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Barclays Expands iPath® Exchange Traded Notes Platform in Canada
Lists Two iPath® ETNs Linked to US Treasury Futures Indices on Toronto Stock Exchange
December 2, 2010--Barclays Bank PLC announced today the cross-listing of two iPath® Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The iPath ETNs are linked to US Treasury futures indices and provide exposure to fixed income strategies. The iPath ETNs are:
iPath® US Treasury Steepener ETN (Ticker Symbol: SST)
iPath® US Treasury Flattener ETN (Ticker Symbol: FFL)
“We are pleased to continue the expansion of our iPath ETN platform in Canada and to provide investors with innovative investment solutions. The ETNs allow investors to express their views on the shape of the US Treasury yield curve,” said Philippe El-Asmar, Managing Director, Head of Investor Solutions at Barclays Capital.
Barclays listed seven iPath ETNs on the Toronto Stock Exchange in December 2009
The ETNs are designed to provide investors with convenient access to the returns of market benchmarks, less applicable costs and investor fees. The ETNs are senior, unsecured, unsubordinated debt securities that trade in the secondary market during trading hours at market prices, and may typically be redeemed in at least 50,000 units on a daily basis directly to Barclays1. Currently, there are 70 ETNs listed globally with over US$8.4 billion assets under management.
Barclays PLC has a growing presence in Canada through Barclays Capital, its investment banking division. Barclays Capital has offices in Toronto and Calgary, providing investment products and services to corporate, government and institutional clients. The firm also operates a growing commodities trading business in the region. In 2009, Barclays Bank PLC successfully secured a bank license from the Canadian banking regulator to commence and carry on business as a foreign bank branch under the name Barclays Bank PLC, Canada Branch.
Source: Barclays
Statement on Position Limits, “Keeping Promises”
Commissioner Bart Chilton
December 2, 2010--Yesterday the Commission held the sixth in a series of open meetings to address rules implementing the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. I commend the CFTC’s staff for working diligently on the myriad rules mandated by the Act, even now in the face of a pay freeze. The staff of the CFTC truly exemplifies the meaning of “service” in the performance of their roles as dedicated public servants.
am concerned, however, with regard to the potential derailment of what I consider to be one of the most important rules required by the Reform Act: implementation of speculative position limits. Congress put special emphasis on this provision, to protect markets and consumers from excessive speculation in commodities markets. Indeed, we were given a specific implementation date for position limits on energy and metals contracts—January 17, 2011—well in advance of the majority of other Reform Act rules. We have a commitment to enact this rule on time, a “promise to keep,” with the American consumer who is affected daily by the prices discovered on commodities markets.
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Source: CFTC.gov
CFTC to Hold Open Meeting on Seventh Series of Proposed Rules under the Dodd-Frank Act
December 2, 2010--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will hold a public meeting on Thursday, December 9, 2010, at 9:30 a.m. to consider the issuance of proposed rulemakings under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on the following topics:
Core principles and other requirements for swap execution facilities;
End-user exception to mandatory clearing of swaps;
Business conduct standards with counterparties; and
Governance requirements for derivatives clearing organizations, designated contract markets and swap execution facilities, and additional requirements regarding the mitigation of conflicts of interest.
In addition to these proposed rulemakings, the Commission will consider the issuance of an interim final rule for reporting certain post-enactment swap transactions.
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Source: CFTC.gov
ELX Starts Month of December with Record-Breaking Open Interest and Volume in Eurodollar Futures
December 2, 2010--ELX Futures, L.P. (ELX) announced today that it has set new records in open interest (OI) and volume in its Eurodollar futures contract during the first trading session of December. OI for Eurodollar futures hit 198K contracts on December 1, with OI surging almost 80% since October.
The Eurodollar futures contract also kicked off December by setting a new volume record, with over 56K contracts traded, an increase of 38% from its previous record on November 30. Eurodollar futures continued to gain market share, hitting 2% on December 1, another new record, and continuing to build on November's 88% improvement in Average Daily Volume over October.
Neal Wolkoff, Chief Executive Officer of ELX Futures, said, “We continue to achieve new milestones with our Eurodollar futures contract, which was launched in June 2010. In the past six months the Eurodollar futures contract has established itself as an attractive new contract that has captured the interest of the futures marketplace. ELX remains committed to driving competition in a consolidated exchange environment of interest rate futures trading and the Eurodollar futures contract is a great testament to our efforts.”
Source: ELX Futures
Component Changes Made to Dow Jones Sector Titans Indexes
Changes Are The Result of The Regular Quarterly Review
December 2, 2010--Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced results of the regular quarterly review of the Dow Jones Sector Titans and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Sector Titans Indexes. All changes will be effective after the close of trading on Friday, December 17, 2010.
In the Dow Jones Financial Services Titans 30 Index, Mega Financial Holding Co. Ltd. (Taiwan, Financial Services, 2886.TW) will be replaced by BlackRock Inc. (United States, Financial Services, BLK). Mega Financial Holding Co. Ltd. is being removed due to a change in its Supersector classification from Financial Services to Banks, according to the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB). The free-float market capitalization of the reconstituted Dow Jones Financial Services Titans 30 Index increased to US$572.62 billion from US$563.87 billion.
