The
Latest News, Resources and Market Insight for Traders and Investors
Week
of January 30, 2012
IMPORTANT
ANNOUNCEMENT TO PTI SECURITIES & FUTURES ACCOUNT HOLDERS:
Dear PTI Securities & Futures
Client,
Recently, Mesirow Financial announced
plans to leave the correspondent clearing business, requiring
PTI Securities & Futures to migrate to a new clearing agent
in order to clear your trades and hold your assets. PTI has entered
into an agreement with RBC Correspondent Services, a division
of RBC Capital Markets, LLC, which is owned by the Royal Bank
of Canada (RBC), to be our new correspondent clearing agent.
RBC Correspondent Services is
dedicated to clearing transactions for a relatively small number
of securities firms similar to PTI, but are part of the Royal
Bank of Canada, one of North America’s leading diversified
financial service firms. RBC is the largest company in Canada
and among the largest banks in the world based on market capitalization.
RBC maintains strong capital ratios with Tier 1 at 13.2% and has
paid continuous dividends to shareholders since 1870.
Through this new relationship,
PTI Securities & Futures will be able to provide you with
significantly upgraded fixed income, research, and cash management
capabilities. RBC Capital Markets LLC is a member of SIPC and
the account protection limits of SIPC. They also provide additional
account protection in excess of SIPC coverage with private insurance
covering additional securities and cash protection up to $99.5
million per client, of which $900,000 may be in cash. A $400 million
aggregate limit applies to this additional coverage.
Although
this conversion will be seamless with regards to the movement
of securities trading and our management of your assets, you will
receive new account paperwork by mail which will require your
attention. Soon you will be receiving a negative response letter
indicating that, unless you direct us otherwise, your account
will be moved to RBC on the weekend of March 2nd - 5th, 2012.
This letter will also contain some new agreements which you will
be required to re-complete and re-submit.
We welcome the opportunity to
discuss this new clearing relationship with you, so please do
not hesitate to call 1.800.821.4968 with any
questions.
PTI ProDirect is an online system for independent,
self-directed traders at low rates. www.PTIProDirect.com
Call Larry Parkhill toll free
at 800.821.4968
Jim
Doran is responsible for overseeing the operation
of clients’ managed accounts. This includes
working with Mesirow Financial, R.J. O’Brien
and other financial firms with which PTI Securities
has close working relationships. In 1991,
Jim started at PTI Securities as a broker.
He has more than 26 years of experience in
securities and financial services. Before
joining the firm, he was a portfolio manager
for an independent market maker on the Chicago
Board Options Exchange (CBOE)...READ
MORE
Good
morning. The market was virtually unchanged
in a slow week of trading last week, with
the SPY up .31 (.2%) to close at 131.82. Still,
that increase added to the gains so far this
year, which now stands at 4.8%, a healthy
start for the S&P. The VIX continues to
indicate the market’s new comfort level
as it closed under 20 (18.53) for the second
week in a row. There still has been no real
new “resolution” in Europe, but
the influx of over $500B a few weeks ago by
the European Central Bank seems to have provided
at least a temporary bandage to the problem.
There also is that group out there that just
wants unlimited creation of money (really
worldwide) as an ongoing fix...
Streamed
LIVE or Listen online at www.StocksAndJocks.net
OR
Listen Weekdays
Chicago 1240AM WSBC
5:30am - 7:00am CST
The
Story Behind the Numbers
The
Federal Reserve commanded center stage this week,
holding its regular policy-setting meeting and delivering
on its highly-telegraphed promise to reveal the
interest rate forecast of the 17 members of the
Federal Open Market Committee over the next three
years...
PTI
Securities & Futures' Protected Index Program
was recently ranked 3rd in the composite leveraged
net long equity category for five-year returns as
determined by Pensions & Investments.
Leveraged
net long portfolios seek income by establishing
long and short positions in securities. The most
common strategy for leveraged net long portfolios
is to take long positions in securities that have
been identified as attractive and short positions
in securities that have been identified as overvalued.
These portfolios typically hold long positions in
securities with an aggregate value of up to 130%
of its net assets. In addition, these portfolios
will establish short positions in securities with
a market value of up to 30% of its net assets. The
net long exposure therefore remains 100%, but it
is a leveraged exposure.
PIP
Performance indicates gains cumulative since
inception of March 1998, YTD, 1-month, 1, 3,
5, and 10-year records ending December
31, 2011, that the PIP
produced consistent returns in a hedged portfolio.
Supporting documentation for the performance
of the PIP program can be obtained from Dan
Haugh and can be requested by calling 800.821.4968
or by email at Dan@PTISecurities.com.
Performance
History:
From
inception of the Program in March 1998 to mid-
2000 the market had a relatively strong advance,
topping out in August of 2000 with the S&P
up 41% since the March 1998 start. The PIP lagged
the market during this period, with a total
return of 31% from March 1998 to August 2000.
