|
Quotes & Info
|
| All Recent SEC Filings |
3-Nov-2009
Quarterly Report
This information should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in Item 1 of Part I of this Quarterly Report (the "Report"). The discussion and analysis which follows may contain trend analysis and other forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial results. Words such as "anticipate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "outlook" and "estimate," as well as similar words and phrases, signify forward-looking statements. PowerShares DB G10 Currency Harvest Fund's forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and conditions and important factors, risks and uncertainties may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements.
You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Except as expressly required by the Federal securities laws, DB Commodity Services LLC, or the Managing Owner, undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or the risks, uncertainties or other factors described in this Report, as a result of new information, future events or changed circumstances or for any other reason after the date of this Report.
Overview/Introduction
The Fund and the Master Fund seek to track changes, whether positive or negative, in the level of the Deutsche Bank G10 Currency Future Harvest Index-Excess Return™ (the "Index"), over time, plus the excess, if any, of the Master Fund's interest income from its holdings of United States Treasury Obligations and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities over the expenses of the Fund and the Master Fund. The Index is designed to reflect the return from investing on a 2:1 leveraged basis in long currency futures positions for certain currencies associated with relatively high yielding interest rates and in short currency futures positions for certain currencies associated with relatively low yielding interest rates.
The Index is designed to exploit the trend that currencies associated with relatively high interest rates, on average, tend to rise in value relative to currencies associated with relatively low interest rates. This trend is consistent with economic theory regarding the correct price of a currency future, known as the Interest Rate Parity formula or the Covered Interest Arbitrage formula, and can be seen in the historical trading patterns of currency futures.
The currencies that are eligible for inclusion in the Index are the currencies of The Group of Ten countries (the "Eligible Index Currencies"), which include the following currencies:
Eligible Index Currency Symbol
United States Dollar USD
Euro EUR
Japanese Yen JPY
Canadian Dollar CAD
Swiss Franc CHF
British Pound GBP
Australian Dollar AUD
New Zealand Dollar NZD
Norwegian Krone NOK
Swedish Krona SEK
|
Futures contracts referencing each of the Eligible Index Currencies (except USD) currently are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (the "CME"), although currency futures contracts on the Eligible Index Currencies also trade on other exchanges in the United States and the Master Fund may invest in such contracts.
At any time, the Index is comprised of long futures positions in the three Eligible Index Currencies associated with the highest interest rates and short futures positions in the three Eligible Index Currencies associated with the lowest interest rates. The Index's six component currencies from time-to-time, comprised of the three long and three short futures positions, are referred to as the Index Currencies and are used to calculate the value of the Index. The composition of the Index may be adjusted in the event that the Index Sponsor is not able to calculate the closing prices of the Index Currencies.
The Index Sponsor calculates the Index on both an excess return basis and a total return basis. The excess return basis calculation reflects the change in market value of the applicable underlying currency futures only. The total return basis calculation reflects the sum of the change in market value of the applicable underlying currency futures plus the return on 3-month U.S. Treasury bills. The Fund and the Master Fund seek to track changes, whether positive or negative, in the level of the Index calculated on an excess return basis, over time, plus the excess, if any, of the Master Fund's income from its holdings of United States Treasury and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities over the expenses of the Fund and the Master Fund.
The Fund will make distributions at the discretion of the Managing Owner. To the extent that the Master Fund's actual and projected interest income from its holdings of United States Treasury securities and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities exceeds the actual and projected fees and expenses of the Fund and the Master Fund, the Managing Owner expects periodically to make distributions of the amount of such excess. The Fund currently does not expect to make distributions with respect to its capital gains. Depending on the Fund's performance for the taxable year and an investor's own tax situation for such year, an investor's income tax liability for the taxable year and allocable share of the Fund's net ordinary income or loss and capital gain or loss may exceed any distributions an investor may receive with respect to such year.
In order to determine which Eligible Index Currencies to include in the Index from time-to-time, the Index Sponsor will review the composition of the Index on a quarterly basis 5 business days prior to the IMM Date. "IMM Date" means the third Wednesday of March, June, September and December, a traditional settlement date in the International Money Market.
The Index Sponsor will review the three month Libor rate for each Eligible Index Currency other than the SEK and NOK and will review the three month Stibor rate and the three month Nibor rate for the SEK and NOK, respectively. The Libor, Stibor and Nibor rates for the Eligible Index Currencies, as applicable, mean the London, Stockholm and Norway interbank offered rates for overnight deposits, respectively, each of which is published by Reuters. The Eligible Index Currencies are then ranked according to yield. The three highest yielding and three lowest yielding are selected as Index Currencies for inclusion in calculating the Index. If two Index Currencies have the same yield, then the previous quarter's ranking will be used.
