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Remarks of Chairman Gary Gensler, OTC Derivatives Regulation, Futures Industry Association Annual Expo
October 21, 2009--Good morning. It is a pleasure to be in Chicago with you today at one of the defining moments in our nation’s financial history. As we speak, Congress is taking up broad regulatory reform. One year ago, the financial system failed the American public. The financial regulatory system failed the American public.
Congress swiftly committed more than $700 billion of taxpayer money to rescuing the financial industry – without which the financial system never would have stabilized. The crisis was not isolated to Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers or AIG. It threatened the savings and livelihoods of every American. Let us recall, the financial bailout was only a means of getting a sinking ship back to port. It is now our responsibility to fix the ship before it can set sail again. We must ensure that this type of failure never threatens our nation again.
I speak to you today as someone who spent half my adult life working on Wall Street. I worked with talented individuals from around the world who operated at the highest levels of professionalism. More broadly, the industry plays a fundamental role in pricing and allocating capital and risk in our economy.
But being talented and working in such a critical industry doesn’t mean that individuals can’t make mistakes or that the system is flawless. The crisis eased only through strenuous effort and some considerable good fortune. Now we must ensure that the risks generated by the financial sector are never allowed to push us so close to the brink again. Some may accuse us of overreacting and overreaching. But the worst financial crisis in 80 years demands the most comprehensive regulatory reform in generations.
Though there are certainly many causes of the crisis, I think most would agree that the unregulated OTC derivatives marketplace played a central role. The time has come for comprehensive regulation.
In just the past week, two important committees in the U.S. House of Representatives – the Financial Services Committee and the Agriculture Committee – took up this reform. The House Financial Services Committee passed historic legislation that, for the first time, introduces comprehensive regulation to the OTC derivatives marketplace. The House Agriculture Committee is marking up a similarly historic bill later today.
Both of the committees’ bills include three important elements of regulatory reform: First, they require swap dealers and major swap participants to register and come under comprehensive regulation. This includes capital standards, margin requirements, business conduct standards and recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Second, the bills require that dealers and major swap participants bring their clearable swaps into central clearinghouses. Third, they require dealers and major swap participants to use transparent trading venues for their clearable swaps.
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Source: CFTC.gov
Claymore China All-Cap ETF Has Highest Volume of Any ETF Launch In 2009
YAO POSTS 1.3 MILLION SHARES IN FIRST DAY OF TRADING
October 20, 2009--The Claymore/AlphaShares China All-Cap ETF (NYSE Arca: YAO) which
launched on October 19th, posted trading volume totaling over 1.3 million shares on its first full day of
trading. This marks a record first-day volume for any US-listed ETF launched to date in 2009 and the 11th
largest first day volume for an US-listed ETF ever.1 “The popularity of this product acknowledges
investor interest in an all-cap China ETF that provides exposure to every sector, including Technology
and Consumer Discretionary,” said Christian Magoon, President of Claymore Securities, Inc. “We’re very
pleased with the robust investor interest so far in YAO, which gives investors access to the world’s
highest expected GDP growth opportunity for 2009 and 20102.”
YAO is Claymore’s third China-focused ETF, joining the Claymore/AlphaShares China Small Cap Index ETF
(NYSE Arca: HAO), a China small cap ETF, and the Claymore/AlphaShares China Real Estate ETF (NYSE
Arca: TAO), a China real estate ETF. YAO seeks to replicate the AlphaShares China All Cap Index (Index
Ticker: ACNAC) (the “Index”), an index that seeks to measure and monitor the performance of the
investable universe of publicly-traded companies based in mainland China of all capitalizations. As of
September 30, 2009 the Index included 99 securities from all market capitalizations with approximately
57% in large capitalization securities, 33% in mid capitalization securities and 10% in small capitalization
securities, based on free-float adjusted market capitalizations. In addition, YAO provides broad sector
diversification which includes exposure to all 10 S&P GICS sectors. At each reconstitution, the companies
included in the Index must have a float-adjusted market capitalization of $500 million or greater for
initial inclusion and $400 million or greater for ongoing inclusion. The Index utilizes a modified market
capitalization weighting methodology. For more information on YAO please visit
www.claymore.com/yao.
