John Lothian's Daily Futures & Securities Industry Newsletter

 

January 8, 2003

 

Lead Stories


onExchange and Future Dynamics Launch LINQX Intelligent Order Routing for Single Stock Futures
1/7/03 - onExchange, Inc. and Future Dynamics today launched LINQXSM, an intelligent order routing system that is the first product to facilitate "best execution" in the new single stock futures market. 
http://www.onexchange.com/news_news002.shtml

 

Future Dynamics and onExchange release order routing platform for single stock futures
US trading and clearing technology vendor onExchange has teamed up derivatives software firm Future Dynamics to launch LINQX, an order routing platform that provides best execution for single stock futures.
http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=7677

 

BrokerTec Futures Exchange - Five-Year U.S. Treasury Note Contract Specification - Minimum Tick Size Change
The Board of Directors at its December meeting approved a decrease in the minimum tick size on the five-year Treasury note contract from ½ of 1/32nd of a point (or $15.625 rounded up to the nearest 1 cent per contract) to ¼ of 1/32nd of a point (or $7.813 rounded to the nearest 1 cent per contract). The amended Rule 302 (c) reads as follows:
http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=40968

 

Analysis: Ending dividend taxes could amount to a broker aid plan
NEW YORK — The Bush administration proposal to eliminate taxes on stock dividends for investors might well be a boon for traditional stock brokers.
http://www.naplesnews.com/03/01/business/d866467a.htm

NYBOT 2002 Volumes Up Significantly For The Year --Numerous Trading Records Also Established--
http://www.nybot.com/pressRelease.asp?releaseID=531

 

BoNY to buy CSFB's Pershing for $2bn
http://biz.yahoo.com/ft/030108/1039524280436_3.html

 

CFTC REVOKES MICHIGAN COMMODITY TRADING ADVISOR'S REGISTRATIONS
http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf03/opa4733-03.htm

 

CFTC SETTLES ACTION AGAINST HEDGE FUND AND SUSPENDS ITS REGISTRATIONS;
Beacon Hill Asset Management, LLC Agrees to Suspension of Registrations
http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf03/opa4734-03.htm

 

ICE Answers NYMEX Complaint: Charges Antitrust Violations
http://www.hedgeworld.com/news/read_news.cgi?section=dail&story=dail9375.html

 

Energy Cos Release Agreement To Encourage Energy Clearing
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/dowjones/20030107/bs_dowjones/200301071144000402

 

Exchange News

 

CBOT Dow Jones Strike Price Notice, January 03, 2003 - 01.07.2003
http://www.cbot.com/cbot/www/cont_detail/0,1493,10+24+268+10504,00.html

 

Investor protection measures topped NYSE agenda in 2002
http://www.nyse.com/presshome.html?query=/press/NT0072D1CA.html

 

BrokerTec Futures Exchange - Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=40972

 

Tokyo Stock Exchange President's Address
http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=40971

 

Borsa Italiana Spa Celebrates Five Years
http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=40969

 

Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Canola And Western Barley Futures Volume Higher Compared To Year Ago Totals
http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=40967

 

Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Western Barley Values Above Year Ago Levels Despite Recent Declines
http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=40966

 

Euronext Brussels: Modification Of The Composition Of The BEL20® Index
http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=40965

 

Regulatory News

 

The SEC News Digest
http://www.sec.gov/news/digest/dig010703.txt

 

Securities commission reverts to former fees
http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/news/NR03_01.asp

 

FSA clamps down on misleading ads and urges consumers to help [ 8/1/2003 ]
The Financial Services Authority today called on consumers to help it clamp down on financial advertising by sending in examples that they think are m...
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/press/2003/002.html

 

Valentine breached order: OSC
The Ontario Securities Commission is alleging the former chairman of bankrupt brokerage Thomson Kernaghan & Co. has violated an order barring him from trading in securities.
http://click.alltheweb.com/go2/2/atw/1cE741A9C4/NixILG5ld3M/http/www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer%3Fpagename%3

Dthestar/Layout/Article_Type1%26c%3DArticle%26cid%3D1035776372267%26call_pageid%3D968350072197%26col%3D969048863851

 

Judge urges lawyers to find assets of ex-broker
Dennis S. Herula was found to have taken $16.7 million in an investment scheme. PROVIDENCE -- A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday told lawyers seeking to recover millions of dollars scammed by rogue broker Dennis S. Herula to "dig a little deeper and a little faster" before the money is gone.
http://www.projo.com/business/content/projo_20030108_herula08.2ce7e.html

