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Category Archives: World Markets

An ETF for exposure to China blue chips – iShares FTSE Xinhua China 25 (FXC)

December 21, 2009 in Charts, China, ETFs, Funds by Roy

The iShares FTSE Xinhua China 25 is an Ireland domiciled ETF that tracks the FTSE Xinhua China 25 index.
The
index consists 25 of the largest and most liquid Chinese stocks (Red Chips and H shares) listed and
trading on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK). The index is specifically designed for international
investors, combining the ease of [...]

An ETF to track global agribusiness – Powershares Global Agriculture (PSGA)

December 21, 2009 in Agriculturals, Charts, ETFs, Funds by Roy

Invesco Powershares Global Agriculture is an ETF domiciled in Ireland with a principal listing on the London stockmarket. As of 17-Dec-09, the fund has delivered almost 70% performance year-to-date in US dollar terms.
The fund replicates the NASDAQ OMX Global Agriculture Index, which track the performance of the largest and most liquid companies engaged in agriculture [...]

Pension deficits return to haunt blue-chips

December 6, 2009 in Pensions by Roy

As the economic downturn seems to be receding we can stop worrying about whether a company is at risk of going under from the weight of its debts; it’s time to return to our previous concern about whether its pension deficit might do the same job.
Pension deficits among FTSE 100 companies after the third quarter [...]

Dow Jones World Stock Index – Chart

December 6, 2009 in Charts by Roy

Click the image for full size.
Click the link below for source.
via $DJW – SharpCharts Workbench : StockCharts.com.

(EEM) iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Chart

December 6, 2009 in Charts, ETFs, Emerging Markets by Roy

The previous post today looked at the underlying index of this ETF – MSCI Emerging Markets index.  The iShares ETF – EEM – tracks the index.  Online charts are more easily found for listed securities than for indices, so let’s look at the MarketWatch chart of EEM.
Of interest is the very strong fall through the [...]

MSCI Emerging Market Index Chart

December 6, 2009 in Charts, Emerging Markets by Roy

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets.
As of June 2009 the MSCI Emerging Markets Index consisted of the following 22 emerging market country indices: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, [...]

5 Year Gold Price Chart

December 6, 2009 in Charts, Gold by Roy

Five-year chart of gold price (GC.1) to 4-Dec-2009 (from FT.com).   To remind yourself what GC.1 is, read this.
Click the image to see full size.
via FT.com / Markets data / GC.1:CME: Performance for COMEX GOLD 1 FUTURES CHAIN Front Mon.

Japan’s debt-ridden govt plans new stimulus

December 1, 2009 in Economics, Japan by Roy

Japan’s debt-laden government said Monday it planned a new round of stimulus spending worth more than 31 billion dollars to prop up a feeble economic recovery that is threatened by the strong yen.
Japan, which has this year been digging itself out of its worst post-war recession, now faces the threat of the yen trading at [...]

Australia Increases Benchmark Interest Rate to 3.75%

December 1, 2009 in Commodities, Economics by Roy

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — Australia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point for an unprecedented third straight month as evidence mounts that the nation’s economy is strengthening.
Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens increased the overnight cash rate target to 3.75 percent from 3.5 percent in Sydney, as forecast by 19 of [...]

Efficient Markets or Herd Mentality? The Future of Economic Forecasting

November 21, 2009 in Economics by Roy

Ever wonder why you succumbed, yet again, to advertising hype or deceptive packaging and overpaid for a product? Or bought securities that you know were overvalued when the herd instinct was just too strong to resist?
Such irrationality is the focus of behavioral economists, who appear to be gaining greater credibility in macroeconomic circles since the [...]

Oxbridge-Sounding Phone Scammers in Spain Seduce U.K. Investors

November 21, 2009 in Legal and Regulatory by Roy

Bloomberg — Credit controller Linda Reay was sorting the daily pile of bills back in 2005 at the bed- manufacturing factory where she worked near Carlisle, an industrial city in northwestern England. Then she took a phone call that would destroy her retirement dreams.
The smooth-talking caller identified himself as a London stockbroker named Robert Samuel. [...]

Société Générale tells clients how to prepare for ‘global collapse’

November 20, 2009 in Economics by Roy

Telegraph — Société Générale has advised clients to be ready for a possible “global economic collapse” over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction.
In a report entitled “Worst-case debt scenario”, the bank’s asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto [...]

Recovery still too timid to halt rising unemployment, says OECD Economic Outlook

November 20, 2009 in Economics by Roy

The economic recovery now spreading across OECD countries is still too timid to halt the continuing rise in unemployment, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.
The jobless rate is expected to peak in the first half of 2010 in the US, but it may not be until 2011 that unemployment begins to fall in the [...]

Obama: Too much debt could fuel double-dip recession

November 19, 2009 in Economics by Roy

BEIJING, Nov 18 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama gave his sternest warning yet about the need to contain rising U.S. deficits, saying on Wednesday that if government debt were to pile up too much, it could lead to a double-dip recession.
With the U.S. unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, Obama told Fox News his administration faces [...]

