Here is a fascinating infographic showing the astonishing growth of data with the invention of computers:
Click to enlarge
Source: Big Data – Taking a quantum leap, Global Investor, June 2013, Credit Suisse
The FTSE 100 At Thirty: Then and Now
The FTSE 100 turns thirty this year. With a base level of 1000, it was launched in January 1984 as a broader measure of the corporate British economy.
The chart below shows the performance of the index over the past 30 years:
Click to enlarge
Source: FTSE 100 turns thirty, Fidelity UK
On Friday the FTSE 100 closed at 6,829.30.
A few points of interest from the Fidelity article are listed below:
- In the first 17 years of its existence the FTSE had strong returns. But this could not be repeated in the next 13 years.
- The Footsie came just in time to capture the investing mood of a generation when wide-scale privatization of state industries led millions of Britons to own shares in the years that followed.
- By some measures the index does not represent the broad British economy. For example, Persimmon is the only UK home builder in the index whereas the next seven large builders are in the FTSE 250 index.
- The FTSE also suffers from “survivor bias” since failing companies are routinely booted out and replaced by successful firms.
- The original constituents of the FTSE 100 reflected Britain as a manufacturing powerhouse with long-established names such as BICC (electrical cables) Courtaulds (textiles) and TI Group (steel tubing) among them.
- Some of the original constituents such as BP (BP), Marks & Spencer(MAKSY) and Unilever(UL) are still in the index today.
The table below shows the original members of the FTSE 100 in 1984 and what happened to them:
| S.No. | Original Member | What happened to it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allied-Lyons | Acquired |
| 2 | Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF) | |
| 3 | Associated Dairies | Acquired |
| 4 | British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) | |
| 5 | BICC | Balfour Beatty |
| 6 | BOC | Acquired |
| 7 | BPB Industries | Acquired |
| 8 | BTR | Now called Invensys (LSE: ISYS) |
| 9 | Barclays (LSE: BARC) | |
| 10 | Barratt Developments | Now in the FTSE 250 |
| 11 | Bass | Broken up |
| 12 | Beecham | Acquired |
| 13 | Berisford (S&W) | Acquired |
| 14 | Blue Circle Industries | Acquired |
| 15 | Boots | Acquired |
| 16 | British Aerospace | Now called BAE Systems (LSE: BA) |
| 17 | British & Commonwealth Shipping | Bankrupt |
| 18 | British Electric Traction | Acquired |
| 19 | British Home Stores | Acquired |
| 20 | BP (LSE: BP) | |
| 21 | Britoil | Acquired |
| 22 | Bowater | Now called Rexam (LSE: REX) |
| 23 | Burton | Acquired |
| 24 | Cable & Wireless (LSE: CW) | |
| 25 | Cadbury Schweppes | Now just Cadbury (LSE: CBRY) |
| 26 | Charterhouse J. Rothschild | Broken up |
| 27 | Commercial Union Assurance | Now called Aviva (LSE: AV) |
| 28 | Consolidated Gold Field | Acquired |
| 29 | Courtaulds | Acquired |
| 30 | Dalgety | Broken up |
| 31 | Distillers | Acquired |
| 32 | Edinburgh Investment Trust | Now in the FTSE 250 |
| 33 | English China Clays | Acquired |
| 34 | Exco International | Acquired |
| 35 | Ferranti | Bankrupt |
| 36 | Fisons | Acquired |
| 37 | General Accident Fire & Life | Acquired |
| 38 | General Electric | Acquired |
| 39 | Glaxo | Now called GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) |
| 40 | Globe Investment Trust | Acquired |
| 41 | Grand Metropolitan | Merged with Guinness, now called Diageo (LSE: DGE) |
| 42 | GUS | Broken up |
| 43 | Guardian Royal Exchange | Acquired |
| 44 | Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds | Now just GKN (LSE: GKN) and in the FTSE 250 |
| 45 | Hambro Life Assurance | Acquired |
| 46 | Hammerson (LSE: HMSO) | |
| 47 | Hanson Trust | Acquired |
| 48 | Harrisons & Crosfield | Elementis/FTSE Small Cap |
| 49 | Hawker Siddeley | Acquired |
| 50 | House of Fraser | Acquired |
| 51 | ICI | Acquired, but demerged AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) in 1993. |
| 52 | Imperial Continental Gas | Broken up |
| 53 | Imperial | Now Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT) |
| 54 | Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) | |
| 55 | Ladbrokes | Now in the FTSE 250 |
| 56 | Land Securities (LSE: LAND) | |
| 57 | Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) | |
| 58 | Lloyds Bank | Now Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) |
| 59 | MEPC | Acquired |
| 60 | MFI Furniture | Bankrupt |
| 61 | Magnet & Southerns | Acquired |
