Global ETF News Older than One Year
ETF redemptions at highest level since 2008
September 12, 2011--Global ETF redemptions reached the highest level since June 2008 last week, with the majority in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF. now.
There were US$15bn worth of redemptions in equity ETFs, according to Cowen; $14bn of those came from the US and almost $10bn were in State Street Global Advisors' SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).
Although the US market has been volatile for several weeks - the S&P 500 has fallen 16% since the end of July - and trading has spiked, it is only now that the redemptions have picked up pace.
Source: IFA Online
BlackRock calls for regulations for synthetic ETFs
September 12, 2011--BlackRock sent a letter to the Financial Stability Board arguing that regulations should be implemented to counter risks related to synthetic exchange-traded funds.
The investment-management firm also called for "full transparency" of the funds. "BlackRock supports full transparency and regulatory rules for ETFs that would mitigate the conflict of interest involved in fund managers investing in swaps with affiliated swap counterparties," the firm said.
Source: GFS News
BlackRock calls for regulations for synthetic ETFs
September 12, 2011--BlackRock sent a letter to the Financial Stability Board arguing that regulations should be implemented to counter risks related to synthetic exchange-traded funds.
The investment-management firm also called for "full transparency" of the funds. "BlackRock supports full transparency and regulatory rules for ETFs that would mitigate the conflict of interest involved in fund managers investing in swaps with affiliated swap counterparties," the firm said.
Source: GFS News
Responses to the FSB note on ETFs
September 12, 2011--On 12 April 2011, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a note on ETFs. The FSB indicated that it would welcome feedback from the public on this note by 16 May 2011.
The FSB wishes to thank those who have taken the time and effort to express their views. The FSB and its member authorities and standard setting bodies are continuing to monitor developments in the ETF market closely, and will use the feedback received as an input for their work.
Source: FSB
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly: Gold Price Holds Near Record High As Greek Debt Default Risk Escalates
September 12, 2011--Gold speculative futures positions rise for first time since early August as spot prices hover near record highs on rising sovereign debt concerns. Markets are now pricing a nearly 100% probability of a Greek government debt default as the deadline for the release of the next tranche of bailout funds looms this week.
Intra and inter-government disagreements within the Eurozone featured prominently last week as euro-area governments struggle to meet painful fiscal cutback provisions under the weight of slowing growth and revenues. Significantly, Germany is exploring methods to ring fence its banks from any Greek debt default.
Inflation, currency debasement concerns as governments outline plans to further pump-prime economies, maintain competitive exchange rates. US President Obama unveiled a $400bn+ package to boost employment last week as Fed minutes confirmed that the US central bank is exploring options to further underwrite flagging US growth and employment. The Swiss National Bank announced plans to sell unlimited Swiss Francs to maintain a minimum EUR/CHF rate last week as the perceived safe haven currency has soared recently.
Platinum group metals prices remain resilient as supply issues help check growth worries. Mooted mining nationalization priorities in South Africa and mining indigenisation in Zimbabwe highlight the uncertain supply environment in Africa, home to over three-quarters of global platinum production and over onethird of global palladium production.
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Source: ETFS Securities
OECD composite leading indicators signal widespread slowdown in economic activity
September 12, 2011--Composite leading indicators (CLIs) for July 2011, designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, continue to point to a slowdown in economic activity in most OECD countries and major non-member economies. The CLI for the OECD area fell 0.5 point in July; the fourth consecutive monthly decline.
Compared to last month’s assessment, the CLIs for Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil, China and India are pointing more strongly to a slowdown in economic activity.
The CLIs for the United States and Russia are now also pointing more clearly to a slowdown in economic activity than in last month’s assessment. The outlook for Japan continues to indicate a potential turning-point in economic activity.
Source: OECD
Fidessa assesses developments in internalisation
New white paper discusses the trend towards broker internalisation and the impact on execution quality, specifically under MiFID II
September 12, 2011--Fidessa group plc (LSE: FDSA), provider of high-performance trading, investment management and information solutions for the world’s financial community, has today announced the publication of a white paper exploring the trend of increasing internalisation of flow and the technology options available to take advantage of this developing paradigm. The paper focuses on the specific consequences for the European non-lit market under the forthcoming MiFID II regulation.
"The MiFID regulations have heralded a period of enormous change and so market participants of all types have needed to adopt a far more intelligent approach to trade effectively across the full spectrum of lit, dark and grey liquidity," said Ian Salmon, Head of Enterprise Business Development at Fidessa, who authored the paper. "Whilst lit interaction has matured, and to some extent standardised, MiFID II promises to turn the spotlight on the non-lit spectrum. Previously considered the domain of only the larger players, dark trading now looks set to enter the mainstream."
Key points from the white paper include:
Those firms that have been operating non-lit venues will need to rethink their approach in light of the forthcoming MiFID II regulations that will place far greater emphasis on post-trade transparency
The battle between larger brokers will intensify as they seek to aggregate each other’s dark order flow
The operation of non-lit venues will no longer be the sole domain of the big banks and brokers as technological advances and dark trading alliances will bring new participants into this market
Source: Fidessa
Institutional Traders Around The World Concerned By High Frequency Trading, Global Survey Shows
Liquidnet Finds More Than Two-Thirds Worried About HFT
Concerns Run Highest In Global Firms and in U.S. and Europe
September 12, 2011--More than two-thirds of traders at leading asset management firms around the world are concerned about the impact of high frequency trading (HFT) on the equities market, according to a survey by Liquidnet, the global institutional marketplace.
Liquidnet’s Institutional Voice Survey polled traders worldwide from Liquidnet’s community of 630 institutional asset management firms. These firms collectively manage equity assets of more than $13 trillion.
“The survey reveals that there is strong conviction among the vast majority of long-only traders that HFT is a negative for institutional investors trading in large size, adding some hard facts to what’s previously been speculation about institutional attitudes,” said Seth Merrin, founder and CEO of Liquidnet. “Investors are clearly concerned that their long-term investment styles are at odds with the speculative, nano-second profit taking approach utilized by high frequency traders.”
Source: Liquidnet
EDI and the Commodities Research Bureau Team Up to Deliver the Best Quality Commodity Pricing Data
September 12, 2011--Exchange Data International (EDI), a well established provider of Securities Corporate Actions and Reference Data, today announced a new commodity pricing service in collaboration with the Commodities Research Bureau (CRB), the world’s leading commodity and futures research, data and analysis firm since 1934.
With this partnership, EDI is now able to offer its clients comprehensive End-of-Day commodity pricing and fundamental date services covering over 1000 markets worldwide. The new commodity pricing service provides daily global Futures, Futures Options and Cash pricing data as well as commodity fundamental data covering global supply and demand, production, stocks etc…
“Since 2007 we have been providing clients with equity and bond end-of-day prices. Adding commodities to our pricing suite was the next step.” says Jonathan Bloch, CEO at EDI. “We are happy to partner with CBR, one of the biggest names in commodities data, and ensure our clients receive clean accurate historical data and timely updates.”
Source: Barchart
China says "trust" main challenge for relations with EU
September 10, 2011--The main challenge for China-EU relations lies in the lack of trust produced by Europe's "double standards", China's vice minister for foreign affairs Fu Ying said here on Saturday.
"The main challenge is the problem of trust, of suspicion of each other, of political rejection," Fu said in a a debate on EU-China relations at a conference in Slovenia's lake resort of Bled.
"For many Europeans China is politically incorrect but, at the same time, it is economically correct," Fu said, speaking in English. "I do not know how that logic works, how can an incorrect political system produce correct economic results?"
Source: EUbusiness