Bear market rally nearing its end, says Barry Ritholz

November 19, 2009 in Economics by Roy

Barry Ritholz, author of the best-selling book Bailout Nation, thinks the market moves of this year signify a typical bear market rally and there are more choppy waters approaching.
Speaking at the Citywire Fund Selector Forum on Wednesday evening, Ritholz, who is CEO and director of equity research at FusionIQ in NewYork, dismissed the idea that [...]

IMF chief keeps up pressure on China to let yuan rise

November 18, 2009 in China, Currencies by Roy

International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday again urged Beijing to let the yuan rise “sooner rather than later”, saying it would benefit both China and the global economy.
“The renminbi (yuan) is undervalued. It’s not only in the interests of the global economy but also in the interests of China to have a revaluation,” [...]

Britain’s biggest pension schemes battle £44 billion deficit

November 18, 2009 in Legal and Regulatory by Roy

Is your company pension scheme your only retirement plan?  Are you confident that your employer will still be around when you retire, to pay your pension?  Are you confident the company actually has the resources to cover it’s pension committment?  REALLY?  Think Lehmans, think Enron, think…
A vast underestimation of obligations has left some of Britain’s [...]

Bernanke Says ‘Not Obvious’ Asset Prices Misaligned

November 17, 2009 in Economics by Roy

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said it’s “not obvious” that asset prices in the U.S. are out of line with underlying values after a 64 percent jump in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index from its March low.
“It is inherently extraordinarily difficult to know whether an asset’s price is in [...]

Skandia survey suggests continued confidence in offshore products

November 15, 2009 in Offshore Industry by Roy

In a recent survey conducted by Skandia International of nearly 700 advisers – 300 overseas and 400 in the UK – around 80 per cent agree that consumer confidence in offshore products remains high. Some 79 per cent of advisers in the UK believe investors remain confident in offshore investment or are unaffected by the [...]

FSA to get powers to curb UK banker bonuses – Darling

November 15, 2009 in Banking by Roy

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) – City regulators are to be given new powers to stop bankers receiving bonuses that “would cause instability” to the financial system, British finance minister Alistair Darling said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph he said banking needed to change and that financiers had to see themselves [...]

China rounds on U.S. rates as global economic risk

November 15, 2009 in Currencies, Economics by Roy

BEIJING (Reuters) – Ultra-low interest rates in the United States are fuelling speculation in overseas asset markets and threatening the global economic recovery, a senior Chinese official said on Sunday.
In unusually blunt criticism of U.S. monetary policy on the day that President Barack Obama arrives in China for a visit, Chinese banking regulator Liu Mingkang [...]

Research tells me something I already knew

November 15, 2009 in Theory, Theory & Academic Papers by Roy

A significant number of my clients are couples, who make investment decisions as a team.  It is common for each partner to have a different attitude towards investment risk.  I have long felt that couples often make more ‘well rounded’ balanced and structured investment decisions than individuals.  Some research just out seems pertinent.
Abstract from the [...]

Ron Paul: Be Prepared for the Worst

November 15, 2009 in Economics by Roy

Any number of pundits claim that we have now passed the worst of the recession. Green shoots of recovery are supposedly popping up all around the country, and the economy is expected to resume growing soon at an annual rate of 3% to 4%. Many of these are the same people who insisted that the [...]

Eurozone emerges from recession

November 15, 2009 in Economics by Roy

The eurozone economy has emerged from recession after growing between July and September, figures have shown.
The 16 nations that use the euro collectively grew 0.4%, after shrinking by 0.2% between April and June.
The French and German economies both grew for a second consecutive quarter, confirming the eurozone’s two largest economies are out of recession.
However, both [...]

US trade gap widens unexpectedly

November 15, 2009 in Economics by Roy

The US trade deficit unexpectedly widened in September by the largest amount in 10 years, figures show.
The trade gap, the difference between US imports and exports, grew 18.2% to $36.5bn (£21.9bn) from August.
Imports rose 5.8%, the biggest jump since 1993 and an indication that consumer spending is recovering.
Separately, US consumer confidence figures unexpectedly fell. The [...]

APEC Wary of Withdrawing Stimulus Too Early, Too Late

November 15, 2009 in Asia-Pacific, Economics by Roy

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) — Asia-Pacific leaders said the withdrawal of economic stimulus packages is all about timing: too early and the recovery stalls, too late and resultant stock and property bubbles may trigger a fresh financial crisis.
“It is premature to talk about recovery of the global economy,” Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said in a speech [...]

Global recovery faces ’serious hurdles’ next year – World Bank

November 15, 2009 in Economics by Roy

The global economy faces serious hurdles next year including “large-scale” unemployment in rich nations, asset bubbles, and backsliding towards protectionism, the World Bank chief said on Friday.
In a sobering assessment of the fragile status of the economic recovery, Robert Zoellick outlined a list of potential pitfalls to a business forum on the sidelines of an [...]

