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House panel begins financial overhaul
October 14, 2009-
Small neighborhood banks and the US Chamber of Commerce are overshadowing the nation's biggest banks in influencing lawmakers as Congress begins the initial phase of its long-awaited overhaul of how the government regulates financial companies.
The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday is taking up key elements of President Barack Obama's proposal for correcting the practices of banks, investment houses and other financial institutions that caused last year's economic collapse.
Up first is a measure that for the first time would regulate privately sold derivatives like credit default swaps, the complex contracts that brought down Wall Street banking house Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and nearly toppled insurance giant American International Group Inc.
The committee also wants to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to police mortgages, credit cards and other consumer products offered by banks and other financial institutions.
Bankers and Republicans generally oppose the new agency, but community banks and the Chamber of Commerce have wielded the most influence in getting the House panel's Democrats to modify and clarify the regulatory powers that Obama would give it.
Old Mutual has filed with the SEC
October 14, 2009-Old Mutual Global Shares Turst has filed a Preliminary Prospectus with the SEC for the following funds:
GlobalShares FTSE All-World Fund
GlobalShares FTSE Emerging Markets Fund
GlobalShares FTSE All-Cap Asia Pacific ex Japan Fund
GlobalShares FTSE All-World ex US Fund
GlobalShares FTSE Developed Countries ex US Fund
iShares files with the SEC
October 14, 2009-iShares has filed a ammended request for exemptive relief from the SEC for the India Fund.
view filing
ETF Hedge Fund Shop Names Traxis’ Dhanraj President
October 14, 2009--A hedge fund firm that invests exclusively in exchange-traded funds has added a Traxis Partners veteran as its president.
Charles Dhanraj will oversee infrastructure and new strategic relationships at ETF Portfolio Management. He is also charged with executing the firm’s growth plan.
"Charles brings a wealth of operational and institutional experience to ETF PM," David Kreinces, ETF PM's founder, said. "As the newest member of our management team, Charles will also help us identify new business opportunities and strategic partnerships to implement our investment platform.”
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index
October 13, 2009--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Tuesday, October 13, 2009:
The shares of Mano River Resources Inc. (TSXVN:MNO) will trade under the new name African Aura Mining Inc. The new ticker symbol will be "AUR" and the new CUSIP number will be 00830H 10 8.
The capital of the company will be consolidated on a 1-for-8 basis.
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.
ProShares Ultra Financials Fund (Symbol: UYG) Class Action Filed by Bernstein Liebhard LLP
October 13, 2009--Bernstein Liebhard LLP filed a class action lawsuit on October 13, 2009 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired shares in the Ultra Financials Fund (the "UYG Fund") (NYSE: UYG), an exchange-traded fund ("ETF") offered by ProShares Trust ("ProShares"), pursuant or traceable to ProShares' false and misleading Registration Statement, Prospectuses, and Statements of Additional Information (collectively, the "Registration Statement") issued in connection with shares of the UYG Fund (the "Class"). The Class is seeking to pursue remedies under Sections 11 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act").
The complaint names ProShares, ProShare Advisors LLC, SEI Investments Distribution Co., Michael L. Sapir, Louis M. Mayberg, Russell S. Reynolds, III, Michael Wachs, and Simon D. Collier, as defendants (collectively, "Defendants"). ProShares sells its Ultra and UltraShort ETFs as "simple" directional plays. As marketed by ProShares, Ultra ETFs are designed to go up when markets go up; UltraShort ETFs are designed to go up when markets go down. The UYG Fund is one of ProShares' Ultra ETFs. The UYG Fund seeks investment results that correspond to twice (+200%) the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financial Index ("DJUSFI"). Accordingly, the UYG Fund is supposed to deliver double the return of the DJUSFI, which, from January 1, 2009 through July 30, 2009, increased approximately 1.47 percent. Rather than increase approximately 2.9 percent (double), the UYG Fund has fallen approximately 25 percent.
The complaint alleges the Defendants violated the Securities Act by failing to disclose the following risks, inter alia, in the Registration Statement: (1) if UYG Fund shares were held for a time period longer than one day, the likelihood of catastrophic losses was huge; and (2) the extent to which performance of the UYG Fund would inevitably diverge from the performance of the DJUSFI -- i.e., the overwhelming probability, if not certainty, of spectacular divergence.
