Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that staff will hold a public roundtable on January 31, 2013, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., to discuss the “futurization” of the swaps market. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has confirmed that Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS will start the full review of their sales of [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The evolution of the US grain market continues, as CME Group now says that after talking to customers again, it’d be best to reduce grain trading hours after all. Nasdaq continues to re-pack its business units, this time restructuring its global data and index products into the same box. Currency markets, after posting a miserable [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
ICE plans to ask the EU to review the takeover plans for NYSE Euronext. India’s new exchange MCX-SX targets February 11 as the day to begin stock trading. Berkshire Hathaway is said to have been seeking a takeover last year of NYSE Euronext along with ICE, injecting a measure of optimism into the future outlook [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Banks in Singapore, performing internal reviews, find evidence that traders there have colluded to manipulate offshore currency rates. Goldman Sachs figures out how to create a new fund that sidesteps the Volcker Rule. With many energy swaps shifting to futures contracts, the CFTC opens the box to see if the new contracts have enough transparency. [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The election results are in for the NFA’s board, and three new dissident candidates are elected. The London Stock Exchange says that so far in the year just begun, things are already looking up with regard to trading activity and capital raising. NYSE Euronext says they have no intention of selling their European outpost to [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
EU states get an all-clear to begin creating new financial transaction-based taxes; howls and applause are expected from the usual corners of the room. Thomson Reuters finds a hard place next to the rock in the high-frequency trading realm as an escalating dispute cuts off the company from a significant source of quote data. The [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Deutsche Börse isn’t all that concerned about the ICE-NYSE merger, and instead is casting its eye toward Latin America and Asia as better places to expand. JPMorgan plans to start a new electronic bond-trading platform early this year to compete against Goldman’s and Citigroup’s similar efforts. The Moscow Exchange continues its plans to IPO itself, [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Nasdaq OMX announces that it’s combining two of its business technology units. Riding a successful 2012, the Thailand stock exchange is pushing hard to become a regional financial hub. 2012, no surprise, wasn’t the US futures industry’s banner year; yet the news in the industry isn’t all bad. In First Read today, JLN’s Doug Ashburn [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
As it moves closer to launch, London-based exchange Nasdaq OMX NLX hires a new director of sales for post-trade services. Another technical fault, this time at NYSE, may have allowed trades to be completed at improper prices. DTCC threatens to sue the CFTC over the way one of its rivals plans to handle derivatives trading [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Russell and NYSE Euronext team up to distribute index data, and they may extend that relationship in the future. Direct Edge says they’re intending to open a new exchange in Brazil. The SEC gives their HFT expert a real office chair in ongoing efforts to understand and regulate high-frequency trading’s marketplace effects. First Read New [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Nasdaq’s plan to offer algorithmic benchmark trading skids off the rails as the SEC gives a thumbs-down, citing competition and other concerns. The CFTC stamps approval on a permit for ICE to offset cleared swaps for individual investors. In Europe, exchange operators and high-frequency traders warn Germany that proposals to require HFT entities to seek [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The SEC, reacting to revelations by BATS exchange that it may have been overcharging customers, is concerned that the same problem may exist in other exchanges. BATS, for its part, considers that its problems are a symptom of excess complexity in market rules and structures. The Great Volume Slump of 2012 (just invented that title) [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The National Stock Exchange and Japan’s new Japan Exchange Group announce plans to create yen-denominated Nifty futures contracts. IntercontinentalExchange says that if the circumstances are right, they’d consider selling Euronext. Already this year, $18 billion dollars have flowed into US equity funds. In First Read today, along with the Bill Brodsky interview and one more [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
BATS Global Markets says that hundreds of thousands of transactions over the last few years may have been completed in violation of SEC rules. Robert Khuzami, without admitting or denying guilt, announces that he is departing from the SEC. Deutsche Borse’s Clearstream has begun talks with the US Treasury department to resolve problems with Iran-related [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
FINRA announces that it plans to expand its oversight of dark pools. The parade of technical trouble in the world’s financial markets proceeds apace, as NYSE logs a market interruption yesterday. In Switzerland, the central bank continues its high-risk efforts to protect exports and prices. First Read Other Voices: On Voluntary Subscriptions By John Needham [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
London-based hedge funds using computer algorithms for trend-based trading finished in the red for the second year in a row. BNY Mellon bank gets approval to start a central securities depository in Europe, to fill clearing needs prompted by new regulation. Regulators are considering creating rules that require hedge funds to report any wrongdoing in [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Hong Kong Exchanges names Romnesh Lamba and Martin Abbott to be co-heads of global markets. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision backpedals on capital cushion levels after a couple of years of bank opposition to the new rules. Thailand’s stock exchange continues to work to gain support for a network of exchanges connected in the [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
IntercontinentalExchange outpaced competitors in 2012 in what proved to be a tough year for the industry. BATS Exchange says that new systems to curb excess volatility in stocks may arrive a couple of months later than the original estimate. Swaps brokers face heavy competition from exchanges in 2013 as the US swaps market is scheduled [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Without fanfare, the stock exchanges in Tokyo and Osaka complete their merger and turn their collective eye toward TOCOM. New FCM-clawback provisions are leaving some pension funds out in the cold as clearing clients, amid fears that collateral posted by funds could disappear in an FCM collapse. Dozens of banks in the US, Europe and [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
With some noting that 2012 was “The Year of the Technical Fault”, many exchanges are reviewing ways to increase reliability in the coming year (note that the LSE managed to start 2013 not with progress, but with another technical fault). The bankruptcy trustee for Peregrine Financial wants permission to run the ex-brokerage into at least [...]
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