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The Beige Book is Now available
Aporil 14, 2010--Summary--Prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and based on information collected before April 5, 2010. This document summarizes comments received from business and other contacts outside the Federal Reserve System and is not a commentary on the views of Federal Reserve officials.
Overall economic activity increased somewhat since the last report across all Federal Reserve Districts except St. Louis, which reported "softened" economic conditions. Districts generally reported increases in retail sales and vehicle sales. Tourism spending was up in a number of Districts. Reports on the services sector were generally mixed. Manufacturing activity increased in all Districts except St. Louis, and new orders were up.
Many Districts reported increased activity in housing markets from low levels. Commercial real estate market activity remained very weak in most Districts. Activity in the banking and finance sector was mixed in a number of Districts, as loan volumes and credit quality decreased. Agricultural conditions were mixed as well, with positive conditions reported in Districts from the central and western parts of the country, while negative conditions were reported in the mid and southern Atlantic Districts. Mining and energy production and exploration increased for metals, oil and wind.
While labor markets generally remained weak, some hiring activity was evident, particularly for temporary staff. Wage pressures were characterized as minimal or contained. Retail prices generally remained level, but some input prices increased.
Consumer Spending and Tourism District reports indicated that consumer spending increased during the reporting period. New York and Cleveland reported that recent sales strengthened, while sales rebounded in Richmond and Kansas City. Slight sales gains were reported in Philadelphia.
read more
Source: Federal Reserve Board
DB Index Research -- Weekly ETF Market Review - US
April 14, 2010--New Listings and Delistings
There were 13 new listings in the last week. PowerShares listed 9 ETFs tracking US small cap sector indices, and ProShares did the same listing 2 leveraged biotechnology sector funds, both of these issuers listed their products in Nasdaq. The remaining 2 ETPs were listed in NYSE Arca by Van Eck Funds and Javelin IM LLC, and offer exposure to Latin American small cap companies and contrarian opportunities, respectively.
Net Cashflows
This week, $1.97 bn flowed into ETPs, despite of the $5 bn outflow in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). All asset classes had inflows in the previous week. Equity, Fixed Income, Commodity and Currency ETPs had inflows of $711 mm, $607 mm, $541 mm, and $55 mm, respectively.
In the equity asset class, Small Cap ETPs had the highest inflows of $1.5 bn followed by Regional EM ETPs, while Large Cap ETPs experienced the largest outflows of $5.4 bn, followed by Leveraged ETPs.
Corporate and Sub-Sovereign contributed the most to the positive cash flows into Fixed Income ETPs.
Within Commodity ETPs, those tracking Gold saw the largest inflows followed by those tracking broad commodity benchmarks (Figure 14 and 17). Meanwhile, Silver ETPs experienced the largest outflows.
Turnover
ETP turnover remained flat over the previous week and totaled $61 bn.
Turnover in Large Cap and US Sector ETPs maintain the largest share within Equity ETPs (Figures 30 and 33). For Fixed Income ETPs, turnover in the Sovereign space increased the most. Commodity ETP turnover remains strong in Gold and Oil ETPs .
Assets Under Management (AUM)
US ETPs AUM rose by 1.6% totaling $840 bn at the end of last week. Equity ETPs had the lion’s share with $632 bn and 75% of market share, followed by Fixed Income funds with $124 bn and 15% of market share.
To request a copy of the report
Source: Aram Flores and Shan Lan -DB Index Research
ISE Announces that First Trust Advisors has Launched a New ETF Based on the ISE BICK™ Index
April 14, 2010--The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today announced that First Trust
Advisors L.P. has launched a new exchange traded fund (ETF) based on the ISE BICK™ Index (Ticker: BIQ), a
new proprietary index that tracks the performance of the largest and most liquid public companies that are
domiciled in Brazil, India, Mainland China or South Korea. First Trust has received the necessary approvals from
the Securities and Exchange Commission and the First Trust BICK Index Fund (Nasdaq: BICK) was listed on
April 13, 2010.
“Emerging markets are influencing the world economy more than ever before, and so we are very pleased to once
again partner with First Trust to launch a unique investment vehicle that focuses on this area,” said Kris Monaco,
Director of New Product Development at ISE. “As the emerging market landscape evolves, so too must investors’
choices for investment products. The First Trust BICK Index Fund is the first ETF addressing that need by
providing an actionable investment opportunity in the rapidly growing economies of Brazil, India, Mainland China
and South Korea.”
