Derivs - Equity

Some structured products desks are seeing increased interest from high-net-worth individuals and family offices for retail structured notes and certificates of deposit.

Morgan Stanley is recommending investors place short-dated put spreads on certain energy stocks instead of direct investments in commodities.

Liquid Capital Markets, a London-based equity options market maker, is opening a New York office to broker options on stocks, indices and exchange-traded funds to institutional money managers and hedge funds.

UBS has announced a raft of senior appointments in its Asia Pacific equity derivatives division.

Bank Hapoalim has added two new salespeople to its equity derivatives team in New York.

Tactical Global Management in London will use portfolio swaps similar to contracts for difference with Credit Suisse as its counterparty to get synthetic equity exposure at its TGM Tactical Global Equity Fund, scheduled to launch April 1.

Morgan Stanley is advising investors to sell long-term volatility via variance swaps, for example, while placing shorter-dated put spreads and overwriting calls on stocks in their portfolios to pocket premiums.

Société Generale has added an equity derivatives strategist to its New York team in a new role.

Traders have seen a renewed interest in contingent premium put sales to institutional clients, notably pension funds attracted to the notion of not having to stump up premiums.

UBS has reportedly retained John Coffeng, one of eleven senior equity derivatives traders who left the firm earlier this month (DWO 3/6), by offering him the top trading slot in the region, formerly held by Kenneth Pang, another one of the defectors.

Companies weighing acquisitions are looking into selling their stock forward to protect against fluctuations in the agreed upon value of transactions, according to a New York-based lawyer whose firm is working on such a transaction.

Financial lawyers, securities industry lobbyists and other market participants fear momentum is building in the U.S. Congress to find ways to tax equity derivatives, as a partial means to make Wall Street pay for bailouts.