Global ETF News Older than One Year
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
Six Market Vectors Sector Indices to Underlie Exchange-Traded Funds
December 21, 2011--Market Vectors Index Solutions (MVIS) today announced that it has licensed six of its Market Vectors Indices to Van Eck Associates Corporation – a leading provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States.
The following indices serve as the basis for recently launched ETFs:
Market Vectors US Listed Bank and Brokerage 25 Index (MVRKH)
Market Vectors US Listed Biotech 25 Index (MVBBH)
Market Vectors US Listed Oil Services 25 Index (MVOIH)
Market Vectors US Listed Pharmaceutical 25 Index (MVPPH)
Market Vectors US Listed Retail 25 Index (MVRTH)
Market Vectors US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index (MVSMH)
Source: Market Vectors Index Solutions GmbH (MVIS)
China hackers breach US Chamber of Commerce
December 21, 2011--Hackers in China broke through the computer defences of the US Chamber of Commerce last year and were able to access information about its operations and its 3 million members, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The operation against the top American business lobbying group involved at least 300 internet addresses and was discovered and shut down in May 2010, the Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
Source: FIN24
Consultative paper on revised "Core principles for effective banking supervision" issued by the Basel Committee
December 20, 2011--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision today issued for public comment its revised Core principles for effective banking supervision.
The consultative paper updates the Committee's 2006 Core principles for effective banking supervision and the associated Core principles methodology, and merges the two documents into one. The Core Principles have also been re-ordered, highlighting the difference between what supervisors do themselves and what they expect banks to do: Principles 1 to 13 address supervisory powers, responsibilities and functions, focusing on effective risk-based supervision, and the need for early intervention and timely supervisory actions. Principles 14 to 29 cover supervisory expectations of banks, emphasising the importance of good corporate governance and risk management, as well as compliance with supervisory standards.
view the Core principles for effective banking supervision - consultative document
Source: BIS
ETFS US Precious Metals Weekly: Gold speculative futures investors de-lever as ETF investors position for price rebound
December 19, 2011--De-leveraging leaves COMEX gold and other precious metals’
speculative futures positioning at their lowest levels in 2 years.
Sustained deleveraging since September has left net speculative positions
in gold, as well as silver and palladium at their lowest levels in over two years, removing a key headwind to a price recovery heading into 2012.
COMEX speculative futures investors cut gold futures positions by 11% to
an 8 week low, in contrast to further accumulation by ETF investors
Gold spot price drops below its 200 day moving average, triggering further clearing of speculative long gold positions. The gold price dropped below the key technical 200 day moving average last week, triggering selling by quant funds and short-term traders. The gold price has been hit along with other commodity prices as the US dollar has surged against a Euro plagued by sovereign risk concerns and as investors have squared positions in the run-up to the end of a generally difficult year for investors.
Global gold ETP holdings hit a new high indicating longer-term investors view the recent gold price decline excessive. Global ETF investor positions have continued to trend up in both gold and silver, reflecting the fact that long term price supports such as negative real interest rates, currency debasement and sovereign/financial sector default risk, and rising emerging market/central bank demand remain embedded in the 2012 outlook. Global platinum and palladium ETF holdings have been pared back 10-30% from their peaks on slowing global growth indicators, though investors continue to sit on a majority of positions built since the credit crisis. Successive supply-chain bottlenecks in 2011 have obscured a tightening mine supply picture and emerging market-driven uptrend in autocatalyst demand for platinum and palladium in recent years, themes likely to resurface once developed economy debt concerns have finally been addressed.
visit www.etfsecurities.com for more info.
Source: ETF Securities
