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Hedge fund returns positive again in October
EDHEC-Risk Alternative Indexes
November 17, 2010--In October, after four months of agitation, activity on the stock market seemed to calm down somewhat. Following exceptional gains in September, the S&P 500 index remained on the rise (+3.80%) and implied volatility (21.20%) decreased significantly by 2.50% to reach its lowest level since last March.
On the fixed-income market, regular bonds remained stable (+0.09%) although the Lehman Global Bond index withdrew marginally (-0.16%). Conversely, after a remarkable performance in September, convertible bonds remained strong (+3.08%). The situation was similar on the commodities market which managed another noticeable performance (+3.31%). Although not as precipitously as in September, the dollar continued to fall (-1.93%) and reached its lowest level since July 2008.
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Source: EDHEC
FSA publishes platform proposals
November 17, 2010--The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today published proposals to ensure that the platform services used to buy and manage investments after January 2013 are fully aligned with standards required by the Retail Distribution Review.
From January 2013, the cost of advice will be decided by the client and adviser – not the adviser and product provider, as was the case - and can no longer be hidden from the customer in the cost of the product.
Additionally, advisers will offer either independent advice which is free from restrictions or bias and which reviews the market comprehensively – or alternatively, restricted advice, having to explain the customer the nature of the restriction to their customer.
The proposals set out in today’s paper reflect the important role that platforms already play in the retail investment market, and potentially important role in helping advisers to deliver advice to consumers in a post- commission world.
The main proposals:
Prevent product providers from making payments that advisers could use to disguise the charge the customer is paying for advice, and which could influence advisers in recommending one product over another. Allowing such payments could totally undermine what we have set out to achieve for consumers by removing commission bias and could leave product charges at an artificially high level;
Investors To Play Bigger Role In Hedge Fund Standards Board
November 17, 2010--The Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB) is significantly strengthening the role and influence of investors in its standard-setting process with the launch of an Investor Chapter.
Members of the chapter, who include leading investors from Europe, Asia and North America, will provide input into the Standards and play a key role in widening adoption of the Standards among managers internationally.
Utah Retirement Systems (US), Railpen and the BT Pension Scheme (UK), APG (Netherlands), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (Canada), PP Pension (Sweden), Pictet (Switzerland), AXA (France) and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation are among the 30 initial members. They include many of the biggest global investors in hedge funds, accounting in total for hedge fund assets of about $180bn.
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Source: Hedge Fund Standard Board
Unscheduled Adjustment in TecDAX
STRATEC Biomedical Systems to replace SMARTRAC effective 19 November
November 17, 2010--Deutsche Börse has announced an unscheduled adjustment in TecDAX. The free float of SMARTRAC N.V. has dropped below ten percent and does therefore no longer meet the criteria of the index.
STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG will replace the share of SMARTRAC N.V. in TecDAX.
The next regular review of the equity indices of Deutsche Börse is scheduled for 3 December 2010.
Source: Deutsche Börse
Banks launch record euro-denominated ‘junk’ bond
November 17, 2010--Bankers have launched the biggest euro-denominated “junk” bond, the latest sign of the European market’s evolution, amid growing investor appetite for riskier assets.
Wind, the Italian telecoms operator, is planning to sell bonds worth €2.5bn as part of a wider €6.6bn refinancing that will include $1bn of bonds offered in dollars.
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Source: FT.com
Ireland facing crisis talks with EU/IMF mission
November 17, 2010--- Ireland faces financial crisis talks with a delegation from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Thursday, as markets await news of a bailout.
The high-profile EU/IMF mission will seek an "intensive engagement" to try and stabilise the nation's deeply troubled banking sector, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said Wednesday.
The delegation will kick off talks with the government amid domestic concern that any bailout could force it to ramp up Ireland's low corporate tax that had helped fuel its economic boom before the financial crisis erupted.
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Soure: EUbusiness
Bourses hit by rising eurozone debt fears
November 16, 2010--European equities suffered their sharpest decline in more than four months, led by tumbling mining and financial stocks.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index fell 2.3 per cent to 1,086.61, the biggest loss since July, as the high price Spain and Greece ....
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Source: FT.com
Brown Brothers Harriman selected by Xact Fonder, wholly owned subsidiary of Svenska Handelsbanken, to service new Luxembourg-regulated ETFs
BBH to provide global custody, accounting, administration and
primary market transfer agency for the new XACT ETFs
November 16, 2010--Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) and XACT Fonder (XACT), a wholly owned subsidiary of Svenska Handelsbanken (Handelsbanken), announced today that BBH has been selected to provide global custody, accounting, administration and primary market transfer agency for the newly launched XACT ETFs.
The XACT ETF platform is an open-ended collective investment company (SICAV) established under the laws of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg with an umbrella structure comprising of different sub-funds and classes.
Each sub-fund is an ETF and is listed for trading on NasdaqOMX Stockholm. Shares of each ETF are bought and sold in the secondary market in the same manner as ordinary shares of a listed trading company.
“BBH enjoys a longstanding relationship with Handelsbanken and we are thrilled to be partnering with XACT to support this important Luxembourg ETF platform,” said Shawn McNinch, Global Head of ETF Services at BBH. “These ETFs represent a close collaboration between BBH and XACT from product inception to successful launch.”
“I am delighted to work together with BBH on our new ETF structure in Luxembourg. This will enable us to maintain our position as the leading Nordic ETF provider,” said Henrik Norén, Managing Director, XACT.
Source: Brown Brothers Harriman
A new regime for the reporting of net short positions in equities to the AMF and the market
November 16, 2010--Amendments to Book II (Issuers and Financial Disclosure) of the AMF General Regulation were approved by the order of 28 October 2010, published in the Journal Officiel dated 6 November 2010.
To fulfil its commitment to promptly implement the recommendations announced by CESR in May 2010, the AMF amended its General Regulation to introduce a comprehensive transparency regime for net short positions in equities traded on a French regulated market (Euronext) or organised multilateral trading
facility (Alternext).
A new article, 223-37, was introduced for this purpose. It has been supplemented by Implementing Instruction 2010-08, published today.
This amendment will take effect on 1 February 2011. The measures taken by the AMF on 19 September 2008 to prohibit short selling of specified financial stocks will no longer apply as from that date.
The new system heralds the forthcoming transparency regime to be implemented in 2012 through the European regulation on short selling.
view Implementing Instruction 2010-08
Source: AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers)
Deutsche Börse IPO Indicator for the 4th Quarter
November 16, 2010-- Deutsche Börse published the IPO indicator for the 4th quarter of 2010 on Tuesday. At 33.48 points, it remains practically unchanged from the previous two quarters and indicates a more positive scenario for new issues.
Slightly optimistic market participants and rising equity prices continue to be factors that could drive the primary market to recover. However these are offset by impeding factors such as constant volatility and pessimistic issuers.
The IPO indicator, which is published four times a year, is an important measuring instrument for companies seeking capital that aim to go public and that are looking for the right moment to enter the capital market. The indicator is compiled from surveys of market participants and calculations by the Technical University in Munich using Deutsche Börse trading data.
The detailed report and further information can be found via the following link:
http://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/EN/index.aspx?pageID=176
Source: Deutsche Börse
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