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FTSE 100 Dividend Index futures reach 1 million contract milestone
March 25, 2010--NYSE Liffe, the European derivatives business of NYSE Euronext, said that its FTSE 100 Dividend Index futures contract has traded its millionth contract. The contract, which was only launched in May last year, is available both through LIFFE CONNECT® and Bclear, the exchange’s trade administration and clearing service.
Following the success of the FTSE 100 dividend index future, NYSE Liffe launched a similar contract based on the CAC 40 dividend index late last year. Both indices represent the cumulative value of ordinary cash dividends declared by the individual constituents each index over a one-year period, calculated in terms of index points.
March 2010 “Islamic Market’s Measure” – Preliminary Report - Monthly Report On The Performance Of The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes
March 24, 2010--Based on the close of trading on March 23, the global Dow Jones Islamic Market Titans 100 Index, which measures the performance of 100 of the leading Shari’ah compliant stocks globally, gained 4.79% month-to-date, closing at 2145.77. In comparison, the Dow Jones Global Titans 50 Index, which measures the 50 biggest companies worldwide, posted a gain of 4.67%, closing at 173.61.
The Dow Jones Islamic Market Asia/Pacific Titans 25 Index, which measures the performance of 25 of the leading Shari’ah compliant stocks in the Asia/Pacific region, increased 5.43%, closing at 1895.92. The Dow Jones Asian Titans 50 Index, in comparison, posted a gain of 6.11%, closing at 139.25.
Measuring Europe, the Dow Jones Islamic Market Europe Titans 25 Index, which measures the performance of the 25 of the leading Shari’ah compliant stocks in Europe, closed at 2146.59, a gain of 5.24%, while the conventional Dow Jones Europe Index gained 5.70%, closing at 257.50.
Measuring the performance of 50 of the largest Shari’ah compliant U.S. stocks, the Dow Jones Islamic Market U.S. Titans 50 Index increased, closing at 2179.41. It represents a gain of 4.49%. The U.S. blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 5.46%, closing at 10888.83.
March 2010 “Market’s Measure” - Preliminary Report - A Monthly Report From Dow Jones Indexes And STOXX Ltd. On The Performance Of U.S., European, Asia And Other Global Stock Market Indexes
March 24, 2010-Dow Jones Industrial Average Posts 5.46% Gain in MARCH, European Stocks Gain 5.71%, Asia Rises 6.11% and World Equities Rise by 4.67%
Automobiles & Parts Sector Posts Biggest Gain for March in Europe
Telecommunications Sector Posts Narrowest Gain for March in Asia
As of March 23 the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.46% in March, closing at 10888.83. Stock market indexes in Europe, Asia and globally were up in March, according to preliminary monthly figures from global index providers, Dow Jones Indexes and STOXX Ltd.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.46% in March, closing at 10888.83. Year-to-date, the index is up 4.42%.
Measuring Europe, the STOXX Europe 50 Index is up 5.71% for March, closing at 2611.20. Year-to-date, the index is up 1.00%.
Measuring Eastern Europe, the STOXX EU Enlarged Total Market Index is up 9.07% for March, closing at 227.24. Year-to-date, the index is up 9.51%.
The performance of the STOXX EU Enlarged 15 blue-chip index is up 9.41% for March, closing at 2377.41. The index is up 8.39% so far this year.
The Dow Jones Asian Titans 50 Index rose 6.11% in March to 139.25. So far this year, the index is up 3.71%.
The Dow Jones Global Titans 50 Index rose 4.67% in March, closing at 173.61. Year-to-date, the index is down -0.03%.
Alarm over commodity ETP returns
March 21, 2010--Investment banks are racing to launch commodity-based exchange traded products after a flood of money entered the sector last year.
However, the move has highlighted concerns that the performance of commodity ETPs can dramatically undershoot that of underlying spot commodity prices, a factor not all investors may understand.
Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, Julius Baer, UBS and Amundi, formed by a merger of the asset management arms of Société Générale and Crédit Agricole, launched 45 commodity ETPs in the first two months of 2010, according to figures from Deutsche Bank, compared with 66 such launches across Europe in the whole of 2009. Already this month UBS has listed 69 exchange traded commodities on the London Stock Exchange.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Added to Dow Jones FEAS Index Universe
March 22, 2010--Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced that Bosnia and Herzegovina will be added to the Dow Jones FEAS index universe. This will increase the total number of countries in the Dow Jones FEAS index universe to 11 from 10.
