Break from the Grind May 8, 2012

TRIVIAL PURSUITS: What about Mother’s Day celebrations did Anna Jarvis try to stop?

Though Anna Jarvis devoted her life for the establishment of a national Mother’s Day, in the end she was disappointed at the way thing turned out.
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Anna had hoped for a day of reflection and quiet prayer by families, thanking God for all that mothers had done. She hated the commercialization of the day.  

She filed a lawsuit in 1923 against the governor of New York and the mayor of New York City to stop a planned festival.  The particular cause of her outrage at New York City was that the prices of carnations (her mother’s favorite flower) had been inflated.   

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It is reported that a New York court threw out the lawsuit, but Anna Jarvis continued her protest and was arrested for disturbance of the peace.
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Investing May 7, 2012

ETF Assets Decrease $5B in April

May 7, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets decreased by $5.3 billion (0.4%) in April 2012.
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According to State Street Global Advisors’ ETF Snapshot report, 1,246 ETFS with $1.2 trillion in assets were managed by 36 ETF managers as of April 30, 2012.  

Investors added $2.9 billion to ETFs, as fixed income ETFs attracted $4.9 billion – increasing YTD inflows to $20.5 billion.  After seeing $5.9 billion in inflows last month, large cap ETFs experienced $4.5 billion in outflows in April.  

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The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace were BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. Collectively, they account for approximately 83% of the U.S.-listed ETF market.  

The top three ETFs in terms of dollar volume for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], iShares Russell 2000 [IWM] and PowerShares QQQ [QQQ].

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