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Year End Financial Planning in 2010 Brings Unique Opportunities, says iShares 529 Plan
529 plans offer tax-smart incentives for saving for higher education
October 13, 2010--)-- iShares, a global leader in Exchange Traded Funds, today noted that the year-end tax planning season in 2010 brings strategic opportunities unique to the current tax environment and the characteristics of 529 college savings plans.
“With the country in full gear preparing for healthcare reform and additional tax changes under consideration, this year-end season will be a crucial one for tax strategy,” said Stephen Jobe, director of 529 programs at iShares. “529 plans were created specifically to make saving for higher education easier, and they come equipped with important tax incentives that CPAs and advisors can maximize during their planning process.”
Despite rising college costs and a bad economy, a recent survey1 suggests parent and student attitudes toward the value of a college education remain high:
80% strongly agree that college is an investment in the future, virtually unchanged over the past three years
71% strongly agree that a college degree is more important now than it used to be
60% strongly agree that they will stretch themselves financially to afford college
529 Plans serve as an innovative tool for addressing higher education goals while offering attractive tax benefits to the account owners.
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Source: iShares
CBOE Holdings' C2 Options Exchange to Launch on October 29
Initial Class Rollout Announced
October 13, 2010--CBOE Holdings, Inc. today announced that C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated(SM) (C2(SM)), the company's new all-electronic exchange, will open for trading on Friday, October 29, 2010. Details on C2's initial class and series listings were also announced.
C2 is the second securities options exchange under the CBOE Holdings, Inc. corporate umbrella. The new exchange will operate under a separate exchange license, with its own board of directors, rules, connectivity, systems architecture, and access structure. C2's market model will employ a "maker-taker" fee schedule and a modified price/time matching algorithm for non-proprietary classes.
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Source: CBOE
Component Changes Made to Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 Indexes
October 13, 2010--Please note the following correction to a press release issued on Tuesday, October 12, 2010: In the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR Index, Companhia Paranaense de Energia-COPEL ADS (Brazil, Utilities, ELP) will replace Net Servicos de Comunicacao S/A (Brazil, Media, NETC) not Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S/A ADS (Brazil, Telecommunications, TSP) as previously stated. The updated release follows:
Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced component changes in the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 indexes.
In the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR Index, Net Servicos de Comunicacao S/A (Brazil, Media, NETC) will be replaced by Companhia Paranaense de Energia-COPEL ADS (Brazil, Utilities, ELP).
In the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 Index, Net Servicos de Comunicacao S/A (Brazil, Media, NETC4.BR) will be replaced by Turk Hava Yollari A.O. (Turkey, Travel & Leisure, THYAO.IS).
Net Servicos de Comunicacao S/A (Brazil, Media, NETC; NETC4.BR) is being removed due to its acquisition by Embratel Participacoes S/A (Brazil, EBTP4.BR). All changes will be effective before the open of trading on Friday, October 15, 2010.
Further information on the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 indexes can be found at http://www.djindexes.com.
Company additions to and deletions from the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 indexes do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Flows Through September 2010
October 13, 2010-- Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund asset flows through September 2010. While long-term mutual funds saw inflows of $14.3 billion during the month, the U.S. equity outflows continued, reaching $16.3 billion despite the best September for stocks in 71 years.
The divergence in flows between international-stock and domestic-equity funds also continued to grow. Although international-stock funds saw modest inflows of $600 million in the third quarter, U.S. stock funds lost roughly $42.7 billion. Investors have pulled $80.9 billion from U.S. stock funds over the trailing 12 months, but contributed nearly $34.3 billion to international-stock funds—a difference of $115.2 billion. U.S. ETFs saw inflows of roughly $25.4 billion in September, boosting year-to-date inflows to $64.9 billion.
Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on ETF flows:
The most-popular ETF asset class in September was U.S. stocks, with inflows of $16.7 billion. While inflows into the heavily traded SPDR S&P 500 SPY and PowerShares QQQ QQQQ bolstered assets for U.S. stock ETFs overall, the predominant theme in the current environment is investor appetite for dividends. iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend DVY and Vanguard Dividend Appreciation VIG have seen a spike in demand in recent months.
While TIPS ETFs have seen outflows on deflationary concerns, commodities, REITs, and dividend-paying ETFs have enjoyed increasing popularity. REITs serve as a solid inflation hedge, and iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate IYR and Vanguard REIT Index VNQ saw $312 million and $371 million in net inflows in the third quarter, respectively.
Gold ETFs remained attractive in September, but iShares Silver Trust SLV gathered assets of more than $421 million to lead precious-metals ETF flows during the month.
Strong demand for emerging-markets ETFs continued in September. Of the $14.5 billion in inflows that investors added to international-stock ETFs in the third quarter, more than $12.5 billion, or 86 percent, went to ETFs covering broad emerging-market indexes. Conversely, ETFs offering exposure to developed international markets continued to experience outflows.
view Morningstar DirectSM Fund Flows Update
Source: Morningstar, Inc.
