May 31, 2005

 

Lead Stories

 

Breaks 1m tonnes CO2 total in first month

ECX sees record trading in carbon futures

European Climate Exchange (ECX) today announced that total trading volumes in ECX Carbon Financial Instruments on the International Petroleum Exchange had broken one million tonnes during the first month of trading. ECX Carbon Financial Instrument (ECX CFI) futures, which launched on Friday 22nd April and are admitted to trading on the IPE, passed this historic milestone on Tuesday 24th May – a day which also saw a record of 233,000 tonnes of CO2 traded. The previous daily record, of 200,000 tonnes, had been set on Monday 23rd May. Total volumes for the week (Monday 23rd May to Friday 27th May) were 594,000 tonnes.

http://www.europeanclimateexchange.com/pages/page254.php

 

DB rolls out world's first commodity ETF

May-31-2005 - Deutsche Börse has launched EasyETF GSCI, which tracks the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index

http://www.marhedge.com/news/Cover.MAR.asp?s=MARH-2005-05-26-10-22-17p1.htm

 

New Commodity-based Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) On The SWX Swiss Exchange

http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=53163

 

CBOT's bubble market

Published 05/30/2005 in Crain's Chicago Business

Author: Kate Ryan

People bidding up the price of seats on the Chicago Board of Trade to get in on its planned initial public offering might want to look at what's happened at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. If the Merc's experience is any indication, seat prices have nowhere to go but down after an IPO. The price of a seat at the Merc has sunk 26% since its 2002 IPO. Trading rights most recently sold for $310,000, down ...

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/search.pl?sa=Google+Search&cof=AWPID%3Ae283086029f2b114%3B&searchin=Google+Search&q=cbot

 

***** Online Crain’s Chicago subscription required for this story.  I have a serious concerns with some of the math and logic of this story.  

 

Can hedge funds hurt the market?

Some fear investment is a ticking time bomb

By Melissa Lee

May 30, 2005Hedge funds are hot — there’s no debating that. But should you, the individual investor, jump in? And will the growth of this unregulated investment vehicle forever change the way Americans invest?

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7965201

CBOE PURCHASES "EXERCISE RIGHTS" FROM CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE MEMBERS

http://www.cboe.com/AboutCBOE/ShowDocument.aspx?DIR=ACNews&FILE=20050527.doc

 

Chief Risk Officers to Grow in Number and Influence

http://www.garp.com/risknews/newsfeed.asp?Category=6&MyFile=2005-05-31-10901.html

 

DJ Indexes Granted Temporary Restraining Order Against ISE and OCC

http://www.garp.com/risknews/newsfeed.asp?Category=6&MyFile=2005-05-31-10891.html

 

French 'Non' knocks EU economic policy into limbo

http://news.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=M3P1IAJAMVFUGCRBAELCFEY?type=reutersEdge&storyID=8647134

 

TD Waterhouse in merger talks Ameritrade

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2005-05-31T141359Z_01_N31421013_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-FINANCIAL-TDWATERHOUSE-AMERITRADE-DC.XML

 

As NYSE And Nasdaq Grow, Small Venues Ponder Their Roles

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--As Wall Street digests news of mergers that would make two large stock markets even bigger, trading officials are wondering if the behemoths will leave much for other venues seeking a slice of the stock-trading pie.

http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?cat=USMARKET&src=704&feed=dji&section=news&news_id=dji-00085220050527&date=20050527&alias=/alias/money/cm/nw

 

The Archipelago Exchange Launches Listings Ad Campaign

The Archipelago Exchange , the nation's first totally open, all-electronic stock exchange, today announced the launch of a new advertising campaign around the exchange's listed companies.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050531/nytu013.html?.v=6

 

Futures market at "critical moment"

A top Chinese securities official said on Saturday that efforts would be made to push forward the development of China's futures market to bring it in line with the country's policy of going all out to advance the capital market.  "The current period is a critical moment in the growth of China's futures market," said Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), at Saturday's Shanghai Derivatives Market Forum.  The forum, focusing on metals and the energy futures market, was sponsored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SFE) to analyze the situation of the current futures market and discuss how to promote its development.

http://english.people.com.cn/200505/30/eng20050530_187538.html

 

Derivatives Market of Futures Trading 

An official with the China  Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said they were considering to put forward derivatives trading such as share indexes and state treasury bonds gradually on the basis of improving commodity futures transactions. 

