow significantly in all of our current businesses," said Joe Ratterman, CEO of BATS Global Markets and BATS Exchange. "We are also looking forward to the launch of our second US exchange, BYX, later this year, pending SEC approval, giving customers greater flexibility in pricing."
Source: BATS
FTSE Group Invest in Growing Custom Index Business
August 2, 2010--: FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the award winning global index provider, today announces the appointment of Sudir Raju as Managing Director for its custom index business.
Increasingly, clients want a customised solution when setting their performance benchmark or for creating a tailored strategy index on which to base an index fund, ETF or structured product.
“FTSE continues to expand its custom services in response to growing demand from our clients worldwide” said Donald Keith, Deputy Chief Executive. “I am delighted to have Sudir join our team. He brings with him a wealth of experience in index design and is widely respected in the industry.”
Sudir Raju comments, “I am delighted to be joining the custom team at FTSE and look forward to servicing FTSE’s global client base with an increasingly wide range of custom solutions.” Sudir has worked for Dow Jones and Stoxx Indexes since 2004, and since 2007 been responsible for the Stoxx custom index business, in addition to leading their product development initiatives. He has a strong technical background with experience extending across index design, production, reviews and operations, as well as sales and marketing of custom indices.
Source: FTSE
Average Daily Volume of 8.1 Million Contracts at Eurex and ISE in July
Eurex Repo continues to grow
August 2, 2010--At the international derivatives markets of Eurex, an average daily volume of 8.1 million contracts was traded in July (July 2009: 9.5 million). Thereof, 5.6 million contracts were traded at Eurex (July 2009: 5.4 million); another 2.5 million contracts (July 2009: 4.1 million) were traded at the International Securities Exchange (ISE). In total, 176.4 million contracts were traded on both exchanges compared with 214.6 million contracts in July 2009.
At Eurex, the equity index derivatives segment was the most successful segment, totaling 56.4 million contracts, compared with 65.0 million contracts in July 2009. Futures on the EURO STOXX 50 reached 26.1 million contracts; the options recorded another 20.5 million contracts. The DAX future reached a turnover of 2.9 million contracts while the DAX option achieved 5.0 million contracts.
The Eurex segment of equity-based derivatives (equity options and single stock futures) grew by 22 percent and recorded 30.1 million contracts (July 2009: 24.7 million). Thereof, equity options totaled at 21.6 million contracts. Single stock futures totaled 8.5 million contracts.
Eurex’s interest rate derivatives segment reached 36.4 million contracts, compared with 34.0 million in July 2009. Approximately 15.1 million contracts were traded in the Euro-Bund-Future, 9.0 million contracts in the Euro-Schatz Future, 9.0 million contracts in the Euro-Bobl-Future and almost 73,000 contracts in the Euro-BTP-Future.
Dividend derivatives traded roughly 377,000 contracts, an increase of 20 percent compared with June 2010 and 46 percent y-o-y. Volatility derivatives recorded almost 28,000 contracts for both VSTOXX futures and options. Commodities derivatives totaled at 71,000 contracts, compared with almost 30,000 in July 2009.
Eurex Repo, which operates CHF- and EUR repo markets, grew by 12 percent y-o-y and both repo markets combined reached an average outstanding volume of 219.8 billion euros (July 2009: 196.1 billion euros). The secured money market segment GC Pooling achieved the strongest growth with 21 percent, totaling an average outstanding volume of 92.3 billion euros (July 2009: 76.1 billion euros).
The electronic trading platform Eurex Bonds, which rounds out Eurex’s fixed-income product range, saw a volume of 6.8 billion euros (single counting) in July. In June 2010, the figure was 7.9 billion euros, and in July 2009 volume was 8.1 billion euros.
Source: Eurex
Financial crisis has forced rethink on portfolio risk, says State Street
August 2, 2010-- The financial crisis has forced investors to take a more nuanced approach to portfolio risk management, according to State Street.
In its latest Vision Focus report on asset-allocation trends, State Street said the extreme market volatility of 2007-09 made many investors question a number of "long-held tenets" of asset allocation"
Dan Farley, global head of Multi-Asset Class Solutions at State Street Global Advisors, said the crisis exposed the need to "understand the limitations of traditional practices", such as Modern Portfolio Theory, and "heightened the need for new approaches" to strategic and tactical asset allocation.
