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Advisor Share-Class Infractions a 'Widespread Problem,' SEC Says
February 23, 2018--The agency's investment management division also includes a fiduciary rule among its 'near-term' goals
Investment advisors putting their clients into higher fee share classes when lower cost ones are available "is a widespread problem," Steven Peikin, co-director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division, said Friday.
Speaking on a panel at the SEC Speaks conference in Washington, sponsored by the Practising Law Institute, Peikin, in referencing the division's newly launched Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative, said the "ultimate goal" of the program is to try to "return money" to as many investors as possible.
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Source: thinkadvisor.com
Vident Financial, LLC Announces Primary Listing Venue Change
February 23, 2018--Vident Financial, LLC announced today its plans to change the primary listing venue across all Vident ETFs from Nasdaq to NYSE Arca. The Funds involved include, the Vident International Equity ETF (VIDI), The Vident Core U.S. Equity ETF (VUSE), The Vident Core U.S. Bond Strategy ETF (VBND) and The Weatherstorm Forensic Accounting Long-Short ETF (FLAG).
The Vident ETF's (VIDI, VUSE, VBND & FLAG) will retain their current ticker symbols with the NYSE Arca listing. The Funds will commence trading on NYSE Arca upon market open on March 1, 2018. Until that time, the funds will continue to trade on the NASDAQ.
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Source: Vident Financial, LLC
Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Flows for January 2018
February 23, 2018--Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) asset flows for January 2018.
In January, investors placed $41.2 billion of inflows to U.S. equity passive funds compared with December's $22.5 billion inflow. On the active front, investors pulled $24.1 billion out of U.S. equity funds, compared with $16.3 in the previous month. Morningstar estimates net flow for mutual funds by computing the change in assets not explained by the performance of the fund and net flow for ETFs by computing the change in shares outstanding.
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Source: Morningstar, Inc.
Research Affiliates-Craftsmanship in Smart Beta
February 23, 2018--Key Points
Investors seeking to add smart beta and factor strategies to their portfolios should consider the four craftsmanship elements of product design: 1) universe coverage and weighting mechanism, 2) signal definition, 3) measurement period, and 4) rebalancing frequency.
Design decisions guided by these craftsmanship elements can help preserve a portfolio's performance potential by reducing implementation costs.
Introduction
In the previous article in this series, our colleagues John West and Trevor Schuesler explained the challenges of seeking positive alpha through manager selection. In this article, we highlight how financial advisors may add value with due diligence efforts on, perhaps, a more reliable source of excess return-product craftsmanship.
Technology today pushes us to move faster in almost every area of our life. We are encouraged to consume our news in 140-character bites, race through podcasts on 1.5x speed, and make every effort to "10x" our efficiency, condensing what we used to accomplish in 40 hours into a 4-hour workweek.
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Source: Research Affiliates
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
February 23, 2018--The current reports for the week of February 20, 2018 are now available.
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Source: CFTC.gov
Thomson Reuters U.S. Fund-Flows Weekly Report: All Four Fund Macro-Groups Take in Net New Money for the Week
February 23, 2018--Thomson Reuters Lipper's fund asset groups (including both mutual funds and ETFs) took in net-positive flows of almost $16.0 billion for the fund-flows week ended Wednesday, February 21.
All the fund macro-groups experienced positive net flows, led by money market funds (+$12.3 billion), followed by taxable bond funds (+$2.2 billion), equity funds (+$1.1 billion), and municipal bond funds (+$347 million).
Market Overview
The S&P 500 Index managed to post a small gain (+0.10%) for the fund-flows trading week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.38%.
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Source: Thomson Reuters
ETFGI reports assets invested in ETFs listed in Latin America reach record high of US$7.65 billion at the end of January 2018
February 23, 2018--According to ETFGI's January 2018 Latin America ETF and ETP industry insights report, a monthly report included in an annual paid-for research subscription service, assets invested in ETFs listed in Latin America reached a record high of US$7.65 billion at the end of January 2018, shattering the previous record of US$6.80 billion set at the end of 2017. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Assets invested in ETFs listed in Latin America increased by $858 Mn during January to reach a new record high of $7.65 Bn
In January 2018, ETFs listed in Latin America saw net inflows of $175 Mn
Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $105 Mn, followed by currency ETFs/ETPs with $84 Mn
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Source: ETFGI
US proposes overhaul of 'too big to fail' regime
February 21, 2018--Treasury plans 'Chapter 14' bankruptcy process to shield taxpayers from bank collapses.
US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin: "The bankruptcy reforms that we propose will make the shareholders, management, and creditors of a financial company bear...
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Source: FT.com
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, January 30-31, 2018
February 21, 2018--The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday released the attached minutes of the Committee meeting held on January 30-31, 2018.
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Source: federalreserve.gov
Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. Launches Two ETFs
February 21, 2018--Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. ("Bristol Gate") announced today the launch of Canadian dollar-denominated units of Bristol Gate Concentrated Canadian Equity ETF (TSX:BGC) and Bristol Gate Concentrated US Equity ETF (TSX:BGU) and U.S.-dollar denominated units of Bristol Gate Concentrated US Equity ETF (TSX:BGU.U) (together, the "Units").
Bristol Gate Concentrated Canadian Equity ETF seeks to generate long-term growth of income and capital by investing primarily in a concentrated portfolio of publicly-traded equity securities of Canadian companies that pay a dividend. In order to achieve the ETF's investment objective, Bristol Gate employs a proprietary methodology that forecasts dividend growth for the coming 12 months and uses fundamental analysis to construct a portfolio from the best dividend growers for the coming year. It invests in dividend-paying equity securities selected primarily from the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
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Source: Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.