EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE, 4 February 2010

NDAQ plans to launch its third stock-exchange platform, Nasdaq OMX PSX, by May 2010. The exchange will have price/size priority market structure, acquired in the acquisition of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in 2007.

OCC and seven US options exchanges (ISE, CBOE, BOX, Arca, Amex, Nasdaq and PHLX) are being sued by SFB Market Systems on claims that the exchanges reverse-engineered its computer program for options symbols. SFB is seeking $2mn in damages.

ICE: a CFTC review found that ICE Futures US’ compliance staff was under “notable strain” that thwarted its ability to self-regulate. “Several significant events occurred during the target period that impacted the Compliance Department and required its attention (…) these events placed a notable strain on staff’s ability to fulfill important self-regulatory obligations in a timely manner,” the CFTC said in a statement.

CME reported 4Q09 pro-forma net income of $224.6 mn (-6% Y/Y) and diluted EPS of $3.37 (-6% Y/Y), below consensus estimate of $3.41. Revenues were $667 mn (-4% Y/Y) and expenses were $258 mn (-2% Y/Y). Pro-forma results exclude an impairment charge of $24 mn on the DME investment and a favorable net impact of $2 mn related to the ERP settlement. CME paid down $225 mn of debt and declares a 1Q10 dividend of $1.15 per share payable on 25-Mar to shareholders of record on 10-Mar.

Bursa Malaysia reported a FY09 net profit of RM177.6 mn (+70% Y/Y) including a RM76 mn gain on the sale of a 25% stake in Bursa Malaysia Derivatives to CME. Operating revenues declined -2% Y/Y (RM297.6 mn). Operational profit declined -3% Y/Y to RM101.6 mn due to a -5% decline in ADV (RM1.22 bn). Derivatives trading revenue declined 12% to RM38.5 mn despite a 0.3% increase in derivatives traded.

LSE, NYX and NDAQ saw a record number of applications by high-frequency traders to become exchange members over the past six months, as the Financial Times reported.

SGX: Singapore Commodity Exchange and China's Sino Rubber Electronic Trading Market signed an agreement to collaborate on the launch of an OTC Rubber Forward Clearing Service with final settlement by physical delivery in China.

TOCOM introduced block trading after receiving approval from the Minister of Economy. TOCOM is the first Japanese commodity exchange allowed to trade in blocks.

OSE will adopt a derivatives trading system provided by NDAQ by March 2011.

MCX: Citi plans to sell its 5% stake in MCX to Ashmore for $40 mn. Citi bought the stake two years ago from Financial Technologies India for $50 mn.

Tullet Prebon: BGC responded to allegations by the company of plotting a “mass exodus”, calling them “one-sided” and “exaggerated” at the High Court.

Sybase, a database and analytics vendor, confirmed the acquisition of Aleri, a complex event processing vendor

The Palestine Stock Exchange will conduct a road show in London on March 18-19 to showcase the investment prospects of the PSE.

NYX listed the PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Strategy Fund.

MGEX January volume was 101k contracts (+34% Y/Y). Hard Red Spring Wheat futures volume was 99k contracts (+33% Y/Y).

NSX assets in US ETFs and ETNs totaled $744.7 bn (+48% Y/Y) at end of January. NSX has 947 listed products (+10.6% Y/Y).

Sucden Financial and R.J. O’Brien announced a new strategic partnership. R.J. O’Brien’s US metals business will be routed through Sucden Financial.

EPEX Spot and EEX Power January total volume was 133.9 TWh. EPEX Spot volume was 21.8 TWh and EEX Power Derivatives volume was 111.3 TWh.

RTS Stock Market: January Securities trading volume was USD35.9 bn (-26% M/M). RTS Board January volume was USD10.7 mn. FORTS total volume was 26.1mn contracts (-33% M/M) with 1,294 bn rubles ($42.95 bn) in notional (-17.3% M/M).

TOCOM January ADV was 143.9k contracts (+0.2% M/M). Gold futures ADV was 67.6k contracts (-14% Y/Y) and Platinum ADV was 24.9k contracts (+70.8% Y/Y).

BEN: Franklin Templeton investments ranked first out of 48 fund families for its 10-year performance in Barron’s annual review of US fund families.

WDR: Ivy Funds restructured its sales force, moving from a channelized wholesaling model to a generalized approach. Wholesalers will now serve all advisor clients in smaller territories across all sales channels.

Putnam, T.Rowe Price and Aberdeen were ranked the best three fund families (in that order) of 2009 by Barron’s and Lipper.

ICAP was upgraded to "Add" from "Hold" at Numis Securities. Target price was maintained at GBp420.

DB1 was upgraded to “Buy” from “Hold” at Deutsche Bank. Target price was maintained at €60.
Visa was upgraded to "Overweight" from "Equalweight" at Barclays. Target price was raised to $97 from $91.

OZM was downgraded to “Neutral” from “Buy” at Goldman Sachs. Target price was maintained at $16.

Janus was upgraded to “Buy” from “Neutral” at Goldman Sachs. Target price was maintained at $16.50.

BlackRock was removed from Goldman Sachs’ “Conviction buy” list.

Franklin Resources was added to Goldman Sachs’ “Conviction buy” list. Target price was raised to $130 from $126.

The CFTC will use its expanded budget (28% higher in Obama’s proposal) to create the Planning Office and Office of Risk Management, which would allow the Commission to "to more effectively anticipate and react to emerging risks to markets and institutions."

US Senator Maria Cantwell called for increased regulation of commodities and derivatives markets, including stronger powers for the CFTC  which should have oversight of OTC markets.

SEC appointed William Hicks as associate regional director for enforcement and Rhea Kemble Dignam as director of the SEC's Atlanta Regional Office.

UK Financial Services Minister Paul Myners said that Obama’s plan to separate the banks’ prop trading activities from will no be sufficient to improve the stability of the global financial system. “It is difficult to see how one reaches the conclusion that attacking those issues alone will represent a significant step forward in strengthening the robustness of the world’s financial system,” he said.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore created the Corporate Governance Council. Alan Chan was named Chairman of the new council. Mr. Chan serves as CEO of Singapore Press Holdings.

Provided By: Equity Research Desk, www.erdesk.com