STOXX Changes Composition Of European Benchmark Indices - Results Of The First Regular Quarterly Review To Be Effective On March 22, 2010
February 23, 2010-STOXX Limited, the leading provider of European equity indices, today announced the new composition of the Dow Jones STOXX Global 1800 Index, Dow Jones STOXX Total Market Index, Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index, Dow Jones STOXX EU Enlarged Total Market Index, Dow Jones STOXX Eastern Europe Total Market Index, Dow Jones STOXX Eastern Europe 300 Index and their sub- and sector indices, as well as that of the Dow Jones STOXX Football Index and Dow Jones STOXX Private Equity 20 Index.
Effective as of the open of European markets on March 22, 2010, the following
14 stocks will be added to the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index and its respective size and
sector indices: BWIN INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT (Austria, Travel & Leisure,
BWIN.VI), CONTINENTAL (Germany, Automobiles & Parts, CONG.DE), DELTA LLOYD
(Netherlands, Insurance, DLL.AS), GESTEVISION TELECINCO (Spain, Media,
TL5.MC), KLOECKNER & CO (Germany, Basic Resources, KCOGn.DE), MICRO
FOCUS INTERNATIONAL (U.K., Technology, MCRO.L), RHODIA (France, Chemicals,
RHA.PA), SCHIBSTED GRUPPEN (Norway, Media, SBST.OL), SPIRAX-SARCO (U.K.,
Industrial Goods & Services, SPX.L), TECNICAS REUNIDAS (Spain, Construction &
Materials, TRE.MC), TELENET GRP HLDG (Belgium, Media, TNET.BR), TEMENOS
GRP (Switzerland, Technology, TEMN.S), TRELLEBORG B (Sweden, Industrial Goods
& Services, TRELb.ST) and VOLKSWAGEN PREF (Germany, Automobiles & Parts,
VOWG_p.DE).
EU should 'coordinate' Tobin tax ideas: Commission
February 23, 2010--European nations should use a tax on financial transactions to boost their income, European Commission policymakers argue in a report on economic strategy for the next decade.
"New tax bases, eg financial transactions, should be explored, in a coordinated way, as potential sources of government revenues," according to the European Commission's "2020" vision, seen by AFP and due to be published on March 3.
Post-economic crisis moves to tax the finance industry have moved higher up the political agenda but still divide European Union leaders, while efforts to coordinate such a tax on a pan-European basis would face huge obstacles as taxation is a reserved power at national level.
Europe faces 'painful' budget tightening: IMF
February 23,2010--Budget tightening in Europe will be "extremely painful" and will take up to 20 years, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist Olivier Blanchard said in an interview published on Tuesday.
"The adjustment is easier for countries that can devalue their currency. In countries that do not have this option, it is fair to say that the tightening will be extremely painful," Blanchard told Italy's La Repubblica daily.
He said the process would require concerted efforts "over 10 or 20 years."
SCM launches emerging market income fund
February 22, 2010--Somerset Capital Management, the boutique founded by Jacob Rees-Mogg, is launching one of the UK’s first global emerging market income funds next week.
The Emerging Dividend Growth fund is offering a 4.6 per cent yield at first, with manager Edward Lam saying many of his stocks could double their pay-outs within five or six years.
Mr Lam, a former Asia and global emerging market analyst from Lloyd George Management, will run a concentrated 40-stock portfolio and said he would cap assets under management at roughly $2bn (£1.3bn)
New Company in Deutsche Börse’s REITs Segment
Hamborner REIT AG is third German company included
February 22, 2010-- Following its successful conversion, Hamborner REIT AG became the next company to be accepted into Deutsche Börse’s REITs segment on Monday. REITs, or real estate investment trusts, are exchange-listed stock corporations that generate the majority of their revenue from managing real estate, and are subject to certain structural and tax conditions.
Hamborner REIT AG is the first German REIT not to be newly founded; it has been a listed company since 1953. The company has become the third German REIT. A total of around 160 companies are traded in Deutsche Börse’s REITs segment, of which 117 are from the US, and others from Japan, France, Hong Kong and the UK.
Deutsche Börse established the REITs segment in November 2007 for this asset class. This enables investors and analysts to easily identify REITs for targeted investment in listed companies with REIT status, while offering a high degree of transparency. REITs can be listed on the EU-regulated market in the General Standard and Prime Standard, as well as in the exchange-regulated market on the open market and in Entry Standard.
Deutsche Börse calculates independent REIT indices on the basis of segment membership; the All Share index covers all REITs on the Prime Standard and General Standard, and is accessible for both German and foreign REITs. The REIT “RX” selection index contains the 20 largest and most liquid REITs from the Prime Standard.
Austria set to impose US-style bank tax
February 22, 2010--Austria plans to introduce a tax on banks, similar to a highly disputed scheme in the United States, in a bid to fix broken public finances, Chancellor Werner Faymann said Monday.
"We are going to introduce a bank levy," Faymann told a joint news conference with his Vice Chancellor Josef Proell and Austrian central bank chief Ewald Nowotny.
Faymann's idea of charging banks 0.7-1.0 percent of their total assets as a "solidarity levy" -- along the same lines as a proposal by US President Barack Obama -- has run into fierce opposition in the financial sector.
Capital market to see recovery in 2010, survey finds
February 19, 2010--Turkish capital markets will enjoy a recovery in 2010 as compared to a year before, a recent survey by the Capital Markets Board (SPK) has found.
The SPK released the results of its capital markets expectations survey on Friday, which was conducted in January and points to a “no change” in the market in February as compared to a month before. The SPK launched a pilot for the expectation survey in November of last year, and this is the first time the board has publicly shared the results of its findings. The SPK announced in a written statement that they would conduct the survey and release the results monthly from now on.
Sterling looks vulnerable as it loses ground to fragile peers
February 19, 2010--For all the focus on the euro and Greece’s budget woes, sterling is sinking stealthily into a crisis of its own.
Although the pound joined the rally against the single currency in January, rising 2.3 per cent, sentiment has turned against sterling this month.
Even as developments in Greece prompted some investors to question the very existence of the euro, the pound has managed to drop 1 per cent against the single currency so far this month.
EU bids to boost bank deposit guarantees
February 19, 2010--European regulators want banks to increase guarantees on depositor funds in a bid to avoid a repeat of the acrimony pitting EU hopeful Iceland against Britain and the Netherlands, the European Commission said Friday.
The commission is planning "to improve the financing of deposit guarantee schemes ... basically, the way the banks pay contributions to these schemes," said a spokeswoman for Financial Services Commissioner Michel Barnier.
ECB Monthly Bulletin-February 2010
February 19, 2010--The February 2010 Monthly Bulletin of the ECB is now available.
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