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SEC Approves CBOE Holdings' Proposal To Trade SPXpm
New S&P 500 Index Option Product To Launch on C2, the Company's All-Electronic Exchange
September 2, 2011--CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) announced today that the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved its rule filing to launch, on a pilot basis, SPXpm, its proposed new S&P 500 Index option product.
SPXpm will be traded on the C2 Options Exchange (C2), the Company's all-electronic exchange.
C2's SPXpm product will be a cash-settled index option based on the S&P 500 Index, the premier benchmark of the broader U.S. market. SPXpm is almost identical in structure to the Chicago Board Options Exchange's (CBOE) flagship S&P 500 SPX contract, the most-actively traded U.S. index option product, except, as the SPXpm name implies, it has a "p.m." settlement.
U.S. Regulators Seek High-Frequency Trading Secrets
September 2, 2011-U.S. securities regulators have taken the unprecedented step of asking high-frequency trading firms to hand over the details of their trading strategies, and in some cases, their secret computer codes.
The requests for proprietary code and algorithm parameters by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a Wall Street brokerage regulator, are part of investigations into suspicious market activity, said Tom Gira, executive vice president of FINRA's market regulation unit.
Goldman files with the SEC
September 2, 2011-- Goldman Sachs has filed an application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
view filing
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
September 2, 2011--The current reports for the week of August 30, 2011 are now available.
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CFTC Staff Allows Euronext Brussels’ Futures Contract Based on the BEL 20 Index to be Offered and Sold in the United States
August 2, 2011--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC’s) Office of General Counsel today announced that it issued a no-action letter on August 31, 2011, permitting the offer and sale in the United States of Euronext Brussels’ (EB) futures contract based on the BEL 20 Index (B20).
The B20 is a free-float, market-capitalization-weighted index of the largest and most liquid 20 stocks listed on the EB, and it serves as the blue-chip index for the Belgian equity market. As of December 2, 2010, the total adjusted market capitalization of the stocks in the B20 was approximately US $89 billion.
Please Note:
This is a product approval only. U.S. customers may trade approved foreign exchange-traded products through a registered futures commission merchant (FCM) which is either a member of the foreign exchange on which that product is listed or which has established an omnibus account with a clearing member on that exchange, or directly through a member of the foreign exchange that has been granted exemptive relief pursuant to Commission Regulation 30.10. For more information on foreign markets, products, and intermediaries, please see the Commission's website: www.cftc.gov.
ISE Reports Business Activity for August 2011
September 1, 2011 –Dividend trades made up 1.2% of industry volume in August 2011.
ISE is the third largest equity options exchange in August with market share of 18.9%, excluding dividend trades.
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today reported average daily volume of 4.1 million contracts
in August 2011. This represents an increase of 75.2% compared to August 2010. Total options volume for
the month was 94.8 million contracts. ISE was the third-largest U.S. equity options exchange in August with market share of 18.9%*. Business highlights for the month of August include:
On August 8, ISE announced that it had partnered with Horizon Kinetics to launch the Horizon Kinetics ISE Wealth Index (RCH), an innovative new index which includes companies whose
senior management has demonstrated a track record of skill and specific industry knowledge that has translated into high levels of long-term shareholder value creation.
On August 11, ISE received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to restructure its Competitive Market Maker (CMM) trading rights. The new program, which launches today, grants greater flexibility to current and new CMMs to select the options classes they would like to quote.
Aggregate assets under management for the ETFs based on ISE’s proprietary indexes was $1 billion as of August 31, 2011.
BlackRock files with the SEC
September 1, 2011--BlackRock has filed an application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
view filing
Morgan Stanley-ETF Quarterly Report: $1.0 Trillion in 1,131 ETFs
September 1, 2011--ETF assets are essentially flat YTD amid volatile
markets. We currently stand at $1.0 trillion spread among 1,131 products. New issuance has been strong this year with 168 ETFs coming to market and
second quarter net inflows were $29.5 billion, respectable given a drop-off in demand for risk assets
as the quarter came to a close. Fixed Income ETFs generated the largest net inflows during the second quarter while Commodity ETFs posted meaningful net
outflows.
This is our comprehensive quarterly report on USlisted ETFs. It includes a summary of investment applications, excerpts from our strategy reports, our
outlook for related markets, index data, and individual
profiles for the 300 ETFs in our coverage universe, which represents 93% of US-listed ETF assets.
U.S. Department of the Treasury Treasury International Capital System (TIC) Homepage Update
September 1, 2011--The U.S. Department of the Treasury Treasury International Capital System (TIC) Homepage has been updated.
view updates
The Options Industry Council Announces August Volume Nearly Double That of August 2010
September 1, 2011 - The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 550,049,407 total options contracts changed hands in August, a 94 percent increase over August 2010 when 283,487,110 contracts were traded.
In addition to August setting a new monthly record, several other records were achieved throughout the month, including three consecutive daily volume records.
This is the first time in history monthly volume has surpassed half a billion contracts. Furthermore, August saw the top four of the ten highest volume days for both total options and equity options. On August 8, 41,535,580 contracts were traded, establishing a new daily volume record and marking the first time over 40 million contracts were traded in one day.
Component Changes Made To Dow Jones Country And Dow Jones Emerging Markets Sector Titans Indexes - Changes Are The Result Of The Regular Quarterly Review
September 1, 2011-- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced the results of the regular quarterly review of the Dow Jones Country Titans Indexes and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Sector Titans Indexes. All changes will be effective after the close of trading on Friday, September 16, 2011.
