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Fed minutes show slow crisis reaction
January 18, 2013--Top officials at the US Federal Reserve took months to realise that the 2007 financial crisis would rock the world's largest economy, according to an embarrassing set of meeting transcripts released on Friday.
The transcripts reveal that some Fed policy makers initially viewed the market turmoil, which erupted in August 2007 on the back of problems in the market for subprime mortgage loans, as good news because markets were pricing in more risk.
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Source: FT.com
US releases final FATCA rules
January 18, 2013--The US authorities have released their final set of rules on the FATCA regime designed to prevent tax evasion among US citizens with assets in offshore accounts.
The final draft of the rules gives further details on the type of payments which will be subject to a 30% withholding tax, and clarifies the obligations of financial institutions caught by the rules.
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Source: Investment Week
ETFs Turn 20-Years Old in the U.S.
January 17, 2013--The first commercially successful U.S. exchange-trade fund (ETF) turns 20-years old this month.
SPDR S&P 500 (Ticker: SPY) was launched on January 22, 1993 after spending several years in SEC registration. It was an evolution in the mutual fund industry. Today, SPY is the largest ETF by asset in the exchange-traded product industry that has total assets of over $1.4 trillion.
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Source: Forbes
Morningstar Launches Real Asset Index For Benchmarking Diversified Portfolio of Inflation-Hedged Investments
January 17, 2013--Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, has launched the Morningstar(R) US Real Asset IndexSM, a diversified portfolio of liquid assets that traditionally provide a hedge against inflation, including Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS), real estate investment trusts (REITs), and commodity stocks and futures.
"Inflation erodes the value of financial assets. While inflation has been low overall in recent decades, the cost of items retirees consume—healthcare, gas, food—has been rising at a fast clip,” Sanjay Arya, senior vice president of Morningstar Indexes, said. "Investors have been showing a great deal of interest in holding a variety of investments that keep pace with inflation and add portfolio diversification, and the investment industry is paying attention. Since early 2010, more than 20 new funds have been launched that allocate between several real asset classes. The Morningstar US Real Asset Index will allow investors to better benchmark their real return investments and gain a deeper understanding of the benefits of adding a broad spectrum of inflation-hedged assets to their portfolios."
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Source: Morningstar
Back to the drawing board for NYSE's ETF liquidity scheme
January 17, 2013--NYSE Arca has withdrawn its proposal to help exchange traded fund providers pay market makers for increased liquidity, a blow to providers looking for ways to make newer and smaller products more appealing to traders.
The Big Board notified the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 9 that it was withdrawing its Lead Market Maker Incentive Program pilot proposal, just days before the SEC was mandated by law to approve or reject the proposal, according to an SEC filing.
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Source: FT.com
Finra Scrutinizes Options Firms Over Possible Order Mismarking
Janurary 17, 2013--Market regulators are pursuing a wide-ranging review of firms that trade stock options, scrutinizing electronic trading practices that may have allowed firms to avoid paying exchange fees and step ahead of other investors to complete trades.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is conducting a sweep of options firms after exchanges last year levied a $6.75 million fine on Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for improperly submitting stock-options orders over a period of six years.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
Announcing the Launch of the Customer Value Index 200: Identifying the Leading Customer Engagement Companies
January 17, 2013--The Porter Group, Brady Capital Research (www.bradycap.com), and wRatings Corporation (www.wRatings.com) today announced the launch of the Customer Value Index 200 (www.cvi200.com).
This innovative index offers investors an opportunity to capture the value offered by companies that have historically delivered high quality economic profits and developed deeply emotional customer relationships based on cultures of transparency, authenticity, and engagement. By combining a patented approach to identifying companies with superior competitive positions and harnessing the power of social media the CVI 200 offers a play on the appreciating value of “social capital” over the next decade and the real value creating powers of strong core values, dynamic corporate cultures, and stakeholder community focus.
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Source: Brady Capital Research and The Porter Group and wRatings Corporation
CBO's Economic Forecasting Record: 2013 Update
January 17, 2013--For more than three decades, CBO has prepared economic forecasts that underlie the agency's projections for the federal budget and cost estimates for proposed federal legislation.
In particular, forecasts of output, income, inflation, and interest rates play a significant role in the agency’s budgetary analysis; for example, projections of wages and salaries are used to forecast individual income tax receipts.
CBO regularly evaluates the quality of its economic forecasts by comparing them with the economy’s actual performance and with forecasts by the Administration and the Blue Chip consensus—an average of about 50 private-sector forecasts. Such comparisons indicate the extent to which uncertainty and imperfect information may have caused CBO to “miss” patterns or turning points in the economy. They also identify areas where CBO has tended to make larger errors or less accurate forecasts than other analysts.
How Does CBO’s Forecasting Record Compare with Those of the Administration and the Blue Chip Consensus? CBO’s forecasts generally have been comparable in quality with those of the Administration and the Blue Chip consensus.
view the CBO's Economic Forecasting Record: 2013 Update
Source: CBO (Congressional Budget Office)
iShares revives US momentum with a little help from Vanguard
January 16, 2013--iShares benefited from a record sales year for exchange traded funds, but industry observers say its aggressive product and business strategy moves were major drivers in its ability to retake the sales crown from Vanguard.
While Vanguard remained the fastest-growing ETF shop as a percentage of total assets, iShares’ $60.7bn in net new assets for 2012 placed it ahead of Vanguard’s $52.7bn, according to Morningstar. Vanguard topped the ETF sales standings in 2011 and 2010.
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Source: FT.com
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
January 15, 2013--The current reports for the week of January 08, 2013 are now available.
Corrections for the futures-only and the options and futures combined commitment reports dated January 8, 2013 for contract market IFED PG&E CITYGATE FIN BASIS (CFTC ID 023394) were made today.
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Source: CFTC.gov
