Global ETF News Older than One Year
The World Federation of Exchanges publishes 2018 Full Year Market Highlights
February 12, 2019--The World Federation of Exchanges ("WFE"), the global industry group for exchanges and CCPs, has today published its 2018 Full Year Market Highlights report.
Global stock markets had a turbulent year in 2018. Volatility made a come-back, breaking the spell of stable markets in 2017.
The return of volatility was against the backdrop of a global economic slowdown, geopolitical and trade tensions, concerns about tightening monetary policy, and increased scrutiny of the technology sector.
While the year began on a high note, with domestic market capitalisation scaling record levels in markets across the globe, by the end of the year, there were significant declines in market valuations when compared to the beginning of 2018. In the presence of such high volatility, trading activity was up on 2017; however, overall primary market activity saw a slowdown, with a decline in overall IPO listings and investment flows.
view the World Federation of Exchanges-2018 Full Year Market Highlights report
Source: World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
BofA: Investors remain bearish on economy despite stocks rallying
February 12, 2019--Most investors remain bearish on the economy despite the recent rally in equity markets, as shown by cash allocations being the most overweight since the global financial crisis, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch's monthly fund manager survey released Tuesday.
A net 46% of surveyed investors this month expect global growth to weaken over the next 12 months, down from 60% the previous month. Meanwhile, 55% of investors are saying they expect secular stagnation over the next year, up from 14% in January.
Source: Pensions & Investments
Eurex clears first swap transaction for U.S. end clients
February 11, 2019--Eurex Clearing, one of the world's leading central counterparties (CCP), has cleared its first swap transaction for end clients domiciled in the U.S.
Citi is the first futures commission merchant (FCM) offering client swap clearing through Eurex Clearing. Eight fund companies have already joined Citi to take advantage of this service. The transaction is the next important milestone in Eurex's strategy to expand its U.S. distribution. As recently as December 2018, the CCP received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer customer swap clearing in addition to the clearing services for futures already provided.
Source: Eurex
Institutional investors looking more closely into companies, boards-Morrow Sodali
February 11, 2019--Asset owners and managers continue to "dig deeper" into how their portfolio companies are dealing with issues such as ESG, executive pay and activism, and away from compliance checklists, according to Morrow Sodali's Institutional Investor Survey released Monday.
"Shareholders are increasingly interested in looking at companies on the merits rather than just doing a compliance exercise," said John Wilcox, chairman of Morrow Sodali, a global corporate governance firm, in an interview.
Source: Pensions & Investments
Global ETF Investors Rank Historical Performance as Top Criteria for Choosing an ETF
February 11, 2019--Defying industry assumptions that cost is everything, Brown Brothers Harriman's ETF survey finds additional criteria are increasingly being considered
The survey, which measured the expectations and preferences of 300 institutional investors, financial advisers, and fund managers from around the world, also found that investors are placing greater importance on ETF issuer than they have in years past. This year, BBH combined what was previously a regional breakdown into a single global survey of ETF investors in the United States, Europe, and Greater China.
view the Brown Brothers Harriman 2019 Global ETF Investor Survey Results
Source: Brown Brother Harriman
Sovereign borrowing outlook for OECD countries, 2007 to 2019-Gross borrowings of OECD governments from the market are set to reach a new record level in 2019 by exceeding USD 11 trillion
February 8, 2019--This report examines net and gross sovereign borrowing in OECD countries from 2007 to 2019. It first looks at net and gross borrowing needs of OECD governments in the context of fiscal developments. It then considers recent trends in central government marketable debt in the OECD area and central government debt ratios for groups of selected OECD countries. Finally, the report examines funding strategies and growing issuance of debt with 30 or more years of maturities.
Key findings
Gross borrowings of OECD governments from the markets, which peaked at USD 10.9 trillion in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis, are set to reach a new record level in 2019 by exceeding USD 11 trillion. While government funding needs in the wake of the financial crisis increased in most OECD countries, the recent further increase is confined to a few countries, particularly the United States.
In 2017, the new debt issuance of OECD governments to the markets registered the lowest level since 2008, but increased by USD 600 billion to USD 1.9 trillion in 2018 and is projected to exceed USD 2 trillion in 2019.
Source: OECD
IOSCO practices aim to create robust framework for commodities' storage and delivery
February 7, 2019--The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published a report that sets out good or sound practices to assist relevant storage infrastructures and their oversight bodies to identify and address issues that could influence the pricing of commodity derivatives and in turn affect market integrity and efficiency.
In its final report, Commodity Storage and Delivery Infrastructures: Good or Sound Practices, IOSCO identifies a number of issues that may apply to storage infrastructures and sets forth a range of possible actions to mitigate them. The practices are intended to benefit the activities of market participants regarding:
physical commodities, which are the tangible or cash market goods which underlie derivative contracts that are subject to financial regulation; and
commodity derivatives, which are financial instruments whose price is derived from the underlying physical or cash market commodities.
Source: IOSCO
The good news on pensions: sustainable equals profitable
February 7, 2019--Would you be interested in investing in companies that produce nuclear weapons? Or companies that damage the environment, pollute our seas or violate human rights? Or companies that have been related to corruption scandals? If your answer is "no", unfortunately it is likely that you are investing in some way in these types of companies today.
How can we avoid this? The solution could be in your pension funds, given the global investments they make on your behalf. Companies with excellent certified behavior currently represent only between 20% and 45% of the total. The question for both policymakers and citizens is: would you be willing to invest in companies that avoid unacceptable behavior?
Source: World Economic Forum
Growth and economic well-being: third quarter 2018, OECD
OECD household income growth continues to lag GDP growth in third quarter of 2018
February 7, 2019--Growth in real household income per capita, which provides a better picture of changes in households' economic well-being than real GDP growth per capita, slowed to 0.1 % in the OECD area in the third quarter of 2018, compared with 0.2% in the second quarter of 2018.
While real GDP per capita growth slowed more significantly (to 0.3% from 0.6% in the second quarter of 2018), it continued to outpace growth in real household income per capita.
Source: OECD
FTSE Russell-Multi-asset benchmarks for US investors
February 7, 2019--FTSE Russell is proud to announce the launch of the FTSE Market Based Allocation Index Series, a new set of benchmarks designed to represent the performance of multi-asset investment portfolios across objectively-defined risk tolerance profiles.
Drawing on FTSE Russell's extensive index capabilities across equity and fixed income globally, the new series initially comprises five indexes designed for the US wealth management and financial advisory community, bridging a gap in index coverage for this important and growing market.
Source: FTSE Russell
