United States

Markit, the financial information services firm, has agreed to buy Loan/SERV technology assets from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in a bid to expand its loan management services.

European high yield specialists hope the continent's market can repeat in 2016 its sharp outperformance compared with the US market last year — but history suggests that the two markets tend not to diverge for long.

FlexTrade, a New York based trading system provider, looks set to be the latest firm to join the growing field of swap execution facilities (SEFs), gaining a temporary registration from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Baird Financial Group, which manages some $150bn in client assets, announced a successor to its former chief executive Paul Purcell on Monday.

After a spike to start the week, three month option-implied volatility on WTI crude oil continued higher, reaching more than 47% annualised on Thursday as futures prices fell to fresh six year lows.

Morgan Stanley has made a number of top-level staffing changes along with the appointment of its new president.

National Australia Bank packed $3.5bn of funding into a multi-tranche deal on Wednesday, taking advantage of strong demand and a heightened risk appetite among US investors.

2015 set a number of records in the options market as traders flocked to index and volatility-linked products, but equity options volumes dipped due to factors that look likely to persist in 2016.

Get bought or go bust: Is this the year when vulnerable oil & gas companies have to make the choice? So far this year, derivatives traders are pricing contracts for more vulnerability to come.

Competition between derivatives exchanges is intensifying, giving rise to a rash of product and platform launches in 2015, as well as geographical expansion. But 2016 will be dominated by regulatory deadlines for electronic trading. As Dan Alderson reports, exchanges that best prepare market participants to meet these requirements will be the ones that will win out.

2015 will be remembered as a year when volatility returned to financial markets. With strong technical buffers to the trading range of US and European equity markets going into 2016, short volatility strategies look set to be compelling money earners in the year ahead, writes Andrew Barber.

The US corporate bond market had a fine Tuesday in its first week back from Christmas holidays, printing five deals totalling $8.775bn. However, momentum proved short-lived as volatility brought issuance to a shuddering halt.