The Index is re-weighted quarterly. Upon re-weighting, the high yielding Index Currencies are allocated a base weight of 33 1/3% and the low yielding Index Currencies are allocated a base weight of -33 1/3%. These new weights are applied during the Index re-weighting period, which takes place between the fourth and third Index Business Days prior to the applicable IMM Date (the "Index Re-Weighting Period").
The CME traded futures contract of each applicable Index Currency that is closest to expiration is used in the Index calculation. The futures contracts on the Index Currencies are rolled during the Index Re-Weighting Period. The new futures contract on an Index Currency that has the next closest expiration date is selected. The calculation of the Index on an excess return basis is the weighted return on the change in price of the futures contracts on the Index Currencies.
A 3-month U.S. Treasury bill return is then calculated and included to calculate the total return index. Please refer to Exhibit B of the Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust of the Master Fund for the mathematical formulae of the Index.
The Index has been calculated using historical data since March 12, 1993. The
Index is composed of notional amounts of each Index Currency. The notional
amounts of the Index Currencies included in the Index are based on the Index
Closing Level as of the Index Re-Weighting Period. The Index Closing Level
reflects an arithmetic weighted return of the change in the Index Currencies
exchange rates against the USD since March 12, 1993. March 1993 was chosen as a
starting period because it represents the earliest date on which reliable data
for all the Eligible Index Currencies exists. On March 12, 1993, the closing
Index level was USD 100. Between March 12, 1993 to September 30, 2009, the Index
level as calculated on an excess return basis has ranged from as high as USD
315.27 (July 25, 2007) to as low as USD 94.03 (July 30, 1993). Past Index
results are not necessarily indicative of future changes, positive and negative,
in the Index.
The Fund will pursue its investment objective by investing substantially all of its assets in the Master Fund. To track the Index, the Master Fund generally will establish long futures positions in the three Eligible Index Currencies associated with the highest interest rates and short futures positions in the three Eligible Index Currencies associated with the lowest interest rates and will adjust its holdings quarterly as the Index is adjusted. However, if the United States Dollar ("USD") is among the Index Currencies from time-to-time, the Master Fund will not establish a long or short futures position (as the case may be) in USD, because USD is the Fund's home currency and, as a consequence, the Master Fund never can enjoy profit or suffer loss from long or short futures positions in USD. When the USD is not associated with the highest or lowest interest rates among the Eligible Index Currencies, the aggregate notional value of the Master Fund's futures contracts at the time they are established will be double the value of the Master Fund's holdings of United States Treasury and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities, which means the Fund will have a leverage ratio at such time of 2:1. If the USD is associated with the highest or lowest interest rates among the Eligible Index Currencies, the aggregate notional value of the Master Fund's futures contracts at the time they are established will be approximately 1.66 times the value of the Master Fund's holdings of United States Treasury and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities, which means the Fund will have a leverage ratio at such time of approximately 1.66:1. Holding futures positions with a notional amount in excess of the Master Fund's net asset value constitutes a form of leverage. The use of leverage will increase the potential for both trading profits and losses, depending on the changes, positive and negative, in the Index. The Master Fund's ability to track the Index will not be affected by the presence or absence of the USD among the Index Currencies. Because the notional value of the Master Fund's futures positions can rise or fall over time, the leverage ratio could be higher or lower between quarterly adjustments of the Index Currencies.
The use of long and short positions in the construction of the Index causes the Index to rise as a result of any upward price movement of Index Currencies expected to gain relative to the USD and to rise as a result of any downward price movement of Index Currencies expected to lose relative to the USD. The inclusion of both long and short positions is also expected to reduce the country specific foreign exchange risk of the Index (and, therefore, risk in connection with an investment in the Fund) relative to a directional (outright long or short) exposure to any or all of the Index Currencies.
There can be no assurance that the use of both long and short positions will reduce the volatility of the Index during any or all market cycles or performance periods, or that the Master Fund will achieve its objectives. It is possible that, prior to an Index rebalancing, that Index Currencies expected to lose relative to the USD may rise and/or Index Currencies expected to gain relative to the USD may fall. In such cases, the Master Fund may experience losses in both its long and short positions at the same time. Such losses will be greater as a result of the Master Fund's use of leverage, reflected in its long futures exposure to Index Currencies with a notional value of up to 100% of the Master Fund's net asset value and its short futures exposure to Index Currencies with a notional value of up to 100% of the Master Fund's net asset value. Under such circumstances, the Master Fund's losses would be greater as a result of its leverage than would be the case were it to limit its overall exposure to Index Currencies with a notional value of 100% of the Master Fund's net asset value.
