Global ETF News Older than One Year
Active tech, healthcare and ESG funds outpace passives
August 11, 2020--Actively managed funds have been outpacing passives in hot-ticket equity sectors as investors seek exposure to the economic megatrends that have been accentuated by the Covid-19 crisis.
Active technology, healthcare and ecology funds have been am...view more
Source: FT.com
Bloomberg Launches Proprietary ESG Scores
August 11, 2020--Scores will provide transparent, data driven insights into company performance
Bloomberg today announced the launch of propriety ESG scores. This initial offering includes Environmental and Social (ES) scores for 252 companies in the Oil & Gas sector, and Board Composition scores for more than 4,300 companies across multiple industries.
"ESG data is critical to the investment process. We see an opportunity to provide transparent and complete scoring methodologies along with the underlying data in order to support investment and finance professionals make informed decisions," said Patricia Torres, Global Head of Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Solutions. "By providing transparent ESG data and scores, we are helping investors decode raw data that is otherwise hard to compare across companies. For corporates, these scores offer a valuable, quantitative and normalized benchmark that will easily highlight their ESG performance."
Source: Bloomberg
IOSCO examines the evolution of liquidity provision in equity securities markets
August 11, 2020--The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published a report that explores how liquidity provision has evolved in equity securities markets in recent years. The report, titled Liquidity Provision in the Secondary Markets for Equity Securities, identifies some of the key elements of market making programs that may help promote the provision of liquidity, strengthen investor confidence and foster fair and efficient markets.
Liquidity provision in equity securities markets plays a vital role in price discovery, thereby helping markets to function efficiently. This report, based on a survey of regulatory authorities, trading venues and market intermediaries, considers how liquidity provision has evolved in equity securities markets.
view the IOSCO Liquidity Provision in the Secondary Markets for Equity Securities report
Source: Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
Shift to Electronic Bond Trading Is a Tailwind for MarketAxess
August 10, 2020--The bond market continues to shift towards electronic trading...
JPMorgan Chase's bond-trading data showed that 77% of Treasury bond trades were conducted electronically in June, up from about 70% in March, according to a report from the Financial Times. That's well above the average of about 50% over the past two years.
JPMorgan said the data indicates a dramatic shift in the way the entire bond market trades, not just Treasurys. The investment bank added that while we may see a decrease in electronic trading as money managers return to their offices, the electronic-trading trend is here to stay.
Source: stansberryresearch.com
Aging Economies May Benefit Less from Fiscal Stimulus
August 7, 2020--In the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers around the world are undertaking fiscal stimulus-a combination of spending increases and tax reductions-to support their economies. Even before the present crisis, the importance of fiscal policy has been increasing, with monetary policy constrained by near-zero interest rates.
Our new staff research finds that age also matters when considering fiscal stimulus. Specifically, we find that fiscal policy isn't as effective in boosting growth in economies with older populations, compared to economies with younger populations.
Source: IMF
From the Fed to the Middle East: ESG investors set sights on fixing inequality
August 7, 2020-A new social justice mandate for the Fed?
ESG investors focus on Middle East
British supermodel Lily Cole on climate and sustainable fashion
A largely unnoticed EU plastic tax could create big headaches for member states
Fintech and the Fed: keys to fixing racial inequality?
Fintech has been a hot topic for impact investors in the last year, particularly in Silicon Valley. No wonder: the beauty of fintech is that it can offer financial services to underserved or excluded parts of the population-such as women in emerging markets-while also promoting innovation. Another potential opportunity for fintech: helping American black-owned businesses. Especially given that the attrition rate among black-owned businesses during the pandemic has been twice as high as that among white-owned ones, according to a fascinating paper that the New York Federal Reserve published this week.
Source: technocodex.com
ETF joins world's biggest gold owners as investors flock in
August 5, 2020--An exchange traded fund has become one of the world's biggest owners of gold, surpassing even the central banks of Japan and India, as investors have scrambled to buy the precious metal and pushed it to record highs.
SPDR Gold Shares, an ETF that owns physical bullion rather than just financial derivatives, has hoovered up gold this year as investors seeking price gains or a haven asset channel more money into the fund.
The size of the fund's holdings-which are held in HSBC's London vaults- has climbed to 1,258 tonnes
Source: FT.com
Global Imbalances and the COVID-19 Crisis
July 5, 2020--The world entered the COVID-19 pandemic with persistent, pre-existing external imbalances. The crisis has caused a sharp reduction in trade and significant movements in exchange rates but limited reduction in global current account deficits and surpluses. The outlook remains highly uncertain as the risks of new waves of contagion, capital flow reversals, and a further decline in global trade still loom large on the horizon.
Our new External Sector Report shows that overall current account deficits and surpluses in 2019 were just below 3 percent of world GDP, slightly less than a year earlier. Our latest forecasts for 2020 imply only a further narrowing by some 0.3 percent of world GDP, a more modest decline than after the global financial crisis 10 years ago.
view the IMF-2020 External Sector Report: Global Imbalances and the COVID-19 Crisis
Source: IMF
BNP Halts New Commodity Trade Finance Deals as It Reviews Unit
August 5, 2020--Bank is reviewing its involvement in the business in EMEA
Options include closing unit that specializes in such deals
BNP Paribas SA has suspended new commodity trade finance deals while it reviews its involvement in the business in Europe, Middle East and Africa, according to people familiar with the matter.
The French bank, one of the largest lenders to global commodity traders, has recently told clients that no new deals will be concluded unless there's a contractual obligation, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn't public. BNP is currently reviewing options for the future of its EMEA commodity trade finance business, the people said.
Source: bloomberg.com
Can active fund managers deliver higher returns than ETFs
August 4, 2020-- Active fund managers choose their investments in an attempt to beat the index they are benchmarked against, such as the FTSE 100 or S&P 500.
Despite the lure of beating the index, for every winner there is a loser and higher costs can erode gains.
Source: FT.com
