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The Employment Situation-May 2012
June 1, 2012--Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), and the unemployment rate
was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
today.
Employment increased in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade but declined in construction. Employment was little changed in most other major
industries.
Household Survey Data
Both the number of unemployed persons (12.7 million) and the unemployment rate (8.2 percent) changed little in May.
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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
June 1, 2012--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:
The shareholders of NAL Energy Corporation (TSX:NAE) have accepted the share exchange offer from Pengrowth Energy Corporation (TSX:PGF).
NAL Energy will be removed from the S&P/TSX Composite and Capped Composite, the S&P/TSX Equity and Capped Equity, the S&P/TSX Completion and Equity Completion, the S&P/TSX SmallCap and Equity SmallCap, the S&P/TSX Composite Dividend, the S&P/TSX Equity Income, the S&P/TSX Composite Equal Weight and the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Indices.
As a result of the issuance of shares as part of the acquisition of NAL Energy Corporation, the relative weight of Pengrowth Energy Corporation (TSX:PGF) will increase in the S&P/TSX Composite and Capped Composite, the S&P/TSX Equity and Capped Equity, the S&P/TSX Equity Income, the S&P/TSX Completion and Equity Completion, the S&P/TSX Capped Energy and the S&P/TSX Composite Dividend indices. There will be no weight change effective in the S&P/TSX Composite Equal Weight Index. These changes will be effective after close on Tuesday, June 5, 2012.
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
Source: Standard & Poor's
CBOE Holdings Reports May 2012 Trading Volume - May Average Daily Volume Up 18% From Year Ago, Up 9% From April 2012 - CBOE Futures Exchange And VIX Index Futures Post Busiest Month Ever
May Average Daily Volume Up 18% from Year Ago, Up 9% from April 2012
CBOE Futures Exchange and VIX Index Futures Post Busiest Month Ever
June 1, 2012--CBOE Holdings, Inc., today reported that May trading volume for options on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and C2 Options Exchange (C2), combined, totaled 109.2 million contracts.
May average daily volume (ADV) was just under five million contracts, an 18-percent increase from May 2011 ADV of 4.2 million contracts and a nine-percent increase from April 2012 ADV of 4.5 million contracts.
CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) and the exchange's flagship product, the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX Index), set new all-time monthly volume records of more than two million contracts in May.
CBOE Trading Volume and Market Share
CBOE trading volume — CBOE's May 2012 ADV was 4.7 million contracts, up 18 percent from 4.0 million contracts ADV in May 2011 and up nine percent from April 2012 ADV of 4.3 million contracts.
CBOE index options — May 2012 index option ADV was 1.3 million contracts, up 31 percent from just over one million contracts ADV in May 2011 and up 18 percent from April 2012 ADV of 1.1 million contracts.
CBOE ETF options — May 2012 ETF option ADV was 1.4 million contracts, up 25 percent from 1.1 million contracts ADV in May 2011 and up 32 percent from April 2012 ADV of nearly 1.1 million contracts.
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Source: CBOE
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Closed Down 6.21% In May, According To Dow Jones Indexes-820.18 Point Drop Is Second Largest For May
Four Of The Dow's 30 Component Stocks Closed Month In Positive Territory - Wal-Mart Topped All 30 Components With 11.73% Gain
June 1, 2012--The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the longest running and most widely quoted U.S. stock-market index, fell 6.21% in May, according to data compiled by Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider.
The Dow’s 820.18-point decrease for the month was the second largest May loss in its history.
The index’s top component performer for May was Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which ended up 11.73%. Shares of Walt Disney Co. and AT&T Inc., up 6.03% and 3.83%, respectively, were the second- and third-leading stocks on the DJIA in May. The worst performing DJIA stock in May was JPMorgan Chase & Co., which fell 22.87%.
By comparison, The Europe Dow ended May down 13.08%, The Asia Dow fell 10.32% and The Global Dow finished down 10.17%. The Europe Dow and The Asia Dow are equal-weighted indexes that measures 30 of their region’s leading blue-chip stocks; The Global Dow measures the performance of 150 leading companies from around the world.
For April 2012, the DJIA finished up 0.01%.
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Source: Mondovisione
ISE Introduces Order Management Functionality in PrecISE
May 31, 2012--The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today announced that order management functionality is now available in PrecISE TradeR, ISE's innovative, front-end execution system.
