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ETF trading volumes fall to historic lows
February 2, 2012--Trading in the most popular US exchange-traded funds fell to multiyear lows in January, threatening to increase transactions costs for retail investors.
ETFs, which track the performance of a basket of securities such as an equity or bond index, have surged in popularity in recent years, reaching $1tn in assets by the end of 2011, according to BlackRock.
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Source: FT.com
Bernanke defends low rate policy for weak economy
February 2, 2012--Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday defended the U.S. central bank's policies against charges from Republican lawmakers they risked sparking inflation, saying the economy still needs plenty of support.
Testifying before Congress, the Fed chief was repeatedly thrown on the defensive as he parried critiques from Republican lawmakers over the Fed's zero interest rate policy, its focus on employment and its policy prescriptions for housing.
Bernanke told the House Budget Committee that Europe's financial crisis still threatened the U.S. recovery, and said the Fed would do everything it can to ward off damage.
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Source: Reuters
Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission Release Joint Report to Congress on International Swap Regulation
February 2, 2012--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission delivered to Congress a report on international swap regulation, as required by Section 719(c) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The provision requires the Commissions to report on how swaps are regulated in the United States, Asia, and Europe and to identify areas of regulation that are similar and other areas of regulation that could be harmonized.
view report-Joint Report on International Swap Regulation
Source: CFTC.gov
United States Commodity Funds files with the SEC
February 2, 2012- United States Commodity Funds, LLC has filed a Amendment No.1 to Form S-1 with the SEC for the United States Asian Commodities Basket Fund.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
iShares files with the SEC-iShares Morningstar Multi Asset High Income Index Fund
February 2, 2012--iShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the iShares Morningstar Multi Asset High Income Index Fund.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
CME Group Inc. Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2011 Financial Results
February 2, 2012--CME Group Inc. Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2011 Financial Results
Reached annual average daily volume records in foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy and metals product lines
Raised regular quarterly dividend to $2.23 per share, an increase of 59 percent, and declared an additional dividend of $3.00 per share
CHICAGO, Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) today reported full-year 2011 results, primarily driven by a 10 percent increase in overall average daily volume. During the year, the company posted annual average daily volume records across the foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy and metals product lines.
Reflecting CME Group's strong cash flow, and consistent with our capital structure guiding principles, CME Group's board of directors raised the first-quarter regular dividend 59 percent, to $2.23 per share, based on a change to our dividend policy, increasing our payout target from 35 percent to 50 percent of prior year's cash earnings.
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Source: CME Group
BNY Mellon to Provide ETF Services for AdvisorShares Rockledge SectorSAM ETF
Mandate expands relationship to cover 12ETFs with assets over $420 million
February 2, 2012--BNY Mellon, the global leader in investment management and investment services, has been selected to provide exchange-traded fund (ETF) services, custody, fund accounting and fund administration for the AdvisorShares Rockledge SectorSAM ETF (NYSE: SSAM - News).
This mandate expands BNY Mellon's relationship with AdvisorShares, which began in 2009, to include 12 ETFs with assets totaling more than $420 million.
Sub-advised by Rockledge Advisors LLC, the new ETF seeks to generate stable and consistent annual returns under all market conditions by investing in both long and short positions in U.S. sector ETFs that offer exposure to U.S. large capitalization equities. The ETF employs an actively managed and diversified equity sector rotation process based on a proprietary quantitative analysis known as the "Sector Scoring and Allocation Methodology."
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Source: BNY Mellon
The Options Industry Council Announces January Volume Declined 11 Percent
February 1, 2012--The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 335,399,999 total options contracts changed hands in January, which is down 11.38 percent compared to January of last year when 378,480,506 contracts were traded.
Although volume is down compared to last year, January 2012 is the third highest January by volume on record. Average daily volume for the month came in at 16,770,000 contracts, 11.47 percent less than the 18,942,025 contracts traded during January 2011.
Equity options volume (options on individual stocks and ETFs) in January saw 313,363,017 contracts exchanged, 11.68 percent less than in January 2011 when 354,795,514 contracts were traded. On average, 15,668,151 contracts were traded each day throughout January compared to last year when an average of 17,739,776 contracts were traded daily, representing an 11.68 percent decrease.
Source: Options Industry Council
ISE Reports Business Activity for January 2012
January 1, 2012--ISE is the second largest equity options exchange in January with market share of 18.7%,
excluding dividend trades.
Dividend trades made up 8.8% of industry volume in January 2012.
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today reported average daily volume of 2.7 million contracts
in January 2012.
This represents a decrease of 18.6% compared to January 2011. Total options volume for the month was 53.8 million contracts. ISE was the second largest U.S. equity options exchange in
January with market share of 18.7%*.
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Source: International Securities Exchange (ISE)
National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product, 4th quarter and Annual 2011 (advance estimate)
February 1, 2012--Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011
(that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 1.8 percent.
The Bureau emphasized that the fourth-quarter advance estimate released today is based on
source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see the box on page
4). The "second" estimate for the fourth quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on
February 29, 2012.
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from private inventory investment, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, residential fixed investment, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.
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Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
