Global ETF News Older than One Year
Gold falls 3 percent as dollar surges versus euro
December 18, 2009--Gold prices fell 3 percent in Europe on Thursday, pressured by the dollar's rise to 3-1/2 month highs against the euro as new concerns emerged over Greece's fiscal health.
A statement by the Federal Reserve, in which it voiced growing optimism on the U.S. economy after it left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, also supported the dollar.
Spot gold was bid at $1,104.10 an ounce at 1654 GMT (11:54 a.m. EST), against $1,137.80 late in New York on Wednesday. Earlier it touched a low of $1,102.90.
"We had the downgrading of Greece, and that is putting a bit of tension back into the euro," said Ole Hansen, senior manager at Saxo Bank.
Source: Reuters
CFTC Montly Bank Participation Report
December 2009-Futures
Source: CFTC
Deutsche Bank to ‘globalise’ bonus pain
“We will clearly globalise it,” Josef Ackermann, Deutsche’s chief executive, told the Financial Times, in remarks that risk angering staff outside London. “If parts [of the cost of the tax] are paid out of the bonus pool, we would seek to globalise it. It would be unfair to treat the UK bankers differently.”
Source: FT.com
U.S. International Reserve Position
I. Official reserve assets and other foreign currency assets (approximate market value, in US millions)
December 17, 2009--These monthly reports list commodities and U.S. and foreign banks active in the futures and options markets.
December 17, 2009--Deutsche Bank will spread the pain of Britain’s controversial supertax on bankers’ bonuses among its staff around the world, becoming the first leading international group to spell out how it will deal with the financial hit.
December 17, 2009--The Treasury Department today released U.S. reserve assets data for the latest week. As indicated in this table, U.S. reserve assets totaled $135,827 million as of the end of that week, compared to $136,431 million as of the end of the prior week.
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December 11, 2009 |
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A. Official reserve assets (in US millions unless otherwise specified) 1 |
Euro |
Yen |
Total |
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(1) Foreign currency reserves (in convertible foreign currencies) |
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135,827 |
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(a) Securities |
10,396 |
14,576 |
24,972 |
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of which: issuer headquartered in reporting country but located abroad |
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0 |
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(b) total currency and deposits with: |
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(i) other national central banks, BIS and IMF |
15,042 |
7,100 |
22,142 |
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ii) banks headquartered in the reporting country |
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0 |
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of which: located abroad |
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0 |
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(iii) banks headquartered outside the reporting country |
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0 |
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of which: located in the reporting country |
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0 |
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(2) IMF reserve position 2 |
13,721 |
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(3) SDRs 2 |
58,672 |
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(4) gold (including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped) 3 |
11,041 |
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--volume in millions of fine troy ounces |
261.499 |
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(5) other reserve assets (specify) |
5,278 |
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--financial derivatives |
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--loans to nonbank nonresidents |
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--other (foreign currency assets invested through reverse repurchase agreements) |
5,278 |
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B. Other foreign currency assets (specify) |
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--securities not included in official reserve assets |
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--deposits not included in official reserve assets |
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--loans not included in official reserve assets |
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--financial derivatives not included in official reserve assets |
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--gold not included in official reserve assets |
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--other |
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Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Leaders set for 'insufficient' climate change deal
December 17, 2009--A global deal to address climate change is likely to be agreed today but the commitments it contains on cutting greenhouse gases will fall short of the minimum target set by the UN’s science body.
The European Union is preparing to increase its commitment on cutting emissions as part of an endgame at the Copenhagen summit which will see other countries making similar concessions.
A pledge yesterday by the United States to contribute to a $100 billion (£60 billion) annual climate protection fund appeared to have won sufficient support from developing countries, which are desperate not to walk away empty-handed from the summit.
Source: Timeson-line
ETF Landscape: Industry Review - November 2009
December 17, 2009--This report is a review of the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) industry through the end of October 2009.
At the end of October 2009 the global ETF industry had 1,859 ETFs with 3,327 listings and assets of US$941.85, from 97 providers on 40 exchanges around the world.
Source: Source: ETF Research and Implementation Strategy Team, Blackrock
Could the wisdom of crowds help investor and regulator madness on governance and ownership?
An anonymous survey of investor concerns might be the basis for neutral dialogue to prevent future systemic crises.
