Americas ETP News Older Than 1 year
If your looking for specific news, using the search function will narrow down the results
Christian ETF Family Outperforms Due to Equal-Weight Approach
February 11, 2010--FaithShares Advisors is very proud to present the initial returns for its’ family of Christian Exchange Traded Funds. During the turbulent times since the launch in mid-December, the funds have outperformed the broad markets’ performance. “The funds’ performance is really not a surprise to us” said J. Garrett Stevens, the Chief Executive Officer of FaithShares Advisors, “We specifically designed the funds with an equal-weighting of the stocks in the portfolio in an effort to outperform the broad markets during most types of market cycles
Even though it is a very short period of time, these results begin to verify the hypothetical back-testing we did.” Each of the five FaithShares funds, the FaithShares Baptist Values Fund (FZB), the FaithShares Catholic Values Fund (FCV), the FaithShares Christian Values Fund (FOC), the FaithShares Lutheran Values Fund (FKL) and the FaithShares Methodist Values Fund (FMV) are re-balanced each June to have 100 large-cap equally weighted stocks in each portfolio.
While the equal weighting is the main source of excess return, so far it also appears that stock selection will play a significant role. When each of the funds’ performance is compared to that of the equally-weighted S&P 500 index, there is outperformance there as well. FaithShares believes that using the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rankings from KLD Research and Analytics to select the companies in their indexes will have a significantly positive impact on the funds. “We think that using the KLD ESG ranking will allow us to have some of the best run, most ethically managed companies in the large cap universe in our portfolios,” says Tom Phillips, President of FaithShares. “We also believe this will keep us from having too many negative surprises out of management such as litigation related to unethical business practices or fines from federal regulators because of poor environmental standards for example.” Investors can purchase the funds through their investment advisor or discount broker..
read more
Source: FaithShares
ETF Assets Drop in January
February 11, 2010--Total assets in U.S. exchange-traded funds fell 5.8%, or $45 billion, in January from a month earlier, according to monthly data from State Street Corp.
That brought ETF assets in the U.S. down to $730 billion. In December, global ETF assets hit the coveted $1 trillion milestone. The drop in U.S. assets was mostly in line with the market’s disappointing performance in January, as the S&P 500 fell 3.6% and the MSCI EAFE Index lost 4.4%.
Assets in fixed-income ETFs, however, rose 3.2%, or $3.2 billion, last month, continuing the trend that began last year in the sector. Fixed income, most notably TIPS, or Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, and one- to three-year bonds, led the asset surge into ETFs last year, taking in more than $200 billion through the first 11 months of 2009.
read more
Source: Financial Planning
US ETF Snapshot: January 2010 -State Street Global Advisors
February 10, 2010-As of January 31, 840 ETFs in the US—with assets totaling approximately $730BN—were managed by 31 ETF managers.
ETF industry assets fell $45.3BN for the month, or 5.8%.
The ETF industry saw assets fall by 5.8% to begin the new year. Fixed Income was the lone bright spot, with a $3.2BN increase in assets.
Asset Classes — Overall
The S&P 500® Index fell 3.6% in January and the MSCI EAFE® Index fell 4.4% for the month in USD terms. Both the Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury Index and the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index rose 1.6%. Gold fell to $1078.50 an ounce, a loss of 0.8% from last month’s close.
Nine of the 12 sectors fell in absolute terms. Fixed Income assets climbed $3.2BN, a gain of 3.2% for the month.
read more
Source: State Street Global Advisors
The Financial Stability Plan - One Year Later
Statement of Secretary Tim Geithner
February 10, 2010--“It was one year ago today that the Obama Administration outlined a Financial Stability Plan to address the four problems at the heart of the financial crisis: frozen credit markets, weakened bank capital, a backlog of troubled mortgage assets on bank balance sheets, and falling home prices. At the time, with America in a deep recession, it did not matter if you were a company large or small, a family trying to buy a house, a car or even to put your kids in college; loans were not available.
“A year later, the actions we took, alongside the Recovery Act, have worked to restore economic growth and financial stability. Access to credit is improving and the cost of borrowing for businesses, consumers, homeowners, and state and local governments have fallen sharply. In addition, we have achieved this progress at much lower cost than anticipated. By encouraging private capital solutions rather than relying on public funds, the expected cost of stabilizing the financial system has fallen by more than $400 billion. We expect it will fall even further. And if Congress joins the President in adopting a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee, Americans will not have to pay one cent for TARP.
“These measures of the direct financial costs of the crisis do not capture the economic devastation caused by the crisis. The financial system is healing, but still damaged, and we have a lot of repair work still ahead.”
view more
Source: US Department of the Treasury
Van Eck files with the SEC
February 10, 2010--Van Eck has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for
Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF
Market Vectors Coal ETF
Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF
Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF
Market Vectors Nuclear Energy ETF
Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF
Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF
Market Vectors Steel ETF
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
Whitcomb Center for Research in Financial Services creates “The Clearinghouse Project” to offer guidance for exchanges, traders and regulators
February 10, 2010--With the structure of securities markets changing dramatically, Rutgers Business School’s Whitcomb Center for Research in Financial Services announced the formation of “The Clearinghouse Project” to offer guidance to markets and participants. Exchanges, traders and regulators will benefit from the rich research experience and critical analysis the Whitcomb Center has been providing since 1986.
