August 5, 2005

 

Lead Stories

 

Making the big trade-off

Technology kills much of the agony -- and the joy -- of being a floor broker

Jenny Strasburg, Chronicle Staff Writer

After 29 years at San Francisco's Pacific Exchange, Don Kaiser, 56, is trading his role as the options trading institution's last remaining independent floor broker for a career in Marin real estate.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/05/BUGKBDQGHQ34.DTL

 

RHS graduate returns with political ties

While in school, Walter Lukken participated in Student Congress; now, he's on Capitol Hill

A few weeks ago, Walter Lukken's 20-year high school reunion brought him back to see old friends, visit Richmond High School and catch up a little bit with the town where he grew up.

Then he returned to Washington, D.C., and to his role as one of five commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. On Monday, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr. swore him in for his second term.  "It was a wonderful affair," Lukken said. Appointed in 2002 by George W. Bush at the recommendation of Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), he took the same oath of office the president takes. Bush recommended reappointing Lukken in May.

http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050804/NEWS01/508040311/1008

 

KCBT Wheat Futures Set New Open Interest Record

KCBT wheat futures open interest sets new record, tops 92,000

http://www.kcbot.com/news_2.asp?id=302&home=1

 

NYSE to List the First Two Style-Based International ETFs in the U.S.

http://www.nyse.com/press/1123238648204.html

 

NYSE undertakes review of VWAP trading

NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The New York Stock Exchange's regulatory division is undertaking a review of VWAP trading -- a complex electronic method of trading using algorithms -- by member firms, it said on Thursday.  Robert Marchman, executive vice president of market surveillance at the NYSE, sent a memo to trading desks and compliance directors at NYSE member organizations dated Monday, alerting them that they have an obligation "to execute customer VWAP orders in a manner that does not compromise the customer's interests."

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=governmentFilingsNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20050804:MTFH01449_2005-08-04_22-53-51_N04350591:1

 

SEC Delays Sub-Penny Rule Until January 2006

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) extended the compliance date for the Sub-Penny Rule under Regulation NMS (Reg NMS) until Jan. 31, 2006. The previous compliance date -- Aug. 29, 2005 -- is less than one month away, the SEC noted in a release announcing the change.  The SEC said an extension of the compliance data will provide market participants with additional time to address issues related to compliance with Rule 612, make necessary systems changes and resolve implementation issues. Firms also will have time to "ascertain what systems and other changes are necessary to comply with the rule, and develop, implement and test those changes," the SEC release noted.

http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167100990#_

 

Board of Nymex looks over offers 

By Kevin Morrison

Nymex is reviewing offers from private equity groups Blackstone and General Atlantic to buy a 20 per cent stake in the...

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3dd40032-054e-11da-97da-00000e2511c8.html

 

CBOT Reparat Sonitem

 

For whom the jackpot tolls, that is the question.

 

Environmental Trading News

 

(Montel Powernews) ECX clearly no.1

The European carbon market has been hot this summer. Not only has volatility been high, but traded volumes have also been hitting new records in the summer months.

http://www.europeanclimateexchange.com/pages/page280.php

 

Energy investments lure hordes of newcomers

http://news.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=SSGBBAHMWRODECRBAEZSFEY?type=reutersEdge&storyID=9287531

 

Iowa Farm Bureau Federation wins second consecutive national environmental award

WEST DES MOINES, IOWA – August 3, 2005 – Iowa Farm Bureau Federation members’ commitment to educating farmers and youth on improving soil and water conservation has led to a prestigious merit award from the National Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS). This award acknowledges IFBF’s Wetland Mitigation Bank, watershed projects and 19 other environmental education and protection programs initiated by

http://www.iowafarmbureau.com/newsissues/media/fullarticle.aspx?artid=22452

 

Exchange & ECN News

 

CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE HOLDINGS INC Files SEC form 10-Q, Quarterly Report

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/050804/cme10-q.html

 

eSpeed Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results

http://www.espeed.com/articles/article20050408.html

 

ESpeed falls to second-quarter loss

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8BP9J2G1.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db

 

CBOT Strike Price Notice August 5, 2005

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+29789,00.html

 

Holiday Schedule - Labor Day

http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1032+29790,00.html

 

New Cash with Interest Program (IEF5) Provider

http://www.cme.com/clearing/clr/clradv/14643.html

 

CME Auction Markets: Initial New Products Effective 09/29/05

http://www.cme.com/clearing/clr/npadv/14636.html

 

REVISED NOTICE 04-391 — Exchange Eliminates Fees for Financial Power Contracts

http://www.nymex.com/notice_to_member.aspx?id=ntm315&archive=2005

 

Amendments to COMEX Division Rule 104.36, Exchanges for Physicals

http://www.nymex.com/notice_to_member.aspx?id=ntm312&archive=2005

 

Additional Public Member on the Adjudication Committee Panels

http://www.nymex.com/notice_to_member.aspx?id=ntm302&archive=2005

 

Expert Commission, Indices Committee

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

 

Program Trading Averaged 53.6 Percent of NYSE Volume during July 25-29

http://www.nyse.com/press/1123151790041.html

 

Directors Herbert M. Allison, Jr. and Dennis Weatherstone Step Down From New York Stock Exchange Board

http://www.nyse.com/press/1123151791068.html

 

Two NYSE directors resign from exchange

Two New York Stock Exchange directors stepped down from the Big Board, which is merging with a rival electronic exchange to become a publicly traded company.

