Americas ETP News
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Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index
July 5, 2010--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Monday, July 5, 2010:
PanWestern Energy Inc. (TSXVN:PW) will change its name to Valeura Energy Inc. The new ticker symbol will be "VLE" and the new CUSIP number will be 919144 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
RiskMetrics dissolves KLD index team ahead of MSCI Barra ESG benchmark launches
July 5, 2010--RiskMetrics, the New York-based risk and ESG data group, has dissolved the index team that it took over last year when it bought KLD, the Boston-based ESG research firm, as it prepares to launch a new series of ESG indices this month under new parent, MSCI Barra.
It is understood that two members of the five-strong KLD index team, Ken Frankel, former index data manager at KLD and Katherine Walsh, former index research analyst at KLD, are being made redundant.
Two other members of the team, Karin Chamberlain, former manager of KLD Indexes, and Peter Ellsworth, former managing director of FTSE KLD Indexes, are believed to be seeking alternative positions within MSCI Barra. Tom Kuh, former managing director of KLD Indexes is understood to be staying within RiskMetrics under its new MSCI Barra ownership.
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Source: Responsible Investor
The Bermuda Monetary Authority Establishes Strategic Team of Senior Advisors
New role to support expanded regulatory framework resulting from Solvency II equivalence preparations
July 4, 2010--The Bermuda Monetary Authority announced today that it has established a team of Senior Advisors that will
provide international strategic input and technical assistance to the organisation as it prepares its insurance framework for Solvency II equivalence assessments.
The team of Senior Advisors will support the Authority’s
growing organisational infrastructure, and the technical teams that will implement the expanded supervisory regimes resulting from its regulatory change programme.
Jeremy Cox, CEO at the Authority said, “As a leading risk-based regulator, our goal at the Authority is to ensure that we are operating at the highest level. Building on our resources has been a strategic priority for some time as we set our sights on developing a leading insurance regulatory framework for the Bermuda market. The Senior Advisors joining the Authority are individuals with extensive industry and regulatory experience, both here in Bermuda and in major markets overseas, who will complement the existing expertise within the organisation and assist us in raising our game as supervisors. We will be building this team of highly specialised strategic and technical advisors with additional appointments over the next two months.
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Source: Bermuda Monetary Authority
How to Capitalize on Dollar Weakness
July 2, 2010--The euro has rallied against the US dollar in recent weeks, as we note PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP) is down nearly 5% from its June 7 high of $25.84.
Currency Shares Euro (FXE) meanwhile is up about 5% from its June 8 low of $118.79. Both products made significant moves yesterday, on better than average trading volume, with FXE closing above its 50-day moving average, and UUP breaching its 50-day moving average and sharply gapping down.
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Source: Paul Weisbruch- Street One Financial
XShares Group, Inc. Sells Exchange-Traded Fund Manager and Refocuses on Real Estate Fund Management
July 2, 2010--XShares Group, Inc. announced today that it has sold its principal operating subsidiary, exchange-traded fund manager XShares Advisors, LLC. XShares Group, Inc. will change its name to BNDRE Holdings, Inc. BNDRE Holdings will refocus its efforts on becoming a leading manager of distressed real estate in the U.S., an area in which the company has both expertise and opportunity.
Under the terms of the sale, XShares Group, Inc. will no longer have the responsibility of fund management oversight of the family of five TDX Independence target-date exchange-traded funds. In addition, XShares Group, Inc. has successfully resolved its outstanding balance sheet issues by repaying substantially all of its creditors, and converting all outstanding long-term debt into equity.
