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Morningstar to acquire Chicago-based Logical Information Machines, provider of data and analytics for the energy, financial, and agriculture sectors
December 14, 2009--Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Logical Information Machines, Inc. (LIM), a leading provider of data and analytics for the energy, financial, and agriculture sectors, for $51.5 million, subject to post-closing adjustments.
LIM had revenue of approximately $20 million for the last 12 months. The companies expect to complete the transaction this month, subject to customary closing conditions, which include approval by LIM's shareholders.
LIM is a pioneer in providing market pricing data, securities reference data, historical event data, predictive analytics, and advanced data management solutions that help customers manage large sets of time-series data. The company collects, unifies, and conducts quality assurance on data from more than 180 providers in the energy, financial, and agriculture sectors and provides clients with one central source for data intelligence and analysis. Clients also have the flexibility to use LIM's tools for analyzing their own proprietary data, which they may have been collecting for years.
LIM's clients include some of the world's largest asset managers, banks, oil companies, power and natural gas trading firms, utilities, risk managers, and agriculture and commodities trading firms.
"LIM has been in the data management and aggregation business for 20 years and has developed a proprietary time-series database technology that serves as an essential hub for trading desks and risk managers at many Fortune 500 companies. LIM's solutions are deeply integrated with its clients' platforms, which make them invaluable to customers," said Joe Mansueto, chairman and CEO of Morningstar.
Mansueto added, "LIM is a financially healthy firm with a strong record of success, subscription-based revenue, and a large, stable client base. We were attracted to LIM because it complements our core data and software businesses and provides a new distribution channel for Morningstar. Additionally, we serve many of the same financial services firms, but we're working with different departments within those organizations. By joining forces, we can offer our clients more robust services from one provider."
"Becoming part of Morningstar will help us expand our business, especially outside the United States where we're in the early stages of developing our offerings," said Anthony "Tony" Kolton, co-founder, president, and CEO of LIM. "We see many opportunities in Asia, for example, which originates a significant amount of the world's trading and where Morningstar has been operating for more than a decade."
Barclays head stands up for big banks
December 14, 2009--Bob Diamond, the president of Barclays, mounted a spirited defence of big banks and their trading arms on Monday, saying “to make banks smaller and narrower is not the solution”.
In an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Mr Diamond argued against suggestions that banking could be safer by limiting the activities of banks or breaking them up into smaller companies that would not be “too big to fail”. “Big and systemic are not synonymous,” said Mr Diamond, who heads Barclays’ investment banking and asset management operations. “To make banks smaller or narrower is not the solution. An integrated universal bank is the best structure.”
Semi-Annual Changes to the NASDAQ OMX ABA Community Bank Index
December 14, 2009--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
(Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today the results of the semi-annual reranking
of the NASDAQ OMX ABA Community Bank Index (Nasdaq:ABQI), which will
become effective with the market open on Monday, December 21, 2009.
The following seven securities will be added to the Index: Cardinal
Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:CFNL), Columbia Banking System, Inc.
(Nasdaq:COLB), CenterState Banks, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSFL) Great Southern
Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:GSBC), Nara Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:NARA), Union
Bankshares Corporation (Nasdaq:UBSH), and Wilshire Bancorp, Inc.
(Nasdaq:WIBC).
The Index is designed to track the performance of banks and thrifts, or their holding companies, listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market(R). The Index is intended to serve as a benchmark for investment products by including the larger and more liquid community banks. The NASDAQ OMX ABA Community Bank Index is reranked on a semi-annual basis. For more information about the NASDAQ OMX ABA Community Bank Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/.
As a result of the evaluation, the following thirteen securities will be removed from the Index: First Busey Corporation (Nasdaq:BUSE), Capital City Bank Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:CCBG), ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:ESSA), First Community Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq:FCBC), First Merchants Corporation (Nasdaq:FRME), Harleysville National Corporation (Nasdaq:HNBC), Northfield Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:NFBK), Pacific Capital Bancorp (Nasdaq:PCBC), Roma Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:ROMA), Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:SASR), 1st Source Corporation (Nasdaq:SRCE), Sterling Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:STSA), and ViewPoint Financial Group (Nasdaq:VPFG).
The First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Fund (Nasdaq:QABA) seeks
investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield
(before the fund's fees and expenses) of the NASDAQ OMX ABA Community
Bank Index.
Old Mutual launches emerging market ETF with zero fees
Decmber 11, 2009--Old Mutual Global Index Trackers has launched an ETF based on the emerging markets with zero fees for a limited period.
The African asset manager has
listed the GlobalShares FTSE Emerging Markets fund on NYSE Arca, under a temporary zero-fee arrangement. The zero-fee will last until the end of January 2010, or until the net assets of the fund exceed $1bn, whichever is earlier.
The firm plans to list up to four more global and emerging market ETFs in the US early next year, under the trading name of GlobalShares. Old Mutual is also planning to follow this with similar products for Europe and South Africa.
Street One Financial Launches Operations with ETF/ETP Trading/Execution Team
December 11, 2009--Street One Financial (S1F), a division of Emerging Growth Equities (EGRO), has compiled a team of seasoned ETF veterans with a focus of ETF/ETP trading/execution and product intelligence and strategy.
Scott Freeze, who has been involved in ETFs for a decade, most recently as the Director ETF/Index Sales and Trading at Boenning and Scattergood, heads the team as President of Street One.
Paul Weisbruch joins as VP of ETF/Index Sales and Trading from RevenueShares ETFs, where he was Director of RIA/Institutional Sales for two years. Prior to RevenueShares,
Mike Blaszczyk also joins the team as VP of ETF/Index Sales and Trading from Commercial Metals Company (CMC), and having previous worked at Cooke and Bieler Investment Counsel and Susquehanna International Group.
For more information, contact Street One at pweisbruch@streetonefinancial.com
First Ever China Financials ETF (CHIX) starts trading on the NYSE Arca
December 11, 2009--New York-based asset manager Global X Management Company today launched the Global X China Financials ETF (NYSE Arca: CHIX), the first ETF offering targeted access to the China Financials sector. CHIX is the latest addition to the comprehensive family of China sector ETFs offered by Global X Funds.
The Global X China Financials ETF seeks to replicate the S-BOX China Financials Index, which is designed to reflect the performance of the financials sector in China, the largest segment of the Chinese equity market. As of November 30, 2009, banks represent 44% of the index, real estate companies 31% and insurance companies 24%. The largest index components were China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Life Insurance Company and Bank of China.
China is transitioning from a planned economy to a market-driven economy. Financial markets, still in the early stages of development, are the cornerstone of this transition. “Completely new market segments have developed over the last ten years, such as the mortgage market, and relatively new markets are rapidly developing such as credit cards or wealth management,” said Bruno del Ama, CEO of Global X Management. “Companies in the China Financial ETF are poised to take advantage of the development of these markets.”
The fund is the latest launch in a comprehensive family of China sector ETFs offered by Global X Funds, including the China Industrials ETF (ticker: CHII), China Consumer ETF (ticker: CHIQ) and China Technology ETF (ticker: CHIB), trading on the NYSE Arca, as well as the upcoming China Energy ETF (ticker: CHIE) and China Materials ETF (ticker: CHIM), which are not yet available for purchase. All funds have a 0.65% expense ratio.
Schwab Introduces Two Low Cost ETFs
December 11, 2009--Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. (CSIM) has launched another two exchange-traded funds with low operating expense ratios and commission-free online trading in Schwab accounts.
The Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF (SCHG) and the Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Value ETF (SCHV) began trading on Dec. 11. The first four Schwab ETFs — U.S. Broad Market (SCHB), U.S. Large-Cap (SCHX), U.S. Small-Cap (SCHA) and International Equity (SCHF) were launched Nov. 3.
As of Dec. 9, CSIM had $209 million in assets under management in the first four Schwab ETFs, and trading volume across the four ETFs has averaged approximately 555,000 shares per day since inception.
Two additional Schwab ETFs, covering emerging markets and international small-cap equity, are expected to be launched in January 2010.
“Individual investors and investment advisors count on Schwab for products which provide exceptional value, and our clients have indicated an interest in ETFs as a way to invest in and trade entire segments of the market,” said Peter Crawford, senior vice president at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. “These two new ETFs allow investors to tilt their portfolios based on whichever style, growth or value, they think will lead the market in the future.”
The new Schwab ETFs have some of the lowest expense ratios in the market — the two new funds each have an expense ratio of 0.15 percent. Like the first four funds, the two new Schwab-managed ETFs can be bought and sold commission-free online in Schwab accounts.
“Investors are attracted to ETFs because they provide a liquid, low-cost and more tax-efficient way to trade segments of the market,” Crawford said. “Commission-free online trades make the Schwab ETFs even more cost-effective, especially for investors who wish to dollar-cost average.”
Commission-free online trading of Schwab ETFs is available to individual investors at Schwab, to the more than 6,000 independent investment advisors who use Schwab’s custodial services and through Schwab retirement accounts that permit trading of ETFs.
House Approves Historic New Rules to Govern America’s Financial System
December 11, 2009--Today, the House of Representatives approved sweeping new legislation to modernize America’s financial rules in response to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173), which passed by a vote of 223-202, includes a comprehensive set of reforms that will address the myriad causes – from predatory lending to unregulated derivatives – that led to last year’s meltdown.
