Europe ETP News Older Than 1 year-If your looking for specific news, using the search function will narrow down the results
Mergers: Commission opens in-depth investigation into proposed merger between Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext
July 4, 2011--The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation under the EU Merger Regulation into the planned merger between Deutsche Börse AG and NYSE Euronext Inc., two leading stock exchange groups active worldwide. The Commission’s initial market investigation indicated competition concerns in a number of areas, in particular in the field of derivatives trading and clearing. The Commission now has 90 working days, until 13 December 2011, to take a final decision on whether the transaction would reduce effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA). The decision to open an in-depth inquiry does not prejudge the final result of the investigation.
Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy, said: “The proposed merger would remove a strong competitor from the market and would give the merged company by far the leading position in derivatives trading in Europe. The Commission needs to make sure that markets which are at the heart of the financial sector remain competitive and efficiently deliver to users."
The Commission’s initial market investigation pointed to significant concerns with respect to derivatives, as the transaction would bring together the two largest derivatives exchanges in Europe. Derivatives are financial contracts whose value is derived from an underlying asset or variable, such as stocks, interest rates or currencies. Derivatives are generally used for hedging, investment purposes, and overall risk management in financial markets. Clearing plays an important role in derivatives trading. The purpose of clearing is to manage the risk of the trading parties in the interim period between trading and settlement.
ESMA published list of registered and certified credit rating agencies
August 4, 2011--According to the Credit Rating Agencies Regulation ((EC) No 1060/2009), ESMA publishes today the list of those credit rating agencies that as of today were either registered or cirtified in the European Union
List of registered and certified credit rating agencies
London Stock Exchange Group Monthly Market Report - July 2011
August 4, 2011--London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L) sits at the heart of the world’s financial community, offering international business unrivalled access to Europe’s capital markets. In July a total of 29 million trades were carried out across the Group’s electronic equity order books with a combined value of £195.8 billion (€221.3 billion), up 16 per cent on July 2010 (£169.5 billion).
UK Equities Order Book
During the month, the average daily value traded on the UK order book was £4.4 billion (€5.0 billion), up two per cent year on year; the average daily number of trades was up six per cent to 611,941.
The LSE’s share of trading in the total UK order book for July was 62.2 per cent.
Italian Equities Order book
On the Italian order book, the average daily number of trades was 310,027, up 30 per cent on the same month last year, whilst the average daily value traded on the order book increased 21 per cent year on year to €3.3 billion (£2.9 billion).
Exchange Traded Products
Total value traded in Exchange Traded Products across the Group’s order books in July was up 24 per cent year on year to £10.6 billion (€12 billion). The total number of trades was up nine per cent at 347,478.
LaBranche moves onto Swiss stock exchange as pressure mounts to trade on exchange
August 4, 2011--LaBranche is growing its on-exchange market making business as mergers between European exchanges push the market towards a unified exchange.
LaBranche started trading ETFs on the Six Swiss Exchange yesterday as the European market moves towards transacting on screen and it heads towards a unified exchange.
Turkish lira weakens after Central Bank's surprise rate cut
August 4, 2011--The Turkish lira weakened, bond yields fell and stocks dropped on Thursday after Turkey's Central Bank surprised markets by cutting its policy rate to stimulate the economy.
The lira fell to 1.7260 against the dollar by 1009 GMT, from 1.6950 before the decision, and a previous close of 1.6980.
The Central Bank cut its policy rate, the one-week repo rate, to an all-time low of 5.75 percent at an emergency monetary policy committee meeting to limit the risk of global economic woes triggering economic stagnation in Turkey.
New db x-trackers equity index ETF launched on Xetra
First ETF on MSCI BRIC TRN Index
August 4, 2011--A new ETF issued by db x-trackers has been tradable on Deutsche Börse’s XTF segment since Thursday.
ETF name: db x-trackers MSCI BRIC TRN Index ETF
Asset class: equity index ETF
ISIN: LU0589685956
Total expense ratio: 0.65 percent
Distribution policy: non-distributing
Benchmark: MSCI BRIC TRN Index
The new db x-trackers MSCI BRIC TRN Index ETF enables investors to participate in the performance of companies with high and mid-range market capitalisation from Brazil, Russia, India and China. The underlying index is weighted according to free-float market capitalisation. With to date 320 securities, the index covers approximately 85% of the total market capitalisation of the four countries.
