Silver ETF holdings nearing record levels-Silver Institute
Precious metals analysts say investor demand is driving today's price of silver,which is up more than 20%.
September 20, 2012--Investors have so far purchased more than 32 million ounces of silver through silver ETFs this year, said the Washington, D.C.-based Silver Institute.
Silver ETF holdings now total more than 608 million ounces with a value of $20.5 billion through September 15, the Institute said in a news release Wednesday.
So far this year, the silver price has risen more than 20%, according to the Institute.
Source: MoneyWeb
Four New Record Peaks:BATS CHI-X Europe CXE PITCH, Direct Edge EDGX, NYSE AMEX Options And Deutsche Börse CEF Core Eurex
September 20, 2012--This month's bulletin from the Financial Information Forum (FIF) finds that BATS CHI-X Europe CXE PITCH was up a record 37% to 90,937 mps over the 1 second interval
Direct Edge EDGX was up a record 20% to 219,495 mps over the 1 second interval
NYSE AMEX Options was up 13% to 1,678,324 mps over the 1 second interval
For the second consecutive month, Deutsche Börse CEF Core Eurex was up by a record 0.3%, to 91,330 mps over the 1 second interval
Source: Money Science
STOXX expands Global Index Family with the launch of over 1,200 indices
September 19, 2012--STOXX Limited, the market-moving provider of innovative, substantial and global index concepts, today announced the expansion of the STOXX Global Index family with the launch of more than 1,200 supersector, size, regional and total market indices covering global equity markets.
Furthermore, the STOXX China A-shares Total Market, STOXX China B-shares Total Market, STOXX China H-shares Total Market, STOXX China Red Chips Total Market indices were launched today.
“The expansion of the STOXX Global Index family by over 1,200 indices marks another significant step for STOXX as we are growing our global presence,” said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited.
“Asia is one of the key regions on which STOXX is currently focussing . With the launch of the STOXX China Total Market Indices for different share classes, we offer international as well as domestic Chinese market participants a first set of transparent and rules-based indices to participate from the performance of the world’s second largest economy.”
The STOXX Global Index family consists of total market, broad and blue-chip indices for the regions Americas, Europe, Asia, and Pacific, and sub-regions Latin America and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), as well as global markets. All broad regional indices, as well as a number of country indices, can also be broken down into a comprehensive set of supersector indices that follow the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB).
Furthermore, a large number of regional indices that exclude certain supersectors, regions or countries is available.
Source: STOXX
STOXX expands Global Index Family with the launch of over 1,200 indices
September 19, 2012--STOXX Limited, the market-moving provider of innovative, substantial and global index concepts, today announced the expansion of the STOXX Global Index family with the launch of more than 1,200 supersector, size, regional and total market indices covering global equity markets.
Furthermore, the STOXX China A-shares Total Market, STOXX China B-shares Total Market, STOXX China H-shares Total Market, STOXX China Red Chips Total Market indices were launched today.
“The expansion of the STOXX Global Index family by over 1,200 indices marks another significant step for STOXX as we are growing our global presence,” said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited.
“Asia is one of the key regions on which STOXX is currently focussing . With the launch of the STOXX China Total Market Indices for different share classes, we offer international as well as domestic Chinese market participants a first set of transparent and rules-based indices to participate from the performance of the world’s second largest economy.”
The STOXX Global Index family consists of total market, broad and blue-chip indices for the regions Americas, Europe, Asia, and Pacific, and sub-regions Latin America and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), as well as global markets. All broad regional indices, as well as a number of country indices, can also be broken down into a comprehensive set of supersector indices that follow the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB).
Furthermore, a large number of regional indices that exclude certain supersectors, regions or countries is available.
Source: STOXX
One big order, thousands of small ones, seen behind oil tumble
September 18, 2012--A single large sell order in the benchmark European Brent oil market, followed by an abrupt U-turn among high-frequency traders, may have caused one of the most abrupt price routs ever, brokers and analysts said on Tuesday.