Source: Claymore
ASDAQ OMX Announces Enhancements to Daily Share Volume Statistics for Alternative Trading Systems or 'Dark Pools'
October 21, 2009---- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
(Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced it will introduce enhancements to its
ACT(SM) trade entry for the FINRA/NASDAQ Trade Reporting Facility(TM)
(TRF(TM)) which will allow firms to separately report Alternative
Trading System (ATS) or 'dark pool' trading activity. That activity
will be posted before the end of day on the NASDAQ OMX Trader(R)
website. The new functionality will be effective in mid-November 2009.
"We recognized that the industry would benefit from separate reporting
of market share statistics for participants operating ATS dark pools.
If the regulatory environment becomes more demanding for dark pools,
NASDAQ OMX will be at the forefront to help firms meet their reporting
obligations," said Eric Noll, Executive Vice President of NASDAQ OMX
Transaction Services. "NASDAQ provides customer choice across multiple
trading platforms and with this functionality we are providing
additional choice and access to statistics with regard to reporting."
Participation for this reporting is free of charge and will be on an optional basis. Most broker dealers trading NMS stocks are already connected to NASDAQ's Automated Confirmation Transaction (ACT(SM)) system.
Currently, NASDAQ offers daily share volume publicly on the NASDAQ OMX Trader(R) website. These market share statistics are displayed by a market participant identifier (MPID) for broker dealers who have chosen to participate.
The FINRA/NASDAQ Trade Reporting Facility(TM) (TRF(TM)) is an automated
trade reporting and reconciliation service operated on the ACT(SM)
technology platform. The TRF(TM) electronically facilitates the
post-execution steps of price and volume reporting, comparison and
clearing of trades for NASDAQ-listed securities as well as for
transactions in NYSE- and other U.S. regional exchange-listed
securities that occur off the floor. The TRF(TM) handles transactions
negotiated broker-to-broker. The TRF(TM) is a facility of FINRA that is
operated by NASDAQ. Trades reported to the FINRA/NASDAQ TRF do not
reflect liquidity available on the NASDAQ book. FINRA(TM), Trade
Reporting Facility(TM) and TRF(TM) are trademarks of Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority, Inc.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
U.S. International Reserve Position
October 21, 2009--The Treasury Department today released U.S. reserve assets data for the latest week. As indicated in this table, U.S. reserve assets totaled $134,580 million as of the end of that week, compared to $134,257 million as of the end of the prior week.
view report
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Report Examines Hidden Health and and Environmental Costs Of Energy Production and Consumption In U.S.
October 21, 2009-A new report from the National Research Council examines and, when possible, estimates "hidden" costs of energy production and use -- such as the damage air pollution imposes on human health -- that are not reflected in market prices of coal, oil, other energy sources, or the electricity and gasoline produced from them. The report estimates dollar values for several major components of these costs. The damages the committee was able to quantify were an estimated $120 billion in the U.S. in 2005, a number that reflects primarily health damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation. The figure does not include damages from climate change, harm to ecosystems, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security, which the report examines but does not monetize.
Requested by Congress, the report assesses what economists call external effects caused by various energy sources over their entire life cycle -- for example, not only the pollution generated when gasoline is used to run a car but also the pollution created by extracting and refining oil and transporting fuel to gas stations. Because these effects are not reflected in energy prices, government, businesses and consumers may not realize the full impact of their choices. When such market failures occur, a case can be made for government interventions -- such as regulations, taxes or tradable permits -- to address these external costs, the report says.
The committee that wrote the report focused on monetizing the damage of major air pollutants -- sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and particulate matter – on human health, grain crops and timber yields, buildings, and recreation. When possible, it estimated both what the damages were in 2005 (the latest year for which data were available) and what they are likely to be in 2030, assuming current policies continue and new policies already slated for implementation are put in place.
The committee also separately derived a range of values for damages from climate change; the wide range of possibilities for these damages made it impossible to develop precise estimates of cost. However, all model results available to the committee indicate that climate-related damages caused by each ton of CO2 emissions will be far worse in 2030 than now; even if the total amount of annual emissions remains steady, the damages caused by each ton would increase 50 percent to 80 percent.
view report
Source: Office of News and Public Information
BM&FBOVESPA: Spot U.S. Dollar Trading Sets Record Financial Volume
October 20, 2009--The Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange – BM&FBOVESPA Spot U.S. Dollar trading set a historic financial volume record today. The 192 trades generated a financial volume of US$ 520,000,000.00 in today’s trading session.
