First Read
Laugh For Kim Taylor
Tina Hasenpusch, CME
If you know Kim, you obviously know her laugh is unbelievably infectious, and that she loves nothing more than a good laugh. So to keep up her good spirits as she battles cancer and inspired by the ‘ice bucket challenge’ – (instead of dumping ice water on one’s head), we are asking people to video themselves imitating Kim’s laugh and nominate others to do the same or donate to colorectal cancer research.
The website was launched yesterday. Check out www.laughforkim.com
You can upload your own laughter-videos directly from your smartphone or desktop via http://www.laughforkim.com/upload/
A growing body of research supports the theory that laughter may have therapeutic value. Therefore the more laughter, the better. Help this challenge go viral to keep Kim laughing.
Our goal is to have new laughs for Kim every day.
Tina, on behalf of the ‘Laugh for Kim’ team
***** The Laugh for Kim Team is capturing these laughs and storing them much in the same way screams were captured and stored in the movie Monsters, Inc.
++++
Interns and Other Doctors
By John J. Lothian
Today we have a new intern starting to work for John Lothian News. Spencer Doar will join the team and begin work on MarketsWiki for the next 13 weeks.
Spencer is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, one of my least favorite schools (Minnesota beat Purdue in football one year while I was in college and kept us from going to the Rose Bowl). As you can see, I have gotten over that.
Spencer joins Erik Donelson, Colin Ashburn and Alison Fay as interns who will work for us this summer. Spencer has a degree in journalism.
Speaking of journalism and burying the lead, I will be undergoing yet another surgery in May in order to continue my quest to replace nearly all of my moveable parts. On May 18, I will be having a partial shoulder replacement on my right shoulder. The same doctor who performed my double knee replacement will be working on my shoulder. And by the way, I am having hip issues too.
I hope to be recovered enough to be able to attend IDX in June. JLN will have a team of people there, or as I call them luggage porters.
Lastly, Sunday my Boy Scout Troop celebrated its latest Eagle Scout at a Court of Honor. It was my pleasure to be the Master of Ceremonies and to be given the “Mentor’s” pin by McLean Khayat, our newest Eagle Scout. I am particularly proud of McLean’s achievement and the work of our Troop to see him through to this rank. It was a great day!
++++
Amazon.com launches new marketplace for U.S businesses
BY NANDITA BOSE, Reuters
Amazon.com Inc is launching a marketplace on Tuesday that will connect individual businesses with suppliers, giving it access to a fast-growing market worth more than $8.2 trillion in the United States.
jlne.ws/1JxrQvO
***** You should see the size of the drone that delivers 5000 bushels of corn to your doorstep!
++++
Bloomberg Webinar: Commodity Hedging for Corporations
Bloomberg
This 30-minute online session will help you find and price accurate commodity hedging structures for your firm, using the tools available on Bloomberg.
The event is free – click the link below to sign up.
Topics we’ll cover:
Price discovery: Spot assessment and Forward curves
Basis and spread risk assessment
How to determine the best hedging strategy using volatility surfaces
Price swaps and options
How to get the best price from Bloomberg e-trading tools
Mark-to-market, risk scenario and sensitivity analysis
PRESENTED BY: Thibaud Gery, Commodity Derivatives Specialist, Bloomberg L.P.
jlne.ws/1JxuTnP
****** Allan Schoenberg is very persistent.
++++
G. H. Financials, LLC currently has the following vacancies:
Financial and Risk Controller
Based in the Chicago Office, this role has responsibility for assisting in all financial and risk control activity. Interested candidates must be comfortable working in a standalone environment, have strong technical accounting appreciation and knowledge, knowledge of US GAAP and a minimum of 3 years Futures Industry experience. Candidates must be familiar with current 1FR, Segregation and Customer Protection Rules and must have solid recognizable academic qualifications with a focus on accounting.