| 62 | Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) | |
| 63 | Midland Bank | Acquired |
| 64 | National Westminster Bank | Acquired |
| 65 | Northern Foods | Now in the FTSE 250 |
| 66 | Pearson (S) & Son | Now called Pearson (LSE: PSON) |
| 67 | Peninsular & Oriental Steam | Acquired |
| 68 | Pilkington Brothers | Acquired |
| 69 | Plessey | Acquired |
| 70 | Prudential Assurance | Now just Prudential (LSE: PRU) |
| 71 | RMC | Acquired |
| 72 | Racal Electronics | Acquired, although demerged Vodafone (LSE: VOD) in 1988. |
| 73 | Rank Organisation | Acquired |
| 74 | Reckitt & Colman | Now called Reckitt Benckiser (LSE: RB) |
| 75 | Redland | Acquired |
| 76 | Reed International | Now called Reed Elsevier (LSE: REL) |
| 77 | Rio Tinto-Zinc | Now called Rio Tinto Group (LSE: RIO) |
| 78 | Rowntree-Mackintosh | Acquired |
| 79 | Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) | |
| 80 | Royal Insurance | Now called RSA (LSE: RSA) |
| 81 | J Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) | |
| 82 | Scottish & Newcastle Breweries | Acquired |
| 83 | Sears | Broken up |
| 84 | Sedgwick | Acquired |
| 85 | Shell Transport & Trading | Now called Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RSDB) |
| 86 | Smith & Nephew (LSE: SN) | |
| 87 | Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) | |
| 88 | Standard Telephone & Cable | Acquired |
| 89 | Sun Alliance & London Insurance | Acquired |
| 90 | Sun Life Assurance Society | Acquired |
| 91 | Tarmac | Acquired |
| 92 | Tesco (LSE: TSCO) | |
| 93 | Thorn EMI | Acquired |
| 94 | Trafalgar House | Acquired |
| 95 | Trusthouse Forte | Acquired |
| 96 | Ultramar | Acquired |
| 97 | Unilever (LSE: ULVR) | |
| 98 | United Biscuits | Acquired |
| 99 | Whitbread (LSE: WTB) | |
| 100 | George Wimpey | Now called Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW) and in the FTSE 250 |
Data Source: Motely Fool, UK
The history of the FTSE 100 constituent changes over the years can be found here.
Unlike the original FTSE, the current version is composed of fewer manufacturing firms.The FTSE 100 currently is dominated by banking, mining and energy firms.Today it is a market-capitalisation weighted index of UK-listed blue chip companies measuring the performance of the 100 largest companies traded on the London Stock Exchange that pass screening for size and liquidity.
The dividend yield of the index stood 3.46% at the end of 2013 (in local currency terms) and the top 10 constituents accounted for about 43% of the index market capitalization.
The Top Five Constituents of the Index are listed below with their current dividend yields:
1.Company: HSBC Holdings (HBC)
Current Dividend Yield: 4.31%
Sector: Banking
2.Company:Vodafone Group (VOD)
Current Dividend Yield: 4.05%
Sector: Telecom
3.Company: BP Plc (BP)
Current Dividend Yield: 4.54%
Sector:Oil & Gas Producers
4.Company: Royal Dutch Shell A (RDS-A)
Current Dividend Yield: 4.29%
Sector:Oil & Gas Producers
5.Company: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Current Dividend Yield: 4.38%
Sector:Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
The full list of FTSE 100 can be found here.
Note: Dividend yields noted above are as of Jan 17, 2014. Data is known to be accurate from sources used.Please use your own due diligence before making any investment decisions.
Source: FTSE
The iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (EWU) which tracks the MSCI United Kingdom Index gives exposure to some of the large British firms. It has a 12-month yield of 2.40%.
Disclosure: No Positions
Update:
The changing face of the FTSE 100, CityWire UK
How Big Are Equity Markets In Emerging Countries?
Stock markets in developing countries are small in terms of market capitalization compared to their peers in the developed world. The latest issue of The Economist has the following graphic on emerging market equities:
Click to enlarge
Source: Shares in emerging markets Scarce, The Economist
It should be noted that only the freely traded shares that feature in the local MSCI share index is used for calculating the market capitalization. This graphic does not represent the market capitalization of the all the companies listed in a particular country.According to the Economist note, all the shares available in India are worth roughly equal to Nestle. Similarly all the shares available in Egypt are equal to Burger King.Currently Nestle (NSRGY) and Burger King Worldwide (BKW) have a market capitalization of about $238.0 billion and $8.0 billion respectively.
For a better comparison of I reviewed market capitalization data from the World Federation of Exchanges. The table below shows the domestic total market caps of select emerging and frontier markets in US dollar terms at the end of 2013:
| Exchange | Domestic Market Capitalization (in USD Billions) | Percentage Change from Dec 2012 (in USD) | Percentage Change from Dec 2012 (in local currency) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Americas | |||
| Bermuda SE | - | - | |
| BM&FBOVESPA | 1,020.46 | -16.9% | -4.2% |
| Buenos Aires SE | 53.10 | 55.0% | 105.5% |
| Colombia SE | 202.69 | -22.7% | -15.4% |
| Lima SE | 80.98 | -21.1% | -13.5% |
| Mexican Exchange | 526.02 | 0.2% | 1.0% |
| NASDAQ OMX | 6,084.97 | 32.8% | 32.8% |
| NYSE Euronext (US) | 17,949.88 | 27.4% | 27.4% |
| Santiago SE | 265.15 | -15.4% | -7.1% |
| TMX Group | 2,113.82 | 2.7% | 9.6% |
| Total region | 28,297.07 | 22.0% | |
| Asia - Pacific | |||
| Australian SE | 1,365.96 | -1.5% | 14.3% |
| BSE India | 1,138.83 | -9.9% | 1.8% |
| Bursa Malaysia | 500.39 | 7.2% | 14.9% |
| Colombo SE | 18.81 | 10.8% | 13.5% |
| GreTai Securities Market | 78.00 | 30.3% | 33.8% |
| Hong Kong Exchanges | 3,100.78 | 9.5% | 9.5% |
| Indonesia SE | 346.67 | -19.0% | 2.2% |
| Japan Exchange Group - Osaka | - | - | |
| Japan Exchange Group - Tokyo | 4,543.17 | 30.6% | 58.7% |
| Korea Exchange | 1,234.55 | 4.7% | 3.2% |
| National Stock Exchange India | 1,112.95 | -9.8% | 1.8% |
| Philippine SE | 217.32 | -5.2% | 2.4% |
| Shanghai SE | 2,496.99 | -2.0% | -4.7% |
| Shenzhen SE | 1,452.15 | 26.3% | 22.7% |
| Singapore Exchange | 744.41 | -2.7% | 0.6% |
| Taiwan SE Corp. | 822.71 | 11.9% | 14.8% |
| The Stock Exchange of Thailand | 354.34 | -9.1% | -2.3% |
| Total region | 18,415.08 | 8.8% | |
| Europe - Africa - Middle East | |||
| Abu Dhabi SE | 109.64 | 61.4% | 61.3% |
| Amman SE | 25.76 | -4.5% | -4.7% |
| Athens Exchange | 70.19 | 56.4% | 49.6% |
| BME Spanish Exchanges | 1,116.56 | 12.2% | 7.4% |
| Borsa Istanbul | 195.75 | -37.9% | -25.2% |
| Budapest SE | 19.80 | -4.6% | -6.9% |
| Casablanca SE | 53.83 | 2.6% | -1.0% |
| Cyprus SE | 2.10 | 5.5% | 0.9% |
| Deutsche Börse | 1,936.11 | 30.3% | 24.6% |
| Egyptian Exchange | 61.63 | 4.1% | 13.7% |
| Irish SE | 170.12 | 56.1% | 49.3% |
| Johannesburg SE | 942.81 | 3.9% | 28.2% |
| Ljubljana SE | 7.13 | 10.1% | 5.3% |
| London SE Group | 4,428.98 | 30.4% | 24.8% |
| Luxembourg SE | 78.64 | 11.8% | 7.0% |
| Malta SE | - | - | |
| Mauritius SE | 8.94 | 24.5% | 22.5% |
| Moscow Exchange | 770.66 | -6.6% | 0.4% |
| Muscat Securities Market | 36.77 | 21.4% | 21.3% |
| NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange | 1,269.21 | 27.5% | 22.0% |
| NYSE Euronext (Europe) | 3,583.90 | 26.5% | 21.1% |
| Oslo Børs | 265.38 | 9.3% | 19.2% |
| Saudi Stock Exchange - Tadawul | 467.37 | 25.2% | 25.2% |
| SIX Swiss Exchange | 1,540.70 | 24.9% | 21.4% |
| Tel Aviv SE | 203.30 | 25.6% | 16.9% |
| Wiener Börse | 117.67 | 11.0% | 6.2% |
| Total region | 17,482.95 | 21.6% | |
| WFE Total | 64,195.10 | 17.8% |
Notes:
- Johannesburg SE: figures include the market capitalization of all listed companies, but exclude listed warrants, convertibles and investment funds
- BME: Including investment companies listed (open-end investmetnt companies) that differ from investment funds included in table 1.3.2 because of their legal status and that cannot be distinguished from other listed companies.
