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U.S. Department of the Treasury Economic Statistics - Monthly Data Update
September 30, 2010---The U.S. Department of the Treasury Economic Statistics - Monthly Data has been updated and is now available.
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Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury
U.S. Department of the Treasury Economic Statistics - Quarterly Data Update
September 30, 2010--The U.S. Department of the Treasury Economic Statistics - Quarterly Data has been updated is now available.
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Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury
Trading Begins October 1st for Futures on MSCI Net Total Return (NTR) EAFE and Emerging Markets Indices
September 30, 2010--NYSE Liffe U.S. is pleased to announce the addition of futures on the MSCI Net Total Return (NTR) EAFE and Emerging Markets Indices to its comprehensive family of MSCI index-based products. MSCI Total Return Indices measure total market performance, including both price performance and income from dividends.
The new NTR Mini Index Futures will track the underlying indices with high precision, allowing investors to hedge or gain full exposure to price and yield performance of developed and emerging markets in a single transaction. NYSE Liffe U.S. Net Total Return Mini Index futures trade on the leading edge LIFFE CONNECT platform and clear at the Options Clearing Corporation.
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Source: NYSE Euronext
NYSE Announces Fourth-Quarter 2010 Circuit-Breaker Levels
September 30, 2010--The New York Stock Exchange will implement new circuit-breaker collar trigger levels for fourth-quarter 2010 effective Friday, October 1, 2010.
Circuit-breaker points represent the thresholds at which trading is halted marketwide for single-day declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Circuit-breaker levels are set quarterly as 10, 20 and 30 percent of the DJIA average closing values of the previous month, rounded to the nearest 50 points.
In fourth-quarter 2010, the 10-, 20- and 30-percent decline levels, respectively, in the DJIA will be as follows:
Level 1 Halt
An 1,050-point drop in the DJIA before 2 p.m. will halt trading for one hour; for 30 minutes if between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.; and have no effect if at 2:30 p.m. or later unless there is a level 2 halt.
Level 2 Halt
A 2,100-point drop in the DJIA before 1:00 p.m. will halt trading for two hours; for one hour if between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.; and for the remainder of the day if at 2:00 p.m. or later.
Level 3 Halt
A 3,150-point drop will halt trading for the remainder of the day regardless of when the decline occurs.
Background:
Circuit-breakers are calculated quarterly. The percentage levels were first implemented in April 1998 and the point levels are adjusted on the first trading day of each quarter. In 2010, those dates are Jan. 2, April 1, July 1 and Oct. 1.
Source: NYSE Euronext
US bill raises concerns over trade war with China
September 30, 2010--Beijing warned Washington on Thursday that economic ties might be damaged after American lawmakers escalated the conflict over China’s currency controls, inching the two economic giants closer to a trade war.
The Commerce Ministry said a measure approved Wednesday by Congress to allow Washington to penalize governments that manipulate exchange rates violated free-trade rules. It gave no indication whether Beijing might retaliate, though it has imposed antidumping duties in recent months on imports of US chicken, steel and nylon.
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Source: Todays Zaman
iShares files with the SEC
September 30, 2010--iShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration with the SEC for
iShares Taxable Municipal Bond Fund.
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Source: SEC.gov
BlackRock seeks tougher swap rules
September 30, 2010--BlackRock, one of the world’s biggest investment managers, has created a stir in the derivatives industry by recommending that regulators set stricter rules for clearing privately traded swaps than those that apply to the clearing of exchange traded futures.
The fund manager is concerned that rules being drafted might not be tough enough and could leave it too heavily exposed to the default of other investors.
A move to rules advocated by BlackRock could increase operational costs for clearing houses and change the economics of clearing, according to industry participants. The point of contention is whether customer assets and margin payments towards cleared derivatives positions are held in pooled accounts or in separate, or segregated, accounts. BlackRock favours segregation.
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Source: FT.com
UBS Announces the 16th ETN in its E-TRACS Platform Which Gives Short Exposure to the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Total Return Index
September 30, 2010--UBS Investment Bank announced today the addition of a new exchange traded note (ETN) to its E-TRACS platform, the UBS E-TRACS 1X Monthly Short Alerian MLP Infrastructure Total Return Index. It is the 16th ETN in UBS’s rapidly growing E-TRACS platform, and the fourth ETN with Alerian. It began trading today on NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol, MLPS, and is designed to provide short exposure to the Master Limited Partnership (MLP) market by tracking the inverse performance of the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Total Return Index.
“This is our fourth ETN with Alerian and expands even further our spectrum of MLP ETN choices, giving investors an easily accessible, exchange-traded vehicle to hedge their exposure to the Master Limited Partnership market,” said Christopher Yeagley, Managing Director and US Head of Equity Structured Products. “We are proud of the diversity of our E-TRACS platform and are excited that we can continue offering investors interesting and useful products.”