According to the NYSE, Herbert Allison Jr. and Dennis Weatherstone told the exchange in April that they were not interested in being re-elected but would stay on through “key decision making” on the merger.

http://www.newyorkbusiness.com/news.cms?id=11329

 

JMG EXPLORATION, INC. COMMENCES TRADING ON ArcaEx®, Archipelago ExchangeSM (ArcaEx®) Announces Initial Public Offering and Exclusive Listing of JMG

http://investor.archipelago.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=140290&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=740109&highlight=

 

Trading Starts 15 Minutes Earlier on 12 August 2005 [August 5,2005]

http://www.tfx.co.jp/en/newsfile/05/20050812gdp_e.html

 

Monthly Trading Volume & Value

http://www.tse.or.jp/english/data/v_and_v/index.html

 

PHLX Announces July Volume

http://www.phlx.com/news/pr2005/05pr080405.htm

 

PHLX Creates Sector Index Licence Program for OTC Structured Products

http://www.phlx.com/news/pr2005/05pr080405a.htm

 

NASDAQ Changes Status of Host America Corporation and Requests Additional Information From Company

http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/news/pr2005/ne_section05_076.stm

 

HKEx Exchange Participants Statistics On-Floor And Off-floor Trading Statistics - Transaction In Terms Of Turnover And Number of Trades Conducted On-floor And Off-floor

http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/news_story.cfm?id=54341

 

SGX Sets S$300M As Base For New Listings

(Dow Jones)--The Singapore Exchange (S68.SG) has set a base guideline of S$300 million in market capitalization for companies seeking to list, the Business Times reports. "To attract institutional interest, companies have realistically to be reasonably big," head of listings David Tan told the newspaper. Most new listings have

http://au.biz.yahoo.com/050803/18/6twr.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/dig080405.txt

 

CFTC Weekly Advisory

http://www.cftc.gov/opa/adv05/opawa32-05.htm

 

SEC Announces Settlement with College Savings Plan for Untrue Statements and Omissions

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2005-108.htm

 

Notices served on brokers involved in wash sales

ISLAMABAD (August 05 2005): On the recommendation of the Task Force probing stock market crash, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has served show-cause notices on individuals allegedly involved in "insider trading" and wash sales.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=308179&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

Ex-Fidelity Trader May Face Charges

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112320836249505800,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us

 

**** Online WSJ subscription required.

 

Speculation Over: Cox 'Investor Friendly'

New SEC Chairman Christopher Cox has made it perfectly clear: He's investor friendly. In his opening remarks to the commission, after being sworn in yesterday, Cox said he "enjoyed the speculation" over what side he would favor, but told the SEC audience, "We are the investor's advocate," pledging to be a "relentless, powerful adversary" when necessary.

http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/default.asp?page=1&SID=568634&ISS=18622&type=13

 

SEC chief vows to be 'relentless' ally to investors

Seeking to allay concerns that he'd be overly friendly to big business, the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission told staffers Thursday that he was fully committed to the SEC's historic mandate of representing the interests of investors.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050805/tc_usatoday/secchiefvowstoberelentlessallytoinvestors

 

Managed Futures - Managed Funds

 

When hedge funds lend a hand to buyout shops

http://news.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=SSGBBAHMWRODECRBAEZSFEY?type=reutersEdge&storyID=9287469

 

Doesn't Anyone Want to Manage Harvard's Money?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/05/business/05fund.html

 

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

 

Broker productivity increased in 2004: report

Average client’s portfolio outpaced Dow, Nasdaq

http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=29941&IdSection=5&cat=5

 

Trading Technologies to drop suit against FFastFill

CHICAGO, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Software company Trading Technologies on Thursday said it will drop a patent infringement lawsuit filed this week against FFastFill Plc (FFA.L: Quote, Profile, Research), a London-based provider of application services to derivatives traders.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-08-04T160112Z_01_N04618861_RTRIDST_0_FINANCIAL-TT-FFASTFILL.XML

 

CDO business bad as tight spreads crimp returns

LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Sales of collateralised debt obligations (CDOs), the derivatives at the centre of recent concerns over credit market stability, have slowed to a trickle, bankers say, as low returns dampen investor demand for the complex products.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-08-04T142957Z_01_L04187537_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-DERIVATIVES-CDO.XML

