Soup Du Jour: Merger-Arb ETFs
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Mergers and acquisition activities across a number of sectors are picking up rapidly this year. Continued low interest rates are making borrowing cheaper and allowing companies to shore up their balance sheets. This suggests optimism over the global economy. As per Dealogic , the value of mergers and acquisitions across the globe has risen 13% […] Read More

5 March, 2014

Fixed-Income ETFs Poised For Bigger Use By Big Insitutional…
In ETF News, Global Macro Strategy> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Excerpt courtesy of Mar 1 ETF STRATEGY columnist Simon Smith, CFA Fixed income ETFs are poised to take on a bigger role in institutional portfolios, according to a new report from Greenwich Associates. Institutional investors are making sweeping changes to their fixed income portfolios in response to the post-crisis regulatory changes in the bond markets, […] Read More

2 March, 2014

2014 Wall Street Letter Institutional Trading Awards Goes To..
In ETF News, People Profiles, Tech Talk> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Breaking News..New York, NY Feb 25 Latest Update: 9.45 pm EST At a gala financial industry awards ceremony hosted by Wall Street Letter to recognize the year’s top investment banks, institutional brokers and trading technology providers, 300 of the financial industry’s senior executives gathered tonight to salute their peers in a best-in-class competition extending across […] Read More

25 February, 2014

ETFs Getting Blurry: New “ETMFs” Hard to See Through;…
In ETF News, People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
  Excerpts Courtesy of MarketsMedia The lines of demarcation between actively-managed investment vehicles are getting fuzzier with the advent of non-transparent, actively-managed ETFs. Black Rock, State Street, Eaton Vance and T. Rowe Price, among others, have filed applications with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to develop actively managed non-transparent ETFs that will disclose individual […] Read More

25 February, 2014

Batter Up: Bitcoin ETF aka Winkdex Readies Major League…
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Courtesy of Nathaniel Popper Stock traders have the Standard & Poor’s 500. Bitcoin bettors will have the Winkdex. The new financial index takes its name from the Winklevoss brothers, famous for their legal battle with the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The Winkdex was released publicly on Wednesday and provides a regularly updated figure for the […] Read More

20 February, 2014

New Short-Dated Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF Courtesy of…
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Courtesy of ETF Strategy’s Simon Smith, CFA State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has expanded its range of short-maturity bond ETFs with the launch of the SPDR Barclays 0–5 Year Sterling Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (SYBQ) on the Deutsche Börse (Xetra). The fund, which is linked to the Barclays 0-5 Year Sterling Corporate Bond Index, enables […] Read More

18 February, 2014

Distilling Definition of Best Execution: Expert Says: “High Five’s…
In Tech Talk> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Courtesy of Matthew Samelson, Woodbine Associates The trading environment certainly is more complex than ever before. But the experienced trader – not greater reliance on technology – may be the answer to mastering the markets. Big data, advanced algorithms, and even the threat of high-frequency trading may be distractions that don’t really matter. Talk of […] Read More

17 February, 2014

What’s Next?: ETF For Pot Stocks
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
  Excerpts courtesy of John Burke, Wall Street Stock Selector On New Year’s Day of 2014, the sale of recreational marijuana became legal in the State of Colorado and as a result, “pot stocks” got quite high.  Many of you probably were not even aware that “pot stocks” were being traded.  Back in 2009, Medical […] Read More

14 February, 2014

Agency-Execution Firm Adds More ETF Experts
In ETF News, People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
February 5, 2014 -WallachBeth Capital LLC, a leading provider of institutional execution services, announced today that program trading expert Thejas Nalval has joined the firm in the newly created role of Director, ETF & Portfolio Strategy. Mr. Nalval comes to WallachBeth with ten years of industry experience. Prior to his most recent role in the […] Read More

5 February, 2014

WisdomTree Offers Wisdom: Distilling ETF Liquidity
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
David Abner, Head of Capital Markets at WisdomTree shares his wisdom about ETF liquidity and explains the intricacies of the market-making process.  A good revisit for any RIA.  [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJrJdVo94-s&w=280&h=165] Read More

3 February, 2014

Traders Follow The Money Trail to Good Harbor: 1st…
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Excerpt from this a.m.’s Wall Street Journal Across Wall Street, traders take note when big ETF managers like Good Harbor step into the market, moves that can affect prices. At times, they may try to profit by jumping ahead of Good Harbor, potentially chipping away at returns for its investors, people familiar with the market […] Read More

3 February, 2014

[Another] Institutional Broker Laments Payment-For-Order-Flow; Is There a Trend…
In People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
TabbForum, a publication that caters to the institutional investment community and works towards spotlighting the relevant issues of the day, has just published a comment letter submitted to the SEC by institutional [agency-only] broker Themis Trading re: topic of wider tick sizes for small cap stocks. While readers of this blog are most-focused on ETFs, […] Read More

30 January, 2014

Turkey Under Attack; Brazil and Mexico Targeted Next?
In Global Macro Strategy> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Courtesy of this a.m.’s edition of Neil Azous and Rareview Macro’s “Sight Beyond Sight”: “Despite bold central bank decisions over the last 48 hours, the real narrative is not what most investors walking into their offices today believe it is. After opening up over 2%, the Turkish stock market gradually moved into negative territory, while […] Read More

29 January, 2014

Top Execution Broker Pick for 2014: $IAI the Fincl…
In ETF News, Global Macro Strategy, People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
In the spirit of "..It takes one to know one..." and notwithstanding the "late print,"  one leading Wall Street broker who specializes in ETFs (and, who typically prefers to play down price predictions and remain focused on best execution vs. best picks)  has an interesting 2014 outlook for a select segment of financial service companies.. […] Read More

27 January, 2014

Euronext to Launch Multi-Currency ETF Trading
In ETF News, Tech Talk> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Euronext, a wholly owned subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange Group, has announced the launch of a multi-currency trading service for exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including for the first time on a US or European exchange, the Chinese Yuan Renminbi (CNY) and the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD). The new service will allow international investors to trade any Euronext-listed ETFs […] Read More

25 January, 2014

With Volatility Rising, Beware The Leveraged ETF
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
  The following extract from Forbes.com is courtesy of Forbes and their contributing writer Bill Feingold, co-founder of Hillside Advisors. Bill is an alumni of the convertible bond team at GoldmanSachs, Wellesley Investment Advisors and worked for 2 hedge funds specializing in “converts.” He’s also an alum of Wharton (MBA) and Yale (BA), where he […] Read More

24 January, 2014

Industry’s Top Institutional Broker-Dealer and Trading Technology Vendor Awards…
In People Profiles, Strike Price, Tech Talk> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Wall Street Letter, one of the Industry’s must-read publications courtesy of financial media company Pageant Media, just announced its “short list” of finalists in connection with WSL’s 3rd Annual institutional trading awards. While the 2014 “best of” categories  cover each of the likely specialties (e.g. best agency-broker/options, best brokerage platform, best DMA platform, best algo […] Read More

21 January, 2014

Position Limits Lifted on $SPY Options
In ETF News, Strike Price> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Exchanges and Finra have adopted rule changes which lift restrictions on position limits on options on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). In 2012, NYSE Amex Options was the first exchange to file for and receive approval to eliminate position and exercise limits for SPY options. Subsequently, other exchanges and Finra have amended their rules […] Read More

16 January, 2014