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Canada promotional blitz urges free trade with EU
April 27, 2012--Government ministers on Friday set out across Canada to promote a free trade pact with the European Union described as the "most ambitious" deal in Canadian history.
However, key obstacles must still be overcome in the ongoing negotiations, such as Canada's clinging to its dairy supply management system and a few EU member states irked by visa restrictions.
"This is, by far, the most ambitious trade initiative in our nation's history, with the potential to be broader in scope and produce even more benefits to Canadians than the historic NAFTA," Trade Minister Ed Fast said in a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa.
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Source: EUbusiness
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
April 27, 2012--The current reports for the week of April 24, 2012 are now available.
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Source: CFTC.gov
Vanguard Cuts Fees on Popular ETFs
April 27, 2012--The ETF battles continue. Vanguard Group, the third-largest ETF provider, cut fees on 13 of its exchange-traded funds this week, bringing their costs to investors in line or ahead of those of some rival firms.
In a release, the company said that increasing assets under management at the funds made the cuts possible. Most of the changes went into effect on Thursday.
The affected ETFs – which include the Vanguard S&P 500 Index, Total Stock Market Index and Total Bond Market Index, among others – simply seek to track certain market indexes rather than to beat the market. Such ETFs have become increasingly commoditized as providers such as Charles Schwab, Blackrock’s iShares and State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR shares offer similar funds. That’s left the companies little choice but to compete on price.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
State Street Global Advisors Launches Actively Managed SPDR ETFs
Suite of Three Fund-of-Funds Designed to Take Advantage of Market Inefficiencies
April 26, 2012--State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)*, the asset management business of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT-News), today announced that the SPDR® SSgA Multi-Asset Real Return ETF (Symbol: RLY -News), the SPDR SSgA Income Allocation ETF (Symbol: INKM - News), and the SPDR SSgA Global Allocation ETF (Symbol: GAL-News) began trading on the NYSE Arca on April 26, 2012. The new funds, which are actively managed by SSgA's Investment Solutions Group (ISG), provide investors and advisors with access to the firm's institutional asset management expertise.
“The launch of these three new actively managed SPDR ETFs opens a new chapter in our longstanding commitment to democratizing access to institutional asset classes, strategies, and expertise,” said James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors. “In providing a convenient, cost effective vehicle for investors and financial advisors to benefit from SSgA’s experience in global tactical asset allocation, our actively managed ETFs are an innovative addition to the SPDR ETF family.”
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Source: State Street Corporation
UBS launches ETRACS exchange traded note providing exposure across commodities and across their respective futures maturities
ETRACS DJ-UBS Commodity Index 2-4-6 Blended Futures (Ticker: BLND) Is the first ETN linked to the second generation of the most widely followed commodities index
April 26, 2012--UBS Investment Bank today announced the launch of the ETRACS DJ-UBS Commodity Index 2-4-6 Blended Futures ETN (Ticker: BLND), the first exchange-traded note linked to the next generation of the DJ-UBS Commodity Index, one of the most widely followed, diversified indexes of commodities futures prices.
BLND is linked to the Dow-Jones-UBS Commodity Index 2-4-6 Forward Blend Total ReturnSM (Ticker: DJUF246T), an enhanced version of the Dow-Jones-UBS Commodity Index. The Index is constructed as an equally-weighted basket of the two-month, four-month and six-month forward versions of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index, providing diversification across the commodity price curve of each of the 20 commodities that currently comprise the index.
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Source: UBS
State Street Begins Asset-Allocation ETFs in Active Push
April 26, 2012--State Street Corp. (STT), the second- largest manager of exchange-traded funds, opened three products that can spread money across a range of asset classes in a push into actively managed ETFs.
The funds will use tactical asset-allocation strategies and invest in ETFs including those run by State Street, James Ross, senior managing director of State Street Global Advisors, the Boston-based company’s money-management unit, said today at a conference in New York. The mix of underlying investments will include stocks, bonds, commodities and other asset classes.
