April 19, 2005

 

Lead Stories

 

Euronext.liffe buys CScreen pre-trade price discovery platform

LONDON (AFX) - Euronext (Paris: NL0000241511 - news) .liffe, the international derivatives business of Euronext NV, said it has bought CScreen Ltd, the provider of CScreen, a leading pre-trade price discovery platform for wholesale equity derivatives, from Cinnober Financial Technology AB.  The acquisition of CScreen is the basis of Euronext.liffes new wholesale service, which will offer customers for the first time straight-through processing (STP), from pre-trade price discovery to post-trade booking and administration, it said.  'This service will offer customers a comprehensive means of carrying out their wholesale business something which has never been available in either the OTC or listed markets before,' Hugh Freedberg, chief executive of Euronext.liffe said in a statement.

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/050419/323/fgmzi.html

 

Euronext.Liffe buys CScreen to offer first straight through processing...

http://www.euronext.com/news/press_releases/0,4159,1732_8275,00.html

 

Regulators take look at deals in Mercantile's cheese market

Amid allegations that the market is manipulated by a handful of powerful insiders, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has reportedly requested documents on trading in the cheddar cheese pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  Officials with the exchange on Monday told a group of dairy farmers that the CFTC had requested documents on trading in recent months, according to several of the participants.  "They told us the CFTC had recently requested information about . . . severe aberrations in the marketplace," said Joe Logan, president of the Ohio Farmers Union and a former dairy farmer who participated in the meeting.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0504190125apr19%2C1%2C5591210.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

 

SEC ruling clears CBOE buyback of CBOT members' trading rights

Bloomberg News

The Chicago Board Options Exchange, the second-biggest U.S. stock-options market, will begin purchasing trading rights held by members of the Chicago Board of Trade after twice being stalled by a member opposing the move.  The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday denied exchange member Marshall Spiegel's request to reconsider its Feb. 25 decision allowing the CBOE to go ahead with the purchase, the CBOE said in an e-mailed statement Monday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0504190199apr19%2C1%2C718300.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true

 

CBOE TO MOVE FORWARD WITH PURCHASE OFFER FOR CBOT EXERCISE RIGHTS

http://www.cboe.com/AboutCBOE/ShowDocument.aspx?DIR=ACNews&FILE=20050418b.doc

 

CBOE SETS SPIDER OPTIONS TRADING RECORD; Friday's Volume Of 305,445 Contracts Is Busiest Single-Day

http://www.cboe.com/AboutCBOE/ShowDocument.aspx?DIR=ACNews&FILE=20050418.doc

 

Russell 2000 Index Futures Set Single Day Trading Record at CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE)

http://www.cboe.com/AboutCBOE/ShowDocument.aspx?DIR=ACNews&FILE=20050418c.doc

 

CBOE SETS CONSECUTIVE SINGLE-DAY VOLUME RECORDS; Friday's Volume Of 4.08M Contracts Is The Busiest Trading Day In CBOE History, Breaking The Previous Record Set On Thursday

http://www.cboe.com/AboutCBOE/ShowDocument.aspx?DIR=ACNews&FILE=20050415.doc

 

Trading Technologies Awared European Patent on MD Trader

http://www.tradingtechnologies.com/news/documents/MD_Trader_Patent-Europe.pdf

 

CME Daily Volume Tops 7.0 Million for the First Time Ever

http://www.cme.com/about/press/cn/05-55CMEVolumeRecord12911.html

 

Options Industry Sets New Daily Volume Record

The Options Clearing Corporation and The Options Industry Council announced today that Friday, April 15, 2005 set a new daily volume record when 11,254,044 total options contracts traded, 31.4 percent higher than the previous record, set on January 16, 2004.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050418/cgm059.html?.v=6

 

CME FX On Reuters Expands Reach and to Launch in Asia

http://www.cme.com/about/press/cn/05-56ReutersNewFirms12910.html

 

Seifert slams 'extreme' hedge fund

Deutsche Bourse chief executive Werner Seifert yesterday accused hedge fund TCI of 'damaging the company, its owners, customers and employees' in a furious letter to TCI chief Christopher Hohn.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/04/19/cnborse19.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/04/19/ixcity.html

 

***** I think “dissects” is a much more appropriate term than “slams.”

 

Deutsche Börse Releases Letter to TCI

http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/en/listcontent/gdb_navigation/press/10_Latest_Press_Releases/Content_Files/13_press/pm_news_180405.htm

 

Deutsche Börse steps up attack on hedge fund ahead of board meeting

Deutsche Börse's head Werner Seifert yesterday went head-to-head with the aggressive UK shareholder that forced him to abandon his takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=630886

 

Deutsche Boerse's TCI fails to win WestLB's Fischer for supervisory board

FRANKFURT (AFX) - WestLB AG's chief executive Thomas Fischer declined a request by Deutsche Boerse AG shareholder The Children's Investment Fund (TCI) to run for a seat on Deutsche Boerse's supervisory board, ...