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2238/2005-5-29/88@241534.htm

 

China to allow foreign investors to trade local futures 

MAY 30:  China plans to allow qualifying foreign institutional investors to trade in the domestic futures market, according to a China Securities Regulatory Commission official.

“China’s futures market is short of big institutional players,” Yang Maijun, the commission’s director of futures supervision, said at a conference yesterday in Shanghai. “Development of the market hasn’t caught up with investors’ demand.”

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=92469

 

Shanghai Exchange plans steel futures

BEIJING, May 31 -- The Shanghai Futures Exchange and China’s futures regulator are considering the launch of steel futures, which to date have eluded efforts to identify a product standard enough to provide trading liquidity.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-05/31/content_3024750.htm

 

Shanghai mulls steel futures

The Shanghai Futures Exchange and China's futures regulator are considering the launch of steel futures, which to date have eluded efforts to identify a product standard enough to provide trading liquidity.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Markets/GE30Ag05.html

 

Tokyo Exchange Backs Away From March 2006 IPO Pledge (Update1)

May 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Tokyo Stock Exchange, the world's second largest, backed away from its president's pledge to sell shares by March, after a report said regulators questioned whether the bourse could regulate itself as a for-profit company.

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

 

Tokyo International Financial Futures Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange Sign Memorandum of Understanding[May 30,2005]

http://www.tfx.co.jp/en/newsfile/05/tfx_shfe_e20050528.html

 

TFX received FSA Approval for Exchange Forex Margin Contracts[May 27,2005]

http://www.tfx.co.jp/en/newsfile/05/fxmargin_e20050527.html

 

Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. and Borsa Italiana SpA sign a Memorandum of Understanding 

http://www.tse.or.jp/english/news/2005/200505/050530_b.html

 

Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. and Bolsa Mexicana de Valores S.A. de C.V. sign a Memorandum of Understanding 

http://www.tse.or.jp/english/news/2005/200505/050530_a.html

 

Keynote Speech By SGX CEO At Beijing Seminar

http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=53159

 

The enigma of cotton futures 

Cotton futures trading in India has a long and chequered history extending over more than a century and a quarter. Cotton was the first commodity to attract futures trade in the country in an organised manner. It began as early as 1875. 

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=92342

 

Plan for new TSE trading hours may be axed

BACKLASH: Around 10 brokerage workers protested the suggestion of extending trading on the local bourse, although regulators said that it is still open to discussion

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2005/05/28/2003256972

 

Environmental Trading News

 

CO2 exchange set for debut

Asia's first exchange to trade carbon dioxide credits will be established in Singapore this year, giving the region's fast-growing economies a forum for funding green technology.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Markets/GE30Ag04.html

 

EUPolitix.com - Green Week: Commissioner Stavros Dimas

" Get to grips with climate change is our slogan, and our goal, for the 2005 edition of Green Week, the European Commission’s flagship annual programme of environmental events which takes place in Brussels from today until Friday June 3 in the lead-up to World Environment Day on June 5 .

http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200505/a1fb4b11-c308-4613-8e9b-ac5805937270.htm

 

Brazil touts its sugar cane ethanol as green fuel option for Japanese cars

Cars in Japan should use gasoline mixed with ethanol made from sugar cane to help stop global warming, a Brazilian bio-fuel expert said Friday in Tokyo.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050528a9.htm

 

Exchange & ECN News

 

CBOT partners with Argentina Exchange

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mercado a Termino de Buenos Aires (MATba), a leading commodity exchange in Argentina. This agreement was created to explore opportunities for extending the global reach of both exchanges.

http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=1EC58DEC-CB92-EFF1-9F2B2C70FFA1DCA4

 

CBOT June 27 Bund, Bobl, and Schatz Conversion Factors

German Debt Conversion Factors 05.27.2005

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1027+18807,00.html

 

Merrill Lynch To Serve as Bin 5 PMM on ISE

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176358&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=714767&highlight=

 