The previous record of US$ 420,750,000.00 was registered on April 4, 2009.
The Spot U.S. Dollar closed today at BRL 1.7490.
Source: Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index
October 20, 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 20, 2009:
The shares of Bayou Bend Petroleum Ltd. (TSXV:BBP) will trade under the new name Shamaran Petroleum Corp.
The new ticker symbol will be "SNM" and the new CUSIP number will be 819321 10 2. There is no consolidation of capital.
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.
Source: Standard & Poors
NASDAQ OMX Announces September 2009 Market Performance Statistics for U.S. Exchanges
October 20, 2009--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. today announced consolidated market performance
statistics for its U.S. exchanges for the month of September 2009.
-- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. matched share of total U.S. equity
volume in September 2009 was 22.7%.
- The NASDAQ Stock Market's (NASDAQ(R)) matched share of U.S.
equity volume was 19.4%, more than any other U.S. exchange.
- NASDAQ OMX BX matched share of U.S. volume was 3.3%.
The NASDAQ Stock Market:
-- The average daily matched volume in all U.S. securities last month
was 1.9 billion shares.
- The average daily matched trade count in U.S. equities was 7.4
million, a 3.6% increase from last month.
-- Matched market share in NYSE-listed securities during September
2009 was 14.0%.
- The average daily matched volume in NYSE-listed stocks was 792
million shares.
-- Matched market share in NASDAQ-listed securities during September
2009 was 29.9%.
- NASDAQ's average daily matched share volume in NASDAQ-listed
securities during September was 721 million shares, a 12.0%
increase over last month.
NASDAQ OMX BX:
-- NASDAQ OMX BX matched share of U.S. equity volume in September was
3.3%. In August, matched share on BX was 2.6%.
- BX's average daily matched volume in U.S. equities in September
was 316 million shares, an increase of 26.5% over the previous
month.
U.S. ETFs:
-- Matched market share in U.S. ETFs during September 2009 was 25.2%,
more than any other U.S. exchange.
- Average daily matched share volume of U.S. ETFs in September
was 360 million shares, an increase of 2.9% over last month.
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U.S. Equity Options:
-- NASDAQ OMX exchanges' matched market share of U.S. equity options
was 22.0% last month, an increase of 3.6 percentage points over
last year.
- The average daily matched volume of NASDAQ OMX exchanges in
U.S. equity options totaled 3 million contracts in September
2009, a 21.0% increase over last month.
- In September, matched share on The NASDAQ Options Market (NOM)
was 3.6%.
- NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) matched share was 18.4%.
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. Monthly Volume and Market Share Report is available at http://media.primezone.com/cache/6948/file/7489.pdf
To download more detailed information on NASDAQ OMX and overall U.S. market activity, including FINRA/NASDAQ TRF, NASDAQ Reported, NASDAQ Routed, NASDAQ Handled and Consolidated figures, visit http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/content/marketstatistics/marketshare/useq.x ls.
For information about these and other NASDAQ performance statistics, visit www.nasdaqtrader.com/marketshare.
For this month's detailed statistics on NASDAQ OMX exchanges in the
Nordic and Baltic regions, including national figures, visit
http://nordic.nasdaqomxtrader.com/newsstatistics/.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
CFTC Proposes to Amend Electronic Filing Regulations and Certain Other Financial Reporting Requirements Applicable to FCMs and IBs
October 20, 2009--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proposed to amend its regulations regarding the electronic filing of financial reports and notices by futures commission merchants (FCMs) and introducing brokers (IBs) as well as certain other financial reporting requirements. The proposed amendments would, among other things:
enable internet-based filing of FCM financial reports using user authentication and password procedures in anticipation of expected changes to the WinJammer™ software application;
• expand the types of filings that FCMs and IBs may submit electronically to include required “early warning” notices and certain other notices and filings;
• provide for less prescriptive, but more immediate, documentation to be filed regarding a firm’s undercapitalized condition; and
• expressly require that an income statement be included in the periodic unaudited financial reports of FCMs and IBs.
Public comment on the proposed regulations must be received by November 12, 2009. Copies of the proposed regulations also may be obtained by contacting the Commission's Office of the Secretariat, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581, 202-418-5100, or by accessing the Commission's website, www.cftc.gov.
