Courtesy of Christine Williamson About three-quarters of executives from a mixed universe of institutional investors think a significant tail-risk event is likely to very likely within the next 12 months, according to a new survey from State Street Global Advisors. Survey respondents — money managers, family offices, consultants and private…Read More

By Mary Childs - Sep 17, 2012 Exchange-traded funds are poised to overtake credit derivatives by year-end as a way to speculate on junk bonds. The value of corporate securities held by the five-largest junk ETFs almost doubled in the past year to a record $31.4 billion, while the net…Read More

Courtesy of WSJ with reporting by Jenny Strasburg Virtu Financial LLC said it bought a Dutch market-making business, bolstering the U.S. trading firm's presence in a European exchange-traded-funds market that has emerged as a profitable battleground for high-speed traders. Virtu, one of the most-active traders of stocks, commodities and other…Read More

    Considering the issuance calendar is chock full of interesting, high yield  deals, we're hearing that tix for the Oct 11 European Trading & Investing Summit at the May Fair Hotel in London are oversubscribed. Then again, when taking a look at the "who's who" of European PM's and senior…Read More

Extract of white paper published by Chris Hempstead, Head of ETF Trade Execution for WallachBeth Capital LLC With respect to analyzing and selecting ETFs, one of the most common and frustrating mistakes that I overhear is “..unless the fund has at least some minimum AUM ($50mm in many cases), or…Read More

By Murray Coleman --Evidence mounts that ETFs aren't just trading tools --More retirement funds, endowments adopting ETFs --ETF advisers remain largely long term in focus Since turning to exchange-traded funds to build investment portfolios for high-net-worth and institutional clients more than a decade ago, adviser Rob DeHollander says he has…Read More

Courtesy of James Armstrong If issuers of exchange-traded funds could pay to attract market makers to their products, would there be more liquidity in ETFs? Or would paying market-makers create a dangerous precedent and harm long-term investors? Or, is Tim Quast, MD of trading analytics firm "Modern Networks IR" correct…Read More

Courtesy of Phil Gocke, Options Industry Council Since the 2008-09 financial crisis and the central bank’s response of near zero interest rates, financial markets have been vacillating violently between risk-on and risk-off periods. This bipolar attitude toward risk has increased asset class correlations, negating the effective benefit of many traditional…Read More

Editorial Opinion In an era in which "CYA" is perhaps the most-used acronym by institutional fund managers focused on fiduciary responsibilities, its almost surprising to notice the many anecdotal remarks that point to a single-point-of reliance on Knight Capital's role within the ETF marketplace.  Some would think it "shocking" that…Read More

Courtesy of TABB Forum Options trading volumes may be down across the industry but the buy side continues to remain captivated by the potential of using options. TABB Group expects options volume to decline by as much as 10 percent in 2012, yet a combination of greater buy-side adoption and…Read More

Courtesy of Olly Ludwig/IndexUniverse Knight Capital (NYSE: KCG), the biggest ETF market maker in the U.S., is seeking financing after saying that a trading glitch involving its systems on Wednesday that affected 148 stocks will result in a $440 million pre-tax loss. The company’s stock was down 45 percent in…Read More

Courtesy of Forbes Contributor Ari Weinberg July 30 If you invest in exchange-traded funds, you’ve probably heard about the forthcoming service from IndexUniverse. If you really follow ETFs, you’ve probably wondered what took them so long. Years in the making, publisher IndexUniverse is finally rolling out its own ratings and…Read More

  Courtesy of Paul Amery Remember to check the assumptions made for the cost of trading when examining a new index concept.  ( Editor note: read between the lines, even though the phrase "best execution" is missing from this piece, the article should inspire thoughtful consideration re what true best…Read More

According to today's NY Times, one of the world's savviest investors is once again taking a contrarian view, and this time its Europe. While Wall Street is continuing to wave a yellow flag whenever investing in European markets is discussed (after all, the widely-advertised risk of  "Greece contagion" remains at…Read More

Courtesy of Cinthia Murphy In connection with all that news re futures broker Peregrine Financial's fraud-induced collapse, Sal Gilbertie, head of Teucrium Funds—an ETF provider offering futures-based commodities ETFs—told IndexUniverse’s Correspondent Cinthia Murphy that futures-based ETFs might be the answer to retail investors’ futures-related concerns . Gilbertie, whose firm sponsors…Read More

Courtesy of Rosalyn Retkwa   The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided not to decide yet whether to approve proposals by Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange to pay market makers to make better markets in thinly traded ETFs. The proposals would require an exemption from a current prohibition against…Read More

Courtesy of Olly Ludwig Short-sellers last month significantly cut their bets against an array of the broadest U.S. stock indexes, which looks quite sensible in the rearview mirror considering both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials average rallied by nearly 4 percent in June. While financial markets are…Read More

Editor note: For those who didn't get the"Best Ex Meets Worst Ex" memo,  Ugo Egbunike from IndexUniverse spotlighted a block trade in QAI this past Monday that was apparently mangled by the executing broker, illustrating once again that ETFs are NOT stocks, and real best execution requires guidance from a…Read More