Products January 8, 2008

Pershing Introduces ETF Information Site

Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, has launched the Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) Center to provide its introducing broker/dealer and independent registered investment advisers (RIA) with a centralized ETF information source.
Reported by

The site has detailed information on nearly 600 ETFs with profiles of each fund. The profiles include insight into performance, holdings, news, and expense information.

The site also features an advanced search functionality allowing users to identify ETFs that meet certain investment criteria, such as:

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  • asset class,
  • market capitalization,
  • investment risk,
  • specific industry sectors, and
  • geographical diversification.

The center uses tools, data and reports from Morningstar, according to the announcement.

Pershing’s introducing broker/dealer customers can access the ETF Center through NetExchange Pro, Pershing’s online account management platform and, through Pershing’s affiliate, Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC, independent RIAs can access the center through NetExchange Advisor, Pershing’s online account management platform for RIAs.

More information is at http://www.pershing.com/home.html.

The Markets January 8, 2008

New Index Represents Short Position of S&P 500

Standard&Poor’s has launched the S&P 500 Inverse Index, designed to provide investors with the inverse performance of the S&P 500.
Reported by

S&P explained that when investors hold a short position in a security they must pay dividends and interest for borrowed stock. The return of the S&P 500 Index has an inverse relationship with the total return of the S&P 500, which includes both dividends and price movements.

The costs of borrowing the securities are not included in the index calculation, but there is an adjustment to reflect the interest earned on both the initial investment and the proceeds from selling short the securities in the S&P 500. The assumptions used reflect normal industry practice, S&P said.

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“The S&P 500 Inverse Index is the first in what will be a series of leveraged and inverse indices to be launched by Standard & Poor’s across multiple regions and asset classes,” said Srikant Dash, Head of Global Research and Design at Standard & Poor’s, in a company announcement. “With today’s launch, market participants will finally be able to measure the performance of long and short positions in the U.S. equities market as determined by the S&P 500.”

More information about the S&P 500 Inverse Index is available at www.standardandpoors.com/indices under “Equity Indices’ and then “S&P U.S. Indices.’

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