Global ETF News Older than One Year
'Perfect World' Eludes Regulators in Aligning Global Swaps Rules
February 8, 2012--The potential for U.S. and foreign regulations to reach across national borders and create overlapping or conflicting rules is gaining urgency as global authorities seek to complete rules this year to prevent a repeat of the 2008 credit crisis.
The U.S. is facing increasing criticism from Canadian, British and European Union regulators over the possibility that the Volcker rule ban on proprietary trading would restrict foreign sovereign debt markets while exempting U.S. government debt. At the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, meanwhile, regulators are facing pressure from JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Capital and foreign regulators to limit the international reach of Dodd-Frank Act derivatives regulations.
Source: Bloomberg
NASDAQ OMX Data Center Expands Power and Connectivity Offerings
Access Services Offers Innovative Super Cab and 40G Client Connectivity
Only Exchange to Provide Highest Cabinet Power, Fastest Access, and Highest Bandwidth
February 7, 2012--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced two new Access Services offerings, Super Cab and 40G Client Connectivity, which provide NASDAQ OMX Data Center customers with the highest cabinet power, fastest access and highest bandwidth available in an exchange's co-location facility.
The launch of Super Cab is effective immediately and 40G Client Connectivity will launch subject to filing with the Securities Exchange Commission.
Super Cab provides customers at the NASDAQ OMX Data Center with up to 17 kilowatts of power to operate and cool trading equipment within a single cabinet. This is the highest cabinet power available at any exchange's data center. NASDAQ OMX Access Services will utilize an innovative cabinet cooling design that draws the hot equipment exhaust into a custom cabinet chimney for maximum power at a high efficiency level. Super Cab provides customers with efficiencies in their co-location infrastructure. The solution also reduces cabinet-to-cabinet connectivity latency and maintains reliability with fully redundant power capacity.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
OECD-Green Growth: Making it Happen
February 7, 2012--Faced with low growth, high unemployment and weakened public finances countries need to pursue new sources of growth to put the global recovery back on track. Green growth can help. With the right policies to encourage innovation and stimulate new markets, it can boost productivity, spur growth and jobs, and change our behaviour as consumers.
Green growth can also mobilise revenues in ways that do not undermine the economic recovery, while eliminating wasteful and environmentally harmful spending.
But what is new about green growth? Since the Rio Earth Summit twenty years ago, we have known that green and growth must go together. What is different now? Let me give you a simple answer: green growth is not about replacing sustainable development with a new paradigm. It is instead an approach that can contribute to the successful implementation of sustainable development through concrete policy action by governments and stakeholders. Green growth is a practical and flexible approach for making progress along the economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, while taking full account of the social consequences of greening the growth dynamics of our economies. Green growth strategies focus on ensuring that natural assets can deliver their full economic potential. That includes the provision of basic services – clean air and water – and the resilient biodiversity and ecosystems needed to support food production and human health.
Source: OECD
ETFS US Precious Metals Weekly:Palladium highest in over 3 months as payrolls paints brighter US growth picture, South African mine issues flare
February 6, 2012--Palladium prices pushed towards their highest level since Q3 2011 as stronger than expected US payrolls data continued the recent
run of upbeat US data. The data reinforce recent strengthening
manufacturing activity indicators, bolstering the ‘white’ industrially
focussed precious metals of silver, platinum and palladium.
All the precious metals had already seen double digit growth by the end of January as the Fed underscored its commitment to keeping interest rates low into 2014 to underpin the nascent recovery in the US.
Gold touches 10 week high as market finds no respite from Greek debt worries, US geological survey data shows stagnating mine supply over the past decade. The metal moved up above $1730/oz last week, although early gains were tempered by a stronger USD on the US employment numbers. Gold continues to receive support from lingering debt uncertainties in Greece, underpinning interest in ‘hard assets’ such as gold as a hedge against tail event risk from a disorderly Greek debt default. US geological survey data released in January show annual global gold mine production increased just 5% in the decade ended December 31 2011, reflecting increasingly fractured mine supply as large high grade ore deposits in areas such as South Africa have been depleted.
Mining constraints in platinum flare with mass firing at the world’s largest platinum mine, and no.1 miner South Africa mulls 50% capital gains and resource rent taxes as alternatives to nationalization. Impala Platinum, producer of around 25% of annual global mine supply, announced last week that it had fired 17,200 workers in response to an illegal pay strike at its Rustenburg mine. Meanwhile a study by ruling African National Congress (ANC) proposed a 50% resource rent tax, in addition to a one–off 50% capital gains tax, in the world’s largest platinum producing country. The ANC has been exploring alternatives to calls within the party for the full nationalization of mining.
visit www.etfsecurities.com for more info.
