If your looking for specific news, using the search function will narrow down the results
Morgan Stanley-US ETF Weekly Update
February 13, 2012--Highlights
Weekly Flows: $3.4 Billion Net Inflows
ETF Assets Stand at $1.2 Trillion, up 10% YTD
10 ETF Launches Last Week
Guggenheim Solar ETF Announces 1 for 10 Reverse Split
United States Natural Gas Fund Announces 1 for 4 Reverse Split
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Flows by Market Segment
ETFs posted net inflows for the eighth consecutive week ($44.9 bln in net inflows over the period)
ETFs generated net inflows of $3.4 bln last week, led by International – Emerging Market Equity ($2.4 bln net inflows)
Since we began measuring weekly flows in the beginning of 2010, this is the 2nd longest streak for ETFs posting consecutive weekly net inflows (longest streak is 11 weeks from 8/30/10-11/12/10)
ETF assets stand at $1.2 tln, up 10% YTD
13-week flows were mostly positive among asset classes; combined $51.5 bln net inflows
Fixed Income ETFs have consistently generated weekly net inflows (26 consecutive weeks of net inflows)
Leveraged/Inverse ETFs is one of three categories to exhibit net outflows the past 13 weeks (net outflows of $2.2 bln)
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Largest Flows by Individual ETF
Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) posted net inflows of $1.3 bln last week, most of any ETF
Emerging Market Equity and Corporate Bond ETFs continued to exhibit strong net inflows accounting for the top six
highest net inflows last week
Only 12% of ETFs exhibited net outflows last week
For the third consecutive week, SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) posted net outflows ($5.2 bln net outflows over the 3 weeks)
US-Listed ETFs: Short Interest Data Updated:
EEM exhibited the largest increase in USD short interest since last updated
$241 million in increased short interest and the highest level of shares short since 10/31/11
Despite the increase in short interest, EEM has generated double-digit price returns YTD
Financials make up 3 of the 10 most heavily shorted ETFs (defined as shares short/shares outstanding)
SPDR Retail ETF (XRT) continues to be the most heavily shorted ETF as a % of shares outstanding, but is down from 459% over the prior period
Based on multiple borrowings and the ability to continuously create new shares, short interest as a % of market cap can exceed 100%
US-Listed ETFs: Most Successful Recent Launches by Assets
Source: Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Research. Data estimated as of 2/10/12 based on daily change in share counts and daily NAVs.
$7.5 billion in total market cap of ETFs less than 1-year old
Over the past 13 weeks, newly launched US Dividend Income ETFs generated most net inflows at $821 mln
40 new ETF listings in 2012; 225 new ETF listings and 26 liquidations in 2011
Over past year, many of the successful launches have a dividend/income orientation
6 different ETF sponsors and 2 asset classes represented in top 10 most successful launches
Top 10 most successful launches account for 61% of market cap of ETFs launched over the past year.
request report
Source: Morgan Stanley
U.S. Department of the Treasury Economic Statistics - Monitoring the Economy Update
February 13, 2011--The Office of Economic Policy monitors key economic indicators to produce the following summary tables of monthly and quarterly U.S. economic statistics
view the U.S. ECONOMIC STATISTICS - MONTHLY DATA
Source: US Department of the Treasury
CFTC.gov Financial Data for Futures Commission Merchants Update
February 13, 2012--Selected FCM financial data as of December 31, 2011 (from reports filed by February 10, 2012) is now available.
read more
Source: CFTC.gov
ETF Research Center Reporting Monitor:4Q11 Reporting Monitor: A Sign of Bad Things to Come?
February 13, 2012--HIGHLIGHTS:
Q4 earnings appear less-bad versus a few weeks ago with over 70% of S&P500 firms having reported results . Nonetheless results were still less-than-stellar and hint of difficulties ahead.
Overall S&P profits grew about 8.0% led by Tech (XLK) and with a drag from Financials (XLF). However at $23.88 per share, this is the first sequential decline in index earnings since the profit recovery began in 2009.
Sales grew only about 5.3% and as a result most sectors struggled with margins. In fact, every sector except Tech and Industrials (XLI) saw margins decline sequentially. Energy (XLE), Materials (XLB) and Utilities (XLU) were especially weak
visit www.etfresearchcenter.com for more info.
Source: AltaVista Research
ETF Trader Goes Polar
February 13, 2012--It's early February. It's freezing. The winter seems as though it will never end. Cabin fever is unbearable. What to do? Let's become polar bears. Let's go for a swim in the ocean!
Some might say that was the thinking of Chris Hempstead, WallachBeth's director of ETF execution services. Along with four other hardy souls, he jumped into cold water off the Jersey Coast. But he had more on his mind than joining the polar bears. He intended to raise money for one of the most popular Wall Street charities.
read more
Source: Traders Magazine
At Volcker Rule Deadline, a Strong Pushback From Wall St.
February 13, 2012--Wall Street made its broadest assault yet against new regulation on Monday, taking aim at a rule that has come to define the battle over how to police banks in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
Regulators in charge of writing the Volcker Rule, which would ban banks from trading with their own money, were inundated with complaints and suggestions on Monday, the deadline to comment on a draft proposal. More than 200 letters were expected to be filed by the midnight deadline on the rule, which regulators outlined in October.
read more
Source: NY Times
Chairman's Letter, President's Budget and Performance Plan for Fiscal Year 2013
Chairman Gary Gensler
February 13, 2012
Dear Senators Inouye and Cochran and Representatives Rogers and Dicks:
I am pleased to transmit the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Budget and Performance Estimate for FY 2013.
The CFTC’s budget request strikes a balance between important investments in technology and human capital, both of which are essential to carrying out the agency’s mandate under the Commodity Exchange Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act).
Congress has mandated that the CFTC oversee both the approximately $37 trillion U.S. futures markets, as well as the $300 trillion U.S. swaps market. It is essential that the derivatives markets – both the futures and swaps markets – work for the benefit of the American public; that they are transparent, open and competitive; and that they do not allow risk to be spread through the economy.
read more
Source: CFTC.gov
"Heart of the Matter: Resources"
Statement of CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton on the Administrations FY 2013 Budget
February 13, 2012--I support the President's budget request for Fiscal Year 2013. It goes to the heart of the matter by proposing funding to ensure we have the rudimentary resources to do our job.
When Congress passed the Dodd/Frank Act, it gave our Agency urgently needed authorities to police financial markets in the wake of the 2008 Wall Street collapse. That’s a good thing. But, policing can’t happen without putting more cops on the beat and getting technology up to full speed to oversee a marketplace whose speed and breadth are enormous.
We will move from regulating $5 trillion in trading to hundreds of trillions. To do that, in total, we will have finalized dozens of rules when that process is complete this year. And, all of that occurs at a time when the agency has anywhere from 750 to 1,000 enforcement investigations going on at any one time.
read more
Source: CFTC.gov
RBC targets ETF market after late start
February 11, 2012--Royal Bank of Canada expects to become a powerhouse in the burgeoning exchange-traded fund market despite its late entry as it moves to harness its reach as Canada's largest bank to target investors hungry for lowfee funds.
Cary Blake, vicepresident and head of ETF at the bank's RBC Global Asset Management unit, said a four-month-old suite of eight fixed-income ETFs
read more
Source: Ottawa Citizen
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
February 10, 2012--The current reports for the week of February 7, 2012 are now available.
view updates
Source: CFTC.gov