Americas ETP News
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IndexIQ files with the SEC
July 6, 2012--IndexIQ has filed a second and restated application for exemptive relief with the SEC for actively-managed ETFs.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
IndexIQ Announces Changes to Its ETF Family
July 6, 2012--IndexIQ, a leading developer of index-based alternative investment solutions, today announced it plans to close the IQ South Korea Small Cap ETF (NYSE Arca: SKOR).
Assets in SKOR represent only approximately 1% of IndexIQ’s ETF assets.
The Board of Trustees of the IndexIQ ETF Trust approved the closures on July 3, 2012. The final day of trading on the NYSE Arca will be Friday, August 17, 2012. Shareholders who do not sell their fund shares by this date will have their shares automatically redeemed on August 22, 2012, the fund’s last day of operations.
read more
Source: Index IQ
OECD-The United States needs to foster education and innovation to keep its cutting edge
July 6, 2012--The United States should do more to foster innovation and provide more equitable access to high-quality education in order to maintain its status as the world's most vibrant and productive economy, according to OECD's latest Economic Survey of the United States.
Data from the Survey suggest the United States is losing its cutting edge in innovation. This affects prospects for long-term growth and for maintaining living standards. Productivity in the U.S. is still growing faster than in most other OECD countries but growth has slowed down since the 1970s. Also, U.S. companies are no longer more likely to innovate than companies in other OECD countries.
Particularly worrying is the performance in education, which is essential to provide workers with the skills necessary to become more productive and to adapt to technological change. Attainment in tertiary education stagnated over the past three decades while it grew significantly in almost every other OECD country. Today, 22 out of 30 OECD countries surveyed have more graduates in science and engineering among the 25 to 34 year old workers than the United States.
view the Overview of the Economic Survey of the United States 2012
Source: OECD
DB-Equity Research - North America-US ETF+ Monthly Directory:June 2012 ETPs
July 6, 2012--This document includes all US listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchangetraded vehicles (ETVs), plus a special section covering exchange-traded notes (ETNs).
The directory is organized by asset class and asset-class-related sub sections. Within each sub section it has also been sorted. For Equity and Fixed Income ETPs it is sorted by country (or sub region for regional products) in alphabetical order and by AUM in descending order, and for the other ETP asset classes it is sorted by sub sector in alphabetical order and by AUM in descending order. A number of key information points per product has been included in order to enable the reader to get an overview in their respective area of interest. Among the key numeric information we include avg. daily turnover, assets under management, and cash flows (all in $US). If you have any questions for any of the products listed, or any suggestions on how to improve the directory going forward, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
The following link will be available for 90 days. For more information, please click on the link for the full PDF.
If you have any trouble viewing the link, copy and paste the link in a browser. http://pull.db-gmresearch.com/p/395-DBB0/71014195/US_ETF+_Monthly_Directory.pdf
Source: Deutsche Bank-Equity Research-North America
US education plans see advantage in ETFs
July 5, 2012--Faced with shrinking contributions and shaky returns, 529 college-savings plans are dangling a new carrot to attract wary parents: exchange-traded funds.
The aim is to attract more investors by providing more diversification and extra protection from wild swings in the market.
Nebraska last month introduced four new ETFs in three of its 529 plans. One of New York's plans recently added six ETFs, while Nevada's Upromise 529 moved almost exclusively to ETFs and away from mutual funds, which still dominate the college-savings industry.
read more
Source: Financial News
DB-Equity Research-US ETF Market Monthly Review : ETP assets grew by 11.2% in H1 2012 with inflows of $72bn
July 5, 2012--US ETP assets recovered 3.7% MoM in June, back above 10% YTD
ETP assets in the US rose by $41.4bn to $1.16 trillion last month, boosting AUM growth back to the double-digit territory (11.2%) in the first half of the year.
Global ETP industry assets rose to $1.59 trillion, or 10.5% up YTD.
Mixed trends suggest range-bound market
US ETP flows experienced inflows of $12.1bn during June (+$72.3bn, 6.9% of last year’s AUM).
Within long-only ETPs, total flows were +$11.6bn in June vs. +$5.0bn in May.
Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity long-only ETPs experienced cash flows of +$5.1bn, +$5.1bn, and +$1.5bn, respectively.
June turned out to be a very fluid month for risky assets as the European Sovereigns continued to muddle through the financial crisis and US economic data continued to disappoint. However, things become less pessimistic towards the end of the month and the bottom line turned positive for risky assets.
