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CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
July 15, 2011--The current reports for the week of July 12, 2011 are now available
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Source: CFTC.gov
Update: As Previously Announced, Treasury to Employ Final Extraordinary Measure to Extend U.S. Borrowing Authority Until August 2
July 15, 2011-- Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released the following statement from Jeffrey Goldstein, Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, regarding the use of the last of the four previously announced measures available to keep our nation under the statutory debt limit, suspension of reinvestment of the Exchange Stabilization Fund.
“Today, as previously announced, the Treasury Department will suspend reinvestment of the Exchange Stabilization Fund, the last of the measures available to keep the nation under the statutory debt limit. In order to prevent a default on the nation’s obligations, Congress must enact a timely increase of the debt ceiling.”
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Source: US Department of the Treasury
SEC Announces July 29 Field Hearing on the State of the Municipal Securities Market
July 15, 2011 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it will hold a municipal securities market field hearing in Jefferson County, Ala., on July 29. Topics will include distressed communities, small issuers, disclosure, derivatives and pre-trade price transparency.
“Hearing directly from those who are affected by our policies helps to shape better rules,” said Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. “That’s especially the case with municipal securities.”
The event is the third in a series of hearings examining issues that affect investors in the municipal securities market. The first was held in San Francisco in September, 2010, followed by a hearing in December at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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Source: SEC.gov
iShares files with the SEC
July 15, 2011--iShares has filed a pre-effective amendment no.3 to Form S-1 registration statement with the SEC for the iShares Copper Trust.
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Source: SEC.gov
AdvisorShares files with the SEC
July 15, 2011--AdvisorShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF
NYSE Arca Ticker: GIVE.
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Source: SEC.gov
Russell files with the SEC
July 15, 2011--Russell has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the:
Russell Developed ex-U.S. Low Beta ETF
Russell Developed ex-U.S. High Beta ETF
Russell Developed ex-U.S. Low Volatility ETF
Russell Developed ex-U.S. High Volatility ETF
Russell Developed ex-U.S. High Momentum ETF
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Source: SEC.gov
Russell files with the SEC-4 ETFs
July 15, 2011--Russell has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for 4 ETFs.
The Russell Small Cap Aggressive Growth ETF
Russell Small Cap Consistent Growth ETF
Russell Small Cap Contrarian ETF
Russell Small Cap Low P/E ETF
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
Concurrence Statement on the Order Regarding the Effective Date for Swap Regulation
Commissioner Scott D. O’Malia
July 14, 2011--I concur with the Commission’s decision to use its exemptive authority under section 4(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) to provide temporary relief from certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. This order will provide much needed legal certainty to the market, at least until December 31, 2011, while the Commission continues its efforts to adopt final rules under the Dodd-Frank Act.
Whereas I support the Commission in providing legal certainty, albeit limited, I am disappointed in the lack of harmonization between our order and the exemptive relief that the Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) provided. I am also disappointed that the final order ignored a number of comments from market participants, those that have most at stake in each of the Commission’s decisions. I hope that this order does not foreshadow the direction of final rulemakings to come.
Lack of Harmonization
In general, the S.E.C.’s order provides exemptive relief until the relevant final rulemaking is implemented. The Commission’s order provides such relief only until December 31, 2011. I proposed an amendment that would have conformed the two orders that the Commission rejected. The S.E.C. is a full partner in many of our rulemakings; it only makes sense to develop identical relief policies. The C.F.T.C.’s sunset provision is based on an arbitrary date and cuts short the very legal certainty that this order purports to provide. Moreover, participants from every aspect of our market – including investor advocates, a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization, a potential swap execution facility, and multiple trade associations representing intermediaries – commented that the December 31, 2011, expiration date is unnecessary. In contrast, only one commenter supported the expiration date.
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Source: SEC.gov
ISE Enhances Price Improvement Mechanism to Accept Multi-Legged Options Orders
New Functionality Introduced as part of Optimise™ Rollout
July 14, 2011 – The International Securities Exchange (ISE) announced that starting tomorrow, Friday, July 15, 2011, the Price Improvement Mechanism (PIM) for options classes traded on the OptimiseTM platform will be enhanced to accept multi-legged option orders. In addition to the numerous technical benefits of the new trading system, such as lower latency and higher throughput, this feature represents one of the first value-added attributes of the new technology that will directly benefit options customers.
Through PIM, member firms will now be able to facilitate their customers’ orders of less than 50 contracts at a price that is at least one cent better than the best bid or offer available on ISE. PIM orders are exposed for further price improvement to all ISE market participants for one second. By allowing for complex orders to be entered into PIM, customers can now benefit from a price improvement auction that provides the opportunity to achieve a better net price for multi-legged orders.
“We are excited to offer this enhanced functionality to ISE’s customers as part of our introduction of Optimise,” said Boris Ilyevsky, Managing Director of ISE’s options exchange. “By leveraging the unique capabilities and flexibility of Optimise, we are now able to provide access to PIM for multi-legged orders, resulting in the very tangible benefit of price improvement to customers.”
This latest enhancement makes PIM ISE’s third crossing order type that accepts multi-legged orders in addition to ISE’s Facilitation and Solicitation mechanisms. PIM will initially be enabled to accept multi-legged orders made up only of options legs. ISE plans to enable PIM for multi-legged orders that include a stock component within the coming months.
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Source: International Securities Exchange (ISE)
Schwab Introduces New U.S. Aggregate Bond Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)
Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF™ Provides Broad Exposure to U.S. Taxable Bond Market
July 14, 2011--Charles Schwab, a marketplace leader of ETFs, today announced the launch of Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF™ (SCHZ), the fourteenth and most recent fund to join Schwab’s line up of proprietary ETFs.
The Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF offers low-cost, single-investment exposure to four major sectors of the investment grade, taxable U.S. bond market: Treasuries, government agencies, corporate and securitized bonds.
The Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF began trading on July 14, 2011. It has the lowest operating expense ratio among ETFs in the Morningstar Intermediate Term Bond category1. Like all other Schwab ETFs™, the fund can be bought and sold commission-free** online in Schwab accounts.
“We have seen tremendous demand for a single vehicle that provides a core, diversified U.S. fixed income allocation, and the Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF seeks to do just that, at an exceptional value,” said John Sturiale, vice president of product management at Schwab. “We are pleased to offer investors exposure to the overall U.S. bond market through the lowest-cost ETF in its Morningstar asset category.”
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Source: Charles Schwab Investment Management
