Van Eck files with the SEC
March 29, 2012--Van Eck has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the International High Yield Bond ETF (IHY).
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FINRA investigating exchange-traded notes: spokesperson
March 29, 2012--The regulator that oversees the sale of investment products to investors is investigating how firms are marketing exchange-traded notes, a niche product that experienced a market meltdown this year.
A spokeswoman for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Thursday the regulator is "looking at the events and trading" activity surrounding a sharp plunge in the price of an exchange-traded note designed to track stock market volatility.
ALPS files with the SEC
March 29, 2012--ALPS has filled a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC.
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ETFs moving in on vulnerable money market funds
March 28, 2012--Money market funds face their share of uncertainty, but that turmoil may be benefiting a growing crop of money market–like exchange traded funds.
Federated, Legg Mason and iShares have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch ultra-short ETFs as an alternative to embattled money market funds.
Teucrium Trading, LLC Launches First Agricultural Fund of ETP Funds
The Fund Will Focus on Four Core Agricultural Commodities
March 28, 2012--Teucrium Trading, LLC ("Teucrium"), (www.teucrium.com), the first company to introduce single agricultural commodity Exchange Traded Products ("ETPs") in the United States, and the sponsor of the Teucrium Family of Funds, today announced the launch of the Teucrium Agricultural Fund (NYSE: TAGS), the first ETP to offer exposure to agricultural commodities in a single fund of ETP funds.
Company officials said the new fund, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange Arca, will invest in corn, soybeans, wheat and sugar, by holding an equal weighting of existing Teucrium single commodity funds, namely, the Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSE:CORN), Teucrium Soybean Fund (NYSE: SOYB), Teucrium Sugar Fund (NYSE: CANE) and Teucrium Wheat Fund (NYSE: WEAT).
ShareBuilder 401k Adds Five New Funds to its All-ETF 401(k) Lineup
New Options Including Gold Fund Enable Small Business Owners and Employees to Better Plan for Retirement Through Changing Markets
March 28, 2012--ShareBuilder 401k, a leading provider of retirement plans for small and mid-size business owners and their employees, is expanding its All-ETF 401(k) platform with the addition of five new funds aimed at helping investors diversify, preserve and grow assets over time and through various market conditions.
Effective March 1, ShareBuilder 401k's easy-to-use, cost effective retirement planning platform for businesses ranging from self-employed to mid-size companies has added the following funds to its All-ETF 401(k) lineup:
IMF Working paper-Commodity Prices and Inflation Expectations in the United States
March 28, 2012--Summary: U.S. monetary policy can remain extraordinarily accommodative only if longer-term inflation expectations stay well-anchored, including in response to commodity price shocks.
We find that oil price shocks have a statistically significant, but economically small impact on longer-term inflation compensation embedded in U.S. Treasury bonds. The estimated effect is larger for the post-crisis period, and robust to controlling for measures of liquidity risk premia. Oil price shocks are also correlated with the variance of longer-term inflation expectations in the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers in the post-crisis period. These results are not attributable to looser monetary policy - oil price increases were associated with expectations of a faster monetary tightening after the crisis. Overall, the findings are consistent with some impact of commodity prices on long-term inflation expectations and/or on inflation rate risk.
view the IMF Working paper-Commodity Prices and Inflation Expectations in the United States
PIMCO to Change the Total Return ETF Ticker to BOND on April 4, 2012
Shift From TRXT to BOND Is Designed to Make Access for Investors Even Easier
March 28, 2012--PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, will change the NYSE ticker for the PIMCO Total Return ETF from TRXT to BOND on April 4, 2012.
The shift from the ticker TRXT to BOND is designed to make it even easier for investors to access the PIMCO Total Return ETF. BOND will continue to be managed by PIMCO's founder and co-Chief Investment Officer William H. Gross, and will continue to follow the same Total Return strategy.
"Our aim is to enable investors to access the PIMCO Total Return ETF easily and conveniently, and we believe that re-naming the NYSE ticker to BOND is another step toward achieving that objective," said Mr. Gross.
Guggenheim Investments Expands BulletShares(R) Product Suite to 13 With Three New Corporate Bond ETFs
Assets in BulletShares(R) Line-Up Recently Passed the $1 Billion Mark
March 28, 2012- Guggenheim Investments, the investment management division of Guggenheim Partners, LLC, today announced the launch of three new corporate bond BulletShares: Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca:BSCI),
Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca:BSCJ) and Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca:BSCK). Recently, assets in the BulletShares® exchange traded funds (ETF) line-up surpassed $1 billion (as of March 14, 2012).
