Global ETF News Older than One Year
ETF Securities-Precious Metal Prices Surge on Dovish Fed Comments, Strong China Data
July 15, 2013--Key points
Gold and silver price rebound accelerates as Fed highlights dovish position.
Platinum and palladium prices back in focus on South African strikes.
Gold Forward Offered Rates (GOFO) rates turn negative for the first time since the Lehman crisis.
Bernanke’s dovish comments sent precious metals higher last week as bond yields and the US dollar fell, and a short covering rally added to the rebound. Strong,loan data from China also helped reduce fears of a broad credit crunch, improving sentiment towards the more industrially-oriented precious metals. The Chairman of the Fed emphasised the need for highly accommodative policy for the foreseeable future, even if the Fed does start to taper its enormous programme. The minutes of the Fed’s last meeting also appeared dovish, with emphasis on the downside risks to growth.
Source: ETF Securities
EDHEC-Risk Institute study shows that investors should embrace construction risk in properly structured infrastructure debt portfolios
July 15, 2013--This paper produced as part of the NATIXIS research chair on "Investment and Governance Characteristics of Infrastructure Debt Instruments," is the first of a series discussing the opportunity for long-term institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies or sovereign wealth funds, to invest in large portfolios of infrastructure debt, both to manage their liabilities and to enhance yield.
In "Who is afraid of Construction Risk," the authors focus on the question of credit risk in infrastructure investment but also address a public policy question that has come to the fore since the financial crisis of 2007-9: should pension funds and insurance companies invest significantly in new infrastructure projects?
visit www.edhec-risk.com for more info
view the Who is afraid of Construction Risk paper
Source: EDHEC
Professor Elroy Dimson appointed Chair of FTSE Policy Group
July 15, 2013--FTSE Group, the global index provider, is pleased to announce that Professor Elroy Dimson has accepted the position of Chairman of the FTSE Policy Group, the most senior position within the FTSE Governance Committees.
Professor Dimson, who was involved in setting up FTSE's first indices in 1984, replaces David Hobbs who has chaired the Policy Group since March 2010. David will continue to advise FTSE as a consultant.
Source: FTSE
HSBC announces smart beta push
July 12, 2013--HSBC has launched a new suite of alternative weighted indices in anticipation of a significant shift by pension funds and other institutional investors into "smart beta" passive investment strategies in the next few years.
Chris Cheetham, global chief investment officer at HSBC Global Asset Management, said he expected to see a big move into alternative weighting investment strategies over the next three to five years.
Source: FT.com
EPFR Global News Release-Flows bounce back as central bankers hit some of the right notes in early July
July 12, 2013-- With the US unemployment rate remaining 60 basis points north of the level perceived as a "go" signal for the US Federal Reserve to start scaling back its quantitative easing, investors turned some of their attention to the second quarter earnings season in early July.
Optimism about the prospects for US, Japanese and some European companies helped US and Europe Equity Funds post their biggest weekly inflows since 3Q11 and 2Q12 respectively while Japan Equity Funds extended an inflow streak stretching back to mid-January.
Overall, EPFR Global-tracked Equity Funds attracted a net $13.6 billion during the week ending July 10 with retail commitments at a 21 week high while Bond Funds recorded outflows of $2.69 billion. Money Market Funds took in $34 billion, a 27 week high, with US Money Market Funds accounting for over two-thirds of that total.
Visit www.epfr.com for more info
Source: EPFR
The hidden costs of investing
July 12, 2013--Picture the scene. You've splashed out on the latest Aston Martin. But as you climb into the driver's seat you're asked to pay a fee for the key to the car and another charge for its manual.
Then, just as you're about to drive off the dealer's forecourt you're hit with yet more charges- an exit fee for leaving the garage, followed by separate charges for the leather seats and passenger door.
Source: FT.com
Kenya: NSE, Shanghai Pact to Boost Asian Investments
July 12, 2013--The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China's -Shanghai Securities Exchange (SSE) to attract more investment funds from Asia.
Speaking at the announcement, Nairobi Securities Exchange Vice Chairman Bob Karina said he MoU outlines future collaboration that includes training of human capital.
Source: Allafrica.com
The European Commission and the CFTC reach a Common Path Forward on Derivatives
July 11, 2013--European Commissioner Michel Barnier and United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Gary Gensler today announced a Path Forward regarding their joint understandings on a package of measures for how to approach cross-border derivatives.
Commissioner Barnier said that "our discussions have been long and sometimes difficult, but they have always been close, continuous and collaborative talks between partners and friends."
Source: CFTC.gov
2013 Midyear SPDR(R) ETF & Investment Outlook: The Search for Yield Evolves
July 11, 2013--With the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaking 15,000 and other markets hitting record highs around the globe, categorizing the market as optimistic seems more than reasonable. But the best performing
global sector, health care, is traditionally considered one of the most defensive.1 What gives? Can the
fact that global treasuries' total returns are negative confirm this sentiment? Commodities are in the red
as well. Is this the start of the next great bull market we have all been waiting for? What, if anything, can
ETF flows tell us?
2013 ETF INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
With nearly $84 billion of inflows during 2013, investors have
found comfort in equity ETFs, but not at the expense of fixed
income funds which brought in $30 billion this year. While this
may simply be a function of the continued acceptance of fixed
income ETFs by a wider investor base, flows as a percentage of
assets were slightly stronger than equities. Investors were busy
putting capital to work in those asset classes, but commodity
exposure has clearly been out of favor in 2013. Even with a sizable
outflow from commodities, the global ETF industry has seen over
$93 billion of net flows over the first five months of the year.
Digging deeper, one can see trends at play in greater detail.
Broad market equity funds have seen the greatest flows on an absolute basis with over $25 billion coming in the door. Within equities, the dividend category also added a staggering $12.6 billon, highlighting investors continued search for yield in today’s environment. Potentially even more impressive is the growth of the beta category, which includes the popular low volatility ETFs. This group saw $6.8 billion of inflows representing over 47% of 2012 assets.
visit www.spdrs.com for complete report
Source: www.spdrs.com
BP registers U.S. unit as swap dealer with regulator
July 10, 2013--Britain's BP Plc (BP.L) on Wednesday filed to register its U.S. unit as a swap dealer with U.S. authorities, a company spokesman said, becoming the first oil company to face tough oversight of its derivatives business.
Since the beginning of the year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission requires companies to register as dealers if they trade more than $8 billion in swaps a year.
Source: Reuters
