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BlackRock trades boost LCH.Clearnet’s US push
July 29, 2011--LCH.Clearnet received a boost in its effort to break into the US market for clearing over-the-counter derivatives when BlackRock, one of the largest asset managers, said it had cleared its first interest rate swaps on SwapClear, the OTC derivatives clearing service operated by the UK clearing house and large banks.
BlackRock executed two trades – one with Barclays Capital and the other with Goldman Sachs – on Tradeweb, an electronic trading platform for OTC derivatives and bonds.
Debt fears drive demand for Swiss franc and yen
July 29, 2011--The Swiss franc and the yen were in demand on Friday, as concerns over US and eurozone government debt drove haven demand for both currencies.
The stand-off in Washington over raising the US debt ceiling weighed on sentiment, while a warning over Spain's finances also knocked investor confidence.
States Street takes stake in Digital Vega
July 28, 2011--Digital Vega acquires further investment
Following the recent announcement that Deutsche Boerse acquired a minority stake in Digital Vega, this further strengthens the Company's ability to invest in its expanding business, and simultaneously provides a formidable platform on which to build and deliver a market leading suite of products and services
As a result of this investment, both parties will leverage their advanced FX platforms to deliver an FX capability that includes State Street's Currenex FX platform with Digital Vega's innovative new FX Option trading tools.
Mark Suter, CEO of Digital Vega says "From the outset of the Digital Vega project, we knew that in order to compete on the global stage, we would need strategic partners, and with this investment the final piece of that plan is in place.
With investment and support from two such important institutions as Deutsche Boerse and State Street, our ability to leverage the complementary strengths of both firms ensures that we are now ideally situated to rapidly deliver a range of market leading products and services to a huge and diverse global customer audience.
This unique partnership will also allow us to adapt quickly and efficiently to upcoming changes in the regulatory landscape."
CME Group and Osaka Securities Exchange Announce Strategic Partnership The OSE DJIA futures contract will be listed at OSE and traded on the J-GATE, OSE's derivatives trading platform, subject to OSE rules and regulations. Gold Soars Through $1620/oz as US Debt Silver, platinum, palladium head higher as Euro debt package eases near
term default concerns and US lead indicators point to a H2 rebound in the
US. Futures positioning in silver, platinum and palladium have begun to recover over recent weeks after hitting their lowest levels in over a year after a COMEXrestriction
related sell-off in May, with the sharpest rebound occurring in palladium.
Platinum supply issues remain at the fore as Lonmin, the No.3 global
producer, announces drop in production, while Africa nationalisation issues
also re-surface. Zimbabwe mooted possible expulsion of miners – including some of Africa’s largest platinum/palladium miners – that fail to meet local ownership targets last week. Gold spikes above $1,620/oz as debt impasses stoke default concerns in the US. S&P reiterated its threat to downgrade its US sovereign debt credit rating as the Aug 2 deadline to raise the US debt ceiling looms. S&P estimates that there is a 50:50 chance
that it will cut the USA AAA government debt rating within 3 months. No.1 global bond manager PIMCO suggested “In most likelihood, a last-minute political compromise will
avoid a default but will leave the AAA rating extremely vulnerable”, with analysts speculating that any deal may leave longer term spending/tax questions unanswered. Deutsche Boerse-NYSE Merger Threatens Competition, AFME Tells EU The companies forecast cost savings of $400 million when they announced the deal in February. AFME said it “has seen nothing to suggest that a fair share of any such savings would be passed on to end users.” Nasdaq voices concerns about Deutsche Boerse-NYSE deal
NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse announced their intention to merge on Feb. 9, in a landmark agreement to create the largest exchange group in the world. Both companies secured shareholder approval for the merger in July and now await the outcome of a European Commission antitrust probe into the proposed new group. The probe, for which the Commission has sought industry feedback, remains the final obstacle to completing the transaction. NASDAQ OMX Continues to Deliver Record Earnings Financial Highlights:
Net exchange revenues were $416 million, a 7% increase over Q210 results.
Non-GAAP operating income was $187 million with an operating margin of 45%.
Non-GAAP net income was $112 million, up from $108 million in the prior year quarter.
Non-GAAP diluted EPS increased to $0.62, or 19% over Q210 results.