As the dust settled on Monday's four-minute, nearly $4 plunge, other possible causes such as an erroneous "fat finger" trade, a computer program run amok or a broad, rumor-driven sell-off were set aside in favor of a combination of one big trade - potentially as much as 12 million barrels worth some $1.4 billion - and tens of thousands of computerized orders.
Source: Reuters
Increasing need to enhance and harmonise disclosure requirements in the Islamic Capital Market
September 18, 2012--The growing recognition of the increasing significance of the Islamic capital market, especially in view of rising cross-border transactions, has triggered the need for stronger oversight, greater transparency and more robust disclosure requirements, global standard-setters and senior regulators acknowledged today.
The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), two leading global standard-setters in their respective fields, collaborated with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to organise a high-level Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur, themed “Disclosure Requirements for Islamic Capital Market Products”.read more
Source: IOSCO
ETFs Overtaking Swaps for Junk-Bond Speculation: Credit Markets
September 17, 2012--Exchange-traded funds are poised to overtake credit derivatives by year-end as a way to speculate on junk bonds.
The value of corporate securities held by the five-largest junk ETFs almost doubled in the past year to a record $31.4 billion, while the net amount of protection bought or sold on the debt using the two current credit-default swaps indexes declined 3 percent to $35 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The ETFs are growing at an average 5.2 percent monthly pace this year, which would put assets at more than $36.5 billion by Dec. 31.
Source: Bloomberg
Quarterly Changes To The NASDAQ Q-50 Index
September 17, 2012--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today the results of the quarterly re-ranking of the NASDAQ Q-50 Index(SM) (Nasdaq:NXTQ), which will become effective prior to market open on Monday, September 24, 2012.
The following nine securities will be added to the Index: Concur Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNQR), Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq:FB), Groupon, Inc. (Nasdaq:GRPN), Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Nasdaq:NXPI), ONYX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:ONXX), Royal Gold, Inc. (Nasdaq:RGLD), tw telecom inc. (Nasdaq:TWTC) and Western Digital Corporation (Nasdaq:WDC).
The Index is designed to track the performance of the 50 securities that are next in line to replace the securities currently included in the NASDAQ-100 Index®. The NASDAQ Q-50 Index is re-ranked on a quarterly basis.
For more information about the NASDAQ Q-50 Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/docs/methodology_NXTQ.pdf.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly: Gold Price Surges to 6-Month High as Investors Move into Hard Assets on Fed's Aggressive QE3 Announcement
September 17, 2012--Gold hits 6-mth high above $1770/oz as FOMC delivers even more than expected on its stimulus pledge
South Africa supply problems push platinum price to five-month high.
Key events to watch this week: Will Spain seek a bailout?
What Will Drive the Next Leg of the Gold Bull Market?
Since mid-July the gold price has rallied strongly, but remains 11% below the peak of USD$1900/oz. achieved in September 2011. European financial and economic turmoil continues to plague financial markets, yet officials have so far failed to find a comprehensive plan to solve the root causes of the crisis. Europe remains mired in deep recession, the US economy appears to have stalled, while Asian emerging market growth has slowed. In this environment most "safe haven" assets have performed well, with G-3 bond yields falling to all-time lows earlier this year. Prior to August, the stand-out exception was gold, which had performed relatively poorly in 2012. Gold's modest performance in an environment of high sovereign risk caused some investors to question its historic "store of value" credentials. In this note we look at some of the key factors that traditionally drive gold price performance, explain what has been behind the performance of the gold price so far this year, and assess the outlook and likely key catalysts for gold price performance for the rest of 2012 and into 2013.
visit www.etfsecurities.com for more info
Source: ETF Securities
August 2012 Market Share and Market Dynamics Executive Summary
September 15, 2012--The August 2012 FIF Market Share and Market Dynamics Reports-Executive Summary is now available.
Source: Financial Information Forum (FIF)