NYSE Completes Largest Security Transfers Ever, Thanks To ETFs

As the New York Stock Exchange Euronext phases out the American Stock Exchange’s ETF platform, ETF portfolios have moved in droves to the NYSE. The two biggest ETF migrations recently occurred, and they were the largest security transfers in the history of the exchange industry.

State Street Global Advisors undertook the biggest single-day transfer of securities ever, moving 76 ETFs from the AMEX to the NYSE on Nov. 7. On Oct. 31, Invesco PowerShares Capital Management moved 74 ETFs between the exchanges.

Support for stock and ETF trading at the AMEX was scheduled to conclude on Dec. 1.

Most other major ETF providers have already started or have neared completing shifting funds from the AMEX, which used to be the biggest ETF trading platform in the world.


NASDAQ Launches 32 Indexes And 8 ETFs In Q3

The NASDAQ OMX Group brought out 32 new indexes and listed eight new ETFs in the third quarter. Through Sept. 30, the NASDAQ OMX has created 53 new index products in all, according to the exchange’s third-quarter global indexes report.

In related news, the NASDAQ-100 Index futures contracts (traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange) joined the S&P 500 Index as one of only two indexes to have more than $500 million futures contracts traded, with a notional value of $25 trillion. There are 600 investment products based on the NASDAQ-100, including PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQQ).

Other major index highlights from the third quarter included the Philadelphia Stock Exchange’s PHLX Sector Index Series being taken over by NASDAQ OMX as a result of the acquisition of the PHLX; and the launch of the NASDAQ OMX Europe Index, tracking companies traded on the NASDAQ OMX Europe Marketplace.