Client Services and Product Development Analyst
Based in the Chicago office, this role will act as the primary point of contact for the firm’s clients, building relationships and contributing to the development of their business via customised service solutions. The Client Services and Product Development group is a key client facing department and owns service level delivery in GHF. You will be expected to deliver a solutions focussed pro-active service to all GHF’s internal and external stakeholders, responsible for driving client on-boarding and acting as chief liaison between all internal and external parties during and after on-boarding. Interested candidates must be comfortable working in a standalone environment, have relevant Futures industry experience, expert knowledge of front to back trading flows and knowledge of management and reconciliation of the exchange rebate process.
For further information and to obtain the detailed role specification, please email hr@ghfinancials.com The closing date for applications is Friday 15 May 2015.
++++
Lead Stories
ICE Relaunches Credit Swap Futures; Intercontinental Exchange has redesigned its swap futures two years after their debut flopped
By KATY BURNE, WSJ
Proponents of futures contracts that mimic swaps are pushing the hybrid instruments, despite traders’ slower-than-expected acceptance, in a bet that a regulatory overhaul of complex financial instruments will boost the appeal of the “swap futures.”
jlne.ws/1QE0dDc
***DA: These are the first contracts from ICE to use the Eris methodology under the licensing agreement announced last December. For more, see this story from FOW
Deutsche Boerse Group extends cooperation with Korea Exchange
Eurex
Since 2010, the Eurex/KRX Link is giving Eurex Trading Participants direct access to KOSPI 200 Options, one of the most heavily traded options contracts in the world, after Korean trading hours. And the partners can already look back on successful years of trading. Now STOXX Ltd., the marketing agent for the indexes of Deutsche Boerse AG and the Korea Exchange, Inc. (KRX) have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). Under the MOU, STOXX and KRX intend to create a long-term business relationship to aid in the development of index projects. Furthermore, the companies will leverage one another’s strengths in promoting the other parties indexes as underlying for financial products.
jlne.ws/1zj1xWV
Why the Cost of Hedging European Banks Stocks Has Soared
by Sofia Horta E Costa, Bloomberg
Anyone wondering why it costs so much to protect against losses in European bank stocks in the options market saw the reason on Monday.
t.co/V0mYFu7Q5h
Interactive Data Corp owners plan sale or IPO-source
Reuters
Private equity owners of Interactive Data Corp plan to appoint financial advisers over the next few weeks to explore a sale or an initial public offering, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
jlne.ws/1b9t3ue
Derivatives push planned by JPX
The Trade
Japan Exchange Group (JPX) has revealed plans to transform its equities market and expand its derivatives offering in its latest management plan.
jlne.ws/1Fu2e0B
The London Bankers Aiming for Westminster
The British public doesn’t think much of bankers. Why are so many running for Parliament?
by Mehul Srivastava, Simon Kennedy, Bloomberg
To climb to the seventh floor of a run-down block of subsidized housing in southwest London, Will Martindale, ex-JPMorgan banker and current pursuer of a seat in Parliament, has to step carefully to avoid a pile of dog excrement.
jlne.ws/1P1LONG
Regulatory
New MiFID draft sheds light on HFT
IFRAsia
European regulators have conditionally settled on a final definition of high frequency trading, increasing momentum for tighter regulation of the controversial market. The definition, contained in unpublished draft MiFID II text seen by IFR, describes high frequency trading as “the submission on average of at least 4 messages per second with respect to all instruments traded on a trading venue or at least 2 messages per second with respect to any single instrument traded on a trading venue”.
jlne.ws/1doaOmH
EU Bank-Failure Law to Align With Global Crisis Fix: Hill
Bloomberg Business
The European Union will seek to square its rules on handling failing banks with too-big-to-fail measures under development by global regulators, as the bloc’s banks warn that inconsistencies would harm their ability to compete.
