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Van Eck Global Lists Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF on NYSE Arca
February 18, 2010--NYSE Euronext (NYX) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, NYSE Arca, today began trading the Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF(Ticker: EGPT). The ETF is sponsored by Van Eck Global.
The Fund seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Market Vectors Egypt Index, which is a rules based, modified capitalization weighted, float adjusted index comprised of publicly traded companies that are domiciled and primarily listed on an exchange in Egypt or that generate at least 50% of their revenues in Egypt.
Source: NYSE Euronext
Fund.com Subsidiary AdvisorShares Announces a Partnership with Peritus Asset Management to Develop ETFs
Peritus Asset Management Signs Exclusive Agreement to develop all future ETFs with AdvisorShares
February 19, 2010--Fund.com said today that its subsidiary, AdvisorShares Investments, LLC, a developer and distributor of actively managed ETFs, announced today a partnership with Peritus Asset Management, LLC. The Santa Barbara, CA, value-based, active credit investment manager will create a new actively managed ETF, anticipated to be a high yield bond-focused ETF.
The new ETF would join AdvisorShares' growing stable of innovative actively managed ETFs.
In addition, in an exclusive arrangement, Peritus Asset Management has agreed to develop all its future ETFs with AdvisorShares.
"Peritus has an outstanding track record managing high yield investments," said Noah Hamman, CEO and founder of AdvisorShares. "AdvisorShares believes an important advantage of actively managed ETFs is to enable more investors to benefit from particularly skillful advisors such as Peritus."
Tim Gramatovich, chief investment officer of Peritus Asset Management, said, "At Peritus, we take a value-based contrarian approach to the credit markets, foregoing relative value and new issue participation in favor of absolute returns. We look for structural and technical inefficiencies within secondary credit markets that create tremendous investment opportunities."
"We believe AdvisorShares will help us create distinctive, actively managed products that will introduce new investors to our value-based approach," he added.
Greg Webster, CEO of Fund.com said, "Our subsidiary AdvisorShares is becoming a leader in launching new and exciting actively managed ETFs. Peritus is an excellent example of an outstanding manager whose management expertise will become available to a broad range of investors though AdvisorShares ETF platform."
Source: Fund.com, Inc.
Emerging Global Advisors Lists Emerging Global Shares INDXX China Infrastructure Index Fund on NYSE Arca
February 17, 2010 –- NYSE Euronext announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, NYSE Arca, today began trading theEmerging Global Shares INDXX China Infrastructure Index Fund(Ticker: CHXX). The ETF is sponsored by Emerging Global Advisors.
The Fund seeks investment results that generally correspond (before fees and expenses) to the price and yield performance of the INDXX China Infrastructure Index, which is a free-float market capitalization weighted stock market index comprised of 30 leading companies that INDXX, LLC determines to be representative of China’s Infrastructure sectors.
Source: NYSE Euronext
RiverPark Advisors, LLC file for exemptive relief
February 17, 2010--RiverPark Advisors ETF Trust has filed an application for exemptive relief.
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Source: SEC.gov
KBW Announces Changes to KBW Bank Index (BKX)
February 17, 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 27.19, -0.29, -1.05%) , 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, February 22, 2010, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!pnc/quotes/nls/pnc (PNC 51.85, -0.59, -1.13%) , a member of the BKX, will undergo an increase in shares to account for its recent equity offering.
The KBW family of indices that has 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)).
Source: KBW
Administration Releases January Loan Modification Report
Number of permanent modifications nearly doubles over previous month; over one million trial modifications started
February 17, 2010--The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today released January data for the Administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), demonstrating that the number of homeowners receiving immediate relief and converting to permanent modifications continues to rise.
More than 116,000 homeowners now have permanent modifications, nearly doubling the number from December, which also marked record progress. An additional 76,000 permanent modifications have been offered, and are waiting only for the borrower's signature. In total, over 1 million homeowners have started trial modifications and nearly 1.3 million offers for trial modifications have been extended to homeowners.
"With nearly one million homeowners paying less each month and the number of permanent modifications steadily rising, HAMP is doing the job it was designed to do," said Phyllis Caldwell, Chief of Treasury's Homeownership Preservation Office. "Struggling families are receiving payment relief and the housing market is showing signs of stabilization."
