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Chairman Ben S. Bernanke Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress
February 29, 2012--Chairman Bachus, Ranking Member Frank, and other members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the Federal Reserve's semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. I will begin with a discussion of current economic conditions and the outlook and then turn to monetary policy.
The Economic Outlook
The recovery of the U.S. economy continues, but the pace of expansion has been uneven and modest by historical standards. After minimal gains in the first half of last year, real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 2-1/4 percent annual rate in the second half.1 The limited information available for 2012 is consistent with growth proceeding, in coming quarters, at a pace close to or somewhat above the pace that was registered during the second half of last year.
We have seen some positive developments in the labor market. Private payroll employment has increased by 165,000 jobs per month on average since the middle of last year, and nearly 260,000 new private-sector jobs were added in January. The job gains in recent months have been relatively widespread across industries. In the public sector, by contrast, layoffs by state and local governments have continued. The unemployment rate hovered around 9 percent for much of last year but has moved down appreciably since September, reaching 8.3 percent in January. New claims for unemployment insurance benefits have also moderated.
view the Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, February 29, 2012
Source: FRB
Market Vectors Lowers Investor Expenses for RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF (HAP)
February 29, 2012--Market Vectors ETFs announced that it is contractually lowering the expense cap of its Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF (ticker: ticker:NYSEArca:HAP - News), effective today. Investors in these funds will pay lower fees as a result of these reductions.
The HAP expense cap was lowered from 0.59% to 0.49%. This reduced expense limitation is capped contractually until at least May 1, 2013. As is typically the case, interest expense and certain other expenses are excluded from the expense cap. The gross expense ratio for the fund is 0.63%.
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Source: Van Eck
Preliminary Report On Foreign Holdings Of U.S. Securities At End-June 2011
February 29, 2012--Preliminary data from a survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities at the end of June 2011 were released today. Final survey results, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the preliminary data, will be reported on April 30, 2012.
The survey was undertaken jointly by Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The next survey will cover holdings at the end of June 2012; preliminary data are expected to be released by February 28, 2013.
Complementary surveys measuring U.S. holdings of foreign securities are also carried out annually. Data from the most recent survey, reporting on securities held at year-end 2011, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by August 31, 2012.
Overall Preliminary Results The survey measured foreign holdings of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2011, to be $12,520 billion, with $3,906 billion held in U.S. equities, $7,733 billion in U.S. long-term debt securities1 (of which $1,141 billion are holdings of asset-backed securities (ABS) 2 and $6,593 billion are holdings of non-ABS securities), and $881 billion held in U.S. short-term debt securities. The previous survey, conducted as of June 30, 2010, measured total foreign holdings of U.S. securities at $10,691 billion, with holdings of $2,814 billion in U.S. equities, $6,921 billion in U.S. long-term debt securities, and $956 billion in U.S. short-term debt securities (see Table 1).
Revisions to the Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities Table
A revised table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities was also released at (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/ticsec2.aspx, on line 1 of Part A). This revised table is based on the June 2011 survey data, but also includes new data on holdings of Treasury bonds and notes at the end of September 2011 and December 2011 as reported on the new Treasury International Capital Form SLT, "Aggregate Holdings of Long-Term Securities by U.S. and Foreign Residents." This inclusion of new data in the Major Foreign Holders table differs from past practice, where the Major Foreign Holders table was constructed based upon the June survey data and subsequently included monthly transactions data on foreign net purchases of long-term Treasuries until the next survey data were available.
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Source: US Department of the Treasury
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
February 28, 2012--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:
The unitholders of Whiterock REIT (TSX:WRK.UN) have accepted the cash and share takeover offer from Dundee REIT (TSX:D.UN).
Whiterock REIT will be removed from the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index after the close of Monday, March 5, 2012.
The shareholders of Grande Cache Coal Corporation (TSX:GCE) have accepted the $CDN10.00 cash per share offer from Winsway Coking Coal Holdings Ltd. (HKSE:1733). Grande Cache will be removed from the S&P/TSX Composite and Capped Composite, the S&P/TSX Equity and Capped Equity, the S&P/TSX Completion and Equity Completion, the S&P/TSX SmallCap and Equity SmallCap, the S&P/TSX Global Mining, Global Base Metals and Equal Weight Global Base Metals, the S&P/TSX Composite Equal Weight, the S&P/TSX Capped Materials and the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Indices effective after the close of Friday, March 2, 2012.
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company
Source: Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
February 28, 2012--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:
The Toronto Stock Exchange announced today in the Daily Bulletin that the shares of Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. (TSXVN:QRM) will graduate to trade on TSX at the open of trading on Thursday, March 1, 2012.
The ticker symbol will remain "QRM" and the CUSIP number will remain 74836T 10 1. The company will be removed from the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Quest Rare Minerals is also a constituent of the S&P/TSX Venture Select Index. The company will be removed from this index effective after the close of Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at which time it will be listed on TSX.
The company is also a constituent of the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index. According to methodology, it will remain in this index while trading on TSX until the next semi-annual review of the index in August, 2012.
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
Source: Standard & Poor's
State Street Global Advisors Launches New Emerging Markets and Global Equity SPDR Exchange Traded Funds
February 28, 2012--State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), today announced that the SPDR(R) MSCI EM 50 ETF (symbol:EMFT) and the SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI ETF (symbol:ACIM) began trading on the NYSE Arca on February 28, 2012.
