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Gensler Statement on CFTC/SEC Public Roundtable to Discuss Swap Data, Swap Data Repositories and Real Time Reporting
September 14, 2010--Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler today commented on the joint CFTC-SEC Public Roundtable to Discuss Swap Data, Swap Data Repositories and Real Time Reporting.
Chairman Gensler said:
“Promoting transparency is at the core of the CFTC’s mission,” CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said. “The Dodd-Frank Act’s provisions on data, swap data repositories and real time reporting will increase transparency both to regulators and to the public. The views of today’s panels will help the CFTC as we write rules to implement essential provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.”
Source: CFTC.gov
State Street Global Advisors Launches First Global Natural Resources ETF
September 14, 2010-State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management business of State Street Corporation, today announced that the SPDR(R) S&P(R) Global Natural Resources ETF (Symbol: GNR) began trading on the NYSE Arca on September 14, 2010. Its annual expense ratio is 0.40 percent.
Designed to provide investors with diversified, global exposure across the Energy, Metals and Mining, and Agriculture sectors, the SPDR S&P Global Natural Resources ETF seeks to track the performance of the S&P Global Natural Resources Index. The Index includes ninety of the largest publicly-traded companies in global natural resources and commodities businesses. In addition to being listed on a developed market exchange, Index constituents must have a minimum of $1 billion market capitalization and a three month average daily trading value of $5 million or more.
"The SPDR S&P Global Natural Resources ETF was developed in response to demand from sophisticated investors and financial advisors seeking precise natural resources exposure that is not overweight on the energy sector," said James Ross, senior managing director at State Street Global Advisors. "With the addition of the SPDR S&P Natural Resources ETF, our family of SPDR ETFs provides investors with an opportunity to benefit from increasing natural resources demand across the globe."
Index holdings are equally-weighted across the energy, metals and mining, and agriculture sectors. This index methodology offers investors exposure that is diversified, liquid, and balanced, and prevents overweighting energy companies, which make up more than 10 percent of the S&P 500(R) Index based on market capitalization.
"With the consumption of natural resources poised for growth in both emerging markets and developed countries, the investment outlook for this sector remains promising," said Dan Peirce, vice president and a portfolio manager with the Multi Asset Class Solutions team at State Street Global Advisors. "In light of the sector's attractive supply and demand dynamics and relatively low correlation with other asset classes, the benefits of investing in natural resources are becoming increasingly apparent to investors."
State Street manages more than $200 billion in SPDR ETF assets worldwide (as of June 30, 2010) and is one of the largest ETF providers in the US and globally.
SOURCE: State Street
EGShares Launches Industry’s First Emerging Markets Consumer Exchange-Traded Fund
September 14, 2010--EGShares, the only dedicated emerging markets sector ETF provider in the U.S., has launched the Emerging Global Shares Emerging Markets Consumer Titans Index Fund (NYSE: ECON). This is the first ETF that offers investors access to emerging markets companies that we believe are well positioned to benefit from the rapidly growing spending patterns of the middle class in the world’s fastest growing economies. ECON invests in the securities in the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans 30 Index.
“We believe many equity research firms have positioned the emerging market consumer theme as the pre-eminent structural and demographic opportunity for the foreseeable future,” said Robert Holderith, President and CEO of EGShares. “We are pleased to offer investors the first broad-based emerging markets ETF as a way to try to capitalize this investment opportunity.”
The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans Index is a 30-stock index with an average market capitalization of $14.5 billion. The index’s top five industry weights, as of 6/30/10, were General Retailers (16.27%), Automobiles & Parts (14.85%), Beverages (14.24%), Food Producers (13.46%), and Media (10.86%), followed by Food & Drug Retailers, Tobacco, Travel & Leisure, Personal Goods, and Household Goods. ECON charges a net expense ratio of 0.85% (gross expense ratio: 1.20%).*
According to Richard Kang, CIO and Director of Research at EGShares, “One of the primary secular drivers in today’s economic environment is that households in the developed world are deleveraging—spending less, saving more—while those in the emerging markets are moving in the opposite direction. Although the median household income may be small in relation to developed markets, both the large size and young age of the emerging market population make this a key theme for both the near and long term. Today, the West is consuming less but at least others around the globe are picking up the slack.”