Evraz Group S.A. (Russia, Basic Resources, EVR.LN) will be removed from the Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10 Index and replaced by Sberbank Rossia ADS (Russia, Banks, SBER.LN). The total free-float market capitalization of the reconstituted Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10 Index increased to US$240.05 billion from US$217.89 billion as of Wednesday, August 31, 2011.
No changes are being made in the Dow Jones Australia Titans 30, Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR, Dow Jones Brazil Titans 30, Dow Jones Canada Titans 60, Dow Jones Cyprus Titans 10, Dow Jones DFM Titans 10, Dow Jones EGX Egypt Titans 20, Dow Jones France Titans 30, Dow Jones Germany Titans 30, Dow Jones Hong Kong Titans 30, Dow Jones India Titans 30, Dow Jones Italy Titans 30, Dow Jones Japan Titans 10, Dow Jones Kuwait Titans 30, Dow Jones Netherlands Titans 30, Dow Jones Mexico Titans 20, Dow Jones Saudi Titans 30, Dow Jones South Africa Titans 30, Dow Jones South Korea Titans 30, Dow Jones Spain Titans 30, Dow Jones Sri Lanka Titans 20, Dow Jones Sweden Titans 30, Dow Jones Switzerland Titans 30, Dow Jones Turkey Titans 20, and Dow Jones U.K. Titans 50 Indexes as a result of this regular quarterly review.
FlexShares files wth the SEC
September 1, 2011-FlexShares has filed a pre-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the FlexShares Morningstar US Market Factor Tilt Index Fund
FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index Fund
FlexShares iBoxx 3-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund
FlexShares iBoxx 5-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund
FlexShares iBoxx 7-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund
Gensler: CFTC Eager to Clean Up Swap Market
September 1, 2011-Before the 2008 financial crisis, our country’s largest financial institutions were trading complicated derivatives, called swaps, in the shadows, which helped propel the economy into a downward spiral.
Though the crisis had many causes, it’s evident that swaps – created to lower risk for Main Street businesses – heightened risk on Wall Street. Further, the swaps market created the belief that certain financial institutions were not only too big to fail but too interconnected to fail. When AIG, Bear Stearns and others faltered or crumbled, it was the taxpayers who were left with the bill. It wasn’t just the financial system that failed; the regulatory system designed to protect the public also failed.
CFTC to Hold Open Meeting to Consider Two Proposed Rules under Dodd-Frank Act
September 1, 2011--– The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will hold a public meeting on Thursday, September 8, 2011, at 9:30 a.m., to consider proposed rulemakings under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on the following topics:
Documentation and Margining (further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking), and
• Mandatory Clearing and Trading Implementation (NPRM).
DB Global Equity Research: US ETF Market Weekly Review :Strong flows and equity market add $29bn to ETP AUM
August 31, 2011--Risk off trade pause or risk reversal?
Equity markets took a breather last week after having experienced four straight weeks of losses. Risky assets rallied towards Friday anticipating some sort of auspicious policy announcement (e.g. QE3) during Bernanke’s Jackson Hole speech. Although explicit additional stimulus expectations were not met on Friday, equity markets in the US (S&P 500) ended the week up by 4.74%.
The total US ETP flows from all products were $8.2bn of inflows last week vs $1.1bn of inflows the previous week, setting the YTD weekly flow avg. at +$1.9bn.
Maybe it was the fact that investors decided to book some profits on the recent Gold surge, or maybe it was the fact that markets expected a repetition of last year’s Jackson Hole speech with its corresponding QE3 announcement. Anyhow the reality is that after 4 weeks of outright risk off trade, long-only ETP flow patterns were significantly reversed during last week (Figure 1). Long only equity ETPs received almost $11.0bn inflows by the end of Friday, while Gold ETPs experienced the largest weekly outflows (-$3.5bn) since the recent gold surge began. At the same time Fixed Income ETPs had positive flows of $829m
Another hint of potential change in risk appetite was perceived among US-focused sector ETPs grouped by business cycle sensitivity. Cyclical sectors dominated the flows last week with +$1.3bn for the Global ones and +$941m for the Domestic ones. However, Defensive sectors remained positive with $340m of inflows. It is worth to add that the strong inflows received by the cyclical sectors could easily have been in response to the previous week sell-off when Global and Domestic sectors experienced outflows of $1.5bn and $2.9bn, respectively.
Despite the magnitude of last week’s risk surge, it is still too soon to call a risk reversal; thus additional cash flow data should confirm whether last week’s flows were a pause in the risk off trade or its reversal.
New Launch Calendar:
No new listings & 3 ETN delistings
There were no new listings in the US during last week. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank AG repurchased three of their ELEMENTS ETNs (BVT, BVL, and BSC).
Turnover Review: floor activity decreases on lower volatility
Total weekly turnover decreased by 5.1% to $490bn vs. $516bn in the previous week. The largest decrease was on Equity ETP turnover which fell by $49.2bn or 10.8% to $407bn. Fixed Income ETP turnover decreased by $4.4bn to $17.5bn last week. Finally, Commodity ETPs products turnover increased by 83.0% totaling $62.1bn at the end of last Friday.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Review:
AUM back to positive growth
Driven by strong flows and a rally in the US equity market, US ETP AUM gained $28.5bn or 2.9% as compared to the previous week and closed at $1.01 trillion or 1.5% up YTD.