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/050419/323/fgn20.html

 

Deutsche Boerse shareholder TCI says it has 'no intention to control company'

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Deutsche Boerse AG's major shareholder The Children's Investment Fund (TCI) has 'no intention to control the company' and insists it has a right by law to propose a management board reshuffle. ...

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/050418/323/fgljv.html

 

Dubai to Challenge Singapore in $25 Billion Marine Oil Market

April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai plans to challenge Singapore in the $25 billion market for marine oil by setting up an exchange that will allow futures trading in marine oil at the port of Fujairah, one of the world's top three fuel stops for ships.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=alkrj8LMuWes

 

Phlx To Launch Options In Corporates, Munis

http://www.phlx.com/news/pr2005/05pr041805.htm

 

Spitzer's Office Prepares for Rare Trial

Over the last three years, the New York State attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, has taken on Wall Street, mutual fund managers and the insurance industry over abuses, winning billions of dollars in fines and restitution and forcing changes - virtually all without going to trial.  Now, the first major trial of an executive caught up in one of those investigations is soon to begin, providing a rare test for Mr. Spitzer's office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/business/19fund.html?

 

Environmental Trading News

 

South Africa's 'green' energy market set to make its debut

Renewable energy in South Africa will receive a boost tomorrow with the launch of a market for trading "green" energy in Johannesburg.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e661f454-b074-11d9-ab98-00000e2511c8.html

 

Farmers who practise soil conservation eligible for millions under Kyoto plan

OTTAWA (CP) - Farmers who use low-till methods and other climate-friendly practices could be eligible for about $1 billion under the Kyoto plan, says Environment Minister Stephane Dion. Dion says farmers will gain a significant new source of income if they use the methods because they tap into the carbon-trading market that will be an important part of the federal plan.

http://www.canada.com/news/agriculture/story.html?id=70c8ebe4-e310-4252-b4ac-3536cf8e1b5a

 

Analysis: India stands to gain from Kyoto

CALCUTTA, India -- India could become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change in coming years due to the emergence of alternative energy projects either underway or in the planning stages.

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050418-092920-2471r

 

Carbon emission trading fund heads for listing

Equity Partnership Investment Company (Epic), the fund management group, is to float a new £135m stock market vehicle set up specifically to invest in carbon emissions allowances.  The investment vehicle, Trading Emissions plc, the largest fund of its kind, will this week be floated on the Alternative Investment Market

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/04/17/cnepic17.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/04/17/ixcity.html

 

Exchange News

 

Report: Nasdaq to buy Instinet for $1.8 billion

Deal for electronic trading company may be announced Monday

Updated: 9:45 p.m. ET April 17, 2005LONDON - The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. is poised to buy electronic trading company Instinet Group for about $1.8 billion, Britain’s Financial Times reported on Sunday.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7537772/

 

Nasdaq Is Said to Near a Deal on Competitor

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., the largest electronic marketplace, and a consortium of private investors were near a deal late last night to buy Instinet, the institutional brokerage and electronic trading network controlled by the Reuters Group, for about $1.8 billion, executives involved in the talks said yesterday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/18/business/18deal.html

 

For-profit vote clears way for CBOT stock deal

BY DAVID ROEDER Business Reporter 

Members of the Chicago Board of Trade were nearly unanimous Thursday in voting to reorganize as a for-profit company, and its chairman left little doubt that the exchange will pursue an initial stock offering soon.  Chairman Charles Carey said that with the historic change now final at the 157-year-old exchange, he expects it will quickly register its new securities by filing with the federal government a form known as an S-1. "It's my hope that we file an S-1 as soon as it's reasonably possible," Carey said.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-cbot15.html

 

CBOT members support conversion to for-profit status

Vote clears the way for a possible IPO

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0504150220apr15%2C1%2C7608759.story?coll=chi-business-hed

 

CBOT Mini-Sized Dow Futures Volume Surpasses Prior Record

CBOT announced today that on Friday, April 15, volume in the mini-sized Dow futures soared to the highest level ever.