“The four countries that make up this new First Trust ETF have had a remarkable record of economic growth,” according to Robert F. Carey, Chief Investment Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P. “Although these countries are independent of one another, they share a common trait as being among the largest of the emerging markets, and that’s why we believe this investment makes so much sense,” he continued. “Collectively, developing economies are anticipated to grow faster than the economies of countries which are already developed. According to the International Monetary Fund, GDP growth for emerging economies is estimated to be 5.1% in 2010, compared to 1.3% for advanced economies,” he stated. “Once again, we are pleased to collaborate with ISE to bring this timely investment to market,” Mr. Carey concluded.
The First Trust BICK Index Fund will normally invest at least 90% of total assets in common stocks that comprise the ISE BICK Index. The index currently contains 89 companies that provide a benchmark for investors interested in tracking the largest and most liquid public companies that are domiciled in Brazil, India, Mainland China or South Korea. The Index uses an equal weighted allocation methodology for each country in the index (i.e., each country represents 25% of the index at each rebalance) as well as an equal weighted allocation methodology for all components within a country allocation.
First Trust Advisors offers seven additional ETFs that are based on ISE’s proprietary indexes. The First Trust ISE Chindia Index Fund (FNI), First Trust ISE Global Engineering and Construction Index Fund (FLM), First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy Index Fund (FAN), First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index Fund (FCG), First Trust ISE Water Index Fund (FIW), First Trust ISE Global Platinum Index Fund (PLTM) and First Trust ISE Global Copper Index Fund (CU) currently have over $780 million in aggregate assets under management.
Additional information about ISE’s portfolio of proprietary sector indexes, including methodology guides,
component lists and weightings, performance metrics and historical data, is available at www.ise.com/index
Source: International Securities Exchange
SEC Proposes New Measures to Protect Investors in Options Markets
April 14, 2010--The SEC's proposal would prohibit an options exchange from unfairly impeding access to displayed quotations, and would limit the fees that an options exchange can charge investors and others wishing to access a quote on an exchange.
"This rule is designed to increase transparency in the markets and promote greater fairness and efficiency," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "It is important that investors have the ability to access the best prices available regardless of the exchange that is posting the quotation. And, those investors should have a better understanding of the true cost of executing a transaction."
The SEC's proposal is designed to address these issues by extending the same measures to listed options that currently apply only to transactions involving exchange-listed stocks. By expanding the protections that are available in the options markets, the SEC's proposal would help provide investors with the ability to achieve best execution for their orders, and remove barriers that an exchange might erect to keep non-members from accessing a quotation on the exchange.
The SEC's proposal would prohibit an options exchange from unfairly impeding access to displayed quotations, and would limit the fees that an options exchange can charge investors and others wishing to access a quote on an exchange.
"This rule is designed to increase transparency in the markets and promote greater fairness and efficiency," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "It is important that investors have the ability to access the best prices available regardless of the exchange that is posting the quotation. And, those investors should have a better understanding of the true cost of executing a transaction."
The SEC's proposal is designed to address these issues by extending the same measures to listed options that currently apply only to transactions involving exchange-listed stocks. By expanding the protections that are available in the options markets, the SEC's proposal would help provide investors with the ability to achieve best execution for their orders, and remove barriers that an exchange might erect to keep non-members from accessing a quotation on the exchange.
view the Proposal on Amendments to Rule 610 of Regulation NMS
Source: SEC.gov
SEC Proposes Large Trader Reporting System
April 14, 2010--The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose the creation of a large trader reporting system that would enhance its ability to identify large market participants, collect information on their trades, and analyze their trading activity.
The SEC is proposing that large traders be required to identify themselves to the Commission, which would then assign each trader a unique identification number. Large traders would provide this number to their broker-dealers, who would be required to maintain transaction records for each large trader and report that information to the SEC upon request.
