Global ETF News Older than One Year
OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report-December 2009
December 31, 2009--Highlights
Crude oil prices rose in November supported by expectations for economic growth in the coming year and the positive impact on demand, as well as US dollar depreciation. The OPEC Reference Basket soared by $3.62/b or 5% to average $76.29/b in November.
However, this bullish sentiment has been undermined in recent weeks, due to counterseasonal stock builds as well as the stronger US dollar. The Basket stood at $70.64/b on 14 December. The slow recovery in demand and increasing the risk of further stockbuilds due to the widening of contango is likely to continue to impact market sentiment in December.
The world economy is forecast to grow at a pace of 2.9% in 2010, following a contraction of 1.1% in 2009. Government support has helped to cushion the downturn this year and is expected to remain a main driver in 2010. However, this has come at a price of unprecedented debt to GDP ratios. While the OECD is expected to now grow at 1.3% in 2010, the bulk of growth next year will be contributed by non-OECD with China and India expected to grow at 8.5% and 6.5% respectively. The main challenges for 2010 will be the extent of the recovery in household consumption within the OECD as well as the health of the banking sector which still appears to need government support.
The year 2009 was one of the worst years for world oil demand. Consumption has recovered in the fourth quarter as a result of an improvement in economic activities worldwide, however, the forecast for global oil demand still shows a contraction of 1.4 mb/d in 2009, unchanged from the previous report. Following two years of sharp declines, world oil demand is expected to return to growth in 2010, with an increase of 0.8 mb/d following an upward revision of around 70 tb/d from the last assessment. Non-OECD countries will account for all of the increase. Downward risk factors that may put pressure on next year’s oil demand include the pace of the economic recovery in the OECD, especially in the US.
Source: OPEC
2009 Performance of MSCI Indices Reveals Recovery in Global Equity Markets
December 30, 2009--Equity financial markets globally have continued the path to recovery begun earlier this year, with strong year to date performance figures for all major regional MSCI indices across different size segments. The MSCI ACWI IMI (All Country World Investable Market Index), which combines 23 Developed and 22 Emerging Markets across Large, Mid and Small Cap size segments, delivered a year to date performance of 34.14% [1] .
The Emerging Markets continued to show the strongest signs of recovery with year to date performance of 72.93% for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The MSCI BRIC Index, which was particularly impacted by the financial crisis in 2008, showed a strong performance year to date of 87.39%. The best performer within the Emerging Markets was the MSCI Brazil Index with a positive 120.90% performance, while the worst performer was the MSCI Morocco Index with a negative 8.77% performance. All other MSCI Emerging Markets country indices exhibited positive returns, ranging from 21.12% to 118.89%.
Developed Markets are also on the recovery path, with the MSCI World Index producing a positive performance of 28.01% year to date. The MSCI Europe Index outperformed the MSCI USA Index year to date, posting a performance of 31.91% compared to 25.44% for the MSCI USA Index. Within the Developed Markets, the MSCI Norway Index and the MSCI Australia Index were the best performing indices year to date with returns of 84.58% and 67.48%, respectively. The MSCI Japan Index was the bottom performer with a performance of 6.73%, followed by the MSCI Finland Index with 7.13%.
The MSCI Global Small Cap Indices outperformed the MSCI Global Standard Indices (Large + Mid Cap) in 2009 across all regions. The MSCI ACWI Small Cap Index outperformed its large and mid cap counterpart, MSCI ACWI, by more than 16.60% year to date, with the MSCI ACWI Small Cap and MSCI ACWI Indices posting positive performance figures of 48.91% and 32.29%, respectively.
Looking at the performance of sectors globally, the MSCI ACWI Materials and MSCI ACWI Information Technology Indices exhibited very strong year to date performance of 67.52% and 56.77%, respectively. By contrast, the MSCI ACWI Utilities and MSCI ACWI Telecommunication Services Indices posted a relatively modest performance of 6.54% and 11.92%, respectively.
The relative strong performance of many major currencies around the world relative to the US Dollar significantly contributed to the positive returns of the MSCI indices in 2009. The British Pound and the Euro posted an appreciation relative to the US Dollar of 11.04% and 3.04%, respectively. Within the Emerging Markets, the Brazilian Real exhibited the strongest year to date performance relative to the US Dollar with an appreciation of 34.06%.
Historical and daily index levels for the full range of MSCI Country & Regional Indices, including year to date performance, are freely available on www.mscibarra.com .
Source: MSCI
Good year as hedge funds play catch-up
December 31, 2009--The global hedge fund industry has turned in one of its best years of performance in 2009 in close to a decade, according to industry data.
However, managers have yet to fully shake off many of the problems of 2008.
The average hedge fund returned 19 per cent to investors in 2009, according to Chicago-based data provider Hedge Fund Research. Other leading hedge fund indices report average returns of between 12 and 18 per cent after fees.
Source: FT.com
December 2009 Monthly Preliminary Performance Report Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Indexes
December 29, 2009--The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index was up 2.60% for the month of December. The Dow Jones-UBS Single Commodity Indexes for Natural Gas, Sugar and Nickel had the strongest gains with month to date returns of 20.60%, 20.41%, and 13.57%, respectively.
The three most significant downside performing single commodity indexes were Wheat, Gold and Silver, which were down -6.45%, -6.29%, and -5.21% respectively, in December.
Year-to-date, the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index is up 19.45% with the Dow Jones-UBS Copper Sub-Index posting the highest gain of 128.92% so far in 2009. Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Sub-Index has the most significant downside YTD performance, down -47.85%.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Steel 2010 rally may fizzle out
December 28, 2009--UK METALS consultancy GFMS is forecasting a recovery in demand for steel during the first half of 2010, but is concerned this could run out of steam in the second half of next year.
