Global ETF News Older than One Year
State Street appoints head of EMEA ETFs
June 7, 2013--Alexis Marinof has been appointed as inaugural head of Europe, Middle East and Africa at State Street Global Investors' ETF platform SPDR as business in the area gains momentum.
Marinof will be based in the London office and will be responsible for managing the ETF strategy across the region, working closely with the product development, sales, marketing and capital markets teams.
Source: International Adviser
NASDAQ OMX Closes EUR 600,000,000 Senior Notes Offering
June 7, 2012--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NDAQ) today announced that it closed a public offering of EURO600,000,000 aggregate principal amount of Euro-denominated 3.875% senior notes due 2021 (the "Notes").
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with cash on hand and/or borrowings under the revolving portion of its senior credit facility, to fund the consideration for the previously announced acquisition of the eSpeed platform and related expenses and for general corporate purposes, which may include the repayment of indebtedness.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Interconnectivity Critical to Unlocking ASEAN's Vast Growth Potential
June 6, 2013--On the opening day of the World Economic Forum on East Asia, ASEAN business and political leaders emphasized the need for greater connectivity and regulatory harmonization to unlock ASEAN's vast growth potential, now and in the coming decade.
In a session on the region’s networked future, participants heard that growth in ASEAN will exceed expectations, but only if the regional bloc synergizes supply chains and prioritizes regional unity.
Source: World Economic Forum
Record-breaking ETF inflows top $100bn
June 6, 2013--More than $100bn has flowed into exchange traded funds so far this year, as the ETF industry's expansion continues at a record-breaking pace.
ETFs (funds and products) have attracted inflows of $107.4bn in the first five months of 2013, an increase of 31.3 per cent on the same period last year, according to ETFGI, a consultancy that monitors industry trends.
Source: ETFGI
Has competition improved markets?
June 5. 2013--Equity markets are undergoing nothing short of a competitive revolution. Equity Market titans such as the NYSE, the London Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Deutsche Borse and Euronext now share the limelight with dozens of players.
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of trading on markets partially exempt from National Market System requirements on equity market quality. Lit and dark trading venues differ in their regulatory structure most notably in whether they must provide fair-access and pre-trade transparency and restrict sub-penny trading increments. We find evidence consistent with the notion that dark venues rely on their special features to segregate order flow based on asymmetric information risk, which results in their transactions being less informed and contributing less to price discovery on the consolidated market.
Source: CMCRC
ETFGI PRESS RELEASE: Net inflows of 107 billion US dollars YTD through the end of May 2013 helped push global assets in ETFs and ETPs to new high
According to ETFGI record net inflows of $107 billion year to date through the end of May 2013 helped to push assets invested globally in ETFs and ETPs to a new all-time high of $2.14 trillion
June 5, 2013--ETFs and ETPs have received record net inflows of $107 billion through the end of May 2013 which is 31% higher than the $82 billion in net flows at this time in 2012.
These inflows have helped to push assets invested globally in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) to a new all-time high of $2.14 trillion US dollars, according to preliminary figures from ETFGI’s Global ETF and ETP industry insights report for May 2013. There are now 4,849 ETFs and ETPs, with 9,875 listings, assets of $2.14 trillion, from 211 providers listed on 56 exchanges. ETF and ETP assets have increased by 9.6% from $1.95 trillion to $2.14 trillion.
ETFs and ETPs in May received $24.3 billion in net inflows. Equity ETFs and ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $25 billion, followed by fixed income ETFs and ETPs with $3.1 billion, while commodity ETFs and ETPs experienced net outflows with $6.7 billion.
Equity ETFs and ETPs saw net inflows of $25 billion in May with US/North American equity exposures gathering $16 billion, the largest net inflows, followed by developed Asia Pacific equity with $8.9 billion, and global equity with $2.1 billion net inflows, while products offering emerging market equity exposure experienced the largest net outflows with $4.3 billion.
Source: ETFGI
S&P Dow Jones Indices: Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index: Commodities Fall Short In May
June 5, 2013--KEY HIGHLIGHTS
DJ-UBS Commodity Index fell 2.2% in May, bringing the index's YTD total return down to -6.0%.
DJ-UBS Energy lost 4.7% this month and was almost flat YTD, coming in at 0.6%.
DJ-UBS Grains was up 2.3% in May, driven by wet weather that resulted in delayed plantings.
DJ-UBS Softs fell 6.8% MTD, bringing the index to its lowest level since July 2010.
Source: Mondovisione
S&P GSCI: Market Attributes-Commodities-Commodities Missed The Mark In May
June 5, 2013--KEY HIGHLIGHTS
The S&P GSCI fell 1.5% in May, bringing the index's YTD total return down to-5.6%.
The S&P GSCI Energy lost 1.9% this month, driving down the YTD total return to -4.7% and losing its position as the best performing sector index YTD.
The S&P GSCI Agriculture lost 61 basis points in May, bringing the YTDtotal return down to -4.4% and making it the best performer in 2013. The S&P GSCI Livestock was slightly down again in May, off 65 basis points, which added to its negative performance for the year, now off 8.1%. The S&P GSCI Industrial Metals, led by lead, was the only sector index to post gains in May, up 2.6%.
Source: Mondovisione
IMF Working paper-The Comovement in Commodity Prices: Sources and Implications
June 5, 2013--Summary: We present a simple macroeconomic model with a continuum of primary commodities used in the production of the final good, such that the real prices of commodities have a factor structure.
One factor captures the combined contribution of all aggregate shocks which have no direct effects on commodity markets other than through general equilibrium effects on output, while other factors represent direct commodity shocks. Thus, the factor structure provides a decomposition of underlying structural shocks. The theory also provides guidance on how empirical factors can be rotated to identify the structural factors. We apply factor analysis and the identification conditions implied by the model to a cross-section of real non-energy commodity prices. The theoretical restrictions implied by the model are consistent with the data and thus yield a structural interpretation of the common factors in commodity prices. The analysis suggests that commodity-related shocks have generally played a limited role in global business cycle fluctuations.
view the IMF working paper-The Comovement in Commodity Prices: Sources and Implications
Source: IMF
BlackRock, Vanguard warn Libor fixes threaten funds
June 4, 2013--BlackRock and Vanguard are urging an international regulatory body to reconsider some of the principles the group has proposed to bolster the Libor and other financial benchmarks.
The firms warn that some principles proposed by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions may spur regulators to impose misguided requirements on commercial indices, pushing up compliance costs that would then be passed on to regulated funds that license indices.
Source: FT