In the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Utilities Titans 30 Index, Lanco Infratech Ltd. (India, Utilities, 532278.BY) will be replaced by Tauron Polska Energia S.A. (Poland, Utilities, TPE.WA). Lanco Infratech Ltd. is being removed due to failure to meet index requirements. The free-float market capitalization of the reconstituted Dow Jones Emerging Markets Utilities Titans 30 Index increased to US$101.11 billion from US$90.78 billion.
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Source: Dow Jones Indexes
SEC Proposes Joint Rules with CFTC to Define Swap Related Terms
November 3, 2010--The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted unanimously to propose joint rules with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that would further define a series of terms related to the security-based swaps market, including “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant” and “eligible contract participant.”
The rules seek to implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which among other things established a comprehensive framework for regulating the over-the counter swaps market.
SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro said, “Today’s proposals lay out objective criteria, but they are just a first step, as we seek public comment to help us appropriately address the market impacts and potential risks posed by these entities.”
The SEC is seeking public comment on the proposed rules for a period of 60 days following their publication in the Federal Register.
view fact sheet
Source: SEC.gov
MSCI Launches Micro Cap and All Cap Indices for Developed Markets
December 2, 2010--MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, including indices, portfolio risk and performance analytics and corporate governance services, announced
today that it has launched the MSCI Micro Cap Indices for all Developed Markets countries and regions covered by
MSCI. MSCI is the first major index provider to offer consistent micro cap coverage across these markets.
The MSCI Micro Cap Indices add 4,862 new securities to the number covered by the MSCI Global Equity Indices, led
by constituents from Japan (1,318 securities) and the US (964 securities)1. The indices include companies with
market capitalizations as low as USD 29.5 million1.
In conjunction with the MSCI Micro Cap Indices, MSCI is also launching the MSCI All Cap Indices today, which aim to provide comprehensive coverage of all capitalization segments and approximately 99.8% of the Developed Markets equity universe. The MSCI All Cap Indices extend and complement the existing MSCI Investable Market Indices (IMI) which include large, mid and small cap companies.
Theodore Niggli, Managing Director and Head of MSCI Indices, said “With the launch of these new indices we now offer an effective alternative to existing domestic micro cap indices, and provide a deeper all cap equity opportunity set for Developed Markets, with large, mid, small and micro cap representation.”
Both the MSCI Micro Cap Indices and the MSCI All Cap Indices follow the principles of the MSCI Global Investable Market Indices Methodology and are constructed with a focus on data quality, and index transparency and consistency across all size segments and geographies.
MSCI’s extension of coverage into the micro cap segment demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to address the evolving needs of its clients, and represents yet another landmark in the company’s 40-year history of index development.
MSCI also announced today that it has extended its Frontier Markets universe to include small cap coverage. The new MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Indices cover 26 countries and 242 securities1.
Performance data for all the new indices will be available on www.msci.com at market close today, and will be included in the applicable end of day index products for MSCI index clients.
1 All index statistics cited use pro forma index data as of October 21, 2010.
Source: MSCI Inc.
Opening Statement, Public Meeting on Proposed Rules Under Dodd-Frank Act
Commissioner Michael V. Dunn
December 1, 2010--
Thank you all for joining us today for this important meeting regarding the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act. Today’s meeting will address proposed rules regarding:
Core principles and other requirements for designated contract markets;
General regulations for derivatives clearing organizations;
Information management requirements for derivatives clearing organizations;
Reporting, recordkeeping and daily trading records requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants; and
The definition of “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant” and “eligible contract participant.
I will support publishing these proposed rules in their current form, but I am concerned that the rules addressing DCM core principles, as currently drafted, may be too prescriptive.
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Source: CFTC.gov
OCC Announces Total Contract Volume in November Increased 33%
December 1, 2010--The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) announced today that total OCC volume reached 354,897,569 contracts in November. This represents a 33% percent increase over the November 2009 volume of 266,989,810 contracts. OCC year-to-date total volume is up 8% with 3,581,480,630 contracts, only 43,540,423 contracts away from last year's annual total.
As of the end of November, OCC's year-to-date cleared futures volume is 23,619,380, nearly double the 2009 annual total of 12,383,935 contracts.
Options: Exchange-listed options trading in the U.S for the month of November was up 33% from the previous year. Index options trading increased 5% over the previous November with 23,247,409 contracts. Equity options trading volume rose 35% compared to the same month last year with 328,797,894 contracts in November.
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Source: OCC
Volume Records Propel November Trading At CBOE Futures Exchange To All-Time High
December 1, 2010--The CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE) today announced that November 2010 was the most-active trading month in CFE history.
The record 751,481 contracts that changed hands during the month surpassed the previous high of 481,650 contracts in May 2010. November volume exceeded the 184,558 contracts traded during November 2009 and gained 57 percent from the 479,304 contracts that traded during October 2010. November marked the fourteenth consecutive month in which total volume registered an increase when comparing year-over-year trading activity.
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Source: CBOE
