Americas ETP News Older Than 1 year-If your looking for specific news, using the search function will narrow down the results
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
June 8, 2012--The current reports for the week of June 5, 2011 are now available.
view updates
Deutsche Bank - Equity Research -North America: US ETF+ Monthly Directory : May 2012 ETPs
June 8, 2012--This document includes all US listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchangetraded vehicles (ETVs), plus a special section covering exchange-traded notes (ETNs).
The directory is organized by asset class and asset-class-related sub sections. Within each sub section it has also been sorted. For Equity and Fixed Income ETPs it is sorted by country (or sub region for regional products) in alphabetical order and by AUM in descending order, and for the other ETP asset classes it is sorted by sub sector in alphabetical order and by AUM in descending order. A number of key information points per product has been included in order to enable the reader to get an overview in their respective area of interest. Among the key numeric information we include avg. daily turnover, assets under management, and cash flows (all in $US).
Energy traders should be aware of CFTC's new powers, experts say
June 8, 2012--The Dodd-Frank Act gave the Commodity Futures Trading Commission powers to tackle energy-market manipulation, and experts say energy traders should be on guard.
"The CFTC and its senior enforcement officials have made clear that they're going to use their new authorities under Dodd-Frank aggressively, and will be focusing on manipulation and continue to focus on energy markets for manipulative or disruptive trading activities," says Michael Loesch, a former CFTC chief of staff who is a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski.
CFTC.gov Financial Data for Futures Commission Merchants Update
June 8, 2012--Selected FCM financial data as of April 30, 2012 (from reports filed by June 4, 2012) is now available.
view updates
July 1 Deadline Approaches for Disclosure of Compensation and Fees to ERISA Plans
June 8, 2012--Retirement plan fiduciaries and service providers to retirement plans are coming up to
the July 1, 2012, deadline for service providers to deliver disclosures of compensation to be received from their service arrangements with plans.
We have prepared this review
of the rules as a reference for those who are giving or getting these disclosures. Many of the questions that arise in connection with these requirements are fact-specific, so
the following should not be regarded as advice with respect to any particular person or situation.
Putting the Disclosure Requirement in Context
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) each contain rules about "prohibited transactions" involving employee benefit plans. (These rules are similar, but not identical, in the two statutes.)
Under ERISA, a fiduciary is prohibited from engaging in a prohibited transaction, to the point of having to unwind it, and the Code imposes excise taxes on the transaction. As a result, avoiding prohibited transactions is an important part of plan administration and providing services to plans. ERISA and the Code contain a number of statutory exemptions for categories of transactions that would otherwise be prohibited transactions.
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices-2nd Quarter, 2012, Revisions Of S&P/TSX Indices
June 8, 2012--S&P Canadian Index Services will make the following index changes as a result of the Quarterly S&P/TSX Composite Index review.
These changes will be effective at the open on Monday, June 18, 2012:
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices-Index Treatment Of A Rights Issue-Ivanhoe Mines Ltd
June 8, 2012--S&P Canadian Index Services will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:
On Wednesday, April 18, 2012, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN) announced a rights offering open to all shareholders on an equal-participation basis. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, will receive one transferable right for each common share held.
Every 20 rights will allow the shareholder to purchase 7 common shares of Ivanhoe Mines at a price of $CDN7.17 per share. The rights offering will expire after close of trading on Thursday, July 19, 2012. The rights will trade on TSX on a when-issued basis starting on Thursday, June 14, 2012.
Assuming the rights are in-the-money at the time, the close price of Ivanhoe Mines on Thursday, June 14, 2012, will be reduced by the close price of the rights on the same date. Also after the close of Thursday, June 14, 2012, the outstanding shares of Ivanhoe Mines will increase by a factor of 1.35. The current (pre-Q2 2012 review) number of outstanding shares of Ivanhoe Mines is 740,655,000. The new number of outstanding shares will be 999,884,250 - effective after the close of Thursday, June 14, 2012. The Investable Weight Factor (IWF) will not change.
Franklin Templeton files with the SEC
June 8, 2012--Franklin Templeton has filed an application for exemptive relief with the SEC for actively-managed ETFs.
view filing
Renaissance Capital files with the SEC
June 8, 2012--Renaissance Capital has filed an amended and restated application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
ProShares files with the SEC
June 8, 2012--ProShares has filed an application for exemptive relief with the SEC for actively-managed ETFs.
Direxion to Alter 8 ETFs (BGU, ERX, TYP)
June 7, 2012--Direxion, the second-largest U.S. issuer of inverse and leveraged ETFs, announced today it will makes changes to the indexes eight of its ETFs track.
The modifications will take effect on or about June 29, 2012, Direxion said in a statement.
