First Read
East and West: CME’s Gill Looks For Growth in Asia and Europe
JohnLothianNews.com
Forget the doom and gloom of years past in the markets. CME Group had a great year in 2014, even with the ongoing headwinds from the Fed’s ongoing freeze on interest rates and more regulation hitting the market-base, said Phupinder Gill, CME’s CEO, at the FIA Boca conference.
“We saw double digit growth in fourth quarter across all six of the asset classes,” Gill said, adding that the exchange ended up handling about 13.7 million contracts per day for the year. “I’m very pleased to see that momentum from the fourth quarter continue into the first quarter of this year.”
Watch the video »
++++
Are Index-Fund Investors Smarter?
By Jonathan Clements, WSJ
Index funds don’t just outperform most actively managed mutual funds. They also make more money for investors. And, no, I didn’t just repeat myself. At issue here is the distinction between a fund’s total return and its dollar-weighted return. The total return is the standard performance number you see on fund-company websites and in fund prospectuses. It combines share-price changes and dividends to tell you how much you earned over, say, five years, assuming you invested at the start of the period and reinvested all distributions in additional shares, but otherwise never again bought or sold shares.
jlne.ws/1Ea7J4U
****** Gary Gensler certainly thinks so. He wrote a book about why you should invest in indexes rather than an actively managed fund, like the ones his identical twin brother manages.
++++
FIA Chairman Testifies on CFTC Reauthorization at House Agriculture Subcommitee Hearing
FIA Americas
FIA Chairman Gerald F. Corcoran testified on reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit today. Corcoran testified in both his capacity as FIA Chairman and as Chairman and CEO of R.J. O’Brien, a futures broker.
jlne.ws/1yi1LaG
***** The FIA puts a Corc in it.
++++
Bloomberg Agriculture Outlook: Planting Webinar
Bloomberg
Please join Bloomberg Intelligence Global Chemicals Analyst, Jason Miner and Bloomberg Agriculture Market Specialist, Sterling Smith in a discussion on the Planting Outlook for 2015.
jlne.ws/1HP1mSe
***** Please sign up and attend this webinar to help us look good to Bloomberg. They are still upset about when we short-sheeted Michael Bloomberg’s bed during a recent conference.
++++
It Really Was Snowier Than Normal This Winter; No one wants to go outside and spend money.
by Dashiell Bennett, Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs has cut its tracking for Q1 economic data. One contributing factor: a glut of snowstorms and cold temperatures in January and February softened recent economic data. Their forecasting model suggest it could cost as much as 1 percent of GDP growth for the quarter.
jlne.ws/1NlpbTq
****** I am not saying it was snowier than normal, but a case of Sam Adams beer from Boston came with a free box of snow.
++++
New Google CFO an Advocate for Women in Finance
By Kimberly S. Johnson and Vipal Monga, WSJ
Ruth Porat may have to relocate her exclusive dinners to Silicon Valley once she takes the finance chief seat at Google Inc.
jlne.ws/1xEMeqN
***** I am an advocate for women too. Although last night my daughter asked me why there were more pictures of her brothers on the Internet via my newsletter than pictures of her. I did not have a good answer and will have to rectify that soon.
++++
Apps Meerkat, Periscope in Race for Live-Video Supremacy; New York fire provides an early showcase for competing apps
By Yoree Koh
On Thursday, Twitter lighted up with tweets describing a raging fire in New York’s East Village neighborhood.
jlne.ws/1NhtmSf
***** I can’t wait for more live-streaming.
++++
Apps and Widgets Come to the Trading World
Sarah Rudolph, Managing Editor – JLN
Apps – short for software applications, of course, but also conveniently one syllable of the word “apple” – are a part of just about everyone’s life these days, and available from a variety of different places beyond just the Apple App Store.
They are also being utilized in the trading space, although so far only a couple of companies are offering them. One is OptionsCity, which on Wednesday launched the newest version of its Metro NOW platform, which among other things offers customizable widgets (a simple type of app) that customers can design themselves. Metro Now also has an app store called CityStore from which they can download off-the-shelf widgets.