The product offering in Deutsche Börse’s XTF segment currently comprises a total of 858 exchange-listed index funds, making it the largest offering of all European stock exchanges.
NYSE Euronext European ETF activity highlights for July 2011
August 4, 2011--Listings
This month, NYSE Euronext welcomed the first six ETF products from Ossiam, a subsidiary of Natixis Global Asset Management, as well as new listings from Lyxor and ETF Securities:
Ossiam ETF CAC 40 Equal Weight (Symbol: C4EW)
Ossiam ETF STOXX EUROPE 600 Equal Weight (Symbol: S6EW)
Ossiam ETF EURO STOXX 50 Equal Weight (Symbol: S5EW)
Ossiam ETF US Minimum Variance class Euro (Symbol: SPMV)
Ossiam ETF US Minimum Variance class USD (Symbol: MVUS)
Ossiam ETF iSTOXX Europe Minimum Variance (Symbol: EUMV)
ETFX CAC 40 2x Long Fund (Symbol: FRL2)
ETFX CAC 40 2x Short Fund (Symbol: FRS2)
Lyxor ETF Thailand (Symbol: THA)
Lyxor ETF MSCI Indonesia (Symbol: INDO)
In total, NYSE Euronext had 663 listings of 572 ETFs from 18 issuers. So far this year, there have been a total of 131 new ETF listings on the NYSE Euronext European cash markets, including 103 new primary listings and 28 cross-listings (compared to 46 new primary listings and no cross-listings in the same period in 2010). NYSE Euronext ETFs cover more than 360 indices exposed to an extensive range of assets and strategies (Equities, Fixed Income, Commodities, Short, Leverage, etc).
Trading activity
An average of 9,231 on-book trades were executed daily in July, up 15.2% on July 2010 and showing almost no change year-to-date vs last year. When off-book regulated trades are included, the total daily average number of trades for July stands at 9,237 trades.
The average daily value traded on-book in July was €464.7 million, +40.7% vs July 2010 and +6.4% year-to-date vs last year. The total average daily value including off-book regulated trades was €494.7 million, +44.9% vs July 2010 and +11.6% year-to-date vs last year.
Assets Under Management (AUM)
At the end of July 2011, the combined AUM of all ETFs listed on the NYSE Euronext European markets totalled €141.5 billion, an increase of 19.3% from the €118.6 billion at the end of July 2010.
Market Quality
Our high-capacity, low-latency technology, combined with the flow from client orders, competitive market makers and our 22 first-class Liquidity Providers, contributed to a median spread for all listed ETFs of 28.5 bps.
view June 2011 edition of the ETF Monthly Flash
Unscheduled free float adjustment in DAX
Adjustment for Deutsche Börse tendered shares as of 9 August 2011
August 4, 2011--Deutsche Börse has announced an unscheduled adjustment to the free float of the share of Deutsche Börse in DAX.
Due to the exchange offer made to the shareholders of Deutsche Börse AG, which relates to the planned combination of Deutsche Börse AG and NYSE Euronext, the free float of the tendered shares of Deutsche Börse AG (ISIN DE000A1KRND6) has changed by more than 10 percentage points.
According to the index guidelines, the company’s free float will thus be increased from the current 77.83 percent to 90.82 percent. The adjustment will become effective on Tuesday, 9 August 2011.
Since 20 July 2011, the Deutsche Börse AG shares (ISIN DE0005810055) have been replaced with the tendered share class of Deutsche Börse AG (ISIN DE000A1KRND6) in the DAX index.
The next regular review of the Deutsche Börse blue-chip indices will be on 5 September 2011.
ECB liquidity measures dent euro
August 4, 2011--The euro fell sharply as the European Central Bank became the third monetary institution of the day to address tensions in financial markets by easing its policy stance.
Although part of its ongoing market operations, the ECB announced on Thursday that it would conduct a special six-month liquidity programme to help relieve tensions in eurozone financial markets.
Key dates of the euro crisis
August 4, 2011-- Here are key dates in the debt crisis besetting the 17-nation eurozone:
-- 2009 --
October 16: Greece's incoming Socialist Prime Minister, George Papandreou, warns that his country's finances are in "a state of emergency."
December: The world's three main credit ratings agencies, Fitch, Standard & Poor's and Moody's, downgrade Greece's debt. Papandreou outlines massive public spending cuts.
2010
January 29: Spain announces a three-year austerity plan to save 50 billion euros ($71 billion).