 

Feds painting Martha Stewart into corner
(KRT) - Prosecutors are turning up the heat on Martha Stewart again, the New York Daily News has learned. Several key witnesses have been asked to re-answer questions in recent days by investigators in Manhattan U.S. Attorney James Comey's office, said two sources familiar with the probe.
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/4899593.htm

 

Reports


Bond Talk Today's Events
http://www.bondtalk.com/global.cfm?S=todaysevents

 

USDA Today
http://www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS/TODAYRPT/TODAY.HTM

 

Miscellaneous News

 

Pendelton Trading Systems Granted Patent for Optimal Limit And Market Order Placement Algorithm (PR Newswire)
Pendelton Trading Systems Inc. of Hoboken, New Jersey was granted a comprehensive patent for an optimal limit and market order placement algorithm.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030107/nytu113_1.html

 

Remarks by the President to the Economic Club of Chicago (PR Newswire)
...-- and I will ask members of both parties to work with me to secure our economic future.......Bill Donaldson is my nominee to be the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.......Americans should be able to count on those tax cuts as they plan their financial futures.......Stock trading was halted for nearly a week....
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030107/nytu172_1.html

 

Bush Tax Proposal Will Benefit Investors, Businesses, Economy
http://www.sia.com/press/html/2003_-_bush_tax.html

 

ISDA Publishes 2002 ISDA Master Agreement
2002 ISDA Equity Derivatives Definitions Also Released
http://www.isda.org/press/press010803.html

 

Cargill AgHorizons™ introduces Triple Play™ crop inputs management tool
http://www.cargill.com/today/releases/2003/03_01_07triple.htm

 

Deutsche Bank sells stake in IT services company Sinius to Siemens unit (AP)
Deutsche Bank said Wednesday it has sold a majority stake in information-technology services provider Sinius GmbH to Siemens Business Services as part of its drive to offload holdings in other companies and focus on its banking business.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030108/ap_wo_en_po/eu_fin_com_germany_deutsche_bank_siemens_1

 

Brokerage Firms Accused Of Withholding Discounts (Dow Jones)
...The NASD wouldn't disclose the identity of the firms under investigation....
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/dowjones/20030107/bs_dowjones/200301070054000023

 

Technology: The (down)beat goes on, but bits of hope for '03 (USA TODAY)
...An example of a technology stock that he likes is eSpeed, an electronic bond broker....
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20030108/bs_usatoday/4760626

Morgan Stanley presses NTL for unpaid fee (FT.com)
Morgan Stanley wants NTL, the bankrupt UK cable operator, to pay a three-year-old bill of $11.4m for helping to finance NTL's £8.2bn acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications in 1999.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ft/030107/1039524265752_1.html

 

Bear Stearns OKs $1 Billion Stock Buyback (Reuters)
Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. (BSC.N), a top investment bank, on Wednesday said its board approved a program to buy back up to $1 billion in common stock.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030108/bs_nm/financial_bearstearns_dc_1

 

El Nino keeping experts guessing -Pioneer Press
As warm winters go, it's been a little chilly out there. The weather-making El Nino phenomenon is supposed to be bringing higher-than-normal temperatures across the upper Midwest, even as it wreaks havoc elsewhere around the globe.
http://click.alltheweb.com/go2/2/atw/1c4A46DA5E/MTAsSCxuZXdz/http/www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/weather/4892084.htm

 

Man Group Raised to `Buy' by HSBC on Better Fund Performance
HSBC Holdings Plc resumed coverage of Man Group Plc by advising clients to ``buy'' shares of the hedge-fund manager because of the performance and sales of its funds.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=quote/uk/uk_quote_long_news.ht&s=APhvkvhSYTWFuIEdy

 

Man Group Raises $365 Million for Latest Hedge Fund (Update2)
Man Group Plc, the world's largest publicly traded hedge-fund company, said its latest fund pulled in $365 million from wealthy individuals looking for alternatives to falling stock markets.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=quote/uk/uk_quote_long_news.ht&s=APhsLGBRKTWFuIEdy

 

Lehman Moves Investment-Banking Operations From Singapore (Dow Jones)
SINGAPORE -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LEH - News) , a U.S. investment bank, moved its investment-banking operations from Singapore to other regional offices like Japan and Hong Kong late last year, following a dreadful year when advisory and underwriting work dried up.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/dowjones/20030108/bs_dowjones/200301080339000137

 