As a result of its use of leverage, the Master Fund will be required to deposit a greater proportion of its net assets as margin, not expected to exceed 10% of net assets. This represents margin deposit requirements approximately twice as great as would be required if the Master Fund did not use leverage. Similarly, as a result of its use of leverage, the Master Fund will trade more futures contracts and incur more brokerage commission expense than it would if it did not use leverage. The additional amount of brokerage commission expense generally will be proportional to the Master Fund's leverage ratio.
The Master Fund's portfolio also will include United States Treasury securities and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities for deposit with the Master Fund's Commodity Broker as margin.
The theoretical or "fair market" price of a currency futures contract is derived from the spot FX rate, interest rates of the two currencies and time to expiry of the currency futures contract and represents an equilibrium relationship among the interest rates, spot markets and futures markets associated with the currencies in question. If an equilibrium relationship does not exist between two currencies, arbitrage opportunities arise and the exploitation of these opportunities by arbitrageurs will tend to drive currency futures prices toward equilibrium. Application of the Interest Rate Parity formula under circumstances in which currencies are not in an equilibrium relationship predicts that if the currency future is based on a rate ranging from a high yielding currency to a low yielding currency, the fair market price of the currency future will be below the spot rate. The longer the time to the expiry of the currency future the greater the amount the fair market price of the currency future will be below the spot rate. If the spot rate stays approximately the same then, as you move closer to the expiry of the currency future, the fair market price will increase. In other words, the currency future rate between a relatively high interest rate currency and low interest rate currency tends to increase over time (assuming spot is relatively stable).
The Index exploits this trend using both long and short futures positions, which is expected to provide more consistent and less volatile returns than could be obtained by taking long positions only or short positions only.
Under the Trust Agreements of each of the Fund and the Master Fund, Wilmington Trust Company, the Trustee of the Fund and the Master Fund, has delegated to the Managing Owner the exclusive management and control of all aspects of the business of the Fund and the Master Fund. The Trustee will have no duty or liability to supervise or monitor the performance of the Managing Owner, nor will the Trustee have any liability for the acts or omissions of the Managing Owner.
The Index Sponsor obtains information for inclusion in, or for use in the calculation of, the Index from sources the Index Sponsor considers reliable. None of the Index Sponsor, the Managing Owner, the Fund, the Master Fund or any of their respective affiliates accepts responsibility for or guarantees the accuracy and/or completeness of the Index or any data included in the Index.
The Shares are intended to provide investment results that generally correspond to the changes, positive or negative, in the levels of the Index over time. The value of the Shares is expected to fluctuate in relation to changes in the value of the Master Fund's portfolio. The market price of the Shares may not be identical to the net asset value per Share, but these two valuations are expected to be very close.
Performance Summary
This report covers the three months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 (hereinafter referred to as the "Three Months Ended September 30, 2009" and the "Three Months Ended September 30, 2008", respectively) and the nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 (hereinafter referred to as the "Nine Months Ended September 30, 2009" and the "Nine Months Ended September 30, 2008", respectively). The Fund commenced trading on the American Stock Exchange (now known as the NYSE Alternext US LLC (the "NYSE Alternext")) on September 18, 2006, and, as of November 25, 2008, is listed on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the "NYSE Arca").
Performance of the Fund and the exchange traded Shares are detailed below in "Results of Operations". Past performance of the Fund is not necessarily indicative of future performance.
The Index is intended to reflect the change in market value of its underlying currency futures contracts. The Deutsche Bank G10 Currency Future Harvest Index-Total Return™ ("DBCFH-TR"), consists of the Index plus 3-month United States Treasury Obligation returns. Because DBCFH-TR is an index, it does not reflect (i) actual trading and (ii) any fees or expenses. Past Index results are not necessarily indicative of future changes, positive or negative, in the Index closing levels.
The section "Summary of DBCFH-TR™ and Underlying Index Currency Returns for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 and the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008" below provides an overview of the changes in the closing levels of DBCFH-TR™ by disclosing the change in closing levels of the Index itself and each underlying Index Currency plus 3-month United States Treasury Obligation returns. Please note that the Fund's objective is to track the Index (not DBCFH-TR™) and the Fund does not attempt to outperform or underperform the Index.
The following chart highlights the results of the DBCFH-TR for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 and the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008.
[Remainder of page left blank intentionally.]
