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PowerShares files with the SEC
March 15, 2011--PowerShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the PowerShares India Exchange-Traded Fund Trust.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
CFTC Commissioner O'Malia to Host SEF Showcase: Current Technology & Market Direction
March 15, 2011--- Commissioner Scott D. O’Malia of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will host an open public meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 31, 2011, to explore the attributes necessary to make swap execution facilities (SEFs) successful.
Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, amended the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) which added a definition for SEFs. The SEF definition created a venue for eligible contract participants to execute swaps on regulated platforms.
Market participants representing buy-side and sell-side interests including pension funds, asset management funds, end-users, and dealers have been invited to engage in a free-flowing dialogue regarding the attributes of a successful SEF. Thereafter, sixteen electronic execution facilities representing designated contract markets (DCMs), exempt commercial markets (ECMs), exempt boards of trade (EBOTs), and other types of electronic trade and execution facilities will demonstrate the current functionality they offer market participants in the swaps markets.
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Source: CFTC.gov
FOMC statement
March 15, 2011--Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January suggests that the economic recovery is on a firmer footing, and overall conditions in the labor market appear to be improving gradually. Household spending and business investment in equipment and software continue to expand.
However, investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector continues to be depressed. Commodity prices have risen significantly since the summer, and concerns about global supplies of crude oil have contributed to a sharp run-up in oil prices in recent weeks. Nonetheless, longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable, and measures of underlying inflation have been subdued.
Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. Currently, the unemployment rate remains elevated, and measures of underlying inflation continue to be somewhat low, relative to levels that the Committee judges to be consistent, over the longer run, with its dual mandate. The recent increases in the prices of energy and other commodities are currently putting upward pressure on inflation. The Committee expects these effects to be transitory, but it will pay close attention to the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations. The Committee continues to anticipate a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability.
Fed says economic recovery on firmer footing
March 15, 2011--The Federal Reserve said on Tuesday the U.S. recovery is gaining traction and inflation pressure from soaring energy costs should be short-lived, allowing it to maintain its heavy support for the economy.
The U.S. central bank decided unanimously to forge ahead with its $600 billion bond-buying plan despite a considerably more upbeat assessment of the economy and the job market
It made no mention of Japan, which is grappling with the aftermath of the country's worst earthquake on record -- and struggling desperately to avert a nuclear disaster.
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Source: FT.com
FactorShares ETF reaches 1m share trades Milestone
FactorShares ETF Reaches Milestone
One Million Shares Traded of FactorShares 2X: Oil Bull/S&P500 Bear
March 14, 2011--Factor Advisors is pleased to announce that FactorShares 2X: Oil Bull/S&P500 Bear (NYSE Arca: FOL) has traded over one million shares in total since its initial listing on February 24, 2011. Average daily volume for FOL has been over 100,000 shares after just 12 days of trading.
FOL allows investors to focus on the daily price relationship, or spread, on a leveraged basis between a long position in Light Sweet Crude Oil Futures and a short position in the E-mini S&P 500 Stock Price Index Futures. Within a single ETF, FOL seeks to return twice the difference in the daily return between the oil and U.S. equity market segments.
The recent activity in FOL may be attributed to increased volatility in crude oil futures prices as a result of international sanctions and unrest. Additional FactorShares funds in the first family of spread ETFs offer exposure to the spread between different market segments such as gold, the U.S. dollar and government bonds, as other economic factors exert influence upon market environment.
Source: FactorShares
Morgan Stanley ETF Weekly Update
March 14, 2011--Weekly Flows: $2.8 Billion Net Outflows
ETFs Traded $397 Billion Last Week
No ETF Launches
UNG Undergoes Reverse Share Split
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Flows by Market Segment
ETFs had net outflows of $2.8 blnlast week; 1stweekly net outflows since week ending 2/4/11
Net outflows were led by US Large-Cap ETFs($5.4 blnnet outflows last week)
ETF assets stand at more than $1 trillion, up 2.5% YTD
13-week flows were mostly positive among asset classes
$21.1 blnnet inflows into ETFs over past 13 weeks (majority into US Equity ETFsdespite last week’s outflows)
EM Equity ETFs posted meaningful net outflows ($9.5 bln) over the past 13 weeks; however, EM Equity net outflows have slowed recently with only $638 mlnnet outflows the past 4 weeks
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Largest Flows by Individual ETF
iSharesRussell 2000 Index Fund (IWM) posted $1.0 blnnet inflows, the most of any ETF
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) exhibited net outflows of $4.9 blnlast week; YTD posted net outflows of $5.2 bln
iSharesMSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM) had the largest net outflows over the past 13 weeks ($10.7 blnnet outflows)
request report
Source: Morgan Stanley
CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) Futures Establish New Daily Volume Record
March 14, 2011--The CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE) today reported that Friday, March 11 was a record-volume day for CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) futures - based on the CBOE Volatility Index (ticker: VX) - as 77,556 contracts changed hands. The previous daily record was 70,704 contracts, set on November 16, 2010.