Once signed into law, these tough new regulations will hold Wall Street accountable, end taxpayer-funded bailouts, and protect Americans from unscrupulous big banks and credit card companies.
The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will:
Increase Consumer Protections:
Creates the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), a new, independent federal agency solely devoted to protecting Americans from unfair and abusive financial products and services.
Create a Financial Stability Council:
Creates a council of regulators that will identify financial firms that are so large, interconnected, or risky that their collapse would put the entire financial system at risk. These systemically risky firms will be subject to increased oversight, standards, and regulation.
End Taxpayer Bailouts and “Too Big to Fail”:
Establishes an orderly process for shutting down large, failing financial institutions like AIG or Lehman Brothers in a way that ends bailouts, protects taxpayers, and prevents contagion to the rest of the financial system.
Rein in Executive Compensation:
Gives shareholders a “say on pay” – an advisory vote on pay practices including executive compensation and golden parachutes. It also enables regulators to ban inappropriate or imprudently risky compensation practices, and it requires financial firms to disclose incentive-based compensation structures.
Safeguard Investors:
Strengthens the SEC’s powers so that it can better protect investors and regulate the nation’s securities markets. It responds to the failures to detect the Madoff and Stanford Financial frauds by ordering a study of the entire securities industry that will identify needed reforms and force the SEC and other entities to further improve investor protection.
Regulate Derivatives:
Regulates, for the first time ever, the opaque $600 trillion over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives marketplace. Under the bill, all standardized swap transactions between dealers and “major swap participants” would have to be cleared and traded on an exchange or electronic platform. The bill defines a major swap participant as anyone that maintains a substantial net position in swaps, exclusive of hedging for commercial risk, or whose positions create such significant exposure to others that it requires monitoring.
Outlaw Predatory Mortgage Lending Practices:
Would incorporate the tough mortgage reform and anti-predatory lending bill the House passed earlier this year. The legislation outlaws many of the egregious industry practices that marked the subprime lending boom, and it would ensure that mortgage lenders make loans that benefit the consumer. It would establish a simple standard for all home loans: institutions must ensure that borrowers can repay the loans they are sold.
Require the Registration of Hedge Funds:
Closes a regulatory hole that allows hedge funds and their advisors to escape any and all regulation. This bill requires almost all advisers to private pools of capital to register with the SEC, and they will be subject to systemic risk regulation by the Financial Stability regulator.
view the The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act -H.R. 4173
Wisdom Tree files for 2 ETFs
December 11, 2009--WisdomTree has filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch two dividend-focused emerging markets ETFs. The new ETFs are the
•WisdomTree Emerging Markets Small Cap Dividend Fund
•WisdomTree Israel Total Dividend Fund
WisdomTree ETFs typically weigh holdings based on their dividend payouts and the new ETFs will follow that approach. The WisdomTree Small Cap Dividend Index that reside in the bottom 10% of market cap of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index, meaning many will have market caps below $2 billion.
To be included, companies will have to show dividend payments of at least $5 million in the previous 12 months. Obviously, the Israel ETF focuses exclusively on that market and will mainly invest in small and midcap names.
CBOE TO LIST S&P 500® DIVIDEND INDEX OPTIONS: Allows Market Participants to Take Positions On S&P 500 Dividend Changes for the First Time
December 11, 2009--The Chicago Board Options (CBOE) today announced it has received Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approval to offer trading in options on the S&P 500® Dividend Index (ticker symbol - DVS). The first contract of its kind in the U.S., the S&P 500 Dividend Index option will be listed exclusively at CBOE.A launch date has not been finalized.
The S&P 500 Dividend Index, calculated by Standard & Poor's, represents the accumulated ex-dividend amounts of all S&P 500 Index component securities over a specified accrual period. Options on the S&P 500 Dividend Index will allow investors to directly hedge risks based on changes in the dividend-paying policies of stocks comprising the S&P 500 Index.Investors will have the ability to trade the difference between the expected ordinary cash ex-dividend amounts during a specified accrual period and the actual ex-dividend amounts over that time period.In addition, S&P 500 Dividend Index options will appeal to market makers who use dividend estimates when pricing options.
Because the S&P 500 Dividend Index is calculated using the same set of component securities, same shares outstanding, same capitalization-weighting methodology and same index divisor as are used to calculate the S&P 500 Index, DVS options can dovetail with trading of S&P 500 Index (SPX) options.Alternatively, the contract can be used independently to take a broad position on the direction of dividend payments of U.S. stocks.
Quarterly Changes to the NASDAQ Q-50 Index
December 11, 2009--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
(Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today the results of the quarterly reranking of
the NASDAQ Q-50 Index(SM) (Nasdaq:NXTQ), which will become effective with the market open on Monday, December 21, 2009.
