Americas ETP News
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U.S. Trade Gap Widened in April Amid Coronavirus Disruptions-2nd Update
June 4, 2020--U.S. exports and imports both posted their largest monthly decreases on record amid coronavirus-related shutdowns around the world.
Imports decreased 13.7% in April. Exports, meanwhile, fell 20.5% from March. Both marked the largest month-over-month declines since record-keeping began in 1992, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The declines left the U.S. with a larger deficit in trade of goods and services. The foreign-trade gap expanded 16.7% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted $49.41 billion in April. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a trade deficit of $50 billion.
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Source: morningstar.com
US borrowers shun leveraged loan market as demand wanes
June 4, 2020--Borrowers that have historically turned to the US leveraged loan market are instead looking to high-yield bonds to refinance existing loans as bank debt becomes more costly and hard to access while demand for the asset class drops.
Health insurer Molina Healthcare and food distributor Del Monte Foods raised a combined US$1.3bn in bonds to repay their term loans in May. Artificial intelligence firm Cerence followed suit raising US$150m in convertible bonds to partially repay a US$270m syndicated loan, banking sources said.
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Source: reuters.com
Fidelity Launches 3 Nontransparent ETFs
June 4, 2020--It is the third asset manager to launch such funds, which are the firm's first actively managed equity ETFs.
Fidelity Investments is the latest asset manager to bring to market actively managed nontransparent ETFs.
Fidelity today introduced three such equity ETFs, each charging a 0.59% expense ratio: the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth ETF (FBCG), Fidelity Blue Chip Value ETF (FBCV) and Fidelity New Millennium ETF (FMIL). They are the firm’s first actively managed equity ETFs.
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Source: thinkadvisor.com
For U.S. economy, the bottom may be here, but the rebound is slow so far
June 4, 2020--The U.S. economy may have hit its low point in the coronavirus crash but the rebound so far remains tepid, according to both broad indexes of activity and higher frequency counts of cellphone data and employee time information.
Indicators of retail foot traffic continued climbing last week. Cellphone location data from Unacast showed the nation overall now within around 20% of its 2019 level, and an expanding group of states where traffic is now higher than it was last year.
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Source: Reuters
Wall Street strategists turn bearish on US dollar, say dramatic falls likely-FT
June 3, 2020--After the US dollar fell to its lowest in three months against its six major rivals, the Wall Street strategists, including Goldman, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup, argued in recent days that the currency's long rally could be finally over, as cited by the Financial Times (FT).
Key quotes
"Several props for the dollar have recently fallen away or begun to wobble."
"We had been discouraging investors from putting dollar shorts in their portfolios during the past few months because of our concern about the [backdrop], but that has changed."
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Source: fxstreet.com
Private equity eyes $400bn windfall from US retirement savers
June 3, 2020--The Trump administration on Wednesday cleared a path for ordinary savers to invest in private equity funds through their employer-sponsored retirement accounts, handing the alternative investment management industry a victory after a years-long push.
The US labour department, which governs 401(k) retirement accounts, said private equity could be used within the professionally managed funds on offer to savers, such as target date funds which invest in multiple asset classes.
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Source: FT.com
Bears Stampede Out of High-Yield ETFs With Fed Backstop in Play
June 2, 2020--Bearish bets on exchange-traded funds that track high-yield bonds plunged as the Federal Reserve stepped into the market.
Short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding on the $12 billion SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF, ticker JNK, sank below 2%-- a four-year low ---after surging to as high as 25% in early March, according to data from IHS Markit Ltd. For the $25 billion iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, ticker HYG, bearish wagers are at the lowest level this year.
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Source: bnnbloomberg.ca
Changes Are Coming For Airline ETF, Slight Reduction In Dependence on Top 4 US Carriers
June 1, 2020--The U.S. Global Jets ETF, the lone exchange-traded fund dedicated to airline equities, is set to undergo some changes that will slightly reduce the fund's exposure to the four largest domestic carriers.
JETS follows the U.S. Global Jets Index, which typically includes 30 to 35 stocks. When that index rebalances in March, June, September and December, it assigns weights of 12% to the four largest U.S. carriers.
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Source: benzinga.com
Indxx Launches the Indxx Flexible Workplace Index
June 1, 2020--'New Work Order' is coming, facilitated not just by an on going pandemic but also due to the widespread benefits it entails. Corporations worldwide are starting to view crowded offices as a thing of the past and have initiated a dialogue about a permanent shift to work from home and reduced office space.
Our Indxx Flexible Workplace Indexis designed to capture the themes that are poised for growth as the world embraces the work from home routine. Indxxis excited to announce the launch of the Indxx Flexible Workplace Index ("The Index").
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Source: Indxx
Short the Target: The Specialist Funds Betting M&A Deals Won't Close
June 1, 2020--Some hedge funds that wager on mergers and acquisitions are taking an unusual approach to navigating the uncertainty caused by the new coronavirus: They're betting against the target.
For these so-called merger-arbitrage investors, this marks a big shift in strategy. They typically make money by buying up the stock of target companies in M&A deals, betting the share price will rise after a combination is announced and nears completion.
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Source: wsj.com