The Dow Jones FEAS Indexes measure the performance of companies across the Euro-Asian region. The three indexes are a composite, and two regional sub-indexes.
Dow Jones FEAS Composite Index currently includes component stocks of 11 of the 29 member states of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges. The exchanges included are Abu Dhabi (UAE), Amman (Jordan), Belgrade (Serbia), Istanbul (Turkey), Karachi (Pakistan), Manama (Kingdom of Bahrain), Muscat (Oman), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Skopje (Republic of Macedonia), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Zagreb (Croatia).
The Dow Jones FEAS Middle East/Caucasus Index currently includes stocks from the following four FEAS member exchanges: Abu Dhabi, Amman, Manama, and Muscat.
The Dow Jones FEAS South East Europe Index measures the performance of companies listed at the following six FEAS member exchanges: Belgrade, Istanbul, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, and Zagreb.
The Dow Jones FEAS Indexes are designed to cover 95% of the free-float market capitalization of each country in the respective index. In addition to float-adjusted market capitalization, components are selected based on readily available prices. The indexes are calculated and disseminated in euro and U.S. dollar and weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization.
The Dow Jones FEAS Indexes are rebalanced quarterly when additional FEAS member exchanges will be added.
For more information on the Dow Jones FEAS Indexes, please visit http://www.djindexes.com.
January’s Reduced Credit Losses May Point to a Better 2010-Risk Solutions Report-January 2010
March 19, 2010--Entering 2010 and leaving behind the $627.7 billion in defaults from 2009 we believe that early data may suggest more favorable credit conditions in the year to come.
The first month of 2010 saw 13 companies fail to make good on their debt obligations, collectively affecting $5.97 billion in debt.
These figures represent the lowest monthly dollar default volume since January, 2008 default total since January, 2008, and compare favorably to January 2009, when 17 companies experienced $21 billion in defaulted debt obligations.
NYSE Euronext And Bloomberg Bring Open Symbology To Data Feeds - Industry Leaders Join Forces To Promote Transparency And Lower Data Management Costs
Industry Leaders Join Forces to Promote Transparency and Lower Data Management Costs-
March 18, 2010--In a new initiative to promote transparency and lower data management costs for financial market participants, NYSE Euronext (NYX) and Bloomberg Finance L.P. (Bloomberg) today announced that they will deliver to the investing public the market data industry’s first open-source security identifiers.
Beginning next month, NYSE Euronext will distribute Bloomberg Open Symbology (BSYM) along with NYSE Euronext's standard security identifiers for New York Stock Exchange listed companies through all of its data products globally.
Combining Bloomberg BSYM, the only free and open symbology in market data, with NYSE Euronext proprietary data feeds, this move by NYSE Euronext and Bloomberg meets the need for open standards in reference data. This innovative solution provides standardization and interoperability between NYSE Euronext’s data feeds and Bloomberg’s value-added content.
NYSE Euronext will distribute BSYM through its data feeds and web sites to ensure optimum availability and access to its global customer base. This allows market participants to benefit from the flexibility of choice and relieves them of the burden of mapping between global and local security identifiers.
“An open source, truly integrated solution for market data distribution is long overdue. NYSE Euronext is pleased to join with Bloomberg in delivering this innovative, market-based approach to benefit our customers and the investing public,” said Larry Leibowitz, Chief Operating Officer, NYSE Euronext. “Taking the lead in providing a global uniform standard demonstrates our joint commitment to move the industry forward by providing increased transparency and improved access while lowering costs.”
“Bloomberg has revolutionized the market data industry by creating a free and open standard, Bloomberg Open Symbology. BSYM contains the same identifiers used globally in the BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® service, now available to everyone in the investing public,” said Mark Pesonen, head of Enterprise Products and Solutions at Bloomberg. “Furthering our commitment to open standards, we now provide an integrated solution between BSYM and all NYSE Euronext feeds. In an atmosphere of increased cross-border trading, this solution allows for quick integration into users’ systems to give the industry even greater flexibility.”