Source: ETF Securities
ETFs Draw Highest Flows in 16 Months: BlackRock
February 6, 2012--Exchange-traded funds in January attracted the most money in 16 months, driven by record deposits to bond ETFs.
Investors poured $34.1 billion into ETFs worldwide, the most since September 2010, according to data compiled by New York-based BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the industry’s largest provider. Fixed-income ETFs gathered $9.1 billion, compared with the previous high of $6.7 billion in January 2009.
The popularity of low-cost index-based strategies surged among bond investors in the past year as yields hovered near record lows and some top long-term performers, including Bill Gross at Pacific Investment Management Co., trailed markets. Assets in bond ETFs, including exchange-traded notes and trusts, have more than quadrupled since the beginning of 2008 to $271 billion, BlackRock data show.
Source: Bloomberg
Emerging Market Currencies See Best Rally In Two Decades -SocGen
February 3, 2012--Sharp rallies in many emerging-market currencies last month appear to be more than just a seasonal surge, with some currencies in the developing world having their strongest January in over two decades, data compiled by Societe Generale showed.
However, the French bank also warned that it may be too early to expect another leg higher in this rally as restructuring talks between Greece and its private creditors, together with a new bailout deal for the debt-stricken Mediterranean country, hang in the balance.
The Mexican peso and Indian rupee, both of which notched up gains in excess of 6% against the dollar last month, had their strongest January since 1991, Societe Generale said. The Brazilian real and Colombian peso follow closely, experiencing their best January in 19 years.
Source: FT.com
NYSE Euronext, Deutsche Boerse cancel merger deal
February 2, 2012--Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext cancelled their mega-merger Thursday after European regulators vetoed the deal.
The decision to abandon the plan to create the world's largest exchange operator potentially dominating the global derivatives trade was expected after the European Commission on Wednesday rejected it.
"NYSE Euronext announced today that in light of the decision by the European Commission to block the proposed merger agreement, both companies have agreed to a mutual termination of the business combination agreement originally signed by the companies on February 15, 2011," NYSE Euronext said in a brief statement.
Source: EUbusiness
The Europe Dow Rose 3.15% In January, According To Dow Jones Indexes
Daimler Topped All 30 Europe Dow Components with 25.59% Gain for the Month
Investors ‘Selective’ in Identifying Large-Cap, European Equity Opportunities in January
February 1, 2012–The Europe Dow, an equal-weighted index that measures 30 of the continent’s leading blue-chip stocks, gained 3.15% in January, according to data compiled by Dow Jones
Indexes, a leading global index provider.
The index’s top component performer for January was Daimler AG of Germany, which closed up 25.59%. Shares of Rio Tinto PLC (Great Britain) and Schneider Electric S.A. (France), up 23.64% and 17.70%, respectively, were the second- and third-leading stocks on The Europe Dow. Tesco PLC (Great Britain), which fell 19.56%, was The Europe Dow’s worst-performing stock in January.
By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended January up 3.40%, The Asia Dow rose 9.17% and The Global Dow surged 6.20%. The Asia Dow is an equal-weighted, 30-stock index that measures leading blue-chips traded in the Asia/Pacific region; The Global Dow measures the performance of 150 leading companies from around the world.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Indexes January 2012 Performance Report
February 1, 2012 —The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index was up 2.47%, for the
month of January. The Dow Jones-UBS Single Commodity Indexes for tin, orange juice and silver
had the strongest gains with month-returns of 26.74%, 24.26% and 19.15%, respectively.
The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index is composed of 19 futures contracts on physical commodities and was introduced in 1999. The DJ-UBSCI family of indexes includes nine sector sub-indexes, multiple forward month indexes; sub-indexes for each individual commodity in the original DJ-UBSCI as well as for brent crude, cocoa, feeder cattle, gas oil, lead, orange juice, platinum, soybean meal and tin.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
January 2012 Commodities Commentary: Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Indexes Up As Fed Signals Low Interest Rates Through 2014
February 1, 2012--The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index ended up 2.47% for the month of January as investors pondered word that the U.S. Federal Reserve is prepared to extend the time frame for exceptionally low interest rates through 2014 in an effort to provide additional stimulus to the U.S. economy.
This action could increase growth and boost demand for commodities such as industrial metals. Further, a weakening of the U.S. dollar against other key currencies including the euro made dollar-denominated commodities more accessible to holders of other currencies.
The Dow Jones-UBS Single Commodity Indexes for tin, orange juice and silver had the strongest gains with month-end returns of 26.74%, 24.26% and 19.15%, respectively.
Tin gained in January as the prospect of low U.S. interest rates at least until 2014 boosted speculation of increased demand for the metal used in plasma screens, mobile phones and cars.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes