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SEC to take another look at ETF regulation
Rule proposal would touch on active vs. index funds, transparency, flexibility and inverse leverage
March 17, 2014--The Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to dust off a rule proposal on exchange-traded funds that was first released in 2008.
"This is a rule the staff would love to do," Diane Blizzard, associate director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management, said at the Investment Company Institute’s Mutual Fund and Investment Management Conference in Orlando, Fla., on Monday. "We’re looking at issues that really weren’t addressed in '08 but are issues now."
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Source: Investment News
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
March 14, 2014--The current reports for the week of March 11, 2014 are now available.
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Source: CFTC.gov
Latin America: Increase in Number of Retirees with the Right to a Pension
March 13, 2014--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Around 11 million adults over age 65 who had been excluded from pension systems were able to receive benefits.
In Latin America there are approximately 290 million people of working age.
Fifty-five percent of them do not contribute to any pension system
One solution to this problem would be to improve labor market formality to ensure that workers make regular contributions.
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Source: World Bank
Making Mining Deliver on Development in Latin America
March 13, 2014--Mining investment has grown exponentially in Latin America over the past decade. In Peru, investment grew from $109 million in 2003 to $3.5 billion in 2013. In Colombia, from 2009 to 2012 the share of public revenues generated by mining doubled from 12% to 25%.
This influx of investment has been a welcome economic stimulant but it also poses challenges for governments to manage these investments:
responsibly, in relation to environment and communities;
transparently, in relation to revenues collected and distributed;
equitably, to stimulate local economic development and share benefits with communities.
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Source: World Bank
CFTC.gov Swaps Report Update
March 12, 2014--CFTC's Weekly Swaps Report has been updated, and is now available
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Source: CFTC.gov
Active fund managers are closet index huggers
Study finds 'closet indexing' is rife in US active funds
March 12, 2014--
How active is your fund manager, and what chance do they really have of beating the market?
These questions are linked. A crude measure of how much fund managers deviate from their benchmark can help predict which funds will outperform. That measure is "active share"- the percentage of a fund's portfolio that differs from its benchmark. Thus a well-managed index fund will have an active share of 0 and an esoteric fund that holds no stocks in its index has an active share of 100.
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Source: FT.com
SEC Proposes Rules for Systemically Important and Security-Based Swap Clearing Agencies
March 12, 2014 — The Securities and Exchange Commission voted today to propose new rules to enhance the oversight of clearing agencies that are deemed to be systemically important or that are involved in complex transactions, such as security-based swaps.
"Clearing agencies that have been designated as systemically important or that clear security-based swaps are a backbone of the U.S. financial markets," said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. "The enhanced regulatory regime proposed today reflects the importance of effective regulation of these entities."
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Source: SEC.gov
SEC Proposes Rules for Systemically Important and Security-Based Swap Clearing Agencies
March 12, 2014--The Securities and Exchange Commission voted today to propose new rules to enhance the oversight of clearing agencies that are deemed to be systemically important or that are involved in complex transactions, such as security-based swaps.
"Clearing agencies that have been designated as systemically important or that clear security-based swaps are a backbone of the U.S. financial markets," said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. "The enhanced regulatory regime proposed today reflects the importance of effective regulation of these entities."
view the Standards for Covered Clearing Agencies-proposed rule
Source: SEC.gov
Specialist ETF managers attract strong inflows
March 11, 2014-Highly sophisticated investment portfolios constructed cheaply with exchange traded funds are winning more attention from cost conscious investors and financial advisers.
A growing band of US specialists are tapping into this interest and seeing a rapid growth in assets.
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Source: FT.com
DB-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy- North America-US ETF Market Monthly Review-Equity ETPs gathered $10.7bn in fresh new cash
March 11, 2014--Market and Net Cash Flows Review
The US (S&P 500) edged higher by 1.00%; while, outside the US, the MSCI EAFE (in USD) dropped by 0.35% and the MSCI EM (USD) was flat (+0.06%). In the meantime, performance was mostly positive across US sectors. The Financials (+3.01%) and Industrials (+1.78%) sectors recorded the biggest weekly gains; while the Utilities (-1.26%) sector recorded the only decrease; The DB Liquid Commodity Index rose by 0.71%; similarly, the Agriculture sector (DB Diversified Agriculture Index) and Gold prices rose by 3.71% and 1.02%, respectively; meanwhile, the WTI Crude Oil remained roughly unchanged and Silver prices fell by 1.51%. Moving into other asset classes, the 10Y US Treasury Yield rose by 14bps ending at 2.80%.
Last but not least, Volatility (VIX) rose by 0.79% during the same period.
The total US ETP flows from all products registered $1.9bn (+0.1% of AUM) of inflows during last week vs. $5.6bn (+0.3%) of inflows the previous week, setting the YTD weekly flows average at +$0.6bn (+$5.6bn YTD in total cash flows). Equity, Fixed Income and Commodity ETPs experienced flows of +$10.7bn (+0.8%), -$8.7bn (-3.1%) and +$0.3bn (+0.4%) last week vs. +$3.8bn (+0.3%), +$0.9bn (+0.3%) and +$0.6bn (+1.0%) in the previous week, respectively.
Among US sectors, Financials (+$1.3bn, +2.0%) and Information Technology (+$0.5bn, +1.6%) received the top inflows, while Industrials (-$0.3bn, -2.2%) and Utilities (-$0.2bn, -2.9%) experienced the largest outflows.
Top 3 ETPs & ETNs by inflows: IVV (+$3.2bn), UWM (+$1.6bn), SSO (+$1.4bn)
Top 3 ETPs & ETNs by outflows: SHY (-$3.8bn), IEI (-$3.5bn), UST (-$2.4bn)
New Launch Calendar: sector rotation, yield, Korea and China A-shares
Four new ETFs were listed during the previous week. First Trust listed a new ETF (FV) which offers access to a sector rotation strategy; Horizons listed HKOR, which offers exposure to the large-cap Korean market; AdvisorShares added a new actively managed ETF (YPRO) with focus in yield; Last but not least, KraneShares listed a new ETF (KBA) offering physical exposure to the Chinese A-share market.
Turnover Review: Floor activity increased by 16.5%
Total weekly turnover increased by 16.5% to $381.4bn vs. $327.3bn from the previous week. Furthermore, last week's turnover level was 33.3% over last year's weekly average. Equity and Fixed Income ETPs turnover increased by $35.6bn (+12.0%) and $19.2bn (+119.9%), respectively; while Commodity ETPs turnover decreased by $1.3bn (-11.7%) during the same period.
Assets under Management (AUM) Review: assets increased by $10.3bn
US ETP assets rose by $10.3bn (+0.6%) totaling $1.713 trillion at the end of the week. As of last Friday, US ETPs had accumulated an asset growth of +2.1% YTD. Assets for Equity, Fixed Income and Commodity ETPs moved +$19.8bn, -$9.9bn and +$0.7bn during last week, respectively.
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Source: Deutsche Bank- Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy- North America