The SEC's proposal is the latest in an ongoing effort to promote fairness and efficiency in the markets. Other rules proposed recently to increase fairness and efficiency include a proposed ban on marketable flash orders, a proposal to bring greater transparency to dark pools of liquidity, and a proposal to prohibit unfiltered access to markets.
read more View the Proposal on Large Trader Reporting System KBW Announces Changes to KBW Bank Index (BKX)
The KBW indices that have tradable exchange-traded funds are: KBW Bank Index (Index Symbol: BKX(SM), ETF Symbol KBE(SM)); KBW Capital Markets Index (Index Symbol: KSX(SM), ETF Symbol KCE(SM)); KBW Insurance Index (Index Symbol: KIX(SM), ETF Symbol KIE(SM)); KBW Mortgage Finance Index (Index Symbol: MFX(SM), ETF Symbol: KME(SM)), and KBW Regional Banking Index (Index Symbol: KRX(SM), ETF Symbol: KRE(SM)). First South Korea Small Cap ETF Introduced by IndexIQ
SKOR is designed to provide additional Alpha exposure as a satellite holding built around an investor's core equity portfolio.
"Investors targeting South Korea typically have been required to invest in funds with broad-based exposure to large cap and global companies domiciled or operating in this market," said Adam Patti, chief executive officer at IndexIQ. "However, the South Korean economy has its own important dynamics, which are perhaps best captured thorough small capitalization companies. The growth of South Korea's economy has been driven by a robust domestic consumer-class, coupled with an export-driven trade platform, a high-growth technology sector, and the unique status as one of the world's most innovative countries." read more U.S. Department of the Treasury Economic Statistics - Monthly Data Update U.S. International Reserve Position April 9, 2010 A. Official reserve assets (in US millions unless
otherwise specified) 1 Euro Yen Total (1) Foreign currency reserves (in convertible foreign
currencies) 127,793 (a) Securities 9,544 13,925 23,469 of which: issuer headquartered in reporting country but
located abroad 0 (b) total currency and deposits with: (i) other national central
banks, BIS and IMF 14,029 6,824 20,853 ii) banks headquartered in the reporting country 0 of which: located abroad 0 (iii) banks headquartered outside the reporting country 0 of which: located in the reporting country 0 (2) IMF reserve position 2 11,586 (3) SDRs 2 55,936 (4) gold (including gold deposits and, if appropriate,
gold swapped) 3 11,041 --volume in millions of fine troy ounces 261.499 (5) other reserve assets (specify) 4,908 --financial derivatives --loans to nonbank nonresidents --other (foreign currency assets invested through reverse
repurchase agreements) 4,908 B. Other foreign currency assets (specify) --securities not included in official reserve assets --deposits not included in official reserve assets --loans not included in official reserve assets --financial derivatives not included in official reserve
assets --gold not included in official reserve assets --other read more Geithner OP-ED: Financial Reform With Teeth
In fact, we are repairing our financial system at much lower cost than anyone anticipated and expect to return hundreds of billions of dollars in available but unused TARP resources to the American people. That is a rare achievement in Washington. read more
Source: SEC.gov
April 14, 2010--Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., a full-service investment bank that specializes in the financial services sector, and a wholly owned subsidiary of KBW, Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!kbw/quotes/nls/kbw (KBW 28.35, +0.85, +3.09%) , today announces upcoming changes to the KBW Bank Index (Index Symbol: BKX(SM), ETF Symbol: KBE(SM)).
Effective prior to the opening of business on Monday, April 19, 2010, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!fnfg/quotes/nls/fnfg (FNFG 14.77, +0.13, +0.89%) will undergo an increase in shares to account for the completion of an all-stock acquisition.
Source: KBW
IQ South Korea Small Cap ETF (SKOR)
SKOR seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the IQ South Korea Small Cap Index. The market capitalization-weighted Index is intended to give investors a means of tracking the overall performance of the small capitalization sector of publicly traded companies domiciled and primarily listed on an exchange in South Korea.
SOURCE: IndexIQ
April 14, 2010--Economic Statistics - Monthly Data for U.S. Department of the Treasury is now available.
read more
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury
April 13, 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 $127,793 million as of the end of that week, compared to $127,411 million as of the end of the prior week.
I. Official reserve assets and other foreign currency
assets (approximate market value, in US millions)
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury.
April 14, 2010--In an op-ed piece published in tomorrow's The Washington Post, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner outlines the urgent need for strong financial reforms, noting that "the American people have suffered through too much to enact reform that does too little." To read the piece online: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/12/AR2010041203341.html. The text of the piece follows:
America is close to turning the page on this economic crisis. While far too many Americans are still out of work and face deep economic hardship, we have now reported three quarters of positive growth and the beginnings of job creation. As the economy improves, we are winding down the Troubled Assets Relief Program, and Congress is moving toward enacting the strongest financial reforms since those that followed the Great Depression.
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury.