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CFTC Announces Panelists for September 16 Public Roundtable to Discuss the Commission’s Proposed Ownership and Control Report
September 15, 2010--The staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the panelists for its September 16, 2010, public roundtable to discuss the Commission’s proposed Ownership and Control Report (OCR).
Note: the Roundtable’s agenda and call-in information may be found in CFTC press release #5888-10 (see related documents).
Panelists
Keith Anguish, Associate Director, Systems Development, CME Group Inc.
Jim Moran, Director, Global Market Regulation Strategy and Technology, CME Group Inc.
Karl Cooper, Chief Regulatory Officer, NYSE Liffe U.S.
Andy Booth, Chief Technology Officer, NYSE Liffe U.S.
Gensler Statement on September 15 CFTC/SEC Public Roundtable to Discuss Swap Execution Facilities and Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities
September 15, 2010--Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler today commented on the joint CFTC-SEC Public Roundtable to Discuss Swap Execution Facilities and Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities.
Chairman Gensler said:
"Requiring swaps to be traded on regulated trading platforms will bring transparency and better pricing to the derivatives markets. This will lower risk and costs for businesses. I look forward to hearing panelist views at today's roundtable to inform our rule-writing in this area."
CFTC Releases Rule Enforcement Review of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade
September 15, 2010-- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) has notified the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade (collectively referred to as the Exchanges) of the results of a rule enforcement review completed by the Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (Division).
The review covered the period from January 1, 2008, to January 2, 2009 (target period). The Division assessed the Exchanges’ compliance with core principles relating to their audit trail, trade practice surveillance and disciplinary programs. Although CME and CBOT merged in July 2007, each exchange maintains independent status as a designated contract market. However, CME’s Market Regulation Department provides regulatory services for CME and CBOT (as well as NYMEX and COMEX). In addition, the Exchanges have substantially harmonized their trading rules and share a trading floor, and both use the Globex platform for electronic trading.
The Division found that the Exchanges maintain adequate audit trail, trade practice and disciplinary programs. However, the Division had some concerns regarding compliance staff levels. By the end of the target period, the Exchanges’ compliance staff was 18% smaller than the Exchanges’ combined pre-merger compliance staffs. Although additional compliance staff has been hired since the end of the target period, the Division recommended that the Exchanges review the compliance staff size needed to ensure that the regulatory services provided to all CME Group exchanges by the Market Regulation Department remain effective in enforcing compliance with the Exchanges’ rules and Commission regulations.
OOK, Inc. Announces the Liquidation of the Oklahoma Exchange-Traded Fund
September 14, 2010--)--OOK, Inc. (the “Company”), a registered investment company, today announced that its sole remaining director and Chief Executive Officer has determined to liquidate the Company’s underlying investment portfolio (the “Fund”) effective September 30, 2010 and subsequently dissolve the Company. The Fund offers shares known as OOK, the Oklahoma Exchange-Traded Fund (“Shares”) that are listed on NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”).
The decision was made after consultation with Geary Advisors, LLC (“Advisor”), investment advisor of the Fund. Consideration was given to current market conditions, the inability of the Fund to attract significant market interest since its inception and the continued expenses of operating the Fund, and therefore determined that is was advisable and in the best interest of the Fund and its shareholders to liquidate the Fund. Since Inception, the following Directors, stating no unfavorable reason, resigned: John Shelley (9-30-09), Mike Braun (3-9-10) and Boe Parrish (6-18-10). Geary Advisors, LLC has agreed to pay all fees and expenses of the Fund. Any and all unpaid liabilities of the Advisor will be paid by the parent company, Geary Companies, Inc.
September 24, 2010, will be the last day of trading for the Shares on NYSE Arca, and the last day on which creation unit aggregations of the Shares may be purchased or redeemed. The Fund and its ticker symbol is:
OOK Oklahoma Exchange-Traded Fund (OOK)
NYSE Arca will halt trading in the Shares of the Fund before the open of trading on September 27, 2010 and the Fund will be closed to new investment on that date. Shareholders may sell their Shares on or prior to September 24, 2010. From September 27, 2010 through September 30, 2010, shareholders may be able to sell their Shares to certain broker-dealers who may determine to continue to purchase such Shares, but there can be no assurance that any broker-dealer will be willing to purchase such Shares or that there will be a market for the Shares of the Fund. All sales of Shares to a broker-dealer, whether made before or after September 24, 2010, will be subject to typical transaction fees and charges. All shareholders remaining on September 30, 2010 will receive cash equal to the amount of the net asset value of their Shares as of September 30, 2010 including dividends into the cash portion of their brokerage accounts. Fund shareholders remaining September 30, 2010 will not incur transaction fees to sell their Shares. All other costs of closing the Fund will be borne by the Advisor.
Effective immediately, the Fund will be in the process of liquidating its portfolio. As a result, the fund will no longer pursue its investment objective of seeking to track the performance of its underlying index.
The Fund acknowledges non-compliance with the NYSE Arca’s audit committee requirements.
For additional information about the liquidation, shareholders of the Fund may call the Advisor at 1-405-235-5757.
Horizons BetaPro Launches Canada's Lowest Cost ETF
September 14, 2010--BetaPro Management Inc. ("BetaPro"), the manager of the Horizons BetaPro Exchange Traded Funds (the "HBP ETFs"), is pleased to announce the launch of the Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX 60(TM) Index ETF (the "BetaPro S&P/TSX 60 ETF" or "HXT"). The BetaPro S&P/TSX 60 ETF will begin trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on September 15, 2010, under the symbol HXT.
Traditionally, each ETF provider in Canada has had an exclusive licensing arrangement with index providers. When choosing to invest in an index-tracking ETF, most investors selected the ETF based on the specific index, with little thought to the provider since that provider normally had a monopoly on that index.
HXT represents a new era of competition in the Canadian ETF industry, offering a more efficient and lower cost way to get exposure to the S&P/TSX 60(TM) Index, which is the most widely recognized Canadian equity index. The BetaPro S&P/TSX 60 ETF seeks to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the S&P/TSX 60(TM) Index (Total Return), net of expenses.
The S&P/TSX 60(TM) Index is comprised of the 60 largest stocks in Canada and, according to Standard & Poors(R), currently represents nearly 75% of the market capitalization of Canadian stocks.
"In our opinion, the S&P/TSX 60(TM) Index is the single most important Canadian equity benchmark," said Howard Atkinson, President of BetaPro. "HXT represents another milestone for ETF investors and ushers in a new era of competition for the Canadian ETF industry, which we believe will lead to lower costs and greater selection for investors."
TXF Funds, Inc. Announces Liquidation of the Texas Large Companies Exchange-Traded Fund
September 13, 2010-)--TXF Funds, Inc. (the “Company”), a registered investment company, today announced that its sole remaining director and Chief Executive Officer has determined to liquidate the Company’s underlying investment portfolio (the “Fund”) effective September 30, 2010 and subsequently dissolve the Company. The Fund offers shares known as TXF, the Texas Large Companies Exchange-Traded Fund (“Shares”) that are listed on NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”).
The decision was made after consultation with Geary Advisors, LLC (“Advisor”), the investment advisor of the Fund. Consideration was given to current market conditions, the inability of the Fund to attract significant market interest since its inception and the continued expenses of operating the Fund and therefore determined that it was advisable and in the best interest of the Fund and its shareholders to liquidate the Fund. Since Inception, the following Directors, stating no unfavorable reason, resigned: John Shelley (9-30-09), Mike Braun (3-9-10) and Boe Parrish (6-18-10). Geary Advisors, LLC has agreed to pay all fees and expenses of the Fund. Any and all unpaid liabilities of the Advisor will be paid by the parent company, Geary Companies, Inc.
September 24, 2010, will be the last day of trading for the Shares on NYSE Arca, and the last day on which creation unit aggregations of the Shares may be purchased or redeemed. The Fund and its ticker symbol is:
TXF Large Companies Exchange-Traded Fund (TXF)
NYSE Arca will halt trading in the Shares of the Fund before the open of trading on September 27, 2010 and the Fund will be closed to new investment on that date. Shareholders may sell their Shares on or prior to September 24, 2010. From September 27, 2010 through September 30, 2010, shareholders may be able to sell their Shares to certain broker-dealers who may determine to continue to purchase such Shares, but there can be no assurance that any broker-dealer will be willing to purchase such Shares or that there will be a market for the Shares of the Fund. All sales of Shares to a broker-dealer, whether made before or after September 24, 2010, will be subject to typical transaction fees and charges. All shareholders remaining on September 30, 2010 will receive cash equal to the amount of the net asset value of their Shares as of September 30, 2010 including dividends into the cash portion of their brokerage accounts. Fund shareholders remaining September 30, 2010 will not incur transaction fees to sell their Shares. All other costs of closing the Fund will be borne by the Advisor.