Read the rest of the column at JohnLothianNews.com
++++
Sponsored Content
Pegasys Trading Software – Beta Release and Launch Party
Pegasys Trading Software analyzes historical data using our unique range & trade metrics resulting in the simplest, powerfully dynamic trading platform available. Our Beta Release begins April 15th. We invite you to join us for a launch party on April 8th, 4pm, at Trading Technologies’ Tech Tap.
To register for the event, email Ray McKenzie at rmckenzie@pegasystrading.com
Sponsored
content from:
Lead Stories
LME looking to restore bullion forward curve, eyes broad market restructuring
By Clara Denina, Reuters
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has started talking to the main bullion trading banks about reinstating end-of-day gold and silver forward curves, which could be part of a bigger structural change in the precious metals market. A forward curve, which consists of a series of prices reflecting tradable values for future dates, is a key indicator of market sentiment and is widely used by banks as a reference point for clients’ forward positions at the end of each trading day.
jlne.ws/19pkv1B
A History of Failure Hasn’t Stopped Speculators From Trading This Note
by Callie Bost, Bloomberg
Speculators are again piling into an exchange-traded note that lets them bet on how long days of calm will last in the U.S. stock market. The trade, using a six-year-old security known as VXX that sees more average daily volume than shares of Microsoft Corp. and Facebook Inc., has usually backfired amid the biggest bull market since the 1990s. That hasn’t curbed its popularity, with the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN poised for an eighth straight week of inflows, a streak not seen in three years. Shares outstanding in the note are at an all-time high.
jlne.ws/1FZ9xN8
North American Railroads Caught by Speed of Crude-Oil Collapse
by Thomas Black, Bloomberg
The slowdown that North American railroad companies had been bracing for in crude oil shipments has turned into a rout, with volumes falling faster than executives had predicted.
jlne.ws/1FZ8ooI
Exclusive: Upset by Warren, U.S. banks debate halting some campaign donations
By Emily Flitter, Reuters
Big Wall Street banks are so upset with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren’s call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said. Representatives from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, have met to discuss ways to urge Democrats, including Warren and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, to soften their party’s tone toward Wall Street, sources familiar with the discussions said this week.
jlne.ws/1xENKcm
ICAP Said to Weigh Spinoff of EBS-BrokerTec Unit
by Matthew Leising, Matthew Monks, Bloomberg
ICAP Plc, the world’s largest interdealer broker, is considering spinning off EBS-BrokerTec, a move that would separate its electronic trading operations from a lackluster unit that handles trades over the phone, according to people familiar with the matter.
jlne.ws/1EIJt4L
China expands Shanghai-Hong Kong trading link
Josh Noble in Hong Kong, FT
Chinese regulators will allow domestic mutual funds to buy and sell shares between Shanghai and Hong Kong, in an effort to boost volumes after lacklustre demand has characterised the recently created cross-border trading link.
jlne.ws/1FZbkBV
Made-In-China Label a Must for Chinese Bourse Link Investors
by Kana Nishizawa, Bloomberg
Four months after Chinese equity investors got unprecedented leeway to send their money outside mainland markets, the only thing they seem interested in buying is more Chinese shares.
jlne.ws/1H5dMFv
Hedge Funds: Don’t Call Us a Hedge Fund; Managers are distancing themselves from the moniker
By Rob Copeland, WSJ
One of the keys to running a hedge fund is learning how to say you don’t. Grappling with years of uneven performance, image problems and deep-pocketed clients who have publicly distanced themselves from the industry, hedge-fund managers are taking pains to avoid the moniker.
jlne.ws/1H4PbR5
Treasury Help Sought in Cross-Border Swaps Dispute; Fight threatens clearinghouses like CME, ICE as global regulators work to ensure equivalent rules
By Andrew Ackerman, WSJ
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R., Kansas) is pressing the Obama administration to help resolve a protracted cross-border dispute over derivatives regulation, a fight that threatens to harm big U.S. firms like CME Group Inc. that fall under the committee’s oversight.
jlne.ws/1bAYuhY
Deflation: the modern policy bogeyman
Gillian Tett, FT
‘You cannot assume that falls in the price of goods and assets are the same?.?.?.?their impact can differ’ In 2009, the Bank of Japan conducted a public survey on deflation. The results were not what the esteemed central bank wanted or expected – at least not after a “lost decade” of falling prices. Instead of expressing horror at the idea of deflation, 44 per cent of those surveyed deemed it “favourable”; 35 per cent felt neutral about the phenomenon; and just 20.7 per cent described it as “unfavourable”. Although a subsequent survey painted a slightly more negative picture, the pattern was clear. As Kathy Matsui, vice-chair of Goldman Sachs Japan, says: “More Japanese actually feel that deflation is a positive than a negative.”
jlne.ws/1ByxFkz
Northwestern Mutual Is Buying Online Advice Provider LearnVest
By Liz Moyer, WSJ
A 160-year-old insurance company is buying a six-year-old startup to get into the fledgling market for online financial-planning services.
jlne.ws/1xk24GW
Wall Street Titans Are Winning on European Banks’ Home Turf
By David Wighton, WSJ
European investment banks are being pushed back on almost all fronts in Europe by their Wall Street rivals, and that is before the recent bugle call signaling a further retreat
jlne.ws/1NhGpTI
Fed’s Fischer: Nonbank financial sector less vulnerable than before crisis
Reuters
U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said on Friday that the nonbank financial sector today is less vulnerable to the type of shocks that played a key role in spreading the U.S. financial crisis.
jlne.ws/1ID68mL
Regulatory
Fed’s Top Cop Gets Grilled About Leaks
by Alan Katz, Bloomberg
For once, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen isn’t the only one on the spot. This week, lawmakers want answers about what’s really going on inside the Fed from its top cop, a guy named Mark Bialek.
jlne.ws/1FZ9r81
Cooperman Says U.S. Seeks Information About Omega Trades
by Saijel Kishan, Bloomberg
Leon Cooperman built a reputation as a stock picker over almost half a century by scrutinizing undervalued companies and asking management tough questions.
jlne.ws/1NloI3D
SEC Rules Would Boost Oversight of High-Frequency Firms; More Firms Would Need to Register With Finra
By Andrew Ackerman
U.S. securities regulators took the first steps toward ratcheting up oversight of rapid-fire trading, proposing to bring certain high-speed firms under greater regulation from a Wall Street watchdog.
jlne.ws/1EHGUjj
SEC Charges Nearly Two Dozen Unregistered Broker-Dealers
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged nearly two dozen companies and individuals who regularly bought and sold securities on behalf of a suburban Chicago-based trading firm without registering with the SEC as a broker-dealer as required under the federal securities laws.
jlne.ws/1FXwdNC
Corruption Currents: SEC Spent Millions on Conflict Minerals Rule
By Samuel Rubenfeld, Wall Street Journal
jlne.ws/1BPEX29
FINRA Seeks Comment on Proposal Requiring Registration of Associated Persons Who Develop Algorithmic Trading Strategies
By Janet M. Angstadt, Michael T. Foley, Ross Pazzol, James D. Van De Graaff, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
As part of its ongoing market structure initiatives related to, among other things, automated trading activities, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued a proposal that would require the registration of associated persons of FINRA-member firms who are “primarily responsible for the design, development or significant modification of an algorithmic trading strategy.” The proposal’s scope is broad, and would require various individuals who currently are not subject to a FINRA registration requirement, to pass a qualification examination and register.
jlne.ws/1yi2Yi8
Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) Rulemaking and National Market System (NMS) Plans
SEC
BATS: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change Related to Fees for Use of BATS Exchange, Inc. (Release No. 34-74589; File No. SR-BATS-2015-23); see also Exhibit 5
CBOE: Notice of Filing of a Proposed Rule Change Relating to Stock-Option Order Handling (Release No. 34-74590; File No. SR-CBOE-2015-029); see also Exhibit 5
CME: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rules Change to Amend Listing Rules for New CDX Indexes Available for Clearing (Release No. 34-74591; File No. SR-CME-2015-010)
CME: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change to to Establish a Default Management Committee and Address OTC Products that are Subject to CME’s Base Financial Safeguards (Release No. 34-74587; File No. SR-CME-2015-005)
ICEEU: Order Approving Proposed Rule Change Relating to Additional European Sovereign CDS Contracts (Release No. 34-74588; File No. SR-ICEEU-2015-004)
ICEEU: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change Relating to Clearance of New Natural Gas Futures Contracts (Release No. 34-74583; File No. SR-ICEEU-2015-008; March 25, 2015)
jlne.ws/1eCTnOv
Regulation round-up March 2015
UK FCA
Regulation round-up is our monthly email to all regulated firms, updating you on the latest news which affects the sector you practice in.
