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CFTC Staff to Host Public Roundtable to Discuss Individual Customer Collateral Protection
October 15, 2010--Staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will hold a public roundtable on October 22, 2010, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., to discuss issues related to individual customer collateral protection. The roundtable will assist the CFTC in the rulemaking process to implement the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The roundtable will be held in the Lobby Level Hearing Room at the CFTC’s Headquarters, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The discussion will be open to the public with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Members of the public may also listen by telephone and should be prepared to provide their first name, last name and affiliation.
CFTC/SEC Staffs to Host Joint Public Roundtable to Discuss Issues Related to the Clearing of Credit Default Swaps
October 15, 2010-- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staffs will hold a public roundtable on October 22, 2010, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, to discuss issues related to the clearing of credit default swaps. The roundtable will assist both agencies in the rulemaking process to implement the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The roundtable will be held in the Lobby Level Hearing Room at the CFTC’s Headquarters, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC. The discussion will be open to the public with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Members of the public may also listen by telephone and should be prepared to provide their first name, last name and affiliation.
Van Eck Launches Market Vectors(R) China ETF (PEK)
Only US Listed ETF Which Seeks to Track Performance of China A-Shares Market
October 14, 2010--- Van Eck Global has launched Market Vectors China ETF (nyse arca:PEK), the first U.S.-listed exchange traded fund (ETF) designed to give investors exposure to China's large and fast-growing A-Shares market, which represents all stocks traded on China's two main exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. PEK seeks to track the performance of the CSI 300 Index, an Index which captured approximately 64 percent of the total market cap of these two exchanges, as of September 30, 2010.
As China's local A-Share market has historically been restricted to the country's domestic investors and Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors, many Emerging Market and BRIC funds are not able to include the A-Share market in their country weighting schemes, leading to a fundamental underweighting of China's true equity market in these funds. For this reason, Van Eck believes that gross domestic product (GDP) -- which reflects the size of a country's economy rather than the size of its available equity market -- may be an important factor to consider when investing in international markets. Since 1996, China's GDP has ranked first among all emerging markets and since June 2010, it has surpassed Japan as the second largest economy in the world (after the U.S.). This illustrates China's growing dominance within the global economy, a position that many market capitalization weighted products do not capture.
S&P, TMX Group to Launch Volatility Index for the Canadian Stock Market
October 14, 2010--- Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, and TMX Group Inc., operator of Toronto Stock Exchange and Montreal Exchange, announced today that they will bring the "fear index" to the Canadian stock market with the launch of the S&P/TSX 60 VIX. The S&P/TSX 60 VIX will seek to measure the 30-day implied volatility of the Canadian stock market using S&P/TSX 60 Index options, which trade on Montreal Exchange. The Index is set to launch on Monday, October 18th 2010.
VIX is often referred to as the "fear index" as it measures investors' expectation of stock market volatility for the next 30-day period. Historically, volatility generally has had negative correlations to the stock market and is considered a useful signal to hedge the potential downturn of the broad equity market. While the S&P/TSX 60 Index options have various expirations, the S&P/TSX 60 VIX indicates the implied volatility of the fixed 30-day period.
"The launch of the S&P/TSX 60 VIX complements the S&P/TSX 60, the leading equity index in Canada," says Alex Matturri, Executive Managing Director at S&P Indices. "The new volatility index will not only serve as a key metric of market sentiment, but will also foster the development of a volatility trading and hedging market in Canada."
"We are delighted to provide the Canadian marketplace with a new robust volatility indicator," adds Alain Miquelon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Montreal Exchange. "Volatility indices -- with the CBOE's VIX methodology as the recognized standard -- are used worldwide to measure the expected volatility of the stock market over the next month. Partnering with S&P enables us to give investors a powerful tool to gauge market expectations."
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX approximates the 30-day implied volatility that is derived by the near-term and next-term options. Options roll to the next-term five business days prior to expiration. CORRA (Canadian Overnight Repo Rate), and 1-, 2-, and 3-month CDOR (Canadian Dealer Offered Rate) rates are used to interpolate the risk free rates of each maturity.
For more information about the S&P/TSX 60 VIX, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.
CME Group to Launch Rainfall Contracts in Nine U.S. Cities
October 14, 2010--CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced today that it will begin listing and trading rainfall futures, options on futures and binary options beginning October 31 for trade date November 1. The monthly and seasonal contracts will be based on the CME Rainfall Index and will be available March through October. These contracts will be listed with, and subject to, the rules and regulations of CME.
"We see the impact of weather every day in our lives and we know how it can influence regional and local business decisions – whether to raise prices, divert inventory or result in temporarily closures," said Tim Andriesen, CME Group's Managing Director of Agricultural Commodities and Alternative Investments. "A significant number of industries, from agribusiness to recreation, are reliant on good weather, but also are at the mercy of bad weather. Rainfall contracts, in conjunction with our existing suite of weather products, will allow these businesses to manage the resulting risk."
