Global ETF News Older than One Year
Semi-Annual Changes to the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index
November 2, 2009--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
(Nasdaq:NDAQ) and CRD Analytics, LLC announced today the results of the
semi-annual evaluation of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50
Index (Nasdaq:QCRD), which will become effective with the market open
on Monday, November 2, 2009.
The following 23 securities will be added to the Index: Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX), AXA (NYSE:AXA), Astrazeneca PLC (NYSE:AZN), BHP Billiton PLC (NYSE:BHP), The Bank Of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS), British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (NYSE:BSY), BT Group PLC (NYSE:BT), Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB), Reed Elsevier PLC (NYSE:ENL), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE:GSK), Johnson Controls, Inc. (NYSE:JCI), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE:MRK), Potash Corp. Of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE:POT), Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE:RDS.A), The Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY), SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), Siemens AG (NYSE:SI), Banco Santander SA (NYSE:STD), Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF), and Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL).
As a result of the evaluation, the following securities will be removed from the Index: Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A), Companhia de Bebidas das Americas - AmBev (NYSE:ABV), Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL), The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL), Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT), BHP Billiton plc (NYSE:BBL), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Diageo plc (NYSE:DEO), Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT), Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT), Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq:ORCL), ProLogis (NYSE:PLD), Schlumberger N.V. (NYSE:SLB), Total, S.A. (NYSE:TOT), and UBS AG (NYSE:UBS).
The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index is an equally weighted equity index that serves as a benchmark for stocks of companies that are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting and are traded on a major US stock exchange. The Index is comprised of companies that are most comprehensively disclosing their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, workforce diversity, management composition and community investing. These are companies that are voluntarily disclosing their current environmental, social and governance risks as well as their revenue opportunities and how it will affect future performance. Securities of component companies must also meet other eligibility criteria, including minimum requirements for market value, average daily share volume, and price. The Index components are evaluated on a semi-annual basis in the beginning of May and November. To access more information about the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, including a list of companies in the Index and detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/data.aspx?IndexSymbol=QCRD&menuIndex=0.
"This development ensures that investors can track a relevant benchmark that is comprised of high performing companies that are committed to environmental, social and governance issues," said NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President John Jacobs. "With the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, CRD Analytics and NASDAQ OMX are leading the push towards sustainable investing."
"The reconstitution of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index comes at a critical and pivotal point in the Investment environment," said Michael Muyot, CRD Analytics President. "CRD analytics now screens over 3,000 global corporations across all sectors for over 200 financial and ESG performance metrics. This larger universe led to an almost 50% turnover in the top 50 leaders, attributable to better disclosure from firms adopting the Global Reporting Initiative G3 Guidelines and the increase in asset managers and owners signing the U.N. Principles for Responsible Investing."
"It has become very competitive to stay within the top 50," Muyot added. "Those companies that publicly disclose before September 30th with real quantitative information are better positioned for sustainable, risk-adjusted performance. Companies with higher sustainability scores using a rule-based methodology make them more attractive to the investment community that is increasingly looking for better investment analysis of risks and opportunities."
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Average Daily Volume of 10.4 Million Contracts at Eurex and ISE in October
November 2, 2009--At the international derivatives markets of Eurex, an average daily volume of 10.4 million contracts was traded in October 2009; y-o-y the figure was 14.3 million due to the turbulence of the financial crisis. This year’s figure splits into 6.4 million contracts traded at Eurex (Oct 2008: 9.9 million) and 4.0 million contracts were traded at the International Securities Exchange (ISE) (Oct 2008: 4.4 million). In October, a total of 228.8 million contracts were traded on both exchanges, thereof Eurex with 141.6 million and ISE with 87.2 million, compared with 226.6 million contracts at Eurex and 102.0 million at ISE y-o-y.