A closer look at the new equity and fixed income allocations, however, suggest that investors have been rather cautious and have not displayed clear signs of a new trend yet, either bullish or bearish. For example, equity allocations favored safer bets such as relatively stronger economies (e.g. the US), and diversified regional exposures (e.g. broad EM and DM ex US) rather than country allocations. In the meantime, new fixed income flows were concentrated on corporate debt products, but heavily inclined to the investment grade segment. And on the commodity space, flows were mixed between safe-haven (e.g. precious metals) and growth-driven (e.g. energy) sectors.
Some of the relevant flow trends of the month were: (1) US equity (+$4.0bn), (2) Investment Grade debt (+$3.3bn), and (3) Corporate debt (+$3.3bn).
New Launch Calendar: expanding investors toolbox
There were 10 new ETPs and 1 new ETN listed during the previous month. All of the products were listed in the NYSE Arca. The new products cover multiple asset classes such as equity, fixed income, Commodity, and Currency
Floor activity dropped by 10% driven by receding volatility
Total monthly turnover dropped by 10.1% to $1.31 trillion vs. $1.46 trillion in the previous month.
US ETP trading made up 29.5% of all US cash equity trading in June, down from both its August 2011 peak of 37.5% and its 3-year monthly average of 30.0%.
The largest drop was on Equity ETP turnover, which fell by $144bn or 11.1% to $1.15 trillion, followed by Commodity products turnover which shrank by $3.6bn, totaling $68bn for the month of June. Meanwhile, Fixed Income ETP turnover slightly rose by $0.8bn to $82bn last month.
to request report
Source: Deutsche Bank-Equity Research-North America
Canada's top regulators approve TMX takeover
July 4, 2012--Canada's top regulators on Wednesday approved the takeover of the country's biggest stock exchange operator by a group of Canadian financial firms, pushing a protracted process tantalizingly close to the finish line.
The Ontario Securities Commission and Canada's Competition Bureau approved the takeover of TMX Group by Maple Group - a consortium of Canada's largest banks, insurers and pension funds - removing two big hurdles to a deal that now needs only the approval of two provincial regulators.
read more
Source: Reuters
ETF Industry Association Releases June 2012 ETF Data Reports
July 3, 2012--Some of the key highlights from the June 2012 ETF Data report include:
Assets in US listed Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) and Exchange Traded Notes (ETN) totaled approximately $1.18 trillion at June 2012 month-end, an increase of 7% over June 2011 month-end, when assets totaled $1.11 trillion.
ETF/ETN net cash inflows totaled approximately $12.9 billion for the month of June 2012, bringing year-to-date net cash inflows to $75.9 billion.
At June 2012 month-end, there were 1,476 U.S. listed products, an increase of 15% compared to the 1,288 U.S. listed products at the same time last year. Fixed Income once again led all categories for June with $4.8 billion in net inflows bringing the YTD total to over $35.1 billion.
Visit www.etf-ia.com for more info.
Source: ETF Industry Association
CFTC Issues Final Order Amending the Effective Date for Swap Regulation Order Issued on July 14, 2011
July 3, 2012--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued a final Order regarding the effective date for swap regulation.
On May 16, 2012, the Commission published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Amendment to extend the temporary exemptive relief the Commission granted on July 14, 2011, from certain provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act that otherwise would have taken effect on the general effective date of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act – July 16, 2011.
view the Federal Register: Second Amendment to July 14, 2011 Order for Swap Regulation
Source: CFTC.gov
North American index investors highlight concerns with cap-weighting size biases but do not wish to replace cap-weighted indices
July 3, 2012--In its first EDHEC-Risk North American Index Survey, a survey of 139 investment professionals (institutional investors, asset managers, private wealth managers, investment banks and brokerage firms), EDHEC-Risk Institute has analysed the current uses of and opinions on stock, bond and volatility indices in the North American region.
Key findings of the survey
Size biases associated with cap-weighted indices are perceived as a very important issue by North American investors – nearly 100% of respondents see it as important to very important, in contrast to only 71% of European investors.
Cap-weighted indices – despite the fact that their shortcomings are widely acknowledged by respondents – are likely to remain the reference for equity portfolios for some time to come. Only a minority of respondents (23%) see alternative indices as a means of replacing cap-weighted indices. The majority see such indices as complements to cap-weighted indices or as replacement options for active managers (58.6% and 27.6%, respectively).
Investors have quite different objectives when it comes to different asset classes. Investors tend to resort to government bond indices as hedging tools for risk exposure (57% for government bond indices versus only 33.7% for corporate bond indices), while corporate bond indices are seen more as tools for achieving higher returns (33.7% for corporate bond indices and 25% for government bond indices). Indices that reflect risk factors are perceived to be of relatively little importance within equity portfolios, while indices categorised by interest rate risk and credit risk are seen as crucial within fixed-income portfolios.
view the EDHEC-Risk North American Index Survey 2011
Source: EDHEC
