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ProShares Launches First Inverse Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF
March 29, 2011--ProShares, a premier provider of alternative exchange traded funds (ETFs), today announced the launch of the first ETF in the United States that provides inverse exposure to the investment grade corporate bond market.
The ProShares Short Investment Grade Corporate (NYSE: IGS) seeks to provide -1x the daily performance of the Markit iBoxx® $ Liquid Investment Grade Index, before fees and expenses. The ETF lists on NYSE Arca today.
"There are signs that investment grade corporate bonds could possibly be richly valued relative to historical levels. Since the financial crisis, investment grade corporate bond indexes have reached record highs,1 and credit spreads have tightened significantly," said Michael L. Sapir, Chairman and CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, ProShares' investment advisor. "For investors who believe that investment grade corporates could come under pressure, IGS can be used to help hedge against or to seek to benefit from potential declines."
US muni bond demand slips into big freeze
March 28, 2011--A feared meltdown has yet to materialise. Instead, the US municipal bond market, blighted by concern that struggling states and cities could default on their obligations, has gone into a deep freeze.
Sales of new bonds have plunged as retail investors, traditionally the biggest buyers of municipal debt, have fled. The first quarter of the year will record the lowest amount of quarterly new issuance in more than a decade. At $44bn, the amount raised will be less than half the new bonds sold by this time last year.
US bill raises fears for covered bonds
March 28, 2011-US proposals for a covered bond market risk wrecking the products’ centuries-old reputation for boring stability, an industry group has warned.
European banks are selling record amounts of the bonds, which have their roots in 18th-century Prussia and are backed by pools of loans that remain on a bank’s books, unlike the toxic subprime securitisations the financial crisis made infamous.
“Stopping Stammering: Overcoming Obstacles in Financial Regulatory Reform”
March 28, 2011--Speech of Commissioner Bart Chilton to the Goldman Sachs Global Commodity Conference, London, UK
March 28, 2011
Introduction: The King’s Speech
It’s great to be with you this evening. Thanks to Don Casturo for the kind invitation to speak with you and thanks to Ken Connolly who does your Washington, D.C. work and I have known for years. When Don first invited me, I must admit to feeling a little dash of doubt about the prospect of speaking to such a sophisticated group of financial market participants.
However, as the great Winston Churchill once said, “There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.” I’ve never tried to climb such a wall, but have tried to kiss a girl leaning away, so I guess I’m more than half way there. My wife, incidentally, tells me she still loves me anyway. So, perhaps I can deliver this speech.
I’m sure that many of you have seen “The King’s Speech.” It won four Academy Awards, including Motion Picture of the Year. It was among the best pictures I’ve seen in a long, long time. Colin Firth did a remarkable job of playing King George VI. You couldn’t help but feel for a guy who never really asked for the job and had to overcome a stammer while serving as one of the most powerful people in the world. In real life, George VI became a beloved monarch, and of course, the movie had a joyful ending.
U.S. Treasury Futures Begin Trading on NYSE Liffe U.S. Today
Eurodollar Futures Traded Nearly 190,000 Contracts in the First Week-
March 28, 2011-- NYSE Liffe U.S., the U.S. futures exchange of NYSE Euronext (NYX), today announced the immediate availability of 2-year, 5-year and 10-year U.S. Treasury futures along with U.S. Bond and Ultra Bond futures contracts.
These products complement the successful Eurodollar contract that debuted on March 21 with 189,484 contracts traded on NYSE Liffe U.S. in the first week. By utilizing the revolutionary new clearinghouse, New York Portfolio Clearing (NYPC), customers trading any of these interest rate futures products will benefit from the combined value of trading on NYSE Liffe U.S. coupled with the “one-pot” margining power of NYPC.
“Today, we are extremely pleased to offer Treasury interest rate futures to customers of NYSE Liffe U.S. Through the capital efficiency of the NYPC’s ‘one pot’ margin methodology and it’s unique automated delivery protocol, these Treasury futures represent a clear advancement in our customer’s ability to manage risk and optimize their use of capital,” said Thomas F. Callahan, CEO, NYSE Liffe U.S. “We are grateful for the strong level of support we have received from our customers to date and we sincerely thank them for their partnership in building a competitive new choice in the U.S. futures market.”
ISDA Leads Industry Effort to Establish Commodity Derivatives Trade Repository
March 28, 2011--The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today announced that, as part of its continuing efforts to improve transparency in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets, it has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to establish a Commodity OTC Derivatives Trade Repository.
The RFP seeks proposals to create a trade reporting repository that ultimately will record all Commodity OTC Derivatives trade types. The repository will meet all current and future regulations governing repositories and will provide a structure to rapidly report and provide timely access to information to applicable regulators. The deadline for interested providers to submit their proposals is Monday, April 25, 2011.