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1036+27724,00.html

 

Rains Improves Wheat, But Don't Slow Corn Plantings

This week's weather likely restrained planting in the southern U.S. and parts of the N. Plains...

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1027+27723,00.html

 

CBOT Strike Price Notice, April 19, 2005

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+27729,00.html

 

CBOT Dow Jones Strike Price Notice, April 18, 2005

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+27705,00.html

 

CBOT Strike Price Notice, April 18, 2005

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+27703,00.html

 

E-CBOT Dow Jones Strike Price Notice, April 18, 2005

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+27704,00.html

 

Withdrawal of Soybean Regularity

Peavey Co. withdraws its regularity at its Sauget, IL facility. 04.18.2005

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+27711,00.html

 

CBOT South American Soybean Futures/Industry Meeting

The meeting will be held Thurs., April 21, 2:00 p.m. at the W Hotel, 172 W. Adams, Chicago. 04.18.2005

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+27712,00.html

 

Agricultural Options Expiration

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+27706,00.html

 

Financial Options Expiration

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+27707,00.html

 

Upcoming System Enhancements

As part of the upcoming implementation of the replacement Average Price System (APS) several enhancements will come as part of the new system.

http://www.cme.com/clearing/clr/clradv/12909.html

 

ISE Weekly Listings

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176358&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=697135&highlight=

 

The Archipelago Exchange(SM) (ArcaEx(R)) Announces Exclusive Listing of American Dairy, Inc.

http://investor.archipelago.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=140290&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=697204&highlight=

 

Options Expiration Operational Procedures for the Trading Floor and Clearing Members

http://www.nymex.com/jsp/shareholder/notice_to_member.jsp?id=ntm166&archive=2005

 

NYSE Regulation Announces First Annual Securities Conference

http://www.nyse.com/press/1113820716826.html

 

Atos Euronext wins trading system order from Muscat Securities Market - report

LONDON (AFX) - The Muscat Securities Market will sign an agreement with Atos Euronext today to facilitate the implementation of a new trading system by Dec 2005, the Times of Oman reported.  The new system will replace the existing trading system, which has been in operation since 1998, according to a report on the newspaper's website.

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/050419/323/fgmw6.html

 

Eurex Launches Three New Dutch Equity Options

Equity options on P&O Nedlloyd, Vedior and Versatel tradable on Eurex from May 2/ Eurex further expands market position in trading with European equity options

http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/en/listcontent/gdb_navigation/press/10_Latest_Press_Releases/Content_Files/13_press/pm_news_190405.htm

 

NYBOT Announces Removal Of Moratorium From Weser International Coffee Warehouse

http://www.nybot.com/releases/pressRelease.asp?releaseID=864

 

Trading Starts 15 Minutes Earlier on 26 April 2005

http://www.tiffe.or.jp/file/05/20050426cpi_e.html

 

TOPIX Dissemination Interval Change to securities companies, information vendors, and others - From 1 minute to 15 seconds

http://www.tse.or.jp/english/news/2005/200504/050418_a.html

 

National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) Launches Futures Trade In Arabica Coffee And Robusta Coffee

http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=52457

 

CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE HOLDINGS INC Files SEC form 8-K, Termination Material Agreement

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/050418/cme8-k.html

 

Regulatory News

 

The SEC News Digest

The SEC News Digest provides daily information on recent Commission actions, including enforcement proceedings, rule filings, policy statements, and upcoming Commission meetings.

http://www.sec.gov/news/digest/dig041805.txt

 

FEDERAL COURT ISSUES ORDER FREEZING ASSETS OF FLORIDA FOREIGN CURRENCY TRADING FIRM AND ITS VICE-PRESIDENT; BOTH CHARGED WITH FRAUD

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Charges Defendants G7 Advisory Services, LLC and Michel Geraud With Fraudulently Soliciting Customers to Trade Foreign Currency Options

http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf05/opa5069-05.htm

 

Court freezes assets of Boca foreign exchange firm in fraud case

WASHINGTON - A federal court has frozen the assets of a foreign-currency trading firm in Florida accused by a futures-market regulator of fraud.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/11426248.htm

 