ISE Weekly Listings May 23 – 27, 2005

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176358&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=714720&highlight=

 

Exchange Sets Daily Volume Record on NYMEX ClearPortsm 

http://www.nymex.com/jsp/news/press_releas.jsp?id=pr20050527b

 

Exchange Adds Trading Months for Natural Gas Calendar Spread Options

http://www.nymex.com/jsp/news/press_releas.jsp?id=pr20050527a

 

Deutsche Börse Continues Capital Management Program

Second share buy-back program to commence in the week beginning 6 June

http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/en/listcontent/gdb_navigation/press/10_Latest_Press_Releases/Content_Files/13_press/pm_news_asb_310505.htm

 

Historical index values of Provisional TOPIX 

http://www.tse.or.jp/english/news/2005/200505/050531_a.html

 

OMX: SAXESS Trading Platform Successfully Launched at Vilnius Stock Exchange

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, May 30, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Vilnius Stock Exchange, one of six exchanges within OMX Exchanges, today successfully launched the common Nordic trading platform SAXESS(tm) for trading on the cash markets. SAXESS is already in use at the stock exchanges in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Riga and Tallinn (all exchanges owned by OMX) as well as the stock exchanges in Oslo and

http://au.biz.yahoo.com/050530/21/4k2m.html

 

SGX Admits Fortis As Corp Clearing Member

PRESS RELEASE: SGX Admits Fortis As Corp Clearing Member The following is an announcement from Singapore Exchange Ltd. (S68.SG): Singapore, May 30, 2005 -- Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) today announced that Fortis Clearing Singapore (Fortis) has been admitted as a Corporate Clearing Member of SGX Derivatives Trading Limited (SGX-DT) and SGX Derivatives Clearing Limited (SGX-DC) on Friday, 27

http://au.biz.yahoo.com/050530/18/4k5z.html

 

Criterion Dow Jones–AIG Commodity Index Fund To Trade On Toronto Stock Exchange

http://www.tse.com/en/mediaNews/newsreleases/news8955.html

 

PHLX to Launch Directed Order Flow Model This Week

http://www.phlx.com/news/pr2005/05pr053105.htm

 

“Great Relief” from APCIMS, QCA and the London Stock Exchange, over Treasury clarification on Prospectus Directive implementation.

APCIMS, the QCA and the London Stock Exchange today welcomed the Treasury’s announcement, making clear that following the implementation of the Prospectus Directive on 1 July 2005, there will be no need to issue a prospectus just because brokers place shares with discretionary private clients.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/about/Newsroom/pressreleases/2005/270505greatrelief.htm

 

SGX SEEKS TO ENHANCE STANDARDS OF GOVERNANCE AND LISTINGS

http://info.sgx.com/webnewscentre.nsf/bcb6f015b16e5258482569a7001af139/48256838002f07b1482570110034c3f9?OpenDocument

 

SGX CO-ORGANISES CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SEMINAR IN MANDARIN

http://info.sgx.com/webnewscentre.nsf/bcb6f015b16e5258482569a7001af139/48256838002f07b148256ff00025b3f4?OpenDocument

 

SGX Plans To Tighten Listing Rules

PRESS RELEASE: SGX Plans To Tighten Listing Rules The following is a press release from the Singapore Exchange Ltd. (S68.SG): SINGAPORE 30 May 2005 - The Singapore Exchange Ltd. (SGX) plans to enhance its listing rules and processes in order to raise corporate-governance standards and promote good regulatory practices. This is part of an annual review of SGX's regulatory framework and processes.

http://au.biz.yahoo.com/050530/18/4k2j.html

 

NYMEX taps JPMorgan for Blackstone bid

The New York Mercantile Exchange has hired investment bank J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to advise the exchange as it mulls a bid by The Blackstone Group, according to an unnamed source in a New York Post article on Monday.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050530/bs_nm/markets_merc_dc_1

 

NYMEX OPENS UP

May 30, 2005 -- The New York Mercantile Exchange has retained J.P. Morgan Chase as its lead adviser in a bid led by The Blackstone Group for a 20 percent stake in the giant energy marketplace, The Post has learned.

http://www.nypost.com/business/44716.htm

 

***** Free NY Post online access required.

 

