Global ETF News Older than One Year
FCA Issues Timeline to Cease LIBOR Benchmark
March 5, 2021--Most of the currency settings will end by the end of 2021.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is officially ending the controversial LIBOR benchmark for most of the currencies, a decision that came after an industry consultation in December led by the ICE Benchmark Administration.
The FCA, which oversees the global benchmark, announced on Friday that the publication of LIBOR will cease after December 31, 2021, for the pound sterling, euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen and for the one-week and two-month US dollar settings.
The rest of the US dollar settings will cease on 30 June 2023.
Source: financemagnates.com
TrackInsight Monthly ETF Report-ESG Surge Pushes ETFs to $8 Trillion
March 4, 2021--ESG Pushes Global ETF Industry to $8 Trillion
Global ETF assets reach $8 Trillion as US ETF flows surge nearly 50%
ESG ETF assets rise 9% over February to reach the 11th consecutive monthly high
7th consecutive record month for ESG ETF Flows- $19 Billion added
Investors Dump Gold, Buy Bitcoin
February data from TrackInsight, the world's first global Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) analysis platform, shows that ETFs continued their seemingly unstoppable growth trajectory to reach a new global high of $8 Trillion, in AuM, driven by exploding flows in North American markets and huge investor appetite for ESG products.
Contributing to this important milestone were ETFs listed in North America which witnessed historic flows of $95 Billion over February, an almost 50% increase month-on-month. There are now 3,200 ETFs listed on North American exchanges with $5.9 Billion in AuM.
Source: trackinsight.com
OPEC, Russia send oil price up with deal to contain output
March 4, 2021--Caution about the pandemic took the upper hand Thursday at a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel and allied countries, as they left most of their production cuts in place amid worry that coronavirus restrictions could still undermine recovering demand for crude.
Many analysts had expected a small production increase as the price of oil has risen 30% since the start of the year on hopes that the pandemic will ease, allowing for an economic rebound that should increase energy consumption.
Source: startribune.com
Economy-The need for speed: faster vaccine rollout critical to stronger recovery
March 3, 2021--A global economic recovery is in sight but a faster and more effective vaccination rollout across the world is critical, while respecting necessary health and social distancing measures, according to the OECD's latest Interim Economic Outlook.
Activity in many sectors has picked up and adapted to pandemic restrictions over recent months. Vaccine deployment, although uneven, is finally gaining momentum and government fiscal stimulus - particularly in the US - is likely to provide a major boost to economic activity.
But the pandemic is widening gaps in economic performance between countries and between sectors, increasing social inequalities, particularly affecting vulnerable groups, and risking long-term damage to job prospects and living standards for many people.
The Interim Economic Outlook calls for ramping up vaccination, for swifter, more targeted fiscal stimulus to foster output and confidence, and to maintain income support for people and businesses hard hit by the pandemic while preparing the ground for a sustainable recovery.
Source: OECD
Consumer Prices, OECD-Updated: 3 March 2021
March 3, 2021--OECD annual inflation picks up to 1.5% in January 2021 while Euro Area records sharp increase to 0.9%
Annual inflation in the OECD area picked up to 1.5% in January 2021, compared with 1.2% in December 2020.
Following a rebound between December and January, the annual decline in energy prices was less pronounced in January (minus 3.9%) than in December (minus 6.5%), while food price inflation slowed slightly to 3.1%, compared with 3.2% in December. OECD annual inflation excluding food and energy, also increased slightly, to 1.7% in January, compared with 1.6% in December.
Source: OECD
The Evidence Is in on Negative Interest Rate Policies
March 3, 2021--Interest rates are low, and "lower for longer" has become something of a mantra among policy makers, regulators, and other market watchers. But negative interest rates raise an entirely new set of questions.
After eight years of experience with negative interest rate policies, the initial skepticism (paying interest to borrowers rather than savers was certainly unprecedented) has proven largely misplaced.
The evidence so far suggests that negative interest policies have worked.