At Eurex, the equity index derivatives segment recorded the highest turnover, totaling 67.4 million contracts (Oct 2008: 140.0 million). Thereof, 27.3 million contracts were traded in the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50® index future and 25.7 million contracts in the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 index option. The DAX® index future and option saw a combined volume of 12.5 million contracts. Trading volume in equity derivatives (equity options and single stock futures) accounted for 29.9 million contracts compared with 34.1 million in October 2008. The segment dividend futures continued to grow and totaled more than 310,000 contracts.
The interest rate derivatives segment reached 44.0 million contracts (Oct 2008: 52.5 million). The Euro Bund Future totaled 17.4 million contracts, the Euro Bobl Future 9.7 million contracts and the Euro Schatz Future 11.1 million contracts. The new Euro BTP future – launched on 14 September – reached already more than 97,000 contracts.
Eurex Repo, which operates CHF- and EUR repo markets, recorded an average outstanding volume of €150.0 billion (Oct 2008: €159.1 billion). The secured money market segment GC Pooling continued to grow with a rate of 47 percent y-o-y, average outstanding volume reached €75.4 billion (Oct 2008: €51.2 billion). The whole EUR Repo segment grew by 26 percent and totaled €103.0 billion (Oct 2008: €81.6 billion).
The electronic trading platform Eurex Bonds, which rounds out Eurex’s fixed-income product range, saw a volume of €7.0 billion (single counted) in October, compared with €8.1 billion in October last year and €6.5 billion in September 2009.
Source: Eurex
NYSE Euronext Announces Equity Investment in its U.S. Futures Exchange, NYSE Liffe U.S., by Leading Global Banks and Liquidity Providers
NYSE Euronext to remain the largest shareholder of NYSE Liffe U.S.-
-Anticipated to significantly enhance competitive position and liquidity-
October 30, 2009--NYSE Euronext (NYX) today announced the signing of a binding agreement with several leading global banks and liquidity providers — Citadel Securities, GETCO, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS — to sell a significant equity interest in NYSE Liffe U.S., the U.S. futures exchange of NYSE Euronext.
NYSE Euronext will remain the largest shareholder in the entity, which will bring substantial competitive and operational benefits to the marketplace.
NYSE Euronext will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of NYSE Liffe U.S., which will operate under the supervision of a separate Board of Directors, chaired by Jim McNulty, and Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Callahan. The transaction is expected to close shortly, subject to regulatory review.
"This partnership further demonstrates the commitment of NYSE Euronext to create exceptional value through innovation both for and with our customers," said Duncan L. Niederauer, Chief Executive Officer, NYSE Euronext. "Today's announcement marks an important step in achieving our goal of establishing NYSE Liffe U.S. as a highly competitive, global multi-asset exchange."
Mr. Callahan added: “NYSE Liffe U.S. will effectively compete in the U.S. futures market by delivering innovative products and services, and by leveraging the market leading technology of NYSE Euronext. I am thrilled that this group of distinguished market leaders shares our vision for innovation and efficiency, and we look forward to working with them to accelerate the growth of NYSE Liffe U.S.”
NYSE Liffe U.S. launched trading in September 2008 as a fully electronic, liquid market for 100 oz. gold futures, 5,000 oz. silver futures, options on gold and silver futures, and mini-sized 33.2 oz. gold and 1,000 oz. silver futures. The exchange expanded into equity index futures with the launch of futures on MSCI Emerging Markets, MSCI EAFE, and MSCI USA Indices in September 2009. NYSE Liffe U.S. has plans to further expand into futures on other asset classes, including U.S. interest rate products. NYSE Liffe U.S. utilizes the proven LIFFE CONNECT® trading platform designed and maintained by NYSE Technologies and used by NYSE Liffe in Europe.
The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) acts as clearing house for NYSE Liffe U.S. futures on precious metals, MSCI index futures, as well as all ETF options and index options trading on NYSE Arca, creating the opportunity for unique margin efficiencies for NYSE Euronext customers. NYSE Liffe U.S. intends to clear its U.S. interest rate futures at New York Portfolio Clearing, its innovative joint venture with DTCC designed to offer significant transparency and capital relief to major market participants by offering “single pot” margining of cash bonds and interest rate derivatives, subject to regulatory approvals.