Source: CFTC.gov
BM&FBOVESPA Authorizes New DMA Modality for Its Derivatives Segment
DMA model 3 allows direct access to the Exchange's electronic derivatives trading platform without technological infrastructure of a brokerage house or DMA provider
October 19, 2009- The Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange - BM&FBOVESPA will offer, starting today, a new Direct Market Access (DMA) modality connection to its GTS (Global Trading System), the Exchange's electronic derivatives trading platform. DMA model 3 allows clients to directly access the GTS trading platform without the technological infrastructure of a brokerage house or an authorized DMA provider. As with the other available DMA trading modalities, direct access to BM&FBOVESPA and its order flow will continue to be authorized and monitored by a brokerage house.
BM&FBOVESPA DMA modalities
Direct access to the Exchange's derivatives market segment is carried out through DMA models 1, 2, 3, and 4. In model 1, or traditional, the client accesses the GTS through the technological infrastructure of the brokerage house. In model 2, or via DMA provider, the client does not use the previously mentioned structure and connects to the system through an authorized access provider. DMA via order routing with CME Globex is also a form of DMA model 2. In model 4, or DMA via co-location, the clients install their own equipment inside the BM&FBOVESPA facilities.
Equities segment DMA
Direct access to the BOVESPA market segment (equities) is carried out through DMA model 1. The Exchange is planning to launch the other DMA trading modalities for its equity segment by the end of 2009, after the authorization of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM - Comissao de Valores Mobiliarios).
DMA trading volumes
In September, Direct Market Access (DMA) trading of the derivatives market segment at BM&FBOVESPA represented 12.3% of the total 31,505,077 contracts traded. DMA trading of the equities market segment represented 56.1% of the total 7,143,911 trades.
Source:Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange - BM&FBOVESPA
Standard & Poor's Launches S&P/TSX Equal Weight Index Suite
October 19, 2009--Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, announced today the launch of the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Index Suite. The new index suite includes the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals CAD Hedged Index, the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Diversified Banks Index and the S&P/TSX Equal Weight Oil & Gas Index.
"Equal-weighted indices provide additional options to investors," says Jasmit Bhandal, director at Standard & Poor's Canada. "Designed to meet investors need for benchmarking, investing and trading strategies that require a size-neutral index, the equal weight indices have weighting and rebalancing processes that lead to different return and risk profiles when compared with market capitalization weighted indices."
The S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals CAD Hedged Index is the equal-weighted and Canadian Dollar hedged version of the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index, a benchmark of securities involved in the production or extraction of base metals, and a subset of the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index.
The S&P/TSX Equal Weight Diversified Banks Index is the equal-weighted version of the S&P/TSX Diversified Banks Index, a benchmark including commercial banks whose businesses are derived primarily from commercial lending and operations and also have significant activity in retails banking and small and medium corporate lending. Eligible securities for the index are members of the S&P/TSX Composite Index and classified under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) subindustry Diversified Banks.
The S&P/TSX Equal Weight Oil & Gas Index provides investors with a portfolio of securities involved in the oil and gas industry. Eligible securities are members of the S&P/TSX 60 and are classified under the following GICS subindustries: Oil & Gas Drilling, Oil & Gas Equipment & Services, Integrated Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing, and Oil & Gas Storage and Transportation.
For additional information on our complete line-up of S&P/TSX Indices, including methodology, please visit: www.standardandpoors.com/indices.
Source: Standard & Poors
TMX Group to Host Live Webcast on Exchange Traded Funds - October 20, 2009
October 19, 2009- TMX Group Chief Executive Officer Tom Kloet and Kevan Cowan, President, TSX Markets and Group Head of Equities, will host industry representatives in a live webcast panel discussion on exchange traded funds (ETFs) on Tuesday, October 20, 2009.
Panelists from BMO Financial Group, Claymore ETFs, Horizons BetaPro ETFs and iShares Funds will share their insights into why many investors are including ETFs in their portfolios.
DATE: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
TIME: 10:30 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. (EDT)
Click here to pre-register
Source: TMX Group
Direxion IPO Fund Would Join Small Group
October 19, 2009--As the market for initial public offerings is starting to heat up, Direxion Funds is considering a unique mutual fund that would permit smaller investors to take both long and short positions on the young stocks.
