Swiss exchange launches microwave trading network
May 3, 2018--The Exchange Services unit of SIX launched the first international microwave-based trading network in Europe.
SIX is the first exchange worldwide to own and operate an international microwave network in Europe.
The network connects Zurich to London, Frankfurt and Milan as well as Milan to London and Frankfurt. It enables trading participants of the Swiss exchange to execute their trading strategies faster and enhances their risk management. It also improves liquidity and tightens spreads, which results in better execution conditions for all stakeholders of the Swiss exchange.
view more
Source: SIX Swiss Exchange
Vienna Stock Exchange expands existing ATX offering with new short and leverage indices
May 3, 2018--As of today, the Vienna Stock Exchange is launching new short and leverage indices on the leading Austrian index ATX, thus expanding its existing index offering. The short indices are based on the ATX Total Return (ATX TR) and the leverage indices on the ATX Net Total Return (ATX NTR).
In addition to the existing levers of +/-2 and +4, clients can now also participate in the development of the ATX with levers of -4, +/-6, +/-8 and +/-10. With this expanded offer, the Vienna Stock Exchange is responding to the demand of international market participants.
view more
Source: Vienna Stock Exchange
The Spanish Exchange traded 65.6 billion Euros in April
May 3, 2018--The Spanish Exchange traded €65.6 billion in Equities in April, up 33.3% from the preceding month and is the highest figure in the last ten months. The number of trades came in at 2.9 million.
Trading of Financial Derivatives since January decreased 4.1% but trading in IBEX 35 Derivatives remains on the rise, posting a year-on-year increase of 7.1% in IBEX 35 Futures, as well as Mini IBEX Futures, up 7.8% and IBEX 35 Options, 18.2% higher. The open interest was 2.7% lower across the board but shows increases for Mini IBEX Futures, up 21%, IBEX 35 Options, up 45.2% and Stock Futures, up 9.6%.
view more
Source: Bolsas y Mercados Españoles
National Statistics: UK official holdings of international reserves: April 2018
May 3, 2018--This release details movements in the international reserves of gold and assets held by the UK government.
view
Source: HM Treasury
European Commisiion-Spring 2018 Economic Forecast: Expansion to continue amid new risks
May 3, 2018-- Growth rates for the EU and the euro area beat expectations in 2017 to reach a 10-year high at 2.4%. Growth is set to remain strong in 2018 and ease only slightly in 2019, with growth of 2.3% and 2.0% respectively respectively in both the EU and the euro area.
Private consumption remains strong, while exports and investment have increased. Unemployment continues to fall and is now around pre-crisis levels. However, the economy is more exposed to external risk factors, which have strengthened and become more negative.
Robust growth is facilitating a further reduction in government deficit and debt levels and an improvement in labour market conditions. The aggregate deficit for the euro area is now less than 1% of GDP and is forecast to fall under 3% in all euro area Member States this year.
view more
Source: European Commission
ESMA launches bond liquidity system under MiFID II
May 2, 2018--The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published today its first liquidity assessment for bonds subject to the pre-and post-trade requirements of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Regulation (MiFIR).
ESMA's assessment of the European bond market for the first quarter of 2018 found 220 bonds (out of 71,000 for which the assessment was executed) to be sufficiently liquid to be subject to MiFID II's real-time transparency requirements. The full list of liquid bonds is available through ESMA's Financial Instruments Transparency System (FITRS).
view more
Source: ESMA
ECB publishes European framework for testing financial sector resilience to cyber attacks
May 2, 20187--TIBER-EU is the first European framework for controlled cyber hacking to test resilience of financial market entities
Framework facilitates testing for cross-border entities under oversight of several authorities
Goals are to help entities gain insight about their protection, detection and response capabilities and to help them fighting cyber attacks
The European Central Bank (ECB) today publishes the European Framework for Threat Intelligence-based Ethical Red Teaming (TIBER-EU), which is the first Europe-wide framework for controlled and bespoke tests against cyber attacks in the financial market.
The TIBER-EU framework facilitates a harmonised European approach towards intelligence-led tests which mimic the tactics, techniques and procedures of real hackers who can be a genuine threat. TIBER-EU based tests simulate a cyber attack on an entity's critical functions and underlying systems, such as its people, processes and technologies. This helps the entity to assess its protection, detection and response capabilities against potential cyber attacks.
view more
Source: ECB
Increased trading volumes, new records for ETFs
May 2, 2018--The high trading volume on the cash markets since the beginning of the year has led to new records in ETF trading on Xetra, Europe's leading platform for exchange-traded funds. The first quarter of 2018 saw a total of more than 1.9 million orders executed, the highest number since the products were introduced in 2000, and around 30 percent up year on year.
The number of tradable ETFs also rose to a new high of 1,264 at the end of April. In total, Deutsche Börse's cash markets generated a trading volume of €127.2 billion in April – a plus of 20 per cent compared to last year (€106.2 billion), despite a return to lower volatility in the markets. Of the €127.2 billion, €117.1 billion were attributable to Xetra (April 2017: €96.9 billion). The average daily turnover on Xetra was thus €5.9 billion. Order book turnover on Börse Frankfurt totalled €2.9 billion (April 2017: €3.4 billion) and on Tradegate Exchange €7.2 billion (April 2017: €5.9 billion). Split by asset classes, cash market turnover in equities reached about €113.5 billion. Turnover in ETFs/ETCs/ETNs amounted to €12.2 billion. Turnover in bonds was €0.4 billion, in structured products €1.0 billion and in funds €0.1 billion. The DAX security with the highest turnover on Xetra in April was Bayer AG at €5.4 billion.
view more
Source: Deutsche Börse Cash Markets
Algos all go?
May 2, 2018--Most academic studies find that algorithmic trading improves the quality of financial markets in normal times by boosting market liquidity (so larger trades can be executed more quickly at lower cost) and enhancing price efficiency (so market prices better reflect all value-relevant information).
But what about in times of market stress? In a recent paper looking at the removal of the Swiss franc cap, we find that algorithmic trading provided less liquidity than usual, at worse prices, and that its contribution to efficient pricing dropped to near zero. Market quality benefits from a diversity of participants pursuing different trading strategies, but it seems this was undermined in this episode by commonalities in the way algorithms responded.
view more
Source: bankunderground.co.uk
Increase in sector investing and sector ETFs amongst UK wealth managers
May 2, 2018--Over half (53 percent) of the 50 UK wealth managers survey revealed they use sector exchange-traded fund (ETF) investment strategies, according to SPDR ETF.
According to the research, one in five said they are using them more today than they were 12 months ago, while 44 percent are expecting sector ETFs to be used more over the next 12 months.
When choosing a sector ETF, 40 percent of the wealth managers said liquidity is the most important selection criterion.
view more
Source: assetservicingtimes.com
If you are looking for a particuliar article and can not find it, please feel free to contact us for assistace.