Americas ETP News
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United States Commodity Funds LLC Lowers Fees of United States Agriculture Index Fund (USAG)
May 30, 2012--United States Commodity Funds LLC (USCF) announced a voluntary reduction in a portion of its management fee for the United States Agriculture Index Fund (USAG). As of May 29, 2012, the management fee will be reduced to 0.80% from 0.95%.
USCF anticipates that the waiver will remain in place through March 31, 2013. This reduction is voluntary, and may be terminated or modified prior to March 31, 2013, with the approval of USCF's Board of Directors.
Chief Investment Officer John Hyland states, "We are aware that investors looking to use USAG as a useful tool for investing in Agricultural futures contracts over the long term will also be sensitive to expenses. We think that offering it with lower expenses will help generate economies of scale for both trading and investing and make the fund even more competitive with other agricultural funds."
The United States Agriculture Index Fund (USAG) is an exchange-traded security that is designed to track, in percentage terms, the price movements of the SummerHaven Dynamic Agriculture Index Total Return(SDAI). USAG issues units that may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca.
For additional information visit www.unitedstatesagricultureindexfund.com.
Source: United States Commodity Funds LLC (USCF)
Guggenheim Investments Announces Appointment of a New Trustee and Election of Chief Executive Officer for Certain Closed-End and Exchange Traded Funds
May 30, 2012--The exchange traded funds and certain closed-end funds advised by Guggenheim Funds Investments Advisors, LLC (together the "Funds") today announce the appointment of Mr. Donald C. Cacciapaglia as a Trustee of each of the Funds.
The Funds also announce the election, by the Funds’ Boards of Trustees, of Mr. Donald C. Cacciapaglia as the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Cacciapaglia succeeds Mr. Kevin M. Robinson as Chief Executive Officer of the Funds. Mr. Robinson will remain the Chief Legal Officer of the Funds.
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Source: Guggenheim Investments
ETF Portfolio Partners Welcomes David Vaughn as Senior Investment Advisor
ETF Portfolio Partners Inc., a registered investment advisor (RIA) specializing in the management of investment portfolios comprised entirely of exchanged-traded funds (ETFs), announced that David A. Vaughn has joined the firm as a Senior Investment Advisor.
May 30, 2012--ETF Portfolio Partners Inc., a registered investment advisor (RIA) specializing in the management of investment portfolios comprised entirely of exchange-traded funds (ETFs),
announced that David A. Vaughn has joined the firm as a Senior Investment Advisor.
Founded in 2004 by Richard D. Romey, ETF Portfolio Partners serves individual and institutional investors by designing, implementing and maintaining equity, fixed income and alternative investment portfolios utilizing the 21st century’s most revolutionary and transformative investment vehicles, ETFs.
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Source: ETF Portfolio Partners Inc
Vanguard Cuts Fees On More Funds
May 30, 2012--Vanguard Group just dropped expense ratios on another 15 funds. Here's the list. They're mostly tweaks of a few basis points, but some are bigger- here are the biggest changes:
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund (VDAIX) falls to 0.25% from 30%.
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) falls to 0.13% from 0.18%.
Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund (VDIGX) down to 0.31% from 0.34%
It’s also worth noting Vanguard raised the expense ratio of one product, the Vanguard Precious Metals Fund (VGPMX), to 0.29% from 0.27%.
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Source: Barron's
Daniel Saieh Named Head of Latin American Sales at VelocityShares
May 30, 2012--VelocityShares announced today the appointment of Daniel Saieh as Managing Director and Head of Latin American Sales. Mr. Saieh is a 20-year industry veteran and spent the last 10-years at Blackrock (formerly Barclays Global Investors)
where he was the Director of Institutional Business Latin America. He was instrumental in building the business in the region. Mr. Saieh's initial focus is to expand VelocityShares' presence in Latin America, especially with respect to VelocityShares' affiliate VelocityCapital Management's Tail Risk Strategies.
Announcing Mr. Saieh's appointment, Steve Quinn, Principal and Head of Distribution said, "VelocityCapital sits at the forefront of the next generation of tail risk hedging solutions. Daniel has a proven track record of building businesses, and we look forward to working with him to deliver new and innovative ideas to institutional investors in Latin America." Mr. Quinn added, "The expansion of the team is in-line with our strategy of bringing sophisticated products to a wider range of institutional investors."
