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Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Chairman Gary Gensler
May 12, 2011--
Good morning Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member Shelby and members of the Committee. I thank you for inviting me to today’s hearing on monitoring systemic risk and promoting financial stability. I am pleased to testify alongside my fellow regulators.
This morning I will provide an update on the status of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) process to implement the derivatives titles of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and discuss the how the CFTC has contributed to the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Before I begin, I’d like to thank my fellow Commissioners the hardworking staff of the CFTC for their continued efforts to implement the Dodd-Frank Act.
Dodd-Frank Implementation Status
The CFTC is working deliberatively, efficiently and transparently to implement the Dodd-Frank Act. At this point, we have substantially completed the proposal phase of our rule-writing to implement the Dodd-Frank Act. Since the President signed the Dodd-Frank Act last July, the Commission has promulgated rules covering all of the areas set out by the Act for swaps regulation, with the exception of the Volcker Rule, for which the Act set a different timeline.
With the substantial completion of the proposal phase of rule-writing, the public now has the opportunity to review the whole mosaic of rules. This will allow market participants to evaluate the entire regulatory scheme as a whole.
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Source: CFTC.gov
US banks face new crackdown call
May 12, 2011--Financial institutions must prove they can be wound down without causing systemic risk, leading regulators have urged, signalling a push for further stringent reforms of the financial system.
“I believe we should impose even higher capital charges on systemic entities until they have developed a resolution plan which has been approved as credible by their regulators,” said Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in testimony to the Senate in Washington on Thursday.
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Source: FT.com
Oil demand flattens as prices spike
May 12, 2011--
World demand for oil is flatlining for the first time since 2009 as high prices hit American consumers, the International Energy Agency has said
The evidence that petrol prices close to $4 per gallon are beginning to cut consumption in North America came as Democratic senators and chief executives from the leading oil companies clashed in a sometimes bad-tempered hearing in the US Senate.
Source: FT.com
Tempest rages in gasoline as US prices soar
May 12, 2011--Just as Washington’s political machinery cranks up to investigate high oil prices, the price of wholesale petrol has gone into free fall.
Down 9.3 per cent in the past two days, this week’s sharp drop in gasoline futures follows a steady rise in pump prices towards and – in some parts of the US – beyond $4 a gallon.
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Source: FT.com
Tarp shows that US can break political deadlock
May 12, 2011--Not many things have emerged from the quagmire of US Congress recently which have produced a truly pleasant surprise. But could the troubled asset relief programme – better known as Tarp – turn out to be one?
That is the question hanging in the air this week, as the US government kicks off the process of selling the 92 per cent stake in AIG it acquired in 2008, during the crisis. At first glance, this week’s news from AIG does not look particularly encouraging. The share price of the giant insurance group has fallen 40 per cent this year, forcing the Treasury to slash the size of its planned offering.
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Source: FT.com
Alps files with the SEC
May 12, 2011--Alps has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the ALERIAN NATURAL GAS MLP ETF.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
Highland Capital Management, files with the SEC
May 12, 2011--Highland Capital Management, L.P. has filed an amended and restated application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
First Trust Advisors L.P. celebrates the FIRST ETF focused on the Global Manufacturing of Automobiles with NASDAQ Opening Bell ceremony and Press Conference, Friday, May 13, 2011
May 12, 2011--First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”), the fastest growing Exchange-Traded Fund (“ETF”) sponsor among the ten largest sponsors (by assets raised) since 2010, announced today that Eric Anderson, Vice President, ETF Analyst, will ring the opening bell of The NASDAQ Stock Market at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, May 13, 2011, to celebrate the release of the first ETF focused on the global manufacturing of automobiles.
First Trust executives and guests will participate in the event. The bell ringing will recognize the launch of the first automotive ETF in the industry, the First Trust NASDAQ Global Auto Index Fund (NASDAQ: CARZ), which began trading May 10, 2011. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund’s fees and expenses) of the NASDAQ OMX Global Auto IndexSM, which is designed to track the performance of the largest and most liquid companies engaged in the manufacturing of automobiles.
First Trust believes the timely release of this automotive ETF recognizes the contributions of the automotive industry to the world economy and the millions of jobs it generates worldwide.
“First Trust’s introduction of the first global ETF focused on the automotive industry presents a new opportunity to invest in the global manufacturing of automobiles,” said Eric Anderson, Vice President, ETF Analyst, First Trust Advisors L.P. “Currently, the Fund's holdings represent nine countries around the world, weighted most heavily by Japan, Germany, the U.S., South Korea and France.”
To view the live webcast of the opening bell, visit the NASDAQ website (http://www.NASDAQ.com) at 9:25 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Friday, May 13, 2011.
Source: First Trust
Van Eck Global Launches Market Vectors® LatAm Aggregate Bond ETF
First U.S.-based ETF to Offer Exclusive Exposure to Latin America’s Debt Markets
May 12, 2011--New York-based asset manager Van Eck Global announced today that it has launched Market Vectors LatAm Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca: BONO), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that seeks to track, before fees and expenses, The BofA Merrill Lynch Broad Latin America Bond Index (LATS), an index consisting of a portfolio of sovereign and corporate debt securities issued by Latin American issuers and denominated in US Dollar, Euro and local currencies of the issuers.
“Local debt markets in Latin America have been maturing quickly in recent years,” said Jan van Eck, Principal at Van Eck Global. “Governments have limited their reliance on borrowing abroad, infrastructure projects are proliferating throughout the region, and better transparency has led to improved sovereign credit ratings. These factors, coupled with the relatively high yields currently offered by Latin American bonds, have served to increase foreign investment demand for the region’s sovereign and corporate debt. With all of this in mind, we are pleased to be launching BONO.”
BONO carries a gross expense ratio of 0.56% and a net expense ratio of 0.49%. Expenses are capped contractually until September 1, 2012 and exclude certain expenses, such as interest.
As of April 30, the index included 453 constituents, had an average yield-to-worst of 7.27% with top country allocations as follows: Brazil 36.52%, Mexico 29.03%, Colombia 12.19%, Venezuela 6.50% and Argentina 4.17%. The index is market-cap weighted subject to a 20% cap on individual issuer exposures.
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Source: Van Eck
ETF investors favor BlackRock over Vanguard in April
May 11, 2011-- Investors in U.S. exchange-traded funds added more money to market leader BlackRock's iShares line-up than to Vanguard's offerings in April, reversing a recent trend in favor of Vanguard.
Including flows to commodity ETFs, BlackRock (BLK.N) received a net $8.9 billion in April while Vanguard collected $2.8 billion, according to a monthly BlackRock report released on Wednesday. State Street (STT.N) collected $4.9 billion in April.
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Source: Reuters