Ohio Adds ETFs To 529 Plans
October 13, 2010--They’ve been slow to catch-on with advisers to retirement and college savings plans, but exchange-traded funds are starting to play a bigger role.
Ohio launched a new 529 college savings plan Wednesday after ending a 10-year relationship with Putnam Investments.
The state has partnered with BlackRock (BLK) to revamp its program, including three ETFs: the iShares S&P 500 ETF (IVV), the iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM), and the iShares MSCI EAFE Index ETF (EFA).
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Source: Barrons
Market Vectors(R) Agribusiness ETF Reaches $2 Billion in Assets
October 13, 2010--Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (nyse arca:MOO), distributed by Van Eck Global, has reached $2 billion in assets as of October 13, 2010, the company announced today. MOO was the first ETF listed in the U.S. which sought to give U.S. investors exposure to a broad spectrum of companies involved in agribusiness.
MOO seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the DAXglobal(R) Agribusiness Index (DXAG), a basket of the securities of 46* companies engaged in agribusiness and listed on global exchanges. MOO seeks to provide investors with a convenient means to gain exposure to a basic industry with solid growth potential.
"Agriculture remains a fundamental cornerstone of the world economy with basic demand historically moving in line with growing populations and rising personal incomes," said Jan van Eck, Principal at Van Eck Global. "With a relatively fixed amount of arable land, there is continued interest in increasing productivity through agricultural chemicals and equipment."
"Producers of biofuels may represent another source of incremental demand for certain crops. These growth opportunities have resulted in strong interest among investors in agribusiness. We are pleased to see that the interest in our Fund continues to grow among financial advisors and their clients," van Eck added.
Source: Van Eck Global
SEC Proposes Rules to Require Issuer Review of Assets Underlying Asset-Backed Securities
October 13, 2010--The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a proposal to enhance disclosure to investors in the asset-backed securities market.
The SEC’s proposed rules require issuers of asset-backed securities (ABS) to perform a review of the assets underlying the securities and publicly disclose information relating to the review. The proposal also requires an issuer or underwriter of ABS to make publicly available the findings and conclusions of any third-party due diligence report.
“This marks the third Commission proposal to address the ABS issues that came to light during the financial crisis,” said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. “This proposal will require issuers to provide investors with better information about the loans backing the asset-backed securities.”
view Proposed Rule Release No. 33-9150
Source: SEC.gov
SEC Adopts Interim Rule to Require Reporting of Security-Based Swaps
October 13, 2010-- The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted an interim rule that requires certain swaps dealers and other parties to report any security-based swaps entered into prior to the July 21 passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This rule applies only to such swaps whose terms had not expired as of July 21.
Prior to passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, the over-the-counter derivatives market was largely unregulated. The new law fills a number of significant regulatory gaps and gives the SEC important new tools to better protect investors.
The interim rule requires parties to report security-based swap information to the SEC or to a registered security-based swap data repository. Parties also are required to preserve data pertaining to the terms of pre-enactment security-based swaps in support of the reporting requirements.
"This interim final rule provides a means for the Commission to gain a better understanding of the security-based swap markets, including their size and scope," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "Until such time as final rules are adopted, this interim rule clarifies who needs to do security-based swaps reporting, what needs to be reported, and when such reporting needs to occur."
The interim rule becomes effective once it is published in the Federal Register, and the agency will continue seeking public comments to inform its development of a permanent reporting procedure.
view Interim Rule Release No. 34-63094
Source: SEC.gov
SEC Proposes Rules to Mitigate Conflicts of Interest Involving Security-Based Swaps
October 13, 2010-- The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rules intended to mitigate conflicts of interest for security-based swap clearing agencies, security-based swap execution facilities, and national securities exchanges that post security-based swaps or make them available for trading.
Prior to passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, the over-the-counter derivatives market was largely unregulated. The new law fills a number of significant regulatory gaps and gives the SEC important new tools to better protect investors.
"The concern about conflicts of interest stems from the fact that the over-the-counter derivatives markets have a relatively high concentration of market activity through a limited number of dealers who earn significant revenues from their transactions," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "By creating a structure that would promote more independent voices within clearing organizations and trading venues, this proposed rule is intended to make these entities less susceptible to promoting the interests of a few participants."
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Source: SEC.gov
SEC looks at OTC platform ownership limits
October 13, 2010--The prospect of ownership limits being placed on clearing houses, exchanges and other platforms handling over-the-counter derivatives moved a step closer after the US Securities and Exchange Commission voted to proceed with considering a proposal designed to prevent any one group of financial players having too much influence in them.
The move comes two weeks after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US futures watchdog, voted to proceed with almost identical rules.
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Source: FT.com