UBS E-TRACS belong to an innovative class of investment products offering access to markets and strategies that had not previously been readily available to investors, and offer unique diversification opportunities in a number of different sectors.
UBS has 15 other existing E-TRACS ETNs – 10 that track the performance of various UBS Bloomberg CMCI indexes, like platinum, silver, gold, livestock, food, etc; one that tracks the total return of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index; one that is linked to the S&P 500 Gold Hedged Index; one linked to the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index; one that offers 2x leveraged exposure to the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index; and one linked to the Alerian Natural Gas MLP Index.
The Alerian MLP Infrastructure Total Return Index is comprised of 25 energy infrastructure MLPs whose constituents generally earn the majority of their cash flow from the transportation and storage of energy commodities. This index provides investors with a benchmark for the infrastructure component of this emerging asset class.
UBS E-TRACs are senior unsecured notes issued by UBS AG, are traded like any other security on NYSE Arca, and can be bought and sold through a broker or financial advisor. For more information about UBS E-TRACs, please visit www.ubs.com/e-tracs.
Source: UBS
CFTC Issues Request for Comment on Options for a Proposed Exemptive Order Relating to the Trading and Clearing of Precious Metal Commodity-Based ETFs and Concept Release
September 30, 2010--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued a Federal Register release containing both a Request for Comment on Options for a Proposed Exemptive Order Relating to the Trading and Clearing of Precious Metal Commodity-Based Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and a Concept Release regarding a March 1, 2010, submission from the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).
The OCC has requested approval of a rule amendment that would permit options and futures on ETF Securities Ltd.’s Physical Palladium Shares (symbol: PALL) and Physical Platinum Shares (symbol: PPLT) to be traded and cleared as options on securities and security futures, respectively. Both PALL and PPLT are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and listed on NYSE Arca. The ETFs are commodity-based ETFs in that their only assets consist of holdings of the underlying physical commodity, usually a precious metal (in this case, palladium or platinum). Commodity-based ETFs purport to allow investors to track the market price of the underlying commodity.
The pending request follows previous exemptions granted by the CFTC with respect to gold and silver commodity-based ETF products issued by SPDR® (exemptions issued on June 5, 2008), iShares® (exemptions issued on December 30, 2008) and ETF Securities Ltd. (exemptions issued on June 15, 2010). After granting each of the previous exemptions pursuant to Section 4(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act, the CFTC approved rule amendments that permitted options and futures on the gold and/or silver ETFs in question to be cleared as options on securities and security futures, respectively. The OCC’s pending submission represents the first time the Commission has reviewed a request to trade and clear options and futures on either palladium or platinum ETFs.
By issuing the Release, the Commission is examining the unique character of the palladium and platinum markets as compared to the gold and silver markets. The Commission also is considering and requesting comment on whether it should adopt a categorical approach (via exemption, rule or otherwise) to address requests to trade and clear options and futures on commodity-based ETFs holding physical gold, silver, palladium and/or platinum. The Release’s comment period will run for thirty days from its publication date in the Federal Register.
Source: CFTC.gov
Van Eck Associates' Derek Van Eck Dies Unexpectedly
October 1, 2010--Derek van Eck, a Principal and Director at Van
Eck Associates Corporation, died unexpectedly last night. He was 46 years old.
Mr. van Eck, whose father, John van Eck, founded the company in 1955, joined
his father and brother, Jan, at Van Eck Associates Corporation in 1993 and served as Chief Investment Officer as well as Portfolio Manager of the Van Eck Global Hard Assets Fund, Van Eck VIP Global Hard Assets Fund, and Van Eck’s long/short Hard Assets funds.
He will be succeeded in his portfolio management roles by Shawn Reynolds and Charles Cameron, who have been named Co-Portfolio Managers. Mr. Reynolds joined the company in 2005 and currently leads the energy investment team. Mr. Cameron has been with Van Eck for more than 15 years and is currently director of trading. Combined, they have 49 years of industry experience and are supported by a team of seven analysts and traders.
Mr. van Eck graduated from Williams College in 1986 with a BA in Economics, and received his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Northwestern) in 1993. He began his career in the securities business in 1986 at CS First Boston. He was a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts and the Association of Investment Management and Research (AIMR), and served on the board of the Fred M. van Eck Forest Trust, managed in conjunction with the Pacific Forest Trust.
Mr. van Eck is survived by his wife, Deborah S. van Eck, and two children Willem
J. van Eck and Kathryn M. van Eck; his parents, Sigrid and John C. van Eck; and his
brother, Jan van Eck, who continues as Principal of Van Eck Associates Corporation;
and his sister-in-law, Cynthia van Eck. Mr. van Eck was a resident of New York City
and Sharon, CT.
Source: Van Eck Global
