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Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
Chairman Gary Gensler
May 4, 2011--Good morning Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Moran and members of the Subcommittee. I thank you for inviting me to today’s hearing on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget request. I am pleased to testify on behalf of the Commission.
CFTC Mission
The CFTC is a good investment for the American public, overseeing vast markets with a relatively small staff. At its core, the mission of the CFTC is to ensure the integrity and transparency of derivatives markets so that hedgers and investors may use them with confidence. Derivatives emerged as tools to allow producers and merchants to be certain of the prices of commodities that they planned to use or sell in the future. Derivatives markets are used to hedge risk and discover prices and work best when they are transparent and free from fraud and manipulation.
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Source: CFTC.gov
SEC Seeks Public Comment on Short Sale Disclosure
May 4, 2011 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today published on its website a request for public comment on the feasibility, benefits, and costs of two short selling disclosure regimes as a part of a study mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Section 417 of the Dodd-Frank Act directs the SEC’s Division of Risk, Strategy and Financial Innovation to study two short sale disclosure regimes. A transactions reporting regime would add short sale-related marks to the consolidated tape in a voluntary pilot program. A position reporting regime would entail real time reporting of investors’ short positions either to the public or to regulators only. The Commission is required to submit a report on the study to Congress by July 21, 2011.
To better inform the study, the request seeks public comment on both the existing uses of short selling in securities markets and the adequacy or inadequacy of the information regarding short sales available today. The request also seeks public comment on the likely effect of these possible future reporting regimes on the securities markets, including their feasibility, benefits, and costs.
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Source: SEC.gov
SPDR ETF Family Announces Impact of Receiving Settlement Payments
May 4, 2011--The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund today announced that the Funds received payment as an authorized claimant from a class action settlement related to UnitedHealth Group Inc
The total amount payable to each Fund is listed below. When the Funds calculate their net asset value (“NAV”) per share on Wednesday, January 5, 2011, it is estimated that each Fund’s NAV will be impacted by the receipt of the corresponding payment in the amount stated below based on the shares outstanding as of January 3, 2011.
| Fund |
Settlement |
Shares |
Per Share |
|||||||||||||||
|
SPDR® S&P |
$2,754,178 | 716,682,116 | $0.0038 | |||||||||||||||
|
Health Care |
$437,724 | 87,465,324 | $0.0050 |
State Street manages more than $235 billion in SPDR ETF assets worldwide (as of December 31, 2010) and is one of the largest ETF providers in the US and globally.
Source: State Street Global Advisors
Dow Jones Indexes, FXCM Jointly Launch Dow Jones FXCM Dollar Index
Index to Reflect Changes in Value of U.S. Dollar Measured Against Basket of the World’s Most Liquid Currencies: Euro, British Pound, Japanese Yen, Australian Dollar
May 4, 2011--Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider; and FXCM Inc., a global online provider of foreign exchange trading and related services; today announced they have collaborated to launch the Dow Jones FXCM Dollar Index.
The new index reflects the change in the value of the U.S. dollar – the world’s primary currency and a major economic indicator for traders, investors, financial institutions, corporations and governments – against a weighted basket of four of the most liquid currencies in the world: the Euro, British pound, Japanese yen and Australian dollar.
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Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Global X Funds Launches First Fishing Industry ETF (FISN)
May 4, 2011--Global X Funds, the New York based provider of exchange traded funds (ETFs), today launched the Global X Fishing Industry ETF (Ticker: FISN). This is the first ETF globally targeting the fishing industry.
The fishing industry is comprised of two main components: commercial fishing and aquaculture. Commercial fishing represents those companies directly involved in the capture of fish from wild fisheries, while aquaculture represents those companies that supply fish through fish farming operations.
In the past few decades the global food market has experienced unprecedented expansion and a change in global dietary patterns, with a shift toward more protein. This is likely to continue due to the expansion of the middle classes in emerging economies. China, for instance, has seen dramatic growth in its per-capita fish consumption, with an average growth rate of 5.7 percent per year since 1961 (FAO, 2011). Taking into account the global population forecast, an additional 27 million tons of production will be needed to maintain the present level of per-capita consumption in 2030 according to the FAO (2011).
“Companies that have the infrastructure to supply the rapidly growing demand for fish consumption, from aquaculture facilities to fish processing, are likely to benefit from these demographic and dietary trends,” said CEO of Global X Funds, Bruno del Ama.
The Global X Fishing Industry ETF tracks the Solactive Global Fishing Index, which is designed to measure broad based equity market performance of global companies involved in the fishing industry. As of April 29, 2011, the three largest components of the index were Cermaq ASA, Marine Harvest, and Toyo Suisan Kaisha Ltd.
Source: Global X
BNY Mellon ADR Index Monthly Performance Review is Now Available
May 4, 2011--The BNY Mellon ADR Index Monthly Performance Review is now available.
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Source: BNY Mellon
ETF financial volume hits record figure in April
May 4, 2011-- BM&FBOVESPA Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) reached a record BRL 942.43 billion financial volume in April, in 28,969 trades and 14,734,230 units. The financial volume figure surpassed by 7.5% the previous record of BRL 876.25 million, of February 2011.
Average daily financial volume in the BRAX11, CSMO11, MOBI11, BOVA11, SMAL11, MILA11, PIBB11 and FIND11 ETFs was also a record in April at BRL 49.65 million, up 13% on the previous record of BRL 43.81 million, in February.
The most-traded ETF in April was BOVA11, which tracks the Ibovespa index. There were 25,650 transactions, with 12,235,830 units and a record financial volume of BRL 814.49 million, surpassing the previous record of BRL 779.92 million in February 2011. The PIBB11 fund which tracks the IBrX-50 index was the second-most traded in April, at 1,401 trades and a financial volume of BRL 80.66 million.
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Source: BM&FBOVESPA Exchange
First Trust files with the SEC
May 4, 2011--First Trust has filed a post-effectice amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the First Trust NASDAQ Global Auto Index Fund.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
Panama: Creating Greater Opportunities for All
May 3, 2011-Overview
Panama, through sound economic management, has grown faster than almost any Latin American economy in recent years, and through a partnership with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the country is striving to ensure the benefits of this prosperity reach its poorest citizens.
By relying on a flexible range of lending and technical support from IBRD, Panama was able to achieve results in areas as diverse as providing improved health and nutrition services to 400,000 families in rural areas to streamlining government procurement services and making it easier for Panamanians to start a business.
Challenge
Panama, with a population of approximately 3.5 million, a world famous canal, a modern financial sector, and the economy of an upper-middle income country remained a nation of stark contrasts. Most notable was the high degree of inequality, perpetuated by educational disparities, differential access to basic services, and wide discrepancies in productivity and incomes.
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Source: World Bank
Prospect of shortage drives US T-bill yields down
May 3, 2011--Interest rates demanded by investors to hold short-term Treasury bills sank to record lows on Tuesday and were approaching zero, amid the prospect of lower sales by the US Treasury in coming months.
The Treasury announced late on Monday a sharp reduction in borrowing needs for the second quarter due to higher tax receipts and less spending outlays.
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Source: FT.com
