D Boerse to charge for 'stupid algos'
February 28, 2012--Deutsche Boerse is to issue punitive charges to traders if they send too many orders into the exchange that do not result in deals being done in a bid to clamp down on what it calls "stupid algos".
Like other exchanges, the German operator has seen a surge in the number of orders streaming into its trading system amid the spread of high-frequency trading.
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Source: FT.com
FTSE Launches New Carbon Strategy Indices For Australia, Europe And Japan
February 28, 2012--FTSE Group ("FTSE"), the award winning global index provider, together with partners CDP and ENDS Carbon today announces the launch of four new indices within the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy Index Series.
The extended index series combines FTSE’s expertise in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) analytics and pioneering approach to index construction and weighting methodologies. The indices are designed to help investors reduce the long-term investment risks associated with climate change and related regulation in these markets.
The new indices in the series include the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy Australia 200 Index, FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy Australia 300 Index, FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy Europe Index and FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy Japan Index. These indices join two existing UK indices: the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy All-Share Index and the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy 350 Index.
It is widely accepted that climate change will increasingly impact the profitability of companies and portfolios over the coming decades. Today’s launch is a timely response to the concerns of a large number of pension funds and asset managers who are seeking to incorporate carbon risks into their investment strategy.
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Source: FTSE
Vienna Stock Exchange launches short & leverage indices
February 28, 2012--Today, the Vienna Stock Exchange launched new Short and Leverage Indices and enlarged its existing index portfolio.
Leverage Indices are based on an existing index (reference index) and achieve a leverage effect by applying a leverage factor to the development of the reference index. This leverage function means that the index participates in both positive and negative movements in the daily performance of the reference index. When the leverage is negative, it is referred to as a short index.
The newly introduced indices are based on the following indices of the Vienna Stock Exchange:
ATX (Austrian Traded Index),
CECE EUR (index for the region of Central and Eastern Europe), and
RDX EUR (Russian Depositary Index). For more information on the indices of the Vienna Stock Exchange, please visit www.indices.cc.
Economic sentiment shows further improvement
February 28, 2012--In February, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) rose for the second month in a row in both the EU and the euro area. The ESI rose by 1.1 points in the EU and by 1.0 point in the euro area, to 93.9 and 94.4, respectively.
The improvement was broad-based across all sectors except for services, where a decrease in confidence partly offset the rebound observed in January.
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Source: European Commission
Financial scale of FTT charge will lead to a shift of business away from funds in Europe
February 27, 2012--The Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) would put many money market funds out of business (who would pay 67% of the tax) and reduce the attractiveness of long term savings in equity, bond and balanced funds
This would reduce an important source of long-term financing for the European economy and cause retail and institutional investors to switch their savings away from UCITS and towards savings deposits and life insurance products that are not covered by the FTT
EFAMA requests the European Commission to re-examine its proposal in light of its original goal Brussels, 27 February 2012: Recent comments from the European Commission supporting the introduction of the FTT and survey results with positive public response to such proposals highlight that the public have not yet appreciated the very significant cost impact that the FTT would have on the long-term savings of EU citizens. If applied at the start of 2011, EFAMA has estimated that the annual total impact of the FTT would have reached EUR 38 billion. Investors would have paid EUR 15 billion on the sales and redemptions of UCITS shares/units, whereas EUR 23 billion would have been levied on the sales and purchases of securities by UCITS fund managers. The share of money market funds in the total FTT revenue would have reached 67 percent.
These figures have been computed in a baseline scenario using the data for the sales and redemptions of UCITS shares/units in 2011 and the average turnover ratio of UCITS portfolios calculated for a large sample of UCITS distributed in Europe (0.9 for long-term UCITS and 6.5 for money market funds).i
These estimations show that the potential impact of the FTT would be significantly bigger than assumed by the European Commission. Taking into account the impact of the FTT on the value of derivatives transactions, the FTT-take would be even higher, in particular because many UCITS seek to remove currency exposure through hedging.
view the Potential Impact of the FTT on the UCITS Industry report
Source:EFAMA
16 new Commerzbank ETCs launched on Xetra
ETC track oil and cocoa positive and inverse with a leverage factor of up to four
February 27, 2012--Sixteen new exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) issued by Commerzbank AG have been tradable on Xetra since Monday.
The 16 new exchange traded commodities provide investors with the opportunity to invest in the performance of oil and cocoa. The underlying indices for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil and cocoa track both positive and inverse performance, with a leverage factor of one, two, three or four.
These strategy indices calculated by Commerzbank participate in the movements of the underlying commodity futures contracts. They comprise a leverage component and an interest rate component. The leverage component is based on the daily percentage movements of the futures contract contained in the index. The interest rate component represents an investment in a risk-free money market instrument minus index fees and costs of collateralisation.
Deutsche Börse’s ETC segment product range currently comprises 251 instruments. The monthly trading volume of ETCs on Xetra averages around €900 million.
List of new ETCs
Source: Deutsche Börse
Principles of closing session, trades at closing price and trades at single price are stipulated by the ISE's Circular Letter No.388
February 27, 2012--Principles of closing session, trades at closing price and trades at single price are stipulated by the ISE's Circular Letter No.388, dated February 5, 2012.
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Source: ISE (Istanbul Stock Exchange)
Claim of short-selling ban victory in Europe
February 27, 2012--It came in with a bang and departed with more of a whimper
Imposed with fanfare in the dead of night, the first attempt by European countries at a co-ordinated ban on short selling of financial stocks turned out to be less momentous than either its proponents had hoped or its critics had feared. That is the verdict of market participants, academics and regulators.
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Source: FT.com
Spain's 2011 budget deficit exceeds 8.5%
February 27, 2012--Spain's public sector deficit reached 8.51 per cent of the country's gross domestic product last year, well beyond the 6 per cent target agreed with the European Union and even higher than the estimate made by the centre-right government after it took power in December.
“We are going to put the measures in place so that this overshoot is not repeated,” Cristóbal Montoro, budget minister, said in Madrid on Monday night after revealing “the number we will send to Brussels”.
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Source: FT,com
S&P: Greece in 'selective default'
February 27, 2012--Ratings firm Standard & Poor's on Monday declared Greece in "selective default" after banks agreed to write off more than half of their Greek debt holdings in a second EU bailout of the country.
The rating was lowered from S&P's already junk-level "CC" grade for Greece, which has been seeking to avoid an outright default on its massive debt by negotiating a "voluntary" debt exchange with creditors.
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Source: FIN24
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