jlne.ws/1FN3cps
Exchanges & Trading Facilities
Borse Dubai rules out Nasdaq OMX Group stake sale
By Tom Arnold and Hadeel Al Sayegh, Reuters
Borse Dubai [BRSDB.UL] ruled out any sale of its shares in Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ.O) on Thursday after shedding its entire 17.4 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) (LSE).
jlne.ws/1CsYZEO
NZX Annual Report 2014 Published
NZX
NZX today issued its Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2014. NZX’s online Annual Report can be accessed at the following link, and a PDF copy of the printed version is attached to this announcement.
jlne.ws/1CsXvdL
LSE targets new openings as Borse Dubai bows out
Philip Stafford, FT
The departure of the London Stock Exchange Group’s biggest shareholder, and one time potential buyer, marks a sea-change in the status of the bourse operator. Borse Dubai’s sale of its remaining 17.4 per cent stake while the LSE’s share price reached a near-record £25 on Thursday generated about $900m in profit for the Middle Eastern group.
jlne.ws/1HQXLGL
CBOE, C2 and CFE Trading Schedule for the Good Friday Holiday
CBOE
CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) today announced the trading schedule for Chicago Board Options Exchange® (CBOE®), C2 Options Exchange (C2) and CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE®) in observance of the Good Friday holiday on April 3.
jlne.ws/1EYMocc
Good times at LSE prompt executive pay rises
By James Rundle, Financial News
The three most senior executives at the London Stock Exchange Group have all received salary increases on the back of a strong year, but new rules on bonuses at the iconic bourse have limited take-home pay for 2014.
jlne.ws/193VPvH
Hedge Funds & Managed Futures
Buy-side survey finds that HFT and liquidity still spook Asia
The Trade News
Asian buy-side traders are highly concerned about high-frequency trading and their ability to source local liquidity, according to a survey conducted by Liquidnet, which asked 115 buy-side traders around the world, including Asia, about the issues that currently pre-occupy them.
jlne.ws/1CsXruk
Rival Rothschild branches face court battle over family name
Michael Stothard in Paris, FT
More than two centuries after the first Rothschild made his fortune in European banking, two branches of the dynasty are set to do battle in the French courts — over the family name.
jlne.ws/1OBgYxZ
Banks & Brokers
JPMorgan retains number one spot in investment banking but revenues slip
by Anjuli Davies, Reuters
The U.S. bank JPMorgan retained its crown as the top performing investment bank in 2014, although its revenues fell 6 percent, new data showed on Friday.
jlne.ws/1CTPjUj
Wealth Adviser: More Brokers Say ‘No, Thanks’ to Manager Jobs
By Kevin Noblet, WSJ
Many Wall Street brokers are shunning what once was seen as a big step up: promotion to branch manager. Branch chiefs are being burdened with more responsibilities as the banks that own their firms impose tighter controls, cut costs and push advisers to promote commercial-banking services. To make matters worse, the positions are typically less lucrative and less secure than they used to be, Wealth Adviser at WSJ reports. One former branch manager, Michael Maurer, who worked for Smith Barney and then its new owner, Morgan Stanley , recalls how he used to take an hour each Wednesday to have coffee with three or four of his brokers. Then his workload ballooned, and “that Wednesday cup of coffee turned into a quick nod as I walked.”
jlne.ws/1OCFizq
ABN Amro Initial Offering Is Delayed Amid Pay, Probe Queries
by Corina Ruhe, Bloomberg
The Dutch government delayed the sale of ABN Amro Group NV, what may be the country’s biggest-ever initial public offering, after lawmakers protested executive pay increases and policy breaches that prompted regulatory probes.
