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Remarks at a Conference Hosted by the Office of Financial Research and the Financial Stability Oversight Council
Chairman Gary Gensler
December 2, 2011--Good morning, I’d like to thank the Office of Financial Research (OFR) and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) for hosting this important conference and for inviting me to speak.
Thank you, Tim, for the introduction.
Lessons of 2008
Three years ago, the financial system failed, and the financial regulatory system failed as well. We are still feeling the aftershocks of these twin failures.
There are many lessons to be learned from the crisis. Foremost, when financial institutions fail, real people’s lives are affected. More than eight million jobs were lost, and the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high. Millions of Americans lost their homes. Millions more live in homes that are worth less than their mortgages. And millions of Americans continue struggling to make ends meet.
CFTC Issues Interpretation Concerning Dodd-Frank Anti-Fraud Authority
December 2, 2011--The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced an Interpretation that relates to anti-fraud authority provided in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Today’s Interpretation is the CFTC’s view of the meaning of the term “actual delivery,” and guidance on how the CFTC will determine if the actual delivery exception applies to a transaction.
The Commission voted on the Interpretation, and will no longer consider this item during the open meeting on December 5. The Interpretation is open for public to comment for 60 days from publication in the Federal Register.
Section 742(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act amended the Commodity Exchange Act to add a new section, 2(c)(2)(D), entitled “Retail Commodity Transactions.” Section 2(c)(2)(D) broadly applies to any agreement, contract, or transaction in any commodity that is entered into with, or offered to, a non-eligible contract participant or non-eligible commercial entity on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis. The Section requires such agreements, contracts, and transactions to be conducted on a regulated exchange and subjects them to the CFTC’s anti-fraud authority. However, the Section does not apply if “actual delivery” of the commodity is made within 28 days. The Commission issued the Interpretation to explain its view of “actual delivery” and provide several examples of when “actual delivery” does and does not occur.
David Meister, the Director of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement, stated, “In this Section of the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress provided the CFTC with added authority to prosecute ponzi schemes and other frauds that are perpetrated in the retail commodities markets, such as scams by people acting as legitimate providers of investments in precious metals like gold and silver. We will use this authority aggressively to protect investors and the markets.”
view the Retail Commodity Transactions Under Commodity Exchange Act Section 2(c)(2)(D)
iShares files with the SEC
December 2, 2011--iShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the iShares Asia/Pacific Dividend 30 Index Fund.
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Fidelity files with the SEC
December 1, 2011--Fidelity has filed an application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
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ISE Reports Business Activity for November 2011
December 1, 2011--ISE is the largest equity options exchange in November with market share of 19.7%, excluding dividend trades.
Dividend trades made up 4.9% of industry volume in November 2011.
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today reported average daily volume of 2.8 million contracts in November 2011. This represents a decrease of 4.6% compared to November 2010. Total options volume for the month was 59.8 million contracts. ISE was the largest U.S. equity options exchange in November with market share of 19.7%*.
Business highlights for the month of November include:
On November 7, ISE announced it had completed the most the most recent upgrade to its new trading system based on Deutsche Börse Group’s OptimiseTM trading architecture. Technology Release 1.6 was the second major enhancement to the system since the completion of its initial rollout in July 2011.
Brazil takes measures to counter crisis
December 1, 2011--Brazil moved aggressively to shield its economy from a widening global financial crisis on Thursday, unveiling a slate of measures to boost consumption and investment in Latin America’s biggest country.
The announcement comes just one day after Brazil’s central bank cut interest rates for third straight time to shore up credit, citing mounting concerns about the impact of the eurozone debt crisis on the Brazilian economy
Cash-rich US small-caps buying own stock
December 1, 2011-- US small and midsized companies have sharply increased repurchases of their own stock, deploying excess cash to buy what they see as undervalued shares.
Share buy-backs are usually implemented by larger companies, while smaller companies tend to use spare cash for investment.
But net debt level of US small-caps is at the lowest levels since at least 2000, according to JPMorgan data. The bank estimates the non-financial companies in Russell 2000 index are sitting on $168bn of cash
BNP Paribas files with the SEC
December 1, 2011--BNP Paribas has filed a pre-effective amendment No.3 to Form S-1 with the SEC for the BNP Paribas S&P Dynamic Roll Global Commodities Fund.
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Fidelity files with the SEC
November 1, 2011--Fidelity has filed a application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
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Morgan Stanley-ETF Quarterly
Quarterly Report: $1.0 Trillion in 1,173 ETFs
November 30, 2011--Highlights
ETF assets are essentially flat YTD amid volatile
markets. We currently stand at $1.0 trillion spread among 1,173 products. New issuance has been strong this year with 215 ETFs coming to market;
however, third quarter net inflows ($19.3 billion) were the lowest since the first quarter of 2010.
Below average third quarter flows were undoubtedly driven by volatile markets and a lack of investor conviction
as the quarter came to an end. Fixed Income ETFs generated the largest net inflows during the third
quarter while US Sector & Industry ETFs posted meaningful net outflows.
Congress push to relax US securities laws
November 30, 2011--Proposals for a big relaxation of US securities laws are being pushed forward in the US Senate in the face of opposition from state regulators, academics and a group of Democrats.
A hearing of the Senate banking committee will examine on Thursday a package of measures to encourage “capital formation” that has drawn White House support but which critics warn could hurt investors and make markets more opaque.
Fed’s liquidity action prompts move out of dollar
November 30, 2011--Appetite for commodity currencies improved sharply on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve announced a surprise move with five other central banks to improve liquidity in the financial system.
The US dollar fell across the board as investors moved into riskier currencies as central banks in Europe, Canada, the UK, Japan and Switzerland said they had agreed with the Fed to lower pricing on existing US dollar swaps and offer liquidity in each other’s currencies if needed.
PowerShares files with the SEC
November 30, 2011--Invesco PowerShares has filed a pots-effective amendment no. 18 to Form S-6 with the SEC for the POWERSHARES QQQ TRUSTSM , SERIES 1.
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AdvisorShares files with the SEC
November 30, 2011--AdvisorShares has filed a post-effective amendment No. 42, registration statement with the SEC for the QAM Equity Hedge ETF.
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State Street files with the SEC
November 30. 2011--State Street has filed a post-effective amendment no.75, registration statement for the SPDR Barclays Capital Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF (FLRN).
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