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CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
September 20, 2012--The current reports for the week of September 18, 2012 are now available.
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Source: CFTC.gov
The Fed calls the tune in bond markets
September 19, 2012--QE "infinity" has arrived-and with it a whole new set of challenges for fixed income investors.
If there was any doubt before about the Federal Reserve’s commitment to drive investors into riskier assets, Ben Bernanke has dispelled it.
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Source: FT.com
SEC no match for high-tech traders
September 19, 2012--The Securities and Exchange Commission is hopelessly outgunned in resources and technical savvy by the computerised traders it regulates, a leading US senator has warned ahead of a hearing into recent stock market glitches.
Senator Jack Reed said a hearing set for Thursday will be the first in a series investigating whether the market structure created by the SEC contributed to the near failure of Knight Capital and the botched flotations of Facebook and BATS Global Markets. It will also examine whether some high-frequency traders have an unfair advantage.
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Source: FT.com
WisdomTree Launches First China Dividend ex-Financials Fund (CHXF)
CHXF Offers Diversified Exposure to Growth Potential of China
Fund removes volatility of financial sector, presenting meaningful alternative to traditional China index-based strategies
September 19, 2012-- WisdomTree (WETF), an exchange-traded fund ("ETF") sponsor and asset manager, today announced the launch of the WisdomTree China Dividend ex-Financials Fund (CHXF) on the NASDAQ Stock Market.
CHXF is designed to provide broad-based exposure to Chinese dividend-paying stocks outside of the financial sector and has an expense ratio of 0.63%.
Luciano Siracusano, WisdomTree Chief Investment Strategist, stated "The case for investing in China has become increasingly apparent to investors, but we believe some of the most popular China index-based strategies fail to offer diversified exposure. In fact, the FTSE China 25 Index1 -- tracked by the biggest China ETF in the U.S. -- has more than 50% of its weight in the financial sector. 2 We think investors should be able to access the growth potential of China without taking on such concentration risk, and have designed CHXF to offer a broader, diversified basket of Chinese dividend-paying securities."
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Source: WisdomTree Investments, Inc
Treasury International Capital Data for July 2012
September 18, 2012--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for July 2012. The next release, which will report on data for August 2012, is scheduled for October 16, 2012.
The sum total in July of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC inflow of $73.7 billion. Of this, net foreign private inflows were $59.0 billion, and net foreign official inflows were $14.7 billion.
Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in July – net purchases were $60.2 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $37.7 billion, and net purchases by foreign official institutions were $22.5 billion.
At the same time, U.S. residents decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $6.8 billion.
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Source: US Department of the Treasury
PowerShares DB G10 Currency Harvest Fund (DBV) Exits Short USD Position in Carry Trade Strategy
September 17, 2012--In a move which highlights the dynamic nature of global floating rates and subsequently the carry trade, PowerShares DB G10 Currency Harvest Fund (DBV) has rotated out of its short US dollar position and into a short euro position.
DBV had been short the US dollar since June of 2009. This is the first time the fund has been short the euro.
For more information, visit powershares.com.
Source: Invesco PowerShares
DB-Global Equity Index and ETF Research-North America-US ETF Investment Ideas: Enhancing returns & income with Dividend ETFs
September 17, 2012--A comprehensive guide for US-focused Dividend ETF investing
Introducing our new US ETF Investment Ideas Series
In this new research series we explore different investment ideas originated among our DB research colleagues and we provide an implementation layer using ETFs.
We have developed a multi dimensional framework for analyzing and comparing ETFs with the objective of providing recommendations and useful information to help our readers find the best product for their specific needs.
Sustainable growth and income through dividend-focused companies In general, dividend-focused companies are mature companies, with a more stable business model, and higher tilt towards the Value style in comparison to their peers; most of these companies have defensive profiles, and offer attractive yields and sustainable growth making them very attractive for the current environment. In recent reports, Deutsche Bank strategists have highlighted the importance of dividend growth and the fact that dividend-focused companies remain attractive despite currently trading at a premium to the S&P 500.
Not all Dividend ETFs are created equal There are 21 dividend ETFs tracking US stocks which share the same broad idea, however they can be significantly different depending on their focus and weighting criteria. Dividend ETFs can focus on dividend payment, dividend yield, dividend growth, or a combination of them. In addition, they further differentiate themselves by employing specific weighting methodologies involving dividends paid ($), dividend yield (%), or other more common approach (e.g. market cap or equal).
ETF Recommendations: sustainable growth and income
We have found that such themes are better represented by ETFs with focus on dividend growth and/or dividend yield, rather than just on dividend payment. Moreover we have seen that, in general, those ETFs which include dividend-related criteria (e.g. dividend paid or yield) in their weighting methodology offer a better dividend play than those that employ other weighting methods. Actually, those that utilize non-dividend-related weighting methodologies or focus just on dividend payments tend to be more similar to a Value play with higher correlation to the standard equity benchmarks instead. We recommend DVY and SDY as a growth/income investment, and HDV, VYM, and DHS as income-oriented choices.
