Global ETF News Older than One Year
Sovereign debt turmoil hits currencies
December 30, 2011--Currency markets endured a couple of blips as the illiquid trading conditions of Christmas week exaggerated the impact of larger trades on foreign exchanges.
Many investors had closed their books on a volatile year last week, choosing to put 2011 behind them and hope 2012 would bring more stability to global markets.
Source: Ft.com
Treasuries lead gains in 2011, stocks suffer
Treasuries have best annual performance since 2008
World stocks fall 9 pct in 2011, S&P 500 ends flat
Euro falls 3 pct against dollar in 2011
December 30, 2011--Better than oil, gold, or stocks, the best place for investors in 2011 was U.S. government debt. Not even a downgrade of the United States' AAA rating and
spiraling public deficits stopped a rally in Treasuries, which
were the best-performing major asset class of the year.
Benchmark 10-year Treasuries returned nearly 17 percent in 2011, their largest gain since 2008. Other top performers such as gold and oil finished the year with gains of about 10 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
Source: Reuters
FEAS Monthly Report December 2011
December 29, 2011--Highlights
FEAS: Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS) announced the launch of the first blue-chip index derived from Euro-Asian stock exchanges, the Dow Jones FEAS Titans 50 Equal Weighted Index.
BULGARIA SE: On 28th November the Bulgarian company Sopharma will debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. It is the second issuer form Bulgaria – after Intercapital Property Development (NewConnect) - dual-listed in Warsaw.
ISTANBUL SE: Deutsche Börse and Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) are working together to cooperate in several business areas. Both exchanges support the mutual understanding of developments in each other’s securities markets, carry out joint research projects or seminars on topics of mutual interest and assist each other in marketing activities in Germany and Turkey.
NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA: -Starting from October 18, 2011 Mr. Konstantin Saroyan was appointed CEO of NASDAQ OMX Armenia.
Source: FEAS
The Dow’s Expansion To Europe, Asia And Milestone Anniversary Cap Extraordinary 2011 For Dow Jones Indexes
40% Jump in Indexes Licensed, Burst of Dividend Index Launches
Also Contribute to Impressive Year
Innovative Additions to DJ-UBS Commodity Indexes Family,
Growth in Europe, More Awards for Islamic Market Indexes Series
December 29, 2011--In an extraordinary year marked by innovation and growth, leave it to the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average to provide the signature moments for Dow Jones Indexes in 2011.
On May 26, 2011, the iconic index celebrated its 115th anniversary, an “historic milestone” according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who officially proclaimed the date as “Dow Jones Industrial Average Day” in New York City. Nearly five months later, on October 18, two regional versions of The Dow were launched — The Asia Dow and The Europe Dow, both of which operate according to the same guiding principles as the DJIA.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Flash crash threatens to return with a vengeance
December 29, 2011--What should investors watch in 2012? As the new year dawns, there are plenty of short-term issues on the horizon, ranging from the eurozone to fiscal gridlock in the US to upheavals in the Middle East.
But amid that list there is also another, often ignored, question to ponder: could 2012 produce a repeat of the “flash crash”, the bizarre episode that hit the US equity markets back on May 6 2010?
Source: FT.com
Oil plunges on strong dollar, profit taking
December 28, 2011--World oil prices sank in volatile year-end deals on Wednesday, as traders took profits and eyed the strong dollar, new concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and fresh equity falls on Wall Street.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), sank $1.98 to $99.36 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for February dived $1.71 to $107.56 in volatile late afternoon London trade, ahead of the New Year holiday break.
Source: EUBusiness
With The Year’s Trading Nearly Complete, McDonald’s Tops All Dow Jones Industrial Average Component Stocks With 2011 Gain Of 33.65%
Pfizer Edges Past IBM To Capture Second Place With Two Trading Sessions Left In The Year - Home Depot, Kraft Foods Round Out Top 5 Through Close Of Trading On December 28 - Dow Jones Industrial Average Up 4.96% From Its 2010 Close
December 28, 2011--With two days of trading left this year, McDonald’s Corp. is on track to lead all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial
Average in stock performance for 2011, according to data compiled by Dow Jones Indexes.
Through December 28, shares of the world’s largest fast-food chain are up 33.65%. In a sudden shift Pfizer Inc. following Wednesday’s close of trading has leapfrogged over IBM Corp. for second place on The Dow’s leader-board with a 2011 gain of 28.13% versus 27.49%, respectively. Rounding out The Dow’s top five are Home Depot Inc. (a gain of 22.00%) and Kraft Foods Inc. (class A shares, up 21.37%). McDonald’s, Pfizer, IBM, Home Depot and Kraft Foods are the only stocks that have gained more than 20% to this point in 2011.
The Dow’s worst performer so far in 2011 is Bank of America Corp., whose shares have fallen 60.16% through December 28, 16 percentage points worse than Alcoa Inc. (down 44.17%).
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
China eclipses U.S. as top IPO venue
December 28, 2011--China has again outshone the United States as the top venue for initial public offerings despite steep share price falls on the mainland and Hong Kong stock markets, highlighting the shift in global financial activity from west to east.
Companies raised $73-billion (U.S.) from IPOs in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong this year, according to Dealogic – almost double the amount of money raised on the New York Stock Exchange (NYA-I8,338.76----%) and Nasdaq (COMP-I2,589.98-35.22-1.34%) combined.
Source: Globe and Mail
Deutsche Börse Group: year 2011 in review
December 27, 2011--The year 2011 was defined especially by the uncertainties surrounding the European sovereign debt crisis and the associated volatility in the financial markets. This led to greater hedging needs for market participants.
In 2011, Deutsche Börse AG acted again as a guarantor of safety and stability for the financial markets, with a positive impact on the real economy. The Group will therefore continue its growth initiatives in the areas of risk management, clearing, sales and products in 2012.
The Eurex, ISE and Xetra exchanges operated by Deutsche Börse all increased their trading volumes in 2011 compared with the previous year. Year-to-date, Eurex grew by around nine percent, ISE by five percent and Xetra by 13 percent. This also benefited the post-trading areas Eurex Clearing and Clearstream – the volumes cleared and settled/held in custody grew year-on-year by two and eleven percent, respectively. Market Data & Analytics also achieved considerable growth in its business activities of eight percent year on year. The growth in transactions and business would not have been possible without best in class IT infrastructure, in which Deutsche Börse has made significant investments over the past year. One example of this was the successful launch of Optimise – the new proprietary trading architecture of Deutsche Börse – at ISE. Another was the launch of the world’s leading client segregation solution by Eurex Clearing.
Source: Deutsche Börse
U.S. Department of Justice approves Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext merger ISE to sell Direct Edge stake as a condition of approval
December 22, 2011--The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today approved the merger of Deutsche
Börse and NYSE Euronext. This represents an important regulatory milestone for the merger. .
The DOJ’s clearance was contingent upon the International Securities Exchange (ISE) agreeing to sell its 31.5 percent stake in Direct Edge, a U.S. stock exchange. Until completing the divestiture, ISE’s ownership in Direct Edge will be held passively
ISE is 100 percent owned by Eurex, which is the derivatives exchange of Deutsche Börse. ISE partnered with Direct Edge in late 2008 when the ISE equity market operations (known as ISE Stock Exchange) became a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Edge. In return, ISE gained a minority stake in Direct Edge.
The merger of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext is subject to further closing. conditions. The approval by the EU Commission is still outstanding. The EU Commission has announced to make a final decision by no later than February 9, 2012. Further approvals by the relevant national stock exchange supervisory authorities are also outstanding.
Source: Deutsche Börse
