image EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE, 24 May 2010

CBOE members approved the restructuring plan to demutualize the company and go public. A seat was sold for $2.35 mn on May 20, equating to $28.13 per share after the restructuring. The lower end of the IPO pricing range was set at $25.

Markit will start publishing volumes of cash equity trades crossed in automated crossing systems of Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Cazenove, Morgan Stanley and UBS. Markit will collate, check, validate the data and publish the aggregated dark pool trading volume the following afternoon. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe indicated that “this initiative is designed to bring further transparency into this area of OTC trading by providing verified data where previously there has been only speculation, and by giving a clear indication of the actual levels of trading in crossing engines.”

 

 

Deutsche Boerse and the Russian Capital Markets Regulator signed a MoU to cooperate in the development of the capital markets, exchange information and partner on legal issues affecting capital markets.

CME: started trading dollar-denominated palm oil contracts.

LCH.Clearnet CEO Roger Lidell expects “the nature of European reforms to focus more on clearing behavior, rather than how clearing houses will be structured, which has been considered in the US.”

HKEx and KRX signed a MOU on cooperation and exchange of information.

HKEx Information Services will distribute three CSIC Indexes; the CSI 300, CSI Hong Kong 100 and CSI Cross-Straits 500; through its Market Datafeed system, starting July 5.

Tradeweb: Dealerweb will offer electronic trading of U.S. Treasury bills in two months. Tradeweb’s president, Billy Hult, said “we view our move into Treasury bills as an extension of what we’re doing with mortgages and agencies.”

Omgeo appointed Donald F. Donahue, chairman and CEO of the DTCC, as the new Chairman of its Board of Managers. Donahue will replace Richard R. Macek, former executive managing director Risk and Finance for DTCC.

Pipeline unveiled Liquidity Builder, a new service that monitors liquidity across multiple cash equity and options markets, and predicts the availability of Pipeline-qualified large blocks. The aggregated small order liquidity is offered at the NBBO.

Legg Mason agreed to repurchase $300 mn worth of common stock and accelerated its share repurchase program approved on May 10.

Invesco launched the Balanced-Risk  Commodity Strategy fund, targeting a 5% p.a. excess return over the DJ-UBS Commodity index over a 3 to 5 year investment horizon.

Invesco Advisers was appointed as Interim Investment Advisers by Morgan Stanley’s High Yield Fund.

CME was added to Goldman Sachs’ “Conviction List”.

BEN was removed Goldman Sach’s “conviction list”  and maintained a “Buy” rating. Target price was cut to $120 from $136.

Janus was downgraded to “Sell” from “Neutral” at Goldman Sachs. Target price was cut to $10 from $15.

Waddell & Reed was downgraded to "Hold" from "Buy" at Stifel Nicolaus. Target price was not provided.

Artio Global was downgraded to “Neutral” from “Buy” at Goldman Sachs. Target price was cut to $23 from $31.

Calamos was downgraded to “Sell” from “Neutral” at Goldman Sachs. Target price was cut to $11.00 from $13.50.

Interactive Brokers was initiated with a “Buy” rating at Ticonderoga. Target price was set at $20.

The US Senate approved a measure requiring the CFTC to set position limits on OTC and exchange-traded energy contracts.

The EU Commission said it “intends to propose making it mandatory to clear standardized OTC products through a central counterparty”.

 

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