Global ETF News Older than One Year
BlackRock 'too big', bemoan its rivals
February 10, 2013--BlackRock's leading position in Europe’'s rapidly growing exchange traded funds market has prompted some observers to ask if its iShares ETF business has become too big.
BlackRock strengthened its position further by acquiring the ETF arm of Credit Suisse in January even though it already commanded a formidable presence in Europe.
Source: FT.com
US Treasury To Designate Eurex Exchange As Qualified Board Or Exchange --Designation Enables U.S. Persons To Receive 60/40 Tax Treatment
The international derivatives marketplace Eurex Exchange announced today that the U.S. Treasury will publish a revenue ruling in which it designates Eurex as a "Qualified Board or Exchange" for purposes of section 1256 of the U.S. Internal Revenue code.
This ruling, effective for all contracts entered on or after 1 March 2013, means that U.S. persons that trade on Eurex Exchange may receive ‘60/40 tax treatment’ in the same way when trading at other U.S. futures exchanges.
This treatment applies only to U.S. persons, and allows them to claim 60 percent of their gains or losses on eligible Eurex contracts as long-term capital gains/losses and 40 percent as short-term capital gains/losses.
“We are very pleased about the U.S. Treasury’s ruling as it will provide significant savings to U.S. persons trading at Eurex and will attract additional liquidity to our markets,” said Michael Peters, member of the Eurex Executive Board.
Source: Eurex
IOSCO Publishes Recommendations Regarding the Protection of Client Assets
February 8, 2013--The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published a consultation report on Recommendations Regarding the Protection of Client Assets, which seeks to help regulators improve the supervision of intermediaries holding client assets.
Recent events such as the Lehman Brothers and MF Global insolvencies have highlighted the importance of client asset protection regimes. In this context, investors are trying to better understand the potential implications of placing their assets with particular intermediaries and in certain jurisdictions. Regulators are seeking to address risks to client assets and determine how to transfer or return client assets in default, resolution or insolvency scenarios.
View the consultation report on Recommendations Regarding the Protection of Client Assets
Source: IOSCO
EPFR Global News Release-EM, Japan and Real Estate Funds among those escaping chilly start to February
February 8, 2013--After roaring through January a number of fund groups found themselves whispering in early February as investors took a step back and kicked the tires on some of the rosier assessments for the Eurozone.
Although EPFR Global-tracked Equity Funds maintained their recent pattern by outgaining Bond Funds by margins of 3-to-1 or better -- again with the help of retail investors -- overall flows in both cases were a third of the previous week’s total. Europe Equity and Bond Funds, meanwhile, both posted outflows in the same week for the first time since late August.
Visit http://www.epfr.com for more info
Source: EPFR
BlackRock-ETP Research-Record-breaking ETP flows in January
Global asset flows for exchange traded products (ETPs) recorded the best January on record with $40.2bn in flows.
February 7, 2014--Following a record-breaking year for global ETP flows in 2012 with $262.7bn in net new assets, momentum continued in January. Investors favored riskier assets as equities accounted for 94% of flows.
Emerging Markets were a dominant trend. Emerging Markets Equity ETPs gathered $13.2bn in January. Single Country ETPs also saw strong inflows of $5.8bn with investors favoring China, South Korea and Mexico exposures.
Fixed Income inflows moderated, with $2.1bn for the month, as investors moved out of Treasuries and into other higher yielding areas of the fixed income universe. High Yield ETPs were the one of best asset-gathering category with $0.8bn of inflows.
Source: BlackRock - ETP Research
Commodity hedge funds lose 20% of assets
February 6, 2013--Commodities hedge funds surrendered at least 20 per cent of their assets last year after investors pulled out large sums following the sector's worst annual performance in more than a decade, according to fund managers and investors.
The average commodity hedge fund lost 3.7 per cent in 2012, according to a closely watched index compiled by Newedge, the biggest decline since the yardstick was created more than a decade ago and substantially worse than the 1.4 per cent loss of 2011.