An index-tracker for European high yield stocks

November 11, 2009 in ETFs, Funds by Roy

The investment objective of iShares DJ Euro STOXX Select Dividend is to provide investors with a total return, taking into account both capital and income returns, which reflects the return on the high dividend paying equity securities of the EMU.
iShares DJ Euro STOXX Select Dividend aims to track the Dow Jones EURO STOXX® Select Dividend [...]

Active versus Passive in European Property

November 9, 2009 in ETFs, Funds, Property, Theory by Roy

A fund mentioned on Offshore Capitalist recently is the Insinger de Beaufort Real Estate Equity Fund which invests in the shares of European REITs and real estate companies.
The objective of the fund is to generate superior risk-adjusted returns, by reducing the volatility and protecting the downside using shorts and derivatives.  In other words, it’s not [...]

A Closer Look At Global Property Markets

November 8, 2009 in ETFs, Property by Roy

Indices make a useful way to track market sectors.  Property is one example.  The FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series is a set of indices that let investors keep track of different regions of the global property market.
(EPRA = European Puplic Real Estate Associateion.  NAREIT = National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.)
Conveniently, many [...]

Australia’s resources boom set to grow: central bank

November 7, 2009 in Commodities, Economics by Roy

Australia’s resources boom is set to grow as Asian economies lead the global economic recovery, the country’s central bank said Friday as it lifted growth forecasts.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said resources-driven exports had held up during the financial crisis and had been buoyed by strong expansion in the mining sector. The bank lifted [...]

APEC to maintain stimulus till recovery in place: draft

November 7, 2009 in Asia-Pacific, Economics by Roy

APEC leaders will maintain hefty stimulus packages until they secure a “durable” recovery from the global economic slowdown, according to a draft communique obtained by AFP Friday. “We will maintain our economic stimulus policies until a durable economic recovery is secured,” the draft said, stressing that “economic recovery is not yet on a solid footing”. [...]

UBS wealth unit takes £33m hit on rogue trades

November 6, 2009 in Legal and Regulatory by Roy

UBS has been forced to stump up £33m (€37m) after staff in its London-based wealth management division used client accounts to make unauthorised trades in precious metals and foreign exchange. The UK market regulator slammed UBS for its “inadequate systems and controls” in a wide-ranging critique of the business.
The Financial Services Authority fined UBS £8m, [...]

Jim Rogers ‘rogered’ by Roubini

November 5, 2009 in Economics, Gold by Roy

LONDON (Commodity Online): A gold forecast by global commodities guru Jim Rogers has turned controversial. Nouriel Roubini, the global economist who predicted the economic crisis, says the gold forecast by Jim Rogers that the yellow metal will double to $2,000 or more an ounce is “utter nonsense.”
“Maybe, gold will touch $1,100 or so but $1,500 [...]

An emerging markets fund for Russia, India and China

November 3, 2009 in China, Funds, India, Russia by Roy

From the factsheet:
FMG Rising 3 offers investors a unique access to Russia, India and China markets using the multimanager
concept. By investing with a mix of long-only and hedge fund managers, the Fund aims
to participate in the growth story for the next two decades whilst reducing the emerging market
risk.
Rising3 was the first country specific Russia, [...]

A monthly rebalanced commodities trading fund

November 3, 2009 in Commodities, Funds, Specialist by Roy

The CFP Funds SAV Fund (Strategy & Volatility) is a blend of two different multi-manager commodity trading funds, one with relatively high volatility (IQS fund) and one with lower volatility (CFL).  By rebalancing the 25%/75% blend each month, the objective of the SAV Fund is to obtain optimised growth in respect of lower volatility compared [...]

A European multi-manager real estate fund

November 3, 2009 in Funds, Property by Roy

The Insinger de Beaufort Real Estate Equity Fund invests in the shares of European REITs and real estate companies.
The objective of the fund is to generate superior risk-adjusted returns, by reducing the volatility and protecting the downside using shorts and derivatives. Security selection is based on the expected total returns of different real estate securities [...]

Latest Fund Asset Statistics from EFAMA

November 2, 2009 in Funds by Roy

Main Highlights in the Statistical Release from the European Fund and Asset Management Association
1. Investment fund assets worldwide increased 5.4 percent in the second quarter of 2009, to reach EUR 14.4 trillion at end June 2009. On a U.S. dollar-denominated basis, investment funds assets worldwide increased 12.0 percent in the [...]

IMA announces record year for investment sales

November 1, 2009 in Funds, Sector & Specialist Reports by Roy

28 October 2009: Investment fund statistics – September 2009
The Investment Management Association (IMA) today releases its figures for the fund management industry for September 2009.
Key findings:

Record net retail sales – the total for the first nine months of 2009 is more than the total achieved in the whole of 2000, the highest annual sales [...]

Dollar Could Surprise In 2010

November 1, 2009 in Currencies by Roy

The dollar/euro rate has surged from a low of around 1.25 in early 2009 to over 1.50 today, almost regaining its 2008 peak and renewing speculation that the dollar is facing sustained devaluation. While this cannot be ruled out, and the dollar faces formidable short-term pressure, there are good reasons to expect a rally over [...]

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