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SSgA unveils two emerging markets SPDR ETFs
February 24, 2011--State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)*, the asset management business of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), today announced that the SPDR® S&P® Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (NYSE:EDIV) and the SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF (NYSE:EBND) began trading on the NYSE Arca on February 24, 2011. The addition of these two exchange traded funds (ETFs) strengthens State Street’s family of emerging markets SPDR ETFs.
“Against a backdrop of historically low Treasury yields, demand for precise exposure to innovative debt and dividend instruments is climbing,” said James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors. “The launch of the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF and SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF helps to underscore the evolution of views on diversification – investors no longer see emerging markets as a single, uniform asset class.”
The SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF is designed to track the performance of the S&P Emerging Markets Dividend Opportunities Index. The Index is comprised of 100 of the highest yielding emerging markets stocks, based on market capitalization, in the S&P Dividend Opportunities family of indices. Constituents include publicly traded companies with market capitalizations of at least $1 billion (float-adjusted market cap of $300 million). The SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF’s expense ratio is 0.59%.
The SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF is designed to track the price and yield performance of the Barclays Capital EM Local Currency Government Diversified Index. The Index includes government bonds issued by countries outside of the United States, in local currencies, that have a remaining maturity of one year or more and are rated B3/B-/B- or higher using the middle of Moody’s Investor Service, Inc., Standard & Poor’s, Inc. and Fitch, Inc. respectively. Each of the component securities in the Index is a constituent of the Barclays Capital EM Local Currency Government Diversified Index. The SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF’s expense ratio is 0.5%.
State Street manages $255 billion** in SPDR ETF assets worldwide (as of December 31, 2010) and is one of the largest ETF providers in the US and globally.
CBOE S&P 500 Skew Index, Ticker “SKEW”, Now Live
February 25, 2011--CBOE is now publishing values for the CBOE S&P 500 Skew Index (ticker symbol: SKEW), a benchmark measure of the perceived risk of extreme negative moves — often referred to as "tail risk" or a "black swan" event — in U.S. equity markets.
The SKEWSM and VIX indexes are different, yet complementary measures of risk. VIX is a measure of the level of volatility whereas SKEW is a measure of the shape of volatility. An increase in VIX indicates a greater probability of large S&P 500 moves whether up or down. An increase in SKEW indicates a higher probability of extreme down moves.
For more information on the CBOE S&P 500 Skew Index, including a white paper and values, see www.cboe.com/skew.
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
February 25, 2011--The current reports for the week of Tuesday, February 22, 2011 are now available.
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US One Files with the SEC
Febuary 25, 2011--US One has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the Russell Aggressive Growth ETF
Russell Consistent Growth ETF
Russell Growth at a Reasonable Price ETF
Russell Contrarian ETF
Russell Equity Income ETF
Russell Low P/E ETF
Russell Small & Mid Cap Defensive Value ETF
Russell Small Cap Defensive Value ETF
Eaton Vance files with the SEC
February 25, 2011--Eaton Vance has filed an application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
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Global X files with the SEC
February 25, 2011--Global X has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the Global X Oil Equities ETF-NYSE Arca, Inc: XOIL
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NASDAQ Announces Mid-Month Open Short Interest Positions In NASDAQ Stocks As Of Settlement Date February 15, 2011
February 25, 2011--
At the end of the settlement date of February 15, 2011, short interest in 2,359 NASDAQ Global MarketSM securities totaled 6,215,782,911 shares compared with 6,147,830,374 shares in 2,356 Global Market issues reported for the prior settlement date of January 31, 2011. The mid-February short interest represents 2.99 days average daily NASDAQ Global Market share volume for the reporting period, compared with 2.94 days for the prior reporting period.
Short interest in 494 securities on The NASDAQ Capital MarketSM totaled 352,062,149 shares at the end of the settlement date of February 15, 2011 compared with 336,149,823 shares in 492 securities for the previous reporting period. This represents 3.91 days average daily volume, compared with the previous reporting period's figure of 3.63.
In summary, short interest in all 2,853 NASDAQ® securities totaled 6,567,845,060 shares at the February 15, 2011 settlement date, compared with 2,848 issues and 6,483,980,197 shares at the end of the previous reporting period. This is 3.03 days average daily volume, compared with an average of 2.97 days for the previous reporting period.
State Street Debuts Two New Emerging Markets ETFs
February 25, 2011--
State Street rolled out two new ETFs on Thursday, launching products offering exposure to emerging markets equities and fixed income securities. The SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF (EBND) will seek to replicate a benchmark consisting of fixed-rate local currency sovereign debt of emerging market countries, while the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (EDIV) is linked to a benchmark made up of dividend-paying emerging markets stocks.
“Against a backdrop of historically low Treasury yields, demand for precise exposure to innovative debt and dividend instruments is climbing,” said James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors.
ISE Launches Qualified Contingent Cross Order Type
February 25, 2011--The International Securities Exchange (ISE) announced today that it
will introduce the Qualified Contingent Cross (QCC) order type on Monday, February 28, 2011, bringing important crossing functionality for large institutional orders to an all-electronic environment. Using the
QCC order type, ISE’s members can cross tied-to-stock options orders of 1,000 contracts or more on ISE’s market with a guaranteed execution as long as the order is priced at or better than the National Best Bid or Offer (NBBO) and does not trade in front of resting customer orders.