 

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/dig052705.txt

 

Member Advisory - Upfront fees may require FCMs and IBs to provide customers with additional disclosure

http://www.nfa.futures.org/compliance/052705.asp

 

CFTC Charges British Columbia Citizen Kevin Steele with Defrauding Over 200 Participants, Including U.S. Residents, in $7.5 Million Commodity Pool Scheme

http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf05/opa5080-05.htm

 

Speech by Acting Chairman Sharon Brown-Hruska on Striking a Balance in the Regulation of Global Markets

http://www.cftc.gov/opa/speeches05/opabrownhruska33.htm

 

The Bankruptcy Law and Basel II

One set of provisions in the new law enables cross-product netting of derivative products, but companies may still run afoul of Basel regulators.

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/4028695?f=home_featured

 

RS announces July hearing for RBC DS

Regulators allege deceptive trading

http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=28963&IdSection=8&cat=8

 

TK branch manger fined $25,000

IDA finds Corrigan failed to adequately supervise rep

http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=28961&IdSection=5&cat=5

 

New chairman for Ontario board

Purdy Crawford to head panel to develop common securities regulator

http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=28945&IdSection=9&cat=9

 

Washington insists financial services must be on agenda

Financial-sector liberalisation could undermine efforts to negotiate a Thailand-US free-trade area agreement, according to Finance Ministry officials.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/30May2005_biz57.php

 

Hong Kong To Revise Retail Hedge Fund Rules, by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong 31 May 2005

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) last week released a consultation paper on proposals to revise its Hedge Funds Guidelines, which cover all retail hedge funds offered in the SAR.

http://www.investorsoffshore.com/asp/story/storyinv.asp?storyname=19997

 

SEC gets a taste of its own medicine

Like a professor flunking part of his own test, the agency that grades corporate America on its accounting announced Thursday that it had three major flaws of its own in its internal systems for preventing financial fraud or mistakes.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/sv/20050531/tc_siliconvalley/_www11753925_1

 

RBC traders face 'wash trading' allegations

TORONTO - In a case that conjures up memories of the Windfall scandal of 1964, RBC Dominion Securities and four of its traders are accused of what is called 'wash trading' in shares of the brokerage firm's parent, Royal Bank of Canada, and in those of rival Bank of Montreal.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2005/05/30/rbc-wash-trading050530

 

Paraplegic charged with swindling $400,000

Shirley Kutchman didn't know Alexander Wright, but she thought she knew Robert L. Beck -- a nice guy in a wheelchair who had a flair for finances.

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_338422.html

 

Managed Futures - Managed Funds

 

Fear And Loathing Along The Hedge Rows

New concerns are cropping up about some banks that may be over-reaching for a larger slice of the hedge fund market at a time when big funds are losing money.

http://www.forbes.com/business/services/2005/05/31/cx_lm_0531hedge.html

 

Hedge fund manager earns $1bn

Edward Lampert of the US-based ESL Investments earned an estimated $1.02 billion (£550m) in 2004, making him the highest paid hedge fund manager, according to rankings released today by Institutional Investor magazine.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C9063-1630513%2C00.html

 

Investing in energy after the gold rush

What he's doing now: Buying sugar and cotton to benefit from high oil prices. Forsake black gold for the stuff you spoon into your coffee and the material they make underwear out of? “If you want to invest in oil, the best thing to do is buy sugar,” Mr. Rogers said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050529.st-main28/BNStory/Business/

 

Nikko Alternative unit expands

May-31-2005 - Nikko Alternative Asset Management Inc is expanding its AlphaPlus platform for alternative investment products aimed at Japanese investors

http://www.marhedge.com/news/Cover.Hedge.asp?s=HedgeH-2005-05-26-11-57-38p1.htm

 

Charles Schwab launches target-date retirement funds

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Charles Schwab & Co. is looking to cash in on the soaring popularity of "target-date" retirement funds

http://www.marketwatch.com/enf/rss.asp?guid=%7B7F665552-B7C3-497E-80B9-2C06B2B42B74%7D&dist=rss&siteid=mktw

 

Hennessee Releases 11th Annual Hedge Fund Manager Survey

The Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group , a global adviser to hedge fund investors, today released the results of the 11th Annual Hennessee Hedge Fund Manager Survey, the industry's oldest hedge fund manager survey.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050531/nytu105.html?.v=10

 

Are hedge-fund investors dashing for the exits?

