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Investor Alert: Bitcoin and Other Virtual Currency-Related Investments
May 7, 2014--The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert to make investors aware about the potential risks of investments involving Bitcoin and other forms of virtual currency.
The rise of Bitcoin and other virtual and digital currencies creates new concerns for investors. A new product, technology, or innovation-such as Bitcoin-has the potential to give rise both to frauds and high-risk investment opportunities. Potential investors can be easily enticed with the promise of high returns in a new investment space and also may be less skeptical when assessing something novel, new and cutting-edge.
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Source: SEC.gov
First Trust to Launch the First Trust Managed Municipal ETF
An actively managed ETF that seeks to provide federally tax-exempt income
May 7, 2014--First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust"), a leading ETF provider and asset manager, expects to launch a new actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF"), the First Trust Managed Municipal ETF (NASDAQ: FMB) (the "fund"). The new fund is expected to begin trading on The NASDAQ Stock Market on May 15, 2014.
The fund seeks to generate current income that is exempt from regular federal income taxes. Long-term capital appreciation is a secondary objective. Under normal market conditions, the fund will seek to achieve its investment objectives by investing at least 80% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in municipal debt securities.
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Source: First Trust Advisors L.P.
DB-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy-North America-US ETF Monthly Review-Equity ETPs gather $16.9bn; ETP
Data in this report is as of Wednesday April 30, 2014
May 6, 2014--US ETP assets increased by $24.3bn
ETP assets in the US rose by $24.3bn to $1.737 trillion [YTD +3.5%] last month. Global ETP industry assets closed at $2.356 trillion [YTD +4.1%]
Flows Review: Risk appetite increases, caution persists
US ETPs experienced inflows of $19.5bn during April (+1.1% of last month's AUM).
Within long-only ETPs, total flows were +$19.1bn in April vs. +$10.3bn in March. Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity long-only ETPs experienced flows of +$16.7bn, +$3.4bn and -$1.1bn, respectively.
Long-only flows suggest that investors continue to take on risk in their portfolios, but within a controlled environment. For example, last month, equities captured most of the attention, with net inflows of $16.7bn; furthermore, geography-wise, ETPs focusing on the US received the largest monthly inflows, gathering $8.6bn, followed by emerging markets (+$4.7bn) ETPs which, driven by a technical rebound, were the largest since September of last year; while international developed markets captured $2.9bn in new cash; it’s worth to highlight that with the exception of Spain (+$0.5bn), Italy (+$0.2bn) and Mexico (+$0.2bn), most of the international interest was expressed at a regional level. Within the US, sector allocation favored Energy focused ETPs, which ended the month with $1.6bn in fresh new cash. Style-wise, there was a clear rotation into Value-focused (+$3.3bn) ETPs away from Growth ETPs (-$1.2bn). Moving into the Fixed Income space, flows suggest investors sentiment towards the asset class is still uncertain, for once, flows favored credit over rates, led by Corporate (+$1.2bn) ETPs; moreover, allocation shifted towards higher duration products; Long and Medium Duration ETPs captured the largest monthly net inflows with similar net creations of $0.7bn each; on the other hand, investors favored higher quality debt, pouring $1.9bn into IG ETPs, while HY ETPs only captured $0.2bn during the same period . Lastly, commodities experienced negative flows during April, mostly due to Gold benchmarked ETPs, which saw $1.1bn outflows, erasing the inflows captured during the previous months.
New Launch Calendar: China, Japan, MLPs, Gold, EM and US bonds
There were ten new ETPs and one new ETN listed during the previous month in the NYSE Arca. The new products offer exposure to MLPs, China, Japanese sectors, gold, emerging markets, and broad US bond market.
Turnover Review: Floor activity decreased by 4.9% in April
ETP turnover totaled $1.427 trillion last month, 4.9% (-$73.9bn) lower than the previous month figure of $1.501 trillion; however, 15.0% above last year's monthly average of $1.240 trillion. Equity, Fixed Income and Commodity ETPs turnover decreased by $41.2bn (-3.0%), $19.4bn (-21.2%) and $11.2bn (-27.7%) during April, respectively.