Since 2012, a number of central banks introduced negative interest rate policies. Central banks in Denmark, euro area, Japan, Sweden, and Switzerland turned to such policies in response to persistently below-target inflation rates (most central banks set rates as part of their broader mandate to keep prices stable, thereby supporting jobs and economic growth).
view the IMF Departmental Paper-Negative Interest Rates : Taking Stock of the Experience So Far
Source: IMF
Future of Cities Will Shape Post-COVID--19 World
March 2, 2021--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Cities are at the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis and global response efforts.
The pandemic has revealed a new world of multiple, compounded risks.
By making the right investments and tackling deep-seated inequalities, cities can transform their economies and people's lives.
March 2021 will mark one year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, upending lives and livelihoods. Cities are on the frontlines of this crisis, with dwindling economic activity, high rates of infection and inadequate resources.
In cities, which are home to over half of the world's population, long-standing inequities have been deepened by the pandemic. Although urbanization has been accompanied by lower poverty, job creation and growth, distribution of such urban gains has been uneven, often marked by striking spatial, social and economic inequalities.
Today, urban dwellers working informal, and often precarious jobs, are part of the swelling ranks of "new poor" created by the pandemic. That is in addition to other vulnerable groups of people who often live in crowded urban areas with limited means to practice safe handwashing or social distancing.
Source: World Bank
BIS-The anatomy of bond ETF arbitrage
March 1, 2021--Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) allow a wide range of investors to gain exposure to a variety of asset classes. They rely on authorised participants (APs) to perform arbitrage, ie align ETFs' share prices with the value of the underlying asset holdings. For bond ETFs, prominent albeit understudied features of the arbitrage mechanism are systematic differences between the baskets of bonds used to create and redeem ETF shares, and a low overlap between these baskets and actual asset holdings.
These features could reflect the illiquid nature of bond trading, ETFs' portfolio management and APs' incentives. The decoupling of baskets from holdings weakens arbitrage forces but allows ETFs to absorb shocks on the bond market. 1
Key takeaways
Bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have grown to manage more than $1.2 trillion of assets globally.
The arbitrage mechanism, which keeps bond ETF prices aligned with the value of the underlying investments, operates differently from that of equity ETFs.
This difference potentially makes it harder for investors to exploit price gaps but allows bond ETFs to absorb shocks and withstand market stress.
Source: BIS
Markets wrestle with reflation prospects: BIS Quarterly Review
March 1, 2021-Prospects of a more robust economic recovery buoyed risky asset prices, with signs of exuberance reflected in the behaviour of retail investors.
Sovereign yield curves steepened as investors priced in higher inflation and fiscal support.
Sentiment towards emerging market assets remained favourable, in particular in East Asia.
The latest BIS Quarterly Review reports that risky assets strengthened further during the review period.1 This buoyancy was set against a backdrop of continued strong monetary accommodation, growing expectations of fiscal stimulus, and cautious but fluctuating optimism about recovering from the pandemic.
Elevated risk appetite was reflected in continued strong corporate debt issuance, especially by lower-rated firms. Many stock indices reached all-time highs in February with equity fund-raising reviving memories of the late 1990s tech boom as retail investors flexed their increasing influence on market dynamics.
Search for yield underpinned the broadly positive sentiment towards emerging market assets, particularly in East Asia, supporting portfolio flows into these economies.
Source: BIS
Greening (runnable) brown assets with a liquidity backstop
March 1, 2021--Summary
Focus
The momentum toward greening the economy brings with it a number of new transition risks, which, if not properly addressed, may threaten financial stability. In particular, the expectation that other investors may exclude high carbon corporate emitters from their portfolio creates a risk of runs on brown assets. Understanding and acknowledging this new source of financial instability is essential for government agencies in charge of preserving the soundness of financial systems.
Contribution
We analyse whether a market economy where polluting firms are subject to a run risk can sufficiently incentivise those firms to reduce their carbon emissions, and how the laissez faire allocation fares relative to one that could be provided by policymakers. We postulate that uncertainty on the level of carbon-emission intensity that will be tolerated by consumers, investors or regulators can result in runs on significant shares of financial assets. In this context, we propose a liquidity backstop facility that helps restore efficiency. We show how offering such a backstop, whose access fee is proportional to the carbon emission of corporates, can prevent such runs while greening output.
Source: BIS
