Americas ETP News
If your looking for specific news, using the search function will narrow down the results
How finance plays a role in gun control
May 31, 2022--Daniel Defense, which allegedly manufactured the weapon used to kill 19 children and two adults last week at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, offers BNPL financing through the fintech Credova. Larger BNPL providers, like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna, do not work with firearms sellers in the U.S.
Why should we care?
Finance has long played an underacknowledged-yet contentious-role in the question of U.S. gun control.
Reporting from 2018 by the New York Times uncovered that the majority of attackers in major mass shootings over the preceding decade had acquired their guns with credit cards-often purchasing tens of thousands of dollars' worth of weapons that they couldn't have afforded otherwise.
Banks and credit card providers, the Times argues, have access to key red flags that could prevent future mass shootings, but they don't track or act on this information because they're not required to by law, and they fear alienating gun-owning clients. In the wake of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people, Citibank and Bank of America said they would no longer finance or advise gun manufacturers, while PayPal, Apple Pay, and Square reaffirmed that they do not allow the sale of guns through their systems.
view more
Source: The Financial Revolutionist
ACA Group and Foreside Complete Merger; Combined Firm Will Be Known As ACA
May 31, 2022--May 31, 2022--The merger brings together two of the industry's most well-respected GRC solutions providers. ACA and Foreside together will be positioned to transform the future of GRC, creating a world-class platform for the financial services industry.
ACA Group ("ACA"”) and Foreside Financial Group, LLC ("Foreside"), two of the leading providers of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions to clients in the financial services industry, today announced the completion of its merger, to become one of the largest providers of GRC solutions globally.
Foreside's distribution business will be rebranded as ACA Foreside and willbecome a division under ACA. Genstar Capital ("Genstar"), a leading private equity firm, is the majority owner of the combined business as a result of acquiring a controlling interest in ACA from Starr Investment Holdings.
view more
Source: ACA
Fund industry heavyweights muscle in on ETF market
May 30, 2022--Morgan Stanley, Neuberger Berman, SEI and Matthews Asia have launched or are poised to debut products
Neuberger Berman and a clutch of some of the world's biggest investors are joining the exchange traded fund industry for the first time, as they seek a foothold in a fast-growing sector that has piled pressure on active managers to justify their fees.
The US investment house is one of a group including Morgan Stanley, SEI and Matthews Asia-together managing $3tn-that have recently launched or signalled their intention to unveil their debut ETFs.
view more
Source: ft.com
One River's spot Bitcoin ETF application rejected by SEC
May 27, 2022--The proposed environmentally conscious spot ETF was found to be insufficiently protected against fraud and manipulation, like many ETF proposals before it.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) maintained its perfect record for rejecting Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications Friday when it disapproved a rule change to allow cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund One River Digital to offer the One River Carbon Neutral Bitcoin Trust on the New York Stock Exchange Arca.
The decision comes somewhat ahead of schedule, as the agency had extended the original deadline to June 2 to allow more time for consideration.
view more
Source: cointelegraph.com
Short-Sellers Target Biggest US Bitcoin ETF as Drawdown Deepens
May 27, 2022--The first US Bitcoin-futures backed exchange-traded fund is turning into a target for crypto bears.
Short interest in the $748 million ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (ticker BITO) as a percentage of shares outstanding is nearly 11%, close to the highest since the fund's October 2021 inception, IHS Markit Ltd. data show.
Meanwhile, the fund’s ratio of open interest in bearish put contracts to call open interest has soared since mid-April to all-time highs.
That suggests that crypto bears are flocking to BITO as a way to short sell the token as they wait for the rollout of inverse Bitcoin ETFs, which would bet against it.
view more
Source: bnnbloomberg.ca
BondBloxx Investment Management Launches New ETFs, Further Accelerating their Growth
May 26, 2022--May 26, 2022--BondBloxx Investment Management, launched in October of 2021 to provide precision ETF exposures for fixed income investors, announced the launch of three new ETFs which begin trading today on NYSE Arca. The ETFs track ratings-specific sub-indices of the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index2. The new BondBloxx products add to seven sector-specific high yield ETFs launched earlier this year.
"We founded BondBloxx to provide modern tools for modern markets," said BondBloxx co-founder Tony Kelly. "And our targeted products make it possible for investors to finally execute sophisticated investment views through ETFs-which are a time-honored tool to access liquidity and efficient exposure, especially in today's volatile markets."
"As rising rates and volatility continue to impact the corporate bond market, the need for new tools to manage fixed income exposure is becoming even more critical," said BondBloxx co-founder and portfolio manager Elya Schwartzman.
view more
Source: uppermichiganssource.com
SEC-What's in a Name? Aligning Fund Names with Investor Expectations
May 25, 2022--Today, the Commission draws on more than two decades of experience analyzing fund names and considering how certain names may mislead investors about a fund’s investment focus, potentially resulting in misallocations of capital.
Today's proposal would modernize the existing "Names Rule" in light of current fund practices, enhance consistency of the rule's application across funds, and provide key safeguards for investors.[1] Fund names, as with any type of branding, provide a critical means by which sponsors market their funds and convey information to investors, and today's proposal recognizes that investors may often rely on fund names in deciding where to invest their savings.
I’m pleased to support today's proposal which would bring meaningful improvements in aligning investor expectations and understanding with a fund's actual focus and the strategies it pursues.
view the Amendments to the Fund "Names Rule"
Source: sec.gov
Horizons Expands Engagement with Solactive with ETF Tracking Solactive North American Listed Copper Producers Index, First of Its Kind in Canada
May 25, 2022--May 25, 2022--Recent years have seen a surge in the popularity of thematic investments. These strategies allocate assets into stocks or other investments based on specific business sectors or themes, intending to benefit from the materialization of trends, technological innovation, and advancements. Copper, for instance, is being increasingly used in a wide range of industries that are tied to economic expansion, like infrastructure, technology, electronics, electric cars, and renewable energy.
Envisaging this potential, ETF issuer Horizons ETFs expanded its engagement with Solactive and launched the Horizons Copper Producers Index ETF, which aims to replicate the Solactive North American Listed Copper Producers Index. It is the first ETF in Canada to provide investors with exposure exclusively to companies involved in copper mining.
The Solactive North American Listed Copper Producers Index is designed to provide exposure to the performance of securities that are active in the copper ore mining industry and includes small, mid, and large-capitalization companies, listed in North America
view more
Source: Solactive AG
SEC Proposes to Enhance Disclosures by Certain Investment Advisers and Investment Companies About ESG Investment Practices
May 25, 2022--The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed amendments to rules and reporting forms to promote consistent, comparable, and reliable information for investors concerning funds' and advisers' incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
The proposed changes would apply to certain registered investment advisers, advisers exempt from registration, registered investment companies, and business development companies.
"I am pleased to support this proposal because, if adopted, it would establish disclosure requirements for funds and advisers that market themselves as having an ESG focus," said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. "ESG encompasses a wide variety of investments and strategies. I think investors should be able to drill down to see what's under the hood of these strategies. This gets to the heart of the SEC's mission to protect investors, allowing them to allocate their capital efficiently and meet their needs."
view more
Source: SEC.gov
CBO-The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2022 to 2032
May 25, 2022--In CBO's projections, assuming that current laws generally remain unchanged, the federal deficit totals $1.0 trillion in fiscal year 2022 and averages $1.6 trillion per year from 2023 to 2032. Real GDP grows by 3.1 percent this year.
The Budget
CBO projects that the federal budget deficit will shrink to $1.0 trillion in 2022 (it was $2.8 trillion last year) and that the annual shortfall would average $1.6 trillion from 2023 to 2032. The deficit continues to decrease as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) next year as spending related to the coronavirus pandemic wanes, but then deficits increase, reaching 6.1 percent of GDP in 2032. The deficit has been greater than that only six times since 1946.
view more
Source: CBO (Congressional Budget Office)