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Source: VelocityCapital Management LLC
Exchanges Aim New Flash-Crash Fixes For February Launch
One-year pilot for upgraded "flash crash" safeguards pitched for February launch
Regulators set to rule on proposal from exchanges on Thursday
Updated plan would give exchanges more leeway to pause trade, form advisory committee
May 30, 2012--U.S. stock-exchange operators aim to roll out a new system designed to shield investors from massive price swings next February
as part of an expanded plan that would give brokers a greater say in administering the plan.
Exchanges that maintain listings for corporations and exchange-traded funds would also gain greater discretion over pausing trade in securities on their platforms, according to documents filed with regulators late last week.
The new details come as exchanges and regulators push to finalize a wide-ranging revamp of protections against stock-market volatility, which were ushered in after the May 2010 "flash crash" rattled investor confidence and spotlighted the fragmented landscape of electronic trading in the U.S.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
Brazil cuts rates to record low as economy stalls
Central bank cuts Selic rate to 8.50 pct from 9 pct
Weak economic recovery prompts 7th straight rate cut
Lower interest rates a priority of Rousseff gov't
May 30, 2012--Brazil's central bank cut interest rates on Wednesday for the seventh straight time to a record low 8.50 percent, moving into uncharted territory in a bid to shield a fragile recovery from a gloomy global outlook.
President Dilma Rousseff has made lower interest rates one of the top priorities of her government, which is struggling to steer the economy back to the 4 percent-plus growth rates that made Brazil one of the world's most attractive emerging markets in the last decade
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Source: Reuters
Short interest surge for junk bond ETFs
May 29, 2012--Short positions in the two largest exchange-traded funds that track corporate junk bonds have reached record highs in a sign that investors are becoming more bearish on the creditworthiness of risky US companies.
According to Data Explorers, a subsidiary of Markit, more than 17m shares in BlackRock’s HYG and State Street’s JNK funds were on loan to short sellers last week.
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Source: FT.com
DB Equity Research Equity Research-US ETF Market Weekly Review: ETP assets recovered $13bn on market bounce-back
May 29, 2012--Net Cash Flows Review
After a three-week losing streak, equity markets finally experienced positive figures during last week. The US (S&P 500) advanced by 1.74%. However, outside the US, the MSCI EAFE (in USD) and the MSCI EM (USD) remained under pressure and dropped by 0.37% and 0.35%, respectively.
Moving on to other asset classes, the 10Y Treasury yield rose by 4bps last week; while the DB Liquid Commodity Index was down by 1.06%. Similarly, the Agriculture sector (DB Diversified Agriculture Index), the WTI Crude Oil, the Gold, and the Silver prices fell by 3.04%, 0.68%, 1.25% and 0.74%, respectively. Last but not least, Volatility (VIX) retreated by 13.3% towards the low 20s during the same period.
The total US ETP flows from all products registered $3.1bn of inflows during last week vs $1.7bn of inflows the previous week, setting the YTD weekly flows average at +$2.8bn (+$58.4bn YTD in total cash flows).
Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity ETPs experienced flows of +$2.8bn, +$1.3bn, and -$1.0bn last week vs. -$0.6bn, +$2.0bn, and +$0.3bn the previous week, respectively.
Within Equity ETPs, large cap and growth style products experienced the largest inflows (+$1.5bn, +$1.0bn respectively); while leverage short vehicles experienced the largest outflows (-$0.3bn). Within Fixed Income ETPs, Sovereign products recorded the largest inflows (+$0.9bn), followed by broad benchmarked products (+$0.4bn); while Corporates experienced outflows of $0.2bn. Within Commodity ETPs, Precious Metals products experienced the largest outflows (-$1.0bn).
Top 3 ETPs & ETNs by inflows: SPY (+$2.8bn), VB (+$1.0bn), EFA (+$0.5bn)
Top 3 ETPs & ETNs by outflows: QQQ (-$1.5bn), XLE (-$1.2bn), IWM (-$0.9bn)
New Launch Calendar: Covered bonds, leveraged dividend yield, and more.
