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Treasury International Capital Data for January
March 15, 2012--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for January 2012. The next release, which will report on data for February 2012, is scheduled for April 16, 2012.
Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in January – net purchases were $94.7 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $60.8 billion, and net purchases by foreign official institutions were $34.0 billion.
At the same time, U.S. residents decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $6.3 billion.
Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, the net foreign purchases of long-term securities were $101.0 billion. After including adjustments, such as estimates of unrecorded principal payments to foreigners on U.S. asset-backed securities, the overall net foreign acquisition of long-term securities is estimated to have been $84.4 billion in January.
Foreigners decreased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $36.9 billion. Foreign holdings of all dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities and other custody liabilities decreased by $34.1 billion.
Banks’ own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents decreased by $31.5 billion.
In sum, the net foreign acquisition of long-term securities, the change in foreign holdings of short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows yielded monthly net TIC inflows of $18.8 billion. Of this, net foreign private inflows were $13.5 billion, and net foreign official inflows were $5.3 billion.
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Source: US Department of the Treasury
Columbia Management Investment Advisers files with the SEC
March 15, 2012--Columbia Management Investment Advisers has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the Columbia ETF Trust.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
Swaps Industry Debates Bankruptcy Code Fix to Protect Customers
March 15, 2012--Derivatives industry executives and a U.S. regulator differed over whether to change the bankruptcy code to protect customers from sharing in losses from a brokerage failure.
CME Group Inc. (CME) has backed a plan to allow pension funds and other big asset managers to deal directly with a clearinghouse rather than with a bank brokerage to avoid customers being caught in bankruptcy proceedings that can result in clients losing money, said Tim Doar, a managing director at the world’s biggest futures exchange. A simpler solution to this problem would be to change the U.S. bankruptcy laws, said Dan Maguire, head of U.S. operations for LCH.Clearnet Ltd’s Swap Clear service.
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Source: Bloomberg Business Week
Quebec and Ontario regulators moving closer to approving Maple bid for TMX Group
March 15, 2012--Securities regulators in Quebec and Ontario are moving closer to approving a takeover offer for the company that operates the Toronto Stock Exchange by the Maple Group consortium of financial institutions.
The Autorite des marches financiers said it intends to approve the transaction, saying Maple has provided commitments that it believes will maintain the integrity and efficiency of the financial markets as well as the continuity of derivatives operations in Quebec.
"We're satisfied with the results of discussions to date with Maple and with the scope of the undertakings that Maple will be required to provide," said regulator CEO Mario Albert.
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Source: CTV.CA
BMO ETFs Surpass $5 Billion in Assets Under Management in Under Three Years
Assets under management have grown more than 30 per cent in first two months of 2012
BMO ETFs led Canadian ETF industry in growth in 2011; ranked #1 in customer loyalty
BMO ETFs growth being driven by fixed income, strategic non-indexed and yield-oriented equity ETF offerings
March 14, 2012--BMO ETF Report: new product offerings, innovation and price competition will drive industry growth in 2012
First introduced in 2009, BMO Financial Group's ETF business under BMO Asset Management Inc. (BMO AM) has grown to 44 funds.
"Our growth can be attributed to the strength of our team, a commitment to ongoing product innovation and our ability to draw on the strength and stability of the BMO brand," said Kevin Gopaul, Vice President and CIO, BMO AM. "We are delighted that the success we had in 2011 has carried over into this year as well."
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Source: BMO Financial Group
State Street US ETF Snapshot: February 2012
March 14, 2012--SNAPSHOT OVERVIEW
1,231 Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)—with assets totaling $1,183BN—were managed by 36 ETF managers as of February 29, 2012.
Month over month, ETF assets increased by more than $44BN, up 3.9%.
2012 Investment Themes
◦As a result of commitments from the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England to maintain a low rate environment, investors around the globe will continue to face the need to generate income in their portfolios. In addition, with significant headwinds rippling through the Eurozone and other developed markets, emerging markets can expand the opportunity set for investors seeking growth.
For more on this please see our SPDR® ETF 2012 Investment Themes featured on www.spdru.com.
•State Street recently launched two new ETFs that track innovative MSCI® Equity Indices.
SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI ETF [ACIM]: Click here for complete product information.
◦SPDR MSCI EM 50 ETF [EMFT]: Click here for complete product information.
•For more information, including product fact sheets and related whitepapers, visit www.spdrs.com.
ETF Industry Detail
Asset Classes — Overall
The S&P 500® gained 4.3% while the MSCI EAFE® increased 5.7%. Commodities were positive, with the S&P® GSCI® up 6.1% and Gold rising 1.5%. U.S. Bonds were slightly negative with the Barclays U.S. Treasury Index losing 0.7% while the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index was essentially flat.
FLOWS
ETF flows nearly topped $12BN in February. The International - Emerging category had the most significant inflows with $4.6BN entering the category. The Size - Large Cap category had $4.8BN in outflows, a reverse from the $4.8BN in inflows it had in January.
Manager and Fund Detail
The top three managers in the US ETF marketplace were: BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. Collectively, they account for approximately 83% of the US listed ETF market.
The top three ETFs in terms of dollar volume traded for the month were the SPDR® S&P 500 [SPY], iShares Russell 2000 [IWM] and PowerShares QQQ [QQQ].
The top three ETFs in terms of assets for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], SPDR Gold Shares [GLD] and Vanguard Emerging Markets [VWO].
For more information visit www.spdrs.com
Source: State Street Global Advisors
Dow Jones Indexes To Launch Dow Jones Pring U.S. Business Cycle Index
New Index Designed to Reflect Martin J. Pring's Proprietary Investment Strategy, Tactically Rebalancing Asset Classes Based on U.S. Economic Business Cycle
March 14, 2012--Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced the launch of the Dow Jones Pring U.S. Business Cycle Index, a gauge designed in collaboration with Pring Research to reflect its proprietary investment strategy that tactically allocates among stock, bond, commodity and cash segments based on the phase of the economic business cycle.
The index will closely track the investment strategy developed by Pring Research’s Principal and President, Martin J. Pring, an award-winning author who has devised a rules-based methodology with the goal of achieving higher risk-adjusted returns relative to multi-asset or “blended” benchmarks.
“In building this new index with Pring Research’s proprietary investment strategy at its core, we have created a unique tool for measuring an investment strategy that dynamically changes the mix of several asset classes depending on the current stage of the U.S. economic business cycle,” said Dow Jones Indexes’ President, Michael A. Petronella.
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Source: Dow Jones Indexes
CFE and CBOE to Launch Futures and Options on Crude Oil ETF Volatility Index
EXPANSION OF TRADABLE VOLATILITY INDEX PRODUCTS
March 14, 2012--CBOE Holdings, Inc., announced today that Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) will each launch a new volatility index product based on the CBOE Crude Oil ETF Volatility Index (OVX) in coming weeks.
CBOE Crude Oil ETF Volatility Index security futures (OV) will begin trading on CFE on Monday, March 26, and options on the OVX Index will begin trading on CBOE on Tuesday, April 10.
OVX Index products, based on listed options prices of the United States Oil Fund, LP (USO) — the ninth most-actively-traded ETF options contract in the U.S. last year — will allow traders to hedge volatility risk associated with crude oil futures prices.
CBOE began disseminating values on the OVX Index in 2008. The OVX Index calculation is derived from applying CBOE's VIX® methodology to the prices of CBOE-listed options on USO.
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Source: CBOE
CBOE Introduces "VIX of VIX" Benchmark Index: Provides a Gauge for Measuring Volatility of the VIX Index Itself
March 14, 2012--The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced today that it began publishing values for the CBOE "VIX of VIX" Index (ticker: VVIX(SM)) this morning.
As its name implies, the CBOE's VIX of VIX Index tracks the volatility of the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX Index), the world's most widely-followed market volatility index.
"Volatility traders are intrigued with the ability to formulate new strategies based on the relationship between the VIX Index and the volatility of the VIX Index," CBOE Chairman and CEO William J. Brodsky said. "The fact that our customers were looking for a way to measure the volatility of the VIX shows just how far the VIX Index has come. We're thrilled to introduce a product that tracks the volatility of the world's most- watched volatility index."
VVIX reflects the market's consensus of expected volatility of the 30-day forward price of the VIX Index and provides new information for investors looking to formulate trading strategies based on the relationship between the VIX® Index and the volatility of the VIX Index.
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Source: CBOE
CFTC to Hold Open Meeting to Consider One Final Rule
March 13, 2012--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, March 20, 2012, at 9:30 a.m., to consider one Final Rule: Customer Clearing Documentation, Timing of Acceptance for Clearing, and Clearing Member Risk Management.
What: Open meeting to consider one final rule under the Dodd-Frank Act
Where: CFTC Headquarters Conference center, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20851
When: Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 9:30 a.m.
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Source: CFTC.gov