Direxion Funds files with SEC
October 13, 2009--Direxion has filed a prospectus with the SEC for the following fund:
Direxion IPOX Global Long/Short Strategy Fund
Investment Objective.
The Fund seeks capital appreciation. To achieve its investment objective, the Fund invests in initial public offerings (“IPOs”) and spin-offs using a combined long/short strategy developed by the Subadviser. The Fund’s investment objective is not a fundamental policy and may be changed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval.
Total Annual Operating Expenses
Investor Class: 1.90%
Institutional Class:
1.40%
iShares Plans to Offer First Chile Exchange-Trade Funds
October 12, 2009--IShares, the world’s biggest provider of exchange-traded funds, plans to offer the first ETF in Chile as well as funds that track Brazil industries this year to take advantage of growing demand for emerging-market stocks.
“We plan to have new ETFs in Brazil and Chile,” Daniel Gamba, Barclays Global Investors’ executive director for Latin America, said in a phone interview from San Francisco. “There’s going to be some activity in the last quarter of this year.”
PAX World files with the SEC
October 9, 2009--Pax World Management has filed a prospectus with the SEC for the following ETFs:
ESG Shares FTSE KLD North America Sustainability Index Fund
Cusip Number:70422P107
NYSE Arca Exchange Trading Symbol: NASI
Investment Objective:
The Fund seeks investment returns that closely correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the FTSE KLD North America SustainabilitySM Index
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses is 0.50%
ESG Shares FTSE KLD Europe Asia Pacific Sustainability Index Fund
Cusip Number:70422P206
NYSE Arca Exchange Trading Symbol: EAPS
Investment Objective:
The Fund seeks investment returns that closely correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the FTSE KLD Europe Asia Pacific SustainabilitySM Index.
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses is 0.55%
ESG Shares FTSE Environmental Technologies (ET50) Index Fund
Cusip Number: 70422P305
NYSE Arca Exchange Trading Symbol:
ETFY
Investment Objective:
The Fund seeks investment returns that closely correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the FTSE ET50 Index.
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses is 0.55%
ProShares files with the SEC
October 9, 2009--ProShares has filed a post-effective amendment relatating only to the following new series of ProShares Trust: ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury and ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury.
The Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury seeks investment results for a single day only, not for longer periods.
This means that the return of the Fund for a period longer than a single trading day will be the result of each day’s returns compounded over the period, which will very likely differ from twice (200%) the return of the Barclays Capital 7-10 Year U.S. Treasury Bond Index (the “Index”) for that period.
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses and interest income earned on cash and financial instruments, that correspond to twice (200%) the daily performance of the Index. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective over a period of time greater than one day.
Total Net Annual Operating Expenses of the fund is 0.95%
The ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury seeks investment results for a single day only, not for longer periods. This means that the return of the Fund for a period longer than a single trading day will be the result of each day’s returns compounded over the period, which will very likely differ from twice (200%) the return of the Barclays Capital 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond Index (the “Index”) for that period. The Fund is different from most exchange-traded funds in that it seeks leveraged returns and only on a daily basis.
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses and interest income earned on cash and financial instruments, that correspond to twice (200%) the daily performance of the Index. The Fund does not seek to achieve its stated investment objective over a period of time greater than one day.
Total Net Annual Operating Expenses of the fund is 0.95%
STATE STREET HIGHLIGHTS, SEPTEMBER 2009
October 9, 2008--ETF assets reached an all-time, month-end high. As of September 30th 768 ETFs in the US — with assets totaling approximately $695BN — were managed by 28 ETF managers. ETF industry assets rose $33.6BN for the month, or 5.1%.
State Street Global Advisors (State Street) recently launched two new ETFs: the SPDR® S&P® VRDO Municipal Bond ETF [VRD] and the SPDR® Wells Fargo® Preferred Stock ETF [PSK].
The SPDR® S&P® VRDO Municipal Bond ETF [VRD] ETF is designed to provide investors with access to municipal variable rate demand obligations (VRDOs), an asset class that seeks to offer attractive yields and stable income that is exempt from federal taxes and often state and local income taxes as well.