The following eleven securities will be added to the Index: Akamai
Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:AKAM), CTC Media, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTCM), Hansen
Natural Corporation (Nasdaq:HANS), Human Genome Sciences, Inc.
(Nasdaq:HGSI), Itron, Inc. (Nasdaq:ITRI), Liberty Global's Class A
Common Stock (Nasdaq:LBTYA), Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc.
(Nasdaq:PPDI), Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:PTEN), R.R. Donnelley
& Sons Company (Nasdaq:RRD), Ryanair Holdings plc (Nasdaq:RYAAY), and
Steel Dynamics, Inc. (Nasdaq:STLD).
The Index is designed to track the performance of the 50 securities that are next in line to replace the securities currently included in the NASDAQ-100 Index(R). The NASDAQ Q-50 Index is reranked on a quarterly basis. For more information about the NASDAQ Q-50 Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/.
As a result of the evaluation, the following ten securities will be removed from the Index: MICROS Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:MCRS), Mylan Inc. (Nasdaq:MYL), Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:ONXX), Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM), Penn National Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq:PENN), Qiagen N.V. (Nasdaq:QGEN), SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK), Sohu.com Inc. (Nasdaq:SOHU), Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq:VMED) and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq:VSEA).
The PowerShares NXQ Portfolio (Nasdaq:PNXQ) is an exchange traded fund
that seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price
and yield, before the Fund's fees and expenses, of the NASDAQ Q-50
Index(SM). The Advisors Asset Management NASDAQ Q-50 Index
Portfolio(SM) (MFQS:AAMNAX) is a unit investment trust that seeks to
provide above average total return by investing in stocks included in
the NASDAQ Q-50 Index.
DB Index Research -- Weekly ETF Reports - US
December 10, 2009--Highlights
ETF Volume
US ETF turnover declined by 8.4% to US$60.2bn in the previous week. Turnover in the S&P 500 SPDR ("Spider") was US$18.6bn. The PowerShares QQQ Nasdaq 100 had turnover of US$3.9bn followed by the iShares Russell 2000 with turnover of US$3.7bn.
There were six new ETFs launched in the last week. Global X launched two new ETFs on NYSE Arca. Direxionshares launched four new Leveraged ETFs on NYSE Arca.
In the previous week, average daily turnover in the Large Cap, US Sector, Leveraged and Global Regional products was US$24.2bn (-8.7%), US$9.5bn (-4.0%), US$8.4bn (-11.8%) and US$5.0bn (-7.7%) respectively.
Among the Emerging country ETFs, iShares MSCI Brazil ETF turnover was US$1,309m followed by iShares FTSE/Xinhua China ETF with turnover of US$919m. In non-US developed market flows, iShares MSCI Japan had turnover of US$344m. In non-domestic regional flows, emerging market turnover was US$3.8bn and developed markets regional flows EAFE had turnover of US$1.0bn.
Assets under Management (AUM)
Total assets under management for equity based ETFs rose by 2.5% in the previous week, AUM were US$586.9bn.
To request a copy of the report
Putnam eyeing actively managed ETFs, CEO Reynolds says
December 10, 2009--The firm is having conversations about the pros and cons of offering active ETFs versus mutual funds, he said. “We need to do careful analysis of what the advantages and disadvantages are of ETFs,” Mr. Reynolds said. Putnam doesn't have a timetable for when it will make a decision.
Putnam Investments is discussing launching actively managed exchange-traded funds. “As actively managed ETFs become a reality, we want to be part of it,” Robert Reynolds, president and CEO, said in an interview.
Flow of Funds Accounts-FEDERAL RESERVE statistical release
December 10, 2009- The Federal Reserve has just released the Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States Flows and Outstandings Third Quarter 2009 Report.
view report
Obama Administration Releases New Data on Modification Program
December 10, 2009--Today, the Obama Administration released the latest monthly report for the Making Home Affordable (MHA) loan modification program. As part of an ongoing commitment to transparency, the report includes for the first time the number of modifications that have transitioned from the trial to permanent phase as well as a break-out of the 15 metropolitan areas with the highest program activity.
With more than 728,000 modifications under way across the country, the program is on track to meet its goals over the next several years. Modifications are providing real benefits to homeowners - borrowers in modifications are saving an average of over $550 per month. However, the report shows that servicers have only converted 31,382 modifications to the permanent phase. According to servicer reports, most borrowers in modifications are meeting their responsibilities to make their payments. Servicers need to do their part to help borrowers complete the process and get to the finish line. Top Administration officials met with servicers in Washington DC this week to urge a faster pace in converting borrowers to permanent modifications.