jlne.ws/1EIFPrC
Morgan Stanley Board Pushes Emerging Area of Tech Governance
By Kim S. Nash, Reuters
Big Wall Street banks are so upset with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren’s call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Representatives from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, have met to discuss ways to urge Democrats, including Warren and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, to soften their party’s tone toward Wall Street, sources familiar with the discussions said this week.
jlne.ws/1xENKcm
Bank of America skips vote sought by funds on Moynihan’s roles
Reuters
Bank of America Corp will not hold a shareholder vote on its decision to reunite the roles of chairman and chief executive officer, according to the bank’s proxy statement filed on Thursday.
jlne.ws/1BsGMSM
Clearing & Settlement
Euroclear stops trading with Clearstream on some Argentine bonds
By Davide Scigliuzzo and Paul Kilby, Reuters
Euroclear has closed a trading bridge with Clearstream on five series of US dollar-denominated Argentine bonds issued under local law, the company said in a note to the market on Thursday, according to a broker.
jlne.ws/1HPznSg
European Central Bank shelves euro clearing house policy
Economic Times
The European Central Bank has quietly shelved its policy of requiring clearing houses handling euro-denominated securities to be located inside the euro zone, after the measure was rejected by a top European court, a source at the central bank said.
Britain had challenged the policy in the European Union’s second-highest court, fearing it would damage London’s role as a finance centre, and the court ruled earlier this month that the Frankfurt-based central bank did not have the power to impose it.
jlne.ws/1CsYVoF
HKEx Prepares Its First Mainland Chinese Equity-Index Futures
Bloomberg
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. plans to offer its first mainland Chinese equity-index futures later this year as the bourse expands its derivatives business.
China’s markets regulator must approve the products before they can launch. HKEx will either license an existing index from a company such as FTSE International Ltd. or China Securities Index Co., or strike a deal to use contracts that already trade on the China Financial Futures Exchange, or CFFEX, according to Romnesh Lamba, the Hong Kong firm’s co-head of global markets.
jlne.ws/1xEPdj7
Indexes & Products
Dow Jones Industrial Average And S&P 500 Index Turn Red For 2015 Ahead Of US GDP
International Business Times
U.S. stocks managed to trim early sharp losses Thursday, but geopolitical concerns in the Middle East weighed on all three major indexes, extending the losing streak to a fourth day. Saudi Arabia began airstrikes in Yemen overnight, igniting fears that tensions in the Middle East could disrupt global crude supplies.
jlne.ws/1CsZ4Zh
Indexology: Dreams to Sell
ETF Trends
If there were dreams to sell, a poet asked, what would you buy? Much more prosaically, if you could design your dream investment process, what would it look like?
A simple way to think about the question is to separate success into two dimensions: frequency and magnitude. Frequency means how often we “win” (i.e., how often our strategy outperforms its benchmark); magnitude measures the size of the winnings (i.e., the average value added when we win, and the average value lost when we lose). In the best of all possible worlds, we’d win most of the time, and the average outperformance in our winning months would be much higher than the average underperformance in our losing months.
jlne.ws/1CsZa2R
HKEx Prepares Its First Mainland Chinese Equity-Index Futures
by Eduard Gismatullin, Bloomberg
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. plans to offer its first mainland Chinese equity-index futures later this year as the bourse expands its derivatives business.
jlne.ws/1xEPdj7
A Review Of The Different Approaches To Smart Beta
Seeking Alpha
Alternative indexing strategies, which weigh portfolio investments by factors unrelated to market capitalization, have proliferated in recent years. Often referred to as “smart beta” or “strategic beta,” these strategies can be used in conjunction with traditional investments to provide the potential for superior risk-adjusted returns, especially when combined with cap-weighted passive indexing and active management.
jlne.ws/1CsZ2Au
A Tale of Two Benchmarks: Reconstitution Effect
ETF Trends
This is the second in a series of blog posts relating to the in depth analysis of performance differential between the S&P SmallCap 600 and the Russell 2000.
