Global ETF News Older than One Year
Europe and Central Asia: Less Volatile, but Slower Growth
June 12, 2013--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
GDP growth in Europe and Central Asia is projected to rise only slightly in 2013 to 2.8 percent.
Following a sharp decline in 2012, Foreign Direct Investment is expected to rebound in 2013.
Developments in global financial markets remain important for the region, particularly for countries with high external financing needs.
Overview
The Europe and Central Asia region (1) suffered a significant economic slowdown in 2012, as the region faced significant headwinds, including weak external demand, deleveraging by European banks, poor harvest and inflationary pressures. As a result, growth fell to 2.7 percent in 2012, compared with 5.6 percent in 2011 with a sharp slowdown in developing Europe and less severe adjustments among the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Source: World Bank
Developing world faces domestic challenges, as global economy stabilizes
June 12, 2013--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Risks from advanced economies have receded, says Global Economic Prospects
Structural reforms needed in developing countries to regain fast growth
Expanding South-South trade is boosting global commerce
The world economy appears to be getting back on its feet as risks from advanced economies ease.
Growth in the developing world will remain solid, albeit slower than the frenetic growth rates seen during the pre-crisis boom period, as developing countries grapple with home-grown challenges brought on by capacity constraints in many middle income countries, says the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects, issued today.
Global GDP is expected to expand about 2.2 percent in this year and strengthen to 3.0 percent and 3.3 percent in 2014 and 2015.
view the Global Economic Prospects Report-Less volatile, but slower growth-June 2013
Source: World Bank
MSCI Announces the Results of the 2013 Annual Market-Classification Review
June 11, 2013--MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, including indices, portfolio risk and performance analytics and corporate governance services, announced today its decision to reclassify the MSCI Qatar and MSCI UAE Indices from Frontier
Markets to Emerging Markets, the MSCI Greece Index from Developed Markets to Emerging Markets and the MSCI Morocco Index from Emerging Markets to Frontier Markets.
The reclassifications of the MSCI Qatar and MSCI UAE Indices will coincide with the May 2014 Semi‐Annual Index Review while the reclassifications of the MSCI Greece and MSCI Morocco Indices will coincide with the November 2013 Semi‐Annual Index Review. MSCI also announced today the start of the review of China A‐shares for a potential inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, driven primarily by a series of positive market opening measures and strong regulatory momentum over the past 12 months.
Source: MSCI
Europe should open fund markets
June 10, 2013--Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has ruled out buying any rival businesses in order to grow its asset base despite declaring an intention to increase assets on the passive side by over 50 per cent in the next 18 months.
Reinhard Bellet, head of Deutsche’s passive fund business, anticipates rapid asset growth for the unit following its integration into Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management from the bank’s corporate and investment banking arm last year.
Source: Financial Times
BNP could merge US units to cope with reform: Report
June 10, 2013--BNP Paribas, France's biggest bank, is planning to merge its U.S. operations in an attempt to offset the impact of possible U.S. regulatory reforms for foreign banks, The Financial Times said on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
BNP, which is one of the world's largest by assets has drawn up detailed plans to combine BancWest, its U.S. retail banking subsidiary, with its U.S. corporate and investment banking operations in order to improve the efficiency of its capital and funding in the country.
Source: The Economic Times
NYSE Euronext Monthly ETF Activity Report - May 2013
June 10, 2013--Listings
In May 2013 there were seven new ETF listings, 5 from Lyxor, 1 from ThinkCapital and 1 from iShares.
At the end of May, NYSE Euronext's European markets had 660 listings of 576ETFs from 16 issuers.
Trading activity
Average daily value traded on-book in May of €.233.8 million, a decrease of 5.7% vs April 2013, and down 8.15% vs May 2012.
Total value traded on-book amounted to €.5.14 billion, a decrease of 12.9% vs April 2013, and down 12.14% vs May 2012.
Average of 6,418 on-book trades (single-counted) executed daily last month, a decrease of 9.6% vs April 2013, and down 5.68% vs May 2012.
Total of €.1.3 billion exchanged in block trades in May, down 39.26% from the €.2.08 billion in April.
Overall, block trade volume represented 24.55% of total regulated market ETF trading activity on NYSE Euronext.
Assets Under Management (AUM)
At the end of May 2013, the combined AUM of all ETFs listed on the NYSE Euronext European markets totalled €.158.3 billion.
Market Quality
In May, 4 LPs took on liquidity responsibilities for 9 additional LP contracts on 9 different ETFs:
Commerzbank continued expanding their activity by adding another 4 ETFs to their list: 1 HSBC ETF, 1 Lyxor ETF, and 2 SPDR ETFs.
