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OIC Announces January Options Trading Volume Increased 21.5%
February 1, 2011--The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 378,480,506 total options contracts changed hands in January, a 21.48 percent increase from the 311,561,541 contracts traded in January 2010.
January's trading volume was the second highest monthly total ever recorded, following only May 2010 when nearly 406 million changed hands. Average daily trading volume for January was 18,942,025 contracts, up 15.4 percent from the 16,397,976 contracts in January 2010.
Equity options volume (options on individual stocks and ETFs) in January saw 354,795,514 contracts change hands, 22.8 percent more than in January 2010 when 288,939,483 contracts were traded. On average, 17,739,776 contracts were traded each day throughout January compared to January of last year when an average of 15,207,341 contracts were traded daily, representing a 16.7 percent increase.
Source: OIC
ETF Securities Asian Gold Trust (AGOL) takes in $50M in AUM
February 1, 2011--ETF Securities USA LLC (ETFS) announced today that the newly launched ETFS Asian Gold Trust (AGOL) Exchange Traded Product (ETP) has gathered $50M in AUM.
AGOL is designed for investors who want a cost-effective(1) and convenient way to invest in gold held outside of the United States or Europe. The gold bars are allocated and held in a secure vault in Singapore.
Investors have further choice in gold holdings and can now diversify from gold epicenters like London and the U.S. into Asia using AGOL or into Switzerland using existing SGOL. Both offered at 0.39%. (1)
Singapore is the gateway to Asia, and like Switzerland, is widely considered a neutral country. Singapore welcomes free market trade and is a country that is poised for tremendous growth and free of sovereign debt (2) concerns.
ETFS’ Physical Asian Gold Shares ETP is the first U.S. precious metals product to be vaulted in Asia.
With AGOL, ETFS now offers seven precious metal ETPs in the U.S. – solidifying our position as market leader in issuance of physically-backed precious metal ETPs.
Each vault is audited bi-annually and the bar numbers of all the metal holdings are listed on the ETF Securities website, providing investors with insurance that they are, in fact, purchasing the underlying physical metal.
Commenting on this milestone for ETF Securities in the US, Fred Jheon, Head of Product & Business Development for ETFS Marketing LLC, commented:
“We are delighted with the immediate success of AGOL and look forward to broader investor adoption of our physically-backed precious metal products.”
Source: ETF Securities
Teucrium Trading, LLC to follow Launch of First Single Ag Commodity ETP with Two New Energy Funds
February 1, 2011--Teucrium Trading, LLC (Teucrium), the first company to introduce a single agricultural commodity Exchange Traded Product (“ETP”) in the United States, today announced the introduction of two new single commodity ETPs for the energy space – the Teucrium Natural Gas Fund (NYSE: NAGS) and the Teucrium WTI Crude Oil Fund (NYSE: CRUD).
The funds join the Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSE: CORN), which was successfully launched in June, as the latest additions to the growing Teucrium family of single-commodity ETPs.
Sal Gilbertie, President of Teucrium Trading, LLC, said that, like the Teucrium Corn Fund, the new funds have been designed to allow Registered Investment Advisors, pension funds, hedge funds, institutional and individual investors the opportunity to invest in single commodities through an easily traded, liquid and transparent New York Stock Exchange Arca-listed security.
The Teucrium Natural Gas Fund began trading on February 1, 2011 and the Teucrium WTI Crude Oil Fund is expected to begin trading in February 2011, pending final regulatory approval.
“With global growth and the increasing stress emerging markets are putting on commodities as pervasive as corn, oil and gas, it’s clear that commodities have become a valid asset class, although until now, access to single commodities for most investors has been very limited,” Gilbertie said.
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Source: Teucrium Trading, LLC
CBOE Holdings Reports January 2011 Trading Volumes:
CBOE Holdings Averages 5.3 Million Options Contracts Per Day in January, Up 9% Over January 2010; Increase of 22% from December 2010;
CFE/VIX Futures Post All-Time Record Monthly Volume
February 1, 2011--CBOE Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBOE) today announced that January trading volume for options on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and C2 Options Exchange (C2), the company's new alternative all-electronic market, combined, totaled 105.8 million contracts, an average daily volume (ADV) of 5.3 million contracts.
