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Five Chicago trading firms will soon start an exchange to handle trading of over-the-counter interest rate swaps, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Getco LLC, DRW Holding, Infinium Capital Management, Chicago Trading Co. and Nico Holdings LLC received approval for a so-called exempt board of trade from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission several months ago, the source said. Get the full story »
A disappointing jobs report sent stocks falling Friday and gave the Dow Jones industrial average its longest losing streak since the worst days of the financial crisis.
The Dow dropped 46 points Friday for its seventh straight loss and its longest slide since October 2008. The Dow and other major indexes posted big losses for a second straight week. Get the full story »
Multiple U.S. regulators are examining the role of derivative markets run by CME Group (CME) in fostering volatility in dairy prices, Assistant Atty. Gen. Christine Varney said Friday.
Dairy farmers have long blamed the derivatives markets for distorting prices and are becoming increasingly vocal about the effect of big retailers on competition in the sector. Get the full story »
Jeffrey Gundlach, the star bond fund manager who proclaimed in 2007 that subprime mortgages were going to become an unmitigated disaster, is not optimistic now either.
But rather than fearing runaway inflation, as many Americans do, Gundlach is concerned that the nation has at least a couple of years of deflation ahead and perhaps a double dip recession. Speaking at the Morningstar annual conference in Chicago he said the country is burdened by debt levels so high that they cannot go on much longer without threatening the country.
Reuters | The U.S. Senate approved a sweeping Wall Street reform bill on Thursday night, capping months of wrangling over the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s.
By a vote of 59 to 39, the Senate handed a victory to President Barack Obama, a champion of tighter rules for banks and capital markets following the 2007-2009 financial crisis that led to a deep recession and massive taxpayer bailouts.
Associated Press | Stocks rocketed higher and bond prices fell on Monday after investors were
reassured by a nearly $1 trillion plan to avoid a European debt crisis. The Dow closed up more than 400 points.
Get the full story: Stocks surge on plan to aid Europe.
Associated Press | The leaders for major securities exchanges have agreed in principle to a
uniform system of “circuit breakers” that would slow trading during
periods of intense market volatility, federal regulators said Monday.
The heads of the biggest exchanges “agreed on a structural
framework, to be refined over the next day,” Securities and Exchange
Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said.
The
agreement has been reached by leaders of six exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. The absence of
a uniform system is being looked at as a possible trigger for last
week’s historic stock market plunge.
Get the full story: Exchanges agree on way to slow trading if needed.
The CBOE Stock Exchange invoked a government-sanctioned rule to unwind 18 trades made in the stock of Chicago’s Accenture Plc that all took place within a few minutes Thursday afternoon at the price of a penny per share. Accenture closed down $1.08 at $41.09, and no news from the company would have justified those rock-bottom trades.
Traders in the S&P 500 pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange on May 6, 2010. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
By Greg Burns | One of the wildest 20 minutes in Wall Street history spilled into Chicago’s major markets Thursday, prompting one exchange to declare a series of trades “clearly erroneous,” and another to suggest that a hot rumor was wrong.
Dow Jones Newswires | Traders, get ready for some big yellow
bricks — and not the ones at Fort Knox.
CME Group Inc. in June aims to launch futures and options on cheese,
targeting big multinational food companies grappling with cheese prices
that have been anything but solid in recent months.
From Reuters | The Chicago Board Options Exchange said on Tuesday that Congress was “interfering with micro market mechanisms that had nothing to do with the crisis.”
“Because the stock market went down and people complained to Congress,” said Chicago Board Options Exchange Chief Executive William Brodsky, “short sales became one of the whipping boys.”
Get the full story: reuters.com.
Associated Press | Democrats sent a massive Wall Street regulation bill to the full Senate
on a party line vote Monday after a temporary retreat by Republicans
that still left the bill’s chances for bipartisan passage in doubt.
In a surprise move, the Senate Banking Committee met briefly to approve
the bill 13-10, but not before Republicans jettisoned more than 300
amendments they had planned that could have put their imprint on the
measure. Senators had been expecting a long week of votes and debate,
only to find themselves voting as they were still easing into their
seats.
By Greg Burns in Boca Raton, Fla. | Gary Gensler brought a tough-love message to the futures industry confab here Thursday, promising more extensive regulation of financial derivatives.
But he also tried to extend an olive branch to one part of the business that could benefit if credit-default swaps and other over-the-counter contracts get pushed onto regulated exchanges and clearinghouses, as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman wants.
Dow Jones Newswire | U.S. traders warned that business could be
disrupted by new restrictions on short-selling stocks that lack an
exemption for market makers in options or cash equities.
Market participants said the absence of an exemption would limit their
ability to hedge risk when taking the other side of investors’ trades.
“We’re disappointed because of the potential impact on the options
markets,” said William Brodsky, chief executive of the Chicago Board
Options Exchange, the largest U.S. options venue by volume.
Former Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson Jr. spoke at the University of Chicago on Tuesday. (Abel Uribe/ Chicago Tribune)
By Greg Burns | A fundamental restructuring of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac is “highly likely” as the U.S. government moves to sharply reduce
its involvement in the housing market, former Treasury Secretary Henry
M. Paulson Jr. said Tuesday at the University of Chicago.
But necessary changes can’t occur right away because the financial
system remains heavily dependent on the government-backed companies,
Paulson said at an appearance to promote his new book, “On The Brink.”