DBCFH-TR™
Long Position1 Short Position1
Three Nine Three Nine Three Nine Three Nine
Months Months Months Months Months Months Months Months
Ended Ended Ended Ended Ended Ended Ended Ended
September September September September September September September September
Underlying Index Currency 30, 2009 30, 2009 30, 2008 30, 2008 30, 2009 30, 2009 30, 2008 30, 2008
British Pounds (GBP) - - - 0.86 % - - - -
Canadian Dollar (CAD) - - - - - (4.66 )% - -
Norwegian Krone (NOK) 3.90 % 7.15 % (4.15 )% (3.86 )% - - - -
Australian Dollar (AUD) 3.39 % 9.30 % (5.46 )% (1.31 )% - - - -
New Zealand Dollar (NZD) 4.36 % 9.13 % (3.59 )% (2.45 )% - - - -
Swedish Krona (SEK) - - - - - - - (2.61 )%
Japanese Yen (JPY) - - - - (2.76 )% (0.99 )% 0.10 % (1.62 )%
Swiss Franc (CHF) - - - - (1.60 )% (1.00 )% 2.94 % (1.04 )%
DBCFH-TR™ - Index Returns
Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
September 30, September 30, September 30, September 30,
2009 2009 2008 2008
3-MONTH UNITED STATES
TREASURY OBLIGATIONS 0.04 % 0.16 % 0.35 % 1.16 %
DBCFH-TR™ 7.33 % 19.09 % (9.81 )% (10.87 )%
|
If the Fund's interest income from its holdings of fixed income securities were to exceed the Fund's fees and expenses, the total return on an investment in the Fund is expected to outperform the Index and underperform the DBCFH-TR™. The only difference between the Index and the DBCFH-TR™ is that the Index does not include interest income from a hypothetical basket of fixed income securities while the DBCFH-TR™ does include such a component. The difference between the Index and the DBCFH-TR™ is attributable entirely to the hypothetical interest income from this hypothetical basket of fixed income securities. If the Fund's interest income from its holdings of fixed income securities exceeds the Fund's fees and expenses, then the amount of such excess is expected to be distributed periodically. The market price of the Shares is expected to closely track the Index. The total return on an investment in the Fund over any period is the sum of the capital appreciation or depreciation of the Shares over the period, plus the amount of any distributions during the period. Consequently, the Fund's total return is expected to outperform the Index by the amount of the excess, if any, of its interest income over its fees and expenses but, as a result of the Fund's fees and expenses, the total return on the Fund is expected to underperform the DBCFH-TR™. If the Fund's fees and expenses were to exceed the Fund's interest income from its holdings of fixed income securities, the total return on an investment in the Fund is expected to underperform the Index.
Net Asset Value
Net asset value means the total assets of the Master Fund, including, but not limited to, all futures, cash and investments less total liabilities of the Master Fund, each determined on the basis of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, consistently applied under the accrual method of accounting. In particular, net asset value includes any unrealized appreciation or depreciation on open currency futures contracts, and any other credit or debit accruing to the Master Fund but unpaid or not received by the Master Fund. All open currency futures contracts will be calculated at their then current market value, which will be based upon the settlement price for that particular currency futures contract traded on the applicable exchange on the date with respect to which net asset value is being determined; provided, that if a currency futures contract could not be liquidated on such day, due to the operation of daily limits or other rules of the exchange upon which that position is traded or otherwise, the settlement price on the most recent day on which the position could have been liquidated will be the basis for determining the market value of such position for such day. The Managing Owner may in its discretion (and only under extraordinary circumstances, including, but not limited to, periods during which a settlement price of a futures contract is not available due to exchange limit orders or force majeure type events such as systems failure, natural or man-made disaster, act of God, armed conflict, act of terrorism, riot or labor disruption or any similar intervening circumstance) value any asset of the Master Fund pursuant to such other principles as the Managing Owner deems fair and equitable so long as such principles are consistent with normal industry standards. Interest earned on the Master Fund's brokerage account is accrued monthly. The amount of any distribution is a liability of the Master Fund from the day when the distribution is declared until it is paid.
The Fund invests substantially all of its assets in the Master Fund in a master-feeder structure. The Fund holds no investment assets other than Master Fund Limited Units. The Fund is the majority Master Fund Limited Unit owner and the Managing Owner holds a minority interest in the Master Fund. Each Share issued by the Fund correlates with the Master Fund Limited Unit issued by the Master Fund and held by the Fund.
Net asset value per Master Fund Limited Unit and Master Fund General Unit (collectively, "Master Fund Units") is the net asset value of the Master Fund divided by the number of outstanding Master Fund Units. Because there is a one-to-one correlation between Shares of the Fund and Master Fund Limited Units, the net asset value per Share of the Fund and the net asset value per Master Fund Limited Unit are equal.
Critical Accounting Policies
The Fund's and Master Fund's critical accounting policies are as follows:
Preparation of the financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires the application of appropriate accounting rules and guidance, as well as the use of estimates, and requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenue and expense and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities during the reporting period of the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Both the Fund's and the Master Fund's application of these policies involve judgments and actual results may differ from the estimates used.
The Master Fund holds a significant portion of its assets in currency futures contracts and United States Treasury Obligations, both of which are recorded on a trade date basis and at fair value in the consolidated financial statements, with changes in fair value reported in the consolidated statement of income and expenses.
. . .
|