Products December 19, 2007

Claymore Introduces ETF Focused On Chinese Real Estate Market

Claymore Securities, Inc has launched the Claymore/AlphaShares China Real Estate ETF on the New York Stock Exchange Arca, Inc.
Reported by

The exchange-traded fund (ETF) offers offering investors the opportunity to invest in the burgeoning Chinese real estate market, the company said.

The ETF is based off the AlphaShares China Real Estate Index, designed to measure and monitor the performance of the investable universe of publicly-traded companies and REITs that derive the majority of their revenues from real estate development, management and/or ownership of property in mainland China or the Special Administrative Regions of China such as Hong Kong and Macau. The Index was created by AlphaShares, Inc. and is maintained by Standard & Poor’s, which serves as the Index Administrator.

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“At a time when the U.S. real estate market is in the doldrums, China’s economy is soaring,’ says Christian Magoon, Senior Managing Director and Head of the ETF Group for Claymore Securities. “China’s economic expansion has resulted in a construction boom and a sharp increase in real estate values there. The Claymore ETF enables investors to tap into this growth.’

Compliance December 18, 2007

Morgan Stanley Hit with 401(k) Stock Suit

A New York law firm has filed a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley and its 401(k) plan fiduciaries charging that the fiduciaries improperly allowed participants to continue investing in company stock.
Reported by

A news release from the Stull, Stull & Brody firm said its suit, which seeks class action status under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), is filed on behalf of 401(k) participants who were in the Morgan Stanley Stock Fund investment option.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the defendants allowed plan participants to invest in company stock while they knew, or should have known, that the stock was an imprudent investment.

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More information is at www.ssbny.com.

Second Suit

On December 14, 2007, Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP filed a class action lawsuit (Egan v. Morgan Stanley & Co., et al.) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on behalf of all participants and beneficiaries of the Morgan Stanley 401(K) Plan from December 1, 2005 to present, whose accounts included investments in the stock of Morgan Stanley. That suit named as defendants Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., certain officers and directors of Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., the Global Director of Human Resources of Morgan Stanley, and the Investment Committee of the Morgan Stanley 401(K) Plan.

A copy of the complaint is available online here.

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