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Eurex to Launch First European Futures on Butter and Skimmed Milk Powder
Launch of the two new agricultural futures planned for end of Q2 2010/ Extension of the agricultural derivatives segment
March 23, 2010-- Eurex, the international derivatives exchange, today announced the expansion of its product range in the agricultural derivatives asset class.
At the end of Q2 2010, the exchange will offer trading of two futures based on butter and skimmed milk powder in Europe. Both futures are based on established reference prices from the respective spot markets and will be settled in cash.
“We along with major market participants believe that the volatility of dairy markets will increase over the next few years. The use of derivatives to hedge against higher prices and fluctuating costs is expected to rise, thus the introduction of our new futures is a logical step,” said Peter Reitz, member of the Eurex Executive Board. “We also want to contribute our known strengths, particularly our global distribution network and central clearing services, to this growing market.”
Eurex has intensively prepared its market launch together with key players in this market segment, including the German and European dairy industry associations (MIV and Eucolait) and important market participants in the European and U.S. dairy industry. The participants in the spot market for these agricultural products have indicated a keen interest in collaborating with a major international derivatives exchange.
Qbasis launches ETF managed futures fund
March 23, 2010--Managed futures specialist Qbasis Invest has launched an exchange-traded fund, the Qbasis Futures Fund, which will commence trading on the Hamburg stock exchange on 1 April.
The Qbasis Futures Fund is the only onshore fund that enables retail investors to access the firm’s flagship managed futures strategy.
Mismatch between performance of commodity ETPs and spot prices
March 23, 2010--Research by Moonraker Fund Management suggests that several of the commodity indexes tracked by exchange-traded products have significantly under-performed the spot prices of their underlying commodities over the last year, sometimes delivering double digit underperformance.
The findings highlight the impact of the “negative roll yield” and raise serious questions about whether investors should find alternative vehicles to invest in commodities over the long term.
Structured products regain trust with German pension funds
March 23, 2010--Retirement funds in Germany are showing increased interest in structured products, hedge funds and infrastructure as well as LDI and SRI, a recent survey by IPE Institutional Investment reveals.
One fifth of the 42 pension funds that took part in the 2010 online survey Requirements of German Institutional Investors said they were looking at structured products while the year before only 7% (out of 34) said they were considering such investments.
Interest in hedge funds has tripled which means that now almost half of all pension funds are looking into this asset class and 19% are already invested compared to 9% in 2008.
UK government ‘seeks £1bn’ from pension funds for new green
March 23, 2010--The UK government is seeking investment of up to £1bn (€1.1bn) from investors such as pension funds for a new £2bn green technology fund, according to reports. The new fund is expected be announced in tomorrow’s (March 24) UK budget. The government says it wants pension funds to become a source of finance for the billions of pounds of new investment that the UK needs in clean energy as well as transport, telecoms and waste management.
It’s not clear how the proposed new fund, which would also use the proceeds from the sale of government assets, would sit with the new Innovation Investment Fund (UKIIF). That has received the backing of just one pension fund so far, that of the former state-owned British Telecom.
Value of European buy-out deals plunges
March 22, 2010--The value of European private equity deals fell by three-quarters last year to a 15-year low of €17.3bn ($23.4bn), in spite of a slight rebound in the fourth quarter, according to research published on Tuesday.
In the final quarter of 2009 there were €5.5bn of European private equity deals, compared with €2.9bn in the previous quarter, according to the research from the Centre for Management Buy-Out Research (CMBOR) at Nottingham University
Figures due to be published by CMBOR next week for UK buy-outs in the first quarter are expected ..
Dow Jones-UBS Commodity 3-Month Forward Index to Underlie ETF in the U.K.
March 22, 2010--Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced that the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity 3-Month Forward Index has been licensed to ETF Securities (ETFS), a London-based provider of commodity and currency ETCs and 3rd generation ETFs.
The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity 3-Month Forward Index measures the performance of 3-month-dated futures contracts.
The ETFX DJ-UBS All Commodities Forward 3-Month Fund is available on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) today.
“Forward commodity futures markets have seen a strong increase in both trading volume and liquidity over the past few years. The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Forward Indexes are sophisticated tools that measure the performance of these longer-dated futures contracts and allow market participants to further diversify their commodities exposure,” said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes.
“ETF Securities is pleased to offer investors another world’s first,” said Mark Weeks, Chief Executive Officer, ETF Exchange. “The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity 3-Month Forward Index is now available through an ETF which offers a compelling compromise between reduced roll yield impact and high correlation to commodity spot prices, while following a plain and transparent index methodology.”
The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Forward Indexes consist of the DJ-UBS Commodity 1-Month Forward Index, the DJ-UBS Commodity 2-Month Forward Index and 3-month forward versions of the DJ-UBS Commodity Index, its 9 Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Sector Sub-Indexes and the 23 Dow Jones-UBS Single Commodity Subindexes.
Further information on the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Forward Indexes can be found at http://www.djindexes.com.
ETF Securities launches ETFX DJ-UBS All Commodities Forward 3 Month Fund on the LSE
World’s first ETF on the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index 3 Month Forward
New fund based on the top performing DJ-UBSCI F3SM Index which returned 263% over the past 10 years, making commodities the top performing major asset class over the period
March 22, 2010--ETF Securities (ETFS) listed on Thursday 18th March the world first ETF based on the Dow Jones – UBS Commodity 3 Month ForwardSM Index (DJUBSCI F3SM). The new fund will be part of the ETF Exchange (Europe) platform.
ETF Exchange is the world’s first 3rd generation ETF platform which is supported by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citi, and Rabobank International who are participants on the platform.
The increasing investor’s knowledge about commodities investing and demand for exposure to longer-dated commodity futures contracts has led ETF Securities to create ETFX DJ-UBS All Commodities Forward 3 Month Fund (COMF), providing investors with more choice and allowing them to implement different investment strategies in commodities. Due to the dynamic nature of the commodity futures curve investors wish to be able to track different commodity futures dependent on their views.
ETFX DJ-UBS All Commodities Forward 3 Month Fund (COMF) offer investors for the first time, the opportunity to gain direct and simple exposure to a diversified basket of 19 forward commodity futures prices represented in the DJ-UBSCI F3SM Index, the index provide exposure to futures contracts three months ahead on the DJ-UBSCISM. The DJ-UBSCI F3SM is arguably the best way to gain commodity exposure with economic significance due to its unique two third weighting to liquidity and one third to production. Thomson Reuters MiFID Market Share Reports February 2010 German DAX firms paid 30% more into pensions in 2009 The average funding level is 66%, similar to that of 2008 with 65%, but slightly below the average Mercer had calculated from the first 19 companies to release their annual reports. (See earlier IPE article: Market upturn failed to increase DAX-related pensions' funding levels)
March 22, 2010--The Thomson Reuters MiFID Market Share Reports February 2010 is now available.
view the EUROPEAN MARKET SHARE FOR ALL EQUITIES TURNOVER - JANUARY TO FEBRUARY 2010 report
March 22, 2010--DAX 30 companies' pension payments reached €9bn in 2009, compared to €6.5bn the year before, Towers Watson has calculated. Overall funding funding levels remained the same.
Assessing 24 of the 30 annual reports of the top German listed companies in the DAX 30, Towers Watson noted in a press release that “the trend towards funding pension liabilities is on the rise again”, and employer contributions have increased by 30%.