In February, VIX futures set an all-time volume record for any month, with 788,908 contracts traded, exceeding a record 777,366 contracts traded in January 2011. Average daily volume (ADV) in VIX futures was 41,521 contracts in February, compared to the 9,880 contracts per day in February 2010, a 320-percent rise. February marked the first month in which VIX futures ADV exceeded 40,000 contracts and the seventeenth consecutive month of year-over-year monthly volume increases.
CFE, a wholly owned subsidiary of CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE), offers an all-electronic, open-access market model, with traders providing liquidity and making markets. CFE trades are cleared by the AAA-rated Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). CBOE Futures Exchange is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
More information on CFE and its products, including contract specifications, can be found at: http://cfe.cboe.com/.
Source: CBOE
S&P, TMX Group Launch S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index For The Canadian Market - S&P Licenses Global X Funds To List ETF Based Upon The Index
March 14, 2011--Providing Canadian investors with an innovative approach to tracking the performance of smaller-cap Canadian Stocks trading on TSX Venture Exchange, S&P Indices and TMX Group Inc., operator of Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange, launched today the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index.
The S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index seeks to measure the performance of 30 of the largest and most liquid securities included in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index, a broad market indicator of Canadian micro-cap securities.
S&P Indices also announced today that it has licensed Global X Funds, the New York based provider of exchange traded funds, to launch an ETF based upon the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index. The Global X Funds ETF is expected to launch on March 17, 2011 on the NYSE Arca.
"With the launch of this Index, investors will for the first time be able to track the performance of a segment of the Canadian stock market that features higher-yielding, more liquid, smaller-cap securities," says Abigail Etches, Director at S&P Indices. "We are certainly pleased that Global X Funds will use the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index as the underlying index for its forthcoming ETF."
For more information about the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index, please visit: www.standardandpoors.com/indices.
Source: Standard & Poors
Quarterly Changes to the NASDAQ Q-50 Index
March 14, 2011--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today the results of the quarterly re-ranking of the NASDAQ Q-50 Index (Nasdaq:NXTQ), which will become effective prior to market open on Monday, March 21, 2011.
The following eight securities will be added to the Index: Charter Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:CHTR), Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Nasdaq:CY), Foster Wheeler AG (Nasdaq:FWLT), Gentex Corporation (Nasdaq:GNTX), Hasbro, Inc. (Nasdaq:HAS), JDS Uniphase Corporation (Nasdaq:JDSU), Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCM), and Tractor Supply Company (Nasdaq:TSCO).
The Index is designed to track the performance of the 50 securities that are next in line to replace the securities currently included in the NASDAQ-100 Index®. The NASDAQ Q-50 Index is re-ranked on a quarterly basis. For more information about the NASDAQ Q-50 Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/.
As a result of the re-ranking, the following eight securities will be removed from the Index: CTC Media, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTCM), Focus Media Holding Limited (Nasdaq:FMCN), LKQ Corporation (Nasdaq:LKQX), Logitech International S.A. (Nasdaq:LOGI), NetEase.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:NTES), Pan American Silver Corp. (Nasdaq:PAAS), Ryanair Holdings plc (Nasdaq:RYAAY), and TIBCO Software Inc. (Nasdaq:TIBX).
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Annual Changes to the NASDAQ Internet Index
March 14, 2011-- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today the results of the annual evaluation of the NASDAQ Internet Index (Nasdaq:QNET), which will become effective with the market open on Monday, March 21, 2011.
As a result of the evaluation, the following 15 securities will be added to the Index: Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq:ACOM), Dice Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DHX), Keynote Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:KEYN), KIT digital, Inc. (Nasdaq:KITD), Liquidity Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:LQDT), MakeMyTrip Limited (Nasdaq:MMYT), Motricity, Inc. (Nasdaq:MOTR), Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW), QuinStreet, Inc. (Nasdaq:QNST), RightNow Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:RNOW), Saba Software, Inc. (Nasdaq:SABA), Support.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:SPRT), Travelzoo Inc. (Nasdaq:TZOO), Web.com Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:WWWW), and Zix Corporation (Nasdaq:ZIXI).
The Index is designed to track the performance of the largest and most liquid U.S.-listed companies engaged in internet-related businesses and that are listed in the U.S. The NASDAQ Internet Index is evaluated annually in March. For more information about the NASDAQ Internet Index, including detail eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/.
As a result of the evaluation, the following three securities will be removed from the Index: drugstore.com, inc. (Nasdaq:DSCM), Internet Capital Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:ICGE), and Vitacost.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:VITC).
Source: NASDAQ OMX