EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE, 17 May 2010
CME delayed the launch of CME Clearing Europe and augmented its line up to include energy products and other asset types, including CDS. CME Clearing “revised its plans and proposes to offer clearing services for OTC energy products in the first instance. It intends to introduce clearing services for CDSs at a later stage,” according to a Office of Fair Trading notice to members confirmed by CME.
LSE CEO Xavier Rolet said “the biggest challenge -for MiFID II- is transparency and the balance between retail and institutional needs. Without institutional crossing networks some of the latent wholesale liquidity would go unexecuted or be simply more difficult to execute. We should be careful to ensure that the differing needs of wholesale and retail participants are properly recognized.”
BM&FBOVESPA started trading Hydrous ethanol futures (ETH) and options contracts. The new cash-settled contracts have a size of 30 cubic meters; trade in R$; with expirations at the last business day of each delivery month and have a maximum daily price fluctuation of 6.5%.
CME will clear 12 new commodity shipping routes as well as backstop ten new Worldscale-based tanker accords.
ASX: Fortis is planning to launch a clearing facility in Australia and has been “working closely” with Chi-X Global according to the Australian Financial Review.
NZX 1Q10 profits declined -3% Y/Y to NZ$2.9 mn on a revenue increase of +46 % Y/Y and a more than double of expenses.
NASDAQ OMX: GlobeNewswire launched its full-service offering for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of press releases.
Santiago Stock Exchange certified Fidessa to provide access to the exchange that will allow to route orders electronically via Fidessa’s trading platform or via Fidessa's FIX connectivity.
Hellenic Exchanges reported 1Q10 EPS of €0.15 (+69% Y/Y), on revenues of €19.2 mn (+50% Y/Y) and operating expenses of €5.3 mn (-7% Y/Y). 1Q10 traded value increased +75% Y/Y to €12.2 bn.
DB1: Xetra started trading five new index ETFs issued by ComStage and six ETFs issued by db x-trackers.
RTS Realtime Systems launched RTD Tango Trader, which “combines the advantages of “point and click” and high-speed algorithmic trading”.
RTS Standard set a new record of RUB20.9 bn ($699.9 mn) on May 14, +2% higher than the previous record set on December 17, 2009.
DFM: NASDAQ Dubai April equities trading value increased +83% Y/Y to $94 mn while equities volumes declined -15% Y/Y to 168 mn shares.
List will open a new operating subsidiary in Warsaw and appointed Wojciech Kaszycki to manage it. Mr. Kaszycki was previously a distributor for List in Poland.
ICE: Cheiron Trading registered with ICE Futures Canada as a Liquidity Provider.
MGEX will reincorporate as a Delaware non-stock corporation, pending regulatory review.
IPC Systems extended its affiliation with Equinix and will deploy new data centers during 2010 in the UK and Singapore.
ICAP plans to launch a fully electronic, dealer-to-dealer, trading platform for interest rate swaps.
Nomura nominated former LSE CEO Clara Furse and Lord Colin Marshall, former chairman of British Airways to serve as outside directors.
Man Group acquired GLG Partners for $1.6 bn. Shareholders will receive $4.50 in cash for each share (a 55% premium to Friday’s close), while GLG partners (holding 50% of the company’s shares) will receive Man Group shares valuing each GLG share at $3.50 (a 20% premium to Friday’s close). GLG had $23.7 bn in AUM at the end of March.
Waddell & Reed was pointed out as a key firm selling a large amount of “e-mini” futures contracts during the market plunge on May 6. CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler commented that the company didn’t do anything wrong and only acted as a “bona fide hedger”. WDR accounted for nine percent the e-mine contracts traded during the critical 20 minute window and CME "found no evidence of improper trading activity or erroneous trades by CME Globex customers."
Janus’ BoD rejected last year two bids from MassMutual (who manages the Oppenheimer fund family) and Franklin Resources according to the Denver Post. Janus turned down a $13.50 per share bid from BEN (a 50% premium to market prices at the time).
EFG International CEO, Lukas Ruflin, indicated that the private-banking unit started the year slow, but “from March, the development was as expected,” according to Finanz und Wirtschaft.
LSE was upgraded to "Overweight" from "Neutral" at HSBC. Target price was raised to £9.90 from £8.40 per share.
Knight was upgraded to "Outperform" from "Market Perform" at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Target price was raised to $18 from $17.
DFM was downgraded to "Underweight" from "Neutral" at HSBC. Target price was maintained at AED1.60.
Visa was upgraded to "Buy" from "Neutral" at SunTrust Robinson. Target price was set at $96.
Senate Banking Commission Chairman Chris Dodd and Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln “told the Financial Times there was room to negotiate on a proposal that would force banks to spin off their swaps desks.
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) will analyze the risks involved in electronic trading and will discuss standardization of electronic trading parameters among exchanges and ATS.
Provided By: Equity Research Desk, www.erdesk.com