Global ETF News Older than One Year
Investors and stock exchanges discuss ESG listings ‘comply or explain’ at UN headquarters
UNCTAD backs PRI calls for ESG exchange disclosure.
November 4, 2009--UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon, this week kicked off a high-level meeting at the UN headquarters in New York between major institutional investors including the Norwegian Global Pension Fund and France’s national pensions reserve fund (FRR) and global stock exchange executives in New York to look at ways of tightening up environmental, social and governance criteria for company listings.
Among discussion topics at the UNPRI-organised event, was the introduction of a ‘comply or explain’ requirement for companies to put an annual sustainability report to a shareholder vote at their annual general meetings.
Some countries already oblige companies to include a description of their corporate responsibility activities and practices in their Annual Reports or, if there are none, a make statement to this effect.
Speakers at the UN event included Serge Harry, executive vice president and deputy head of strategy at NYSE Euronext, Paul Abberley, chief executive at Aviva Investors and Peter Clifford of the World Federation of Stock Exchanges.
Abberley said he hoped the event would be “catalytic” in promoting more sustainable business behaviour. Aviva called last year for a debate on how listing authorities could promote corporate transparency.
Source: Responsible Investor
Semi-Annual Changes to the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index
October 4, 2009--On Monday, November 2nd, NASDAQ OMX and CRD Analytics, LLC announced the results of the semi-annual evaluation of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index (QCRD).
CRD Analytics screens more than 3,000 global corporations across all sectors for over 200 financial and ESG performance metrics to rank the companies in the index. "This larger universe led to an almost 50% turnover in the top 50 leaders, attributable to better disclosure from firms adopting the Global Reporting Initiative G3 Guidelines and the increase in asset managers and owners signing the U.N. Principles for Responsible Investing," said Michael Muyot, CRD Analytics President.
QCRD is an equally weighted equity index that serves as a benchmark for stocks of companies that are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting and are traded on a major U.S. stock exchange.
"This Index ensures that investors can track a relevant benchmark that is comprised of high performing companies that are committed to environmental, social and governance issues," said John Jacobs, NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President.
The Index is comprised of companies that comprehensively disclose their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, workforce diversity, management composition and community investing. Securities of component companies must also meet other eligibility criteria, including minimum requirements for market value, average daily share volume and price.
For more information on the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, including a list of companies in the Index, please contact Rob Hughes at +1 212 401 8987 or Robert.hughes@nasdaqomx.com.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
CME Group Volume Averaged 10.8 Million Contracts per Day in October 2009, Up 2 Percent from September 2009
Highest first month of a quarter volume to date in 2009
- Double-digit year-over-year growth in FX, energy and metals
- Highest monthly energy and metals volumes to date in 2009
- Record non-roll month average daily notional value traded in FX of $99 billion
- Best year-over-year performance to date in 2009 for interest rates
November 3, 2009--CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that October volume averaged 10.8 million contracts per day, down 13 percent from October 2008, but up 2 percent from September 2009. Total volume was 237 million contracts for October, of which 82 percent was traded electronically, and represented the highest first month of a quarter volume to date in 2009.
Electronic volume averaged 8.9 million contracts per day, down 11 percent from the prior October, but up 3 percent compared with September 2009. Average daily volume cleared through CME ClearPort was 559,000 contracts for October 2009, up 16 percent compared with October 2008, and up 14 percent sequentially. CME Group year-to-date volume through October averaged 10.3 million contracts per day.
In October, CME Group interest rate volume demonstrated the best year-over-year growth so far in 2009, averaging 4.5 million contracts per day, down only 2 percent compared with October 2008, but up 2 percent compared with the prior month. Eurodollar futures volume averaged 1.8 million contracts per day, up 4 percent versus October 2008, and Treasury futures volume averaged 1.8 million contracts per day, up 12 percent compared with the same period a year ago. CME Group equity index volume averaged 2.8 million contracts per day, down 43 percent compared with October 2008. CME Group foreign exchange (FX) volume experienced its highest non-roll month to date in 2009, up 33 percent compared with the prior October to average 747,000 contracts per day, reflecting average daily notional value of approximately $99 billion, a record for a non-roll month.
