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Market Vectors Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Funds Top $1 Billion In AUM
Solid returns and attractive yields seen as driving assets into six-fund lineup that covers all points along yield curve and credit spectrum
Van Eck launches “MUNI NATION”, a muni-focused blog focused on investor and advisor education
February 7, 2012--New York-based asset manager Van Eck Global announced today that its family of municipal bond Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) recently passed the $1 billion mark in combined assets under management (AUM).
“Municipal bonds have emerged into the spotlight after long being one of the quieter corners of the investment landscape, and investors and advisors are seeing their current attractiveness as well as the potential benefits offered by investing through ETFs such as those in our Market Vectors suite,” said Jim Colby, portfolio manager and senior municipal strategist with Van Eck Global. “Historically low yields on Treasuries have made the search for yield far more difficult than it’s been in quite some time. In this environment, we’re pleased to offer a range of funds that span the risk/return spectrum, providing a number of choices for income-focused investors as they build their portfolios.”
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Source: Market Vectors ETFs
BMO Asset Management Led Canadian ETF Industry in Growth in 2011
BMO accounted for almost half of all Canadian ETF growth in 2011 - BMO ETFs also ranked #1 in customer loyalty - Success attributed to products that responded to investor needs during volatile times - Key drivers included income focused and low volatility ETFs.
February 7, 2012--BMO Asset Management (BMO AM) today announced that its Exchanged Traded Fund (ETF)(i) business led the Canadian ETF industry in growth in 2011, accounting for $2.3 billion CDN or 49 per cent of the growth of assets under management.(ii)
Further, BMO ETFs, currently a suite of 44 funds, more than doubled in size, increasing from $1.5 billion to $3.8 billion in assets under management in 2011.
"2011 was a tremendous year for us. Much of our success stemmed from our ability to anticipate the specific needs of investors," said Rajiv Silgardo, Co-CEO, BMO Global Asset Management. "Canadians were looking for innovative products that offered security and stability during volatile times, while also searching for yield in a low interest rate environment. We were able to respond with the right mix of offerings."
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Source: BMO Financial Group
Individual investors’ participation in total volume of ETFs traded on the Exchange in January surpasses 14%
Financial Institutions lead participation in volume
February 6, 2012--Individuals had a 14.4% participation of the total volume of ETFs traded on the Exchange in January. Financial institutions led with a 32.3% participation of the month’s volume, followed by institutional investors (30.5%), foreign investors (19.5%), and public and private companies (3.3%).
ETFs are a simple diversification alternative for investment in equities. The investor can buy a stock portfolio in a single transaction without having to manage each individual share.
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Source: BM&FBOVESPA
BATS Exchange Receives SEC Approval For Innovative Market Maker Program
Competitive Liquidity Provider Program Designed To Incentivize Active Market Making For BATS-Listed Issuers
February 6, 2012 – BATS Global Markets, a global operator of stock and options markets, today announced it had received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement its new Competitive Liquidity Provider (CLP) program.
“As we grow our listings business, we’re creating new and unique ways to make the markets better for today’s issuer and enhance competition in the exchange listings business,” said Joe Ratterman, Chairman and CEO of BATS Global Markets.
“Our Competitive Liquidity Provider program is designed to help improve market quality for issuers and we are excited to bring this innovative program to market.”
The BATS CLP program, which was designed for BATS’ new U.S. primary listings business, is a rewards-based program designed to incent market makers to make tighter quoted spreads with increased liquidity for each listing on BATS. The CLP program particularly benefits small and mid-cap companies who are often challenged by a lack of liquidity in their stock, which can make attracting larger investors difficult.
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Source: BATS Trading
ETF Research Center Reporting Monitor: Reporting Monitor (Week 3): 4Q11 Results Less Than Impressive
February 6, 2012--Highlights
With 58% of firms having reported results, Q4 2011 S&P500 earnings probably grew about 7.3% to $23.79 per share. Tech (XLK) was the largest contributor to profit growth, followed by Industrials (XLI) and Energy (XLE). Three sectors--Financials (XLF), Materials (XLB) and Utilities (XLU)--were a drag on overall index earnings growth.
Sales probably grew only about 4.5% YoY due to considerable drag from Financials. Margins declined vs. Q3 in every sector except Tech and Industrials; Materials were particularly weak both sequentially and year-on-year...