The Guggenheim BulletShares® line-up consists of 10 unique fixed-income defined-maturity corporate bond and high yield corporate bond ETFs. Unlike other fixed-income ETFs, BulletShares are designed to mature in their target year—providing investors with specific target maturities to build laddered portfolios or to manage to specific investment time frames. BulletShares track indices of approximately 70 to 190 corporate bonds with effective maturities in the same calendar year as each fund's maturity, with maturity dates ranging from 2012 to 2020 at this time.
Jefferies Said to Hire Epstein From BNP to Expand in ETF Trading
March 28, 2012--Jared Epstein, the former head of flow credit trading at BNP Paribas SA, has been hired by Jefferies Group Inc. (JEF) to trade fixed-income exchange-traded funds, according to people familiar with the decision.
Jefferies has decided to expand into exchange-traded funds tied to debt, with Epstein being brought in to help build the business, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the decision hasn’t been made public. The New York-based firm offers its clients market-making services in equity exchange-traded funds, according to its website.
First U.S.-Listed Hedge Fund Replication Exchange-Traded Fund Celebrates Three-Year Anniversary
IndexIQ’s QAI launched an asset class when it was listed on NYSE Arca in March of 2009; brought liquid, transparent hedge strategies to the ETF world
Fund has gathered $200 million in AUM and remains a flagship of IndexIQ’s ETF family
March 28, 2012--The IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (NYSE Arca: QAI), the first U.S.-listed hedge fund replication Exchange-Traded Fund, celebrated its three-year anniversary on March 25, 2012, the fund’s sponsor, IndexIQ, has announced.
We launched the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF in 2009 with the goal of making a whole new asset class available to the average investor,” said Adam Patti, CEO of IndexIQ. “Before the launch of QAI, hedge fund investing was generally limited to institutions and high net worth individuals. QAI changed all of that. While the concept was novel at the time, QAI has performed as we anticipated over the past three years and has attracted more than $200 million in assets.”
Russell files with the SEC
March 27, 2012--Russell has filed a Post-Effective Amendment No. 45 to its Registration Statement with the SEC.
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Chile's Santiago Exchange To Launch ETF By Year-End
March 27, 2012--The Santiago Stock Exchange expects to launch an exchange-traded fund by year-end, after it signed Tuesday an agreement with Brazil's Banco Itau's (ITUB, ITUB4.BR) general fund manager to create ETF shares that will track the blue-chip IPSA index, the broader IGPA and the smaller Inter-10 indexes.
An ETF is an increasingly popular and highly liquid security that tracks a stock, a sector, an index, a commodity, a bond, a currency or other asset classes, or even a basket of assets.
Only one ETF offering exposure to Chile is currently in the market--the iShares MSCI Chile Index Fund (ECH).
Itau won the stock exchange's tender to introduce and manage ETFs for the bourse's three main indexes in the local market.
ISE Enhances Its Trading Platform with Optimise 3.0
March 27, 2012--The International Securities Exchange (ISE) completed Technology Release 3.0, the latest upgrade to its new trading system based on the OptimiseTM trading architecture.
With this release, ISE introduced the technology necessary to enable Legging Orders, a new order type scheduled to go live in early May. With Legging Orders, ISE will significantly enhance the execution of multi-legged strategy orders by enabling greater interaction of the complex order book with the regular order book. The result will be an increased fill rate for multi-legged strategy orders as well as tighter spreads and increased liquidity on the regular order book.
CFTC's Division of Market Oversight Issues Advisory Addressing Bona Fide Hedge Transactions and Positions
March 27, 2012--The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight (DMO) today issued an Advisory regarding the treatment of bona fide hedging transactions and positions under Commission Regulations 1.3(z), 1.47, and 1.48 as they existed prior to the adoption of the final rule addressing Position Limits for Futures and Swaps.
The Division issued the Advisory at this time to remind market participants that regulations 1.3(z) and 1.48 will continue to apply to position limits under the Commission’s part 150 regulations until 60 days after the Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly publish a rule or rules in the Federal Register further defining the term “swap.” After the term “swap” is further defined, the bona fide hedging provisions under regulation 151.5 in the final rule for Position Limits for Futures and Swaps will apply to exempt and agricultural commodities and regulation 1.3(z) will apply to excluded commodities.