For the latest ETF industry news, please refer to our “Asia ETF Roundup (Industry) – October2019”.
Major Markets Performance
Global geopolitical tensions seemed to be easing a bit as the U.S. and China draw nearer a phase-one agreement on trade talks and the EU agreed to push back Brexit to 31 January 2020. The U.K is on course to hold a general election on 12 December. The S&P 500 notched fresh new highs, rising 2%. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.2%. China’s equity markets were up (HSCEI +3.3%; CSI 300 +1.9%; Shanghai Composite +0.8%). Emerging markets’ performance was generally positive in October (as measured by their respective MSCI indices in U.S. dollar terms).