Americas ETP News
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Goldman subprime bet highlights Volcker debate
February 10, 2012--Goldman Sachs Group Inc's purchase of a $6.2 billion portfolio of subprime bonds on Wednesday illustrates the difficulty regulators may have in stopping banks from making bets with their own money.
Goldman purchased the portfolio from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is selling mortgage securities acquired in 2008 through the bailout of American International Group Inc .
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Source: Reuters
France signals nine eurozone states ready to trigger FTT
February 9, 2012--French Finance Minister Francois Baroin signalled Tuesday that nine eurozone governments are ready to press ahead with the introduction of a Paris-inspired financial transactions tax.
Baroin's office said the minister had written to the European Union's current Danish presidency asking for examination of a draft law championed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to be examined by the summer.
The fact that nine countries are signatories to the letter is highly significant, as it paves the way for a special provision of the EU's Lisbon Treaty that allows at least one third of the EU's member states to trailblaze new laws by themselves.
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Source: EUbusiness
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Votes to Establish a New Subcommittee of the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) to focus on High Frequency Trading
New Subcommittee on Automated and High Frequency Trading is Seeking Nominations for Members
February 9, 2012--Commissioner Scott D. O'Malia, the chairman of the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC), announces that the Commission has voted to establish a Subcommittee on Automated and High Frequency Trading tasked with developing recommendations regarding the definition of high frequency trading ("HFT") in the context of the larger universe of automated trading.
This definition of HFT is anticipated to serve as an initial step towards assessing the presence and impact of HFT in CFTC regulated markets for consideration of appropriate regulatory and policy responses.
Since its inaugural meeting, the TAC has focused on one of the most important technological evolutions in trading behavior: automated trading. This shift in terms of speed and volume has challenged the exchanges’ and the Commission’s ability to ensure market integrity and safeguard against market misfires such as flash crashes.
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Source: CFTC.gov
ProShares Launches the First 10 Year Breakeven Inflation ETFs
February 9, 2012--ProShares, the nation's fourth most successful exchange traded fund (ETF) company,1 today announced the launch of ProShares UltraPro 10 Year TIPS/TSY Spread and ProShares UltraPro Short 10 Year TIPS/TSY Spread, the first ETFs linked to 10 year breakeven inflation. Breakeven inflation (BEI) is a widely followed measure of inflation expectations.2
UINF seeks to provide 3x the daily performance of the Dow Jones Credit Suisse 10-Year Inflation Breakeven Index, before fees and expenses. SINF seeks to provide -3x the daily performance of the Dow Jones Credit Suisse 10-Year Inflation Breakeven Index, before fees and expenses. The ETFs list on NYSE Arca today.
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Many investors carefully watch 10 year breakeven inflation but have not had access to a liquid and transparent way to act on their views," said Michael L. Sapir, Chairman and CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, ProShares' investment advisor. "Now, for the first time, investors can try to take advantage of swings in 10 year inflation expectations with an ETF.”
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Source: ProShares
CFTC Issues Final Rule Amending Registration and Compliance Obligations for Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors
Also Issues a Proposed Rule to Harmonize Compliance Obligations for Registered Investment Companies Required to Register as Commodity Pool Operators
February 9, 2012--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued a final rule regarding changes to Part 4 of the Commission's regulations involving registration and compliance obligations for commodity pool operators (CPO) and commodity trading advisors (CTA).
The rule increases transparency to the CFTC of CPOs and CTAs acting in the futures and swaps markets and enhances protections for their customers. The rule passed 4-1, with Chairman Gensler, and Commissioners Chilton, O’Malia and Wetjen voting in favor and Commissioner Sommers voting against the final rule. The rule, which was first proposed on January 26, 2011, will be effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
view Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors: Amendments to Compliance
view Harmonization of Compliance Obligations for Registered Investment Companies
Required to Register as Commodity Pool Operators
Source: CFTC.gov
State Street US ETF Snapshot: January 2012
February 9, 2012--SNAPSHOT OVERVIEW
1,191 Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)—with assets totaling $1,139BN—were managed by 36 ETF managers as of January 31, 2012.
Month over month, ETF assets increased just over $89BN, up 8.5%.
The ETF industry experienced an 8.5% increase in assets in January, driven by large gains in the International - Emerging, Size - Large Cap and Commodity categories.
