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open the Etracs Long-Short S&P 500
VIX Futures ETN (NYSE Arca: XVIX),
a security designed to take advantage
of the steepness of the short end
of the VIX curve. XVIX had roughly
$18.6 million in assets, as of Sept. 7.
EGA Adds To
EM-Focused Lineup
Emerging Global Advisors rolled
out two ETFs targeting some of the
more obscure reaches of the developing
markets space.
The EGShares Beyond BRICs ETF
(NYSE Arca: BBRC) tracks the Indxx
Beyond BRICs Index and invests
in equities from countries that are
often overlooked by many emerging
markets strategies already in the
space such as Chile, Colombia, Czech
Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru,
Philippines, Poland, South Africa,
Thailand and Turkey.
The EGShares Emerging Markets
Domestic Demand ETF (NYSE
Arca: EMDD) tracks the Indxx EM
Domestic Demand Index and invests
in the five economic sectors EGA
sees as those that are directly linked
to domestic demand: consumer discretionary,
staples, telecommunications,
utilities and health care. The
ETF serves up exposure to 11 countries
and currencies.
Both funds carry an expense ratio
of 0.85.
WisdomTree Rolls Out
China Payout ETF
WisdomTree debuted an ETF in
September that offers unique exposure
to China’s market. The WisdomTree
China Dividend ex-Financials Fund
(Nasdaq GM: CHXF) tracks a proprietary
index that measures the performance
of the 10 largest stocks by floatadjusted
market capitalization in nine
sectors, excluding financial names.
Components are weighted by annual
cash dividends paid. CHXF charges
0.63 percent in annual fees.
The fact that WisdomTree is planning
an ETF that steers clear of financial
companies appears to reflect
underlying worry among analysts
that some big Chinese banks may
be on the hook for billions of dollars
in bad loans. The move is also
an attempt to increase diversification
away from the traditional financialheavy
strategies, the company said.
Companies are eligible to be included
in the index if they have at least
$1 billion in float-adjusted market
capitalization, are domiciled in China
and are listed on the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange, the company said in a filing.
KNOW YOUR OPTIONS
CBOE Sees August Volumes Fall
CBOE Holdings said in a press
release that its exchanges had a total
contract volume (futures and options
combined) for August of 91 million, a
40 percent decline over the prior-year
total. On an average daily volume
basis, that translated into a 41 percent
decline for options and a decline
of just 5 percent for futures contracts.
Interestingly, index and ETF
options were hit the hardest. While
equity options saw their average daily
volume fall just 16 percent, index and
ETF options volumes declined by 49
and 56 percent, respectively.
The five most actively traded
options contracts based on indexes or
ETFs for the month of August were the
options on the S&P 500 Index, SPDR
S&P 500 ETF, CBOE VIX, PowerShares
QQQ Trust and iShares Russell 2000
Index Fund, the press release said.
BACK TO THE FUTURES
CME Group Lists Brazil
Index Futures
In September, CME Group said
in a press release that U.S.-dollardenominated
Ibovespa futures would be
cross-listed on the CME as of Oct. 22.
The Ibovespa is the blue-chip
index of the BM&FBOVESPA and
covers 69 stocks, representing roughly
80 percent of the exchange’s volume
and 78 percent of its total market
capitalization, the press release said.
The press release said that the CME
would clear the contracts, which comply
with the rules and regulations of the CME.
CME August Volumes Decline
CME Group said in a press
release that its August 2012 average
daily volume came in at 10.3 million
contracts, a 40 percent decline
from the prior year. However, the
exchange also noted that the prior-year
month saw record volume
due to an exceptionally tumultuous
market environment.
Equity index contracts saw the
steepest declines of any category
by far, with average daily volumes
declining a whopping 58 percent.
Total volume for the most actively
traded index futures contract—the
e-mini S&P 500—fell nearly 60 percent
from August 2011. The e-Mini
Nasdaq 100 and Mini $5 Dow contracts
each saw their total volumes for
the month fall by almost 50 percent.
ON THE MOVE
Stoxx Hires Da Costa, Rodino
Stoxx Ltd. said in late August it had
made two significant hires.
Anthony Da Costa is the index
provider’s new chief operating officer
and is based in its Zurich offices.
As such, he oversees the firm’s index
operations and production, and also
holds a chair on Stoxx’s management
board, the press release said.
Prior to joining Stoxx, Da Costa was
employed by FTSE as director of service
delivery.
Mark Rodino, previously the head
of ETF Sales at HSBC, is based in
London and will spearhead Stoxx’s
sales efforts as its global head of sales,
the press release said.
Russell Replaces Unger
With Horowitz
Pensions & Investments reported
in early August that Dorsey
Horowitz had been named to the
position vacated when Shelton
Unger left Russell earlier in 2012.
Horowitz replaces Unger as the
director of global asset owner and
consultant sales, and Julie Williams
has taken on Horowitz’s previous
role as director of global client relations,
P&I said.
www.journalofindexes.com November / December 2012
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