There were 2 new ETFs and 2 new ETNs listed on the NYSE Arca during the previous week. The ETFs offer access to covered bonds and to a multi asset strategy, while the ETNs offer monthly double exposure to dividend stocks.
Turnover Review: volume retreated on volatility pull-back
Total weekly turnover decreased by 17.8% to $318bn vs. $387bn in the previous week. Last week’s turnover level was 16% below last year’s weekly average. The largest absolute increase was on Equity ETP turnover, which dropped by $58.9bn or 17.2% to $283bn. Fixed Income ETP and Commodity ETP turnover followed with decreases of 20.3% (-$4.3bn) and 26.7% (-$5.3bn), respectively.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Review: assets rose along with the market
Bears felt somewhat giving last week and granted the bulls some room to run, after 3 consecutive weeks of red figures. Positive equity markets and healthy inflows added $12.6bn or 1.1% to ETP assets last week, bringing assets up to $1.12bn or up 7.4% YTD at the end of last Friday. Assets for equity, fixed income and commodity ETPs moved +$13.9bn, +$1.3bn, and -$2.3bn during last week, respectively.
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Source: Deutsche Bank-Equity Research-North America
Morgan Stanley-US ETF Weekly Update
May 29, 2012--Weekly Flows: $3.1 Billion Net Inflows
ETF Assets Stand at $1.1 Trillion, up 7% YTD
Two ETF Launches Last Week
Copper ETF to Reduce Management Fee
AdvisorShares Announces Reorganization of ETF
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Flows by Market Segment
ETFs posted net inflows for the third consecutive week, amid volatile markets
Last week¡¦s net inflows were primarily driven by US Large-Cap ETFs; specifically the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) generated net
inflows of $2.9 bln
ETF assets stand at $1.1 tln, up 7% YTD; ETFs have posted net inflows 17 out of 21 weeks YTD ($57.8 bln in net inflows)
13-week flows were mostly positive among asset classes; combined $22.2 bln net inflows
Fixed Income ETFs have consistently generated weekly net inflows (41 straight weeks of net inflows) and account for 66% of
ETF net inflows over the past 13 weeks
Emerging Market Equity ETFs exhibited net outflows of $2.7 bln, the most out of any category over the last 13 weeks
US-Listed ETFs: Estimated Largest Flows by Individual ETF
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) generated net inflows of $2.9 bln last week, the most of any ETF
US Equity ETFs dominated the top 10 in both largest net inflows (9 of 10) and outflows (7 out of 10) last week
PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) exhibited the largest net outflows last week and over the past 13 weeks
US-Listed ETFs: Short Interest
Data Updated: Based on data as of 5/15/12
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) posted the largest increase in USD short interest
Despite an increase in USD short interest, SPY¡¦s 275 mln shares short is well below its all-time high of 536 mln shares short on
9/15/11
iShares S&P 100 Index Fund (OEF) exhibited the largest decrease in USD short interest (lowest level of shares short since
7/15/11)
The average shares short/shares outstanding for ETFs is currently 5%
Retail continues to be a heavily shorted industry with the SPDR Retail ETF (XRT) leading the way
Based on multiple borrowings and the ability to continuously create new shares, shares short as a % of shares outstanding can exceed 100%
US-Listed ETFs: Most Successful Recent Launches by Assets
Source: Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Research. Data estimated as of 5/25/12 based on daily change in share counts and daily NAVs.
$6.5 billion in total market cap of ETFs less than 1-year old
Over the past 13 weeks, newly launched Active ETFs generated most net inflows at $1.0 bln (specifically the PIMCO Total Return ETF-BOND)
99 new ETF listings and 17 closures YTD; launches trail last year’s issuance (122) through the last week in May
Over the past year, many of the successful launches have an income/dividend orientation
Five different ETF sponsors and three asset classes represented in top 10 most successful launches
Northern Trust (FlexShares suite) occupies 3 out of the top 10 most successful launches over the past year
Top 10 most successful launches account for 56% of market cap of ETFs launched over the past year
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Source: Morgan Stanley
