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AdvisorShares Announces the Closing of the Rockledge SectorSAM ETF (SSAM)
June 6, 2013--AdvisorShares, a leading sponsor of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), announced today that the AdvisorShares Rockledge SectorSAM ETF (NYSE Arca: SSAM) will be closed.
The AdvisorShares Board of Trustees approved the closing and subsequent liquidation of SSAM. Following its last day of trading on June 14, 2013, the ETF will cease operations, withdraw its assets, and distribute the remaining proceeds to shareholders on or after June 21, 2013.
Noah Hamman, CEO of AdvisorShares, said, "We carefully review the entire AdvisorShares actively managed ETF suite on an ongoing basis. After consulting with the Rockledge team, we determined that it was in the best interest of shareholders to close SSAM due to its performance and associated costs. As a leading innovator of actively managed ETFs, AdvisorShares remains steadfastly committed to providing a diversified line-up of alternative and core strategies to help investors realize their financial goals."
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Source: CNBC
ProShares Announces Two Senior Hires
Crucial Roles Support Firm's Expansion
June 6, 2013--ProShares announced today two key new hires: Ramesh Babu as chief technology officer and William Poulin as head of product management.
Both positions provide key support to ProShares' rapid expansion as a premier provider of alternative ETFs.
Mr. Babu, former chief technology officer, NY for Allianz Global Investors, is responsible for providing strategic direction and management of ProShares' technology infrastructure. He reports to Tim Coakley, chief financial officer.
Mr. Poulin, former head of product strategy and development for Columbia Management, is charged with product positioning and targeting, and ensuring product-related initiatives are prioritized and supported in an integrated fashion. He reports to Steve Cohen, managing director and head of strategy.
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Source: ProShares
DB-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy-North America-US ETF Market Monthly Review-US ETP assets continue moving forward driven by Equity ETPs
June 6, 2013--US ETP assets added $10bn in May for a total growth of 11.1% YTD
ETP assets in the US rose by $9.7bn to $1.48 trillion (YTD +11.1%) last month. Global ETP industry assets closed at $2.01 trillion (YTD +9.1%)
Flows Review: still interested in equities, but avoiding defensives
US ETP experienced strong inflows of $18.1bn during May (+1.2% of the previous month’s AUM).
Within long-only ETPs, total flows were +$17.6bn in May vs. +$8.1bn in April. Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity long-only ETPs experienced flows of +$17.5bn, +$3.8bn, and -$4.0bn, respectively.
May flow trends were similar to April, with the main difference being the rotation away from defensives into domestic cyclicals. Long-only Equity ETP flows experienced a strong month, gathering $17.5bn in new cash and setting the YTD flows at +$75.5bn. Developed markets (+$18.7bn) flows, with special emphasis in the US (+$12.3bn) remain in uptrend while EM equity flows saw outflows of $2.0bn. Japanese ETPs continued to amass new assets (+$3.8bn, +$13.5bn YTD); meanwhile, Dividend ETPs kept capturing investors’ attention, with $2.2bn in fresh cash. Sector wise investors rotated backed into domestic cyclicals (+$5.9bn) and away from defensives (-$1.5bn) during last month. Fixed income ETPs experienced decent inflows of $3.8bn (+$18.4bn YTD), with a tilt towards quality and a strong preference toward medium-termed debt; Last but not least, Long-Only ETPs which offer exposure to commodities saw another bad month, with outflows of $4.1bn, mostly due to Gold ETPs (-$3.4bn) outflows.
New Launch Calendar: income, EM debt, and leverage
There were 9 ETFs and 2 ETNs launched during May. Most of the new ETF listings continue to focus on income strategies; some of the themes cover senior loans, free cash flow to shareholders, high yield with interest rate hedging, fundamentally-screened EM debt, global dividends, and dividend growth. Other strategies also included daily leverage bear exposures to Brazil and Korea, inflation protection, Euro-hedged Germany exposure, and levered custom equity strategies in the case of the two ETNs.
Turnover Review: Floor activity edged lower by 3% in May
ETP turnover totaled $1.349 trillion last month, -2.8% (-$38.9bn) lower than the previous month figure of $1.388 trillion, and 15.5% above last year’s monthly average of $1.168 trillion. Equity and Commodity ETPs turnover decreased by 1.9% (-$22.5bn), and 31% (-$28.8bn) during May; while Fixed Income ETPs turnover rose by 15.9% (+$13.9bn).
ETP trading made up 26.8% of all US cash equity trading in April, down from last year’s peak of 28.8% in June, and still below its 3-year monthly average of 28.4%.
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Source: Deutsche Bank-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy- North America
IMF-Brazil: Technical Note on Stress Testing the Banking Sector
June 6, 2013--This note summarizes the stress tests undertaken for the Brazilian banking system as part of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) Update. The focus was on tail risks and medium-term structural trends.
The stress tests, which were run in a top-down (TD) manner based on granular supervisory data, were undertaken in close cooperation with the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB).
All banks were assessed against solvency, liquidity, and contagion risks. The solvency tests assessed the resilience of the system under three adverse macroeconomic scenarios as well as baseline conditions for the period from 2012 till 2016. The tests considered different definitions of capital adequacy (total capital, tier 1, core tier 1), and simulated the impact of upcoming changes in the regulatory rules (Basel III). Bank behavior conditional on stress conditions was captured by profit retention and credit growth. The liquidity tests simulated banks’ resilience against a sudden withdrawal of funding and, to some degree, maturity mismatch. Contagion risk was analyzed by simulating potential knock-on effects through interbank exposure.
view the Brazil: Technical Note on Stress Testing the Banking Sector
Source: IMF
SEC Proposes Money Market Fund Reforms
June 5, 2013--The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted unanimously to propose rules that would reform the way that money market funds operate in order to make them less susceptible to runs that could harm investors.
The SEC’s proposal includes two principal alternative reforms that could be adopted alone or in combination. One alternative would require a floating net asset value (NAV) for prime institutional money market funds. The other alternative would allow the use of liquidity fees and redemption gates in times of stress. The proposal also includes additional diversification and disclosure measures that would apply under either alternative.
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Source: SEC.gov
IndexIQ Announces May 2013 Performance of Its IQ Hedge Family of Investable Benchmark Hedge Fund Replication Indexes
June 5, 2013--IndexIQ, a leading developer of index-based alternative investment solutions, today announced the performance of its proprietary family of hedge fund replication and alternative beta indexes.
Designed as investable benchmarks that replicate the performance characteristics of sophisticated hedge fund strategies, the IQ Hedge™ benchmark indexes were originally introduced on March 30, 2007, and have been calculating live since that date. IQ Hedge is the first family of investable benchmark indexes covering hedge fund replication/alternative beta strategies.
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Source: IndexIQ
Federal Reserve Board approves interim final rule on treatment of uninsured U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks under section 716 of Dodd-Frank
June 5, 2013--The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday approved an interim final rule clarifying the treatment of uninsured U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks under the so-called swaps push-out provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Section 716 of Dodd-Frank generally prohibits the provision of certain types of federal assistance, such as discount window lending and deposit insurance, to swaps entities. The provisions of section 716 become effective on July 16, 2013.
view the Prohibition Against Federal Assistance to Swaps Entities (Regulation KK)
Source: FRB
Fed Grants Foreign Banks Leeway in Dodd-Frank Swap Rule
June 5, 2013--Foreign-based banks won leeway in Dodd-Frank Act requirements to separate swaps trading from their U.S. branches under a Federal Reserve policy released yesterday.
The central bank said in an interim final rule that the banks will be eligible to apply for a transition period of 24 months in rules taking effect July 16. The Institute of International Bankers, a lobbying group representing Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) among others, urged the Fed to grant foreign banks the same phase-in process U.S. banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) received earlier this year
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Source: Bloomberg
AltaVista-Sector SPDR Analyzer + Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL)-June 2013
June 5, 2013--This month's Select Sector SPDR and Equal Sector Weight ETF Analyzer reports are ready for download.
view the Select Sector SPDR funds June 2013 report
view the ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL)report
Source:AltaVista Research
ProShares files to launch ETFs backed by credit default swaps
June 5, 2013--ProShares has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a number of exchange-traded funds backed by credit default swaps, as new regulations for the privately traded contracts reduce some of their risks and open the market to new types of investors.
Derivatives markets are adapting to new regulations designed to reduce the risks these contracts pose to the financial system after their opacity, high concentration among the world's largest banks and lack of collateral pledged against the trades were cited as key factors behind the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
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Source: Yahoo Finance