Derivs - Equity

Some options on the Japanese iShares exchange-traded fund (EWJ) have started to take a bullish flavor, running against the the general bearish sentiment in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami.

Warren Buffett, who has called derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction, now says they’re not “evil per se.”

Republican lawmakers have drafted legislation aimed at weakening some of the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Securities and Exchange Commission should include investor derivative positions in beneficial ownership stakes in publicly traded companies, say lawyers from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen, and Katz in New York.

John Wilson has left as managing director and global head of over-the-counter derivatives clearing at Royal Bank of Scotland as the bank reorganizes its futures business, as reported by Derivatives Week last week.

Two Republican lawmakers have called for an investigation into the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s analysis of the costs of implementing the Dodd-Frank Act.

Gar Wood Securities has formed the CBOE brokerage services unit as part of its expansion of the firm’s derivatives execution services.

Barclays Capital has hired Andrew Song, the former head of equity derivative index options trading at Goldman Sachs in London, as an equity derivatives trader, also based in London.

Rita Kong, a director in convertible bond sales at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, has left the firm.

Eugene Mak, an executive director in equity derivative sales to institutional clients at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, has left the firm.

The volume of exchange-traded derivatives rose by 9% in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the Bank for International Settlements’ quarterly review.

A new version of the Pimco Total Return Fund will not include derivatives.