PrecISE users are now able to route orders to other PrecISE users for execution. Additionally, PrecISE offers a new “parent/child” feature, or the ability to stage larger orders and divide them into smaller orders to better control order management and execution.
Boris Ilyevsky, Managing Director of ISE’s options exchange, said, “Our latest PrecISE release represents a significant milestone for this product offering. PrecISE has moved beyond an execution-only interface with the introduction of these new order management capabilities. This is an important first step in our effort to deliver greater value and flexibility to users by enabling PrecISE to manage and support the entire lifecycle of an order.”
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Source: International Securities Exchange (ISE)
The lines are Blurring between ETFs and mutual funds/401Ks-Forefront Capital Management
May 31, 2012--Section I: The lines are blurring between the differences between ETFs and mutual funds
The explosive success of the launch of PIMCO's Total Return ETF (BOND) now with AUMi of nearly $1.2 Billion highlights some key evolutionary trends in the competitive landscape of the asset management industry; specifically the blurring of the lines between ETFs and mutual funds.
We believe that PIMCO’s success will further compel other large asset management firms that the power of the ETF wrapper over the traditional mutual fund structure needs to be embraced. The ETF wrapper is in essence disruptive technology to the asset management industry and those firms who are not cannibalizing their own product line are risking being leap frogged or simply losing future market share.
to request this report
Source: Forefront Capital Management
AlphaClone and Exchange Traded Concepts Launch First ETF to Invest Directly in Hedge Fund Equity Positions
AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF (NYSE: ALFA) Provides Risk-Managed Access to Hedge Fund Positions
May 31, 2012--The AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF (NYSE:ALFA) begins trading today, becoming the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) to invest in disclosed equity positions held by established hedge fund managers.
The new ETF seeks to capture alpha from these managers’ long positions while protecting against protracted market downturns through a dynamic hedge mechanism.
The ETF structure enables ALFA to provide investors access to the alpha-generating potential of established hedge fund managers within a transparent vehicle that is available for trade daily on the NYSE.
ALFA, derived from the innovative research and hedge fund replication methodology developed by AlphaClone, LLC, and its founder Mazin Jadallah, is based on the passive, risk-managed AlphaClone Hedge Fund Long/Short Index.
“AlphaClone offers our separate account clients strategies that expertly combine long hedge fund equity positions with disciplined downside protection,” says Mazin Jadallah, founder and CEO of AlphaClone.
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Source: AlphaClone
The Case for Short Duration High Yield by By Greg Hahn
May 31, 2012--Valuations in the domestic high yield market appear stretched and we are concerned that opportunities for incremental return are fewer over a near term horizon. In this article we provide an analysis of the structure of the high yield market and a rationale for investing in specific short duration
and callable high yield bonds which offer investors a better risk/reward trade-off in the current environment.
Following the Financial Crisis of 2008, the Federal Reserve implemented extreme monetary policies that were designed to protect the banking system, stimulate economic growth and keep the capital markets functioning. One of the intended consequences was that we have the lowest level of interest rates in economic history. This has allowed corporations that can access the capital markets the ability to refinance their debt at lower rates, therefore helping to cut interest expense and improving operating margins.
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Source: Winthrop Capital Management
Hedge Fund ETF Weapons Turn Dangerous for Solo Investors
May 31, 2012--If you are convinced, really convinced, the price of crude oil will rise today and U.S. stocks will fall,
Factor Advisors LLC has an exchange-traded fund for you.
As the biggest ETF managers capture assets from traditional mutual funds with benchmark-tracking offerings, smaller competitors are catering to sophisticated investors with an increasingly complex arsenal of products.
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Source: Bloomberg
Sheila Bair urges tough rules on hedging by banks
May 31, 2012--Washington policymakers should tighten the Volcker rule's ban on bank's speculative trades by reining in an exemption for hedging activity, former U.S. bank regulator Sheila Bair said on Thursday.
Speaking at a roundtable hosted by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Bair said Volcker rule exemptions should be strictly defined and that banks should have to publicly disclose their hedges.
"I would tighten the rule," she said. "A hedge should not be allowed unless it is a hedge."
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Source: Reuters