Tom Sowanick, co-president and CIO of Omnivest Group, a Princeton, NJ-based investment advisory firm, said the most provocative story for U.S. investors right now is in emerging markets and the key plot points in that story are demographics, urbanization and, of course, consumerism. “Emerging economies will benefit from the three Ds; Demographics, Density and Distance,” said Sowanick, who is the former CIO of Merrill Lynch’s Private Client Group where he spent 25 years in research. “Over the next 20 years, Asia will represent 55% of the world’s urban population, with India and China accounting for 30% of the total.”
Sowanick continued: “Urbanization and the increase of megacities, primarily in India and China, will witness a massive migration to urban cities of nearly 1 billion people. Urbanization will also shift consumer demand from rural appetites to urban appetites. Skyscrapers, transportation, energy consumption and food consumption will increase substantially over the next two decades from this migration and the emergence of a massive middle class.”
The EGShares Emerging Markets Consumer ETF is the ninth ETF to be introduced by EGShares. The company’s other ETFs are the EGShares India Infrastructure ETF (INXX), the EGShares India Small-Cap ETF (SCIN), EGShares Brazil Infrastructure ETF (BRXX), EGShares China Infrastructure ETF (CHXX), EGShares Emerging Markets Metals/Mining ETF (EMT), EGShares Emerging Markets Energy ETF (EEO), EGShares Emerging Markets Financials ETF (EFN) and the EGShares Emerging Markets Composite ETF (EEG).
Source: Emerging Global Advisors LLC
State Street files with the SEC
September 13, 2010-State Street has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for
SPDR® S&P® Global Natural Resources ETF.
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Source: SEC.gov
SEC Announce Panelists for September 14 Public Roundtable to Discuss Swap and Security-Based Swap Data, Swap and Security-Based Swap Data Repositories and Real Time Reporting
September 13, 2010-- The staffs of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced the panelists for their September 14, 2010, public roundtable to discuss Swap and Security-Based Swap Data, Swap and Security-Based Swap Data Repositories (SDRs) and Real-Time Reporting.
Note: the Roundtable’s agenda and call-in information may be found in CFTC press release #5886-10 and SEC press release #2010-166 (see related documents).
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Source: CFTC.gov
Emerging Markets Week in Review 9/6/2010 - 9/10/2010
September 13, 2010--The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Sector Titans Composite Index increased 0.71% last week, reaching its highest weekly close since April. Industrials and Technology led the market up, climbing 1.79% and 1.75% respectively. Telecom, the least positive sector for the week, increased 0.18%.
Since hitting a low on May 25, the Composite index is up 16.95%, led by increasingly bullish signs that the emerging markets consumer is leading the global economy in the recovery. In less than four months, the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans Index is up 28.06%.
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Source: Emerging Global Advisors
Latin America: “Commodity dependence” can lead to Sustained Growth, World Bank report argues
September 13, 2010--Traditionally considered a curse for a nation’s development, commodity wealth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) could—on the contrary—represent a foundation for prosperity, according to a new report released today by the World Bank.
The increased demand for minerals and agricultural commodities from Asian markets, especially China, is contributing to a rebound in economic growth as the region leaves behind the global crisis, according to the flagship publication ‘Natural Resources in Latin America and the Caribbean: Beyond Booms and Busts?’
According to the report, in Latin America there has been a substantial shift from exporting commodities to advanced economies to trading instead with emerging economies. For example, the United States’ share as a destination market declined from 44 percent in 1990 to 37 percent in 2008—the latest year for which data is available, while China’s share rose over tenfold during the same period, from 0.8 percent to 10 percent of total commodity exports. China is Brazil’s most important market for commodity exports, accounting for almost a fifth of total commodity exports in 2008.
If properly managed, the windfall from this commodity-led recovery can help LAC seize this growth opportunity by providing governments with greater fiscal space and serving directly as a key source of growth.
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Source: World Bank
BMO Investments Inc. Receives Securityholder Approval for Changes to Its Mutual Funds Line-Up
September 13, 2010--BMO Investments Inc. received securityholder approval to proceed with the changes initially announced on August 3, 2010 to BMO Equity Index Fund, BMO International Index Fund and BMO U.S. Equity Index Fund (collectively, the "Funds").
"Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to be of interest to investors because they offer a new and innovative way to invest," said Hugh McKee, Co-President, BMO Investments Inc. "However, the requirement to purchase ETFs through a brokerage account has been a roadblock for some time, and with these changes BMO now provides customers greater accessibility."
These Funds will now give investors access to some of the benefits that a pure ETF can provide, such as participation in an investment that tracks a defined, passively managed index. It is also expected that the changes will result in lower transaction costs and improved overall performance of the Funds. Furthermore, by reducing the number of portfolio transactions the tax impact for non-registered investors should be reduced.
The following is a summary of the approved changes.
BMO Equity Index Fund
As of close of business on September 17, 2010, the investment objectives of BMO Equity Index Fund will change to allow the fund to provide a return that is similar to the return of one or more exchange-traded funds that invest primarily in Canadian equities. The fund will invest all or a portion of its assets in one or more exchange-traded funds, invest directly in the underlying securities held by the exchange-traded funds and/or use derivatives to provide the fund with a return determined by reference to the exchange-traded funds. The investment strategies for this fund will also be revised to reflect the new objectives. In addition, the fund's name will change to "BMO Canadian Equity ETF Fund".
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Source: BMO Investments
ETF Research Center Launches Portfolio Builder Tool to Assist Financial Advisors
September 13, 2010-- ETF Research Center, the online portal for financial advisors and individual investors to access AltaVista's analysis of exchange traded funds, launched Portfolio Builder as part of its research offering. The new tool completes the product suite by allowing users to screen, analyze and now build portfolios using ETFs in a disciplined, forward-looking manner.
Like the other tools on ETF Research Center, Portfolio Builder takes a forward-looking view based on a fundamental analysis of the underlying constituents in an ETF, rather than relying primarily on past price returns, the most widely used approach to ETF analysis.
"Financial advisors are increasingly adopting ETFs for use in clients' portfolios, but also have greater responsibility selecting and monitoring ETFs compared with traditional mutual funds, where there is a manager making day-to-day decisions on investors' behalf. Portfolio Builder puts advisors back in the driver's seat by helping them construct custom portfolios tailored to whatever investment strategy meets their clients' particular needs," notes Michael Krause, President and founder of AltaVista Research.
Portfolio Builder is now available as part of a Professional level subscription to the ETF Research Center for $99 per month after a one-month free trial, and includes full access to all other tools on the site, which currently covers 538 equity ETFs. Each subscriber can create and maintain up to 20 portfolios. Visit http://www.etfresearchcenter.com
Source: AltaVista Research:
Semi-Annual Changes to the NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index
September 13, 2010-- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and Clean Edge, Inc. announced today the results of the semi-annual evaluation of the NASDAQ(R) Clean Edge(R) Green Energy Index (Nasdaq:CELS), which will become effective prior to market open on Monday, September 20, 2010.
The following three securities will be added to the Index: PowerSecure International, Inc. (Nasdaq:POWR), Tesla Motors, Inc. (Nasdaq:TSLA), and Vicor Corporation (Nasdaq:VICR).
The Index is designed to track the performance of clean-energy companies that are publicly traded in the U.S. The Index includes companies engaged in the manufacturing, development, distribution, and installation of emerging clean-energy technologies such as solar photovoltaics, biofuels and advanced batteries. The five major sub-sectors that the index covers are Renewable Electricity Generation, Renewable Fuels, Energy Storage & Conversion, Energy Intelligence and Advanced Energy-Related Materials. The securities must also meet other eligibility criteria which include minimum requirements for market value, average daily share volume, and price. The NASDAQ(R) Clean Edge(R) Green Energy Index is re-ranked semi-annually in March and September. For more information about the NASDAQ(R) Clean Edge(R) Green Energy Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/.
The NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index is the basis for the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund (Nasdaq:QCLN), which seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of the NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index before fees and expenses.
As a result of the evaluation, the following five securities will be removed from the Index:
Ballard Power Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:BLDP), Capstone Turbine Corporation (Nasdaq:CPST), Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq:ESLR), FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:FCEL), and UQM Technologies, Inc. (AMEX:UQM).
Source: NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group