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Recent trouble roiling the highflying world of hedge funds may get worse before it gets better.

http://www.marketwatch.com/enf/rss.asp?guid=%7B2FA50947-BA6B-4C09-B495-302464C50F10%7D&dist=rss&siteid=mktw

 

Commentary: Hedge funds come of age

Asia has seen an explosion of these lightly regulated investments. Hedge fund assets under management in Asia doubled between 2003 and 2004 to about $65 billion.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/29/bloomberg/sxpesek.php

 

Fears rise at hedge fund boom

Concern is growing in Asia as more money floods into regional hedge funds, attracted by higher returns on offer than in other global capital markets.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Front_Page/GE30Aa02.html

 

A New Way To Be Underpaid

Whether they earn it or not, hedge fund managers can make even Tom Hanks feel poor.

http://www.forbes.com/work/2005/05/30/cx_da_0530topnews.html?partner=rss

 

The Hottest Funds In Town

The fast growth of exchange-traded funds has the mutual-fund biz scrambling

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_23/b3936086_mz020.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

 

High-risk game in forex

Spot swaps and arbitrage deals are no longer a mystery to New Zealanders. In the second part of a series on alternative investment, Kristina Greene looks at foreign exchange trading.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3298249a1864,00.html

 

Discounted Market Data Services Now Available To SIA Member Firms

http://www.sia.com/press/2005_press_releases/03913176.html

 

US Brokerage Companies Have Strong First Quarter

http://www.garp.com/risknews/newsfeed.asp?Category=6&MyFile=2005-05-31-10894.html

 

Refco Group Ltd., LLC Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results

Refco Group Ltd., LLC today reported total revenues for its quarter ended February 28, 2005 of $1,140.9 million, an increase of $590.1 million, or 107.1%, and $69.5 million, or 6.5%, compared to the quarters ended February 29, 2004 and November 30, 2004, respectively.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050527/nyf053.html?.v=13

 

Just how fair are fairness opinions?

Rooting out conflicts of interest on Wall Street has become a full-time job for securities regulators in recent years.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/30/business/fair.php

 

Big Banks To Market Mandated Research

Independent research could get another boost from the global research settlement in the coming year--this time from the settlement banks themselves, who are considering turning the buzz around indie research they were mandated to provide into an attraction point for their customers.

http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/default.asp?page=1&SID=513889&ISS=14977&type=23

 

Suntimes.com expands market coverage

The Chicago Sun-Times is offering readers an investment manager on their desktops.

The newly revamped and expanded www.Suntimes.com/ markets offers more prices for stocks, mutual funds, commodities, currencies and financial futures than any single site on the Web.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-markets31.html

 

An Indicator That's Almost as Good as a Time Machine

AN investor's fantasy might be to glimpse stock or bond market prices for a trading session yet to come, perhaps next month or in 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/29/business/yourmoney/29fede.html

 

Other Voices

 

Today’s Other Voices is from www.commodityhedgers.com about Satellites and Weather Models:

 

Overview of Commodity Hedgers, Satellite Derived Products and Models

 

In order to accurately predict agricultural yields, scientists have developed a procedure to use satellite observations to monitor surface temperature and surface wetness around the world in near real time.

 

Since clouds traditionally blocked satellite observations of the surface, our approach is based on passive microwave energy observed by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI), which observes surface conditions from space under almost sky and surface conditions. 

 

This suite of satellite instruments was first flown in mid-June 1987. Therefore we started our climatology in 1988, and have been receiving satellite observations from the SSMI instrument since that time. This allows us to calculate a base period climatology from the complete period the satellite instrument has been in space.

 

We calculate the average surface wetness; temperature and snow cover for each location and time of year. Then we identify how the current conditions differ from the 15-year average at that particular time and place.  This enables us to measure and model how the most recent surface conditions will directly alter future yields.