Mortgage modifications are one piece of the Administration's broader housing market stabilization plan. Other efforts include support for lower mortgage rates and access to credit, state and local housing agency initiatives, tax credits for homebuyers, neighborhood stabilization and community development programs, and support for mortgage refinancing. After just one year since President Obama announced the Homeownership Affordability and Stability Plan, more than 4 million homeowners have refinanced their mortgages to more affordable levels, interest rates are at record lows, home prices and home sales are rising again and the economy is growing.
According to HUD Senior Advisor for Mortgage Finance William Apgar: "As the number of permanent modifications grows, HUD will continue to work with our Administration partners and utilize our broad network of housing counseling agencies to increase those numbers still further."
view the January HAMP report
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury
FINRA Proposes Further Expansion of Broker Information Publicly Available Through BrokerCheck
February 17, 2010--The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it is seeking authority to significantly expand the amount of information available to the public on current and former securities brokers through its free online BrokerCheck service.
The proposed expansion – which FINRA will submit to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the near future – would increase the number of customer complaints reported publicly; extend the public disclosure period for the full record of a broker who leaves the industry from two years to 10 years; and, make certain information about former brokers available permanently, such as criminal convictions and certain civil and arbitration judgments.
"These proposed changes will provide additional information to investors who are considering whether to conduct, or continue to conduct, business with a particular securities firm or broker," said FINRA Chairman and CEO Rick Ketchum. "Just as important, they will provide valuable information about persons who have left the securities industry, often not of their own accord, but who can still cause great harm to the investing public. Recent regulatory and criminal proceedings in the financial services sector reveal that former brokers have been engaging in fraud and other misconduct long after establishing themselves in other segments of the financial services industry."
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Source: FINRA
Van Eck Global Debuts First Egypt ETF
February 17, 2010--Van Eck Global launches Thursday the first ETF to track Egypt, the largest country in the Middle East: Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF (EGPT).
With 77.4 million people, the country bordering the Mediterranean and Red Seas is the largest in the Middle East and third-largest in Africa.
Best known for its ancient civilization and its Giza pyramids, Egypt's economy depends primarily on tourism, agriculture, media and oil. Its gross domestic product grew 4.7% in 2009 and is expected to grow 4.5% in 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund.
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Source: Investors Daily
U.S. International Reserve Position
February 17, 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 $129,578 million as of the end of that week, compared to $130,296 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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February 5, 2010 |
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A. Official reserve assets (in US millions unless otherwise specified) 1 |
Euro |
Yen |
Total |
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(1) Foreign currency reserves (in convertible foreign currencies) |
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129,578 |
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(a) Securities |
9,594 |
14,555 |
24,148 |
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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 |
14,168 |
7,125 |
21,293 |
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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 |
11,293 |
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(3) SDRs 2 |
56,846 |
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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) |
4,957 |
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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) |
4,957 |
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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
Emerging Global Shares Launches The First China Infrastructure Exchange Traded Fund
February 17, 2010--Emerging Global Shares (EG Shares), the first dedicated emerging markets sector ETF provider, today launched the China Infrastructure Index Exchange-Traded Fund (NYSE: CHXX), the first ETF focused solely on the infrastructure sector in China. .
The Fund invests in 30 of the largest publicly traded companies dedicated to the infrastructure industry in that country, and is designed to track the performance of the Indxx China Infrastructure Index
“China has made enormous progress in their infrastructure development, but the country still has literally decades of infrastructure build-outs and ongoing maintenance ahead of them to keep pace with their economic and population expansion,” said Robert Holderith, President and CEO of EG Shares. “That, combined with research which shows that emerging markets should provide about 80 percent of the entire world’s growth over the next 10 years, makes the China Infrastructure ETF launch timely.”
According to Richard Kang, CIO and Director of Research at Emerging Global Advisors, investing in emerging markets and infrastructure go hand in hand. “It’s important to understand that what we take for granted in the developed world is currently in high demand in emerging economies. Many of the most basic essential services that are vital to developed markets are still in the early stages in emerging markets, all of which contributes to a growing global infrastructure market that is roughly $20 trillion worldwide.”
The Emerging Global Shares China Infrastructure Index Fund is the fifth ETF to be introduced
by Emerging Global Shares. Other funds include the Emerging Global Shares Emerging
Markets Metals & Mining Fund (EMT), Emerging Global Shares Emerging Markets Energy Fund
(EEO), Emerging Global Shares Emerging Markets Financials Fund (EFN) and the Emerging
Global Shares Emerging Markets Titans Composite Index Fund (EEG).
Source: Emerging Global Advisors