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Real-time Forecasts of Economic Activity for Latin American Economies-IMF Working Paper
April 29, 2011--Summary: Macroeconomic policy decisions in real-time are based the assessment of current and future economic conditions. These assessments are made difficult by the presence of incomplete and noisy data.
The problem is more acute for emerging market economies, where most economic data are released infrequently with a (sometimes substantial) lag. This paper evaluates "nowcasts" and forecasts of real GDP growth using five alternative models for ten Latin American countries. The results indicate that the flow of monthly data helps to improve forecast accuracy, and the dynamic factor model consistently produces more accurate nowcasts and forecasts relative to other model specifications, across most of the countries we consider.
view IMF Working paper-Real-time Forecasts of Economic Activity for Latin American Economies
Source: IMF
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Inde
April 29, 2011--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Monday, May 2, 2011:
Canacol Energy Ltd. (TSXVN:CNE) will be removed from the index. The company will graduate to trade on TSX under the same ticker symbol.
Canacol will remain a constituent of the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index until the next index rebalancing at the end of July, 2011.
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 & Poors
Gold Hits Record after Fed says Low Rates to Stay
April 29, 2011--Gold rose to an all-time high near $1,530 an ounce on Wednesday and oil also went up after the Federal Reserve vowed to keep U.S. interest rates low for an extended period, which sent the dollar tumbling.
Copper and most other industrial metals fell on worries that U.S. economic recovery could stall and that top buyer China could resort to more monetary tightening that could further weaken demand.
Source: Reuters
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
April 29, 2011---CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports have been updated for the week of April 26, 2011 are now available.
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Source: CFTC.gov
NASDAQ Closing Cross Had a Record Day for the Special Rebalance of the NASDAQ 100 Index
April 29, 2011--- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced the NASDAQ Closing Cross broke a record for 2011 as it was used for the Special Rebalance of the NASDAQ-100 Index® (Nasdaq:NDX).
A total of 329.21 million shares representing $12.7 billion were executed in the Closing Cross in 779 milliseconds.
In all NASDAQ-100 Index stocks, 287.88 million shares representing $11.84 billion were executed in the Closing Cross in 779 milliseconds.
Trading in PowerShares QQQ Trust (Nasdaq:QQQ), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the NASDAQ-100 Index, totaled 494 thousand shares representing $29 million in 57 milliseconds during the Closing Cross.
The NASDAQ-100 Index's Special Rebalance will become effective prior to market open on Monday, May 2, 2011, based on today's NASDAQ Official Closing Price as determined by the NASDAQ Closing Cross®.
NASDAQ official closing prices (NOCPs) determined by the NASDAQ Closing Cross are widely used throughout the industry, including Russell Investments, Standard & Poor's, Dow Jones, and mutual funds across the country.
The Closing Cross brings together the buy and sell interest in specific NASDAQ, NYSE and NYSE Amex stocks and executes all shares for each stock at a single price, one that reflects the true supply and demand for these securities. All nationally-listed securities are eligible for the NASDAQ Closing Cross.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at End - June 2010
April 29, 2011--The final results from the survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities at end-June 2010 are released today on the U.S. Treasury
web site at(http://www.treasury.gov/resourcecenter/
data-chart-center/tic/Pages/fpis.aspx).
A revised table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities, where estimates through end-February 2011 are based in part on survey data, is also released at (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chartcenter/ tic/Documents/mfh.txt). This annual 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.
Complementary surveys measuring U.S. holdings of foreign securities are also carried out annually. Data from the most recent survey, reporting on securities held on year-end 2010, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by August 31, 2011.
view the MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES
Source: US Department of the Treasury
Fact Sheet: Notice of Proposed Determination on Foreign Exchange Swaps and Forwards
April 29, 2011-The Dodd-Frank Act put in place a comprehensive set of reforms to help build stronger, safer, and more efficient financial markets. The Obama Administration fought hard for and strongly supports the Dodd-Frank Act’s comprehensive reforms to the derivatives market, which will reduce risk, increase transparency, and provide accountability for market participants.
Recognizing that the unique characteristics and oversight of the FX swaps and forwards market already reflect many of Dodd-Frank’s objectives for reform – including high levels of transparency, effective risk management, and financial stability – Congress provided the Secretary of the Treasury with the authority to determine whether central clearing and exchange trading requirements should apply to foreign exchange (FX) swaps and forwards.
The FX swaps and forwards market is markedly different from other derivatives markets. Existing procedures in the FX swaps and forwards market mitigate risk and help ensure stability. Central clearing requirements will strengthen the rest of the derivatives market, but could actually jeopardize practices in the FX swaps and forwards market that help limit risk and ensure that it functions effectively. This market plays such an important role in helping businesses manage their everyday funding and investment needs throughout the world that disruptions to its operations could have serious negative economic consequences.
view Determination of Foreign Exchange Swaps and Foreign Exchange Forwards under the Commodity Exchange Act
Source: US Department of the Treasury
ETF providers feel pinch from fee wars
April 29, 2011--As exchange traded fund sponsors continue to whittle away expense ratios to generate flows and attention, the low-fee environment is playing a large hand in shaping firms’ product and distribution strategies.
Low-cost players such as Vanguard and Charles Schwab have burst into the ETF market and rapidly attracted assets. The pricing pressure has become so strong in certain segments of US equities and emerging markets that firms such as FocusShares, the ETF arm of discount brokerage Scottrade, offer products with expense ratios of 0.05 per cent. The average annual expense ratio for an index-based ETF is 0.56 per cent.
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Source: FT.com
Pension funds take shine to ETFs
April 29, 2011--As exchange traded funds continue to grow in the retail space, managers say they are also seeing steady interest from pension funds and other institutional investors.
Some of the biggest managers are leveraging their firms’ existing institutional relationships to introduce ETFs to pensions, while also educating investment consultants on what, according to managers, are the benefits of ETFs for institutional investors.
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Source: FT.com
US Treasury grants exemption for forex swaps
April 29, 2011--The US Treasury has opted to exempt foreign exchange swaps from sweeping new derivatives rules, providing a big victory for dealers and a defeat for the proponents of more far-reaching market reforms.
Last year’s Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul gave Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, the power to decide that over-the-counter forex swaps and forwards did not need to be subject to the same requirements for clearing and exchange trading as other derivatives.
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Source: FT.com
