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Gold tumbles, down 3%, after Bernanke comment
February 29, 2012--Gold fell 3 percent on Wednesday for its biggest one-day drop in 2-1/2 months, as a dollar rally following U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment on an encouraging job recovery prompted funds to heavily unwind bullish bets.
Bullion fell as much as $80 from its session high, as losses began to snowball at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) when the dollar accelerated gains after Bernanke said the decline in U.S. gunemployment rate has surprised economists. However, he added that job market was still "far from normal.
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Source: Moneycontrol.com
Wisdom Tree files with the SEC
February 29, 2012--Wisdom Tree has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC. This Post-Effective Amendment No. 98 relates solely to the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund.
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Source: SEC.gov
Columbia Management Investment files with the SEC
February 29, 2012--Columbia Management Investment has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the Columbia Concentrated
Large Cap Value Strategy Fund (GVT).
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
FIA Task Force Issues Initial Recommendations For Enhancing Customer Funds Protections
February 29, 2012--INITIAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CUSTOMER FUNDS PROTECTION
The Futures Industry Association (FIA) Futures Markets Financial Integrity Task Force (Task Force) has released the following initial recommendations for the protection of
customer funds. The recommendations were prepared by the Financial Management Committee (Committee), whose members include representatives of FIA member firms, derivatives clearing organizations and depository institutions.
To enhance transparency to customers and the appropriate regulatory authorities, the
Committee is recommending that futures commission merchants (FCMs) provide customers with increased disclosure with respect to the relevant provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (Act) and the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) regarding the protection of customer funds. Further, the Committee is
recommending that FCMs undertake additional reporting obligations. Specifically, each FCM should be required to submit to its designated self-regulatory organization (DSRO): (i)
daily the computation of segregation requirements in accordance with Commission Rule 1.32; and (ii) twice monthly a report on the investment of customer funds in accordance with
Commission Rule 1.25. The balance of the Committee’s recommendations, in general, reflects best practices that FCMs represented on the Committee currently follow.
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Source: FIA
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress
February 29, 2012--Chairman Bachus, Ranking Member Frank, and other members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the Federal Reserve's semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. I will begin with a discussion of current economic conditions and the outlook and then turn to monetary policy.
The Economic Outlook
The recovery of the U.S. economy continues, but the pace of expansion has been uneven and modest by historical standards. After minimal gains in the first half of last year, real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 2-1/4 percent annual rate in the second half.1 The limited information available for 2012 is consistent with growth proceeding, in coming quarters, at a pace close to or somewhat above the pace that was registered during the second half of last year.
We have seen some positive developments in the labor market. Private payroll employment has increased by 165,000 jobs per month on average since the middle of last year, and nearly 260,000 new private-sector jobs were added in January. The job gains in recent months have been relatively widespread across industries. In the public sector, by contrast, layoffs by state and local governments have continued. The unemployment rate hovered around 9 percent for much of last year but has moved down appreciably since September, reaching 8.3 percent in January. New claims for unemployment insurance benefits have also moderated.
view the Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, February 29, 2012
Source: FRB
Market Vectors Lowers Investor Expenses for RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF (HAP)
February 29, 2012--Market Vectors ETFs announced that it is contractually lowering the expense cap of its Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF (ticker: ticker:NYSEArca:HAP - News), effective today. Investors in these funds will pay lower fees as a result of these reductions.
The HAP expense cap was lowered from 0.59% to 0.49%. This reduced expense limitation is capped contractually until at least May 1, 2013. As is typically the case, interest expense and certain other expenses are excluded from the expense cap. The gross expense ratio for the fund is 0.63%.
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Source: Van Eck
Preliminary Report On Foreign Holdings Of U.S. Securities At End-June 2011
February 29, 2012--Preliminary data from a survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities at the end of June 2011 were released today. Final survey results, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the preliminary data, will be reported on April 30, 2012.
The survey was undertaken jointly by Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The next survey will cover holdings at the end of June 2012; preliminary data are expected to be released by February 28, 2013.
Complementary surveys measuring U.S. holdings of foreign securities are also carried out annually. Data from the most recent survey, reporting on securities held at year-end 2011, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by August 31, 2012.
Overall Preliminary Results The survey measured foreign holdings of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2011, to be $12,520 billion, with $3,906 billion held in U.S. equities, $7,733 billion in U.S. long-term debt securities1 (of which $1,141 billion are holdings of asset-backed securities (ABS) 2 and $6,593 billion are holdings of non-ABS securities), and $881 billion held in U.S. short-term debt securities. The previous survey, conducted as of June 30, 2010, measured total foreign holdings of U.S. securities at $10,691 billion, with holdings of $2,814 billion in U.S. equities, $6,921 billion in U.S. long-term debt securities, and $956 billion in U.S. short-term debt securities (see Table 1).
Revisions to the Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities Table
A revised table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities was also released at (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/ticsec2.aspx, on line 1 of Part A). This revised table is based on the June 2011 survey data, but also includes new data on holdings of Treasury bonds and notes at the end of September 2011 and December 2011 as reported on the new Treasury International Capital Form SLT, "Aggregate Holdings of Long-Term Securities by U.S. and Foreign Residents." This inclusion of new data in the Major Foreign Holders table differs from past practice, where the Major Foreign Holders table was constructed based upon the June survey data and subsequently included monthly transactions data on foreign net purchases of long-term Treasuries until the next survey data were available.
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Source: US Department of the Treasury
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
February 28, 2012--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:
The unitholders of Whiterock REIT (TSX:WRK.UN) have accepted the cash and share takeover offer from Dundee REIT (TSX:D.UN).
Whiterock REIT will be removed from the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index after the close of Monday, March 5, 2012.
The shareholders of Grande Cache Coal Corporation (TSX:GCE) have accepted the $CDN10.00 cash per share offer from Winsway Coking Coal Holdings Ltd. (HKSE:1733). Grande Cache will be removed from the S&P/TSX Composite and Capped Composite, the S&P/TSX Equity and Capped Equity, the S&P/TSX Completion and Equity Completion, the S&P/TSX SmallCap and Equity SmallCap, the S&P/TSX Global Mining, Global Base Metals and Equal Weight Global Base Metals, the S&P/TSX Composite Equal Weight, the S&P/TSX Capped Materials and the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Indices effective after the close of Friday, March 2, 2012.
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 & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
February 28, 2012--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:
The Toronto Stock Exchange announced today in the Daily Bulletin that the shares of Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. (TSXVN:QRM) will graduate to trade on TSX at the open of trading on Thursday, March 1, 2012.
The ticker symbol will remain "QRM" and the CUSIP number will remain 74836T 10 1. The company will be removed from the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index after the close of trading on Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Quest Rare Minerals is also a constituent of the S&P/TSX Venture Select Index. The company will be removed from this index effective after the close of Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at which time it will be listed on TSX.
The company is also a constituent of the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index. According to methodology, it will remain in this index while trading on TSX until the next semi-annual review of the index in August, 2012.
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 & Poor's
State Street Global Advisors Launches New Emerging Markets and Global Equity SPDR Exchange Traded Funds
February 28, 2012--State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), today announced that the SPDR(R) MSCI EM 50 ETF (symbol:EMFT) and the SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI ETF (symbol:ACIM) began trading on the NYSE Arca on February 28, 2012.
The new SPDR ETFs are designed to provide investors with an opportunity to tap into the growth potential of emerging market and international equities.
The SPDR MSCI EM 50 ETF seeks to track the performance of the MSCI EM 50 Index. The Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization- weighted index that includes 50 of the largest MSCI Emerging Markets Index constituents. To enhance liquidity, the Index applies eligibility screens that exclude smaller emerging market countries and replaces constituent securities for selected markets with depositary receipts. The SPDR MSCI EM 50 ETF expense ratio is 0.50%.
"Against a backdrop of a reduction in emerging market equity values in 2011, the asset class now offers a more attractive entry," said James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors. "The launch of the SPDR MSCI EM 50 ETF enhances our emerging market SPDR ETF offering and provides investors with very precise access to a well-established index."
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Source: State Street Global Advisors
