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Trading in CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) Options and Futures Sets New Records Today
ingle-Day Volume in VIX Options at CBOE Exceeds One Million Contracts for the First Time, In VIX Futures at CFE, Tuesday's All-Time High Tops Last Friday's Record
March 15, 2011--CBOE Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBOE) announced today that trading volume in options based on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and futures based on VIX at the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) both established new single-day volume records on Tuesday, March 15.
VIX Options at CBOE
Today marked the first time in CBOE's history that VIX options volume topped the one-million-contract benchmark in a single trading session, as a reported 1,038,002 contracts changed hands. Tuesday's volume surpassed the previous single-day high of 716,815 contracts traded on December 3, 2009, while Monday's trading volume of 700,826 contracts fell just shy of this previous record. The trading activity experienced on Tuesday and Monday rank as two of the top four most-active trading days for VIX options in CBOE history.
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Source: CBOE
ELX Announces Plans To List European Interest-Rate Futures Using Maker-Taker And Taker-Maker Pricing Models
March 15, 2011--ELX Futures, L.P. (ELX), a leading electronic futures exchange, announced today that it will move forward with launch plans to trade competitive interest-rate products from NYSE Liffe and Eurex using the maker-taker and taker-maker pricing models, bringing enhanced technology, competitive pricing and market structure innovation to challenge an expanding monopoly structure.
Neal Wolkoff, Chief Executive Officer of ELX Futures, said, “ELX was created to challenge monopolies, high prices and a lack of effective innovation in the futures industry. Our expansion into Europe is another bold move by ELX to launch competitive pricing, establish an additional European presence, and bring innovation to the global futures marketplace. In addition, ELX will introduce the maker-taker and taker-maker pricing models to give liquidity providers incentives to trade. This is a very exciting time at ELX and we look forward to implementing new initiatives to grow our business and provide market participants with more competition and alternatives."
ELX’s technology provider, BGC Partners, has a strong European presence, the technological infrastructure and well-developed connectivity in place in Europe for ELX to move forward with its plans and focus on a seamless and successful launch of trading these new interest-rate products.
Source: ELX Futures
US One Trust files with the SEC
March 15, 2011--US One Trust has filed a Fourth Amended and Restated Application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
AdvisorShares files with the SEC
March 15, 2011--AdvisorShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the Meidell Tactical Advantage ETF (NYSE Arca Ticker: MATH).
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
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 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. read more
FactorShares ETF reaches 1m share trades Milestone 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. Morgan Stanley ETF Weekly Update 13-week flows were mostly positive among asset classes US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Largest Flows by Individual ETF request report
Source: Federal Open Market Committee
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
Source: FT.com
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.
Source: FactorShares
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
$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
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)
Source: Morgan Stanley