December 16, 2009--Charles Mackay’s 1841 classic book: ‘Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds’, has been a staple for readers – notably financiers – interested in some of the biggest – and strangest – societal neuroses in recent centuries. Alongside a fascinating chapter on the ‘Influence of politics and religion on the hair and beard’ (bear with me), there are accounts of the wildest and most damaging historical financial speculations: Tulipomania in 17th century Holland, the South Sea bubble in 18th century England and the Mississippi Scheme of 1720 in which Scots rogue, John Law, bankrupted the French state and many of its citizens with promises of riches in the Americas.
The book records the seemingly inexorable link between greed, folly and herd mentality; all present and correct in our latest financial breakdown to such devastating affect. Re-reading Mackay got me thinking about the practical, tangible responses of regulators and institutional investors to the credit crunch to try and ensure it doesn’t happen again. Amidst the political and public clamour for resolution, I wondered if there had actually been any action yet, outside of short-term banker bonus hysteria? Are we doomed to relive the same calamitous bubble manias over and over again, and can we afford to? The answer to the last question should, I hope, be no, with the caveat that financial bubbles are probably unavoidable.
Link to the report: Credit Crisis, Business as Usual for Institutional Investors?
Source: Responsible Investor
Dow Jones Indexes Wins 18th Award for its Islamic Market Index Series
December 16, 2009--Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced that it has been named “Best Index Provider Shari’ah compliant Indexes” by Dubai-based Islamic Business & Finance magazine.
The Islamic Business & Finance awards are designed to inspire and reward excellence in Islamic business and finance globally.
“2009 marks the tenth anniversary of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes and we proudly look back on a remarkable decade of leading-edge index innovation and excellence. Market participants globally have chosen our superior and unique Islamic indexes to be the standard for Shari’ah compliant indexing. We are honored to conclude this commemorative year with this prestigious award. We remain committed to provide meaningful, new Islamic indexes in the years to come,” said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes.
Award winners are based on votes of readers of Islamic Business & Finance via its website http://www.cpifinancial.net. The published short list of nominees is initially created by an independent board of advisors based on achievements over the last year of business.
The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes were introduced in 1999 as the first indexes intended to measure the global universe of investable equities that pass screens for Shari’ah compliance. With more than 100 indexes, the series is the most comprehensive family of Islamic market measures and includes regional, country, and industry indexes, all of which are subsets of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index. An independent Shari’ah Supervisory Board counsels Dow Jones Indexes on matters related to the compliance of index-eligible companies.
In the past 6 years, the Dow Jones Islamic Market index series has won industry awards by organizations, research institutions and magazines around the world; amongst them are the International Islamic Finance Forum, the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum, the Islamic Center of Southern California, Global Finance magazine, Incisive Media and Islamic Finance News.
There are currently more than 150 licensees with more than US$7 billion in assets benchmarked to the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes. For more information on the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes, please visit http://www.djindexes.com.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Two Sectors Dominated the List of Defaults in October 2009
December 16, 2009--October 2009’s list of defaults is dominated by two sectors that have been seriously troubled since the recession began--financial institutions and media. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services saw only 14 companies in October that were unable to meet their debt obligations. But despite that low monthly total, these companies had $24.1 billion in bad debt, bringing the year to date total to $572.7 billion.
Designed for credit risk professionals, Loss Trends Monthly provides insight into default and recovery data trends across various sectors and regions. The default and recovery data included in the report is based on preliminary dollar estimates from Standard & Poor’s Risk Solutions’ CreditPro®
Source: Standard & Poors
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
Decdember 15, 2009--Standard & Poor's Canadian Index Operations announces the following index changes:
Eldorado Gold Corporation (TSX:ELD) has announced the successful completion of a scheme of arrangement under Australian law whereby it will acquire all the shares of Sino Gold Mining Limited (ASX:SGX).
Shareholders of Sino Gold will receive 0.55 shares of Eldorado for each share of Sino Gold held. The relative weight of Eldorado will increase in the S&P/TSX Composite and Capped Composite, the S&P/TSX 60, 60 Capped and Equity 60, the S&P/TSX Equity and Capped Equity, the S&P/TSX Capped Materials, the S&P/TSX Global Gold and the S&P/TSX Global Mining indices to reflect the issuance of new shares as part of the transaction, which will be effective after the close of trading on Friday, December 18, 2009.
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
Source: Standard & Poors
