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CBO An Overview of The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028
April 26, 2018--Summary
If current laws governing taxes and spending generally remained unchanged, the federal budget deficit would grow substantially over the next few years, CBO projects, with accumulating deficits driving debt held by the public to nearly 100 percent of GDP by 2028.
That amount would be far greater than the debt in any year since just after World War II.
In CBO's projections, real GDP growth is relatively strong this year and next, as recent changes in fiscal policy add to existing momentum. Between 2018 and 2028, real GDP expands at an average annual rate of 1.9 percent: Productivity growth returns to nearly its average over the past 25 years and recent changes in fiscal policy boost incentives to work, save, and invest; nonetheless, economic growth is held down by slower growth of the labor force.
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Source: Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight Report: Fund Flows Remain Positive for the Week in Spite of Market Declines and Rising Yields
April 26, 2018--For the second week in three investors were net purchasers of fund assets (including those of conventional funds and ETFs), injecting a little more than $8.0 billion.
In spite of market declines and rising yields, fund investors were net purchasers of equity funds (+$3.5 billion), money market funds (+$3.3 billion), taxable bond funds (+$0.9 billion), and municipal bond funds (+$229 million) for the fund-flows week ended April 25, 2018.
Market Wrap-Up
Despite a strong beginning to the Q1 2018 earnings season, the markets declined in four of the five trading days of the fund-flows week as the ten-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to its highest level since December 2013. For the fund-flows week the NASDAQ Composite Price Only Index (-4.00%) witnessed the largest decline of the broad-based indices, bettered by the Dow Jones Industrial Average Price Only Index (-2.68%) and the S&P 500 Price Only Index (-2.56%). Overseas, the Shanghai Composite Price Only Index (+0.30%) posted the only plus-side return for the week after the Chinese government announced deeper economic and market reforms late in the flows week.
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Source: Thomson Reuters
Investors See Largest Ever Decline in Fund Fee
April 26, 2018--Investors paid lower fund expenses in 2017 than ever before. Our study of U.S. open-end mutual funds and exchange-traded funds found the asset-weighted average expense ratio across funds was 0.52% in 2017, an 8% decline from 2016.
This is the largest year-over-year decline we have recorded since we began tracking the trend in asset-weighted average fees in 2000. Consequently, we estimate that investors saved roughly $4 billion in fund expenses last year (see Appendix for details). This fee decline is a big positive for investors because fees compound over time and diminish returns.
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Source: Morningstar
Evolve ETFs to Launch New ETF based on Solactive Global Innovation Index
April 26, 2018--Solactive is pleased to announce the launch of the Solactive Global Innovation Index, which will be used as the reference for the Evolve Innovation Index ETF ("EDGE"). Units of EDGE have been conditionally approved for listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") to begin trading on 2 May, 2018.
EDGE directly or indirectly invests in equity securities of companies that are involved in in-novative or disruptive trends across a broad range of industries as included in the Solactive Global Innovation Index. Starting from an investment universe of developed market equi-ties*, the index rules exclude companies that do not fulfil certain minimum liquidity criteria and then select companies operating in industries classified as: Robotics and Automation, Future Cars, Cyber Security, Big Data and Cloud Computing, Genomics, and Social Media.
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Source: Solactive AG
Pacer ETFs Crosses $2 Billion AUM Threshold
April 25, 2018--Pacer ETFs crosses major mark as strategy driven ETFs prove their worth in wild market
Pacer ETFs, an award-winning ETF provider that offers passive, rules-based strategies, is excited to announce a major milestone in less than three years since launch.
"We're very excited to have crossed the $2 billion mark in under three years. Our rapid growth rate is due, in part, to our unique series of ETFs, the Pacer Trendpilot(R) Series, the Pacer Cash Cows IndexSM Series and the Pacer Custom ETF Series. Our goal is to offer investors timely solutions to help them maintain wealth and achieve higher returns over time," says Sean O'Hara, President of Pacer ETF Distributors.
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Source: Pacer ETFs
Principal Funds Launches Active Bond ETF
April 25, 2018--Principal Funds launched a fund on Apr 19, focused on providing exposure to the investment grade corporate bond space of the United States fixed income market.
Principal Investment Grade Corporate Active ETF IG is an actively managed fund that strives to outperform the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate Investment Grade Bond Index.
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Source: Nasdaq
Grayscale Investments Hires Samantha McDonald to Lead Finance Team
April 24, 2018--McDonald joins leading digital currency asset manager from SPDR Gold Trust, where she served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Grayscale Investments, LLC, a global leader in digital currency asset management, today announced that Samantha McDonald has joined the company as Vice President, Finance. McDonald most recently served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of SPDR Gold (NYSEARCA: GLD) and SPDR Long Dollar Gold Trust (NYSEARCA: GLDW). GLD is the largest ETF to invest directly in physical gold. Reporting to Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert, McDonald will oversee finance, accounting, and legal for Grayscale.
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Source: Grayscale Investments, LLC
ETFGI reports ETFs and ETPs listed in Canada gathered net inflows of US$2.27 Bn US dollars in March 2018
April 24, 2018--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm on trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that ETFs and ETPs listed in Canada gathered US$2.27 Bn in net inflows in March 2018. YTD 2018 net inflows are at US$6.06 Bn which is more than the US$4.93 Bn in net inflows at this point last year. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Net new assets gathered by ETFs/ETPs listed in Canada were $2.27 Bn in March
March 2018 marked the 6th consecutive month of net inflows into ETFs/ETPs listed in Canada
Assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed in Canada increased by 0.89%, or $1.04 Bn, during March, to $117.97 Bn
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Source: ETFGI
Cboe Exchange Wants to Lower Its Bitcoin Futures Prices
April 24, 2018--The Cboe wants to change the way it prices bitcoin futures contracts, a move that comes just months after the exchange operator first debuted its inaugural cryptocurrency product.
In a newly published letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) dated April 17, CBOE Future Exchange (CFE) managing director Matthew McFarland announced a proposed rule amendment that would lower the minimum increment on its futures contracts from 10 points (worth $10) to 5 points (worth $5) sometime on or after May 1.
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Source: coindesk.com
Labor Department Says Do-Good Investments Are Not Always 'Prudent'
April 24, 2018--Trump administration clarifies guidelines for retirement funds
ESG investors say rules could sow confusion among managers
The Trump administration unveiled guidance aimed at the burgeoning socially-responsible investment industry that left some investors scratching their heads.
The Department of Labor, which oversees retirement-plan funds, published guidelines on Monday that said investments based on environmental, social and governance issues aren't always a "prudent choice" and that such factors shouldn't "too readily" be considered as economically relevant by fiduciaries.
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Source: Bloomberg