Direxion IPOX Global Long/Short Strategy Fund would invest in IPOs, spin-offs of domestic and foreign issuers and financial instruments that provide exposure to these IPOs.
The general sense is that shares of initial public offerings are overvalued when they come out, and then become undervalued, said Andy O'Rourke, marketing director at Direxion Funds. "So we've developed an index that is able to long and short IPOs," he said. "It's a tremendous opportunity; we think it's very unique."
More investors are coming to realize that they need "to do something a bit alternative or to find ways to capitalize on market inefficiencies," O'Rourke said.
Direxion has filed a registration document with regulators, but continues to analyze "the opportunity in the market" and may not launch the fund right away, said O'Rourke.
Bill Buhr, IPO strategist and equity research analyst at Morningstar Inc. (MORN), said there is a lot of investor interest in IPOs and that the market for them is recovering. In 2003 and 2004, there were an average of 20 offerings a month; there were nine last month and the same number so far in October after scant offerings this summer, he said.
"These last two months were the healthiest months so far in 2009," Buhr said. But with the increase in deals, has also come a broader range in the quality of the offerings, he said.
The Direxion fund would be managed by Rafferty Asset Management LLC and use subadviser IPOX Capital Management LLC, which was recently founded by Josef Schuster of IPOX Schuster LLC, a Chicago-based financial services firm specializing in IPO products. The fund will go long or short based on IPOX Capital Management's outlook for an IPO.
The fund will closely resemble the IPOX Global Long-Short Index, with has securities including about 50% of IPOs from the IPOX Global Sequential Index Portfolio - the long component - and about 50% of IPOs from the IPOX Global Calendar Time Index Portfolio - the short component, according to the fund's registration document
Jeff Tjornehoj, a senior research analyst with Lipper, said he's aware of only two other funds that invest primarily in IPOs - IPO Plus Aftermarket Fund (IPOSX), an open-end fund, and First Trust US IPO Index Fund (FPX), an exchange-traded fund. Each has only about $10 million in assets, he said.
Such funds allow the smaller investor access to the IPO market, said Tjornehoj, but "these products have yet to find a consistent and sticky consumer base."
The minimum initial investment for the new Direxion fund is $2,500 for investor class accounts and $1,000 for retirement accounts, though minimums for certain securities dealers, banks and other financial institutions may differ.
Source: Getting Personal-WSJ.com
Claymore Advisors, LLC Lists Claymore/AlphaShares China All-Cap ETF on NYSE Arca
October 19, 2009-NYSE Euronext (NYX) announced that its
wholly-owned subsidiary, NYSE Arca, today began trading the
Claymore/AlphaShares China All-Cap ETF (Ticker: YAO). The ETF is
sponsored by Claymore Advisors, LLC
The fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the
performance, before the fund’s fees and expenses, of an equity index
called the AlphaShares China All-Cap Index. The Index is designed to
measure and monitor the performance of publicly issued common equity
securities of publicly-traded companies based in mainland China.
Source: NYSE Euronext
CFTC to Release History of Disaggregated COT Data
October 19, 2009--The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that the agency will make available more than three years of history of disaggregated data included in the weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) reports. History for the 22 commodity futures markets currently contained in the weekly disaggregated COT reports, first published on September 4, 2009, will be available starting Tuesday, October 20, 2009, at www.cftc.gov.
“Economists have for decades recognized that transparency benefits the marketplace,” CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said. “
Last month, we began disaggregating data included in our weekly reports to give the public a more accurate depiction of the makeup of the commodity futures markets. By releasing three years of history, we will provide regulators, market participants and the public with additional transparency.”
Two machine-readable files will be located on the CFTC website, with data dating back to June 13, 2006. One is a zipped, comma-delimited text file (.txt); while the other is a zipped Excel file. In addition, the 3-year history will be available in a “viewable” file on the CFTC website, by commodity group, and, within group, by commodity. These viewable files will only be available in the “long format.”
view Commitments of Traders (COT) reports
Please note: CFTC does not maintain a history of large trader classifications. Therefore, current classifications are used to classify the historical positions of each reportable trader (this approach is commonly referred to as “backcasting;” see the link to the D-COT Explanatory Notes
Source: CFTC.gov