Futures trading on CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) set a new monthly volume record of over 778,000 contracts in January, an ADV of 39,000 contracts
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Source: CBOE
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index
February 1, 2011--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Tuesday, February 1, 2011:
Western Lithium USA Corporation (TSXVN:WLC) will be removed from the index. The company will graduate to trade on the TSX under the same ticker symbol.
The shares of PCI-1 Capital Corp. (TSXVN:ICC) will trade under the new name Curis Resources Ltd. The new ticker symbol will be "CUV" and the new CUSIP number will be 23127B 10 5. There is no consolidation of capital.
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
Fed passes China in Treasury holdings
February 1, 2011--The Federal Reserve has surpassed China as the leading holder of US Treasury securities even though it has yet to reach the halfway mark in its latest round of quantitative easing, according to official figures.
Based on weekly data released on Thursday, the New York Fed’s holdings of Treasuries in its System Open Market Account, known as Soma, total $1,108bn, made up of bills, notes, bonds and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or Tips.
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Source: FT.com
New Species: How Market Participants Have Evolved in Financial Ecosystems"
Speech of Commissioner Bart Chilton to the American Public Gas Association Winter Conference, Fort Myers, Florida
February 1, 2011--Introduction
Thank you for the opportunity to be with you today. In October of 2007, I met with and spoke with APGA's board in Memphis. Laura Campbell, who was with APGA at the time, took me to Memphis Light, Gas & Water and I met with traders there. The speech I gave in Memphis was my first as a Commissioner and I found the experience to be very useful. So, thanks for the great working relationship. Thanks also to your Executive Vice President Dave Schryver who I’ve worked with over the years and who represents you well in Washington.
The Importance of Markets
Futures markets are an important component of our nation's economy. These markets impact just about everyone in our country because they help discover prices for everything from a home mortgage to a gallon of gas, milk or importantly here in Florida, orange juice. For commercial businesses, they have provided important risk management tools.
The markets have also served as a vehicle for speculators, not only an important, but critical, component of these markets. So, these markets are vital to consumers and businesses and are a key part of the economic engine of our democracy. They need to remain so, but markets have morphed over the years and market participants have evolved and there are actually new species of market participants. Today I want to discuss how these new species are impacting markets and ask the question: how do we ensure that these markets remain viable and how do we ensure they are efficient and effective and devoid of fraud, abuse and manipulation?
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Source: CFTC.gov
Emerging Markets Week in Review -1/24/2011 - 1/28/2011
January 31, 2011-The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Sector Titans Composite Index fell 2.09% last week, the largest weekly decline since November. Technology and Telecom were the best performing sectors for the week, declining 0.55% and 0.87% respectively. Materials and Industrials were down the most, falling 3.23% and 2.98% respectively.
Concerns over civilian protests in Egypt rattled markets and pushed oil prices higher. Investors continue to closely watch moves by central banks as many developing economies deal with recent spikes in food prices.
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Source: Emerging Global Advisors
Market Vectors® Egypt Index ETF Creation Orders Suspended
January 31, 2011--Due to events in Egypt which have forced its stock
exchange to close for an undetermined period, New York-based asset manager Van Eck Global will
exercise its right to suspend creation orders of Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF (Ticker: EGPT).
This follows the firm’s normal policy of suspending creation orders when the underlying market is closed for an
extended period thereby helping to prevent the costs of creation activity to be borne by existing
shareholders.
Redemption orders for the Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF will continue to be accepted as described in the prospectus.
The Fund expects to resume normal operations once the Egyptian Stock Exchange reopens.
Source: Van Eck
SEC Releases Money Market Fund Portfolio and "Shadow NAV" Information to the Public
January 31, 2011--The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that investors can for the first time access detailed information that money market funds file with the Commission — including information about a fund's investments and the market-based price of its portfolio known as its "shadow NAV" (net asset value) or mark-to-market valuation.
The information is available on the SEC's website and will be updated monthly.
As part of its overhaul of money market fund regulation, the Commission last year adopted a rule requiring money market funds to file information about their holdings and portfolio valuations.
"While the Commission uses this information in its real-time oversight of money market funds, we also believe that public disclosure can provide investors and market analysts with useful insight for their evaluation of these funds," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro.
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Source: SEC.gov