U.S. International Reserve Position
October 14, 2010--The Treasury Department today released U.S. reserve assets data for the latest week. As indicated in this table, U.S. reserve assets totaled $135,631 million as of the end of that week, compared to $134,432 million as of the end of the prior week.
I. Official reserve assets and other foreign currency assets (approximate market value, in US millions)
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I. Official reserve assets and other foreign currency assets (approximate market value, in US millions) |
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October 8, 2010 |
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A. Official reserve assets (in US millions unless otherwise specified) 1 |
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135,631 |
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(1) Foreign currency reserves (in convertible foreign currencies) |
Euro |
Yen |
Total |
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(a) Securities |
9,911 |
15,888 |
25,798 |
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of which: issuer headquartered in reporting country but located abroad |
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0 |
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(b) total currency and deposits with: |
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(i) other national central banks, BIS and IMF |
14,594 |
7,796 |
22,390 |
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ii) banks headquartered in the reporting country |
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0 |
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of which: located abroad |
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0 |
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(iii) banks headquartered outside the reporting country |
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0 |
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of which: located in the reporting country |
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0 |
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(2) IMF reserve position 2 |
13,034 |
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(3) SDRs 2 |
58,241 |
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(4) gold (including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped) 3 |
11,041 |
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--volume in millions of fine troy ounces |
261.499 |
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(5) other reserve assets (specify) |
5,126 |
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--financial derivatives |
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--loans to nonbank nonresidents |
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--other (foreign currency assets invested through reverse repurchase agreements) |
5,126 |
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B. Other foreign currency assets (specify) |
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--securities not included in official reserve assets |
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--deposits not included in official reserve assets |
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--loans not included in official reserve assets |
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--financial derivatives not included in official reserve assets |
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--gold not included in official reserve assets |
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--other |
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Dollar fall sparks stability warnings
October 14, 2010--The dollar tumbled against most major currencies on Thursday, prompting warnings that the weakness of the world’s reserve currency could destabilise the global economy and push other countries into retaliatory devaluations to underwrite their exports.
Increasing expectations the Federal Reserve will pump more money into the US economy next month under a policy known as quantitative easing sent the dollar to new lows against the Chinese renminbi, Swiss franc and Australian dollar. It dropped to a 15-year low against the yen and an eight-month low against the euro.
AdvisorShares files with the SEC
October 14, 2010--AdvisorShares has filed a post effective amendement, registration statement with the SEC for
SiM Dynamic Allocation Diversified Income ETF
NYSE Ticker: DINC
SiM Dynamic Allocation Growth Income ETF
NYSE Ticker: DGRO
CFTC to Hold Open Meeting on Second Series of Proposed Rules under the Dodd-Frank Act
October 13, 2010-- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, October 19, 2010, at 9:30 a.m. to consider the issuance of the following proposed rulemakings under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:
Definition of “agricultural commodity”;
Position reports for physical commodity swaps and swaptions;
Expanding scope of privacy protections for consumer financial information under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act;
and Business affiliate marketing and disposal of consumer information rules under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
The meeting will be open to the public and will be webcast via the Internet. In addition, audio of the meeting will be available via a listen-only conference call.
Direxion files with the SEC
October 13, 2010--Direxion has filed a pre-effective amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 with the SEC for
Direxion Daily Gold Bull 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Gold Bear 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Silver Bull 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Silver Bear 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Euro Bull 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Euro Bear 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Japanese Yen Bull 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Japanese Yen Bear 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Dollar Bull 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion Daily Dollar Bear 3X Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Direxion S&P 500® Dynamic VEQTOR Shares - Shares of Beneficial Interest
Claymore Launches Canada’s First Broadly Diversified Commodity ETF
October 13, 2010--Claymore Investments, Inc. (“Claymore”), a leading provider of intelligent exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) in Canada, is pleased to announce the launch of the Claymore Broad Commodity ETF (CBR:TSX).
The Claymore Broad Commodity ETF seeks investment results that correspond generally to the total return (before fees and expenses) of the Auspice Broad Commodity Total Return Index, which is
designed to benefit from upward trends in the broad commodity futures markets while at the same time minimizing downside risk during downtrends.
“We are continually striving to bring new investment products that provide investors with the opportunity
to access important asset classes in an intelligent, low cost and transparent manner. Commodities have
proven to become an important asset class for diversifying portfolio risks and returns. Their historically
low correlation to stocks and bonds, along with their high correlation to inflation, makes commodities even
more important in today’s market environment” said Som Seif, President & CEO of Claymore
Investments, Inc. “This product is Canada’s first broad commodity ETF, and brings an intelligent
investment strategy to the commodity market while also hedging the currency exposure”.
The Claymore Broad Commodity ETF has closed the offering of their initial units and will begin trading on
the Toronto Stock Exchange when it opens this morning.