From that August 2000 market top the S&P
sold off rather steadily and steeply to a low
in July of 2002 of minus 15.8% in the S&P,
meaning the S&P gave back the 41% it had
been up and was down an additional 15.8%. The
PIP Program lost as well, but went from a positive
31% to a positive 9%. From that low point the
S&P rallied to a high of positive 58% in
October of 2007, while the PIP was up 62% from
March 1998 to the same point. Again, as expected,
the PIP lagged the S&P at a time of an extended
market advance. From that October 2007 high
in the S&P, the market had a severe sell-off
to the March of 2009 lows of minus 13%, while
the PIP gave up only 13% to still be up 49%
since March of 1998. Since that low in March
2009 the S&P has staged another dramatic
rally to go from down 13% to up 23% from March
1998 to March 2010. In that same period the
PIP has actually had a negative return, now
up 52% since March 1998. What the graph shows
is as predicted, the Program under performs
in periods of rapid market advance and over
performs in periods of market declines. It also
shows that there can be and has been some extenuating
market conditions (such as extreme movements
in implied volatility) that can influence the
predicted performance of the PIP vs. the S&P
500. This
track record is derived from the actual returns
of the largest accounts using the S&P 500
(SPY) and reflects the return of over 30% of
the assets invested in the Protected Index Program
(PIP) using the SPY. Multiple accounts are included
in the track record to reflect the fact that
any one account may have a slightly different
put or call strike (or both) on any given month
due to market conditions when the accounts were
invested. PIP returns are inclusive of all costs.
This return represents the average return achieved
by amounts invested in the S&P 500 Protected
Index Program over the time frame indicated.
The return is based on cash invested and uses
no leverage or borrowed funds. For the first
several years of the track record, accounts
were advised on both a discretionary and a non-discretionary
basis. Although PTI was responsible for making
investment recommendations to non-discretionary
accounts, they were free to accept, reject or
modify those recommendations and had ultimate
decision-making authority. Such decisions by
the client could have impacted the performance.
Currently all accounts included in this track
record are managed by PTI. Returns in the composite
do not include the reinvestment of dividends,
interest and cash generated from covered calls
writing, and if all accounts did include reinvestments,
this would slightly increase the performance.
The investment performance of any individual
portfolio may have been better or worse over
this period than the results shown herein. By
presenting the composite performance, no representation
is made that any particular portfolio or group
of portfolios had precisely this performance.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
PIP returns are inclusive of all costs. PTI
does not charge any management fees for PIP
accounts, however, all trades made in this program
will be charged our broker assisted commission
for that trade and all of these commissions
have been included in the calculation of the
track record. Click
for PIP commission rates.
For
a detailed explanation and outline of this managed
money program, click here.
PIP
Track Record and Performance Chart (PIP
vs. IWM)
IWM
PIP
Cumulative
since inception July 2005
+
16.86%
+
28.84%
Year-To-Date
-
4.07%
+
3.99%
1
Month
+
0.48%
+
1.55%
1
Year
-
4.42%
+
3.99%
3
Year
+
55.15%
+
6.97%
5
Year
+
0.42%
+
13.66%
PIP
Performance indicates gains cumulative since
inception of July 2005, YTD, 1-month, 1, 3 and
5-year records ending December
31, 2011, that the PIP
produced consistent returns in a hedged portfolio.
Supporting documentation for the performance
of the PIP program can be obtained from Dan
Haugh and can be requested by calling 800.821.4968
or by email at Dan@PTISecurities.com.
Performance
History:
From the inception of the Russell Index Program
(IWM) in July 2005 to August 2007 the IWM had
a steady advance, with the Russell advancing
27% and the IWM PIP advancing 24%. From that
date until March 2009 the Russell had a sharp
sell-off, taking the IWM from a positive 27%
to a negative 39% since July 2005. The IWM PIP
also lost ground, but remained positive 10%
at it low point in March 2009. Since that date
the IWM has rallied back strongly to be only
down 1% as of February of 2010, while the IWM
PIP has rallied less strongly from the low of
March 2009 to be up 22% at the end of February
2010. Again, the program has reformed as predicted,
under performing in periods of strong market
advances and over performing in periods of market
declines. This
track record is derived from the actual returns
of the largest accounts using the Russell 2000
(IWM) and reflects the return of over 25% of
the assets invested in the Protected Index Program
(PIP) using the IWM. Multiple accounts are included
in the track record to reflect the fact that
any one account may have a slightly different
put or call strike (or both) on any given month
due to market conditions when the accounts were
invested. PIP returns are inclusive of all costs.
This return represents the average return achieved
by amounts invested in the Russell 2000 Protected
Index Program over the time frame indicated.
The return is based on cash invested and uses
no leverage or borrowed funds. All accounts
included in this track record are managed by
PTI. Returns in the composite do not include
the reinvestment of dividends, interest and
cash generated from covered calls writing, and
if all accounts did include reinvestments, this
would slightly increase the performance. The
investment performance of any individual portfolio
may have been better or worse over this period
than the results shown herein. By presenting
the composite performance, no representation
is made that any particular portfolio or group
of portfolios had precisely this performance.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
PIP
returns are inclusive of all costs. PTI does
not charge any management fees for PIP accounts,
however, all trades made in this program will
be charged our broker assisted commission for
that trade and all of these commissions have
been included in the calculation of the track
record. Click
for PIP commission rates.
800.821.4968