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Source: Deutsche Bank-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy-North America
Deutsche builds on US-China ETF franchise
May 6, 2014--Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management has launched the US's first exchange traded fund with broad exposure to China's onshore and offshore equities.
The new db X-trackers Harvest MSCI All China Equity Fund provides direct access to the alphabet soup of mainland equities-A, B and H shares, "Red Chips" and P-Chips, and American depositary receipts, as well as US- and Singapore-listed shares-"offering the most complete opportunity set of any Chinese equity ETF on the market," DeAWM said in a statement.
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Source: FT.com
CFTC Expands Portal Capabilities to Make Market Participant Electronic Submissions Easier, more Efficient
May 5, 2014--Beginning today, market participants can submit event-specific reports more easily and securely because of new enhancements to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Portal. The new features also improve the CFTC's ability to process submissions.
The CFTC Portal has been expanded to allow market participants, including designated contract markets (DCMs), swap execution facilities (SEFs), and swap data repositories (SDRs), to electronically submit event-specific reports to the CFTC to comply with CFTC regulations that requires them to report to the agency in a timely and confidential manner.
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Source: CFTC.gov
Morgan Stanley-US ETF Weekly Update
May 5, 2014--US ETF Weekly Update
Weekly Flows: $862 Million Net Inflows
ETFs Have Generated Net Inflows 12 of 18 Weeks YTD
ETF Assets Stand at $1.7 Trillion, Up 3% YTD
Five ETF Launches Last Week
ProShares Temporarily Suspends Creation Units on 11 ETFs
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Flows by Market Segment
ETFs posted net inflows of $862 mln last week; second consecutive week of net inflows, albeit moderate
Last week's net inflows were led by Fixed Income ETFs at $1.9 bln; conversely, US Large-Cap ETFs posted net outflows of $2.0 bln, the most of any category we measured
Ten of the 15 categories we measured posted net inflows last week; ETFs have generated net inflows 12 of the 18 weeks YTD
ETF assets stand at $1.7 tln, up 3% YTD
13-week flows remain positive among asset classes; combined $45.4 bln in net inflows
Fixed Income ETFs generated $15.4 bln in net inflows over the last 13 weeks, the most of any category we measured; interestingly, net inflows have spanned the spectrum, coming from Treasury ETFs all the way to junk bond funds
US Sector & Industry ETFs have posted net inflows of $9.9 bln over the last 13 weeks, trailing only Fixed Income ETFs; US Sector & Industry ETF market share has climbed to 12% from 10% over the past year
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Largest Flows by Individual ETF
iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) posted net inflows of $1.8 bln this past week, the most of any ETF
IEF has generated net inflows eight of the last 10 weeks, totaling $2.1 bln, as investors flock to Treasuries amid equity market volatility
The ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury (UST) also had a strong week, posting net inflows of $448 mln, which equates to 94% of its current market cap
Over the last 13 weeks, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) posted net inflows of $3.1 bln, the most of any ETF; notably, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), over the same time period, exhibited net outflows of $6.1 bln, also the most of any ETF (both IVV and SPY track the same benchmark)
The PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) had its sixth consecutive week of net outflows ($499 mln last week) as investors remain cautious on some of the momentum stocks (i.e., technology and biotech names); over the last six weeks, QQQ has exhibited net outflows of $4.7 bln
US-Listed ETFs: ETF Dollar Volume
ETF monthly $ volume as a % of listed trading volume decreased in April to 25%, down from 27% the prior month; over the last 5 years, ETF monthly $ volume as a % of listed trading volume averaged 28%
Over the last five years, ETF monthly $ volume as a % of listed trading volume peaked in August 2011 at 36%
ETF $ volume increased to $324 bln last week, but remains 8% below its 13-week average
International - Emerging ETFs accounted for 8.2% of ETF $ volume last week, which is below its 13-week average of 9.5%
US-Listed ETFs: Short Interest Data Unchanged: Based on data as of 4/15/14
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) had the largest increase in USD short interest at $1.3 bln
Notably, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) had a big decrease in USD short interest ($2.5 bln); EEM's shares short (132 mln) are at their lowest level since 12/31/13
