EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE, 19 May 2010
German regulator BaFin banned naked short selling of the ten largest financial stocks (including Deutsche Boerse and the largest banks and insurance companies), European sovereign debt and CDS, effective today and programmed to remain in place until March 31, 2011.
CBOE will sell 9.6 million shares in its IPO offering on June 14, Members and brokers will sell 2.1 million shares at a minimum price of $25 per share, or $2.57 billion, according to a recent regulatory filing.
The SEC and CFTC released a joint report with preliminary findings regarding the market events of May 6. The report cites the withdrawal of liquidity by electronic market makers and the use of market orders, including automated stop-loss orders. The report also mentions linkages between the decline in the prices of index ETFs and the E-mini S&P 500 futures, on the one hand, and simultaneous and subsequent waves of selling in individual securities, on the other. In addition, “the liquidity mismatch may have been exacerbated by disparate trading conventions among various exchanges, whereby trading was slowed in one venue, while continuing as normal in another.
US securities exchanges and FINRA will file proposed rules today to pause trading in certain individual stocks if prices move down 10% or more in a five-minute period. The SEC said the circuit breaker would give the markets the opportunity to attract new trading interest in an affected stock, establish a reasonable market price and resume trading in a fair and orderly fashion. Initially, the new rules would be in effect on a pilot basis through Dec. 10, 2010.
US Senator Chris Dodd (D -Conn) filed an amendment to the OTC derivatives bill to ban certain "naked" CDS trading. Under the terms of the amendment, the government will have the ability to waive the restrictions in part or in whole. By a vote of 57 to 38, the Senate rejected a stricter version of the proposal introduced by Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan
CME began tracking the spread between its July and September wheat futures contracts as part of the "variable storage rates" (VSR) plan.
NASDAQ OMX delayed the closure of NEURO to July 1st to complete customer migration to Equiduct.
Turquoise announced a new pricing promotion to take effect on 1 June. Clients that increase their passive trading activity versus their Q1 2010 average will qualify for the scheme. The first €2.5 bn per month will receive a rebate of 0.28bps, the following €3.5 bn a 0.48bps rebate, and the following €4 bn a 0.28bps rebate. New members can also qualify for the rebate as long as they exceed a passive value traded of €1 bn. Turquoise's aggressive fee remains at 0.28bps.
Burgundy applied with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority for exchange status
NYX: NYSE Euronext added 93 new eligible stocks to the Deferred Settlement Service “long-only” segment. Effective May 26, all shares traded continuously on NYSE Euronext in Paris with an ADV of more than €100,000 will be eligible.
SGX signed a MOU with the Financial Affairs Office of the Chongqing Government in China that aims to promote the listing of Chongqing enterprises on the exchange. The FAO will provide guidance to potential listing aspirants and facilitate regulatory processes and approvals from relevant Chinese authorities.
HKEx Chairman, Ronald Arculli, said the exchange is not considering a change in its policies regarding short selling following Germany’s move.
DFM and ADSX are holding merger talks according to The National. ADSX deputy CEO, Rashed Al Baloushi, said “the exchange has to be big enough to reflect the real economy of the country … I very much wish to see the exchanges come together.”
Bursa Malaysia’s FTSE indexes were not disseminated between 11:09 am and 12:16 pm local time. The cause of the problem was not disclosed yet.
Pink OTC Markets appointed Todd Graber as CFO. Mr. Graber was previously CFO of Quadriserv.
ICAP FY’10 adjusted EPS from continuing operations rose 1% Y/Y to GBp 35.1. Revenues were up 1% Y/Y to GBP 1.605 bn, with voice and electronic broking flat Y/Y at GBP 1,036 mn and GBP 252 mn , respectively, post trade and information up 18% Y/Y to GBP 142 mn and new businesses up 3% to GBP 175 mn. ICAP showed strong numbers in FX, commodities and emerging markets revenues and lower interest rate and equities revenues.
Clearstream and Luxembourg’s central Bank launched LuxCSD, a new central securities depository service that will provide issuing and central settlement and custody services for securities of all types, incorporated in Luxembourg. The venture will be jointly owned by Clearstream and the BCL and operations are planned to start in the first half of 2011.
BondLend launched a securities finance platform for the fixed income lending and repo community.
Ipreo acquired BuysideIQ, a provider of quantitative research on institutional investors to public companies.
Eaton Vance reported 2Q10 EPS of $0.29 (-22% Q/Q; +38% Y/Y) on revenues of $273 mn (+38% Y/Y). AUM reached $176.2 bn (+9% Q/Q; +39% Y/Y) on net inflows of $5.3 bn.
Eaton Vance: Lisa M. Jones step down as Head of Institutional and International Distribution and will be replaced by a team leaded by Niall M. Quinn, effective May 31. A search for a new head of institutional has been initiated. Mr. Quinn was previously Head of Eaton Vance Management International in London.
SEI s Global Wealth Services has been selected by PFP Group to administer its discretionary business.
TIAA-CREF appointed Scott Wise as CIO and endowment management head of its newly created endowments and foundations business. Wise previously served as CEO of Rice University’s endowment fund.
State Street Global Advisors added nine Asian currencies to a program that helps institutional clients control their currency risks. The currencies are those from China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
State Street was appointed by Norges Bank as administrator for its oil fund’s real estate portfolio.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is trying to grow its 401(k) business, offering alternative asset funds and target-date funds providing guaranteed income. GSAM currently has about $840 bn in AUM.
UMB Financial: UMB Fund Services acquired the managed account solutions business of JP Morgan Worldwide Securities Services (WWS) for an undisclosed amount. WWS provides back and middle office services for retail managed accounts of asset managers.
E*TRADE April DARTs increased +11% M/M to 181,556, net new brokerage accounts totaled 17,627 and ending brokerage accounts 2.6 mn (+2% Y/Y). Total customer assets increased +2.3 % M/M (+36% Y/Y) to $162.4 bn on net new assets of $0.2 bn.
optionsXpress April retail DARTs increased +13.7% M/M to 33,300, with 3,200 new accounts, client assets increasing +3.9% M/M (+42% Y/Y) to $7.8 bn and margin balances increasing +3.9% M/M to $209 mn.
ICAP was upgraded to "Add" from "Hold" at Oriel Securities. Target price was raised to GBp420 from GBp350.
Charles Schwab was initiated with an "Overweight" rating at JPMorgan. Target price was set at $24.
SEC: Goerge Canellos, of the NY office, plans to scrutinize institutional sales. “The SEC is a little less willing to assume that if the product is sold to institutional investors we should be a little less concerned about it," Canellos said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) appointed Christiana Figueres as Executive Secretary. Ms Figueres was previously Vice Chair of the Carbon Rating Agency and a member of the CRA rating committee.
Venezuela temporarily halted currency trading while it sets up an electronic platform to eliminate speculation. The Venezuelan government is looking to limit FX fluctuations.
CORRECTION: SMX is an independent company and not an SGX subsidiary. Singapore Mercantile Exchange appointed RBS as settlement bank. RBS will join ICICI Bank as settlement bank for SMX.
Provided By: Equity Research Desk, www.erdesk.com