 

SIA Report Shows Average Investor's Account Value Increases And Fee-Based Accounts Remain Popular

http://www.sia.com/press/2005_press_releases/04678553.html

 

Industry Congratulates Cox

http://www.sia.com/press/2005_press_releases/04669025.html

 

Board Slowly Faced Its Purcell Problem

Interviews with directors, investors and others reveal a Morgan Stanley board that slowly faced the extent of former CEO Purcell's unpopularity. The tale serves as a caution for boards in an era when their role in corporate governance is drawing more scrutiny.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112320518805705748,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus

 

**** Online WSJ subscription required.

 

American Expat Leads XFN In Series Of Firsts

Fredy Bush has been slowly building a media empire the size of China. Since the American expatriate spun-off Xinhua Financial Network from the government controlled Xinhua News Agency in 1999, Bush and XFN have been unstoppable.

http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/default.asp?page=1&SID=568673&ISS=18622&type=7

 

FIA Chicago President Bernie Sapato Thanks Summer Outing Sponsors

http://www.futuresindustry.org/fiachica-2577.asp

 

FIA Asia Derivatives Conference

http://www.futuresindustry.org/fiaasiad-2560.asp

 

Operational Risk - Safety and Security of Internet Banking Have Declined Dramatically Since 2003

http://www.garp.com/risknews/newsfeed.asp?Category=6&MyFile=2005-08-05-11265.html

 

Ameritrade COO Peter Ricketts Resigns

Ameritrade Holding's Corp.'s chief operating officer resigned his post with the online brokerage on Thursday, saying he will explore an opportunity in public service.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050804/ap_on_bi_ge/ameritrade_ricketts_1

 

`Farmers will benefit the most`

With 70 per cent of the population in rural areas, it’s obvious that commodity exchanges will affect a lot more lives than the stock market. Jignesh Shah, managing director of the 21-month old multi-commodity exchange MCX talks to Business Standard on its impact.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu5&leftindx=5&lselect=2&chklogin=N&autono=196390

 

John's Comments

 

CME FX Tagline

 

Please check out our new Equivalents page with European Style options

 

http://equivalentsrdc.cme.com:443/index_XT.html

 

*********

 

FOWeek Headlines   Issue 1031  08-Aug-2005

 

• General Atlantic offer is Nymex board favourite

• RCG strikes back as TT patent cases multiply

• Analysis: Options industry shifting gears

• Analysis: Singapore swings again http://www.fow.com/articles/foweek_article.asp?storyCode=3653

• Long bond back in business

• Patsystems acquires systems provider, posts first profit

• Refco TS and Saxon open for business in Singapore

• CFTC chairman sworn in

• CME allies with Synthesis, adds Euro inflation

• GFI acquires Tullett’s Asian FX options team

 

***********

 

H&R Block to pay $220M for American Express unit

H&R Block said it has agreed to buy the tax and business services unit of American Express for $220 million.

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2005/08/01/daily25.html?from_rss=1

 

H&R Block buys American Express tax unit

H&R Block Inc. , the largest U.S. tax preparation company, said on Monday it will buy the tax and business services unit of American Express Co. for $220 million in a deal it hopes will propel it into the top ranks of the U.S. accounting industry.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050801/bs_nm/financial_americanexpress_dc_2

 

***** American Express Tax & Business Services is being acquired by H&R Block.  This is a unit that provides many different services to traders and brokerage firms. 

 

********

 

Brent Crude Watch

 

IPE Brent Volume: 110,358

NYMEX Brent Crude Volume: 2538

NYMEX Percent of Total Volume: 2.25%

 

********

 

Chicago Electronic Trading Scorecard for August 4, 2005

 

Percent Electronic

 

CBOT: 51.68%

CME: 60.90%

CME Eurodollars: 70.45%

CME Live Cattle: 2.29%

CME Currency Products: 79.22%

CBOT Soybeans: 7.30%

 

CBOT Options: 7.30%

CME Options: 6.03%

 

Volume 

 

OneChicago Volume: 1956

Eurex US Volume: 2657

Euronext.liffe Eurodollar Volume: 3621

CBOE Futures Exchange Volume: 426

 

Market Share

 

CBOT 100 oz. Gold Volume: 1092

NYMEX 100 oz. Gold Volume: 70,260

CBOT Share: 1.53%

 

CBOT 5000 oz. Silver Volume: 129

NYMEX 5000 oz. Silver Volume: 20,700

CBOT Share: .62%

 

CBOT Mini Gold Volume: 731

CBOT Mini Silver Volume: 522

 

Notes: CBOT soybeans traded a recent low of 47,957 contracts yesterday.

 

Liffe Eurodollar Over-Under

 

Liffe/Globex: .57%

Liffe/CME: .40%

 

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
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