Source: IP&E
New proposal for sustainability indicators published
US-focused proposal focuses on materiality
July 30, 2010-A new approach to developing sustainability KPIs [key performance indicators] for all corporate sectors has been put forward by a team of senior industry figures and academics.
The proposals, aimed at encouraging the use of sustainability reporting in the US, differ from previous KPI regimes in that they stress materiality. The authors hope the proposal will enable firms to move from a compliance driven “disclosure” mindset to one of managing – and even competing on – sustainability issues.
The 88-page From Transparency to Performance: Industry-Based Sustainability Reporting on Key Issues has been backed by The Hauser Center for Non-profit Organizations at Harvard University and the Initiative for Responsible Investment.
Source: Responsible Investor
PRB's 2010 World Population Data Sheet
July 30, 2010--Many countries are facing a shrinking pool of their working-age populations, often considered to be ages 15 to 64, to support the population ages 65+, jeopardizing pension guarantees and long-term health care programs for the elderly.
Worldwide in 1950, there were 12 persons of working age for every person age 65 or older. By 2010, that number had shrunk to 9. By 2050, this elderly support ratio, which indicates levels of potential social support available for the elderly, is projected to drop to 4.
The Population Reference Bureau's 2010 World Population Data Sheet and its summary report offer detailed information on 19 population, health, and environment indicators for more than 200 countries.
"There are two major trends in world population today," says Bill Butz, PRB's president. "On the one hand, chronically low birth rates in developed countries are beginning to challenge the health and financial security of their elderly. On the other, the developing countries are adding over 80 million to the population every year and the poorest of those countries are adding 20 million, exacerbating poverty and threatening the environment."
view the 2010 World Population Data Sheet
Source: Population Reference Bureau
MSCI to cut 70-80 jobs as it absorbs RiskMetrics
July 29, 2010--Index firm MSCI says it plans to cut around 70-80 jobs in the first round of a restructuring as it absorbs its £1.55bn acquisition of risk management and environmental social and governance (ESG) research firm RiskMetrics.
The move – announced in a regulatory filing – aims to eliminate overlapping jobs, office space and vendor contracts. Also part of the plan will be the discontinuation of the planned integration of an unnamed product into RiskMetrics’ “standard product offering suite”. It gave no geographical location for the job cuts.
The cuts are a step towards the cost synergies MSCI referred to at the time of the acquisition in March this year. At the time, MSCI Chief Executive Henry Fernandez identified $50m of cost synergies resulting from the deal.
Source: Responsible Investor
European institutional investors growing in confidence
July 28, 2010-- Institutional investors in Europe grew slightly more confident in June, according to State Street's latest Investor Confidence index.
In Europe, investor confidence increase by 5.4 points from 92.3 to 97.7, while in Asia confidence rose by 1.7 points from 100.9 to 102.6.
North American investors, however, grew increasingly pessimistic, with investor confidence falling 6.3 points from 98.5 to 92.2.
Worldwide, confidence lifted slightly, increasing by 1.3 points to 89.7.
Source: IP&E
BP Oil Spill Has Potentially Large Implications for Oil Prices and Alternative Energy, Says ETF Securities
July 28, 2010--The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has potentially large implications for the energy sector with the cost of the spill being estimated at US$32.2 billion. With current International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates putting offshore production at around half of oil production towards 2015, and if the US tightens regulations on offshore oil drilling and other countries follow suit, the implications for longer-dated oil prices and the alternative energy sector could be significant.
Commenting on the trends and potential implications for the oil, alternative and nuclear industries, Daniel Wills, Senior Analyst at ETF Securities, said:
"The BP oil spill cannot be looked at as a one-off isolated event. The spill has potential implications for the oil industry as a whole and for global policies towards alternative and nuclear energy. With BP estimating that the cost of the spill may be as much as US$32.2 billion, the spill will likely increase the industry-wide cost of offshore oil production as companies are forced to reassess their potential liabilities from these types of activities - not just in the US Gulf but globally. This is a potentially significant development given that the IEA projects that around half of oil production towards 2015 will come from offshore sources.
In addition, recent rhetoric indicates that the spill is giving new impetus to US and international policies to boost alternative and nuclear energy sources at the expense of fossil fuels."
Source: ETF Securitites