STATE STREET HIGHLIGHTS, JANUARY 2012
Growth Opportunities for 2012
With continued market uncertainty and volatility, the search for yield continues. One area we expect to garner investor attention this year is the growth potential of emerging markets, where the opportunity set has continued to grow and the potential for yield is possible. Tap these trends by looking to emerging market equities, multinational corporations and emerging market local currency bonds.
Introducing State Street’s newest emerging market ETF:
◦SPDR® S&P® Small Cap Emerging Asia Pacific ETF [GMFS] is designed to provide exposure to emerging Asia Pacific small cap corporations, and seeks to track the total return performance of the S&P Asia Pacific Emerging Under USD 2 Billion Index.
For more information, including product fact sheets and related whitepapers, visit www.spdrs.com
Source: State Street Global Advisors
Deutsche Bank - Equity Research - North America-US ETF+ Monthly Directory : January 2012 ETPs
February 9, 2012--This document includes all US listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded vehicles (ETVs), plus a special section covering exchange-traded notes (ETNs).
The directory is organized by asset class and asset-class-related sub sections. Within each sub section it has also been sorted. For Equity and Fixed Income ETPs it is sorted by country (or sub region for regional products) in alphabetical order and by AUM in descending order, and for the other ETP asset classes it is sorted by sub sector in alphabetical order and by AUM in descending order. A number of key information points per product has been included in order to enable the reader to get an overview in their respective area of interest. Among the key numeric information we include avg. daily turnover, assets under management, and cash flows (all in $US).
to request report
Source: Deutsche Bank - Global Equity Research
BATS Exchange Announces Innovative Primary Listings Pricing, Including Free Listings
No Annual Listing Fee For Companies With ADV Exceeding 2M Shares Per Day; Competitive Liquidity Provider Program Launches Today
February 9, 2012-BATS Global Markets, a global operator of stock and options markets, today unveiled a unique flat pricing model for its primary listings business, including free listings for companies whose stock or exchange traded product (ETP) trades more than 2 million shares per day.
BATS also announced it will launch its Competitive Liquidity Provider (CLP) program today. The CLP program, which was designed for BATS’ new U.S. primary listings business and was recently approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is a rewards-based program designed to incent market makers to make tighter quoted spreads with increased liquidity for each listing on BATS. The CLP program particularly benefits small and mid-cap companies who are often challenged by a lack of liquidity in their stock, which can make attracting larger investors difficult.
“As we strive to make markets better for issuers today, we’re focused on driving competition and innovation in the U.S. primary markets through new ‘out of the box’ programs and pricing,” said Joe Ratterman, Chairman and CEO of BATS Global Markets. “Our aggressive pricing and innovative market maker program will appeal to small and mid-cap companies looking to grow, while larger companies will be attracted to our no-fee listing model. All issuers, regardless of size, will benefit from BATS’ world-class customer support and technology.”
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Source: BATS
Cisco Systems, Comcast, FedEx Added to Dow Jones U.S. Contrarian Opportunities Index
Index Gauges Performance of Stocks Lagging Broader Market,
But Outrank Peers on Fundamentals, Other Qualitative Criteria
Kohl's, Zimmer Holdings Also Placed in Index
Following Regular Semi-Annual Review By Dow Jones Indexes
February 9, 2012--Cisco Systems Inc., Comcast Corp. (Class A shares) and FedEx Corp. were added to the Dow Jones U.S. Contrarian Opportunities Index, Dow Jones Indexes announced today.
The Dow Jones U.S. Contrarian Opportunities Index is designed to systematically measure the performance of stocks that lag behind the broader market in terms of recent performance, but outrank their peers based on fundamentals and other qualitative criteria.
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Source: Dow Jones Indexes
WisdomTree Dividend ex-Financials Fund (DTN) Surpasses $1 Billion In Assets
Differentiated Dividend Strategy Gaining Traction amid Bank Volatility
February 9, 2012-WisdomTree, an exchange-traded fund ("ETF") sponsor and asset manager, today announced the WisdomTree Dividend ex-Financials Fund (DTN) recently surpassed $1 billion in assets and is presently the Company's second largest ETF. DTN is designed to track an Index that selects the 10 highest dividend yielding stocks from each U.S. sector from a universe of large-cap securities, excluding financial companies.
Jeremy Schwartz, WisdomTree Director of Research, commented, “Investors are increasingly looking to dividend paying equities as a potential source of income in a prolonged low interest rate environment. Yet some investors continue to have concerns about the financial sector’s health. For those investors, DTN provides exposure to a simple concept: a diversified basket of dividend-paying large cap stocks across all major market sectors with the exception of financials.”
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Source: Wisdom Tree