A report by the GFMS Steel Group said: “As the global economic performance improves through the first half of 2010, steel demand is expected to grow.
“As mills secure additional ferrous scrap and other raw materials, we expect steel prices to go up in line as conversion costs are already at marginal levels.
Source: Mining MX
Recovery hopes underpin equities rally
December 24, 2009--World stock markets hovered close to 2009 highs yesterday as growing optimism over prospects for a global economic recovery next year helped underpin a traditional pre-Christmas rally in Europe and the US. The FTSE World index was up 0.7 per cent at 342.91, just short of this year's peak of 344.67, while by the close in New York the S&P 500 was up 0.2 per cent at 1,120.59, although trading was thin.
The pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 index closed up 0.2 per cent at a 15-month closing peak of 1,037.34, while London's FTSE 100 index ended 0.8 per cent up at 5,372.38, extending its winter rally to within 10 points of its 2009 high.
Source: FT.com
NASDAQ Announces Mid-Month Open Short Interest Positions in NASDAQ Stocks as of Settlement Date December 15, 2009
December 24, 2009--At the end of the
settlement date of December 15, 2009, short interest in 2,422 NASDAQ
Global Market(SM) securities totaled 6,257,533,001 shares compared with
6,277,790,072 shares in 2,425 Global Market issues reported for the
prior settlement date of November 30, 2009. The mid-December short
interest represents 3.49 days average daily NASDAQ Global Market share
volume for the reporting period, compared with 3.17 days for the prior
reporting period.
Short interest in 462 securities on The NASDAQ Capital Market(SM) totaled 201,696,432 shares at the end of the settlement date of December 15, 2009 compared with 175,051,016 shares in 460 securities for the previous reporting period. This represents 2.18 days average daily volume, compared with the previous reporting period's figure of 2.54.
In summary, short interest in all 2,884 NASDAQ(R) securities totaled 6,459,229,433 shares at the December 15, 2009 settlement date, compared with 2,885 issues and 6,452,841,088 shares at the end of the previous reporting period. This is 3.42 days average daily volume, compared with an average of 3.15 days for the previous reporting period.
The open short interest positions reported for each NASDAQ security reflect the total number of shares sold short by all broker/dealers regardless of their exchange affiliations. A short sale is generally understood to mean the sale of a security that the seller does not own or any sale that is consummated by the delivery of a security borrowed by or for the account of the seller.
For more information on NASDAQ Short interest positions, including publication dates, visit http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/MasterDataEntry.asp?page=ShortInterest or http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/asp/short_interest.asp.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Market Scope Advisor Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) Research
December 24, 2009--Through MarketScope Advisor, financial professionals gain access to Standard & Poor’s proprietary ETF Research, which
provides detailed analysis on more than 500 domestic and international equity ETFs.
S&P analysis assesses the full underlying holdings of the ETF, which provides insight beyond risk-adjusted historical returns rankings.
The ETF ranking is derived from S&P’s proprietary methodology, which combines qualitative and quantitative analysis based on 10 factors, six of which are proprietary to S&P.
Detailed ETF reports provide an overall ETF ranking of overweight, market weight or underweight, and also show value-added content such as peer comparisons and holdings analytics by asset category, sector and top 10 holdings.
For more information visit getmarketscope.com
Source: Standard & Poors
Investors ignore analyst forecasts, study finds
December 23, 2009--Analysts’ earnings forecasts have a negligible effect on a company’s share price, according to new research that will raise further doubts over stock-pickers’ ability to move markets.
The study will fuel the debate over the usefulness of analysts’ predictions for hedge funds, which want research that affects share prices, at a time when banks are seeking to attract investors that trade frequently.
The authors of the study – Robert Hansen and Vadim Balashov of Tulane University and Oya Altinkilic of the University of Pittsburgh – looked at 196,000 revisions of quarterly and longer-term earnings forecasts by analysts between 1997 and 2007.
Source: FT.com
December 2009 “Market’s Measure” - Preliminary Report - A Monthly Report From Dow Jones Indexes And STOXX Ltd. On The Performance Of U.S., European, Asia And Other Global Stock Market Indexes
December 22, 2009--Dow Jones Industrial Average Posts 0.67% Gain in DECEMBER, European Stocks Gain 4.55%, Asia Falls 2.05% and World Equities Fall by 0.35%
Basic Resources Sector Posts Biggest Gain for 2009 in Europe & Worldwide
Technology Sector Takes the Hardest Hit for 2009 in Asia
As of December 21 the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.67% in December, closing at 10414.14. Stock market indexes in Europe rose while Asia and globally indexes were down in December, according to preliminary monthly figures from global index providers, Dow Jones Indexes and STOXX Ltd.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.67% in December, closing at 10414.14. Year-to-date, the index is up 18.66%.
Measuring Europe, the Dow Jones STOXX 50 Index is up 4.55% for December, closing at 2543.24. Year-to-date, the index is up 22.04%.
Measuring Eastern Europe, the Dow Jones STOXX EU Enlarged Total Market Index is down 0.77% for December, closing at 202.15. Year-to-date, the index is up 33.45%.
The performance of the Dow Jones STOXX EU Enlarged 15 blue-chip index is down 1.96% for December, closing at 2141.42. The index is up 30.26% so far this year.
The Dow Jones Asian Titans 50 Index fell 2.05% in December to 129.83. So far this year, the index is up 26.56%.
The Dow Jones Global Titans 50 Index fell 0.35% in December, closing at 172.14. Year-to-date, the index is up 19.55%.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