The Direxion Daily Large Cap Bull 3X Shares and the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares will stop tracking the Russell 1000 Index in favor of the S&P 500. In addition, Direxion Daily Large Cap Bull 3X Shares will be renamed Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3X Shares and Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares will be renamed Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares, Direxion said. The funds will also change their tickers to "SPXL" for the bullish ETF and to "SPXS" for the bearish play.
DB Equity Research Equity Research-US ETF Market Monthly Review : Fixed income ETPs received record inflows of $9.1bn in May
June 7, 2012--US ETP assets plunged 5.7% MoM, but were still 7.2% up YTD in May
ETP assets in the US dropped by $67.3bn to $1.12 trillion last month, still accumulating an increase of 7.2% YTD after the first five months of the year.
Global ETP industry assets pulled back to $1.52 trillion, or 6.1% up YTD.
Risk-off trade spurred loud and clear flight to safety during May
US ETP flows experienced inflows of $5.0bn during May (+$60.1bn, 5.7% of last year’s AUM).
Within long-only ETPs, total flows were +5.9bn in May vs. +$3.7bn in April.
Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity long-only ETPs experienced cash flows of -$1.7bn, +$8.9bn, and -$1.0bn, respectively.
Concerns over European country solvency and US economic soft patch solidified during May adding momentum and fueling a sizeable market correction. Consequently, the risk-off trade was reflected clearly in ETP flows.
In contrast to April, May flows clearly described the essence of a full-blown risk-off trade. Long-only ETP flows were dominated by robust inflows into high quality fixed income segments such as US Sovereign and Investment Grade debt with a focus on the front end of the yield curve reflecting a desire to move away from both interest rate and credit risk. In addition, Equity ETPs experienced significant outflows across the board, with very few exceptions, among which we found US Defensive sector and Dividend ETPs.
Some of the relevant flow trends of the month were: (1) investment grade debt (+$9.0bn), part of which was (2) Sovereign debt (+$5.1bn), and (3) emerging market equities (-$3.5bn).
New Launch Calendar: moving away from equity-only strategies
There were 6 new ETPs and 2 new ETNs listed during the previous month. All of the products were listed in the NYSE Arca. Out of the 8 new launches 6 seek passive and 2 seek active return objectives.
Last month additions extended the offering in the Fixed Income, Multi Asset strategy, and Alternative space.
Floor activity rose by 22% driven by higher volatility
Total monthly turnover increased by 22% to $1.46 trillion vs. $1.19 trillion in the previous month.
US ETP trading made up 29.2% of all US cash equity trading in May, down from both its recent peak of 37.5% last August and its 3-year monthly average of 30.0%.
The largest increase was on Equity ETP turnover, which rose by $225bn or 21% to $1.29 trillion, followed by Fixed Income products turnover which grew by $18.6bn, totaling $81bn for the month of May. Meanwhile, Commodity ETP turnover rose by $15.4bn to $71.6bn last month.
Bolsa de Valores de Colombia, Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange sign Memorandum of Understanding to formalize and promote cooperation between their markets
June 7, 2012--Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (BVC), Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation among the securities markets of Colombia and Canada.
Under the MoU, Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange and Bolsa de Valores de Colombia will cooperate to share certain information and to undertake certain activities together to facilitate the dual listing of companies in each other's jurisdiction and assist each other with understanding the regime, process and rules for listing and trading securities in each other's jurisdiction. The exchanges will also explore and develop joint marketing opportunities.
Juan Pablo Cordoba, President of the BVC, was very pleased with the signing of the MoU and explained that "it seeks to bring together Colombian and Canadian markets, and also includes the investor community and issuers from both countries, who have shown a great enthusiasm for taking advantage of opportunities that exist not only in exploration and production of the oil industry, but in all sectors of the economy".
Doubts raised over corporate bond ETFs
June 7, 2012--Large institutional trades in corporate bond exchange traded funds could be distorting the prices of shares in the funds, according to analysts and investors.
Institutional investors have been drawn to ETFs to trade illiquid corporate bond securities, as Wall Street dealers reduce their bond inventories in an effort to reduce risk.
ISDA to Partner with Markit to Develop Compliance Solution
June 7, 2012--The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) announced today that it has chosen Markit to partner with the Association to develop a technology-based solution that enables counterparties to amend their
over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives documentation for the purpose of facilitating compliance with Dodd-Frank regulatory requirements. ISDA and Markit expect that the solution will also be enhanced to facilitate compliance with regulatory requirements in other jurisdictions as they are finalized.
The Dodd-Frank Act and related regulatory rulemakings impact OTC derivatives documentation by either requiring amendments to such documentation or imposing compliance requirements on market participants that must be satisfied by amending such documentation. Major dealers may have in excess of 10,000 counterparties with whom they have signed Master Agreements, and many end-users may be counterparties with multiple dealers. This creates significant levels of legal and administrative complexity and the potential for duplication of efforts as firms attempt to comply with the new rules.