Source: Online News
NYSE Lists 2 leveraged long-dated Treasury ETNs
July 2, 2010--On June 29, 2010, 2 leveraged long-dated Treasury ETNs began trading on the NYSE Euronext. The ETNs are
The PowerShares DB 3X Long 25+ Year Treasury Bond Exchange Traded Note
Ticker Symbol:LBND
and PowerShares DB 3X Short 25+ Year Treasury Bond Exchange Traded Note
Ticker Symbol: SBND
Source: Online News
SEC and Japan Financial Services Agency Hold Meeting of the SEC-JFSA Strategic Dialogue
July 2, 2010--Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro and Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) Commissioner Katsunori Mikuniya met in Washington, D.C., this week as part of the annual SEC-JFSA Bilateral High-level Dialogue. The purpose of the Dialogue, established in 2006, is to provide a forum whereby the senior officials of the two agencies can meet to identify and discuss issues of common concern affecting the U.S. and Japanese capital markets and promote areas of future collaboration.
In addition to the meeting between the heads of the two agencies, the Dialogue included a full day of meetings between senior staff from the SEC and the JFSA for discussions on a variety of important topics. These meetings were chaired by SEC Commissioner Kathleen Casey, JFSA Commissioner Mikuniya and JFSA Vice Commissioner for International Affairs Masamichi Kono. Following the Dialogue, SEC and JFSA staff also held discussions.
Some of the areas of mutual interest discussed during the Dialogue included:
Recent Regulatory Reforms in the U.S. and Japan
Corporate governance and executive compensation
Market supervision
Accounting, auditing and disclosure
Cooperation on cross-border market supervision and enforcement
Issues related to the regulation of credit rating agencies, hedge funds, OTC derivatives and short selling
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Source: SEC.gov
CME Group Volume Averaged 12.2 Million Contracts per Day in June 2010, Up 8 Percent, and 13.5 Million Contracts Per Day in Second Quarter, Up 31 Percent
July 2, 2010-- Double digit monthly year-over-year growth in equities, foreign exchange, energy and metals
- Second highest quarterly average daily volume ever
- Record quarterly FX average daily volume of 1.0 million contracts, up 82 percent
- Record quarterly energy average daily volume of 1.8 million contracts, up 29 percent
- Record quarter for WTI and refined products, up 52 and 36 percent, respectively
CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that June volume averaged 12.2 million contracts per day, up 8 percent from June 2009. Total volume was 268 million contracts for June, of which 84 percent was traded electronically.
In June 2010, CME Group interest rate volume averaged 4.7 million contracts per day, down 8 percent compared with the prior June. Treasury futures volume averaged 2.0 million contracts per day, up 31 percent compared with the same period in 2009, and Treasury options volume averaged 245,000 contracts per day, down 13 percent. Eurodollar futures volume averaged 1.7 million contracts per day, down 28 percent versus June 2009, while Eurodollar options volume averaged 644,000 contracts per day, down 24 percent.
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Source: CME Group
BNY Mellon Closes USD2.31bn PNC GIS Acquisition
July 2, 2010--BNY Mellon has completed its acquisition of PNC's global investment servicing (GIS) business. The GIS transaction doubles the number of funds serviced by BNY Mellon with accounting and administration.
It also makes BNY Mellon the second largest provider of fund accounting, administration and transfer agency services globally. The purchase price was USD2.31bn.
Source: globalcustodynet.com
Fast ETF growth worries regulators
Exchange-traded funds in America held around $792b in assets by the end of May
July 2, 2010--Even the best financial innovations have a nasty habit of spinning out of control. No surprise, then, that regulatory antennae are twitching at the rapid growth of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), investment pools that are listed on stockmarkets. ETFs have plenty of attractions, giving retail investors a relatively cheap way to diversify their holdings. But their dangers are also becoming more apparent.
The sheer size of the industry is one cause of concern. At the end of May ETFs in America held around $792.6 billion (Dh2.91 trillion) in assets, according to Morningstar, a research firm. The worldwide total passed $1 trillion at the end of 2009. Morgan Stanley predicts the industry will grow by 20 per cent to 30 per cent in 2010. The market has rapidly evolved to meet demand for more exotic products, particularly in commodities, where many worry about the impact of the appetite for ETFs on prices.
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Source: gulfnews.com
