Global ETF News Older than One Year
Advancing Food Security in a Changing Climate
Agricultural production needs to increase by 70% by 2050 to feed a world population of 9 billion.
In the next 40 years, agricultural land will be lost to urbanization, desertification, sea level rise and increasingly salty water.
Bangladesh, Kenya eye climate-smart farming practices.
March 15, 2011 – In November 2007, powerful Cyclone Sidr claimed the lives of thousands of people in Bangladesh and wiped out a lot of the country's rice crop. A year later, Bangladesh became the first country to put together a multibillion dollar strategy on climate change, including a plan to boost agricultural production and food security in anticipation of more adverse weather.
“If one country is aware and taking action, it's Bangladesh,” says Maria Sarraf, a senior environmental economist for the World Bank's South Asia region. “While other countries are projecting climate change, Bangladesh has already suffered from it.”
Like Bangladesh, the majority of developing countries have economies grounded in agriculture. Globally, 75% of poor people live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their living. For this reason, agriculturally-based economic growth is two to four times more effective in reducing poverty than growth in other sectors. But, investment in agriculture and rural development has fallen short in the last several decades, and much more is needed to meet the needs of the future.
Experts predict agricultural production will have to increase by 70% by 2050 to feed a population of some 9 billion people.
And climate models predict a much more uncertain climate in the next several decades. A new study by the Foresight Project, The Future of Food and Farming, warns that in the next 40 years, agricultural land will be lost to urbanization, desertification, sea level rise and increasingly salty water in which few crops can grow.
view the report-The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability
Source: World Bank
Global Futures and Options Trading Rose 25.6% in 2010
March 15, 2011—The Futures Industry Association today released a
report on trading volume in the global listed derivatives markets. The report, which measures volume based on the number of contracts traded on derivatives exchanges, indicates that 22.3 billion futures and options contracts changed hands during 2010, an
increase of 25.6% compared to 2009.
For the first time ever, Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest share of global volume traded during 2010. Total volume on the derivatives exchanges in that region of the world reached 8.86 billion contracts in 2010, an increase of 42.8% from the previous year. Exchanges in South Korea, China and India accounted for the majority of the volume in this region. North America, which had the largest share in 2009, came in second with 7.17 billion contracts traded in 2010, up 12.8% from the previous year.
The Korea Exchange was once again the world’s largest exchange by volume, due mainly to the continuing popularity of its Kospi 200 stock index options. The exchange’s total volume in 2010 was 3.75 billion contracts, up 20.8% from the previous year. Coming in second was CME Group, which includes the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange. CME’s total volume in 2010 rose 19.0% to 3.08 billion contracts.
Source: FIA
Composite Leading Indicators (CLIs), OECD, March 2011
March 14, 2011-- Composite leading indicators (CLIs) for January 2011, designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, continue pointing to expansion in most OECD countries.
The CLIs for Germany, Japan, and the United States continue pointing to robust expansion relative to trend. Signs of regained growth momentum characterise the CLIs for France and Canada. The CLI for the United Kingdom points to a slow but stable pace of expansion. The CLI for Italy continues pointing to a moderate downturn.
The CLIs for other major economies are little changed from last month's assessment. The CLI for China continues pointing to the possibility of a moderate downturn. The CLI for Brazil remains near its long-term potential. The CLI for India continues pointing to a slowdown relative to trend and the CLI for Russia continues pointing to expansion.
Source: OECD
Nasdaq sounds out bankers on NYSE bid
March 14, 2011--Nasdaq is edging closer to a possible hostile offer for the New York Stock Exchange and has been sounding out bankers about a financing package for a bid.
People familiar with the situation said that no decision had yet been made and Nasdaq could shy away from what would be an ambitious attempt by the smaller exchange to break up its rival’s agreed deal with Deutsche Börse
Source: FT.com
The Impact of Legislation on Credit Risk - Comparative Evidence From the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany
March 11, 2011--Summary: This study investigates the link between bankruptcy and security legislation and potential credit losses faced by banks based on a cross-country study for the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany.
Focusing on corporate credit, we find that legislation produces the highest credit risk in the US, followed by Germany, while UK law is found to be most favorable for banks. US banks gains from the higher number of informal restructurings (without losses) but lose from the low level of recovery in formal proceedings. German banks demand more credit risk mitigants than UK and US banks do, but still recover less than do UK banks. To be at par with UK banks, US banks would have to recover more than twice as much in formal proceedings, while German proceedings would have to be shortened by about one half.
Source: IMF
Taxing Financial Transactions: Issues and Evidence-IMF Working Paper
March 11, 2011--Summary: In reaction to the recent financial crisis, increased attention has recently been given to financial transaction taxes (FTTs) as a means of (1) raising revenue for a variety of possible purposes and/or (2) helping to curb financial market excesses.
This paper reviews existing theory and evidence on the efficacy of an FTT in fulfilling those tasks, on its potential impact, and on key issues to be faced in designing taxes of this kind.
view the Taxing Financial Transactions: Issues and Evidence-IMF Working Paper
Source: IMF
FTSE4Good Semi-Annual Review – March 2011
Expanding Horizons: South Korea And Israel Added
March 11, 2011--FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the award-winning global index provider, announces the changes to the FTSE4Good Index Series following the FTSE4Good March Semi-Annual Review.
Expanding Horizons
FTSE is pleased to announce that South Korea and Israel have been added to the FTSE4Good Global universe. The expansion of the FTSE4Good Global universe brings it in line with FTSE’s decision to raise South Korea and Israel to developed market status and their subsequent entry into the FTSE All-World Developed Index. As a result, 11 South Korean and eight Israeli companies have been identified as meeting the inclusion criteria and will be entering the index series at this review. EIRIS, the research partner for the FTSE4Good Index Series, has developed partnerships with leading research organisations in both countries; Greeneye in Israel and KOCSR in South Korea, to deliver comprehensive and locally conducted research.
Source: FTSE
Oil price holds global economy hostage
March 11, 2011--Friday brought the first real evidence on how a 20-30 per cent jump in oil prices over the past few months will affect the US economy. It was not reassuring.
The University of Michigan index of consumer confidence slumped from 77.5 to 68.2 in March, the lowest for six months, and expectations of inflation for the next year rose to 4.6 per cent from 3.4 per cent.
Source: FT.com
Thomson Reuters Monthly Market Share Reports For February 2011
March 10, 2011--Trading is fragmenting between exchanges and competing venues. But by how much and which venues? Find out in the summarised monthly reports.
Source: Thomson Reuters
CPSS-IOSCO principles for financial market infrastructures
March 10, 2011--New and more demanding international standards for payment, clearing and settlement systems have today been issued for public consultation by the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
The new standards (called principles) are designed to ensure that the essential infrastructure supporting global financial markets is even more robust and thus even better placed to withstand financial shocks than at present. They are set out in a consultative report Principles for financial market infrastructures which contains a single, comprehensive set of 24 principles designed to apply to all systemically important payment systems, central securities depositories, securities settlement systems, central counterparties and trade repositories (collectively financial market infrastructures or FMIs). These FMIs collectively record, clear and settle transactions in financial markets.
view the Principles for financial market infrastructures- Consultative report
Source: IOSCO
