Market information Monday August 31st 2015

On the last business day of the month, the Asian stock markets are again in loss. The Shanghai writes -2.5%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng -0.77%, and the Japanese Nikkei -1.6%. The futures of the AEX also show a loss at opening. Herewith, August can be called a black trading month. The AEX started this month at a level of 495.23 but decreased with almost 10% till 445.96 at closing last Friday.

Strange price movements of ETF’s as a result of the chaotic opening of Wall Street last week raises questions about their liquidity. Last Monday, the Guggenheim S&P500 Equal Weight ETF lost 43% intraday. This is several tens of percent more than de index itself. The PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF even reached -46% intraday. One of the reasons was that ‘market makers’ withdrew. Europe went into ETFs trade on black Monday with no problems.

The prices for container shipping from East to West are under pressure. Begin this year, USD 800 had to be paid for a 20-ft container from Shanghai to Rotterdam, while the same trip will cost between the USD 400 and USD 500 today. The reason is on the one hand the overcapacity among ship owners and on the other hand the disappointing growth in the Chinese export. Carriers have taken action by taking ships out of service. Begin this year, a 5% growth was expected while there appears to be a shrink of 3% to 4% over the first half of 2015 in transport volume.

The 6M Euribor remained unchanged at 0.04%. The 10Y Swap decreased with 1 bp to 1.04%.

In the attachment below, today’s market data on money and capital market rates as well as other rates are presented. For more history of these rates or other rates feel free to ask: update@zanders.eu.