Source: FT.com
TAIFEX and Eurex agree on strategic alliance to cooperate in derivatives trading
Eurex to launch contracts based on Taiwan's main index TAIEX in Taiwanese after hours/ TAIFEX to extend global reach of its main index options and index futures contracts
February 6, 2013--TAIFEX, the Taiwan Futures Exchange, and Eurex Exchange, the international derivatives marketplace, announced an extensive product cooperation to trade and clear derivatives based on the TAIEX index, one of the most heavily traded Asian equity indexes.
A Letter of Intent (LoI) was signed today by Dr. Tony Fan, Chairman TAIFEX, and Andreas Preuss, CEO Eurex, in Taipei, Taiwan. The LoI foresees to establish a link between both marketplaces. As a first step, the partners plan to list TAIEX options and TAIEX futures as daily expiring futures on Eurex Exchange in Q4 2013.
The TAIFEX/EUREX project is the first substantial case of cooperation with an international market operator in Taiwan’s capital market according to Taiwan’s regulator FSB (Securities and Futures Bureau), part of the FSC (Financial Supervisory Commission). They say that they encourage the development of mutually beneficial endeavors of this kind.
Source: Eurex
ETFs and ETPs reach a new all-time high of $2.05 trillion at the end of January 2013 driven by significant net inflows into equities and strong equity market gains
February 6, 2013--Assets invested globally in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) broke through the $2 trillion milestone at the end of January 2013 to reach a new all-time high of $2.05 trillion.
ETF and ETP assets have increased by 5.2% from $1.95 trillion to $2.05 trillion during January, according to figures from ETFGI’s monthly Global ETF and ETP industry insights.
Market performance contributed to the increase in the value of assets held in ETFs and ETPs as 18 of the top 20 markets globally showed gains in January. Two of the markets with strong gains were the US and the UK where history has shown that a strong January tends to be a good predictor for the rest of the year. A review of history in both markets shows that strong January performance is typically followed by positive returns in the subsequent 11 months.
Source: ETFGI
Boost Weekly Performance Update-Boost FTSE 100 3x Leverage Daily ETP (3UKL) Up 24.1% In The Past Month
February 5, 2013--Boost Copper 3x Leverage Daily ETP (3HCL) was up 11.1% last week. With Copper prices (HG COMEX) pressing near 380c/lb. resistance, there is potential for further rises while the macro outlook depends on the outlook for China
Boost Natural Gas 3x Short Daily ETP (3NGS) returned 13.4% on the week due to warmer than expected weather. For this week a correction higher in Natural Gas is favoured as range trading dominates
US Q4 GDP fell at a -0.1% pace, but durable goods orders and the revisions to previous US employment data bolstered investor sentiment
Source: Boost
ETF Securities- Precious Metals Weekly: Strong growth data, tightening supplies boosting the "industrial" precious metals
February 4, 2013--Underlying US and China growth supportive of PGMs and silver. Although the headline US 4Q GDP number was disappointing, there was considerable strength in consumption and business investment growth, while most of the drag came from a temporary slowing in government spending and net exports.
Indeed, more forward looking data such as the January US payrolls, manufacturing ISM and December durable goods orders indicate that the US recovery remains on track. 157K new jobs were added in January and there were sizeable upward revisions to the previous two months of US payrolls data. Manufacturing activity expanded for the second consecutive month according the ISM report. Durable goods orders surged 4.6% in December. Chinese manufacturing PMIs were a touch lower in January than December, but remain in expansionary territory according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics.
Palladium and Platinum prices squeezed higher by rising costs, falling supply and rising demand. Eskom announced that it will raise electricity prices by 16% per annum over the next five years, which will considerably increase costs for the energy-intensive mining sector in South Africa. The additional cost burden comes on top of escalating labour costs and miner strikes that have forced many South African miners to cut back on production. Platinum and palladium markets are already forecast to be in deficit this year. Demand for these metals for use in auto-catalysts may rise even further in China where emission control standards are going to be raised in line with European standards. Platinum ended the week 0.5% higher. Palladium, which faces tighter supplies due to Russian state inventories being drawn down, rose 2.8% and is at the highest level since September 2011. Flows into palladium ETPs rose by 1% last week and holdings remain at the highest level since August 2011.
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Source: ETF Securities