Trade repositories improve transparency by providing global regulators with significant visibility into risk exposures by firm and by counterparty. ISDA has helped establish trade repositories for other asset classes, including OTC interest rate, credit and equity derivatives.
Information relating to the RFP is available on ISDA's website: www.isda.org
U.S. Agencies Announce Consideration Of Risk Retention Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking
March 28, 2011--The staffs of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (together, the agencies) announced that the agencies this week are considering for approval a notice of proposed rulemaking that addresses section 941 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
All of the agencies participating in this joint rulemaking process are expected to consider the rule this week and a detailed announcement will be made when this process is complete.
If approved, the agencies will publish in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking for public comment.
Section 941 requires the agencies to prescribe rules to require that a securitizer retain an economic interest in a material portion of the credit risk for any asset that it transfers, sells, or conveys to a third party. The chairperson of the Financial Stability Oversight Council is tasked with coordinating this rulemaking effort.
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index
March 28, 2011--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Monday, March 28, 2011:
Valley High Ventures Ltd. (TSXV:VHV.V) will be removed from the index.
The shares of the company have been acquired by Levon Resources Ltd. (TSXV:LVN.V) through a Plan of Arrangement.
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
National Bank Direct Brokerage Launches its New Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) Center
March 25, 2011--National Bank Direct Brokerage, a subsidiary of National Bank Financial Group (TSX:NA), is launching a new exchange-traded funds (ETF) Center. This new tool allows users to easily trade ETFs on the North American markets.
Whether clients are looking for ETFs or simply want to learn more about this type of product, our new ETF Center is a comprehensive source of information. This user-friendly tool helps clients choose ETFs that suit their needs and execute ETF trades more effectively," said Nicolas Milette, President of National Bank Direct Brokerage.
The new ETF Center can quickly search by symbol, various criteria or a key word. ETF features and composition are displayed in real time and in a one-page format. Graphs can be customized with several options such as frequency, period, indicators, volume and more. As such, investors are better equipped to make an informed decision quickly and efficiently.
For more information, go to www.nbc.ca/etfcenter or contact the National Bank Direct Brokerage Investor Services by phone at 1-800-363-3511 or 514-866-6755 or email at web.trad@bnc.ca.
Position limits would hurt investment goals: USCF
March 25, 2011--A futures regulator proposal that would place position limits in the commodities markets may not prevent manipulation or speculation, and would prevent operators of commodity funds from meeting their investment goals, an exchange-traded fund manager said.
The U.S. Commodity Funds, a manager of leading ETFs U.S. Oil Fund (USO.P) and U.S. Natural Gas Fund (UNG.P), said on Friday that instead of preventing excessive speculation -- the goal of position limits -- it could adversely affect the value of the exchange-traded pools managed by it and others.
BlackRock *New Report * ETF Landscape: US Handbook - Q1 2011
March 25, 2011--ETF Landscape: US handbook - Q1 2011 is a comprehensive directory of all 1,117 ETFs and ETPs with assets of US$1.1 trillion from 46 providers listed on two exchanges in the United States.
to request report
CFE Launches Security Futures on CBOE Gold ETF Volatility Index (GVZ) Today
March 25, 2011--- The CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) today announced it has launched security futures trading on the CBOE Gold ETF Volatility Index (Ticker - GVZ), further expanding tradable CFE volatility products into a new asset class.
"With the Gold VIX security futures contract, we look forward to bringing the same utility of volatility futures trading available through our CBOE VIX security futures contract, covering the market as a whole, to a new ETF category and new types of investors," Andrew Lowenthal, CFE Managing Director said. "This contract allows investors to diversify and hedge their GLD exposures through a trading vehicle that was not previously available."
The calculation of the CBOE Gold ETF Volatility Index ("Gold VIX") is based on the well-known CBOE VIX methodology applied to options on the SPDR Gold Trust (Ticker - GLD). The Gold VIX is an up-to-the-minute market estimate of the expected 30-day volatility of GLD, calculated using real-time bid/ask quotes of GLD options that are listed on CBOE.
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
March 25, 2011--Standard & Poor's Canadian Index Operations announces the following index changes:
The shareholders of Western Coal Corp. (TSX:WTN) have accepted the cash and share takeover offer from Walter Energy, Inc. (NYSE:WLT).
Western Coal will be removed from the S&P/TSX Composite and Capped Composite, the S&P/TSX Equity, Capped Equity, Equity Completion and Equity SmallCap, the S&P/TSX Completion, the S&P/TSX SmallCap, the S&P/TSX Capped Materials, the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining, the S&P/TSX Global Mining and Global Base Metals and the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals indices after close on Friday, April 1, 2011.
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
March 25, 2011----CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports have been updated for the week of March 22, 2011 are now available.
First Trust files with the SEC
March 25, 2011-- First Trust has filed a post-effective amendment No. 48 to the First Trust NASDAQ Global Auto Index Fund.
view filing
