Americas ETP News
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SEC Adopts Rule Requiring Listing Standards for Compensation Committees and Compensation Advisers
June 20, 2012-- The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a rule that directs national securities exchanges to adopt listing standards for public company boards of directors and compensation advisers.
The new rule, required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, requires exchange listing standards to address:
The independence of the members on a compensation committee
The committee’s authority to retain compensation advisers
The committee’s consideration of the independence of any compensation advisers and
The committee’s responsibility for the appointment, compensation, and oversight of the work of any compensation adviser.
view the Final Rule: Listing Standards for Compensation Committees
Source: SEC.gov
United States Commodity Funds LLC Launches the United States Metals Index Fund (USMI)
June 19, 2012--United States Commodity Funds LLC, a sponsor of exchange traded commodity funds, listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange Arca, a new exchange traded commodity index fund, United States Metals Index Fund, under the ticker "USMI".
The United States Metals Index Fund (USMI) is an exchange traded product ("ETP") that seeks to reflect the performance of a portfolio of metals futures contracts fully collateralized with U.S. Treasury Bills. The investment objective of USMI is for the daily changes in percentage terms of its units' net asset value ("NAV") to reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of the SummerHaven Dynamic Metals Index Total Return, less USMI's expenses. USMI issued units may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca.
United States Metals Index Fund's target is an Index comprised of a group of 10 metals currently traded on the LME, COMEX, and NYMEX exchanges. The Metals Index attempts to maximize backwardation and minimize contango while using contracts in the liquid portions of the futures curve.
For more information visit www.unitedstatesmetalsindexfund.com.
Source: United States Commodity Funds
CBOE Plans Process To Trade SPX Variance Strips-Allows Trading Of A Portfolio Of SPX Options In A Single Transaction
Allows Trading of a Portfolio of SPX Options in a Single Transaction
June 19, 2012--The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has announced that it plans to introduce,
starting July 27, a process for trading SPX Variance Strips --a portfolio of S&P 500 Index options (SPX) intended to replicate S&P 500 implied variance exposure
in a single transaction.
Trading in SPX Variance Strips (ticker: VSTRP) will be fully electronic, aimed at qualified professional investors, and employ a special quoting convention similar to the over-the-counter (OTC) method for quoting variance swaps. Specifically: l Prices will be quoted in volatility points.
l Trade quantities will be expressed in contracts; each variance strip "contract" features a multiplier (e.g., $25,000, $50,000, etc.) that reflects the aggregate vega exposure - sensitivity to the underlying instrument's volatility - of the SPX options comprising the variance strip.
read more
Source: CBOE
SIFMA Releases 2012, 2013 Economic Forecast
June 19, 2012--SIFMA's Economic Advisory Roundtable today released its economic outlook for the second half of 2012 and predictions for 2013, forecasting that the economy will grow at a rate of 2.1 percent in full-year 2012 and 2.1 percent in 2013.
"Our Roundtable maintains their forecast for moderate economic growth for 2012 and 2013, but warns about a number of headwinds that could affect that forecast," said Kyle Brandon, managing director and director of research at SIFMA. "Concerns over the European debt crisis, the so-called "fiscal cliff" and regulatory uncertainty remain significant risks to the downside for the economy going forward."
The Economy
The median forecast called for gross domestic product (GDP) to rise 2.1 percent in 2012 on a year-over-year basis, and by 2.2 percent on a fourth quarter-to-fourth quarter basis. For 2013, the median forecast was 2.1 percent year-over-year; on a quarterly basis, the GDP growth rate was expected to fall in the first quarter of 2013 to an annualized 1.8 percent and rise to 2.3 percent in the second quarter.
view the SIFMA Mid-Year 2012 Economic Outlook
Source: SIFMA
Testimony Before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services
June 19, 2012--Good morning Chairman Bachus, Ranking Member Frank and members of the Committee. I thank you for inviting me to testify at today's hearing. I'm pleased to be on a panel along with my fellow regulators.
I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) ongoing efforts to implement swaps market reforms, including for the credit default swap (CDS) index products traded by JPMorgan Chase’s Chief Investment Office (CIO).
The CFTC’s Division of Enforcement has opened an investigation related to credit derivative products traded by JPMorgan Chase’s CIO. Although I am unable to provide any specific information about a pending investigation, I will, however, describe generally the Commission’s oversight of the markets for CDS index products.
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Source: CFTC.gov
First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund (EMLP)
Fund Seeks Total Return from a Portfolio Focused on Energy Infrastructure Companies
June 19, 2012--First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust"), a provider of more than 200 investment products, many of which offer transparency, tax efficiency and a rules-based approach to stock selection, announced the launch of a new actively managed exchange-traded fund, First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund (NYSE Arca: EMLP).
The investment objective of the First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund is to seek total return. The Fund’s investment strategy will have an emphasis on current distributions and dividends paid to shareholders. The Fund will invest primarily in companies engaged in the energy infrastructure sector, including publicly-traded master limited partnerships and limited liability companies taxed as partnerships (“MLPs”), MLP affiliates, Canadian income trusts and their successor companies, pipeline companies, utilities, and other companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues from operating or providing services in support of infrastructure assets such as pipelines, power transmission and petroleum and natural gas storage in the petroleum, natural gas and power generation industries.
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Source: First Trust
Huntington Asset Advisors, Inc. Launches EcoLogical Strategy ETF Through New Huntington Strategy Shares
June 19, 2012--Huntington Asset Advisors, Inc. (HAA) announces it is launching actively-managed exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), through its new ETF family, Huntington Strategy Shares. Huntington EcoLogical Strategy ETF (NYSE Arca: HECO) is the first of two Huntington Strategy Shares planned to launch.
