Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from March 2008

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from March 2008

Mon dieu!!!(EDITOR'S NOTE)
March 1, 2008... When the news flashed about the rogue trader at Societe Generale in France, we wondered: what did he trade and how did he do it--undetected? Little by little we learned that "le rogue" traded equity futures at European exchanges, and those...

The French deception: rogue trader hits Societe Generale.(Trendlines)
March 1, 2008... How did he do it? That's the question on everyone's mind after French bank Societe Generale acknowledged rogue trader Jerome Kerviel cost the bank [euro]4.9 billion ($7.2 billion), and the most detailed official answer to date has come from...

Doh! J: regulatory rumble.(Trendlines)
March 1, 2008... Three days after the Department of Justice dropped a bombshell on the U.S. futures industry in a comment letter to the Treasury Department on regulatory structure, it denied the content plainly expressed in the letter. In the comment...

Opening up India: reforms to boost futures.(Trendlines)
March 1, 2008... It's been more than a year since a draconian clamp-down on the trading of commodity futures hobbled one of India's great success stories (see "Do chickpeas have a future?" April 2007), but in January the government announced the long-awaited...

Options consolidation: Amex gets bought.(Trendlines)
March 1, 2008... The American Stock Exchange (Amex) became the latest exchange to be acquired when NYSE Euronext signed an agreement to purchase it for $260 million on Jan. 17. The transaction is subject to regulatory and Amex member approval and is expected to...

CBOE takes this round: SEC rules on ERPs.(Trendlines)
March 1, 2008... In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled in favor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in its plea to eliminate former Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) members' CBOE exercise rights, clearing a big hurdle for the...

Inside France: many questions, few answers; Here is a view on the Societe Generale rogue trader scandal from our Paris correspondent Irene Frat.(Trendlines)
March 1, 2008... Why did he do it? You would think it was for the money that Jerome Kerviel took highly risky positions at Societe Generale. Though he was eager to get a big bonus, he was hoping for [euro]300,000, not a paltry sum for a trader who made less...

Chartview: just kidding.(Trendlines)
March 1, 2008... From Tuesday Feb. 5 through the following day, share prices in the U.S. futures exchanges cratered, prompted by a comment letter from the U.S. Department of Justice to the Treasury department that said vertically integrated trade execution and...

CME wants it all: CME/Nymex talk deal.(Trendlines)
March 1, 2008... The CME Group Inc. and Nymex Holdings Inc. entered an exclusive 30-day merger negotiation in late January. According to the CME Group, Nymex shareholders would get $36 in cash and 0.1323 of a share of CME Group's common stock for each share of...

Rep. Baker to head MFA.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Rep. Richard H. Baker (R-LA) was named president and CEO of Managed Funds Association. "I am very excited to become a partner on the MFA team. The member firms are the source of the most creative financial strategies in the marketplace," says...

Alan Schwartz has been named CEO of Bear Stearns.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Alan Schwartz has been named CEO of Bear Stearns. Previously he served as president at Bear. Michael Minnikes was promoted to chief executive of the securities division of Bear Stearns.

Thomas G. McCabe has been named COO of OneChicago.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Thomas G. McCabe has been named COO of OneChicago. Previously he was an executive at the Chicago Board of Trade.

The Price Group.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Sue Jung was promoted to executive vice president and COO of The Price Group.

The CFTC appointed three regional administrators.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... The CFTC appointed three regional administrators: Steve Obie for New York, Bill Kokontis for Chicago, and Tom Bloom for Kansas City.

Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... T. Timothy Ryan Jr. is now CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

Richard Nesbitt was named head of CIBC World Markets.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Richard Nesbitt was named head of CIBC World Markets. Previously he was chief executive of TSX Group.

John L. Santana is now managing director, front-end systems technology at CME Group.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... John L. Santana is now managing director, front-end systems technology at CME Group. Previously he was an independent management consultant.

Fortis Bank.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Herman Verwilst was named chairman of the board at Fortis Bank.