“There is a great unmet need for university-based global market structure consulting,” said Daniel G. Weaver, PhD, Director of “The Clearinghouse Project” and Associate Professor, Finance and Economics at Rutgers Business School. “We offer exchanges, regulators, and participants the combined knowledge of four market structure experts with long histories of providing client services to market participants.”
The services offered by “The Clearinghouse Project” include:
• Compiling White Papers and/or executive summaries of literature relevant to a particular decision or trading rule (e.g., the impact of pre-trade transparency or securities taxes on market quality)
• Conducting surveys (e.g., polling participants on anticipated responses to changes in trading rules)
• Analyzing the ex-post impact of rule changes relative to a desired outcome (e.g., do changes in order display rules result in improved liquidity?)
• Compiling execution quality statistics to satisfy regulatory reporting requirements
The Whitcomb Center for Research in Financial Services at Rutgers Business School, named after market structure theory pioneer David Whitcomb, funds research, acquires up-to-date financial databases and underwrites faculty and doctoral student participation in prominent academic conferences.
Full details of “The Clearinghouse Project” can be found by visiting the Whitcomb Center home page at business.rutgers.edu/whitcomb.
Source: Rutgers Business School
US regional banks to step up lending
February 10, 2010--Some US regional banks, including commercial lending specialist Comerica, expect to increase loans to small-and medium-sized businesses later this year, sooner than analysts had expected.
Fears that banks will not make enough loans to keep the recovery going have led the Obama administration to unveil plans to spur lending to smaller businesses.
In recent conference calls with analysts, Comerica, which has operations in Texas, California and Michigan, and Tennessee-based First Horizon said they expected to increase commercial and industrial loans, a type of lending backed by inventory and cash flow as opposed to real estate. Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares is also expected to increase certain types of loans beginning this year, according to Erik Oja, a Standard & Poor’s analyst.
read more
Source: FT.com
The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund to be Rebalanced
February 10. 2010--State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management business of State Street Corporation, today announced that effective February 12, 2010, The Financial Select Sector SPDR(R) Fund (ticker: XLF) will be rebalancing to reflect the addition of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/B) to its underlying index. Berkshire Hathaway will become a component security of the index for The Financial Select Sector SPDR(R) Fund on or about February 16, 2010. No changes are being made to the fund's investment objectives or ticker symbol.
To facilitate an orderly rebalancing for the Financial Select Sector SPDR(R) Fund, the list of securities applicable to all purchase and redemption orders placed on Friday, February 12, 2010 for The Financial Select Sector SPDR(R) Fund will be based on post-rebalance index holdings instead of index holdings as of the close of business on Thursday, February 11, 2010.
State Street Global Advisors is one of the largest ETF providers globally with assets under management for SPDR ETFs totaling more than $204 billion as of December 31, 2009.
Source: State Street Global Advisors
Research Affiliates, LLC and Ryan ALM, Inc. Partner to Launch Fundamental Index®- based US Corporate Bond Indexes
New Indexes Extend Fundamental Index® Methodology into Fixed Income
February 10, 2010--Research Affiliates, LLC, and Ryan ALM, Inc., today announced the launch, effective January 1, 2010, of the RAFI US Corporate Bond Index Series for Investment Grade and High Yield. This series of investable, broad market indexes is the first to apply the Research Affiliates Fundamental Index® methodology for the creation and calculation of bond indexes.
"In seeking to test and extend the boundaries of the Fundamental Index methodology, we applied the approach to bonds looking at US Corporate Investment Grade and High Yield," said Research Affiliates founder Rob Arnott. "The results were compelling, further validating the methodology and offering investors a more efficient means of constructing a bond index or portfolio with superior risk/reward characteristics."
The Fundamental Index methodology has received numerous awards for innovation and index provider of the year. Currently there are more than 100 equity indexes available through the FTSE RAFI Index Series and more than 200 investment products and separate mandates currently being managed to the methodologies by investors, managers and fund sponsors globally.
In calculating the RAFI® US Corporate Bond Index Series, Research Affiliates provides its Fundamental Index methodology for the creation of an index using fundamental measures of company size. Ryan ALM Index Division applies the methodology to construct and calculate the indexes.
The RAFI US Corporate Bond Indexes start with a universe of 5,000 issues that are then given fundamental weights. Ryan ALM then selects issues that qualify under the index rules, shown below in Tables 1 and 2. A most unique feature of the index rules is the creation of three maturity cells (1–5 years, 5–10 years, and 10+ years) whereby each index only selects the single bond with the highest amount outstanding per issuer per maturity cell. For example, the 1–30+ year index series would have three maturity cells allowing for three issues of the same issuer if they qualify under the index rules. This ensures the greatest liquidity for each index such that investors can actually buy and duplicate the index portfolios, while maintaining exposure to the underlying duration and credit characteristics. Each index has been back-tested to December 31, 1999, and has demonstrated consistent performance versus comparable traditional bond indexes.
read more
Source: Research Affiliates, LLC.
EGA Emerging Global Shares files with the SEC
February 9, 2010--EGA Emerging Global Shares has filed a prospectus with the SEC for
Emerging Global Shares Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans Index Fund.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov