Americas ETP News
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Fund Industry Challenges CFTC Registration Rule .
December 27, 2012--December 27, 2012--The mutual-fund industry is renewing a challenge to a rule that requires fund firms that trade in gold, oil or other commodities to register with an additional federal regulator.
The Chamber of Commerce and the Investment Company Institute, a fund-industry group, filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday, after a federal district court upheld the registration rule from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Dec. 12.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
Despite active ETFs' slow start, SSgA files to launch more
December 27, 2012--State Street Global Advisors has filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission to add three equity exchange traded funds to its suite of actively managed ETFs.
The firm is planning to launch the SPDR SSgA Risk Aware ETF, SPDR SSgA Large Cap Risk Aware ETF and SPDR Small Cap Risk Aware ETF, according to a registration statement filed last week. All three would select stocks to invest in based on “a proprietary quantitative investment process to measure and predict investor risk preferences.”
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Source: FT.com
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
December 27, 2012--The current reports for the week of December 24, 2012 are now available.
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Source: CFTC.gov
.U.S. Exchange-Traded Products Hit Record Deposits in 2012
December 27, 2012--Exchange-traded products in the U.S. gathered record deposits this year as investor demand for low-cost stock-and-bond funds drove expansion in the fastest-growing segment of the asset-management industry.
Investors deposited $183.3 billion into ETPs in 2012 through Dec. 24, surpassing the $175.6 billion peak in 2008 and pushing assets to $1.34 trillion, according to research firm IndexUniverse LLC. Bond ETPs took in $55.7 billion, more than double the amount such funds attracted in 2008. Stock ETPs that invest primarily in the U.S. attracted $67.2 billion, and international equities gathered $48.5 billion.
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Source: Bloomberg
iShares files with the SEC
December 26, 2012--iShares has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the
iShares MSCI Belgium Capped Investable Market Index Fund.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
SEC Issues Investor Bulletin to Help Investors Assess Municipal Bond Credit Risk
December 26, 2012--The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued an Investor Bulletin to help purchasers of municipal bonds better assess the bonds' credit risks.
The bulletin provides several factors for investors to consider including the type of the bond, the purpose and nature of the financing, the overall financial condition of the issuer, and the sources of funds to pay both principal and interest.
The bulletin also urges investors to undertake their own independent review of municipal bonds’ credit risk and not rely solely on a credit rating or a short-hand label such as “general obligation” or “revenue” bond when deciding whether to purchase a municipal bond.
view the Municipal Bonds: Understanding Credit Risk
Source: SEC.gov
SEC going high-tech with real-time trade data
December 24, 2012--December 24, 2012--As computing power and big data have revolutionized stock trading in recent years, one market player has lagged far behind: the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose job policing the markets has been hampered by a serious technology gap.
Now the SEC is trying to catch up.
This month, the agency is in the final phases of testing software that will stream real-time trade data into its headquarters near Union Station, helping regulators better grasp the market’s plumbing.
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Source: Washington Post
Fees, indexes take center stage in ETF competition
December 24, 2012--Liquidity and cost trump all other benefits of exchange-traded funds for institutional investors.
Yet the basic attributes of this rapidly growing category of products also have large investors shying away from most areas of index and asset class innovation — where costs are higher and trading is lower.
But those areas are where ETF sponsors have focused in recent years.
Horizons ETFs Announces Unit Consolidation
December 24, 2012--Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. ("Horizons ETFs") and its affiliate Horizons ETFs Management ( Canada ) Inc., the manager and trustee of the Horizons U.S. Dollar ETF (the "ETF"), listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") under the symbols DLR and DLR.U, has announced today that it intends to consolidate the units of the ETF,
as outlined below:
Unit Consolidation
After the TSX has closed for trading on Friday, January 4, 2013 , the units of the ETF will be consolidated on the basis of a ratio (the "Consolidation Ratio") yet to be determined, such that the net asset value ("NAV") of the units of the ETF traded on the TSX under the ticker symbol DLR.U will equal $10.00 USD upon such consolidation. The units of the ETF will begin trading on a consolidated basis on Monday January 7, 2013 , the effective date of the consolidation.
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Source: Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc.
Morgan Stanley-US ETF Weekly Update
December 24, 2012--US ETF Weekly Update
Weekly Flows: $9.9 Billion Net Inflows
ETF Assets Stand at $1.3 Trillion, up 27% YTD
Eight ETF Launches Last Week
Invesco PowerShares Announces 13 ETF Closures
Direxion to Close Three ETFs
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Flows by Market Segment
ETFs posted net inflows of $9.9 bln last week, the 5th consecutive week of net inflows
Net inflows were led by US Large-Cap and Emerging Market Equity ETFs, which posted combined net inflows of $9.0 bln
Despite large net inflows as a whole last week, seven of the 15 ETF categories we measured exhibited modest net outflows
Fixed Income ETFs have posted net outflows for two straight weeks, but have posted net inflows of $9.8 bln over the last 13 weeks
ETF assets stand at $1.3 tln (up 27% YTD) and have posted net inflows 40 out of 51 weeks in 2012 ($174.4 bln YTD)
13-week flows were mostly positive among asset classes; combined $52.3 bln net inflows
International Equity ETFs have exhibited net inflows of $23.0 bln over the past 13 weeks
Interestingly, US Small- & Micro-Cap ETFs have posted net outflows of $1.2 bln over the past 13 weeks
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Largest Flows by Individual ETF
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) posted net inflows of $4.4 bln last week, the most of any ETF
SPY has now posted net inflows for five consecutive weeks; over this time period, the fund has posted net inflows of $18.1 bln as investors position for year-end (i.e. tax planning and locking in returns), in our opinion
The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM) had another impressive week, posting net inflows of $1.3 bln; over the last 13 weeks, EEM has exhibited net inflows of $8.0 bln, the most of any ETF
The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) has posted net outflows of $1.6 bln over the last 13 weeks, the most of any ETF
US-Listed ETFs: Short Interest
Data Unchanged:
Based on data as of 11/30/12
iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM) had the largest increase in USD short interest at $625 mln
IWM’s shares short climbed for the 4th period in a row, however, remain 13% below their 52-week average
Aggregate ETF USD short interest decreased by $154 mln over the past two weeks ended 11/30/12
The average shares short/shares outstanding for ETFs is currently 4.4%
Smaller ETFs by market cap may skew results (three of the top 10 with the highest % of shares short have market caps <$25 mln)
The CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE) is the most heavily shorted ETF at 232%; based on recent FXE performance, shorting the euro has not been a good trade
Based on multiple borrowings and the ability to continuously create new shares, shares short as a % of shares outstanding can exceed 100% (only six ETFs exhibited shares short as a % of shares outstanding greater than 100%)
US-Listed ETFs: Most Successful Recent Launches by Assets
Source: Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Research.
Data estimated as of 12/21/12 based on daily change in share counts and daily NAVs.
$8.7 billion in total market cap of ETFs less than 1-year old
Newly launched Active ETFs account for 50% of the market cap of ETFs launched over the past year; PIMCO Total Return ETF (BOND) is the largest actively managed ETF with a market cap of $3.9 bln
155 new ETF listings and 80 closures YTD (already 16 announced closures to occur in 2013)
The top 10 most successful launches make up 71% of the market cap of ETFs launched over the past year
Five different ETF sponsors and two asset classes represented in top 10 most successful launches
The iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA), part of a series of recently launched low cost, retail-focused ETFs by iShares, generated net inflows of $204 mln last week, the most of any ETF launched over the past year
The four iShares Core ETFs launched this past October have a combined market cap of $601 mln
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Source: Morgan Stanley