618 ETFs exhibited short interest increases while 661 experienced short interest declines over the last period
Aggregate ETF USD short interest increased by $84 mln over the period ended 4/15/14
The average shares short/shares outstanding for ETFs is currently 4.5%, up from 4.4% last period
The SPDR Retail ETF (XRT) is the most heavily shorted ETF as measured by shares short/shares outstanding at 267%
The SPDR S&P 1500 Momentum Tilt ETF (MMTM) cracked the top 10 list of shares short/shares outstanding as investors look to take advantage of a rotation out of momentum stocks; of note, MMTM is a relatively small ETF (market cap of $20 mln), so it does not take much money on the short side to push the short % above 100%
Based on multiple borrowings and the ability to continuously create new shares, shares short as a % of shares outstanding can exceed 100% (only nine ETFs exhibited shares short as a % of shares outstanding greater than 100%)
US-Listed ETFs: Most Successful Recent Launches by Assets
$8.3 bln in total market cap of ETFs less than 1-year old
Over the last year, 36 Fixed Income ETFs have been brought to market, the most of any category; Fixed Income ETFs currently account for 25% of ETF market share measured by market capitalization as investors continue to show interest in the asset class
The US Mid-Cap ETF category was the only ETF category that we measured to not launch an ETF over the past year
66 new ETF listings and 19 closures YTD
The top 10 most successful launches make up 45% of the market cap of ETFs launched over the past year
Six ETF sponsors and two asset classes (equities and fixed income) represented in top 10 most successful launches
The Vanguard Total International Bond ETF (BNDX) generated net inflows of $41 mln last week, the most of any recently launched ETF
Notably, despite not cracking the top 10 most successful launches over the past year, the Fidelity MSCI Energy Index ETF (FENY) posted net inflows of $37 mln last week, trailing only BNDX; Fidelity launched a suite of 10 US sector ETFs in October 2013
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Source: Morgan Stanley
CSOP to list ETF in New York after fresh quota
The Chinese manager plans to list an FTSE A50 Index ETF on the New York Stock Exchange this June after receiving an additional Rmb3.5 billion in RQFII quota
May 2, 2014--Chinese fund firm CSOP is intending to use fresh RQFII quota for a FTSE A50 Index exchange-traded fund to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange this June, AsianInvestor can confirm.
Jack Wang, the firmr's managing director and head of sales, revealed the plans after China's foreign exchange regulator Safe raised CSOP's renminbi-denominated foreign qualified institutional investor (RQFII) quota by Rmb3.5 billion ($600 million) on April 30.
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Source: Asian Investor
ProShares 'Temporarily' Suspends Shares Creations in 11 ETFs
Possible 'Significiant Variation' Between Shares' Market Price, Net Asset Value During Suspension
May 2, 2014--Exchange-traded fund issuer ProShare Capital Management LLC "temporarily" suspended shares creations in 11 of its ETFs on Friday due to a regulatory filing issue the company expects to be resolved in a few days, according to a spokesman.
The suspension affects ETFs including the $204 million ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, and curtails the ability of specialized dealers to create new ETF shares, possibly increasing investors' trading costs.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
United States Commodity Funds lowers management fees on 4 ETPs
May 2, 2014--United States Commodity Funds (USCF) announced that effective today, the management fees of four of its exchange-traded products will be contractually lowered through December 31, 2015.
With this new contractual fee waiver, the maximum management fee for the United States Commodity Index Fund (USCI) will be limited to 0.80%. For United States Copper Index Fund (CPER), United States Metals Index Fund (USMI) and United States Agriculture Index Fund (USAG) the maximum management fee will be limited to 0.65%.
"These funds were designed with the buy-and-hold investor in mind, and we want to demonstrate that we also view these as long,term investments." stated John Hyland, USCF's Chief Investment Officer.
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Source: United States Commodity Funds
iShares Launches the First ETFs to Access the Newest Emerging Markets Qatar and UAE
iShares offers an easy and cost effective way to invest in single country emerging markets
May 1, 2014--iShares, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) business of BlackRock, launched the iShares MSCI Qatar Capped ETF (QAT) and iShares MSCI UAE Capped ETF (UAE) on the NASDAQ.
They are the first ETFs to provide single country exposure to two countries that MSCI will graduate from Frontier Markets to Emerging Markets status at the end of May.
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Source: iShares