“We are extremely excited to provide the QCC order type for our members,” said Gary Katz, President and Chief Executive Officer of ISE. “The QCC order type brings large, institutional crossing business to an efficient, electronic environment. We applaud the SEC in its decision to allow for fair competition between floor-based and electronic options exchanges for these large-size contingency trades.”
ISE’s QCC order type was first approved by the SEC in August 2009, but a procedural appeal by a competing exchange prevented ISE from implementing the order type. Following nearly a year of dialogue with the SEC, ISE submitted a revised rule filing in July 2010 and it was approved on February 24, 2011.
QCC orders are available for both single and multi-legged options orders via PrecISE, FIX and API
connections. For more information, contact ISE Business Development at bizdev@ise.com.
CME Group Announces Record Volume For Benchmark Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) Options Contracts
February 24, 2011--CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse energy marketplace, today announced the third record volume for its global benchmark Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) options contracts since the beginning of 2011. On Wednesday, Feb. 23, WTI options reached a record 324,655 contracts, surpassing the previous record of 294,411 contracts set on Jan. 31, which represents a 10.3 percent increase from the prior record.
"CME Group is the leading crude oil options marketplace for both WTI and Brent Crude Oil," said Joe Raia, CME Group Managing Director, Energy & Metals Products. "As unrest continues in key parts of the world, customers around the world come to CME Group to manage their crude oil risk because of the depth of liquidity and unmatched transparency of our products."
CME Group NYMEX WTI is the largest, deepest and most liquid global energy market benchmark, trading more than 1.1 million futures and options contracts daily – on average more than double the size of its nearest competitor.
TSI launches US domestic ferrous scrap price index
February 24, 2011--The Steel Index (TSI) is launching its US domestic ferrous scrap price index on Friday. The reference price is for shredded obsolete scrap, delivered US Midwest mill.
It will be published weekly, each Friday at 7:30am EST (12:30pm GMT).US ferrous scrap prices are a key indicator for world steel and scrap prices. Scrap is a critical raw material in the steel-making process, typically accounting for around 80% of electric arc furnace (EAF) route costs and 5-10% of blast furnace route costs. Scrap prices are also notoriously volatile.
Fears over CFTC derivatives rule
February 24, 2011--Leading US exchanges are gravely concerned about proposed rules that could hamper the launch of new derivatives products – a key strategy in the current round of exchange mergers.
The issue revolves around a rule proposed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that 85 per cent of annual trading in a futures contract or swap must occur on an exchange, or what is called a Designated Contract Market.
“Risky Business”
Statement of Commissioner Chilton
February 24, 2011--I support the proposed interpretive order regarding disruptive trading practices that we are considering today. At the same time, I want to be clear that we need to do more than merely this order. We need explicit rules to address trading using advanced analytics. Cheetah traders (High Frequency Traders or HFTs) and algorithmic traders are relatively new to markets and deserve special consideration and action to ensure that they do not disrupt the fundamental purposes of futures markets.
Cheetah and algo traders are an important component of markets; they provide liquidity, super-fast access, and an audit trail—something our enforcement folks really appreciate. At the same time, there are concerns about this type of trading and they merit special attention.
Opening Statement, Public Meeting on Proposed Rules Under Dodd-Frank Act
February 24, 2011--Commissioner Michael V. Dunn
Thank you all for joining us today for this important meeting regarding the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act.
I am particularly interested in the proposed interpretive order regarding the Commission’s antidisruptive trading practices authority. In reading the comment letters we received in response to our Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, two things stood out to me. First, there was widespread support for the goal of eliminating disruptive trading practice from our markets. Second, most commentators called for greater clarity to help them understand how we interpret the concept of a “disruptive practice.” I look forward to receiving the public’s comments to see if the proposed interpretive order adequately addresses these concerns.
As I have mentioned in previous open meetings, the CFTC is under serious strain at its current funding level. We lack the staff and technological resources necessary to implement Dodd-Frank and continue to fulfill our pre-Dodd-Frank duties under the Commodity Exchange Act. Our staff’s performance during this difficult time has been truly remarkable, as they have worked long hours to essentially do two very big jobs at once. However, without additional funding, the strain will only become worse in July, when much of Dodd-Frank goes into effect. At that point, in addition to our traditional oversight of the futures industry, we will also be regulating the swaps market – a market that has been estimated to be nine times larger than the futures market.
Opening Statement, Meeting on the Twelfth Series of Proposed Rulemakings under the Dodd-Frank Act
February 24, 2011--Commissioner Jill E. Sommers
Good morning. Thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you to the teams for their hard work on the proposals we consider today.
Before I address the specific proposals, I would like to talk about an issue that has become an increasing concern of mine – that is, our failure to conduct a thorough and meaningful cost-benefit analysis when we issue a proposed rule. The proposals we are voting on today, and the proposals we have voted on over the last several months, contain very short, boilerplate “Cost-Benefit Analysis” sections. The “Cost-Benefit Analysis” section of each proposal states that we have not attempted to quantify the cost of the proposal because Section 15(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act does not require the Commission to quantify the cost. Moreover, the “Cost Benefit Analysis” section of each proposal points out that all the Commission must do is “consider” the costs and benefits, and that we need not determine whether the benefits outweigh the costs.