The EcoLogical Strategy ETF has a goal of capital appreciation and will focus on ecologically-focused companies and products, which are positioned to take advantage of continuing changes in laws, consumer behavior and business investments. The ETF holds stocks from companies large and small across a widely-diversified set of industries.
These companies demonstrate environmental stewardship and provide products and services that advance green practices and show evidence of sustainability. With this approach, the ETF may be more correlated to market indices, like the S&P 500, than specific green funds that target clean tech or alternative energy, which may be more limited in scope.
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Source: MSN Money
State Street Global Advisors Launches New Fixed Income SPDR(R) ETFs
June 19, 2012--State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)*, the asset management business of State Street Corporation (STT), today announced that the SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Crossover Corporate Bond ETF (XOVR) and the SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Emerging Markets Corporate Bond ETF (EMCD) began trading on the NYSE Arca on June 19, 2012.
The new SPDR ETFs provide investors with an opportunity to access the attractive yield and total return potential of crossover bonds and emerging market corporate debt.
The SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Crossover Corporate Bond ETF seeks to track the performance of the BofA Merrill Lynch US Diversified Crossover Corporate Index. The Index is designed to measure the performance of US dollar-denominated BBB and BB corporate debt publicly issued in the US domestic market. “Crossover” corporate debt generally means corporate debt rated at levels where the lower end of investment-grade debt and the higher end of high-yield debt meet. Qualifying securities must be rated BBB1 through BB3 inclusive (based on an average rating of Moody’s Investors Service Inc., Standard & Poor’s Inc and Fitch, Inc.) have a fixed income coupon schedule, have at least one year remaining to final maturity, and a minimum amount of outstanding of $250 million or more of issuance.
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Source: State Street Global Advisors
DB-Equity Research-US ETF Market Weekly Review : Markets and $12bn Inflows boosted ETP assets
June 19, 2012--Net Cash Flows Review
Markets added another week on the positive territory last week. The US (S&P 500) added 1.30%. While, outside the US, the MSCI EAFE (in USD) and the MSCI EM (USD) recovered an extra 2.32% and 2.35%, respectively.
Moving on to other asset classes, the 10Y US Treasury yield dropped by 5bps last week; while the DB Liquid Commodity Index was down by 0.85%. Similarly, the Agriculture sector (DB Diversified Agriculture Index), and the WTI Crude Oil prices retreated by 2.41%, and 0.08%, respectively; while the Gold, and the Silver prices rose by 2.11% and 0.68%, respectively. Last but not least, Volatility (VIX) edged lower by 0.57% and remained in the low 20s during the same period.
The total US ETP flows from all products registered $12.1bn of inflows during last week vs $3.9bn of inflows the previous week, setting the YTD weekly flows average at +$3.1bn (+$73.4bn YTD in total cash flows).
Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity ETPs experienced flows of +$9.4bn, +$2.3bn, and +$0.4bn last week vs. +$2.9bn, +$0.8bn, and +$0.4bn the previous week, respectively. We believe that part of the strong inflows to equity ETPs were due to S&P 500 rebalancing related activity.
Within Equity ETPs, large cap and US sector products experienced the largest inflows (+$8.1bn, +$0.9bn respectively); while emerging country vehicles experienced the largest outflows (-$0.3bn). Within Fixed Income ETPs, Corporates products recorded the largest inflows (+$1.9bn), followed by broad benchmarked products (+$0.3bn); while Sovereign experienced outflows of $0.1bn. Within Commodity ETPs, Precious Metals products experienced the largest inflows ($0.4bn).
Top 3 ETPs & ETNs by inflows: SPY (+$7.8bn), CIU (+$0.7bn), LQD (+$0.7bn)
Top 3 ETPs & ETNs by outflows: TLT (-$0.2bn), DIA (-$0.2bn), FXI (-$0.2bn)
New Launch Calendar: oil sands and leveraged growth large cap
There was 1 new ETF and 1 new ETN listed on the NYSE Arca during the previous week. The ETF offers exposure to companies in the Oil Sands business in North America; while the ETN provides access to leverage returns on the Russell 1000 growth index (See Figure 18 for further details).
Turnover Review: floor activity remained fairly stable
Total weekly turnover dropped by 1.3% to $316bn vs. $320bn in the previous week. Last week’s turnover level was 16% below last year’s weekly average. Equity ETPs experienced an increase, rising by $7.5bn or 2.7% to $282bn. In the meantime, Fixed Income and Commodity ETP turnover dropped by 36.1% (-$9.0bn) and 16.4% (-$2.9bn), respectively.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Review: back in the double digits area Fueled by positive markets and strong inflows, ETP asset growth YTD came back to the double digit area with 10.3%. The additional $24.6bn boosted assets by 2.2% on a week over week basis reaching $1.15 trillion at the end of last Friday. Assets for equity, fixed income and commodity ETPs moved +$18.5.bn, +$3.1bn, and +$3.0bn during last week, respectively.
to request report
Source: Deutsche Bank-Equity Research-North America
New Single-Day Volume Record Set On Monday At CBOE Futures Exchange
Volume In VIX Futures Also Reaches New High
June 18, 2012--CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) announced that Monday, June 18 was the most active trading day in CFE history.
Volume totaled 160,552 contracts traded throughout its full suite of products. Today's record volume surpassed the previous high of 152,133 contracts set on August 5, 2011. In addition, trading volume in futures on the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX Index) also established a new single-day record today as 159,744 contracts traded, eclipsing the previous record of 152,067 contracts, also on August 5, 2011.
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Source: CBOE