Philip Halpern is now chief investment officer of Tellus Asset Management, the natural resources group of Cole Partners Asset Management.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Philip Halpern is now chief investment officer of Tellus Asset Management, the natural resources group of Cole Partners Asset Management. Previously he was CIO of the University of Chicago.

Advantage Futures.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Iqbal Brainch is now chief marketing officer at Advantage Futures.

Credit Suisse.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Eric Varvel is now European chief executive at Credit Suisse and remains co-head of global investment banking.

Iowa Grain.(Trading Places)
March 1, 2008... Mark D. Monaco was named director of sales and marketing at Iowa Grain.

Honor roll.(Managed Money Review)
March 1, 2008... Futures has been profiling the top performing commodity trading advisors (CTAs) for nearly two decades, and while there has been this rumor going around of a Futures magazine curse, similar to the Sports Illustrated curse, related to follow-up...

Corn energized.(Hot Commodities)
March 1, 2008... Since mid November, corn futures have shot past $5 per bushel, up from less than $4. "It has been a very consistent trend," says Elaine M. Kub, analyst for DTN. "Ever since harvest, we have been trading on the idea that next year's crop has to...

Bottom dollar.(Hot Commodities)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Considering the 125 basis point cuts to the Fed funds and discount window rates, negative job growth, a paltry 0.6% fourth quarter gross domestic product, and sub-50 services and regular ISM releases, things looked grim for the U.S. dollar...

Range bound sugar?(Hot Commodities)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Believe it or not, sugar has been more volatile than equities in the early stages of 2008, twice posting ranges in excess of 10% of its total value. In early January, sugar began to rally when a Brazilian hedge fund was forced to close short...

Options strategy.
March 1, 2008... Question: How do I profit from an anticipated market reversal without the risk of attempting to catch the proverbial falling knife? Answer: The call ratio backspread. Major market bottoms often are difficult to identify as they unfold....

Equities hitting the wall in '08: equity markets have already experienced a year's worth of volatility in the first month of 2008 and there's no break in sight.(MARKETS)
March 1, 2008... The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S & P 500 hit all-time highs on Oct. 11, 2007. But since then, the Dow, S & P 500 and the Russell 2000 have endured huge volatility and losses ranging from approximately 15% in the Dow to nearly 24% in...

Tech talk: tug of war.(MARKETS)
March 1, 2008... At the end of January stocks reached an important juncture that saw bulls and bears in a classic tug of war to dictate the wave count, with nothing less than the fate of the market at stake. The winner determines whether a correction is...

No jitters trading coffee.(Market Strategy)
March 1, 2008... Trying to pick the low in the stock market may be more exciting than examining supply/demand fundamentals in coffee, but real investors are looking for returns--not fun. For those willing to tune out the media for a moment, there are markets...

The new carry trade.(Forex Trader)
March 1, 2008... It is a common misconception that the carry trade is mainly a yen-based phenomenon. This is due to the fact that the Japanese government has kept interest rates near zero for more than a decade, so borrowing yen at close to 0.50% to buy higher...

Equities and Eurodollars: the credit crisis of 2007 continues to rock the financial markets. By looking closely at how the crunch unfolded early on, we can key in on critical relationships between Eurodollars and equities that can help us assess both risk and opportunity going forward.(EQUITY TRADING TECHNIQUES)
March 1, 2008... When we look back at the credit crisis of 2007, it is possible that the first week in August will be noted as a time of total realization--not only of the risk implied by the explosion of subprime mortgages, but also of the connection between...

Eight practices for long-term success: one way to know what's good is to see what bad looks like. Since experience is the best teacher, we'll review one new trader's mistakes in an early foray into the markets and, hopefully, learn from his missteps.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
March 1, 2008... When considering best trading practices, it's easy to discard the idea as too general and simplistic, or to default to the industry's well-worn cliches. However, for both new and experienced traders, there are several rules that constitute a...

