Standard & Poor’s launches S&P 500 Gold Hedged Index
December 4, 2009--With the returns of gold rivaling that of the US equity market, Standard & Poor’s has launched the S&P 500 Gold Hedged Index.
The index seeks to simulate the returns of an investment strategy which is long the total return of the S&P 500 stock market index and long gold futures contracts, allowing investors to participate in the returns of the US equity market while hedging against a decline in the value of the US dollar versus gold.
Standard & Poor’s has licensed UBS to create and launch investment products based upon the index.
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Source: ETF Express
NASDAQ OMX Starts Trading In Two New ETFs From XACT Fonder
December 4, 2009--NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB, part of the NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ), today starts trading in two new exchange traded funds (ETFs), XACT Europe Bull 2 and XACT Europe Bear 2.
The two ETFs issued by XACT Fonder are based on the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index, which reflects the performance of the 50 largest shares in Europe.
XACT Europe Bull 2 and XACT Europe Bear 2 are leveraged exchange traded funds that offer twice the return of the daily change in the underlying EURO STOXX 50 Index. Hence, for XACT Europe Bull 2, which has a positive exposure against EURO STOXX 50, a daily index increase of 1% means an increase in value of 2%. For XACT Europe Bear 2, which has a negative exposure against EURO STOXX 50, a 1% a daily index decrease generates a 2% value return. The leverage increases the potential return but also the risk level.
Jenny Rosberg, Deputy CEO at NASDAQ OMX Nordic said, "These two new ETFs from XACT Fonder will make a great addition to Nordic investors looking for exposure in European blue chip shares. In 2009 we have seen an increased interest in both listing and trading of ETF products, proving that this is a market with great growth potential."
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Moody’s may also raise Turkey’s credit rating
Turkey’s credit rating, which was raised to positive from stable in September, might be increased further within a period of 18 to 24 months or less if the fiscal rule and macro-political predictability of Turkey improves, Kristin Lindow, the regional credit officer for Europe and Africa in the international rating agency Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group, has said.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, Lindow noted that so far there is no reason to raise the Turkish government’s Ba3 bond rating. Lindow cited the debt payment capacity of the government as the Turkish economy’s most significant problem, noting that revenues were allocated for only interest payments. Expressing approval about the decision of the Central Bank of Turkey to decrease interest rates, she stressed that if the public financers can govern the situation successfully, the debt pressure might be eased.
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Source: Todays Zaman
First-Ever Exchange-Traded Funds Based on Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index Launch in Sweden
December 4, 2009-- STOXX Limited, the leading provider of European equity indexes, today announced that the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index has been licensed to XACT Fonder AB to serve as the basis for two exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This is the first time that ETFs based on a regional European index will be available to market participants in the Nordic markets.
The XACT Europe Bull 2 and XACT Europe Bear 2 ETFs -- which seek to apply positive and negative leverage of approximately 200% of the index's performance, respectively, are available on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (OMX NASDAQ) today.
"The Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index continues to be the leading underlying for financial products that seek to offer investors exposure to blue-chip companies in the euro zone equity markets," said Ricardo Manrique, chief executive officer, STOXX Ltd. "The liquid and well-established index tracks the performance of 50 leading stocks within the euro zone and is a valuable addition for XACT Fonder as they expand their offering of leveraged ETFs."
"Our leveraged ETFs are among the most traded ETFs in Europe. It therefore makes sense to add one of Europe's most popular indices -- the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index -- to our Bull and Bear concept," said Henrik Noren, Managing Director, XACT Fonder.
The Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index was launched on February 28, 1998. It represents 50 supersector leaders in the 12 euro zone countries Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. As of December 3, 2009, the index was up 17.32% for the year.
The Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index is weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization, and each component's weight is capped at 10% of the index's total free-float market capitalization. The index captures approximately 60% of the free-float market capitalization of the Dow Jones EURO STOXX TMI Index. Daily historical data is available back to December 31, 1986.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
DB Index Research -- Weekly ETF Reports -- Europe
December 3, 2009--Highlights
ETF Volume
Exchange based Equity ETF turnover declined by 1.6% on the previous week. Daily turnover for the previous week was E1.4bn. European fixed income ETF turnover remained at about the same level at E177m, with money market ETFs continuing to be the main focus.
In exchange based bond ETFs, iShares € Corporate Bond has the highest daily turnover of E13.97m. Among the Equity ETFs, iShares DAX (DE) has the highest daily turnover of E69.76m.
There were 16 new listings last week. All new listings were issued by Credit Suisse AM on Deutsche Borse. New listings included 8 cross listed Equity ETFs and 8 new cross listed Bond ETFs.
European Style ETFs, led by short and leveraged products, kept its position as the leading product area with total turnover of E445m accounting for 31.97% of total ETF turnover, followed by European Regional ETFs with total turnover of E372m with 26.71% of total turnover. The DAX ETFs remain the dominant country products with total average daily volume of E192m across the fourteen listed products and accounting for 13.8% of all equity ETF volume.
DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETFs accounted for 13.4% of turnover trading E186m per day with liquidity split across 16 ETFs and 43 different listings on 9 exchanges.
Market Share
The Deutsche Borse XTF platform has the largest market share with 39.0% of total turnover. The Euronext NextTrack platform has 21.5% market share. The LSE’s combined Italian Exchange and London market share is now 24.1%.
Assets under Management (AUM)
Total European Equity related AUM declined by 2.6% to E101.6bn during last week. AUM for DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETFs was E19.7bn accounting for 19.4% of total European AUM. Fixed Income ETF AUM declined by 2.5% to E33.7bn.