Source: NYSE Euronext
Dow Jones Indexes and UBS Announce 2010 Weights of Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index
October 30, 2009-Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and UBS Investment Bank announced the new target weightings for the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index(SM) that will become effective in early January 2010.
The new target weights for the commodity components, which were determined and approved by the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Supervisory Committee following consultation with the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Advisory Committee, are listed below.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foregn Securities at End-Year 2008
October 30, 2009--The findings from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2008 were released today and posted on the Treasury web site at
(http://www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.html).
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 portfolio holdings of U.S. securities also is conducted annually. Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2009, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 26, 2010.
Overall Results
The survey measured the value of U.S. portfolio holdings at year-end 2008 of approximately $4.3 trillion, with $2.7 trillion held in foreign equities, $1.3 trillion in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.3 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2007, measured U.S. portfolio holdings of $7.2 trillion, with $5.2 trillion held in foreign equities, $1.6 trillion in foreign long-term debt securities and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The decrease in the value of U.S. portfolio holdings between the two surveys primarily reflects valuation changes in foreign equities during 2008.
U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities by country at the end of 2008 were the largest for the United Kingdom ($647 billion), followed by Japan ($403 billion) and Canada ($378 billion) (see Table 2). These three countries attracted one-third of the total U.S. portfolio investment.
The surveys are part of an internationally-coordinated effort under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the measurement of portfolio asset holdings.
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Financial Secrecy Index - coming very soon
October 30, 2009--
From the Financial Times:
Leading economic centres including the US, UK and Singapore are among the countries most to blame for promoting international financial secrecy, according to a new index comparing the harm allegedly done by tax havens and rich nations.
The league table to be published on Monday by the Tax Justice Network, a respected campaign group, is led by the US state of Delaware and includes Luxembourg, Switzerland and Hong Kong in its top 10."
We should stress by way of background, however, that we are measuring something slightly more complicated than the state of Delaware in isolation. As with our closely related < href="http://www.secrecyjurisdictions.com/" TARGET="_top">Mapping the Faultlines project, we refer toUSA (Delaware.)
More precisely, the FSI (Financial Secrecy Index) is designed to identify the key contributors to global financial secrecy on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis. However, in some important cases, different level of secrecy prevail in different sub-jurisdictional entities. Since financial flow data are only systematically and comparably available at a jurisdictional level, this creates a potential problem. To deal with this, and recognising the impact that even marginal secrecy differences can have on the volume of illicit flows, we treat the most secretive sub-jurisdictional entity as representative of the potential for opacity of the whole jurisdiction, and therefore base its Opacity Score on this. The most obvious case where we have applied this technique is with the US state of Delaware, which is taken as representative of the maximum secrecy available within the whole jurisdiction (the USA.)
Source: Tax Justice Network
NYSE Euronext profit declines 28 per cent
October 20, 2009-NYSE Euronext, the transatlantic exchange, on Friday reported a 28 per cent drop in net income for the third quarter on lower trading volumes and as modest gains in derivatives revenues failed to offset fee cuts in its US share trading business.
The figures came as the group’s chief executive, Duncan Niederauer, said investor confidence globally seemed to have “stabilised”.
Source: FT.com
Gold slips below US$1,040/oz
October 30, 2009--Gold prices slipped below US$1,040 per ounce in Europe on Friday as the dollar extended gains against a basket of currencies, helped by a retreat in risk appetite as U.S. stocks slid after mixed economic data.
Spot gold was bid at US$1,037.60 an ounce at 1602 GMT, against US$1,044.95 late in New York on Thursday. U.S. gold futures for December delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell US$9.10 to US$1,038.00 an ounce.
