TABB Group Fixed Income recently published two new research pieces. One for which we spoke with 23 swaps dealers about everything and anything (link here), and the other in which we took a deep dive into what an agency desk for swaps trading might look like and why it matters (link here). The short story, […]
Tag: Wall Street Journal
LSE confirms in exclusive talks with LCH.clearnet (Wall Street Journal)
It seems that LCH.clearnet has been sale forever – well, at least for the last few years. It seems we might finally be getting somewhere. Although in my eyes the prize to be won is Swapclear, the LSE’s motives are different. They want access to the equity and listed derivatives clearing that LCH would bring […]
Wall Street Bets on Debt That Doesn't Exist (Wall Street Journal)
Many still seem skeptical of credit default swaps (CDS), but the reality is (and always has been) that they play an important benchmarking function for the global credit markets. That’s why when I heard that GM CDS was trading without the existing of any underlying GM bond I wasn’t at all surprised. Two things to […]
CFTC's Gensler May Not Have Had Enough Votes For Swap Trading Proposal (Dow Jones Newswire)
I can’t find a good link so here’s the story from Dow Jone’s Katy Burne. I think my best contribution is the last quote in the article. Enjoy. (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s decision Thursday to delay a controversial vote on how over-the-counter derivatives should […]
Trans-Atlantic Cable Plan Targets High-Frequency Traders (Wall Street Journal)
First it was shortening the time it takes data to get between New York and Chicago, now its New York and London. The big difference here is that the NY to London route is 3 times longer and has an ocean in the middle – no small feet of engineering and no small price tag. […]
US CFTC Gets Suggested Guidelines For Swap-Execution Facilities (Wall Street Journal)
The Wholesale Market Brokers Association of American (WMBA) submitted to the CFTC guidelines as they saw them for what are to become Swap Execution Facilities (SEF). The full submission can be read here. Although this provides some clarity as to what the industry wants, this is only one voice and only the beginning. The Dodd-Frank […]
Smaller Dealers Ponder Implications Of Goldman Clearing Move (Wall Street Journal)
Goldman formally announced yesterday its new OTC derivatives clearing unit – Derivatives Clearing Services. This is no real surprise as clearly the major dealers are getting ready to help their clients navigate the new, more complicated world. Further, I’m sure we’ll see similar announcements in the coming week from Goldman’s competitors. This article looks into whether GS […]
Sen. Lincoln To Exempt Community Banks From Swaps Spinoff Bill (Wall Street Journal)
Senator Lincoln is backing down slightly from originally proposed derivatives amendment. Its still far from reality in my opinion, but we’re getting there. “The fact the [legislation] is so broad-reaching may cause problems for small banks that already have capital constraints and are also not budgeting for the legal ramifications of this,” said Kevin McPartland, […]
'Stub Quoting' Helps Explain Last Thursday's Penny Prices (Wall Street Journal)
Everyone is still trying to understand what happened on May 6. Stub quoting was certainly not the overall cause, but might help to explain why a few stocks went to a penny. “If we end up with the trading curbs across all the trading exchanges that have been discussed, it would make this become a […]
Trading Firms Turn To Videogame Chips To Get Even Faster (Wall Street Journal)
Hardware acceleration has become a hotter and hotter topic in financial services as latencies are now measured in microseconds and codeoptimization is starting to hit its limits for the upper echelon of low latency traders. I authored a TABB Group report on this subject in the summer of 2009, and recently spoke with Hanweck Associates […]