SG Securities took the lead on three of the new Lyxor ETFs.
Flow Traders took the lead on the new ThinkCapital ETF.
Susquehanna took the lead on the new iShares ETF.
Median spread for all listed ETFs of 38.8 bps, an increase of 10% vs April 2013 and of 25% vs May 2012.
23 Liquidity Providers currently active on ETFs.
view the NYSE Euronext ETF Activity-Europe
view the NYSE Arca: ETP Monthly Flash
Source: NYSE Euronext
International swaps market reform-Promoting transparency and lowering risk
June 10, 2013--Article-Banque de France-Financial Stability Review-No. 17-April 2013-In 2010, the US Congress passed the historic Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act (Dodd‑Frank Act). The CFTC is more than 80 percent complete with Dodd-Frank Act swaps market
reform rulewriting, and now the marketplace is increasingly shifting to implementation of common-sense
rules of the road.
Swaps market reform is about ensuring the vast derivatives marketplace serves the rest of the economy. In the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, the G20 leaders agreed that it was time to bring transparency and oversight to the opaque swaps market. Since then, there has been significant global progress on reform. We continue to work in a coordinated way to implement the critical reforms agreed to in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Regulators around the globe are making great progress, but we all must complete the task to bring transparency to these markets and protect the public.view more
Source: CFTC.gov
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Weekly: Platinum and Palladium Outperform as Rising Demand and Supply Constraints Drive Gains
June 10, 2013--Last week the gold price fell as better-than-expected US jobs data spurred a rally in the dollar and accelerated demand for cyclical equities.
In our view, fears the Fed will reel back its quantitative easing program in a significant manner in the near term are overblown given that nonfarm payroll additions need to be over 200K per month in order to drive a meaningful decline in the unemployment rate (the unemployment rate in fact rose last month) and the inability of the US economy/financial system to handle a sustained significant rise in bond yields. India's latest actions to curb gold demand (see below) also dealt a blow to the gold price last week. Platinum and palladium, on the other hand, defied dollar appreciation and rose 3% and 1% respectively as South Africa supply concerns continue to grow and auto demand appears robust. Silver, traded broadly flat over the week as mixed economic data tore the metal's industrial and store of value properties in opposite directions. To the degree that the global industrial recovery continues and South Africa supply issues remain unresolved, we expect the PGMs to continue to outperform gold and silver.
India increases gold import tax and widens ban on gold consignment imports. Last week India increased its gold import duty to 8% from 6%, quadrupling the tax since January. The levy on platinum imports was also increased to 8% from 6%. India also widened the ban on consignment-based gold imports to cover state-run trading companies and others authorised to directly import gold. Indian consumers, who have helped prop-up gold demand since prices fell by over 15% in April, are an important source of support for the metal as ETF investors continue to sell.
Source: ETF Securities
BlackRock ETP Landscape Research-No "Sell in May" for ETP Investors
June 7, 2013--Global ETPs attracted $26.5bn in May, keeping year-to-date flows ahead of last year's record pace
Year-to-date ETP flows grew 24% over 2012 levels, breaking through the $100 billion mark.
Investors exhibited an increased appetite for economically-sensitive assets compared to last month as the majority of this month’s flows were in Equity funds.
Flows into Japanese Equities continued despite some local equity market volatility, with flows accelerating to a new record high.
Gold outflows continued for a fifth straight month.
In the US Sector category, there was a clear shift in investor preference from defensive categories in April to economically sensitive categories in May.
Source: Source: BlackRock ETP Landscape Research
EPFR Global News Release-Bond Funds battered by QE3 doubts
June 7, 2013--EPFR Global-tracked Bond Funds started June by posting their biggest weekly outflows on record as fears the US Federal Reserve will start reining in its current quantitative easing program-QE3-put pressure on bond prices and chased investors out of riskier asset classes.
The week ending June 5 saw over $6 billion redeemed from High Yield Bond Funds, over $4 billion from Emerging Markets Equity Funds and over $1 billion from Global and Emerging Markets Bond Funds.
Overall, EPFR Global-tracked Bond Funds recorded collective outflows of $12.53 billion, with US funds accounting for two-thirds of that total, while redemptions from Equity Funds hit a 28 week high of $6.21 billion. Flows into Money Market Funds were volatile, posting two daily swings in excess of $17 billion before ending the week with net inflows of $3.87 billion.
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Source: EPFR
