Global ETF News Older than One Year
'Passive' Investing Frenzy Pushes Vanguard to $4.7 Trillion in Assets
October 10, 2017--Assets topped $4 trillion for the first time earlier this year and have continued their upward climb since.
Investors plowed nearly $300 billion into Vanguard Group funds in the first nine months of this year, nearly matching flows into the firm for all of 2016 in the latest affirmation of the primacy of low-cost "passive" investing.
Source: Wall Street Journal
EDHEC calls on regulators to take measures against "fake" listed infrastructure
October 10, 2017--In open letters to the chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States, EDHEC has called on regulators to take measures against the risks of investment in so-called 'listed infrastructure'.
This call follows the publication by EDHEC of a position paper entitled "The rise of "fake infra": The unregulated growth of listed infrastructure and the dangers it poses to the future of infrastructure investing." The position paper documents the rise of the so-called listed infrastructure asset class, which EDHEC considers to be an ill-defined series of financial products. Initially targeting retail investors, and increasingly institutional investors, listed infrastructure now represents close to a third of the infrastructure investment sector.
Source: EDHEC-Risk Institute
STOXX monthly index news: Elections in Germany have a positive effect
October 10, 2017--The markets withstood political and natural storms in the past month, STOXX Ltd., the operator of Deutsche Boerse Group's index business, and a global provider of innovative and tradable index concepts, announced earlier today in its Monthly Index News report.
Shortly before the election in Germany, the local stock market stagnated, but gained strongly in the week after the election, making it the top performer on country level in September. In the US, the oil & gas sector recovered strongly after hurricane Harvey hit the US.
Source: leaprate.com
ETF Securities Weekly Flows Analysis-Investors remain defensive despite fading geopolitical uncertainty
October 9, 2017--After a tumultuous month for gold, recent price weakness has prompted inflows of US$148mn over
the last week.
Position reduction continues for industrial metals, with outflows of US$45m for the week.
Thematic equity ETFs, Robotics and Cyber security continued to see steady inflows last week with US$25mn and US$3mn, respectively.
Recent price strength in cocoa, has seen investors take profits this week with US$9mn outflows.
Source: etfsecurities.com
Monday Morning Memo: Fund Charges Are Seeing a Change
October 9, 2017--Over the last few weeks the fund markets have seen two major players in active fund management changing their views about the pricing models of their actively managed funds.
Allianz Global Investors (AGI) (for three new funds in the U.S.) and Fidelity (for its equity funds in Europe) announced they are moving the pricing of their actively managed mutual funds from a rather fixed management fee to a performance-based variable fee with a very low minimum fee applied in all circumstances. On the same topic AB (AllianceBernstein) announced earlier this year that it will change the management fees for a limited number of its existing funds to a similar model.
Source: Detlef Glow, Head of EMEA Research-Thomson Reuters Lipper
World Economic Outlook, October 2017 Seekin-Term Recovery, Long-Term Challenges
September 9, 2017--Introduction
The global upswing in economic activity is strengthening, with global growth projected to rise to 3.6 percent in 2017 and 3.7 percent in 2018.
Broad-based upward revisions in the euro area, Japan, emerging Asia, emerging Europe, and Russia more than offset downward revisions for the United States and the United Kingdom. But the recovery is not complete: while the baseline outlook is strengthening, growth remains weak in many countries, and inflation is below target in most advanced economies. Commodity exporters, especially of fuel, are particularly hard hit as their adjustment to a sharp stepdown in foreign earnings continues.
Source: IMF
DECPG Global Weekly-October 06, 2017
October 9, 2017--Taking Stock
U.S. nonfarm employment fell in September. U.S. nonfarm payrolls declined by 33, 000 in September, the first negative reading in seven years, largely reflecting the effects of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Nonfarm payroll growth for August was revised up from 156,000 to 169,000. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 4.2 percent in September (Figure 1), the lowest since 2001, while labor force participation rate rose to 63.1 percent from 62.9 percent in August. Meanwhile, average private hourly earnings increased 2.9 percent (y/y) in September, up from 2.7 percent in August.
Euro Area unemployment rate held steady in August; economic activity picked up in September. The Euro Area unemployment rate was 9.1 percent (sa) in August, unchanged from July, and still the lowest rate since February 2009.
Meanwhile, the Euro Area composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) for September was confirmed at 56.7, up from August’s reading of 55.7, pointing to a solid pickup in the pace of economic activity (a reading above 50 indicates expansion).
Source: World Bank
ETF Securities-Precious Metals Monitor--September 2017 Key Highlight
October 6, 2017--Gold: Strong seasonal demand needed to complement investor driven rally
Gold is on pace for another strong year. The current rally, however, has been largely dependent on investment flows driven by a low rate, weak dollar, and high uncertainty environment. Meanwhile, jewelry, the largest segment of gold demand, remains soft particularly in the key markets of India and China. The fourth quarter typically sees strong seasonal demand for gold jewelry stemming from the Indian wedding season, festivals, and Western holiday shopping.
In order for gold to remain on strong footing, a pick-up in jewelry demand heading into year-end is needed as a foundation. Otherwise, gold may run the risk of relying on volatile investor sentiment to push higher.
Source: etfsecurities.com
DECPG Global Weekly
October 6, 2017--Taking Stock
U.S. nonfarm employment fell in September. U.S. nonfarm payrolls declined by 33,000 in September, the first negative reading in seven years, largely reflecting the effects of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Nonfarm payroll growth for August was revised up from 156,000 to 169,000. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 4.2 percent in September (Figure 1), the lowest since 2001, while labor force participation rate rose to 63.1 percent from 62.9 percent in August.
Meanwhile, average private hourly earnings increased 2.9 percent (y/y) in September, up from 2.7 percent in August.
Source: World Bank
Fundstrat launches five indexes to track bitcoin and other digital currencies
October 6, 2017--Fundstrat co-founder Thomas Lee rolls out five indexes for tracking digital currencies.
The relative performance of the digital currencies within the indexes indicates that since June, momentum from speculative investors has slowed.
Some digital currency enthusiasts have already launched their own indexes to track the cryptocurrencies.
Source: CNBC.com