Numerous studies have been conducted on Russell’s annual reconstitution process in June, particularly regarding the downward price pressure placed on the Russell 2000. As winners from the Russell 2000 move up to the Russell 1000, and losers from the Russell 1000 move down to the small-cap index, small-cap fund managers are forced to sell winners and buy losers, thereby creating negative momentum.
jlne.ws/1CsZdvv
Technology
Wall Street’s finest head for the Silicon Valley
Gillian Tett, FT
Ruth Porat’s move to Google from Morgan Stanley shows where the US economy’s power is going
A decade ago, when senior bankers tired of Wall Street they usually headed for the golf course, a hedge fund, or public service, usually in Washington. But this week Ruth Porat, a rare senior woman on Wall Street, announced that she is leaving her role as chief financial officer at Morgan Stanley — not for the administration of President Barack Obama (though the Treasury did talk to her about a job) nor for a hedge fund (a field where she was also in demand). Instead, she is off to Silicon Valley. Ms Porat will be chief financial officer of the mighty Google.
jlne.ws/1GvlI4F
Duco: The reconciliation service that saves money and increases control
Futures Magazine
How is it different than other companies in the same space?
Duco Cube represents the first major change to the operations model for reconciliation since the 1990s, dispensing with all of the previous assumptions.
jlne.ws/1H5a0vZ
Enforcement
Ryan Willmott sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for insider dealing
UK FCA
Ryan Willmott, the former group reporting and financial planning manager for Logica PLC, who pleaded guilty to three counts of insider dealing on 26 February 2015, has today been sentenced to 10 months imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay £6,122 towards prosecution costs and a Confiscation Order in the sum of £23,239.75.
jlne.ws/1OCDFSn
FINRA Fines Oppenheimer $3.75M in Employee Fraud Case
ABC News
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is ordering Oppenheimer & Co. to pay $3.75 million for failing to supervise an employee who defrauded clients and the producers of a canceled Broadway musical.
jlne.ws/1HUXJdw
Environmental & Energy
EU Nations Reach Deal to Start Carbon-Market Reserve in 2021
By Ewa Krukowska – Bloomberg
European Union member states agreed on a compromise to seek the start of automatic supply cuts in the world’s biggest carbon market in 2021, giving up plans to push for an accelerated introduction of the fix.
jlne.ws/1NldAnB
Earth Hour lights-out seeks to illuminate climate plight
AFP Relaxnews
Hundreds of landmarks from Paris’ Eiffel Tower to the Seattle Space Needle will dim their lights on Saturday, as people around the world go briefly off-grid to mark Earth Hour with candlelight and barbecues.
jlne.ws/1bAB8ZL
The Surface of the Earth Is Rising Beneath Your Feet
by Brian K Sullivan, Bloomberg
In the U.S., this past year has had more than enough reminders of how weather can affect our lives.
jlne.ws/1OCuOAe
Oil Companies Reap Large Gains After Cashing In Hedging Bets; These forms of insurance against rising prices have become a source of income
By Nicole Friedman And Erin Ailworth, WSJ
Rocked by months of plunging crude prices, oil producers are harvesting financial bets to raise, for some, much-needed cash.
jlne.ws/1CgiMpE
Asia-Pacific
China expands Shanghai-Hong Kong trading link
Financial Times
Chinese regulators will allow domestic mutual funds to buy and sell shares between Shanghai and Hong Kong, in an effort to boost volumes after lacklustre demand has characterised the recently created cross-border trading link.
The Stock Connect allows global investors to trade Shanghai-listed shares without the need for a licence, but also gives many Chinese investors access to Hong Kong stocks for the first time. However, demand in both directions has so far failed to live up to the pre-launch hype.
jlne.ws/1CsZwqh
More Damage Expected For Hong Kong Stock Market
RTT News
The Hong Kong stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 570 points or 2.3 percent. The Hang Seng Index closed just below the 24,500-point plateau, and now the market is looking at continued consolidation on Friday.
jlne.ws/1CsZmPP
China to let mutual funds buy Hong Kong shares via ‘connector': regulator | Business
Reuters
China’s securities regulator said on Friday it would let mainland mutual funds invest in Hong Kong shares via the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect.
