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CFTC, FTC Agree to Share Information on Energy Investigations
Agreement Will Foster Cooperation on Investigations into Market Manipulation
April 12, 2011--As part of their ongoing efforts to keep markets that they oversee open and fair for American consumers, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced that they signed an agreement to foster further cooperation between the two agencies by helping them share nonpublic information.
The CFTC and FTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) [see related document] that will facilitate sharing of non-public information on investigations being conducted by the agencies, including investigations into the oil and gasoline markets. The agreement will help the FTC enforce its petroleum market manipulation rule, which prohibits fraudulent manipulation of U.S. petroleum markets. Information-sharing also will help the CFTC in exercising its authority to pursue manipulation in the oil markets.
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Source: CFTC.gov
CFTC Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Swap Data Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements for Pre-Enactment and Transition Swaps
April 12, 2011-- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) today announced that it has proposed rules establishing swap data recordkeeping and reporting requirements for counterparties to pre-enactment swaps (those executed prior to enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act) and transition swaps (those entered into between the enactment date and the future effective date for final rules concerning swap recordkeeping and reporting). A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Swap Data Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements: Pre-Enactment and Transition Swaps, has been submitted to the Federal Register and will be published shortly.
The proposed rule provides clarity concerning what records must be kept and what data must be reported to swap data repositories with respect to these historical swaps. The rule proposes limited recordkeeping requirements for counterparties to historical swaps. For swaps in existence on or after the date of publication of the proposed rule, counterparties would be required to keep records of specified, minimum primary economic terms for the swaps.
The proposed rule is also designed to ensure that data needed by regulators concerning historical swaps is available to regulators through swap data repositories (“SDRs”) beginning on the effective date for swap data reporting.
Source: CFTC.gov
CFTC.gov Financial Data for Futures Commission Merchants Update
April 11, 2011--Selected FCM financial data as of February 28, 2011 (from reports filed by March 31, 2011) is now available.
view updates
Source: CFTC.gov
Morgan Stanley US ETF Weekly Update
April 11, 2011--Weekly Flows: $11.0 Billion Net Inflows
ETFs Traded $290 Billion Last Week
ETF Assets Stand at $1.1 Trillion
Launches: 4 New ETFs
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Flows by Market Segment
For the second consecutive week ETFs posted large net inflows ($11.0 billon last week)
All market segments (ex-Active) exhibited net inflows last week, led by US Sector & Industry ETFs
ETF assets stand at $1.1 trillion, up 9% YTD
13-week flows were mostly positive among asset classes
$31.0 billion net inflows into ETFs over past 13 weeks (International-Developed took in $9.6 billion)
EM Equity ETFs posted meaningful net outflows ($6.3 billion) over the past 13 weeks, but have exhibited net
inflows for four consecutive weeks ($5.2 billion)
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Largest Flows by Individual ETF
PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) posted net inflows of $1.2 billion last week, the most of any ETF
Over the last 13 weeks, iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund (EWJ) exhibited the largest net inflows of any ETF
($2.8 billion)
Two oil-related ETFs (XOP, USO) had the most net outflows last week despite WTI oil’s ascent to $112 per
barrel
request report
Source: Morgan Stanley
iShares files with the SEC
April 11, 2011--iShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the iShares Floating Rate Note Fund.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
Pimco manager bets against US debt
April 11, 2011--Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund, is now actively betting against the value of debt issued by the US government.
Pimco’s $236bn Total Return Fund held minus 3 per cent of its assets in government related securities at the end of March, down from zero the month before, according to a report issued by the company on Monday.
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Source: FT.com
Huntington files with the SEC
April 11, 2011--Huntington Stategy Shares has filed a registration statement with the SEC for the Huntington US Equity Rotation Strategy ETF
NYSE Arca Ticker: HUSE
and the
Huntington EcoLogical Strategy ETF
NYSE Arca Ticker: (HECO)
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
ProShares files with the SEC
April 11, 2011--ProShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC the Ultra Fixed-Income
ProShares (UJB)Ultra High Yield
(IGU)Ultra Investment Grade Corporate
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
"Atlas Shrugs" Statement of CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton Regarding Margin Requirement Rulemaking
April 11, 2011--In her seminal 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand explored the negative effects of governmental overreaching into the private sector. As we now undertake the Herculean task of developing wide-ranging rules for an entire new market structure, we are intensely aware that we must not stifle necessary and legitimate business activity that is critical to the engine of our economy. We don’t want to “shrug,” and topple the globe off our shoulders. At the same time, we need to make sure we’re protecting against systemic risk and providing needed safeguards for markets and consumers. It’s a fine balance, and requires constant review and interaction with those affected by these changes.
Tomorrow, the Commission will hold the 13th in its series of open public meetings on Dodd/Frank rulemakings. We will address what I believe to be one of the more important rulemakings—dealing with margin issues. It’s important, because we need to ensure that the appropriate lines are drawn to protect against market risks, yet not place any unnecessary requirements that could end up harming commercial business activity. In other words, we don’t want to tie up money unnecessarily in margin when that could be better used for natural gas exploration or increased agricultural production, just to name a couple of examples. We need to hear from the market participants affected by these rules, and from all interested parties, to ensure that we get the balance right.
The Dodd/Frank rulemaking efforts have been a remarkably open and iterative process. And never before have those qualities been more important to our regulatory efforts. It is critically important to the outcome of the rules that we continue in this vein. We need to ensure that the “shrug” of these new rules, as will inevitably occur, is an expected bump, and not an earthquake
Source: CFTC.gov
Speculators send Brazil’s real to new heights
April 8, 2011-- Brazil’s currency has surged over the past two weeks, breaking one of the market’s most important resistance levels, as speculators have seized on an apparent shift in government policy.
The country has long been at the forefront of the so-called currency war, introducing a barrage of aggressive measures specifically designed to curb the appreciation of the overvalued real
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Source: FT.com
