EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE, 27 July 2010

NASDAQ OMX 2Q10 non-GAAP EPS rose 11% Y/Y to $0.52, beating consensus estimates of $0.49. Non GAAP results exclude $16 mn in charges related to the divestitures, severance, M&A and other non-recurring items. Net revenues increased 6% Y/Y to $390 mn, with higher than expected cash and derivatives trading revenue capture. Expenses rose 4% Y/Y due to higher professional services and occupancy costs. FY10 expenses are expected to be in the $870 to $885 mn range, including $60 mn in non-recurring costs. NDAQ repurchased 10 mn shares during the quarter.

NASDAQ OMX will acquire SMARTS, an Australia-based provider of market surveillance solutions to exchanges, regulators and brokers for an undisclosed amount. SMARTS has 130 employees and serves over 30 exchange and regulatory customers as well as 50 broking firm clients in more than 30 countries.

NYX: Liffe met a number of its cocoa customers and listened to their views regarding the cocoa futures market. NYX said it will “take these views into consideration and consult further with regulators before determining whether any further changes are required to the market's procedures."

NYX CEO Duncan Niederauer said NYX "picked the right partner," when sealing a deal with Warsaw Stock Exchange. "So we wouldn't see a need to do similar things with other exchanges in the region." Niederauer said.

CME corn/wheat spread options registered no trades on its Monday debut. Different quoting in the open outcry and on the Globex trading platform discouraged traders.

CBOE CEO Bill Brodsky said "I'd rather build this company organically, in things that I understand and can do very well with than just get involved in some transaction to say we've done a transaction.” I think we have everything in place where we can operate as we are for an indefinite period," Brodsky told Reuters.

LME volume rose 8% Y/Y in 1H10 due mainly to lead and copper futures.

SGX is negotiating with LME to introduce new LME “mini” contracts for the Asian market, according to LME CEO, Martin Abbott.

Bursa Malaysia indicated that it has no plans to cancel its lunch trading break.

OSE announced that JGATE, a next generation derivatives trading system for futures and options, will be available from February 14, 2011.

PSE trading started at 9:40 am local time, a ten minutes delay, after a technical glitch affected yesterday’s trading.

JSE suffered a technical problem that forced the exchange to halt trading in cash equities.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) announced the development of a trading system in cooperation with brokerages that will support all securities products and smoothly connect with foreign exchanges.

The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX) reached a licencing agreement with FTSE Group to list, trade and market a number of derivatives products based on a range of FTSE’s regional and international indices. The first phase will launch in October with the FTSE Emerging, FTSE Europe, FTSE BRIC 50 and FTSE Coast Kuwait 40.

Liquidnet US ADV declined 15% Y/Y to 42 mn shares in June. International ADV decreased 23% Y/Y to $6.7 bn. For 1H10, Liquidnet averaged 1.8 bn shares a day of buy-side liquidity on its US natural pool and 8.3 billion shares globally. Supernatural liquidity averaged 9.7 bn shares of third-party liquidity per day.

Invesco 2Q10 diluted EPS declined  -50% Y/Y to $0.09 on operating revenues of $787 mn (+26% Y/Y). AUM increased +22% Q/Q to 557.7 bn at quarter end, with the acquisition of $114.6 bn in AUM, long term net inflows of $13.9 bn and market losses of $24.2 bn.

Legg Mason F1Q10 net income per share declined -14% Y/Y to $0.30 on operating revenues of $674.2 mn (+10% Y/Y) and operating expenses of $571.4 mn (+3% Y/Y). AUM declined -6% Q/Q (-2% Y/Y) on net outflows of $23.1 bn and market declines of $16.0 bn.

Affiliated Managers 2Q10 diluted EPS increased +104% Y/Y to $0.53 on revenues of $332 mn (+65% Y/Y). AUM declined -7% Q/Q to $249 bn on net outflows of $0.8 and market losses of $7.5 bn.

AllianceBernstein appointed Sharon Fay as Chief Investment Officer of Equities. Ms. Fay was previously Head of Value Stocks.

Federated Investors reorganized $1.6 bn in assets from the Hilliard-Lyons Government Fund into the Federated Government Cash Series money market fund.

Bank of America appointed Lisa Shalett as Chief Investment Officer of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. Ms. Shalett was previously Head of Global Growth Equities at AllianceBernstein.

EFG International: EFG Harris Allday signed up to Euroclear settlement through EMX.

MF Global was selected by BNY Mellon Clearing to provide clearing services and infrastructure support for its new futures commission merchant offering.

optionsXpress 2Q10 diluted EPS declined -3.6% Y/Y to $0.27 on net revenues of $65.5 mn and total expenses of $40.9 mn.

optionsXpress June retail DARTs declined -2% Y/Y to 32,700, customer accounts increased +8% Y/Y to 365,500 and total client assets increased +22% Y/Y to $7 bn.

E*TRADE closed its trading business in Hong Kong according to the South China Morning Post. Helen Chan, E*TRADE Hong Kong VP said the closure was a strategic decision.

HKEx was initiated with a “Sell” rating at Yuanta Securities. Target price was not provided.

DFM was downgraded to "Neutral" from "Outperform" at Credit Suisse. Target price was reduced to AED1.40 from AED2.20.

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