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SocGen Hires Newedge’s Ahmuty to Run ETF Trading
June 23, 2010--Societe Generale SA, France’s second-biggest bank by market value, hired Bill Ahmuty of Newedge Group as head of trading for exchange-traded funds in New York.
Ahmuty, 37, reports to Jonathan Bensimon, head of equities and derivatives trading for the Americas, according to Jim Galvin, a New York-based spokesman for Societe Generale. His job is a new position, Galvin said. Newedge is a joint venture owned equally by Paris-based Societe Generale and Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank.
ETFs in the U.S. tripled assets to $830.9 billion in April from the end of 2005, according to data compiled by the Investment Company Institute, a Washington-based trade group for the fund industry. SocGen has traded 46.5 billion euros ($57.3 billion) of the securities globally in 2010, a rate implying 57 percent growth over 2009 and almost a 10-fold gain from five years ago, the firm said.
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Source: Bloomberg
FRB-Federal Open Market Committee Statement
June 23, 2010--Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the economic recovery is proceeding and that the labor market is improving gradually. Household spending is increasing but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Business spending on equipment and software has risen significantly; however, investment in nonresidential structures continues to be weak and employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. Housing starts remain at a depressed level. Financial conditions have become less supportive of economic growth on balance, largely reflecting developments abroad. Bank lending has continued to contract in recent months. Nonetheless, the Committee anticipates a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability, although the pace of economic recovery is likely to be moderate for a time.
Prices of energy and other commodities have declined somewhat in recent months, and underlying inflation has trended lower. With substantial resource slack continuing to restrain cost pressures and longer-term inflation expectations stable, inflation is likely to be subdued for some time.
The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.
The Committee will continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and will employ its policy tools as necessary to promote economic recovery and price stability.
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; James Bullard; Elizabeth A. Duke; Donald L. Kohn; Sandra Pianalto; Eric S. Rosengren; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Kevin M. Warsh. Voting against the policy action was Thomas M. Hoenig, who believed that continuing to express the expectation of exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period was no longer warranted because it could lead to a build-up of future imbalances and increase risks to longer-run macroeconomic and financial stability, while limiting the Committee’s flexibility to begin raising rates modestly.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index
June 23, 2010--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Wednesday, June 23, 2010:
Canada Lithium Corp. (TSXVN:CLQ) will be removed from the index.
The company will graduate to TSX where it will trade under the same
ticker symbol.
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
SPDR (R) S&P 500 ETF Announces Impact of Receiving Settlement Payments
June 23, 2010--The SPDR(R) S&P 500 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) Trust announced today that the Fund received payment as an authorized claimant from a class action settlement related to Merrill Lynch & Co.
The total amount payable to the Fund is listed below. When the Fund calculates its net asset value ("NAV") per share on Thursday, June 24, 2010, it is estimated that the Fund's NAV will be impacted by the receipt of the corresponding payment in the amount stated below based on the shares outstanding as of June 22, 2010.
Fund S S P
ettlement hares er Share
Payment Outstanding as of Amount
June 22, 2010
---------------------------- ---------- ----------------- --------
SPDR(R) S&P 500 ETF Trust $8,853,107 710,832,116 $0.0125
---------------------------- ---------- ----------------- --------
State Street manages more than $204 billion in SPDR ETF assets worldwide (as of March 31, 2010) and is one of the largest ETF providers in the US and globally.
Source: State Street Global Advisors
Frank Announces House Offer on Derivatives
June 23, 2010--Chairman Frank, on behalf of the House conferees, released the House offer on the title listed below. The title will be subject to debate when the House-Senate Conference Committee convenes in room SD-106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.
Title VII: Wall Street Transparency and Accountability
The House proposes the following amendments to the Base text:
Amend base text to specifically reference CFTC authority to interpret definitions (Base text § 711, Page 599, line 3).
Strike base text provision on regulatory consultation and replace with House provision (with minor revisions) and appropriate conforming changes (Base text §712, page 599, line 5-18; House bill §3002, page 558 through 559 line 18).
Strike base text provision regarding mixed swaps regulation (Base text §712, page 601, lines 12-20; §721, page 648, line 1-16)
Strike base text provision allowing futures associations and national securities associations to enforce rules on advertising (Base text §712, page 604 lines 1 and 15)
Strike base text provision that is duplicated on pages 736 and 950 (Base text §712, page 606, line 22 through page 607, line 17)
Add House provision that requires maintenance of records and information sharing with the CFTC and SEC for all uncleared security based swap agreements. The provision names the Financial Services Oversight Council as the resolver of disputes between the CFTC and SEC in joint rulemaking for security based swap agreements. (Base text § 712, page 607 and House bill § 3002, page 563-564)
Replace base text provision regarding portfolio margining for certain brokers, dealers and futures commission merchants, and appropriate conforming changes (new §713, page 608 line 17 through page 609 line 2).
Add provision that allows the CFTC and SEC to prepare in advance of the effective date in regards to rules, regulations, studies, etc. (Base text §712 , page 608, line 16)
view the legislative language- Title VII: Wall Street Transparency and Accountability
Source: House Financial Services Committee
New: Intercommodity Spread Options-Corn-Wheat Spread Options Coming July 26, 2010
June 22, 2010--Corn-Wheat Intercommodity Spread options provide market participants with a new alternative for trading the relationship between corn and wheat, which are closely linked by market fundamentals such as available planting acreage, demand for feed and the impact of weather.
Spreading Corn and Wheat futures allow market participants to trade the relationship between the shifting product profitability and production of corn and wheat. Listing these spreads as options provides the ability to manage risk at a fixed cost.
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Source: CME Group
First Brazil Mid Cap ETF (BRAZ) starts trading on NYSE Arca
June 22, 2010--Global X Funds, the New York-based provider of Exchange Traded Funds, launched today the Global X Brazil Mid Cap ETF (ticker: BRAZ). This is the first ETF in the world to offer investors targeted access to the rapidly growing medium size domestic Brazilian enterprises.
BRAZ offers exposure to 40 companies with market capitalization in the range of $2 to $10 billion, and includes names like cosmetics company Natura Cosmeticos, aeronautics company Embraer, real estate firm Cyrela Brazil Realty, mobile tech company Tele Norte Leste, food distributor Hypermarcas, and materials firm Metalurgica Gerdau. In contrast, currently existing Brazil ETFs may overweight exposure to mega-cap companies, particularly those in natural resources and with global rather than Brazil-based operations.
The Global X Brazil Mid Cap ETF tracks the Solactive Brazil Mid Cap Index. It is well diversified across the main sectors of the local Brazilian economy. The sector breakdown includes 20% utilities, 17% non-cyclical consumer, 16% industrial, 15% financials, 14% basic materials, 9% cyclical consumer, and 9% communications. BRAZ has a 0.69% expense ratio.
"Medium sized Brazilian enterprises offer access to on-the-ground, established businesses that reflect the Brazilian growth story, while staying above a minimum size to avoid excessive risk," says Bruno del Ama, CEO of Global X Funds. "Such companies are currently sparsely represented in existing exchange traded fund options, yet are poised to benefit the most from the country's solid macro fundamentals. The Brazil Mid Cap ETF provides efficient and diversified access to these localized growth themes."
The Global X Brazil Mid Cap ETF is the first of a family of Brazil ETFs. Remaining funds in the family include the Brazil Consumer ETF, Brazil Financials ETF, Brazil Industrials ETF, Brazil Materials ETF, and Brazil Utilities ETF. These other Brazil sector ETFs are not yet available for purchase.
Source: Global X
Global X Funds Lists Global X Brazil Mid Cap ETF on NYSE Arca
June 22, 2010--NYSE Euronext (NYX) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, NYSE Arca, today began trading the Global X Brazil Mid Cap ETF(Ticker: BRAZ). The ETF is sponsored by Global X Funds.
The fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Solactive Brazil Mid Cap Index. The index is designed to reflect the performance of Brazilian mid cap companies. It is comprised of the 40 highest ranked companies whose market capitalization is less than $ 10 billion as of the date of its inclusion in the index. The index is comprised of companies that are domiciled or have their main business operations in Brazil . The stocks are screened for liquidity and weighted according to free-float market capitalization. The index is maintained by Structured Solutions AG.
Source: NYSE Euronext
Teucrium files for five new single-commodity ETFs
Company files for ETFs in sugar, soybeans, wheat, crude oil and natural gas
June 22, 2010-- Teucrium Trading LLC (Teucrium) announced the filing with the SEC of registration statements for five new single-commodity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). These ETFs intend to use the proceeds from the offering of their shares to offer investors and hedgers exposure exclusively to Sugar, Soybeans, and/or Wheat. Additionally, the ETFs are intended to offer single-commodity exposure to WTI Crude Oil and Natural Gas. Each single-commodity ETF was developed by Teucrium.
The agricultural ETFs, all intended to be launched on the NYSE Arca are: Teucrium Sugar Fund (symbol “CANE”); Teucrium Soybean Fund (symbol “SOYB”); and Teucrium Wheat Fund (symbol “WEAT”). These agricultural ETFs will be joined by Teucrium WTI Crude Oil Fund (symbol “CRUD”) and Teucrium Natural Gas Fund (symbol “NAGS”).
Teucrium designs next-generation commodity investment products in the ETF format, designed to be highly liquid and well-accepted by investors. These proposed Teucrium Funds are anticipated to join the recently launched Teucrium Corn Fund. Each is designed to offer investors and hedgers liquidity, transparency and capacity in single-commodity ETF products. ETFs are transparent because holdings are disclosed daily on a website and liquid because they can be traded throughout the market day.
“By filing registration statements for these five single-commodity ETFs, three of which are intended to offer individual exposure to these agricultural commodities, we are trying to break new ground,” said Sal Gilbertie, Founder and President of Teucrium Trading LLC. “We design all of our ETFs for real exposure to the underlying commodity itself.”
Gilbertie said all five of these ETFs have been designed to incorporate Teucrium’s unique approach to tracking the price of the underlying commodity. “I believe our differentiation in the marketplace starts with our team’s ability to design products based on our expertise and commodities-trading experience,” he said. “We design our ETFs to offer investors and hedgers simple and efficient single-commodity ETF products that are intended to closely track each index, after fees.”
Source: Teucrium Trading LLC
U.S. International Reserve Position
June 22, 2010--The Treasury Department today released U.S. reserve assets data for the latest week. As indicated in this table, U.S. reserve assets totaled $124,700 million as of the end of that week, compared to $123,288 million as of the end of the prior week.
I. Official reserve assets and other foreign currency assets (approximate market value, in US millions)
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June 18, 2010 |
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A. Official reserve assets (in US millions unless otherwise specified) 1 |
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124,700 |
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(1) Foreign currency reserves (in convertible foreign currencies) |
Euro |
Yen |
Total |
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(a) Securities |
8,796 |
14,316 |
23,112 |
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of which: issuer headquartered in reporting country but located abroad |
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0 |
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(b) total currency and deposits with: |
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(i) other national central banks, BIS and IMF |
12,894 |
7,018 |
19,912 |
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ii) banks headquartered in the reporting country |
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0 |
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of which: located abroad |
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0 |
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(iii) banks headquartered outside the reporting country |
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0 |
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of which: located in the reporting country |
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0 |
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(2) IMF reserve position 2 |
11,634 |
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(3) SDRs 2 |
54,443 |
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(4) gold (including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped) 3 |
11,041 |
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--volume in millions of fine troy ounces |
261.499 |
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(5) other reserve assets (specify) |
4,558 |
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--financial derivatives |
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--loans to nonbank nonresidents |
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--other (foreign currency assets invested through reverse repurchase agreements) |
4,558 |
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B. Other foreign currency assets (specify) |
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--securities not included in official reserve assets |
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--deposits not included in official reserve assets |
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--loans not included in official reserve assets |
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--financial derivatives not included in official reserve assets |
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--gold not included in official reserve assets |
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--other |
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Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury