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CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
August 24, 2012--The current reports for the week of August 21, 2012 are now available.
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Source: CFTC.gov
Pimco Fund Expands Gold Holding on Outlook for Inflation
August 23, 2012--Pimco Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund has expanded its holding of gold as a hedge against inflation, anticipating further moves by central banks to spur economic growth, said Nic Johnson, the fund's manager.
The $20 billion fund increased its gold holdings to 11.5 percent of total assets from 10.5 percent two months ago, Johnson said today in a telephone interview from Newport Beach, California. The commodity fund is part of Pacific Investment Management Co., which also owns the world’s largest bond fund.
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Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Itau Asset says Brazilians eyeing more foreign assets
August 23, 2012--A flagging outlook for hard commodity prices and rising state intervention are forcing Brazilian investors to step up the search for financial assets overseas, weighing on the nation's equity market, executives at Itaû Asset Management said in an interview.
A decline in interest rates to record lows is forcing funds to build a more diverse base of financial instruments to help lure new clients, Paulo Corchaki, who as chief investment officer oversees 307 billion reais ($152 billion) in assets for São Paulo-based Itaú Asset, told Reuters.
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Source: Reuters
NYSE Amex Options to Eliminate Position Limits for Options on SPY
Enhancing transparency, liquidity and competition in the U.S. Options market
August 23, 2012--NYSE Amex Options, one of NYSE Euronext's (NYX) two leading U.S. options exchanges, today announced that it has become the first exchange to file for and receive approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to eliminate position limits for options on the SPDR(R) S&P 500(R) Exchanged-Traded Fund ("SPY") on a fourteen-month pilot basis.
Designed to meet growing demand by options customers to trade the most active class of options, this pilot program is launching immediately. NYSE Amex Options is the only options exchange that does not charge customers a fee to trade SPY options.
“NYSE Amex Options is appreciative of the SEC’s decision to approve this important initiative, making us the first exchange to launch a pilot program that will provide greater transparency, competition, and liquidity in SPY options trading,” said Steve Crutchfield, CEO, NYSE Amex Options. “We already offer customers the ability to trade SPY options free of charge. And now, with no position limits on SPY options, we provide a lower-cost alternative to expensive proprietary index products for institutional investors. In today’s competitive environment, such an alternative can play a vital role in helping certain investors to better meet their investment needs.”
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Source: NYSE Euronext
Direxion Switches Indexes
August 23, 2012--Direxion Shares made changes to the underlying benchmark indices for eight leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, shifting from the Russell index universe to that of Standard & Poor's.
“We are very pleased to expand our relationship with Standard & Poor’s, whose market indices have long been among the leaders in the industry,” said Dan O’Neill Direxion’s president and chief investment officer. “We feel that these S&P indices provide our investors with the most recognizable exposure to these underlying markets.” Reflecting the changes, the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) was renamed the Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3X Shares (SPXL) and the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X (BGZ) Shares was renamed the Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares (SPXS).
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Source: Advisor One
Nasdaq proposing new class of Treasury options
New options would allow investors to wager on the movement in 10-year and 30-year Treasurys
Options expected to launch in the fourth quarter if SEC signs off
Contracts would make Nasdaq the only U.S. exchange operator offering options tied to U.S. government bonds
August 23, 2012--Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. plans to introduce a new class of option contracts on U.S. Treasury bonds by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval, the exchange operator was set to announce Thursday.
The new options, expected to launch in the fourth quarter if the Securities and Exchange Commission signs off, would allow investors to wager on the movement in 10-year and 30-year Treasurys. The contracts would make Nasdaq the only U.S. exchange operator offering options tied to U.S. government bonds.
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Source: Market Watch
ETFs Come and Go by the Dozen
August 23, 2012-College students sometimes amuse themselves by throwing JELL-O against the wall to see if it sticks.
In the 1990s, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry adopted a similar marketing strategy for new funds. Fund companies threw handfuls of new ETFs at the public all at once − with the hope that they would stick.
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Source: Forbes
Exchanges hit again by trading error
August 23, 2012--The Nasdaq Stock Market and other exchanges cancelled trades in a security on Wednesday after erroneous orders triggered a steep rise in its share price in a matter of seconds.
The cancellation highlights what is becoming a frequent feature of trading on stock exchanges as the rise of automated and high-frequency trading has increased the likelihood that mistaken orders take place.
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Source: The Wall Street Job Report
Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing PMI
PMI continues to signal weak manufacturing expansion in August
August 22, 2012--Key points:
Slight rise in the headline PMI index, but third-lowest reading in 35 months
Growth of output and new orders remain modest
Employment increases at slowest pace since December 2010
Marginal falls in input and output prices
Data collected 13–22 August.
The Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index(TM) (PMI(TM))1 continued to signal only a modest improvement in U.S. manufacturing business conditions in August. The preliminary ‘flash’ PMI reading which is based on around 85% of usual monthly replies rose slightly from 51.4 in July to 51.9 and was the third-lowest since the manufacturing recovery was first indicated by the headline index in October 2009.
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Source: Markit
CFTC Approves Conforming Amendments to Part 4 Regulations Governing Operations and Activities of Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors
August 23, 2012--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today approved final conforming amendments to Part 4 of its regulations, which govern the operations and activities of commodity pool operators (CPOs) and commodity trading advisors (CTAs).
These amendments are necessary to reflect changes made to the Commodity Exchange Act by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The amendments were approved by the Commission via a seriatim vote of 5 to 0, and will become final 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.
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Source: CFTC.gov
