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Hedge funds are jumping into exotic option positions to take exposure to a fall in the euro against the dollar, prior to the release of U.S. payroll data on May 8.

Goldman Sachs is planning to transfer its Asian equity derivatives trading books, excluding those focused on Hong Kong, to its Tokyo hub, according to market officials.

Merrill Lynch has hired four directors and an associate to staff up its corporate equity derivatives team in a bid to win market share, as first reported on DW's website (www.derivativesweek.com 4/20).

JPMorgan has hired Larry Motola, global co-head of volatility trading at Bear Stearns in New York, as an equity derivative proprietary trader.

Merrill Lynch last week launched Pacific Rim capital structure arbitrage coverage, which it believes is one of the first for the region.

Structured interest rate instruments are taking over from credit derivatives as the flavor of the moment in Italy because of increased aversion to credit risk in the wake of the Parmalat debacle.

The downgrade of Royal Dutch/Shell one notch by both Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service failed to arouse much interest in the credit-default swap market last week.

Nikko Citigroup is getting ready to offer equity-default swaps in the coming weeks.

Protection sellers have begun adopting new features that allow them to manage their own single tranche deals by trading in and out of credits.

Apea Koranteng, a managing director and nine-year veteran of Standard & Poor's structured finance group, has garnered a top spot at ABN AMRO as global head of structured capital markets.

Concordia Advisors, a Goliath of the equity and fixed income hedge fund community with some USD1.1 billion in assets, plans to move into the credit arena.

Most company directors know that they must act for the good of their companies.