Bloomberg and NYSE Euronext will collaborate to maintain an open, market-based solution that integrates their core market information services as a vendor and supplier, respectively. NYSE Euronext will offer its data feeds and products for coding and mapping on the BSYM platform through a tiered rollout that will begin in April with its popular OpenBookTM product. After Bloomberg completes the mapping process for all New York Stock Exchange-listed ticker symbols and security identifiers, NYSE Euronext and its affiliates will globally distribute the new BSYM codes through its data feeds and related products. Bloomberg Open Symbology can be accessed via the Web site http://bsym.bloomberg.com.
Fitch Releases 2009 Global Corporate Rating Transition Study
March 18, 2010--Downgrades affected a record 26.7% of global corporate finance issuers in 2009, with the vast majority of the year's downgrades occurring in the first half of the year, according to a new Fitch Ratings study.
Corporate downgrades rose 26% year over year and exceeded upgrades by a margin of 5.6 to 1, worse than the 3.1 to 1 margin recorded in 2008.
'The recession's impact on corporate credit quality was especially severe in the first six months of 2009 which saw 80% of the year's negative rating actions,' said Charlotte Needham, Senior Director of Fitch Credit Market Research.
By broad market sector, global financial institutions experienced more credit erosion in 2009 and 2008 than did industrials. The share of financial entities downgraded reached 33% in 2009, topping 2008's 22%. The share of industrial issuers downgraded in 2009 - 20% - increased marginally from 18% recorded a year earlier.
Debilitated financial markets and a deep contraction in global economic activity also pushed up the default rate on Fitch-rated corporate issuers to 2.59% in 2009, double the rate of 1.29% recorded a year earlier. The majority of the year's defaults, however, consisted of non-investment grade issuers (93%).
'Despite the intensity of the economic downturn, Fitch's corporate ratings continued to exhibit a strong ability to differentiate default risk' said Mariarosa Verde, Managing Director of Fitch Credit Market Research.
The default rate across Fitch rated investment grade issuers was 0.24% in 2009 while the non-investment grade default rate was 8.91%.
Fitch's new study provides data and analysis on the performance of Fitch's global corporate ratings in 2009 and over the long term, capturing the period 1990-2009. The report provides summary statistics on the year's key rating transition and default trends.
The study is titled 'Fitch Ratings Global Corporate Finance 2009 Transition and Default Study' and is available on Fitch's web site under 'Credit Market Research'.
NYSE Liffe Lists Further 25 Futures Contracts On MSCI Indices On Bclear
March 17, 2010--NYSE Liffe, the European based derivatives business of NYSE Euronext (NYX), announced the launch today of twenty four new futures contracts on MSCI indices on its pioneering wholesale service, Bclear.
The twenty four MSCI indices are widely used by asset managers as benchmarks of market performance in Europe.
David Brierwood, Chief Operating Officer of MSCI Barra, said: “We are delighted to license additional MSCI indices to NYSE Liffe for the creation of futures contracts on Bclear, and believe these industry group indices complement the existing 13 futures contracts linked to MSCI regional and country indices.”
Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey Finds Growing Optimism in Global Economic Outlook
Fear Over Banks Holds Back Equity Recovery
March 17, 2010--Investors are at their most optimistic about the global economy since December 2005, according to the Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for March. However, the prolonged banking crisis seems to be stopping them from putting cash into equities.
For the first time in more than three years, investors do not predict lower global economic growth over the next 12 months. Renewed optimism about China's economy lies at the heart of this revival. Just two months ago, a net 70 percent of respondents thought China's economy would worsen in the year ahead. That figure fell to a net 1 percent this month.
At the same time, risk appetite has dropped with investor pessimism toward banks at a record high. A net 48 percent of asset allocators said they are underweight banks this month, up from a net 39 percent in February. A total of 22 percent said they are aggressively underweight banks, versus 17 percent in February. Respondents are noticeably bearish about Japanese and eurozone equities.
"March's survey shows signs that investors want to believe in an economic recovery. However, caution on banks is firmly capping risk appetite," said Gary Baker, Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch co-head of international investment strategy. "How investors resolve this anomaly between growth optimism and risk reluctance will determine the fate of equity markets this spring," said Michael Hartnett, Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch co-head of international investment strategy.
Out of Equities, Into Safe Havens Risk appetite in equities took a marked downward turn in March despite the improved economic outlook. Respondents say they have reduced their equity exposure in the past month while increasing cash holdings and fixed-income investments.
