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ALPS and RiverFront Lower Fees and Add a New Income Fund
RiverFront Conservative Income Builder Fund the Newest Addition to the ALPS Investment Lineup
August 31, 2012--A DST Company announced a 0.15% fee reduction for three of the RiverFront Global Allocation Series
mutual funds effective as of August 31, 2012.
As part of a new expense limitation agreement between ALPS, RiverFront, the RiverFront Moderate Growth and Income Fund, RiverFront Global
Allocation Fund and RiverFront Dynamic Equity Income Fund, investors will benefit from reduced expenses. The new agreement caps expenses at 0.90%, not inclusive of distribution or service fees, acquired fund fees, taxes, brokerage commissions, and ordinary expenses. Previously, expenses had
been capped at 1.05%.
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Source: ALPS
SEC Issues Risk Alert on "Pay-To-Play" Prohibitions Under MSRB Rules
August 31, 2012--The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued an alert to strengthen compliance with a Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule that limits political contributions by municipal securities professionals to campaigns of public officials of issuers with whom they are doing or seek to do business.
The Risk Alert issued by the agency’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations notes that SEC examiners have observed practices that raise concerns about firms’ compliance with their obligations under MSRB Rule G-37, which clamped down on so-called “pay to play” practices. These concerns include:
Compliance with the rule’s ban on doing business with a municipal issuer within two years of a political contribution to officials of the issuer by any of the firm’s municipal finance professionals Possible recordkeeping violations
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Source: SEC.gov
Preliminary Annual Report on U.S. Holdings of Foreign Securities
August 31, 2012--Preliminary data from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2011 were released today.Final survey results, which will include additional detail as well as revisions to the data, will be reported on October 31, 2012.
The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
A complementary survey measuring foreign holdings of U.S. securities also is conducted annually. Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2012, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 28, 2013.
Overall Preliminary Results
The survey measured the value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2011 of approximately $6.8 trillion, with $4.5 trillion held in foreign equities, $2.0 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities.
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Source: US Department of the Treasury
.S. Department of the Treasury TIC Annual and Benchmark Surveys Update
August 31, 2012--The preliminary data from the annual survey on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-year 2011 is available.
view updates
Source: US Department of the Treasury
Fee Rate Advisory #7 for Fiscal Year 2013
August 31, 2012--The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that in fiscal year 2013 the fees that public companies and other issuers pay to register their securities with the Commission will be set at $136.40 per million dollars.
The Commission determined this new rate in accordance with procedures required under the securities laws. Accordingly, the Commission consulted with both the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget regarding the annual adjustment.
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Source: SEC.gov
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke At The Federal Reserve Bank Of Kansas City Economic Symposium
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, August 31, 2012-- Monetary Policy Since The Onset Of The Crisis
When we convened in Jackson Hole in August 2007, the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) target for the federal funds rate was 5-1/4 percent.
Sixteen months later, with the financial crisis in full swing, the FOMC had lowered the target for the federal funds rate to nearly zero, thereby entering the unfamiliar territory of having to conduct monetary policy with the policy interest rate at its effective lower bound. The unusual severity of the recession and ongoing strains in financial markets made the challenges facing monetary policymakers all the greater.
Today I will review the evolution of U.S. monetary policy since late 2007. My focus will be the Federal Reserve's experience with nontraditional policy tools, notably those based on the management of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and on its public communications. I'll discuss what we have learned about the efficacy and drawbacks of these less familiar forms of monetary policy, and I'll talk about the implications for the Federal Reserve's ongoing efforts to promote a return to maximum employment in a context of price stability.
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Source: FRB
Hedge Funds Cleared to Advertise Under SEC Proposal
August 30, 2012--Hedge funds may go from soliciting individual investors behind closed doors to conducting wide advertising campaigns without restrictions under a rule proposed today by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
SEC commissioners voted 4-1 to invite public comment on a proposal for how to end decades of limits on the pursuit of investors by private funds and startups. The proposal is driven by a law that repealed a ban on pitching such investments to all but a select few investors, such as those accustomed to pumping cash into hedge funds.
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Source: Bloomberg
Pimco, the quiet giant among commodity investors: Kemp
August 30, 2012--Pimco is well-known as the world's largest bond fund. But how many people realize it is also the largest investor in commodities, with a portfolio dwarfing the more high-profile pension funds?
And according to one of the most widely used databases, Pimco's flagship fund has been the most successful general commodity fund over the last decade.
With more than $21 billion invested in Pimco's main Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund at the end of June, and another $4.7 billion in the newer Commodity Plus Fund, the California-based investment manager's holdings are far larger than public pension funds with more famous commodity programs like California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), or PGGM and ABP in the Netherlands
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Source: Reuters
ETNs: Handle With Care
Exchange-traded notes are not for the untutored
August 30, 2012--Over the past 20 years, investors who were once trapped in the cumbersome, relatively expensive vehicle that is the mutual fund have moved in droves to the more flexible realm of the exchange-traded fund, which features lower expenses and intraday trading.
But ETFs come with certain drawbacks, such as taxable distributions and "tracking error"—discrepancies between a fund's value and its underlying index.
One solution to those problems is the ETN, or exchange-traded note, a relatively new product that combines characteristics of bonds and ETFs. It offers intraday trading, is theoretically immune to tracking error, and provides access to asset classes that are otherwise difficult for average investors to buy.
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Source: U.S. News & World Report
SEC Issues Financial Literacy Study Mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act
August 30, 2012--The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a staff study with findings on what investors want to know about financial professionals and investment products and services, and when and how investors want to receive such information.
"Understanding the needs of investors is critical to carrying out the Commission's investor protection mission," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "The study provides important data and insights that will assist the Commission in its ongoing efforts to help retail investors make informed investing decisions."
Mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the study draws on numerous sources, including online survey research, focus group research, public comments to the SEC, and a Library of Congress review of studies of financial literacy among U.S. retail investors.
view the SEC Staff Study Regarding Financial Literacy Among Investors
Source: SEC.gov
