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iShares 529 Plan awarded Morningstar Silver rating
October 31, 2013--BlackRock, Inc. announced today that its iShares 529 Plan, managed in partnership with industry leader Upromise Investments, and featuring 28 investment options that financial advisors can use to build effective 529 portfolios for their clients,, has received a Silver rating in the annual Morningstar Analyst Ratings for 529 College Savings Plans.
According to Morningstar, "Arkansas' iShares 529 Plan is another Silver medalist with inexpensive advisor-sold options. This plan includes only exchange-traded funds, which replicate indexes yet trade like individual stocks. Several other plans also include ETFs, or have plans to add them to their menus, but the iShares line-up is robust and reasonably priced, giving advisors ample choice when constructing custom portfolios for clients."(1)
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Source: Wall Street Journal
Horizons ETFs Announces Changes to Certain ETFs
October 31, 2013--Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. ("Horizons ETFs") and its affiliate AlphaPro Management Inc. (the "Manager") announced today that certain changes will take place in respect of the following exchange traded funds ("ETFs"):
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Source: Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc
MSCI Puts ISS on the Block
October 31, 2013--Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholders Services finds itself on the block, as index provider MSCI (MSCI) initiates a strategic review of the business it acquired only three years ago through its purchase of RiskMetrics Group.
MSCI said Wednesday, Oct. 30, that it is working with Morgan Stanley to look into options including a possible or spin-off of ISS. MSCI did not provide a specific time frame for the review, but said ISS' senior management was supportive of the decision.
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Source: Thestreet.com
Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-Year 2012
October 31, 2013--Overall Results
This survey measured the value of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2012 as approximately $7.9 trillion, with $5.3 trillion held in foreign equity, $2.3 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities.
The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2011, measured U.S. holdings of approximately $6.8 trillion, with $4.5 trillion held in foreign equity, $2.0 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities, and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The largest gain occurred in equities, reflecting gains in global stock markets.
U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities by country at the end of 2012 were the largest for the United Kingdom ($1.129 trillion), followed by Canada ($808 billion), the Cayman Islands ($797 billion), and Japan ($521 billion) (see Table 2). These four countries attracted 41 percent of total U.S. portfolio investment.
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Source: US Department of the Treasury
S&P Dow Jones Indices Announces Changes To The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
A Deletion From The S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index
October 31, 2013--S&P Dow Jones Canadian Index Services will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:
Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) has redeemed for $CDN25.00 cash per share all of the outstanding shares of its Non-cumulative Preferred Shares, Series 12 (TSX:BNS.PR.J).
The shares of this issue will be removed from the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index and the S&P/TSX North American Preferred Stock Index after the close of trading on Friday,November 1, 2013 at a price of $CDN25.00.
Source: S&P Dow Jones
Horizons ETFs Announces Closure of Certain ETFs
October 31, 2013--Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. ("Horizons ETFs") and its affiliate AlphaPro Management Inc. (the "Manager") announced today that they will be terminating two exchange traded funds (collectively, the "Terminated ETFs") effective at the close of business on Friday, January 10, 2014 (the "Termination Date").
The ETFs being terminated are as follows:
Horizons Crude Oil Yield ETF
Ticker: HOY, HOY.A
Horizons Silver Yield ETF Tickers: HZY, HZY.A
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Source: Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc.
Fee Rate Advisory #2 For Fiscal Year 2014
October 31, 2013--The Securities and Exchange Commission is operating under a continuing resolution until January 15. Accordingly, the fees paid under Section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act will remain at their current rate until 60 days after the enactment of a regular appropriation for the SEC.
The SEC is required to publish a revised fee rate 30 days after enactment of the new fiscal year appropriation and the new rate takes effect 60 days after the appropriation is enacted. Until then, the Section 31 fee rate will remain at the current rate of $17.40 per million for securities transactions and the assessment on round turn transactions in security futures will remain at $0.0042 per transaction.
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Source: SEC.gov
Dow, S&P 500 end at record highs
October 30, 2013--The Dow and S&P 500 ended at record highs on Tuesday after economic data supported views that the Federal Reserve would keep its stimulus intact for several months and IBM rallied after the company announced a stock buyback.
IBM gave the biggest boost to the Dow, which led the day's gains. The stock, which also helped drive the S&P 500's advance, jumped 2.7% to $182.12 after the company's board of directors approved another $15bn for stock buybacks.
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Source: FIN24
CETFA and Smarten Up Institute (SUI) Partner to Offer ETF Education
October 30, 2013--The Canadian Exchange Traded Fund Association (CETFA) has partnered with the Smarten Up Institute (SUI) to create four Exchange Traded Fund courses-two courses will be primarily for online distribution focusing on the product and compliance aspects for anyone needing immediate information, and two will be for those in the industry wishing to delve into the more complex science of ETF's in a classroom setting, the two groups announced today.
The courses will be launched by the end of the year.
The ETF courses will be focused on the ETF market in Canada and will be designed for advisors and investors wanting an in-depth understanding of the ETF product and the industry.
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Source: Smarten Up Institute Inc.
CFTC Announces Mutual Acceptance of Approved Legal Entity Identifiers
October 30, 2013--The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced in a Notice posted on the CFTC.gov website on October 30, 2013, that registered entities and swap counterparties subject to CFTC swap data recordkeeping and reporting regulations concerning Legal Entity
Identifiers (LEIs) can now comply with those regulations by using any LEI issued by an LEI provider endorsed by the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) of the global LEI system.
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Source: CFTC.gov
