John
Lothian's Daily Futures & Securities Industry Newsletter
August 12,
2003
Lead
Stories
CME, Met
Office, weatherXchange to Jointly Develop and Launch Weather Derivatives
Contracts for Europe (08/12/03)
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME), the Met Office and its joint venture
company, Weather Xchange Limited (weatherXchange), today announced plans to
jointly develop global weather futures and options contracts.
http://www.cme.com/news/shownews.cfm?NewsItem=000C457E-D086-1F38-964C80EDBEFB0000
Russell
ETF future streaks
Aug-11-2003 - The iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) ETF contract has proven itself as
the standout ETF security future, achieving the highest average daily volume
and most contracts traded of any ETF future in both June and July. The NQLX-listed
product traded 47,418 contracts in June, followed by 54,728 in July. This
means nearly 55 million IWM shares changed hands via the ETF future in July,
because each contract represents 100 shares of the underlying ETF. The
contract's average daily volume for the month was 2,488. The underlying ETF
traded an average 700,000 shares a day on the AMEX during mid-July.
http://www.marhedge.com/news/CoverETFR.asp?s=ETFRH-2003-08-09-11-05-07p1.htm
Forex
dealers leave Fimat Chicago
11 August - Fimat, the brokerage arm of French investment bank SG, shed four
staff from its US dealing team earlier in August, sources close to the company
told RiskNews' sister publication FX Week. Foreign exchange traders Julie
Dell, Ken Hoffman, PJ Morrison and Dick Wallis all left the Chicago-based firm
following a streamlining of the business, sources said. All four had joined
from Cargill Investor Services in Chicago only a few months earlier to work
under Brian Duff, the new head of the team, who also joined Fimat from Cargill
in March.
http://www.risknews.net/public/showPage.html?page=16290
Employment Site Stumbles Upon Hot Button Issue For The Hedge Fund Crowd
Response to a career advice column written by SwapJungle.com last week has
touched off a hea ted debate among some in the hedge fund industry.
The headline, "So You Want to Work for a Hedge Fund: How to Sound Like an
Insider When You're Not" sparked the controversy. The reality: demand is
apparently outstripping the supply of talen ted candidates and the clubby
world of hedge funds must for the first time reach beyond its network for
talent. Irate mail to the article¹s author voiced what some call the
industry¹s frustrations with its hot-sector status attracting all manner of
want-to-be types and lamenting the shortage of talent.
The article's author, Roseanne Stanzione, says, "I was so surprised to find my
inbox full of passionate letters on what I thought was a rather innocuous
guide to industry information." Ms. Stanzione's site, SwapJungle.com, is an
online employment resource targeting the hedge fund industry. One author
wrote, "There are already enough unqualified "sell -side" refugees streaming
into hedge funds. All too many of them simply "sounding" like they know
something when in actuality they should be pitching vinyl siding to
unsuspecting homeowners out on the island. Don't purposely erode an already
talent-deprived workforce."
http://www.riskcenter.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?id=7109
Ex-Merrill trader at centre of $43m fraud allegations
The former head of Merrill Lynch's energy trading unit is at the centre of
allegations of a $43m embezzlement which also raise doubts about the strength
of fraud oversight procedures at the firm.
http://www.iht.com/articles/105956.html
Exchange News
Regulatory News
Ameritrade says may be disciplined by NASD
NEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Online brokerage Ameritrade Holding Corp. (nasdaq:
AMTD - news - people) said the NASD has recommended disciplinary action in a
probe of a trading activity widely used by day traders.
The National Association of Securities Dealers in a preliminary ruling said
Ameritrade and units Datek Online Financial Services and iClearing violated
securities law when they allowed traders to use the proceeds of stock sales
before the cash was in hand.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/08/11/rtr1054531.html
Civil
charges follow Morgan Stanley probe
A probe into sales practices for Morgan Stanley's own funds have resulted in
civil charges against the firm, filed yesterday by state securities
regulators, alleging that the company unfairly incentivised its staff to push
Morgan Stanley products.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5-775166,00.html
Reports
Miscellaneous News
Terror
futures look for comeback
Online exchanges may pick up where government left off with market to predict
political events.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pentagon's roundly vilified plan for a terrorism
"futures" market was axed recently before it saw the light of day, but some
private online betting exchanges soon may pick up where the government left
off. However weird it may seem, the Pentagon's hope was that such "futures"
contracts would help it take advantage of the predictive ability of markets to
help prevent future attacks and track key political developments. While
Congress jumped all over the quirkier plans for contracts on assassinations
and terrorist attacks, the exchange also planned "futures" based on the
stability of governments in the Middle East that could have yielded valuable
intelligence about the volatile region.
http://money.cnn.com/2003/08/11/markets/terror_futures.reut/index.htm
John's Comments
***** This is the
transcript of the story about the Chicago Mercantile Exchange broadcast last
night of the Nightly Business Report that I appeared in.
**********
NQLX 62%
of Securities Futures Volume Yesterday
NQLX continued to
show dominating form yesterday, making up 62% of the security futures volume
in the U.S, according to statistics from the Options Clearing Corp. NQLX's
ETF futures volume of 3208 contracts was 82% of overall U.S. ETF futures
volume.
**********
**********
QWAFAFEW
(Quantitative Work Alliance for Applied Finance, Education & Wisdom)
The next Chicago
QWAFAFEW (Quantitative Work Alliance for Applied Finance, Education & Wisdom)
meeting will be held on THURSDAY, AUGUST 21st from 5 to 7 pm at the Union
League Club, 65 West Jackson Boulevard. The meeting's topic will be:
"PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT THROUGH BETTER FIRM LEVEL ANALYSIS."
The speakers will be Dr. Peter M. Jankovskis , Director of Research, OakBrook
Investments, LLC; and Mr. Rawley Thomas , President, LifeCycle Returns (LCRT),
Mr. Adam Cohen, Zacks Investment Research will be the meeting ' s moderator.
*********
Regards,
John J. Lothian
President - Electronic Trading Division - The
Price Futures Group, Inc.
Chicago Board of Trade Building - 141 West Jackson
Boulevard, Suite 1340A - Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: 1-800-713-0215 or 312-648-2426 - Fax:
312-902-6437
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.