Effective immediately, the Fund will be in the process of liquidating its portfolio. As a result, the fund will no longer pursue its investment objective of seeking to track the performance of its underlying index.
The Fund acknowledges non-compliance with the NYSE Arca’s audit committee requirements.
For additional information about the liquidation, shareholders of the Fund may call the Advisor at 1-405-235-5757.
Global X Funds Reaches $500 Million AUM and Ranked Fastest-Growing ETF
September 14, 2010-- With 14 exchange traded funds (ETFs)
brought to market over the last twenty months, Global X Funds
announced today it has reached the $500 million threshold in assets
under management. This milestone supports a recent BlackRock report
that lists Global X as the fastest growing ETF provider in the US with
an increase of 318% year-to-date.
The largest fund in the family is the China Consumer ETF (CHIQ), which
in 9 months has grown to over $100 million in assets. The top
performing fund is the Global X/Interbolsa FTSE Colombia 20 ETF (GXG),
whose cumulative performance has exceeded 170% since inception in
February 2009. It has been named a Wall Street Journal Category King
for August 2010 and also topped the IBD ETF list in September 2010.
"Our fast pace of growth speaks directly to the relevance these
products have had with investors,” said Bruno del Ama, CEO of Global X
Funds.
CME Group Issued the Following Statement Regarding Errant Orders
September 14, 2010--CME Group issued the following statement:
During a six minute period beginning at 2:38 pm (CDT) on Monday, September 13, test orders that should have been posted into a quality assurance testing environment were inadvertently placed into active energy and metals markets on CME Globex. As soon as we became aware of the issue, we began working with affected customers and implemented other corrective steps.
We have also kept the Commodity Futures Trading Commission apprised of developments related to this event. CME Group will address these transactions in accordance with its Rule 587.
Dow Jones Indexes Launches Emerging Markets Consumer Titans 30 Index
To Serve As a Basis for an Exchange-Traded Fund
September 14, 2010--Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced the launch of the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans 30 Index. The index measures the performance of 30 leading consumer goods and consumer service companies in emerging markets.
The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans 30 Index is licensed to Emerging Global Advisors, LLC and will serve as a basis for an exchange-traded fund (ETF), to be listed on NYSE Arca. The ETF, called the EGShares Emerging Markets Consumer ETF (NYSE ticker: ECON) is the first emerging market ETF focused on consumer trends in the developing world.
“Consumer spending is a leading economic indicator,” said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes. “The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans 30 Index tracks the largest and most profitable consumer goods and consumer services companies in developing countries today. This allows investors to examine consumer spending in developing countries during the global economic recovery,” he said.
“As the developed world transitions from a society of spenders to a more prudent one of increased savings, the emerging world is slowly moving in the other direction,” said Richard C. Kang, chief investment officer & director of research, Emerging Global Advisors, LLC. “Although individually the emerging market consumer may have a smaller amount to spend, because of the size and youth of this demographic they are able to compensate for the massive structural changes happening in the developed world. This ETF is the first emerging market fund paying attention to this trend,” he said.
Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Flows Through August 2010
September 14, 2010--Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund asset flows through August 2010. Flows into long-term mutual funds increased by more than 11 percent in August to $16.8 billion, with fixed-income funds again receiving the majority of these assets. Outflows from domestic-equity ETFs contributed to net outflows of $1.3 billion from U.S. ETFs in August, ending a six-month streak of consecutive monthly inflows.
Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on mutual fund flows:
Taxable-bond funds accumulated assets of $168.5 billion year to date, and much of these inflows are likely attributable to low yields on money market funds. Money market funds have seen outflows in 16 of the 19 months since February 2009, for a total loss of nearly $1.0 trillion, reducing money market total net assets and market share to $2.7 trillion and 27.6%, respectively.
Outflows persisted for U.S. stock funds, with redemptions of $14.3 billion in August. Funds in the large growth and large value Morningstar categories saw the greatest outflows, surrendering a combined $8.6 billion in August alone and $38.3 billion for the year to date.