Year End Financial Planning in 2010 Brings Unique Opportunities, says iShares 529 Plan
529 plans offer tax-smart incentives for saving for higher education
October 13, 2010--)-- iShares, a global leader in Exchange Traded Funds, today noted that the year-end tax planning season in 2010 brings strategic opportunities unique to the current tax environment and the characteristics of 529 college savings plans.
“With the country in full gear preparing for healthcare reform and additional tax changes under consideration, this year-end season will be a crucial one for tax strategy,” said Stephen Jobe, director of 529 programs at iShares. “529 plans were created specifically to make saving for higher education easier, and they come equipped with important tax incentives that CPAs and advisors can maximize during their planning process.”
Despite rising college costs and a bad economy, a recent survey1 suggests parent and student attitudes toward the value of a college education remain high:
80% strongly agree that college is an investment in the future, virtually unchanged over the past three years
71% strongly agree that a college degree is more important now than it used to be
60% strongly agree that they will stretch themselves financially to afford college
529 Plans serve as an innovative tool for addressing higher education goals while offering attractive tax benefits to the account owners.
CBOE Holdings' C2 Options Exchange to Launch on October 29
Initial Class Rollout Announced
October 13, 2010--CBOE Holdings, Inc. today announced that C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated(SM) (C2(SM)), the company's new all-electronic exchange, will open for trading on Friday, October 29, 2010. Details on C2's initial class and series listings were also announced.
C2 is the second securities options exchange under the CBOE Holdings, Inc. corporate umbrella. The new exchange will operate under a separate exchange license, with its own board of directors, rules, connectivity, systems architecture, and access structure. C2's market model will employ a "maker-taker" fee schedule and a modified price/time matching algorithm for non-proprietary classes.
Component Changes Made to Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 Indexes
October 13, 2010--Please note the following correction to a press release issued on Tuesday, October 12, 2010: In the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR Index, Companhia Paranaense de Energia-COPEL ADS (Brazil, Utilities, ELP) will replace Net Servicos de Comunicacao S/A (Brazil, Media, NETC) not Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S/A ADS (Brazil, Telecommunications, TSP) as previously stated. The updated release follows:
Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced component changes in the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 indexes.
In the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR Index, Net Servicos de Comunicacao S/A (Brazil, Media, NETC) will be replaced by Companhia Paranaense de Energia-COPEL ADS (Brazil, Utilities, ELP).
In the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 Index, Net Servicos de Comunicacao S/A (Brazil, Media, NETC4.BR) will be replaced by Turk Hava Yollari A.O. (Turkey, Travel & Leisure, THYAO.IS).
Net Servicos de Comunicacao S/A (Brazil, Media, NETC; NETC4.BR) is being removed due to its acquisition by Embratel Participacoes S/A (Brazil, EBTP4.BR). All changes will be effective before the open of trading on Friday, October 15, 2010.
Further information on the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 indexes can be found at http://www.djindexes.com.
Company additions to and deletions from the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR and Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Services Titans 30 indexes do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Flows Through September 2010
October 13, 2010-- Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund asset flows through September 2010. While long-term mutual funds saw inflows of $14.3 billion during the month, the U.S. equity outflows continued, reaching $16.3 billion despite the best September for stocks in 71 years.
The divergence in flows between international-stock and domestic-equity funds also continued to grow. Although international-stock funds saw modest inflows of $600 million in the third quarter, U.S. stock funds lost roughly $42.7 billion. Investors have pulled $80.9 billion from U.S. stock funds over the trailing 12 months, but contributed nearly $34.3 billion to international-stock funds—a difference of $115.2 billion. U.S. ETFs saw inflows of roughly $25.4 billion in September, boosting year-to-date inflows to $64.9 billion.
Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on ETF flows:
The most-popular ETF asset class in September was U.S. stocks, with inflows of $16.7 billion. While inflows into the heavily traded SPDR S&P 500 SPY and PowerShares QQQ QQQQ bolstered assets for U.S. stock ETFs overall, the predominant theme in the current environment is investor appetite for dividends. iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend DVY and Vanguard Dividend Appreciation VIG have seen a spike in demand in recent months.
While TIPS ETFs have seen outflows on deflationary concerns, commodities, REITs, and dividend-paying ETFs have enjoyed increasing popularity. REITs serve as a solid inflation hedge, and iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate IYR and Vanguard REIT Index VNQ saw $312 million and $371 million in net inflows in the third quarter, respectively.
Gold ETFs remained attractive in September, but iShares Silver Trust SLV gathered assets of more than $421 million to lead precious-metals ETF flows during the month.
Strong demand for emerging-markets ETFs continued in September. Of the $14.5 billion in inflows that investors added to international-stock ETFs in the third quarter, more than $12.5 billion, or 86 percent, went to ETFs covering broad emerging-market indexes. Conversely, ETFs offering exposure to developed international markets continued to experience outflows.