Positive surprises were biggest in the Tech and Industrials sectors, while Financials and Energy had the biggest disappointments. For the S&P as a whole, the size of the (net upside) surprise was the smallest since the profit recovery began in Q1 2009
visit www.etfresearchcenter.com for more info,
Source: AltaVista Research
BM&FBOVESPA:Individual investors’ participation in total volume of ETFs traded on the Exchange in January surpasses 14%
Financial Institutions lead participation in volume
February 6, 2012--Individuals had a 14.4% participation of the total volume of ETFs traded on the Exchange in January. Financial institutions led with a 32.3% participation of the month’s volume, followed by institutional investors (30.5%), foreign investors (19.5%), and public and private companies (3.3%).
ETFs are a simple diversification alternative for investment in equities. The investor can buy a stock portfolio in a single transaction without having to manage each individual share.
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Source: BM&FBOVESPA
An Active Approach to ETFs
Eaton Vance is developing a hybrid ETF that melds aspects of passive investing with active money management. Will the SEC let it fly?
February 6, 2012--While most exchange-traded funds only venture as far as their underlying benchmarks allow, a small yet growing cadre is taking a more freewheeling approach.
So-called actively managed ETFs, for which teams of managers and analysts construct portfolios, attracted slightly more than $5 billion in domestic assets in 2011. That marked a 72% increase from the prior year, but represents only a sliver of the $1.1 trillion U.S. ETF market, says data researcher IndexUniverse.
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Source: Barrons
Bill Gross…and Fund Fees
Other firms are likely to feel pressure to follow Pimco into low-cost ETFs.
February 6, 2012--The business of running and selling traditional, actively managed mutual funds is already under stress, thanks to exchange-traded funds. The new Pimco Total Return ETF, debuting March 1, seems likely to only add to the pressure.
Should the ETF version of Bill Gross's Pimco Total Return prove a success in attracting investors, the pressure will build on competitors to follow suit.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
First Trust files with the SEC
February 6, 2012--First Trust has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the FIRST TRUST EXCHANGE-TRADED ALPHADEX FUND II.
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Source: SEC.gov
SEC CF Disclosure Guidance-European Sovereign Debt Exposures
January 6, 2012--Summary: This guidance provides the Division of Corporation Finance’s views regarding disclosure relating to registrants’ exposures to certain European countries.
Supplementary Information: The statements in this CF Disclosure Guidance represent the views of the Division of Corporation Finance. This guidance is not a rule, regulation or statement of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Further, the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved its content.
Introduction
Due to the recent uncertainties with regard to European sovereign debt holdings, we are concerned about the risks to financial institutions that are SEC registrants from direct and indirect exposures to these holdings. To date we note that disclosures about the nature and extent of these exposures that registrants, including foreign private issuers, have provided in reports filed or furnished with the Commission have been inconsistent in both substance and presentation. We believe this inconsistency may lead to disclosures that lack transparency and comparability for investors.
In response to our comments on their disclosure documents, registrants have provided incremental improvements in disclosures of exposures to sovereign debt in several countries during the year. However, we find that expanded and enhanced disclosures are not consistent from registrant to registrant. Therefore, we determined that investors would benefit from our providing additional guidance to assist registrants in their assessment of what information about exposures to European countries they should consider disclosing and how they should disclose this information with the goal of greater clarity and comparability.
In periodic reports filed by these registrants in 2011, we noted discussions of financial stress experienced by certain European countries. As examples of what we viewed as inconsistent discussions on the relevant issues, registrants generally provided information that addressed:
Disclosure of aggregate exposure or separate quantification of exposure to each country of concern;
Disclosure of aggregate exposure to sovereign debt, corporate-level debt and loans to retail customers in the identified countries or quantification of exposures with respect to each type of disclosure;
Disclosure of net exposures or disclosure of both gross and net exposures; and
Disclosure of the effect of purchased credit default swap contracts based on notional values or based on fair market values.
In reviewing these disclosures, we issued comments requesting enhanced disclosures for investors relating to European sovereign debt exposures. Our comments requested that for each country, registrants disclose:
Gross sovereign, financial institutions, and non-financial corporations’ exposure, separately by country;
Quantified disclosure explaining how gross exposures are hedged; and
A discussion of the circumstances under which losses may not be covered by purchased credit protection. Disclosure Requirements and Guidance Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)1 requires registrants to identify, among other items, known trends or known demands, commitments, events, or uncertainties that will result or that are reasonably likely to result in a material increase or decrease in liquidity and to describe any known trends or uncertainties that have had, or that a registrant reasonably expects may have, a material favorable or unfavorable impact on income.
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Source: SEC.gov