- Australian SE: including investment funds
- JPX – Osaka SE: On 16 July 2013, Osaka SE cash equity products were listed on Tokyo SE
- JPX – Tokyo SE: On 16 July 2013, Osaka SE cash equity products were listed on Tokyo SE
- Korea Exchange: includes Kosdaq market data
- Mauritius SE: From Aug. 2006, data includes Development & Enterprise Market
- NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange : OMX includes Copenhagen, Helsinki, Iceland, Stockholm, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius Stock Exchanges
- Singapore Exchange: market capitalization includes domestic listings and a substantial number of foreign listings, defined as companies whose principal place of business is outside of Singapore. Inactive secondary foreign listings are excluded.
- TSX Group: also includes TSX Venture market cap
- Total excludes Osaka and National Stock Exchange of India to avoid double counting with Tokyo and Bombay SE respectively
Source : World Federation of Exchanges members
Data Source: World Federation of Exchanges
The NYSE had a market cap of about $18.0 Trillion. Together with the NASDAQ the total US market cap was about $24.0 Trillion. This figure includes all the stocks (including those of foreign companies) listed on these markets.
In comparison, the Mexico had a market cap of $526 billion.Brazil was almost double that of Mexico’s with a total of just over $1.0 Trillion. India’s market cap came in at about $1.1 Trillion. China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange had a total market cap of about $2.5 Trillion and Russia’s figure stood at about $770 billion. China had the top market cap among the BRICs.
Canada’s TSX had a higher market cap than Australia’s $1.3 Trillion.
Disclosure: No Positions
Obesity Rates For Adults Across Countries
Obesity is increasingly becoming an problem around the world. It is particularly high in developed countries compared to developing countries. In the U.S., the obesity epidemic adds billions of dollars in healthcare costs. Relatively very cheap food prices, lethargic lifestyle, high dependence on automobile for transport, high consumption of genetically modified foods, high amounts of all types of chemicals added to food products, high meat consumption, etc. are some of the causes of obesity among Americans. For the privilege of being able to eat $0.99 burgers to dead cheap prices for sugar to unlimited refills for soft drinks in restaurants Americans pay a heavy price in terms of medical expenses and of course the pain and suffering that goes with ailments.
The chart below shows the percentage of adult population that are obese for select countries:
Click to enlarge
Source: Sugar – Consumption at a crossroads, Credit Suisse
The number of calories needed for the average male is 2500 according to UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The U.S. government recommends 2700 calories. The actual consumption is much higher in virtually all countries. It peaks at 3700 calories per adult per day in the US according to the Credit Suisse report.
The report also noted that while sugar alone is not the cause of the obesity epidemic it is one of the major contributors.
A Note on National Australia Bank Limited Stock Split
National Australia Bank Limited, one of Australia’s largest banks has announced a stock split on its ADR. From the announcement by the depository bank:
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (“DBTCA”), as Depositary, will change the ratio on National Australia Bank Limited American Depositary Receipt (“ADR”) program. The ratio will change from 1 ADS representing 1 ordinary share to the new ratio of 2 ADSs representing 1 ordinary share, effective January 21, 2014.
As a result of the ratio change, ADS holders of National Australia Bank Limited will receive a 100% stock distribution (or 1 additional ADS for every ADS held) as of the ADR record date.
New Ratio: 2 ADS: 1 Ordinary Share
ADR Record Date: January 17, 2014
ADR Payable Date: January 21, 2014
Source: Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas
This is the second split in recent years. In April 2008, the ADR split in the ratio of 1:5.
The chart below shows the performance of NABZY since 2000:
Click to enlarge
Source: Yahoo Finance
In 5 years the ADR has returned 165% in price appreciation alone.
Currently the stock has a dividend yield of 5.80%.
Disclosure: No Positions