Although domestic-equity funds have seen outflows of $42.2 billion in 2010 and $25.7 billion in 2009, U.S. stock funds still have total net assets of more than $2.9 trillion. The $67.9 billion in outflows since the end of 2008 are not even 2.4 percent of that total, and passively managed domestic-equity funds have actually seen inflows in 34 of the past 36 months.
PIMCO's bond lineup helped it gather $7.7 billion in August to top all fund families, followed by Vanguard, although the firm's inflows dropped to $4.0 billion after taking in $4.9 billion in July. American Funds and Fidelity, which specialize in actively managed funds, lost another $5.5 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively, to outflows in August.
Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on ETF flows:
International-stock ETFs had inflows of $4.4 billion, the highest of all asset classes for the second straight month, thanks to strong demand for emerging-markets ETFs. Over the trailing three-year period, emerging-markets ETFs have accounted for more than 61 percent of flows into the asset class.
SPDR S&P 500 SPY, the largest ETF in terms of net assets, saw outflows of $6.6 billion in August, as investors moved their assets into higher-yielding equity strategies, including defensive and dividend-paying sectors and preferred stock ETFs.
iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond HYG and SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond JNK, with inflows of $464 million and $332 million, respectively, led flows into junk bond ETFs, as investors took on more risk in search of more attractive yields in August. Short-term bond ETFs remained popular despite their unimpressive yields.
Precious-metals ETFs, bolstered by inflows of $827 million into SPDR Gold Shares GLD, were the most popular ETFs in the commodities asset class in August.
CME mistakenly places test orders for trading
September 14, 2010--CME Group, the world’s biggest futures exchange, mistakenly placed orders on active energy and metals markets as it was undertaking a quality assurance procedure.
CME declined to say which contracts were placed into the live market or how many orders were sent or executed, but a person familiar with the situation numbered them in the tens of thousands.
The mistaken order flow began at 3:38pm Eastern time on Monday and lasted six minutes. CME said the erroneous orders had no impact on prices.
CFTC, SEC Announce Panelists, Room Update and Webcast Address for September 15 Public Roundtable to Discuss Swap Execution Facilities and Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities
September 14, 2010-The staffs of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced the panelists, a room update and the webcast address for their September 15, 2010, public roundtable to discuss Swap Execution Facilities (“SEFs”) and Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities (“SB SEFs”).
Room Update and Webcast Address
The roundtable will be held in the Multi-Purpose Room (Room L-006) at the SEC Headquarters located at 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC. Members of the public should disregard the room noted in CFTC press release #5889-10 and SEC press release #2010-166 (see related documents). The discussions will be open to the public with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
Members of the public also may listen by telephone and should be prepared to provide their first name, last name, and affiliation. The roundtable’s agenda and call-in information may be found in CFTC press release #5889-10 and SEC press release #2010-166 (see related documents).
In addition to listening by telephone, members of the public may access a webcast of the roundtable at: www.sec.gov.
Gensler Statement on CFTC/SEC Public Roundtable to Discuss Swap Data, Swap Data Repositories and Real Time Reporting
September 14, 2010--Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler today commented on the joint CFTC-SEC Public Roundtable to Discuss Swap Data, Swap Data Repositories and Real Time Reporting.
Chairman Gensler said:
“Promoting transparency is at the core of the CFTC’s mission,” CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said. “The Dodd-Frank Act’s provisions on data, swap data repositories and real time reporting will increase transparency both to regulators and to the public. The views of today’s panels will help the CFTC as we write rules to implement essential provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.”
State Street Global Advisors Launches First Global Natural Resources ETF
September 14, 2010-State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management business of State Street Corporation, today announced that the SPDR(R) S&P(R) Global Natural Resources ETF (Symbol: GNR) began trading on the NYSE Arca on September 14, 2010. Its annual expense ratio is 0.40 percent.
Designed to provide investors with diversified, global exposure across the Energy, Metals and Mining, and Agriculture sectors, the SPDR S&P Global Natural Resources ETF seeks to track the performance of the S&P Global Natural Resources Index. The Index includes ninety of the largest publicly-traded companies in global natural resources and commodities businesses. In addition to being listed on a developed market exchange, Index constituents must have a minimum of $1 billion market capitalization and a three month average daily trading value of $5 million or more.