Soure: Vancouver Sun
AMF and FINRA Sign MoU on Financial Market Surveillance and Supervision
October 29, 2009--Richard G. Ketchum, Chairman and CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Chairman of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), signed on 19 October 2009 a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on information-sharing with a view to strengthening and improving cooperation in the surveillance and supervision of the markets under their jurisdictions
The memorandum establishes a formal basis for cooperation among FINRA and the AMF in order to more effectively conduct their oversight of regulated markets and financial firms.
FINRA is the self-regulatory organisation responsible for regulating and overseeing broker-dealers in the United States and for supervising a number of markets.
Commenting, Jean-Pierre Jouyet said: "I welcome this agreement with FINRA Chairman and CEO Richard G. Ketchum, which strengthens our cooperation with the United States in the field of investigations and market surveillance. Surveillance and transparency are more important than ever and demand close cooperation between regulators".
"We are very pleased to sign this Memorandum of Understanding with the AMF," said Ketchum. "Both FINRA and the AMF share significant common ground in our mission to protect investors and ensure the integrity of capital markets. In today's global environment, international regulatory cooperation is more important than ever. We look forward to a long and productive partnership with the AMF."
The MoU has two main aims:
organise the transmission of information between authorities regarding market surveillance and investigations into market abuse;
facilitate the sharing of information on trading by firms coming within the two authorities' respective jurisdictions.
The agreement will also allow the AMF and FINRA to keep each other informed about practices in their markets and about issues concerning financial markets in general.
Source: Finra.org
October 2009 “Market’s Measure” - Preliminary Report - A Monthly Report From Dow Jones Indexes And STOXX Ltd. On The Performance Of U.S., European, Asia And Other Global Stock Market Indexes
October 28, 2009--Dow Jones Industrial Average Posts 1.75% Gain in OCTOBER, European Stocks Gain 0.36%, Asia Rises 0.32% and World Equities Rise by 2.25%
Oil & Gas Sector Posts Biggest Gain for October in U.S. Europe & Worldwide
Travel & Leisure Sector Takes the Hardest Hit for October in Worldwide
As of October 27 the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.75% in October, closing at 9882.17. Stock market indexes in Europe, Asia and globally were up in October, according to preliminary monthly figures from global index providers, Dow Jones Indexes and STOXX Ltd.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.75% in October, closing at 9882.17. Year-to-date, the index is up 12.60%.
- Measuring Europe, the Dow Jones STOXX 50 Index is up 0.36% for October, closing at 2462.60. Year-to-date, the index is up 18.17%.
- Measuring Eastern Europe, the Dow Jones STOXX EU Enlarged Total Market Index is up 3.44% for October, closing at 205.38. Year-to-date, the index is up 35.58%.
- The performance of the Dow Jones STOXX EU Enlarged 15 blue-chip index is up 5.11% for October, closing at 2219.35. The index is up 35.01% so far this year.
- The Dow Jones Asian Titans 50 Index rose 0.32% in October to 132.16. So far this year, the index is up 28.83%.
- The Dow Jones Global Titans 50 Index rose 2.25% in October, closing at 168.50. Year-to-date, the index is up 17.02%.
OCTOBER 2009 Sector Winners and Losers
- In the U.S., the Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas Index was the biggest winner in October, posting a 6.78% gain. The Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Index posted the biggest loss, dropping -5.36%.
- In Europe, the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Oil & Gas Index posted the biggest gain, climbing 5.78%. The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Insurance Index had the sharpest decline, falling -4.87%.
- In Asia, the Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Basic Materials Index posted the biggest gain, rising 2.71%. The Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Telecommunications Index posted the biggest loss, down -5.00%.
- Globally, the Dow Jones World Oil & Gas Titans Index had the best performance, climbing 6.93%. The Dow Jones World Travel & Leisure Titans Index posted the biggest loss, dropping -5.72%.
Source: Mondovisione