SEC Exempts NFA From Two-Day Posting Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission has exempted the National Futures Association from an SEC rule requiring the posting of proposed rules within two days of notice of approval from the commission.

http://www.compliancereporter.com/default.asp?page=1&SID=496351&ISS=14396&pressbox=1

 

OSC imposes permanent ban on mutual fund rep

Calls Montpellier’s actions “conspicuously offensive”

http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=28471&IdSection=8&cat=8

 

IFB calls OSC to bear cost of Portus investigation

Cites negative impact on investor assets

http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=28469&IdSection=5&cat=5

 

CSA launches national registration system

Firms and individuals can now register with just one regulator

The Canadian Securities Administrators have launched the National Registration System, harmonizing and streamlining the registration regime of individuals and firms across all jurisdictions.

http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=28463&IdSection=8&cat=8

 

Canadian Securities Regulators Implement National Registration System [CSA]

http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.asp?id=2359

 

OSC approves TSX governance measures

Publishes rule on governance practices disclosure

http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=28455&IdSection=8&cat=8

 

FSA reveals approach to retail risks and areas under review

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2005/040.shtml

 

Brokerage must pay couple $1.9 million

A Highland Beach couple received nearly $1.9 million from Prudential Securities after an arbitration panel determined the couple's broker was negligent in handling their account.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-zstock19apr19,0,1209775.story?coll=sfla-business-headlines

 

Managed Futures - Managed Funds

 

Lehman takes hedge fund stake

Lehman Brothers has forged a tighter bond with the booming hedge fund industry by purchasing a stake in Ospraie, a hedge fund that invests in basic industries and commodities.  Lehman is paying an undisclosed sum for a 20 per cent stake in the fund, which has about $2bn of assets under management and is run by Dwight Anderson, formerly of Julian Robertson's Tiger Management.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/dd7e63e8-b04e-11d9-ab98-00000e2511c8.html

 

Hedge Fund, Marshall Wace North America L.P., Activates FlexTRADER and FlexTQM to Manage Trading Costs and Achieve Best

FlexTrade Systems today announced that Marshall Wace North America L.P., a long/short equity hedge fund, went live in February on FlexTRADER, the globally deployed and leading broker-neutral algorithmic trading platform.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050418/185082.html?.v=1

 

Opportunity Partners' Phillip Goldstein sues the SEC

Apr-15-2005 - Phillip Goldstein filed an initial brief on April 14 as part of his challenge of the SEC's decision to make registration for hedge fund managers mandatory

http://www.marhedge.com/news/Cover.Hedge.asp?s=HedgeH-2005-04-15-16-26-46p1.htm

 

Société Générale completes acquisition

Apr-15-2005 - Société Générale Group's SG Corporate and Investment Banking has completed its acquisition of Bank of America's hedge-fund-linked structured investments business, which provides institutional investors focused on hedge funds with lending and structured products.

http://www.marhedge.com/news/Cover.Strat.asp?s=StratH-2005-04-14-12-17-11p1.htm

 

Viennese advisor launches commodity-focused fund

Apr-15-2005 - FTC Asset Management Group rolled out FTC Commodity Alpha on April 4 with €13 million

http://www.marhedge.com/news/Cover.MAR.asp?s=MARH-2005-04-15-14-41-33p1.htm

 

Brown uses options as catalyst

Apr-15-2005 - New Jersey-based Brown Asset Management's flagship program is up 20% since inception in October 2004

http://www.marhedge.com/news/Cover.MAR.asp?s=MARH-2005-04-14-09-22-17p1.htm

 

Hedge Fund Boutique Names New CEO

Coronation Fund Managers , a London-based fund-of-hedge-funds manager, appointed Charles Barnick as its new ceo. He will assume responsibility for the day-to-day management of Coronation's fund of hedge funds business with a focus on global business development for institutional clients and advisers.

http://www.globalmoneymanagement.com/default.asp?page=1&SID=496361&ISS=14393&pressbox=1

 

Soros PE unit spun off

George Soros' hedge fund, Soros Fund Management LLC , has spun off its private equity group TowerBrook Capital Partners LP , with $1.3 billion under management.

http://www.thedeal.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=TheDeal/TDDArticle/StandardArticle&c=TDDArticle&cid=1113424118051&r=InFs&p=M4YD5AR2

 

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

 

Futures traders accused of software patent breach

Vendor fires off law suit against UK financial services firm…

A leading US trading software firm has filed a lawsuit against UK hedge-fund company Man Group in the row over claims that a patent awarded last year entitles it to a share of trading revenue on futures exchanges.  Chicago-based Trading Technologies (TT) was awarded two UK patents on its MD Trader product, which it claims is used for half of all global electronic futures trading.

http://management.silicon.com/government/0%2C39024677%2C39129588%2C00.htm

 

Ex-trader Leeson in football role 

Nick Leeson says he is a big football fan 

"Rogue trader" Nick Leeson is to become the commercial manager of a football club in western Ireland.