UBS Lands Coveted Goldman Broker - Institutional Investor
UBS PaineWebber has landed veteran broker Sandy Katz , an $8.2 million producer, from Goldman Sachs . Katz left Goldman in November after 17 years (PAM, 11/25), setting off a bidding war amongst top brokerages including UBS, Lehman Brothers and Salomon Smith Barney .
http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/iiochannel/people/20030107000500.htm

Ameritrade Announces Sale of Data Center (Business Wire)
Ameritrade Holding Corporation today completed the sale of its Kansas City data center facility. Ameritrade will lease approximately 20% of the facility that it currently occupies for a minimum five-year period.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030107/72563_1.html

 

Other Voices

 

Today's Other Voices contribution is from FutureSource about their release of a new product, fsXtra:

 

FutureSource Unveils fsXtra Platinum
LOMBARD, IL -- January 8, 2003 -- FutureSource, a leader in the real-time futures, commodities and foreign exchange industry, today extended their lead in that market with the release of fsXtra Platinum, a real-time container-based browser application. The new Platinum offering pairs the features and functionality of a professional level quote and charting application with the mobility and price of a web-delivered product.

 

Because of its container-based design, fsXtra Platinum looks and feels like a standalone windows-based application, although it’s really a web product. The new container-style Platinum will replace all existing offerings of fsXtra, and provide new users with an efficient registration process to access real-time streaming FutureSource data and charting information. Features of previous fsXtra releases, which are included in Platinum, include streaming real-time quotes from over 40 worldwide exchanges, real-time interactive tick charting, full options coverage and an OsterDowJones Commodity News feed. FsXtra Platinum is available to individual traders, brokers, and risk managers, and is also available to companies interested in “private labeling” the product for their own use.

 

“Although our core business has been, and will continue to be, serving professional and institutional clients, we are confident the new fsXtra will serve a growing niche within the market,” said Jonathan Dean, Vice President of Marketing and Online Sales. Dean added, “In today’s market, there is a need for high quality market data delivered efficiently over the Internet. With fsXtra Platinum, we can now cost-effectively serve that need. Real-time FutureSource data and charting is now a reality for any trader!” 

 

Highlights of fsXtra Platinum include:
· Window Container: The main workspace is where all the components (i.e. charts, quotes, news, etc…) are added to the application. Each component is a floating frame (IFRAME) that is docked to the workspace area. Custom event handlers allow drag-and-drop and resizing of these components.
· Flexible Data Download: You can now export data directly to your favorite file format, including a Microsoft Excelä spreadsheet. This allows you to take your data from fsXtra and analyze/manipulate it using your own calculations in another application.
· Server Communication: Once fsXtra is loaded, the browser window never needs to be refreshed. Users access streaming, real-time quotes, charts and news direct from our servers via Java technology.
· Component Applications: Components are built as separate entities from the fsXtra container framework. Because of this separation, it is easy to add custom components - even components that don’t use the FutureSource data feed.

 

FutureSource is offering a free 14-day trial of fsXtra Platinum to interested parties. To sign up, simply visit www.fsXtra.com <http://www.fsXtra.com> or <http://platinum.fsXtra.com>.

 

John's Comments

 

The Mini Dow volume yesterday outpaced the pit traded larger Dow contract and traded a healthy 23,779 contracts. 

 

Commodity

a/c/e
Volume

Open Outcry
Volume

Total Exch
Volume

Cash
Exch

Give
Ups

Trans

Open Interest

At Close

Change

Dow Jones Industrial Average

725

19471

20196

0

3259

0

24864

+348

Dow Jones AIG Commodity Index

0

0

0

0

0

0

1016

Unch

CBOT mini-sized Dow Futures $5 multiplier

23779

0

23779

0

1969

0

10007

-571

 

********

 

Take a good look at the Futures Dynamics/onExchange story today.  It is a good example of the futures and securities worlds converging.

 

Regards,

 

John J. Lothian

 

President

Electronic Trading Division

The Price Futures Group, Inc.

Chicago Board of Trade Building

141 West Jackson Blvd., Suite 1340A

Chicago, IL  60604

Ph: 1-800-713-0215 or 312-648-2426

Fax: 312-902-6437

email: jlothian@pricegroup.com

URL: www.pricegroupetd.com or www.pricegroup.com

 

Disclaimer: This letter is strictly the opinion of its writer, and not necessarily those of The Price Group and its management, and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed.  No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted.  Security futures are not suitable for all customers.

Futures and options trading involve risk.  Past results are no indication of future performance.