jlne.ws/1doaW5J
CFTC officials urge Dodd-Frank tweak to ease repository trade-data sharing
Neil Roland – MLex
A Democrat and Republican on the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission called for legislation to ease overseas authorities’ access to derivatives trade reports in US data repositories. Commissioners Mark Wetjen, a Democrat, and Christopher Giancarlo, a Republican, urged lawmakers to remove a Dodd-Frank Act requirement that foreign regulators seeking trade data agree to guarantee US warehouses against possible lawsuits.
jlne.ws/1Fuffau
Statement of Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Recent Steps to Improve its Swaps Trading Regulations
CFTC
Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued the following statement on recent steps taken to improve the CFTC’s regulatory framework for swaps trade execution:
jlne.ws/1Ezb7oF
CFTC Commissioners get behind SEF reforms
The Trade
US regulatory Commissioners have backed new plans for swap execution facilities aiming to breathe life into the electronic trading platforms.
jlne.ws/1J6mPqM
Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) Rulemaking and National Market System (NMS) Plans
SEC
NYSE Arca: Notice of Filing of Amendment Nos. 2 and 3 and Order Granting Accelerated Approval of a Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by Amendment Nos. 1, 2, and 3, to Reflect Changes to the Means of Achieving the Investment Objective Applicable to the Guggenheim Enhanced Short Duration ETF (Release No. 34-74814; File No. SR-NYSEArca-2014-107; April 27, 2015)
OCC: Order Granting Approval of Accelerated Delivery of Supplement to the Options Disclosure Document Reflecting the Inclusion of Disclosure Regarding Foreign Currency Index Options and Changes to Disclosure Regarding Implied Volatility Index Options (Release No. 34-74813; File No. SR-ODD-2015-01; April 27, 2015)
jlne.ws/1eCTnOv
Exchanges & Trading Facilities
LSE expands mentoring scheme across Europe
Kate Burgess, FT
The London Stock Exchange is expanding its reach into Europe with the launch of an EU-wide programme to hothouse entrepreneurs and fast-track small private companies.
jlne.ws/1DGzvkD
Rusal battles with LME on aluminium price
Neil Hume and David Sheppard, FT
Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium producer, has reignited its war of words with the London Metal Exchange, saying the LME has allowed financial speculators to distort prices.
jlne.ws/1z99NbN
Nasdaq develops surveillance tools for trading desks
By James Rundle, Financial News
Exchange operator Nasdaq is preparing customised market surveillance tools for trading desks, as impending European regulations begin to place a responsibility on trading firms to monitor client flow and avoid market instability.
jlne.ws/1HN8uAO
LME CEO Garry Jones gives his views on commodities trading in China
LME
jlne.ws/1GDlytC
Equity options: New report for equity options on French underlying instruments
Eurex
This circular provides information about content and availability of a new report TD982 named “Special Report French Equity Options”.
jlne.ws/1GDl1Ip
Enternext Welcomes Biocartis to Euronext Brussels
Euronext
EnterNext, the Euronext subsidiary designed to promote and grow the market for SMEs, today welcomed Biocartis, an innovative molecular diagnostics company, to the regulated market of Euronext Brussels.
jlne.ws/1OyKtTJ
Enternext Launches Tech 40 Label to Promote Innovative European Companies
Euronext
EnterNext, the Euronext subsidiary dedicated to promoting and growing the market for SMEs[1], today announced the launch of Tech 40, a label recognising innovative European SMEs listed on the markets it covers. Each year Tech 40 will allow 40 top-performing European companies to benefit from premium services. It is one of a series of measures adopted by EnterNext since 2014 to boost the visibility of tech companies on financial markets and provide special assistance to them.
jlne.ws/1DwxeXJ
Eris sees swaptions as key product opportunity
Cian Burke – FOW
US firm Eris Exchange is looking at launching swaptions to complement its growing suite of swap futures products, the exchange told FOW. Neal Brady, chief executive of Eris Exchange, said the firm is looking at new products on the back of strong growth in US dollar contracts including an option that delivers into one of the exchange’s standardized swap futures.