Mr Leeson, who was jailed over £860m losses which led to the collapse of the UK's oldest merchant bank, Barings, starts at Galway United this week.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4454105.stm

 

OpTech Audio Files Now Available!

Listen to audio files from the 14th Annual FIA Futures Services Division OpTech Conference.

http://www.futuresindustry.org/optech20-2485.asp

 

Biggs in attempt to broker Morgan Stanley peace

Barton Biggs has tried to broker a peace deal between Morgan Stanley and eight dissident advisory directors who are calling for Phil Purcell, chairman and chief executive, to be ousted.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3054e23c-b05d-11d9-ab98-00000e2511c8.html

 

**** Online FT subscription required.

 

The Coca-Cola Company Settles Antifraud and Periodic Reporting Charges Relating to its Failure to Disclose Japanese Gallon Pushing

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2005-58.htm

 

Ito-Yokado to offer financial services of other firms

TOKYO, April 18 (Reuters) - Ito-Yokado Co. Ltd. , Japan's second-biggest retailer, said on Monday it would start offering financial services at its stores by teaming up with five banks, seven securities firms and 13 insurance companies.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050418/3/1zj88.html

 

State Street Earns Rise as Fees Increase

State Street Corp. on Tuesday reported a 4 percent gain in earnings, surprising Wall Street with stronger-than-expected results as the financial services firm earned more money from new customers.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050419/bs_nm/financial_statestreet_earns_dc_2

 

ICAP settles with Collins Stewart in staff poaching row

Two of the City's most outspoken executives - Terry Smith, the chief of Collins Stewart Tullett, and Michael Spencer, his counterpart at ICAP - have settled a dispute over poaching staff in Hong Kong and Singapore.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1462874,00.html

 

NAB gets nod to reopen that desk

After 15 months in the sin bin, National Australia Bank has been given permission to reopen the foreign currency options desk that was at the centre of last year's $360 million trading scandal.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/NAB-gets-nod-to-reopen-that-desk/2005/04/18/1113676702707.html

 

All you wanted to know about derivatives!

http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/apr/19perfin1.htm

 

Pope `Puff of Smoke' Poll Too Hard to Call, Futures Traders Say

April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Futures traders, who bet $22 million on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election and $4 million on the Superbowl, have wagered $510,000 on predicting the next pope in an event some say is too hard to call.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=acuGb514P5Ac

 

E*TRADE Financial Announces Stephen H. Willard Joins Board of Directors

E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation today announced that Stephen H. Willard, who has been a member of the Board of Directors of E*TRADE Bank since 2000, has joined the Board of Directors of E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation effective April 15, 2005.

http://biz.yahoo.com/cnw/050418/ny_etrade_board.html?.v=1

 

Goldman: Costly oil not a bubble

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The surge in oil prices during the past year is backed by the economics of supply and demand rather than the result of a short-lived bubble, the global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs said Monday.

http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2005/04/19/markets/goldman_oil.reut/index.htm?section=money_latest

 

SunGard to Hold Earnings Conference Call and Webcast on April 22, 2005

SunGard , a global leader in integrated software and processing solutions primarily for financial services and the pioneer and leading provider of information availability services, announced today that it will release first quarter 2005 financial results on Thursday, April 21, 2005, after the market closes.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050418/186247.html?.v=1

 

TrustNet News / General / The battle for Morgan Stanley

The battle for control of Morgan Stanley, the world's number two securities firm, is holding the markets in thrall. Yet aside from the fun of a personality clash, it tells us something about power ebbing away from those who run large financial institutions. Deference to the big powers has died.

http://www.trustnet.com/general/news/display-story.asp?id=67356&db=general

 

Reuters IM Net Back in Time for Weekend

April 18, 2005 - Reuters safely restored its instant messaging service at 07:00 GMT on Friday, 15 April after temporarily suspending service on Thursday, to protect its customers.

http://www.securitiesindustry.com/article.cfm?articleid=15328

 

John's Comments

 

Thank You

 

Thank you to all of those readers who sent me get-well wishes yesterday.  It was appreciated and helped me to a quick recovery.