Overall, the largest ETF by AUM was Lyxor ETF DJ Euro STOXX 50, an Equity based ETF, with AUM of E4.9bn. The largest Fixed Income ETF by AUM was the iShares € Corporate Bond with AUM of E3.2bn.
To request a copy of the report
Source: Aram Flores and Shan Lan -DB Index Research
First estimates for the third quarter of 2009 Euro area GDP up by 0.4% and EU27
GDP up by 0.3%
-4.1% and -4.3% respectively compared with the third quarter of 2008
December 3, 2009--GDP increased by 0.4% in the euro area1 (EA16) and by 0.3% in the EU271 during the third quarter of 2009, compared with the previous quarter, according to first estimates released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In the second quarter of 2009, growth rates were -0.2% in the euro area and -0.3% in the EU27.
Compared with the third quarter of 2008, seasonally adjusted GDP declined by 4.1% in the euro area and by 4.3% in the EU27, after -4.8% and -5.0% respectively for the previous quarter.
Variation in components of GDP
During the third quarter of 2009, household2 final consumption expenditure decreased by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU27 (after 0.0% and -0.1% respectively in the previous quarter). Investments fell by 0.4% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU27 (after -1.7% and -2.5%). Exports increased by 2.9% in the euro area and by 2.4% in the EU27 (after -1.3% and -1.4%). Imports increased by 2.6% in the euro area and by 2.4% in the EU27 (after -2.9% in both zones).
US and Japanese GDP increased In the United States GDP increased by 0.7% during the third quarter of 2009, after -0.2% in the second quarter of 2009. In Japan GDP increased by 1.2% in the third quarter of 2009, after +0.7% in the previous quarter. Compared with the third quarter of 2008, GDP declined by 2.5% in the United States (after -3.8% in the previous quarter) and by 4.4% in Japan (after -7.1%)
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Source: Eurostat
Euro area unemployment rate stable at 9.8%
EU27 up to 9.3%
December 2, 2009--The euro area1 (EA16) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 9.8% in October 2009, the same as in September 4.
It was 7.9% in October 2008. The EU271 unemployment rate was 9.3% in October 2009, compared with 9.2% in September 4. It was 7.3% in October 2008.
Eurostat estimates that 22.510 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.567 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in October 2009. Compared with September, the number of persons unemployed increased by 258 000 in the EU27 and by 134 000 in the euro area. Compared with October 2008, unemployment went up by 5.002 million in the EU27 and by 3.149 million in the euro area.
These figures are published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (3.7%) and Austria (4.7%), and the highest rates in Latvia (20.9%) and Spain (19.3%).
Compared with a year ago, all Member States recorded an increase in their unemployment rate. The smallest increases were observed in Germany (7.1% to 7.5%), Austria (4.0% to 4.7%) and Romania (5.7% to 6.4% between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009). The highest increases were registered in Latvia (9.1% to 20.9%) and Lithuania (4.8% to 13.8% between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009).
Between October 2008 and October 2009, the unemployment rate for males rose from 7.3% to 9.7% in the euro area and from 7.0% to 9.5% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 8.5% to 10.0% in the euro area and from 7.6% to 9.2% in the EU27.
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Source: Eurostat
Teleplan to be Included in SDAX
December 3, 2009--On Thursday, Deutsche Börse has decided on changes in its equity index SDAX® that will take effect on 21 December 2009. The share of Teleplan will replace the share of MPC in SDAX®.
The next equity index review is scheduled for 3 March 2010.
View the Cash Market: Monthly Index Ranking report
Source: Deutsche Börse
Semi-Annual Review of NASDAQ OMX Carbon Indexes
December 3, 2009--he NASDAQ OMX
Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today the results of the
semi-annual review of the NASDAQ OMX Carbon Indexes (Nasdaq:NOCO),
which became effective with the market open , December 1, 2009.
There are no changes to the tradable versions of the NASDAQ OMX Carbon
indexes. The tradable indexes consist of the most liquid EUA and CER
futures traded on ECX.
The EUA future traded on EEX will be removed from the benchmark indexes. The benchmark indexes will from today consist of EUA futures traded on Nord Pool and ECX and CER futures traded on ECX.
NASDAQ OMX Carbon Indexes were launched in June 2008 as the first global carbon index family calculated by an exchange. The index family is constructed for derivatives products as well as benchmarking purposes for the global carbon market.
The NASDAQ OMX Carbon Index series is liquidity-based and is made up of six indexes; three benchmark and three tradable indexes. All indexes are calculated in both Euro and U.S. Dollar. The tradable indexes are calculated as excess return and represent the weighted return of the price development in the underlying future contracts, including the roll return.
For more information about the NASDAQ OMX Carbon Indexes, visit:
http://indexes.nasdaqomx.com.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Fitch upgrades Turkey’s sovereign rating two notches to ‘BB+’
Decembe 3, 2009--International credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has upgraded Turkey’s long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to “BB+” from “BB-”; the long-term local currency IDR to “BB+” from “BB”; and its country ceiling to “BBB-” from “BB.” It has also reaffirmed Turkey’s short-term foreign currency IDR at “B.”
The company announced the upgrade decision in a statement on Thursday. “The upgrade reflects Turkey’s relative resilience to the severe stress test of the global financial crisis and some easing in prior acute constraints related to inflation, external finances and political risk,” the statement quoted Edward Parker, the head of emerging Europe in Fitch’s Sovereigns team, as saying.
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Siurce: Todays Zaman
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