The importance of trading size: most traders focus on trade direction, while money management is far more important. In the first of two parts, we demonstrate this by examining the power of trade sizing on one market. In the second installment, we will introduce the Leverage Space Model, a new way to size trades across a portfolio.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
March 1, 2008... The Leverage Space Model is a new and superior method for portfolio management that seeks to maximize geometric growth within a given drawdown constraint. This is in stark contrast to more conventional models, which seek to maximize return vs....

Tricks for overnight success: in our initial look at after-hours trading, we introduced the rewards that are available while most other U.S. traders are asleep. Here, we get into the meat of the strategies that are appropriate for tackling these overnight markets.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
March 1, 2008... It's 4 a.m. An alarm rings in Chicago, and a hand slips out from underneath the covers to turn it off. Economic news from Europe will be announced in 30 minutes and it may spark a trading opportunity. A quick cup of coffee and the glare of the...

Trading the Nasdaq with Lucas time series: intraday Nasdaq futures is one of the toughest markets to trade due to its extreme speed. But with the Lucas time series confirming other solid technical indicators, you can slow down this market and maintain an edge on the field.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
March 1, 2008... In baseball, pitching is a psychological tug-of-war, a battle of wits. When a power pitcher fires two inside strikes against a power hitter, everyone in the park expects the next one will be low and away to induce the batter into chasing a bad...

Trading can be taxing: filing taxes is no one's idea of fun but understanding the tax rules for futures contracts and other trading instruments can make it less of a trial and perhaps not as painful on your bottom line.(FUTURES 101)
March 1, 2008... So you opened a trading account last year and now it's time to file your taxes. While tax filing for traders isn't likely to be painless, there are a few simple steps that can make it less, well, taxing. First, set your sights on all...

Top traders of 2007: coming off of three tough years for managed futures in general and trend followers in particular, the CTA community had its best year since 2003 and many traders say this could the beginning of a long run.(MANAGED MONEY)(Cover story)
March 1, 2008... While the universe of commodity trading advisors had its best performance in recent years in 2007, many of the stalwart long-term trend followers continued to struggle. Campbell & Co., John Henry and Dunn all experienced double-digit losses on...

ETF (r)evolution: exchange-traded funds have graduated from popular equity indexes to everything ranging from crude oil to the Japanese yen. Here's a look at this evolving investment structure, as well as a list of the newest and most popular ETFs.(ETF GUIDE)
March 1, 2008... No longer are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) merely another way to invest in equity or fixed-income indexes. ETFs have evolved, branching into new frontiers that offer traders more ways to participate in nearly any financial arena. ETFs are...

Carbon exchanges gear up: a year ago, it seemed that Climate Exchange Plc was the only viable game in the emission trading sector, but now exchanges from Nymex to Eurex are scrambling to beef up their presence in the sector.(TRADE TRENDS)
March 1, 2008... Trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances has become standard activity on European energy desks, with European Climate Exchange (ECX) products acting as the benchmark for prices around the world. It was a market established exchanges such...

Contract dates.(Dateline)(Calendar)
March 1, 2008... 1 LTD: BM & F Apr Arabica coffee OF [TABLE OMITTED] 2 LTD: BM & F Alcohol OF 3 LTD: CME Feb Weather, Tocom Feb Crude Oil F 4 LTD: CBOT Ethanol F, Euronext-Liffe Corn F 5 LTD: Eurex Bobl F, Bund F, Schatz F, Buxl F, CONF F,...

Events coming up.(Website list)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Visit the Web sites listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 77-81. CORE '08 Credit Derivatives Operations and Risk Efficiency MARCH 5, 2008. Bayards, Hanover Square, New York. www.ftfnews.com ...

Clarke: consistently profitable.(Trader Profile)
March 1, 2008... Clarke Capital Management (CCM) has produced consistently solid returns through its numerous trading programs for more than a decade. While trend following programs have struggled at times in recent years, six of the eight programs have a...