 

*******

 

CME Seminar: How to become an Introducing Broker

 

On Wednesday, April 20 the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will sponsor a panel discussion entitled "How to Become an Introducing Broker." The panel runs from 11:30 to 1pm in the Upper Lobby Auditorium. It is free and lunch will be served.

 

Melinda Schramm, President of MHS Capital Resource, Inc. (www.futuresrep.com) and Chairperson of the National Introducing Broker Association (www.theniba.com) will be moderating the panel and will base the discussion on her book "The Complete IB Handbook" 2005 ed. Other panel members are Buck Haworth, President of Born Capital (IIB) and former CME floor broker; Steve Pherson, Partner in the law firm of Schuyler, Roche and Swirner and former NYFE floor broker; and, Brian Rice, Managing Partner of Rice Dairy (GIB) and current CME floor broker.

 

To reserve a space, address an email to Linda Goldsmith at lgoldsmith@cme.com. Feel free to bring any number of guests.

 

******

 

Blackstone Seen Bidding For Nymex Stake - Sources

By Leah McGrath Goodman

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Blackstone Group (BGP.XX), a New York private-equity firm with $6.45 billion invested, may bid for a stake in the New York Mercantile Exchange as early as this week, sources close to the exchange said Monday.

 

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Brent Crude Watch

 

IPE Brent Volume: 85,976

NYMEX Brent Crude Volume: 16,210

NYMEX Percent of Total Volume: 15.86%

 

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Chicago Electronic Trading Scorecard for April 18, 2005

 

Percent Electronic

 

CBOT: 67.97%

CME: 67.55%

CME Eurodollars: 87.95%

CME Live Cattle: 1.72%

CME Currency Products: 82.11%

CBOT Soybeans: 2.74%

 

CBOT Options: 10.51%

CME Options: 5.99%

 

Volume 

 

OneChicago Volume: 18,740

Eurex US Volume: 13,188

Euronext.liffe Eurodollar Volume: 64,120

CBOE Futures Exchange Volume: 2630

 

Market Share

 

CBOT 100 oz. Gold Volume: 864

NYMEX 100 oz. Gold Volume: 41,302

CBOT Share: 2.05%

 

CBOT 5000 oz. Silver Volume: 205

NYMEX 5000 oz. Silver Volume: 13,053

CBOT Share: 1.55%

 

CBOT Mini Gold Volume: 884

CBOT Mini Silver Volume: 528

 

CME Emini Russell 1000 (100X) Volume: 3904

Eurex US Mini Russell 1000 (100X) Volume: 2372

NYBOT Mini Russell 1000 (50X) Volume: 538

CFE Mini Russell 1000 (100X) Volume: 0

 

CME Emini Russell 2000 Volume: 160,133

Eurex US Mini Russell 2000 Volume: 7650

CFE Mini Russell 2000 Volume: 1210

 

Notes: The CBOT set a new 10-Year Treasury Note Options open interest record yesterday of 3,362,075 contracts open, beating the previous record of 3,296,115 contracts set on April 14, 2005.  Additionally, the CBOT set a new total exchange open interest record of 13,995,275, beating the previous record of 13,809,450 as of March 23, 2005.

 

CME Eurodollar options set a new daily volume record yesterday of 89,886 contracts, breaking the previous record of 86,747 set on August 4, 2004.  CME has targeted increased electronic trading of options on futures as part of its 2005 growth strategy and has been getting some results in recent days.

 

Liffe Eurodollar Over-Under

 

Liffe/Globex: 2.87%

Liffe/CME: 2.53%

 

Regards,

 

John J. Lothian

Publisher

John Lothian Newsletter 

www.johnlothiannewsletter.com

 

Futures Brokerage - Business Intelligence   John J. Lothian President- Electronic Trading Division The Price Futures Group, Inc. 141 West Jackson Blvd., Suite 1340A Chicago, IL 60604 jlothian@pricegroup.com johnlothian@johnlothian.com IM: LothianJohnJ http://www.pricegroupetd.com tel: tel2: fax: mobile: +1 312-264-4350 +1 800-713-0215 +1 312-264-4399 +1 312-203-5515

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