The SPDR® Wells Fargo® Preferred Stock ETF [PSK] provides investors with improved access to the benefits of this unique asset class, which may include attractive yield and a low correlation to both bonds and common stock.
The S&P® 500 gained 3.7% in September. MSCI EAFE® gained 3.9% for the month in USD terms.
The Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury Index rose 0.8% while the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index gained 1.1%. Gold rose to $995.75 an ounce, a gain of 4.2% from last month’s close.
• All twelve categories gained assets. The International category rose the most in absolute terms, up $12.6BN, or 8.4%. Fixed Income assets climbed to over $90BN, a gain of 61% year-to-date.
Assets in the Size and Style categories were up $4.7BN, or 1.9%. Gains were concentrated in the Mid Cap and Small Cap categories; Large Cap fell slightly more than $2BN.
All ten sectors gained assets. The Materials sector saw assets jump 15.5% for the month. Industrials climbed 14.6%.
The top three managers in the US ETF marketplace were: Barclay’s Global Investors (BGI), State Street, and Vanguard. Collectively, they accounted for approximately 84.3% of the US-listed ETF market.
Average Daily Volume remained fairly stable at $60BN. • The top three US ETFs in terms of dollar volume traded for the month were:
the SPDR® S&P 500® [SPY], PowerShares QQQ [QQQQ], and iShares Russell 2000 [IWM].
The top three US ETPs in terms of assets were: the SPDR® S&P 500® [SPY], SPDR® Gold Shares [GLD], and iShares MSCI EAFE® [EFA].
Pomerantz Law Firm Investigating Claims On Behalf of Investors in ProShares' UltraShort Oil and Gas Fund
October 9, 2009--Pomerantz Haudek Grossman & Gross LLP has filed a class action (09-cv-06935) on behalf of investors of ProShares' UltraShort Financials Fund (SKF).
The Firm is investigating claims in ProShares' UltraShort Oil and Gas Fund ("the DUG Fund") (NYSE: DUG), on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired shares in the DUG Fund, an exchange-traded fund ("ETF") offered by ProShares Trust ("ProShares"), pursuant or traceable to ProShares' false and misleading Registration Statement, Prospectuses, and Statements of Additional Information issued in connection with the DUG Fund's shares.
The DUG Fund is an inverse leveraged ETF that seeks investment returns that are two times the inverse performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Oil and Gas Index. The investigation centers on the allegation that the registration statement filed by ProShares failed to adequately disclose that DUG shares should not be held more than a single trading day and were not an appropriate hedge against a decline in U.S. based oil and stocks.
Those who invested are advised to contact Jeremy Lieberman at 888-476-6529 or 212-661-1100 or jalieberman@pomlaw.com.
BMO Financial Group announces ticker symbol changes for BMO Exchange Traded Funds
October 8, 2009-BMO Financial Group announced ticker symbol changes effective October 13, 2009 for the BMO Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)(x). Details of the ticker symbol changes are as follows:
BMO Canadian Government Bond Index ETF -Previous Ticker:BGB
New Ticker-ZGB
BMO Dow Jones Canada Titans 60 Index ETF Previous Ticker:BCA
New Ticker: ZCN
BMO US Equity Index ETF-Previous Ticker: BUE
New Ticker:ZUE
BMO Dow Jones Diamonds Index ETF- Previous Ticker:BDJ
New Ticker:ZDJ
US film company applies to launch ‘movie derivatives’
October 8, 2009-Being able to bet on whether a movie makes money or ends up a box office flop inched a step closer to reality on Thursday after a second company in the film business applied to US regulators to set up a “movie derivatives” exchange.
The US futures regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, submitted for public comment an application by Veriana Networks, a privately owned, Delaware-registered company to operate Media Derivatives (MDEX) as an “electronic exchange for contracts based on box office movie revenues”.read full story
CFTC Requests Public Comment on Application Submitted by Media Derivatives, Inc., for Designation of a Contract Market
October 8, 2009--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is asking for public comment on an application submitted by Media Derivatives, Inc., for designation as a contract market.
Comments should be submitted on or before Monday, November 5, 2009.
view the Media Derivatives, Inc. Application for Contract Market Designation Regulatory Chart
Comments may be submitted via email to secretary@cftc.gov. All comments received will be posted on the CFTC’s website.
