From Bloomberg News | The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, which is considered the benchmark index for U.S. stock options, fell to a three-year low as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index moved in its narrowest range since April 2007 and rose for a fifth day to reach a two-year high.
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CFTC names ‘Flash Crash’ expert as chief economist
The U.S. futures regulator said on Tuesday it has promoted Andrei Kirilenko, an economist known for his role in the review of the May 6 “flash crash,” as chief economist for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Get the full story »
Dow within reach of new record in 2011
Could the Dow set a record high next year? That question would have seemed crazy early last year when fear and panic enveloped the stock market and the Dow Jones industrial average plunged to 6,547 on March 9. Many investors thought it would take a decade or longer to get back to the record of 14,165, set on Oct. 9, 2007.
Now we could be on the verge. The Dow has soared 76 percent the past 21 months, and it would have to climb just 23 percent from Thursday’s close of 11,499 to set a record.
That’s a big jump, but the Dow has risen 23 percent or more six times since 1985, or roughly 1 in 4 years. Many analysts don’t expect quite that strong a run in 2011, but they agree conditions are in place for the rally to continue. Get the full story »
U.K. OKs CME European clearinghouse
CME Group Inc.’s European clearinghouse won U.K. regulatory approval Thursday, paving the way for the biggest U.S. futures exchange operator to expand globally.
CME plans to launch CME Clearing Europe in early 2011, the Chicago-based company said in a statement. The clearinghouse will start by clearing over-the-counter commodity products, to be followed “soon after” by over-the-counter financial products, it said. Get the full story »
Dow industrials hit 2-year high on retail strength
U.S. stocks rose Tuesday, lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its highest intraday level in more than two years, as data showing growth in U.S. retail sales and business sales boosted investors’ outlook on the economy.
The Dow rose 71 points, or 0.6 percent, to 11,499. Earlier, the measure hit 11499.70, its highest intraday level since September 2008. Its top performers spanned a variety of sectors, with Boeing up 1.4 percent, Kraft Foods up 1.3 percent and Johnson & Johnson up 1.2 percent. Get the full story »
CME takes out $1B credit line to cover defaults
Bloomberg News | CME Group Inc. has gotten a $1 billion revolving credit line arranged by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of Montreal and Bank of America Corp. to use in the event of clearinghouse defaults or problems with money transfers.
Has New York won the derivatives power struggle?
From Forbes | A New York Times article this weekend about how a “secretive banking elite,” as the headline put it, rules the derivatives trade. The story details how a secret cabal of bankers meet regularly with and control the risk committee at ICE Trust, part of the IntercontinentalExchange.
That came as no surprise to Forbes investment writer Emily Lambert. But what was even more interesting to her was the story’s description of the influence the dealers have at CME Group, the exchange company run by Chairman Terrence Duffy and Chief Executive Craig Donohue — indicating that in the long-running derivatives power struggle between New Yorkers and Chicagoans, the New Yorkers have won. Get the full story>>
SEC extending ‘circuit breakers’ for 4 months
Federal regulators are extending, for four months, the curbs put in after the May 6 market plunge that briefly halt trading of some stocks that make big price swings. Get the full story »
CME buys Elysian Systems in derivatives buildout
Futures exchange operator CME Group Inc. on Thursday struck a deal to buy Elysian Systems Ltd., a London company that provides trading systems for over-the-counter derivatives. Get the full story »
CFTC proposes long-awaited end user rule
The U.S. futures regulator on Thursday unveiled a long-awaited rule outlining exemptions for firms using swaps to hedge risk, but at the last minute postponed issuing a separate rule with guidelines for swap trading platforms.
Without much explanation, Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said he was delaying until next week the agency’s proposals to make swap execution facilities, or SEFs, transparent. The delay further underscores the tight deadline the agency is under, and different views by the agency’s five commissioners as to what Congress intended. Get the full story »
CME more optimistic on CFTC position limits
The top U.S. futures exchanges expressed confidence that a revised plan to clamp down on commodities market speculation will not unduly burden the market.
The comments on Wednesday by the chief executives of IntercontinentalExchange and CME Group were more optimistic than in the past, when exchanges, banks and other market participants sharply criticized the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s plan. Get the full story »
CBOE’s Brodsky open to making acquisitions
CBOE CEO William J. Brodsky (center), facing camera, kicks off CBOE's first day as a publicly-traded company on the NASDAQ on June 15, 2010. (José M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
CBOE Holdings Inc. CEO William Brodsky said he is open to growth by acquisition, but added that the exchange operator’s tendency to build its own systems rather than buy them has saved shareholders money.
Asked at a conference hosted by Goldman Sachs if he would consider making acquisitions, Brodsky said, “We are certainly open to that. We are looking at things strategically in ways we couldn’t have six months ago.” Get the full story »
CME initiates margins on energy option products
The CME Group said on Friday it initiated performance bond requirements, sometimes known as margin requirements, for new options products traded in crude oil, electricity and natural gas liquids, effective Dec. 4. Get the full story »
SEC proposes rules for swap dealers
U.S. regulators introduced proposals on Friday that will determine which companies will be forced to hold more cash in order to trade in the lucrative over-the-counter derivatives market. Get the full story »