jlne.ws/1P28Eoh
Hedge Funds & Managed Futures
Top bankers call for culture change for financial planning
The Australian
Three of Australia’s most senior banking figures are calling for a change of culture to fix the scandal-ridden financial planning industry.
jlne.ws/1QE8kjd
Wealth firms step up ‘full service’ offerings as client demand grows
Anna Fedorova, Investment Week
Pensions reforms, underserved areas of the market, and economies of scale are driving more investment managers to broaden the type of wealth management service they offer clients.
jlne.ws/1dnUTos
ECB: Lifting potential growth in the euro area
Eurex
In a speech held at the World Currency Conference in Berlin, Peter Praet, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, said that over the last two years the ECB has taken a series of monetary policy measures to ensure that its price stability mandate is met. In his remarks he looked back on those measures and the effects they have had, but did so in a broader context – that is, by looking at overall growth trends within the euro area and how monetary policy fits within them.
jlne.ws/1AaaTza
Negative Rates Halt Payments in European Asset-Backed Securities
by Alastair Marsh, Bloomberg
Bonds backed by loans to Spanish small businesses became the first securities to stop making interest payments last week after benchmark rates turned negative, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
jlne.ws/1FtZal2
Banks & Brokers
JPMorgan’s Bruner Said to Plan Departure for Tradeweb Bond Job
by Matthew Leising, Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is losing credit trader Chris Bruner to Tradeweb Markets LLC, where he will help run the company’s corporate-bond trading unit, according to a person familiar with the matter.
jlne.ws/1bM3QqX
Morgan Stanley fights claim by Home Shopping founder’s widow -filing
BY SUZANNE BARLYN, Reuters
The widow of the Home Shopping Network’s co-founder is seeking more than $170 million from Morgan Stanley in a case alleging, among other things, that the firm made excessive securities trades to boost commissions, according to a disclosure.
jlne.ws/1IizBEk
Agent Who Supervised Investigation of JPMorgan Cyberattack Takes a New Job
By MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN, NY Times
A top federal agent who was helping to oversee the criminal investigation into the hacking attack against JPMorgan Chase last summer is leaving for a job with a private investigation firm.
jlne.ws/1DGxrZV
Deutsche co-CEO Fitschen on trial over Kirch case
BY THOMAS ATKINS, Reuters
Deutsche Bank co-chief executive Juergen Fitschen went on trial on Tuesday accused of giving misleading evidence in connection with the collapse of the Kirch media empire in a case that could prove a major distraction for a bank pursuing a strategic revamp.
jlne.ws/1GrYTeo
Clearing & Settlement
Omgeo survey: T+2 to become global settlement cycle
Automated Trader
A study published by Omgeo, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation reveals that 80% of respondents believe T+2 will become the global standard for settlement cycles within 10 years. Currently, settlement cycles vary between T+3 in the U.S., to T+2 in Europe and differing cycles across Asia, including T+2 in Hong Kong and T+3 in Singapore. 52% expect the U.S. to move to a T+2 settlement cycle within the next three years while 34% and 14% believe Canada and Japan, respectively, will do the same.
jlne.ws/1OYeKWE
Centralised risk raises systemic worries over derivatives
FT.com
On Tuesday FIA Global, the futures industry trade association, will add its voice to a growing debate about the role of clearing houses, the centralised risk managers charged with bolstering market stability. FIA will call for greater transparency and disclosure from clearers for banks and broker-dealers to help identify credit and operational risks.
jlne.ws/1docfl5
The OCC looks to a bright confident day
FTSE Global Markets
This is a time in financial history when the post trade segment is truly coming into its own. Globally the segment is replete with institutions at a crossroads: some will fall by the wayside; some will be cowed by the change befalling the segment and dawdle in the doldrums and yet others will rise to the occasion. The US Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is an institution that looks decidedly upwardly mobile.
