Law Firms Threatening Action Against Leveraged ETF Providers

At least two law firms say they're talking to clients who use leveraged exchange-traded funds about potential lawsuits against the funds' providers.

The list is large and includes ETFs sponsored by ProShares, PowerShares, Direxion and ETF Securities, which recently entered the U.S. (see story here.)

How do we know this? The law firms, of course, put out a press release. You can read it here.

Two Deutsche Bank Funds Hit By CTFC Ruling

A pair of PowerShares-DB commodity ETFs will be curtailed in how much they can buy in soybeans, wheat and corn due to a decision by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

You can read this Bloomberg News report for more details. Also, check Matt Hougan's blog here.

SSgA's Hoguet: Sovereign Wealth Funds To Buy SDRs

Special drawing rights, or SDRs, are what the International Monetary Fund uses internally as currency markers to traverse

SSgA strategist says despite tight correlations now with developed markets, he's expecting those ties to widen as conditions improve.

George Hoguet is a global investment senior strategist specializing in emerging markets at State Street Global Advisors. Prior to joining the firm in 1998, he worked in London and Boston with Baring Asset Management. Hoguet has also worked at the Frank Russell Co., where he consulted with large institutional investors.

On Friday, he reviewed major investment trends for the coming year in emerging markets with IndexUniverse's Murray Coleman. Here's an excerpt of that conversation.

IU: What do the major emerging market indexes show about volatility levels now?

Hoguet: Emerging markets have been and will continue to be much more volatile than developed markets. However, if you look at emerging markets in a portfolio, a modest allocation amount can help reduce overall risks since they're not perfectly correlated with developed markets.

IU: