Global ETF News Older than One Year
Strongest spot price increases since 1970
January 4, 2010-The scale and rapidity of the rebound in commodity prices in 2009 surprised investors after the meltdown in financial markets in 2008 and the subsequent economic recession.
Spot commodity prices, as measured by the S&P GSCI, the most widely followed benchmark for commodity markets, rose 50.4 per cent last year, the strongest annual increase since this series began in 1970.
Commodities ended the year on a high with US crude oil touching $80 a barrel in the final trading session and copper, lead and zinc all enjoying price gains of more than 100 per cent over the year.
Source: FT.com
BATS Exchange Reports Record Volume In 2009
January 4, 2010--BATS Global Markets, an innovative global financial markets technology company, reports that BATS Exchange recorded 9.3% US matched market
share in December and earned record average daily matched volume in 2009.
BATS Exchange’s 2009 average daily matched volume of 1 billion shares represents an increase of approximately 20% from 830.6 million in 2008.
BATS Europe, the fast-growing Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF), earned record overall European market share for the fourth consecutive month with approximately 4.0% in December and set a new market share record in the FTSE MIB with 5.8% for the month. BATS Europe also recorded approximately 8.0% market share in the FTSE 100 and 5.1% in the FTSE 250, its second highest average monthly showing in the two indices.
The BATS Europe MTF experienced tremendous growth during 2009 and ended the year with average daily notional value traded of more than €917 million for all markets, compared to €228 million in January, an increase of more than 300%.
Source: BATS Exchange
Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER)-Updated December 30, 2009
December 30, 2009--COFER is an IMF database that keeps end-of-period quarterly data on the currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves.
Source: IMF
Global Imbalances: In Midstream?
December 30, 2009--On December 22, 2009 the IMF published the report-Global Imbalances: In Midstream
Introduction
Global imbalances are probably the most complex macroeconomic issue facing economists and policy makers. They reflect many factors, from saving to investment to portfolio decisions, in many countries. These cross-country differences in saving patterns,
investment patterns, and portfolio choices are in part “good”—a natural reflection of differences in levels of development, demographic patterns, and other underlying economic fundamentals.
But they are also in part “bad,” reflecting distortions, externalities, and risks, at the national and international level. So it is not a surprise that the topic is highly controversial, and that observers disagree on the diagnosis and thus on the policies to be adopted.
Source: IMF
Global Markets for Residential and Commercial Solar Thermal Technologies to be worth $20 Billion in 2014
Decembr 31, 2009--According to a new technical market research report issued by BCC on December 9, 2009-Global Markets for Residential and Commercial Solar Thermal Technologies (EGY069A) from BCC Research (www.bccresearch.com), the global market for residential and commercial solar-thermal technologies is worth an estimated $8 billion in 2009, but is expected to increase to nearly $20 billion in 2014, for a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19,8%.
The largest segment of the market, water heating, is estimated to be worth $7.9 billion in 2009, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 19.9% to reach $19.6 billion in 2014.
The smaller segment, air heating, is expected to reach nearly $92 million in 2014, after increasing at a 5-year CAGR of 7.9% from $62.5 million in 2009.
Residential and commercial solar-thermal technologies include products that capture, concentrate, and/or absorb sunlight to provide thermal energy to a particular process or system. Because all residential and commercial solar-thermal installations must include a component that collects solar radiation, solar-thermal collectors and absorbers provide excellent indicators regarding the market performance and penetration of residential and commercial solar-thermal systems.
The following residential and commercial solar-thermal technologies are included in the scope of this report: unglazed solar collectors, flat-plate solar collectors, evacuated-tube solar collectors, integral collector storage, concentrating solar collectors, glazed solar air collectors, and transpired solar air collectors.
This study will be of interest to manufacturers of solar-thermal technologies, distributors, suppliers, and entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies interested in entering or expanding into the solar-thermal technology sector. It will also be of interest to corporate planners and strategists, large commercial and industrial energy consumers, energy market researchers, solar energy advocacy groups, and other public- and private-sector interest groups and market analysts.
Source: BCC Research
Jordan-Canada free trade agreement to start Q1
December 1, 2009--Amer Hadidi, Jordanian minister of industry and trade has announced the free trade agreement between the kingdom and Canada will go into force during the first quarter of 2010, Jordan Times has reported.
The agreement will open a new market for Jordanian products, most of which will be exempted from taxes. Also, taxes on imported products from Canada will drop gradually over transitional periods, leading to their complete removal at a later stage, the minister said.
Source: AME Daily
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