GAAP diluted EPS increased to $0.51, up $0.05 from $0.46 in the second quarter of 2010.
Determinants of Interest Rate Pass-Through: Do Macroeconomic Conditions and Financial Market Structure Matter?- IMF Working paper Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2011 Excluding Brazil, Mexico took the lead in Latin America where investments, mainly in wind but also in geothermal, grew close to 350%, triggered in large part by a government decision to raise renewable energy capacity from 3.3% to over 7.5% by 2012.
Argentina, with a target of 8% of its energy to be sourced from renewables by 2016, saw investment grow nearly seven-fold to $740 million. 2010 also saw important investment in Chile, Peru and Venezuela.
OSE to Launch Futures Based on Dow Jones Industrial Average; CME Group to Launch E-micro futures on the Nikkei 225 Average
Under this arrangement, the companies will offer Japanese yen-denominated products for their global customer base. OSE will list futures contracts based on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and CME Group will offer an E-micro futures contract based on the Nikkei 225 Average, both denominated in Japanese yen.
July 25, 2011--Gold price rallies to new record high above $1620/oz as time begins to run out for raising the US debt ceiling to avoid default. Treasury Secretary Geithner remarked that Republican and Democrat lawmakers will need to find a suitable agreement by today in order to allow enough time for it to be passed into law by the deadline of Aug 2.
Investor appetite for gold accelerates amidst market uncertainty. COMEX
speculative net long gold positioning reached its highest level in 8 months last week, increasing over 40% over the past fortnight.
July 27, 2011--Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1)’s takeover of NYSE Euronext will hurt competition in derivatives and listings, the exchanges’ biggest customers told the European Union as regulators weigh extending their probe of the deal.
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe, a group that represents banks and brokers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Bank of America Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG, identified seven areas for further antitrust scrutiny in a submission to the European Commission obtained by Bloomberg News.
July 27, 2011--Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) has added its voice to concerns over the merger between rival NYSE Euronext (NYX) and Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE). The transatlantic exchange said in a note, seen by Financial News, that the proposed new group would "establish a monopolistic situation" that would hinder competition.
Nasdaq's concerns echo comments made by the London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSE.LN), which claimed in a July briefing note that the NYSE-Boerse deal will "eliminate competition" in the European listed derivatives market and that the two companies have a "track record of acting against customers' best interests," as reported by Financial News on Monday.
Reports Strong Second Quarter 2011 Results
Non-GAAP Diluted EPS of $0.62 Represents 19% Increase Over Q210 Results
July 27, 2011--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. ("NASDAQ OMX®") (Nasdaq:NDAQ) reported strong results for the second quarter of 2011. Net income attributable to NASDAQ OMX for the second quarter of 2011 was $92 million, or $0.51 per diluted share, compared with $104 million, or $0.57 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2011, and $96 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2010.
Included in the second quarter of 2011 results are $29 million of expenses associated with merger and strategic initiatives.
July 27, 2011--Summary: Numerous empirical studies have found that the strength of the interest rate pass-through varies markedly across countries and markets. The causes of such heterogeneity have attracted considerably less attention so far. Unlike other studies that mainly focus on small groups of mostly developed and emerging markets in the same region, this paper expands the cross-sectional coverage to 70 countries from all regions, including low income, emerging and developed countries.
It uses a wide range of macroeconomic and financial market structure variables to uncover structural determinants of pass-through. The paper finds that per capita GDP and inflation have positive effects on pass-through, while market volatility has a negative effect. Among financial market variables exchange rate flexibility, credit quality, overhead costs, and banking competition were found to strengthen pass-through, whereas excess banking liquidity to impede it.
July 27, 2011--Investments in renewable energies, from wind and solar power to geothermal and waste-into-energy, continued their remarkable growth in 2010.
A combination of stimulus package funds making their way into the market, the introduction of smart policies
like feed-in tariffs and target-setting sparked a record $211 billion of investment in renewable energy.
The more-than-$48 billion new investment in China merits attention in terms of scale and growth. Other
highlights of this year’s report are rising investments across other parts of the developing world, and the sharp
increase in investment in small-scale renewables in countries such as Germany and Italy, where predominantly
rooftop solar projects surged to $60 billion-worth of investment, up over 90from 2009.