"The SPDR S&P Global Natural Resources ETF was developed in response to demand from sophisticated investors and financial advisors seeking precise natural resources exposure that is not overweight on the energy sector," said James Ross, senior managing director at State Street Global Advisors. "With the addition of the SPDR S&P Natural Resources ETF, our family of SPDR ETFs provides investors with an opportunity to benefit from increasing natural resources demand across the globe."
Index holdings are equally-weighted across the energy, metals and mining, and agriculture sectors. This index methodology offers investors exposure that is diversified, liquid, and balanced, and prevents overweighting energy companies, which make up more than 10 percent of the S&P 500(R) Index based on market capitalization.
"With the consumption of natural resources poised for growth in both emerging markets and developed countries, the investment outlook for this sector remains promising," said Dan Peirce, vice president and a portfolio manager with the Multi Asset Class Solutions team at State Street Global Advisors. "In light of the sector's attractive supply and demand dynamics and relatively low correlation with other asset classes, the benefits of investing in natural resources are becoming increasingly apparent to investors."
State Street manages more than $200 billion in SPDR ETF assets worldwide (as of June 30, 2010) and is one of the largest ETF providers in the US and globally.
EGShares Launches Industry’s First Emerging Markets Consumer Exchange-Traded Fund
September 14, 2010--EGShares, the only dedicated emerging markets sector ETF provider in the U.S., has launched the Emerging Global Shares Emerging Markets Consumer Titans Index Fund (NYSE: ECON). This is the first ETF that offers investors access to emerging markets companies that we believe are well positioned to benefit from the rapidly growing spending patterns of the middle class in the world’s fastest growing economies. ECON invests in the securities in the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans 30 Index.
“We believe many equity research firms have positioned the emerging market consumer theme as the pre-eminent structural and demographic opportunity for the foreseeable future,” said Robert Holderith, President and CEO of EGShares. “We are pleased to offer investors the first broad-based emerging markets ETF as a way to try to capitalize this investment opportunity.”
The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Consumer Titans Index is a 30-stock index with an average market capitalization of $14.5 billion. The index’s top five industry weights, as of 6/30/10, were General Retailers (16.27%), Automobiles & Parts (14.85%), Beverages (14.24%), Food Producers (13.46%), and Media (10.86%), followed by Food & Drug Retailers, Tobacco, Travel & Leisure, Personal Goods, and Household Goods. ECON charges a net expense ratio of 0.85% (gross expense ratio: 1.20%).*
According to Richard Kang, CIO and Director of Research at EGShares, “One of the primary secular drivers in today’s economic environment is that households in the developed world are deleveraging—spending less, saving more—while those in the emerging markets are moving in the opposite direction. Although the median household income may be small in relation to developed markets, both the large size and young age of the emerging market population make this a key theme for both the near and long term. Today, the West is consuming less but at least others around the globe are picking up the slack.”
Tom Sowanick, co-president and CIO of Omnivest Group, a Princeton, NJ-based investment advisory firm, said the most provocative story for U.S. investors right now is in emerging markets and the key plot points in that story are demographics, urbanization and, of course, consumerism. “Emerging economies will benefit from the three Ds; Demographics, Density and Distance,” said Sowanick, who is the former CIO of Merrill Lynch’s Private Client Group where he spent 25 years in research. “Over the next 20 years, Asia will represent 55% of the world’s urban population, with India and China accounting for 30% of the total.”
Sowanick continued: “Urbanization and the increase of megacities, primarily in India and China, will witness a massive migration to urban cities of nearly 1 billion people. Urbanization will also shift consumer demand from rural appetites to urban appetites. Skyscrapers, transportation, energy consumption and food consumption will increase substantially over the next two decades from this migration and the emergence of a massive middle class.”
The EGShares Emerging Markets Consumer ETF is the ninth ETF to be introduced by EGShares. The company’s other ETFs are the EGShares India Infrastructure ETF (INXX), the EGShares India Small-Cap ETF (SCIN), EGShares Brazil Infrastructure ETF (BRXX), EGShares China Infrastructure ETF (CHXX), EGShares Emerging Markets Metals/Mining ETF (EMT), EGShares Emerging Markets Energy ETF (EEO), EGShares Emerging Markets Financials ETF (EFN) and the EGShares Emerging Markets Composite ETF (EEG).
