Top Stories

Investors have been selling puts on the euro against the dollar in a bid to take profit on any downside options they still hold, following a further decline in spot on the currency pair after somewhat hawkish Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes were released on Wednesday.

Investors have been trading vanilla options on the euro against the dollar this week, following the recent spot decline in the currency pair.

First Trust has listed a new exchange-traded fund on the NASDAQ OMX which began trading last Thursday. The ETF, known as First Trust Strategic Income ETF, is the firm’s first multi-asset income fund that is actively managed, and provides a low-cost alternative to traditional fixed-income funds through diversification and the use of multiple asset classes.

BM&FBOVESPA, Brazil’s sole bourse, has unified its four clearinghouses for different asset classes into one single platform, which began live operations Monday for exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives. The firm will now look to launch equities in 2015.

Overall credit default swap notional that was reported to swap data repositories last week decreased by 30% from the previous week, according to data from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. Overall interest rates derivatives trading that was reported, however, climbed by 8%.

Banks looking to cut their Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR) are turning to compression techniques in ever larger volumes to ratchet down the individual numbers of swap trades on their books as well as the overall notional amount they have outstanding.

Buyside firms have used the latest trade reporting deadline under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation as an opportunity to adopt a more strategic approach to reporting requirements, including the implementation of controls to maintain consistent data submissions.

Simon Winn, ex-head of sales for Asia at 360T, has joined ICAP’s EBS business as head of sales Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong.

Market participants have been trading downside options on the sterling against the US dollar ahead of Wednesday’s inflation report from the Bank of England.

Derivatives volume pertaining to trades between reporting dealers is critical for market liquidity and the facilitation of client trades as it allows end users to put on risk-reducing and cost-effective hedges, according to a research study from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

One leading interdealer broker in London this week bought a €1bn euro call on the euro/Swiss franc exchange rate in anticipation of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) raising the enforced Sfr1.20 ($1.32) floor on the rate to Sfr1.25 in a bid to combat deflation.

Structured products issuers are already looking to use ICAP’s newly launched daily repo index for eurozone sovereign bonds as an underlying for upcoming transactions.