The new SPDR ETFs are designed to provide investors with an opportunity to tap into the growth potential of emerging market and international equities.
The SPDR MSCI EM 50 ETF seeks to track the performance of the MSCI EM 50 Index. The Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization- weighted index that includes 50 of the largest MSCI Emerging Markets Index constituents. To enhance liquidity, the Index applies eligibility screens that exclude smaller emerging market countries and replaces constituent securities for selected markets with depositary receipts. The SPDR MSCI EM 50 ETF expense ratio is 0.50%.
"Against a backdrop of a reduction in emerging market equity values in 2011, the asset class now offers a more attractive entry," said James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors. "The launch of the SPDR MSCI EM 50 ETF enhances our emerging market SPDR ETF offering and provides investors with very precise access to a well-established index."
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Source: State Street Global Advisors
DB Global Equity Research:US ETF Market Weekly Review : ETP AUM hits all-time high, driven by market and inflows
February 28, 2012--Net Cash Flows Review
Equity markets kept the momentum last week. The US (S&P 500) was up by 0.33% completing its seventh positive week out of eight this year; other developed and emerging markets outside the US did similarly; the MSCI EAFE (in USD), and the MSCI EM (in USD) were up by 1.70% and 0.49% during the week, respectively.
Moving on to other asset classes, the 10Y Treasury yield fell by 3bps last week, while the DB Liquid Commodity Index increased by 3.6%. Other sectors were all positive, the Agriculture sector (DB Diversified Agriculture Index), Gold, Silver and WTI Crude Oil price increased by 0.18%, 2.85%, 6.37% and 6.33%, respectively. Last but not least, Volatility (VIX) decreased to 17.3 recording a 2.6% decrease during the week.
ETP flows had a bullish week, taking the YTD cash flow figure to $35.8bn. The total US ETP flows from all products registered $4.7bn of inflows during last week vs $2.4bn of outflows the previous week, setting the YTD weekly flows average at +$4.5bn.
ETP markets experienced positive flows across the three major asset classes, with Equity leading the path. Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity ETPs experienced flows of +$2.4bn, +$1.4bn, and +$0.8bn last week vs. -$4.1bn, +$1.3bn, and +$0.2bn the previous week, respectively.
Within Equity ETPs, US Sector products experienced the largest inflows (+$2.4bn), followed by Mid Cap ETPs (+$0.3bn); while Leveraged vehicles experienced the largest outflows (-$0.2bn). Within Fixed Income ETPs, Corporate products experienced the largest inflows (+$1.0bn), followed distantly by broad benchmarked ETPs (+$0.1bn). Within Commodity ETPs, Gold products recorded the largest inflows (+$0.3bn).
New Launch Calendar: more equity beta and dividend strategies
There were 4 new ETFs listed during the previous week. The new ETFs offer additional exposure to developed and emerging markets in different ways. Two of them offer diversified high beta portfolios on global DM and EM while the other two focus on dividend from Asia Pacific and Global Emerging Markets. (See Figure 18 for details)
Turnover Review: Floor activity decreases on shorter week
Total weekly turnover decreased by 29% to $181bn vs. $300bn in the previous week. The largest decrease was on Equity ETP turnover, which decreased by $87.6bn or 32.6% to $181bn followed by Fixed Income ETP with a 17.8% (-$2.6bn) fall to $11.9bn, while Commodity ETP turnover went on the opposite direction rising by 23.4% (+$3.4bn) to $17.8bn.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Review: AUM at all-time highs
Last week, total ETP assets reached $1.181 trillion, pushed by upside markets and inflows. Assets for equity, fixed income and commodity ETPs moved +$6.4bn, +$2.2bn, and +$4.8bn during last week, respectively. As of last Friday, total assets had grown by 12.9% or $135.2bn YTD.
to request report
Source: Deutsche Bank - Global Equity Research
PowerShares files with the SEC
February 28, 2012--PowerShares has a filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with SEC.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
United States Department Of The Treasury: Preliminary Report On Foreign Holdings Of U.S. Securities At End-June 2011
February 28, 2012--Preliminary data from a survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities at end-June 2010 are released today on the U.S. Treasury web site. A revised table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities, where estimates through end-December 2010 are based in part on survey data, is also released.
Final survey results, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the preliminary data, will be reported on April 29, 2011.
The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The next survey will be for end-June 2011 and preliminary data are expected to be released by February 28, 2012.
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Source: US Department of the Treasury
Horizons Gold Yield Fund completes conversion into ETF
February 27, 2012--Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. ("Horizons ETFs") and its affiliate AlphaPro Management Inc. ("AlphaPro") are pleased to announce the conversion of the Horizons Gold Yield Fund (the "Fund") into an open-end exchange traded fund.
The Fund has been renamed the Horizons Gold Yield ETF (the "ETF") and the Class E units of the ETF (the "Class E Units") will begin trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on February 28, 2012 , under the symbol HGY.
Concurrent with, but unrelated to, the conversion, the ETF will begin issuing Advisor Class units (the "Advisor Class Units") which will also begin trading on the TSX on February 28, 2012 , under the symbol HGY.A.
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Source: Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc
