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SEC Approves Proposals to Address Extraordinary Volatility in Individual Stocks and Broader Stock Market
June 1, 2012-- The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved two proposals submitted by the national securities exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) that are designed to address extraordinary volatility in individual securities and the broader U.S. stock market.
One initiative establishes a “limit up-limit down” mechanism that prevents trades in individual exchange-listed stocks from occurring outside of a specified price band. When implemented, this new mechanism will replace the existing single-stock circuit breakers that the Commission approved on a pilot basis after the market events of May 6, 2010.
The second initiative updates existing market-wide circuit breakers that when triggered, halt trading in all exchange-listed securities throughout the U.S. markets. The existing market-wide circuit breakers were adopted in October 1988 and have been triggered only once, in 1997. The changes lower the percentage-decline threshold for triggering a market-wide trading halt and shorten the amount of time that trading is halted.
view National Market System Plan Approval Order
view the Market-Wide Circuit Breaker Approval Order
Source: SEC.gov
Knight Capital Group Completes Acquisition of the Futures Division of Penson Financial Services, Inc.
May 30, 2012--Knight Capital Group, Inc. today announced the completion of the acquisition of certain assets and liabilities of Penson Futures, the futures division of Penson Financial Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Penson Worldwide, Inc.
"With the acquisition of Penson Futures, Knight expands capabilities and adds clients in an increasingly important asset class," said Tom Joyce, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Knight Capital Group. "We'll work to build a greater presence in futures through the application of advanced trading technologies and superior client service."
The Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) has been renamed Knight Futures™ and will operate as a division of Knight Execution & Clearing Services LLC. The division provides futures execution, clearing and custody services to facilitate transactions among brokers, institutions and non-clearing FCMs on major U.S. and European futures and options exchanges. The division also offers risk management and consultation services and operates an electronic futures trading platform for professional traders and individual investors.
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Source: Knight Capital Group, Inc
Morgan Stanley-Quarterly Report: $1.1 Trillion in 1,247 ETFs
June 1, 2012--ETF assets are up 7% YTD amid solid flows and strong equity
markets. We currently stand at $1.1 trillion spread among 1,247
products. New issuance has been strong so far this year with 98
ETFs coming to market, 26 of them fixed income. Despite the robust
issuance to start 2012, 17 ETFs have closed.
During the 1Q12 ETFs
generated net inflows of $53.0 billion, the highest quarterly net cash
inflow since 4Q09, and the largest net cash inflow in the first
quarter since we began monitoring quarterly flows in 2004.
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Source: Morgan Stanley
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
June 1, 2012--The current reports for the week of May 29, 2012 are now available.
view updates
Source: CFTC.gov
The Employment Situation-May 2012
June 1, 2012--Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), and the unemployment rate
was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
today.
Employment increased in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade but declined in construction. Employment was little changed in most other major
industries.
Household Survey Data
Both the number of unemployed persons (12.7 million) and the unemployment rate (8.2 percent) changed little in May.
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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Standard & Poor's Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices
June 1, 2012--Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:
The shareholders of NAL Energy Corporation (TSX:NAE) have accepted the share exchange offer from Pengrowth Energy Corporation (TSX:PGF).
NAL Energy 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 Composite Dividend, the S&P/TSX Equity Income, the S&P/TSX Composite Equal Weight and the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Indices.
As a result of the issuance of shares as part of the acquisition of NAL Energy Corporation, the relative weight of Pengrowth Energy Corporation (TSX:PGF) will increase in the S&P/TSX Composite and Capped Composite, the S&P/TSX Equity and Capped Equity, the S&P/TSX Equity Income, the S&P/TSX Completion and Equity Completion, the S&P/TSX Capped Energy and the S&P/TSX Composite Dividend indices. There will be no weight change effective in the S&P/TSX Composite Equal Weight Index. These changes will be effective after close on Tuesday, June 5, 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
CBOE Holdings Reports May 2012 Trading Volume - May Average Daily Volume Up 18% From Year Ago, Up 9% From April 2012 - CBOE Futures Exchange And VIX Index Futures Post Busiest Month Ever
May Average Daily Volume Up 18% from Year Ago, Up 9% from April 2012
CBOE Futures Exchange and VIX Index Futures Post Busiest Month Ever
June 1, 2012--CBOE Holdings, Inc., today reported that May trading volume for options on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and C2 Options Exchange (C2), combined, totaled 109.2 million contracts.