 

We spent over a decade working with the USDA to translate our signal of surface wetness for each location around the world.  Wetness, as we see it, is a combination of water on the surface; from precipitation as it falls, snow melt, irrigation supplies, water in the upper soil, and even water in the leaves. This product identifies the availability of moisture in every growing region, and our models integrate both wetness and temperature anomalies to quantitatively explain how the various crops will develop.

 

The Production Estimate and Crop Analysis Division of the USDA classify our products superior to the products they traditionally used for predicting yields around the world. These traditional products were:

 

1.         Satellite derived vegetative health (NDVI) that measures how surface conditions affected the crop’s development; Commodity Hedgers identifies how current field conditions will affect the crop’s development, giving us a two-week lead.  NDVI observations requires clear-skies (which are uncommon), while Commodity Hedgers monitors ever changing field conditions under cloud cover, allowing us to see exactly what is occurring in the fields, and its impact on yields.

 

2.         Isolated point measurement (weather stations) requires interpolation, guesswork and subjectivity to access the surrounding area. Commodity Hedgers sees the true spatial structure across the entire land surface, taking the subjectivity out of the analyses. 

 

Our data has been scientifically peer reviewed and validated, through independent data sources. Our statistical yield models are based on the interaction of wetness and temperature anomalies at the county level. They are calibrated with yield data provided by NASS. Model accuracy and precision are determined for each crop and eco-region, where major crops are produced.

 

We provide real time assessments of crop yield during various stages of the growing season. Specifically, by the reproductive stage we are able to predict yield at the end of the growing season. Then we update our models each week, as surface conditions change.

 

Our products and yield models allow us to accurately, and objectively predict future yields weeks before data other sources and organizations.

 

That is why the Production Estimate and Crop Analysis Division (PECAD) of the USDA purchases our product and classifies it as a primary data source in their professional assessment of growing conditions around the world.

 

To learn more please visit our website at http://www.commodityhedgers.com/faq.php, email

tech@commodityhedgers.com or call Alan Basist at 828) 658-1626.

 

Event Invitation – Chicago

 

Screen Insights: Electronic Trading 2005 – A Panel Discussion

Co-sponsored by CME® and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)

 

Tuesday, June 7, 2005

2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

CME Auditorium (Reception to Follow)

 

Each quarter, the volume of electronic trading at CME, the CBOT and in the U.S. futures industry grows dramatically. Join us for a 90-minute discussion about the current state of affairs and upcoming opportunities in the screen-based trading world.

 

Topics include:

 

Trading opportunities -- now and in the future

The individual electronic trader vs. the proprietary trader

Where electronic trading is headed

Proprietary trading firms: Structure/training/compensation

Trader chat rooms: How valuable are they?

 

Moderator: James Oliff • Vice Chairman, CME Board of Directors

 

Scheduled panelists represent professionals who participate in almost all aspects of electronic trading:

 

Burton J. Gutterman • CEO, Sangamon Trading

Edward J. Hague • Senior Vice President, Advantage Futures, LLC

Kate Meyer • Independent Electronic Trader, Former President - CME Clearing House

Thomas S. Rice • Director of Trader Development, Goldenberg Hehmeyer

Alan Rottman • President, Fusionary Trading Inc.

Greg Veselica • Executive Vice President-Trading, Transmarket Group

Steven E. Wollack • Former Vice Chairman - CME Board of Directors

Independent Electronic Trader

 

Space is limited. Registration is required.

To reserve your spot (or for additional information) please call 1-800-331-3332.

 

CME

20 South Wacker Drive

Chicago, Illinois

 

John's Comments

 

No Scorecard due to the Memorial Day holiday.

 

*********

 

MFA has SOLD OUT their Exhibit Hall for MFA's Forum 2005!

 

To register online and for updated conference program information, link to MFA's Forum 2005 eBrochure, sponsored by Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, at http://www.mfainfo.org/events/forum2005

 

This is a last-minute reminder for Forum 2005, June 6-8, 2005 at The Fairmont Chicago, by close of business on Tuesday, May 31st, to be included in the final conference delegate list distributed at the conference.

 

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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Disclaimer: The John Lothian Newsletter is a product of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc.  The opinions expressed are strictly the opinion of John Lothian, and not necessarily those of his employer, 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.

 

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