The following link will be available for 90 days. For more information, please click on the link for the full PDF. If you have any trouble viewing the link, copy and paste the link in a browser.
http://pull.db-gmresearch.com/p/514-B29D/98632580/US_ETF_Investment_Ideas.pdf
Source: Source: Deutsche Bank - Global Equity Index and ETF Research - North America
Crucial MiFID vote faces delay as MEP talks drag
September 17, 2012--The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is in contact with futures exchanges over a brief plunge in oil prices on Monday afternoon, a top regulator at the agency said, adding that it is unclear if high-frequency trading played a role.
"Our people are aware of it. They are in contact with CME and ICE and are going to get to the bottom of it," Commissioner Scott O'Malia told Reuters.
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Source: Reuters
DB-Global Equity Index and ETF Research- North America-US ETF Market Weekly Review: ETP AUM near $1.3 trillion with $15bn in inflows
September 17, 2012--Net Cash Flows Review
Markets moved higher last week. The US (S&P 500) edged higher by 1.94%. While, outside the US, the MSCI EAFE (in USD) and the MSCI EM (USD) rose by 3.71% and 4.71%, respectively.
Moving on to other asset classes, the 10Y US Treasury Yield rose by 21bps last week; while the DB Liquid Commodity Index was up by 2.55%. Similarly, the Agriculture sector (DB Diversified Agriculture Index) advanced by 1.51% and the WTI Crude Oil, Gold and Silver prices moved higher by 2.68%, 2.00% and 2.90%, respectively. Last but not least, Volatility (VIX) rose by 0.90% during the same period.
The total US ETP flows from all products registered $14.97bn of inflows during last week vs $5.02bn of inflows the previous week, setting the YTD weekly flows average at +$3.1bn (+$113.35bn YTD in total cash flows).
Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity ETPs experienced flows of +$12.79bn, +$1.37bn, +$0.84bn last week vs. +$5.02bn, -$0.81bn, +$0.59bn in the previous week, respectively.
Within Equity ETPs, Large Cap products had the most inflows (+$5.2bn); while Leveraged products had the largest outflows (-$0.3bn). Within Fixed Income ETPs, Corporate products had the largest inflows (+$1.1bn); while Sovereign products experienced the only outflows (-$0.4bn). Within Commodity ETPs, Precious Metals products experienced inflows of +$0.8bn, while the other sectors experienced less relevant flows.
Top 3 ETPs & ETNs by inflows: SPY (+$4.5bn), VWO (+$1.3bn), EWZ (+$0.7bn) Top 3 ETPs & ETNs by outflows: EWJ (-$0.3bn), LQD (-$0.2bn), GDX (-$0.1bn)
New Launch Calendar: iShares launched new Frontier Market ETF There was 1 new Equity ETF listed during the previous week. The new product from iShares was listed in the NYSE Arca and offers exposure to Frontier Markets.
Turnover Review: Floor Activity Increased by 34.7%
Total weekly turnover increased by 34.7% to $292bn vs. $217bn from the previous week. However, last week's turnover level was 23% below last year's weekly average. Equity ETP turnover increased by $63.4bn, or 34.6%, to $247bn. Concurrently, Fixed Income and Commodity ETPs turnover rose by 31.0% ($4.7bn) and 38.1% ($5.9bn), respectively.
Assets under Management (AUM) Review: Assets Rose by 3.5%
As of last Friday, US ETPs have accumulated an asset growth of 23.6% YTD. Assets for equity, fixed income and commodity ETPs moved +$36.8bn, +$2.0bn, +$4.7bn during last week, respectively. Last week, total US ETP AUM reached a new all-time high of $1.293 trillion, keeping the trend seen during the last couple of weeks.
The following link will be available for 90 days. For more information, please click on the link for the full PDF. If you have any trouble viewing the link, copy and paste the link in a browser.
http://pull.db-gmresearch.com/p/576-25DF/2535781/US_ETF_Market_Weekly_Review_17_Sept.pdf
Source: Deutsche Bank - Global Equity Index and ETF Research-North America
Semi-Annual Changes To The NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index
September 17, 2012--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and Clean Edge, Inc. announced today the results of the semi-annual evaluation of the NASDAQ® Clean Edge(R) Green Energy Index (Nasdaq:CELS), which will become effective prior to market open on Monday, September 24, 2012.
The following two securities will be added to the Index:Enphase Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENPH) and KiOR, Inc. (Nasdaq:KIOR)
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® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index is re-ranked semi-annually in March and September.
For more information about the NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/.
Source: NASDAQ OMX