The move may gave some support to the cross-border trading scheme, which has seen dwindling interest from investors.
jlne.ws/1CsZlLM
Hong Kong actively seeking to join Asian infrastructure bank, says financial secretary
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong will actively seek to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to capture opportunities arising from the national “one-belt, one-road” policy, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said.
“We will visit the countries involved in ‘one belt, one road’. There are several dozen of them, and we plan to start as soon as possible,” he said.
The visits would be aimed at promoting trade and investment, he added.
jlne.ws/1CsZte5
Why financial centres need hinterlands
The Malaysian Insider
As small city-states, Hong Kong and Singapore have always had to deal with the economic constraints associated with the lack of a natural hinterland. While both cities have managed to leverage their strategic locations to become leading global financial centres, their continued success at the interstices of global financial flows will require access to an economic hinterland.
jlne.ws/1CsZrTt
China triples Fidelity’s investment quota
Gabriel Wildau in Shanghai, FT
China’s foreign exchange regulator has tripled an investment quota allowing Fidelity to access the country’s onshore capital markets, the latest effort to loosen restrictions on foreign money entering the country.
jlne.ws/19Yhab3
Exchange Publishes Results of its Latest Review of Disclosure in Issuers’ Annual Reports
HKEx
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the Exchange), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), today (Friday) published a report on the findings and recommendations from its review of issuers’ annual reports1 for the financial years ended between December 2013 and November 2014.
jlne.ws/1D5Knxh
HKFE Announces Revised Margins for Futures Contracts
HKEx
jlne.ws/1CsWWAE
HKEx chief Li eyes Chinese derivatives
Futures & Options World
jlne.ws/1EFGyJZ
Frontier Markets
Kuwait opens door for foreign operator to own part of stock market
By Hadeel Al Sayegh, Reuters
The Kuwait Stock Exchange may offer up to 44 percent of its shares to a company that has experience in operating bourses when it goes public, a senior government official told Reuters on Thursday.
jlne.ws/1HVJAwJ
NSEL Scam: Rs 850 crore was siphoned off from India to Mauritius, and investigative agencies don’t have a clue about it!
Purba Das, Business Insinder
NSEL investors are unhappy with the way investigators have conducted the investigation. They have alleged that Rs850 crore were siphoned off to Mauritius to an FTIL subsidiary- FT Group Investments Pvt Ltd’ from FTIL even as the investors warned and tipped off the investigating agencies.
jlne.ws/1xk7LET
Moscow Exchange: Agency Cross Trading To Be Permitted On The Equity & Bond Market
MondoVisione
Beginning 27 April 2015, clients of member firms will be offered agency cross trading option through the Central Counterparty. Agency cross will be available for the central order book and non-anonymous trading on the Equity & Bond Market.
jlne.ws/1H52mSg
Fxkart.com gets $ 2 million seed funding; Mushtaq Shah and strategic advisor Faraz Naqvi have funded in their private individual capacities
Business Standard
Fxkart.com, an online aggregator of foreign exchange dealers, announced today that it has received dollar 2 million seed funding from its founder Mushtaq Shah and strategic advisor Faraz Naqvi. The seed funding is in their private individual capacities, the company said.
jlne.ws/1NeoSM6
Miscellaneous
Councilman snags $30K settlement in Occupy Wall Street lawsuit
By Lia Eustachewich, NY Post
Manhattan Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez snagged a $30,000 settlement Thursday in a lawsuit he and three other council members brought against the city in 2012 over the NYPD’s handling of Occupy Wall Street protests. Rodriguez was joined in the Manhattan federal court suit by Letitia James, Melissa Mark-Viverito and Jumaane Williams, as well as several OWS activists.
jlne.ws/1yikcMt
Global grain trade hits all-time high
Emiko Terazono, FT
The global grain trade rose to an all-time high last year thanks to international buying of barley and sorghum, according to the International Grains Council.
jlne.ws/1E69M9U
READ MORE: John Lothian: LME looking to restore bullion forward curve, eyes broad market restructuring; A History of Failure Hasn’t Stopped Speculators From Trading This Note; North American Railroads Caught by Speed of Crude-Oil Collapse.