“I can see active ETFs being a larger part of the ETF landscape,” Ross said. “We obviously plan to participate in that growing market.”
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Source: Bloomberg
iShares Creates the First Suite of Corporate Credit Quality Exchange Traded Funds
iShares Launches the First ETFs that Access Baa-Ba and B - Ca Rated Corporate Debt
April 26, 2012--BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) announced that its iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business, the world's largest manager of ETFs, has launched the first suite of corporate credit quality ETFs.
The new iShares ETFs that began trading today are the iShares Baa – Ba Rated Corporate Bond Fund (BATS: QLTB) and the iShares B – Ca Rated Corporate Bond Fund (BATS: QLTC). The two new funds are the first ETFs designed to offer precise exposure to specific credit quality segments of the U.S. corporate debt market. Today’s launch follows the February debut of the iShares Aaa – A Rated Corporate Fund (NYSE Arca: QLTA), which offers exposure to the highest quality USD-denominated corporate bonds rated Aaa- A.
“The creation of the iShares suite of corporate credit quality ETFs is a significant milestone for investors and the industry,” said Matthew Tucker, Head of iShares Fixed Income Investment Strategy at BlackRock. “Investors have asked for more targeted iShares fixed income ETFs in order to create custom portfolios and adjust their portfolio exposures quickly as debt market conditions change. The new iShares suite transforms how investors can access specific slices of corporate bonds and brings transparent pricing to an otherwise opaque area of fixed income.”
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Source: BlackRock
Horizons ETFs launches Canada's first hedge fund index ETF
April 26, 2012--Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. ("Horizons ETFs") and its affiliate AlphaPro Management Inc. ("AlphaPro") are pleased to announce the launch of the Horizons Morningstar Hedge Fund Index ETF, (the"Hedge Fund ETF"), the first ETF in Canada that will allow investors to get hedge fund-type exposure for their portfolios through an index strategy.
Class E units and Advisor Class units of the Hedge Fund ETF will begin trading tomorrow on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX")
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Source: Horizons Exchange Traded Funds
CSA provides guidance to improve compliance of disclosure requirements related to prospectus exemptions
April 26, 2012--The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today published two notices aimed at improving market participant compliance with exemptions to prospectus requirements. Staff Notice 45-308 Guidance for Preparing and Filing Reports of Exempt Distribution and Multilateral Staff Notice 45-309 Guidance for Preparing and Filing an Offering Memoranda, offer guidance related to disclosure rules found under National Instrument (NI) 45-106 Prospectus and Registration Exemptions.
“The CSA is committed to ensuring that market participants understand what is expected of them when relying on prospectus exemptions to sell securities,” said Bill Rice, Chair of the CSA and Chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission. “These Notices not only provide clear guidance to assist issuers in preparing and filing certain exempt market documents, but also serve as a reminder to market participants who rely on prospectus exemptions that their filings or disclosure may come under staff review and that non-compliance may result in appropriate action by a CSA regulator.”
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Source: CSA
Market Vectors Launches "MOAT": Market Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat Research ETF
April 25, 2012--Market Vectors ETFs today announced the launch of Market Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat Research ETF (NYSE Arca: MOAT). This new exchange-traded fund seeks to leverage Morningstar research that aims to identify companies with potential to maintain a competitive advantage for 20+ years.
MOAT seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus IndexSM (MWMFTR).
Morningstar’s wide-moat analysis seeks to identify companies that possess one or more sustainable, long-term competitive advantages and are expected to have high returns on invested capital relative to their cost of capital. As part of this analysis, Morningstar’s equity research team looks for such sustainable competitive advantages, or wide economic moats, as: intangible assets (i.e., strong brands, relevant patents, special licenses or other regulatory approvals); cost advantages (i.e., the ability to produce goods or services at a low cost relative to competitors); switching costs (i.e., high time-related or monetary costs associated with changing from one provider/producer to another); network effects (i.e., where the addition of new customers adds value for all customers); and efficient scale (i.e., operating within a limited market size that has little incentive for new entrants).
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Source: Van Eck Global