May average daily volume (ADV) was just under five million contracts, an 18-percent increase from May 2011 ADV of 4.2 million contracts and a nine-percent increase from April 2012 ADV of 4.5 million contracts.
CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) and the exchange's flagship product, the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX Index), set new all-time monthly volume records of more than two million contracts in May.
CBOE Trading Volume and Market Share
CBOE trading volume — CBOE's May 2012 ADV was 4.7 million contracts, up 18 percent from 4.0 million contracts ADV in May 2011 and up nine percent from April 2012 ADV of 4.3 million contracts.
CBOE index options — May 2012 index option ADV was 1.3 million contracts, up 31 percent from just over one million contracts ADV in May 2011 and up 18 percent from April 2012 ADV of 1.1 million contracts.
CBOE ETF options — May 2012 ETF option ADV was 1.4 million contracts, up 25 percent from 1.1 million contracts ADV in May 2011 and up 32 percent from April 2012 ADV of nearly 1.1 million contracts.
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Source: CBOE
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Closed Down 6.21% In May, According To Dow Jones Indexes-820.18 Point Drop Is Second Largest For May
Four Of The Dow's 30 Component Stocks Closed Month In Positive Territory - Wal-Mart Topped All 30 Components With 11.73% Gain
June 1, 2012--The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the longest running and most widely quoted U.S. stock-market index, fell 6.21% in May, according to data compiled by Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider.
The Dow’s 820.18-point decrease for the month was the second largest May loss in its history.
The index’s top component performer for May was Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which ended up 11.73%. Shares of Walt Disney Co. and AT&T Inc., up 6.03% and 3.83%, respectively, were the second- and third-leading stocks on the DJIA in May. The worst performing DJIA stock in May was JPMorgan Chase & Co., which fell 22.87%.
By comparison, The Europe Dow ended May down 13.08%, The Asia Dow fell 10.32% and The Global Dow finished down 10.17%. The Europe Dow and The Asia Dow are equal-weighted indexes that measures 30 of their region’s leading blue-chip stocks; The Global Dow measures the performance of 150 leading companies from around the world.
For April 2012, the DJIA finished up 0.01%.
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Source: Mondovisione
ISE Introduces Order Management Functionality in PrecISE
May 31, 2012--The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today announced that order management functionality is now available in PrecISE TradeR, ISE's innovative, front-end execution system.
PrecISE users are now able to route orders to other PrecISE users for execution. Additionally, PrecISE offers a new “parent/child” feature, or the ability to stage larger orders and divide them into smaller orders to better control order management and execution.
Boris Ilyevsky, Managing Director of ISE’s options exchange, said, “Our latest PrecISE release represents a significant milestone for this product offering. PrecISE has moved beyond an execution-only interface with the introduction of these new order management capabilities. This is an important first step in our effort to deliver greater value and flexibility to users by enabling PrecISE to manage and support the entire lifecycle of an order.”
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Source: International Securities Exchange (ISE)
The lines are Blurring between ETFs and mutual funds/401Ks-Forefront Capital Management
May 31, 2012--Section I: The lines are blurring between the differences between ETFs and mutual funds
The explosive success of the launch of PIMCO's Total Return ETF (BOND) now with AUMi of nearly $1.2 Billion highlights some key evolutionary trends in the competitive landscape of the asset management industry; specifically the blurring of the lines between ETFs and mutual funds.
We believe that PIMCO’s success will further compel other large asset management firms that the power of the ETF wrapper over the traditional mutual fund structure needs to be embraced. The ETF wrapper is in essence disruptive technology to the asset management industry and those firms who are not cannibalizing their own product line are risking being leap frogged or simply losing future market share.
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Source: Forefront Capital Management