jlne.ws/1DGVmrX
Indexes & Products
Sluggish GDP Growth
David Blitzer – S&P Dow Jones Indices
First quarter U.S. GDP will be reported on Wednesday morning April 29th; the consensus is for only one percent real growth. The last few years have been marked by poor GDP growth. The chart compares actual GDP to potential GDP and shows that six years after the Great Recession GDP remains well below its potential. In the 22 quarters since when the recession ended in June 2009, GDP growth touched 5% only once; since 1980 GDP growth was 5% or higher in 16% of quarterly reports. Growth is sluggish.
jlne.ws/1dobXux
Tech’s long way back
Dallas Morning News
The Nasdaq Composite Index needed 31 months to plunge 78 percent after the Internet bubble burst in 2000. Climbing out of the hole took more than 12 years. Led by a 132-fold increase in Apple Inc. and a 13-fold jump in Google Inc., stocks in the gauge last week cleared the record 5,048 threshold that taunted investors for 15 years as a symbol of dot-com excess. The Nasdaq has advanced more than 350 percent since bottoming in October 2002 after the slump erased about $6 trillion from American equity prices.
jlne.ws/1doc756
Technology
Google considers shake-up of News service
Richard Waters in London, FT
Google is considering significant changes to its controversial Google News service to aid publishers that have been struggling to make money in the online world, according to one of the company’s senior executives in Europe.
jlne.ws/1JxsTfo
Enforcement
ASIC applies to wind up Planet Platinum Ltd
ASiC
ASIC has applied to the Supreme Court of Victoria to wind up publicly-listed company, Planet Platinum Ltd (ACN 101 217 252) on just and equitable grounds.
jlne.ws/1DSlGhX
FC Stone Australia Pty Ltd pays $130,000 infringement notice penalty
ASIC
FC Stone Australia Pty Ltd (“FC Stone”) has paid a total penalty of $130,000 to comply with an infringement notice given to it by the Markets Disciplinary Panel (“MDP”). The MDP had reasonable grounds to believe that FC Stone had contravened subsection 798H(1) of the Corporations Acton several occasions by failing to comply with certain ASIC (ASX24) market integrity rules. T
jlne.ws/1P1KfPG
Federal Court in Florida Orders Restitution, a Civil Monetary Penalty, and Permanent Trading Bans against Inter-Global Currency & Precious Metals and Stavros Papastavrou for Engaging in Illegal, Off-Exchange Precious Metals Transactions
CFTC
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that a federal court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida issued a Consent Order against Defendants Inter-Global Currency & Precious Metals, LLC (IGCPM) of Pompano Beach, Florida, and its owner, manager, and controlling person Stavros Papastavrou, of Delray Beach, Florida. The Order, issued by the Honorable Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, assesses a civil monetary penalty of $100,000 and a restitution award of $447,342, and permanently bans IGCPM and Papastavrou from registering, trading, soliciting, and engaging in other CFTC-regulated activities.
jlne.ws/1OyHP08
CFTC Charges Nevada-Based My Global Leverage, LLC and Toney Blondo Eggleston with Engaging in Illegal, Off-Exchange Precious Metals Transactions with Retail Customers
CFTC
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the filing of a civil injunctive enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada against Defendants My Global Leverage, LLC (MGL) and its owner and managing member Toney Blondo Eggleston, who resides in Newport Coast, California. The CFTC Complaint charges the Defendants with engaging in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis. The Complaint further alleges that Eggleston, as controlling person for MGL, is liable for MGL’s violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
jlne.ws/1GB5mGC
Environmental & Energy
Nearly half of top pension funds gambling on climate change
By Karl Mathiesen – The Guardian
Almost half the world’s top pension funds are taking an ill-advised gamble on climate change, according to a financial think tank.
jlne.ws/1JNjVXU
New EU proposal suggests Jan. 1, 2019 start for carbon market reform
Reuters
A new proposal from Latvia, holder of the EU presidency, puts forward a date of Jan. 1, 2019 to start reforms of the Emissions Trading System (ETS), according to EU sources, as part of efforts to seal a compromise deal.
jlne.ws/1z8RQtW
How will Paris approach carbon pricing?
By David Hone – (Shell Blog) Climate Spectator
As the World Bank and others ramp up the discussion on carbon pricing, heads are turning towards Paris with thoughts on how the issue will be incorporated into the expected COP21 global climate deal.
jlne.ws/1HMPqTh
BP’s oil trading division has stellar quarter
FT
BP’s oil trading division, one of the biggest and most active of any major energy company, helped the company beat market expectations in the first quarter despite the sharp drop in crude prices.
jlne.ws/1EMB5XT
Asia-Pacific
Tokyo Commodity Exchange: Circuit Breakers On And After May 1st And May 7th, 2015
MondoVisione
Circuit breakers on and after May 1st and May 7th, 2015 will be handled as follows for the time being; provided, however, that the Exchange might change the Initial CB Trigger Levels, CB Expansion Amounts, and number of expansion, etc., when it deems necessary.
jlne.ws/1PRpqIY
Osaka Exchange: Revision To Contract Specifications For 20-Year Japanese Government Bond Futures
MondoVisione
OSE is pleased to announce revisions to the specifications for 20-year Japanese government bond (JGB) futures contracts aimed at invigorating trading by enhancing convenience for market participants.
jlne.ws/1OyMGOQ
China’s rainmakers head for cover
Jennifer Hughes in Hong Kong, FT
Think of investment banking in its purest sense — the trusted adviser who has the ear of the chief executive or chairman and can use the resources of his or her company at a moment’s notice for a favoured client.
jlne.ws/1Ez4ItQ
HKEx Announces Temporary Holiday Risk Management Arrangements
HKEx
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) has announced the following holiday risk management arrangements.
jlne.ws/1bOFwok
HKFE Announces Revised Margins for Futures Contracts
HKEx
jlne.ws/1OyL4om
Frontier Markets
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE GROUP HOSTS WEST AFRICAN INVESTMENT DAY
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange Group today held its first ‘West African Investment Day’ at its London headquarters in Paternoster Square. The event hosted a large number of West African companies, international investors and advisers.
jlne.ws/1GBbm28
Investors Lose Faith in Turkey
By Matthew A. Winkler
Everyone knows that Argentina, Greece and Ukraine are closest to hell among debt-besieged nations. Now another country is falling into investor purgatory. That’s Turkey.
jlne.ws/1P1Mbrm
Currency Hedge Catch-22 Confounds Indonesia as Rupiah Swings
by Yudith Ho, Fathiya Dahrul, Bloomberg
Indonesian companies encouraged to protect themselves against swings in the rupiah are being presented with a dilemma, as the instability that makes it Asia’s most volatile currency also ensures it’s the most expensive to hedge.
jlne.ws/1J6mEvB
Miscellaneous
Anne Dias Griffin hires George Ryan prosecutor
By SHIA KAPOS, Crain’s Chicago Business
Patrick Collins, the former federal prosecutor who sent Gov. George Ryan to prison on corruption charges, has been hired to represent Anne Dias Griffin in her high-profile divorce from Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.
jlne.ws/1bzdHzC
‘Pit bull’ lawyer withdraws from Griffin divorce case
By Becky Yerak, Chicago Tribune
Divorce lawyer to the stars withdraws from official Dias Griffin legal team.
Anne Dias Griffin’s “pit bull” lawyer has withdrawn from the team representing her in the divorce filed last year by her billionaire husband, court records show.
Robert Cohen, a New York divorce lawyer who has represented such celebrities as Christie Brinkley and Uma Thurman, said in a statement Friday that he continues “to advise Anne and remain very supportive, but the logistics are such that she needs a Chicago litigation team.”
jlne.ws/1GDpURA
READ MORE: John Lothian Newsletter: ICE Relaunches Credit Swap Futures; Deutsche Boerse Group extends cooperation with Korea Exchange; Why the Cost of Hedging European Banks Stocks Has Soared.