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April is Second-busiest Month All-time at CBOE Futures Exchange,
VOLUME TOPS 800,000 CONTRACTS
The Four Most-Active Trading Months in CFE History Have Occurred in First Four Months of 2011
May 2, 2011--The CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE) today announced that trading volume during April 2011 totaled 834,892 contracts, which ranks as the second busiest month all-time to-date at CFE. April 2011 volume exceeded the 296,541 contracts traded in April 2010 by 182 percent.
When compared to the record trading in March, when volume surpassed the one-million-contract milestone (1,066,367 contracts) for the first time ever, April's trading activity declined by 22 percent.
April 2011 was the most active month of April on record at CFE and marked the nineteenth consecutive month in which total volume registered an increase when comparing year-over-year trading activity. The five busiest months in CFE history include the first four months of 2011
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Source: CBOE
CBOE Holdings, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2011 Results; Diluted EPS of $0.36, Up 44 Percent
Financial Highlights
Operating Revenues Increase 23 Percent to $124.0 Million
Net Income Allocated to Common Stockholders of $32.1 Million, Up 42 Percent
Adjusted Operating Margin of 46.7 Percent, Highest in Nine Quarters (1)
Cash Flow from Operations Up 25 Percent to $78.2 Million
Average Daily Trading Volume Increases 12 Percent to 5.1 Million Contracts
May 2, 2011--CBOE Holdings, Inc. today reported first quarter 2011 net income allocated to common stockholders of $32.1 million, an increase of 42 percent compared with net income of $22.7 million in the first quarter of 2010.
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $0.36, up 44 percent from 2010's first quarter EPS of $0.25. Operating revenues for the first quarter grew 23 percent to $124.0 million from $101.1 million in the prior year period.
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Source: CBOE
NYSE Euronext Comments On Nasdaq/ICE Announcement That It Intends to Commence Exchange Offer On Same Terms That Have Been Unanimously Rejected
May 2, 2011--NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) notes that Nasdaq OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NDAQ) and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) have announced their intention to begin an unsolicited exchange offer some time in May to acquire all outstanding shares of NYSE Euronext. NYSE Euronext further notes that Nasdaq and ICE have announced that the terms of the offer will be the same as previously proposed.
On April 21, 2011, NYSE Euronext’s Board of Directors unanimously rejected this proposal from Nasdaq OMX/ICE. NYSE Euronext’s financial advisers are Perella Weinberg Partners, BNP Paribas, Goldman, Sachs and Co., and Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. Its legal advisers are Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Stibbe N.V. and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP.
Source: NYSE Euronext
ELX Announces Solid April Results With Strong Performances In 5 and 30-Year U.S. Treasury Futures And Record Average Open Interest In Eurodollar Futures
May 2, 2011--ELX Futures, L.P. (ELX), a leading electronic futures exchange, announced today that it continued to add new participants and see solid growth and strong performances in its futures products in the month of April.
Highlights include the 30-year bond having its best performing market
share month ever, the 5-year note having its best performing market share
month of the year in April, and Eurodollar futures setting a record in
combined average open interest (OI).
ELX traded 1.6 million contracts during April and had a particularly
strong performance in several of its benchmarks. Market share for the
month of April in the 5-year note hit 3.7%, its best performance of the
year, while market share for the 30-year bond set a record 4.6% for the
month of April. Combined average OI in Eurodollar futures established a
new record, rising to nearly 326K contracts in the month of April.
Neal Wolkoff, Chief Executive Officer of ELX Futures, said, "In an
increasingly competitive market landscape ELX continues to perform well
and attract interest from new market participants. Our low fees, superior
technology and services, and competitive initiatives to benefit the
customer remain the keys to our growth and success."
Source: ELX Futures
Financial Research Corporation and College Savings Foundation Report: Index Funds Represent Fastest Growing Segment of 529 Plan Investment Options
April 29, 2011--BlackRock, Inc. announced that its iShares® Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business, the world’s largest manager of ETFs, recognized that, according to a recent report by the Financial Research Corporation (FRC) and the College Savings Foundation (CSF), index investment options appear to be the fastest growing segment of 529 plan investment options.
According to the report, CSF members (who manage between 40-45% of overall assets in the 529 industry) reported that, as of December 31, 2010, over $5 billion was invested in index options -- a nearly 10% increase in assets on a quarterly basis and a nearly 25% increase on an annual basis. This compares to assets under management (AUM) increases of approximately 8% and 18%, respectively, for the population overall. Gross sales in the fourth quarter 2010 in index options increased 23% on a year-over-year basis from 2009. And net contributions into index investment options almost tripled in the fourth quarter 2010 as compared to the third quarter.1
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Source: iShares
Real-time Forecasts of Economic Activity for Latin American Economies-IMF Working Paper
April 29, 2011--Summary: Macroeconomic policy decisions in real-time are based the assessment of current and future economic conditions. These assessments are made difficult by the presence of incomplete and noisy data.
The problem is more acute for emerging market economies, where most economic data are released infrequently with a (sometimes substantial) lag. This paper evaluates "nowcasts" and forecasts of real GDP growth using five alternative models for ten Latin American countries. The results indicate that the flow of monthly data helps to improve forecast accuracy, and the dynamic factor model consistently produces more accurate nowcasts and forecasts relative to other model specifications, across most of the countries we consider.
view IMF Working paper-Real-time Forecasts of Economic Activity for Latin American Economies
Source: IMF
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Inde
April 29, 2011--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Monday, May 2, 2011:
Canacol Energy Ltd. (TSXVN:CNE) will be removed from the index. The company will graduate to trade on TSX under the same ticker symbol.
Canacol will remain a constituent of the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index until the next index rebalancing at the end of July, 2011.
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
Source: Standard & Poors
Gold Hits Record after Fed says Low Rates to Stay
April 29, 2011--Gold rose to an all-time high near $1,530 an ounce on Wednesday and oil also went up after the Federal Reserve vowed to keep U.S. interest rates low for an extended period, which sent the dollar tumbling.
Copper and most other industrial metals fell on worries that U.S. economic recovery could stall and that top buyer China could resort to more monetary tightening that could further weaken demand.
Source: Reuters
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
April 29, 2011---CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports have been updated for the week of April 26, 2011 are now available.
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Source: CFTC.gov
NASDAQ Closing Cross Had a Record Day for the Special Rebalance of the NASDAQ 100 Index
April 29, 2011--- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced the NASDAQ Closing Cross broke a record for 2011 as it was used for the Special Rebalance of the NASDAQ-100 Index® (Nasdaq:NDX).
A total of 329.21 million shares representing $12.7 billion were executed in the Closing Cross in 779 milliseconds.
In all NASDAQ-100 Index stocks, 287.88 million shares representing $11.84 billion were executed in the Closing Cross in 779 milliseconds.
Trading in PowerShares QQQ Trust (Nasdaq:QQQ), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the NASDAQ-100 Index, totaled 494 thousand shares representing $29 million in 57 milliseconds during the Closing Cross.
The NASDAQ-100 Index's Special Rebalance will become effective prior to market open on Monday, May 2, 2011, based on today's NASDAQ Official Closing Price as determined by the NASDAQ Closing Cross®.
NASDAQ official closing prices (NOCPs) determined by the NASDAQ Closing Cross are widely used throughout the industry, including Russell Investments, Standard & Poor's, Dow Jones, and mutual funds across the country.
The Closing Cross brings together the buy and sell interest in specific NASDAQ, NYSE and NYSE Amex stocks and executes all shares for each stock at a single price, one that reflects the true supply and demand for these securities. All nationally-listed securities are eligible for the NASDAQ Closing Cross.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
