Global ETF News Older than One Year
IOSCO publishes Principles of Liquidity Risk Management for CIS
March 4, 2013--The International Organization of Securities Commissions published today the final report on Principles of Liquidity Risk Management for Collective Investment Schemes, which contains a set of principles against which both the industry and regulators can assess the quality of regulation and industry practices concerning liquidity risk management for collective investment schemes (CIS).
Good liquidity risk management is a key feature of the correct operation of a CIS. Its fundamental requirement is to ensure that the degree of liquidity that the open-ended CIS manages will allow it, in general, to meet redemption obligations and other liabilities. The principles of liquidity risk management published today provide details on how compliance with this requirement can be achieved. Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the issue of liquidity has been a major concern for regulators. However, the discussions on regulatory reform have tended to focus more on the importance of liquidity in the banking sector than in other sectors. These principles have been designed to address the specificities of liquidity risk management in the context of the operation of a CIS.
view the IOSCO Principles of Liquidity Risk Management for Collective Investment Schemes
Source: IOSCO
Morgan Stanley puts European wealth arm up for sale
March 4, 2013--Morgan Stanley is seeking buyers for the bulk of its wealth management business in Europe.
Investment bankers say the operation, excluding its Swiss division, has been quietly offered to potential buyers.
The move is believed to be part of a plan by Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman to achieve savings of $1.6bn between 2012 and 2014.
Source: Financial News
NYSE Euronext Monthly ETF Activity Report-February 2013
March 4, 2013--Listings
February 2013 saw a total of five new ETF listings from Lyxor
At end of February, NYSE Euronext European markets had 667 listings of 578 ETFs from 16 issuers.
Trading activity
Average daily value traded on-book in February of €252.0 million, an increase of 7.21% vs January 2013, and up 6.79% vs February 2012.
Total value traded on-book amounted to €5.05 billion, a decrease of 3.77% vs January 2013, and up 1.71% vs February 2012.
Average of 7,335 on-book trades (single-counted) executed daily last month, an increase of 3.43% vs January 2013, and down 4.37% vs February 2012.
Total of €1.12 billion exchanged in block trades in February, up 32.71% from the €0.84 billion in January.
Overall, block trade volume represented 22.10% of total regulated market ETF trading activity on NYSE Euronext.
Assets Under Management (AUM)
At the end of February 2013, the combined AUM of all ETFs listed on the NYSE Euronext European markets totalled €145.5 billion.
Market Quality
3 LPs took on liquidity responsibilities for 11 additional LP contracts on 11 different ETFs:
OPTIVER continued on their expansion seen in January by adding another 9 ETFs to their list: 5 iShares ETFs, 3 Lyxor ETFs, and 1 Amundi ETF.
SG SECURITES took the lead on the new Lyxor ETF listed on 18 February
FLOW TRADERS started activity on 1 iShares ETF.
Median spread for all listed ETFs of 24.4 bps, an improvement of 3% vs January 2013 and of 24% vs February 2012.
21 Liquidity Providers currently active on ETFs.
visit http://etp.nyx.com for more info.
Source: NYSE Euronext
Boost Research-Weekly Update: Copper Short (3HCS) up 26.7% last month -Eurostoxx trade idea
March 4, 2013--MARKET OUTLOOK
Chart of the week: Copper futures fell last week as the combination of disappointing Chinese growth signals, US economic slowdown and potential fall outs of the Italian election put a drag on global growth prospects
The political impasse in the US reached the ‘sequestration’ deadline on Friday, which may knock up to 0.6% off GDP this year. US employment data is due on Friday, 8 March, which is expected to show a steady jobless rate of 7.9% for February. Positive or negative surprises here will likely express themselves in the US equities market
The Bank of England and European Central Bank meet to decide on rates this week and while no change in policy is expected, investors will be looking for guidance from the central banks
Source: BOOST
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly-Central Bank Stimulus in Focus as Gold Suffers Largest Fall Since May 2012 on USD Strength
March 4, 2013--Gold recorded the largest monthly fall since May 2012, as political uncertainty buoyed the USD. Political uncertainty remains the key risk for the global recovery. The surge in gold following the Italian election results is evidence that investor sentiment remains fragile.
However gold reversed course on the back of USD strength and the upbeat US economic data. The US economic rebound remains in place after a report showed the US economy reversed an initial contraction in Q4 2012, expanding by 0.1% yoy. Strengthening US manufacturing activity in February and a recovering housing market placed additional pressure on the gold price. Investors are likely to find increasing value in gold as a hedge against downside scenarios given that its price is now 17% below its September 2011 peak (in US Dollar terms). Fed Chairman Bernanke in his testimony to Congress reaffirmed the central banks' intention to maintain monetary stimulus as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6.5%. Familiar currency-debasement hedges, like precious metals should remain appealing for investors as five major central banks meet this week, likely signalling intentions for any additional stimulus.
