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’Tabb: HFT makes up a third of OTC energy swap trading
Attention over-the-counter (OTC) energy traders who think there’s no prominent high frequency trading (HFT) presence in their section of the market.
A Tabb Group research piece on how HFT practices are likely to creep into credit default and interest rate swaps once the market becomes centrally cleared,
EU probing CDS market for collusion — full statement [updated]
Friday’s stunning announcement from the EU Commission below:
The European Commission has opened two antitrust investigations concerning the Credit Default Swaps market. CDS are financial instruments meant to protect investors in the event a company or State they have invested in default on their payments.
Time to go bargain-hunting in the retail sector?
Probably not with cotton futures now through $2/lb.
On the implications of a widening WTI-Brent spread
The spread between the two main global oil benchmarks, West Texas Intermediate and Brent, is blowing out (again). And it’s been doing so for most of the month.
We’ve known for a long time, of course,
Brent’s got its problems too
We’ve documented the problems associated with the Nymex WTI crude contract regarding the onset of contango and Cushing syndrome in the US .
But as the CME Group — owner of the Nymex — has pointed out to us (in defence),
Choc ICE
We couldn’t possibly let this go past our Reuters screen without a pun headline:
Related link:
Hotel(ling) Chocolat – FT Alphaville
My big fat dollar finger
Here’s a Friday mystery. Presenting December ICE dollar index futures as traded on November 20:
So what could that peculiar spike be down to?
We’re not sure. As MarketWatch reports, the exchange is at least on to it:
Presenting, the ‘physical loophole’
First there was the London loophole. Now, it appears, the development of another entirely new loophole is underway. Let’s call it the physical loophole.
From Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher’s Tuesday testimony to the CFTC on the matter of position limits and the influence of speculators on the price of commodities:
Electronic trading and commodity prices
Yes, everyone — bar the old open outcry pit traders — loves electronic trading in commodities.
Ahead of this week’s CFTC hearings on position limits and speculator influence on prices, however, have the commodity regulators perhaps forgotten to question the obvious? That is,
ICE chief warns on oil trading curbs
The US will drive oil trading overseas if it is too heavy-handed in regulating energy futures markets, Jeff Sprecher, chief executive of the Atlanta-based InterContinental Exchange, has warned. US politicians have accused ICE of enabling traders to manipulate oil markets and push up fuel prices by taking large positions on ICE Futures Europe,
ICE strikes at LCH.Clearnet
ICE Futures Europe, the London energy exchange operated by the InterContinental Exchange of the US, has received agreements from almost all of its members to start using ICE’s new clearing house and abandon their current clearer,
ICE in $625m deal to buy Creditex
The competition between financial institutions to position themselves in the $62,200bn credit-default swap market intensified on Tuesday when InterContinental Exchange, which operates energy derivatives markets in the US and UK,
Clearers battle for UK energy markets
London’s vast energy markets could be damaged if a looming battle for control of liquidity in its energy contracts were to get out of hand, the Futures and Options Association warned Wednesday. The Intercontinental Exchange,
Derivatives rows test Brussels
Two derivatives trading rows, both involving LCH.Clearnet, Europe’s largest clearing house, look set to test the determination of the European Commission to open securities markets to more competition.
CME in $11bn move for Nymex
The CME Group on Monday confirmed it is in preliminary talks to buy energy exchange Nymex for about $11bn in a deal that would cement its position as the world’s most important futures market. Just six months after the CME acquired the Chicago Board of Trade for $12bn,
Mideast oil contracts in troubled waters
Two rival attempts to create a benchmark futures contracts to trade Middle East crude oil are struggling after attracting only poor investor interest. Trading volumes in the two contracts, launched three months ago by US-based InterContinental Exchange and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange respectively,
CME declares victory in battle for CBOT
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Monday declared victory after a nine-month pursuit of the Chicago Board of Trade as members and shareholders voted to combine and create the world’s largest derivatives platform.
CME raises offer for CBOT — is this the finale?
The “never-ending story” of the battle for the Chicago Board of Trade has moved into yet another – and possibly the decisive – phase after the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday raised its bid for a third time and secured its target’s largest shareholder in an effort to fend off its rival the Intercontinental Exchange,
ICE bid for CBOT passes $12bn mark
If you’re wondering whether it’s ever going to end, keep wondering. The saga over the Chicago Board of Trade, the second-largest US futures exchange, intensified after it emerged on Wednesday that the value of the hostile offer for the CBOT from the Intercontinental Exchange passed $12bn,
CME sweetens proposed deal for CBOT
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Thursday improved its bid for the Chicago Board of Trade for a second time, though members and shareholders suggested it remains short of the “knock-out blow” required to secure the world’s third largest derivatives platform.
ICE raises its offer for CBOT
The Intercontinental Exchange on Tuesday sweetened its offer for the Chicago Board of Trade and appealed directly to members and shareholders with terms it claimed are 20 per cent above the rival bid from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
CME-CBOT deal gets antitrust approval
US antitrust regulators on Monday cleared the path for a final three-week price battle over the Chicago Board of Trade by approving its proposed merger with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Intercontinental Exchange,
ICE ratchets up battle for CBOT
The Intercontinental Exchange on Thursday signalled it was prepared to make a hostile approach for the Chicago Board of Trade and underwrite the $288m break-up fee to win its target from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
ICE pact could bolster CBOT bid
IntercontinentalExchange, the Atlanta energy-exchange operator, has reached an unusual agreement with the Chicago Board Options Exchange valued at about $665m that could help settle a longstanding dispute between the options exchange and its longtime rival the Chicago Board of Trade,
ICE steps up CBOT takeover bid
The Intercontinental Exchange has hired a high-profile proxy firm to press the merits of its takeover bid for the Chicago Board of Trade in a sign that it is prepared to appeal directly to shareholders with a deal now valued at $11.3bn.
ICE’s CBOT offer raises stakes for Chicago exchange
The pressure on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to sweeten its agreed bid for the Chicago Board of Trade intensified on Monday as the premium in the rival offer from the Intercontinental Exchange touched $1.5bn for the first time.
ICE strengthens its bid team amid efforts to break rivals’ merger
The Intercontinental Exchange on Monday insisted it could handle trades for the Chicago Board of Trade “within six months” as the US-based futures exchange stepped up efforts to break up the agreed merger between its two larger Chicago rivals amid escalating tensions between the rivals.
CBOT delays key vote on CME merger
The Chicago Board of Trade on Tuesday postponed a shareholder vote set for the evening on its agreed merger with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The delay allows investors to review the $9.9bn unsolicited offer from the smaller Intercontinental Exchange.
The Intercontinental Board of Trade?
It’s a $9.9bn plan to crash a wedding, financed with freshly printed paper.
The Chicago Board of Trade has been working diligently with US regulators for five months putting together a merger with its great local rival,