Source: CME Group
Gold steadies $1,040/oz, ETF holdings dip 0.915 T
November 1, 2009--Gold prices steadied above $1,040 per ounce on Monday, with its upside capped by a firmer dollar, which reduces the precious metal's allure as an alternative asset.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was almost flat at $1,044.35 per ounce at 0003 GMT, compared to New York's notional close of $1,044.40.
* It hit a three-week low of $1,025.75 last week.
Source: Reuters
ETF Landscape: Industry Review, end of Q3 2009
November 2, 2009--Highlights
Current ETF and ETP Landscape, as at end Q3 2009
Global ETF assets have hit an all time high of US$933 Bn at the end of Q3 2009 – 4.8% above the previous all time high of US$891 Bn set in August 2009.
At the end of Q3 2009 the Global ETF industry had 1,819 ETFs .with 3,247 listings, assets of $933.49 Bn, from 96 providers on 40
exchanges around the world.
YTD assets have risen by 31.3% which is more than the 22.5% rise in the MSCI World index in US dollar terms.
YTD the number of ETFs increased by 14.3% with 295 new ETFs launched, while 72 ETFs were closed.
.In 2009 the number of ETFs listed in Europe has surpassed the US launched. with 783 ETFs listed in Europe, compared to 721 in the US.
There are currently plans to launch 811 new ETFs.
YTD the number of exchanges with official listings decreased by three to 40.
YTD the average daily trading volume in US dollars decreased by 21.8% to US$63.0 Bn.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) ranks first in terms of ETF AUM tied to their benchmarks with assets of US$220.83 Bn and 227 ETFs, while MSCI ranks second with US$214.80 Bn and 262 ETFs, followed by Barclays Capital in third with US$77.64 Bn and 62 ETFs.
Globally, iShares is the largest ETF provider in terms of both number of products, 403 ETFs, and assets of US$451.87 Bn, reflecting 48.4% market share; State Street Global Advisors is second with 106 products and US$138.32 Bn, 14.8% market share; followed by Vanguard with 40 products and assets of US$77.15 Bn and 8.3% market share at the end of Q3 2009
Globally, net sales of mutual funds (excluding ETFs) were US$155.2 Bn, while net sales of ETFs were US$76.8 Bn during the first eight months of 2009 according to Strategic Insight.
Over the five year market cycle from mid-year 2004 to mid-year 2009, S&P 500 outperformed 63.0% of actively managed large-cap funds, S&P MidCap 400 outperformed 73.5% of mid-cap funds and S&P SmallCap 600 outperformed 67.7% of small-cap funds. The script was similar for non-US equity funds, in which indices outperformed a majority of actively managed non-US equity funds over the past five years.1
Additionally, there were 568 other Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) with assets of US$105.87 Bn from 39 providers on 19 exchanges.
Combined, there were 2,387 products with 4,083 listings, assets of US$1,039.35 Bn from 122 providers on 43 exchanges around the world at the end of Q3 2009.
Source: ETF Research and Implementation Strategy , BGI
Semi-Annual Changes to the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index
November 2, 2009--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
(Nasdaq:NDAQ) and CRD Analytics, LLC announced today the results of the
semi-annual evaluation of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50
Index (Nasdaq:QCRD), which will become effective with the market open
on Monday, November 2, 2009.
The following 23 securities will be added to the Index: Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX), AXA (NYSE:AXA), Astrazeneca PLC (NYSE:AZN), BHP Billiton PLC (NYSE:BHP), The Bank Of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS), British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (NYSE:BSY), BT Group PLC (NYSE:BT), Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB), Reed Elsevier PLC (NYSE:ENL), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE:GSK), Johnson Controls, Inc. (NYSE:JCI), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE:MRK), Potash Corp. Of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE:POT), Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE:RDS.A), The Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY), SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), Siemens AG (NYSE:SI), Banco Santander SA (NYSE:STD), Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF), and Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL).
As a result of the evaluation, the following securities will be removed from the Index: Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A), Companhia de Bebidas das Americas - AmBev (NYSE:ABV), Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL), The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL), Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT), BHP Billiton plc (NYSE:BBL), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Diageo plc (NYSE:DEO), Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT), Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT), Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq:ORCL), ProLogis (NYSE:PLD), Schlumberger N.V. (NYSE:SLB), Total, S.A. (NYSE:TOT), and UBS AG (NYSE:UBS).
The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index is an equally weighted equity index that serves as a benchmark for stocks of companies that are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting and are traded on a major US stock exchange. The Index is comprised of companies that are most comprehensively disclosing their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, workforce diversity, management composition and community investing. These are companies that are voluntarily disclosing their current environmental, social and governance risks as well as their revenue opportunities and how it will affect future performance. Securities of component companies must also meet other eligibility criteria, including minimum requirements for market value, average daily share volume, and price. The Index components are evaluated on a semi-annual basis in the beginning of May and November. To access more information about the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, including a list of companies in the Index and detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/data.aspx?IndexSymbol=QCRD&menuIndex=0.
"This development ensures that investors can track a relevant benchmark that is comprised of high performing companies that are committed to environmental, social and governance issues," said NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President John Jacobs. "With the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, CRD Analytics and NASDAQ OMX are leading the push towards sustainable investing."
"The reconstitution of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index comes at a critical and pivotal point in the Investment environment," said Michael Muyot, CRD Analytics President. "CRD analytics now screens over 3,000 global corporations across all sectors for over 200 financial and ESG performance metrics. This larger universe led to an almost 50% turnover in the top 50 leaders, attributable to better disclosure from firms adopting the Global Reporting Initiative G3 Guidelines and the increase in asset managers and owners signing the U.N. Principles for Responsible Investing."
"It has become very competitive to stay within the top 50," Muyot added. "Those companies that publicly disclose before September 30th with real quantitative information are better positioned for sustainable, risk-adjusted performance. Companies with higher sustainability scores using a rule-based methodology make them more attractive to the investment community that is increasingly looking for better investment analysis of risks and opportunities."
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Average Daily Volume of 10.4 Million Contracts at Eurex and ISE in October
November 2, 2009--At the international derivatives markets of Eurex, an average daily volume of 10.4 million contracts was traded in October 2009; y-o-y the figure was 14.3 million due to the turbulence of the financial crisis. This year’s figure splits into 6.4 million contracts traded at Eurex (Oct 2008: 9.9 million) and 4.0 million contracts were traded at the International Securities Exchange (ISE) (Oct 2008: 4.4 million). In October, a total of 228.8 million contracts were traded on both exchanges, thereof Eurex with 141.6 million and ISE with 87.2 million, compared with 226.6 million contracts at Eurex and 102.0 million at ISE y-o-y.
At Eurex, the equity index derivatives segment recorded the highest turnover, totaling 67.4 million contracts (Oct 2008: 140.0 million). Thereof, 27.3 million contracts were traded in the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50® index future and 25.7 million contracts in the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 index option. The DAX® index future and option saw a combined volume of 12.5 million contracts. Trading volume in equity derivatives (equity options and single stock futures) accounted for 29.9 million contracts compared with 34.1 million in October 2008. The segment dividend futures continued to grow and totaled more than 310,000 contracts.
The interest rate derivatives segment reached 44.0 million contracts (Oct 2008: 52.5 million). The Euro Bund Future totaled 17.4 million contracts, the Euro Bobl Future 9.7 million contracts and the Euro Schatz Future 11.1 million contracts. The new Euro BTP future – launched on 14 September – reached already more than 97,000 contracts.
Eurex Repo, which operates CHF- and EUR repo markets, recorded an average outstanding volume of €150.0 billion (Oct 2008: €159.1 billion). The secured money market segment GC Pooling continued to grow with a rate of 47 percent y-o-y, average outstanding volume reached €75.4 billion (Oct 2008: €51.2 billion). The whole EUR Repo segment grew by 26 percent and totaled €103.0 billion (Oct 2008: €81.6 billion).
The electronic trading platform Eurex Bonds, which rounds out Eurex’s fixed-income product range, saw a volume of €7.0 billion (single counted) in October, compared with €8.1 billion in October last year and €6.5 billion in September 2009.
Source: Eurex
NYSE Euronext Announces Equity Investment in its U.S. Futures Exchange, NYSE Liffe U.S., by Leading Global Banks and Liquidity Providers
NYSE Euronext to remain the largest shareholder of NYSE Liffe U.S.-
-Anticipated to significantly enhance competitive position and liquidity-
October 30, 2009--NYSE Euronext (NYX) today announced the signing of a binding agreement with several leading global banks and liquidity providers — Citadel Securities, GETCO, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS — to sell a significant equity interest in NYSE Liffe U.S., the U.S. futures exchange of NYSE Euronext.
NYSE Euronext will remain the largest shareholder in the entity, which will bring substantial competitive and operational benefits to the marketplace.
NYSE Euronext will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of NYSE Liffe U.S., which will operate under the supervision of a separate Board of Directors, chaired by Jim McNulty, and Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Callahan. The transaction is expected to close shortly, subject to regulatory review.
"This partnership further demonstrates the commitment of NYSE Euronext to create exceptional value through innovation both for and with our customers," said Duncan L. Niederauer, Chief Executive Officer, NYSE Euronext. "Today's announcement marks an important step in achieving our goal of establishing NYSE Liffe U.S. as a highly competitive, global multi-asset exchange."
Mr. Callahan added: “NYSE Liffe U.S. will effectively compete in the U.S. futures market by delivering innovative products and services, and by leveraging the market leading technology of NYSE Euronext. I am thrilled that this group of distinguished market leaders shares our vision for innovation and efficiency, and we look forward to working with them to accelerate the growth of NYSE Liffe U.S.”
NYSE Liffe U.S. launched trading in September 2008 as a fully electronic, liquid market for 100 oz. gold futures, 5,000 oz. silver futures, options on gold and silver futures, and mini-sized 33.2 oz. gold and 1,000 oz. silver futures. The exchange expanded into equity index futures with the launch of futures on MSCI Emerging Markets, MSCI EAFE, and MSCI USA Indices in September 2009. NYSE Liffe U.S. has plans to further expand into futures on other asset classes, including U.S. interest rate products. NYSE Liffe U.S. utilizes the proven LIFFE CONNECT® trading platform designed and maintained by NYSE Technologies and used by NYSE Liffe in Europe.
The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) acts as clearing house for NYSE Liffe U.S. futures on precious metals, MSCI index futures, as well as all ETF options and index options trading on NYSE Arca, creating the opportunity for unique margin efficiencies for NYSE Euronext customers. NYSE Liffe U.S. intends to clear its U.S. interest rate futures at New York Portfolio Clearing, its innovative joint venture with DTCC designed to offer significant transparency and capital relief to major market participants by offering “single pot” margining of cash bonds and interest rate derivatives, subject to regulatory approvals.
Source: NYSE Euronext
Dow Jones Indexes and UBS Announce 2010 Weights of Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index
October 30, 2009-Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and UBS Investment Bank announced the new target weightings for the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index(SM) that will become effective in early January 2010.
The new target weights for the commodity components, which were determined and approved by the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Supervisory Committee following consultation with the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Advisory Committee, are listed below.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foregn Securities at End-Year 2008
October 30, 2009--The findings from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2008 were released today and posted on the Treasury web site at
(http://www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.html).
The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
A complementary survey measuring foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities also is conducted annually. Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2009, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 26, 2010.
Overall Results
The survey measured the value of U.S. portfolio holdings at year-end 2008 of approximately $4.3 trillion, with $2.7 trillion held in foreign equities, $1.3 trillion in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.3 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2007, measured U.S. portfolio holdings of $7.2 trillion, with $5.2 trillion held in foreign equities, $1.6 trillion in foreign long-term debt securities and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The decrease in the value of U.S. portfolio holdings between the two surveys primarily reflects valuation changes in foreign equities during 2008.
U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities by country at the end of 2008 were the largest for the United Kingdom ($647 billion), followed by Japan ($403 billion) and Canada ($378 billion) (see Table 2). These three countries attracted one-third of the total U.S. portfolio investment.
The surveys are part of an internationally-coordinated effort under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the measurement of portfolio asset holdings.
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury.