Political manoeuvring will dominate headlines and be a key catalyst for commodity price direction as Italian election and US budget negotiations drag on. The failure to avert the automatic spending cuts that took place last Friday in the US is a cogent reminder that policy paralysis could stop the global recovery in its tracks.
Source: ETFS Securities
Mirae Asset Management- EMEA Equity Market Outlook
March 3, 2013--The EMEA region comprises disparate countries with very different dynamics. The region has a mix of heavy exposure to Europe (Central Europe) and natural resources (Russia and South Africa), both of which appear unexciting in 2013.
Hence, our outlook for much of the region is subdued for 2013. Central Europe will continue to be weighted down by the lack of growth in Europe, while the GDP growth of both Russia and South Africa will be subdued. Turkey stands out as the most attractive within the region, as it has favorable demographics and also benefits from lower commodity prices. After slowing down in 2012, Turkey should experience an acceleration of economic growth in 2013. Overall, domestic growth drivers will remain key to the region and, thus, we remain most positive on stocks exposed to domestic consumption, as well as the growing wealth and development of the consumer.
RUSSIA: Unexciting growth
Macro Outlook
Economic growth in Russia is expected to decelerate modestly in 2013 due to an uninspiring oil and commodity price outlook, rising inflation and stagnating investment. The Central Bank will likely finish its rate hiking in early 2013 to meet recently introduced inflation targets for 2014. Rising food prices caused by a poor 2012 harvest may cause inflation to remain stubbornly high, however, resulting in a bit more tightening in late 2013. As corporate profits remain weak in the first half of the year due to soft EU/China demand and flat oil prices,investment growth will continue to suffer.
Source: Mirae Asset Management
EPFR Global Fund Data News Release-Gold Funds hammered in late February while Italian voters rattle global markets
March 1, 2013--Investors struggled to regain their bearings in late February as Italy's electorate threatened to bring the Eurozone debt crisis out of hibernation.
The week ending February 27 saw EPFR Global-tracked Emerging Markets Equity Funds post outflows for the first time since early September, Bond Funds outgain Equity Funds by the biggest margin in 14 weeks as retail investors pulled money out of the latter for the first time this year and Gold Fund flows fall off a cliff.
Visit http://www.epfr.com for more info
Source: EPFR
If in doubt, track the index
March 1, 2013--Investing can be a scary business. Open a newspaper and you'll be immediately struck by how volatile markets can be, and how intelligent people can hold contrasting views about the direction of everything from government bonds through to stocks and shares.
The key insight is to understand that the future is unknowable – even by all those star fund managers who charge royally for their investment expertise. Reflecting this, there’s a growing branch of investing that dispenses with stockpicking and market timing altogether. It’s passive investing, sometimes called index tracking, where the return you get is more or less whatever return the market delivers.
Source: FT.com
ETF Securities- Precious Metals Weekly: Gold Attractively Valued as Macro Risks Linger
February 28, 2013--Fragile investor sentiment
While the resurgence of risk appetite over the past month has seen a rotation toward more cyclical assets, investor sentiment remains fragile, as evidenced by the market plunge following the Italian election results.
Prior to the announcement of the Italian election results, net speculative longs in metals with industrial uses such as platinum, palladium, silver and copper remained either close to or at their all-time highs, while major equity markets had posted solid gains.
Gold fundamentals remain constructive
Meanwhile, net speculative longs in COMEX gold had hit the lowest levels since December 2008, as investors seemed positioned for 'the worst is over' scenarios. How quickly sentiment can shift. The gold price came under pressure last week as some investors overreacted to the release of the January FOMC minutes, believing discussions about the timing of stimulus withdrawal would prompt a premature end to the Federal Reserve's economic support. A rebound in the gold price followed Fed Chairman Bernanke's testimony to the House Financial Services Committee with investors appearing to revise their (mis)interpretation of the FOMC minutes. Bargain hunters have since begun to emerge, giving some stability to the gold price around US$1,600oz, while trading turnover on the Shanghai Gold Exchange hit a daily record last week. While the technical picture fuelled the liquidation of gold holdings and the subsequent price decline,
Source: ETF Securities
Mirae Asset Management-2012 in Review: Emerging markets still under pressure
February 28, 2013--Global equity markets, as measured by MSCI All Country World Index, have managed a total return of 16.62% in 2012.[1] This is impressive even with concerns such as: the ongoing structural problems emanating from Europe and their residual effect on risk appetite; the synchronized global economic slowdown earlier in the year; the significant downward momentum of earnings growth estimates; and the overhang from the ongoing fiscal reform in the United States (U.S.).
Central bank policy action from both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank has proven supportive of equity markets. Market volatility has broadly declined compared with the previous two years.
In the second half of 2012, emerging market equity performance has shown signs of a potential turn after underperformance relative to developed markets since mid-2010. Despite being the drivers of global growth with higher growth rates than in the developed world, emerging equity markets have largely remained under pressure during the period, given the downward momentum in both economic and earnings growth rates. Within the emerging market universe, however, there has been a growing disparity of equity market performance on both a country and a sector basis.
Source: Mirae Asset Management
