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BNY Mellon ADR Index Monthly Performance Update April 2013
May 16, 2013--The BNY Mellon ADR Index Monthly Performance-April 2013 Update has been published and is now available for review.
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Source: BNY Mellon
iShares Diversified Alternatives Trust (NYSEArca: ALT) to Cease Trading on May 29, 2013
May 15, 2013--BlackRock, Inc. (NYS: BLK) previously announced in a public filing on April 26, 2013, that its iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business, the world's largest manager of ETFs, plans to liquidate and close the iShares Diversified Alternatives Trust (NYSEArca: ALT).
As indicated in the prior announcement, ALT will continue to trade and intends to pursue its current investment strategies until May 28, 2013. Beginning May 29, 2013, ALT will be closed to creation and redemption activity, trading of the shares of ALT on NYSE Arca will terminate,
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Source: Daily Finance
First Trust launches family of AlphaDEX(TM) Dividend ETFs in Canada
Firm brings highly successful rules-based fundamental stock selection methodology to Canadian investors
May 15, 2013--FT Portfolios Canada Co., a privately owned company and an affiliate of Chicago based First Trust Portfolios L.P., a U.S. registered broker-dealer, is pleased to announce that the first three First Trust AlphaDEXTM Dividend ETFs have completed their initial offering of units for both the common class and advisor class units of the ETFs and are scheduled to commence trading on Wednesday, May 15th on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
First Trust AlphaDEXTM Canadian Dividend Plus ETF (TSX: FDV, FDV.A), will primarily invest in a portfolio of higher yielding Canadian dividend paying stocks, as well as provide Unitholders with monthly distributions. In addition, First Trust AlphaDEXTM Canadian Dividend Plus ETF will from time to time write call options on a portion of the portfolio in order to produce additional income.
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Source: The Sacramento Bee
Searching for a New Investment Paradigm
May 15, 2013--Investment management is supposed to be built on brilliant minds, novel insights and innovative approaches-or so our training and traditions have led us to believe.
We celebrate our best investors, such as Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, and Bill Gross, and our best financial theories, such as modern portfolio theory (MPT) and the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH). Yet it seems a long time since we have seen true genius or radically new ideas; and, even more unsettling, recent literature suggests that investors of the future may be deprived of the kind of revolutionary thinking that energized the investment profession in the last half-century.
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Source: Research Affiliates
Pimco Looks to Clone ETF Success
Three new actively managed ETFs will follow the strategies of existing mutual funds.
May 15, 2013--How do you follow up one of the most successful exchange-traded fund launches in history? You start three more, of course. Ba-dum-bum-CHING
Last year, Pimco, the Newport Beach, Cal., bond giant, launched Pimco Total Return Exchange-Traded Fund (symbol BOND). It now has $5.3 billion in assets. The draw: BOND is actively managed, unlike most ETFs, which are tied to an index. Also, it's run by Bill Gross, who uses the same strategy he's become famous for at Pimco Total Return (PTTDX), which, with $293 billion in assets, is the world's biggest mutual fund. And then there's the ETF's outsize return: From its February 2012 inception through May 8, BOND returned a cumulative 14.2%. The mutual fund, by contrast, gained just 8.5% – more on that later.
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Source: Kiplingers
SEC Names Lona Nallengara as Chief of Staff
May 15, 2013--The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Lona Nallengara has been named the agency's chief of staff.
Mr. Nallengara came to the SEC in March 2011 and served as deputy director for legal and regulatory policy in the Division of Corporation Finance until he was appointed in December 2012 as its acting director.
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Source: SEC.gov
IMF Working paper-Is the Growth Momentum in Latin America Sustainable?
May 15, 2013--Summary: A favorable external environment coupled with prudent policies fostered output growth in most of Latin America during the last decade. But, what were the drivers of this strong growth performance from the supply side and will this momentum be sustainable in the years ahead?
We address these questions by identifying the proximate causes of the recent high GDP growth and estimating potential growth rates for the period ahead for a large group of Latin American countries based on standard (Solow-style) growth accounting methodologies. We find that factor accumulation (especially labor), rather than growth in total factor productivity (TFP), remains the main driver of GDP growth. Moving forward, given the expected moderation of capital accumulation and some natural constraints on labor, the strong growth momentum is unlikely to be sustainable unless TFP performance improves significantly.
view the IMF Working paper-Is the Growth Momentum in Latin America Sustainable?
Source: IMF
Costs matter: Are fund investors voting with their feet?
May 15, 2013--When investors evaluate a mutual fund, how much do costs matter to them? Mutual fund fees and expenses are a frequently mentioned consideration, but are investors actually walking the talk?
In an updated Vanguard research paper, the authors address this question by examining the relationship between mutual fund expense ratios and net cash inflows. They find the answer to be a resounding yes, not just among index funds and index-based ETFs, but among actively managed funds as well.
view the whitepaper-Costs matter: Are fund investors voting with their feet?
Source: Vanguard
IndexIQ Tops $1 Billion in Assets as Leader in Liquid Alternative Exchange-Traded Funds
Award-winning company was first to market with broad range of innovative liquid alternative investment products, including ETFs, mutual funds, managed accounts and ETF model portfolios
May 15, 2013--IndexIQ, whose innovative liquid alternative investment products helped launch an entirely new asset class, has surpassed the $1 billion threshold, it was announced today.
“In a few short years, liquid alternatives have gone from a novelty to playing an important role in a diversified investment portfolio and we’ve seen strong interest in our offerings from the institutional and retail advisor channels,” said Adam Patti, IndexIQ’s chief executive officer. “We’re very proud of our focus on the liquid alternatives space from the beginning, and our growth reflects our investors’ views regarding the quality of our products, the strength of our funds’ track record, and the increased acceptance of these products as an important asset class.”
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Source: IndexIQ
Treasury International Capital Data for March
May 15, 2013--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for March 2013. The next release, which will report on data for April 2013, is scheduled for June 14, 2013.
The sum total in March of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC inflow of $2.1 billion. Of this, net foreign private inflows were negative $34.8 billion, and net foreign official inflows were $36.9 billion.
Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in March – net purchases were $15.3 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $9.7 billion, and net purchases by foreign official institutions were $5.6 billion.
At the same time, U.S. residents increased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net purchases of $28.8 billion.
Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, the net foreign purchases of long-term securities were negative $13.5 billion. After including adjustments, such as estimates of unrecorded principal payments to foreigners on U.S. asset-backed securities, the overall net foreign acquisition of long-term securities is estimated to have been negative $31.9 billion in March.
Foreign residents increased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $34.2 billion. Foreign resident holdings of all dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities and other custody liabilities increased by $35.6 billion.
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Source: US Department of the Treasury