December 7, 2009: Macquarie in Negotiations with Sal. Oppenheim

LEAD STORIES

Macquarie Group in Negotiations With Sal. Oppenheim, Focus Says
Rainer Buergin, Bloomberg
Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd. is in negotiations over a possible purchase of Sal. Oppenheim Jr. & Cie.’s derivatives and options unit, Germany’s Focus magazine reported, without saying where it got the information. An agreement may be reached soon, the report said.
http://bit.ly/7xHIIe

Europe's MTF Alternative Exchanges Face Shakeout
William Launder, The Wall Street Journal
FRANKFURT -- European alternative stock trading platforms face a shakeout as the financial crisis eases. So-called multilateral trading facilities, or MTFs, were permitted two years ago by the European Commission's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or Mifid, which was designed to loosen the hold of incumbent exchanges on European stock trading. Consortiums of investment banks and hedge funds created major MTFs, such as Turquoise, to pressure established exchange operators on the fees they can charge...BATS plans to enter the equity options business in the U.S. next year, and Chi-X Europe is also considering new products.
http://bit.ly/8P4DBB


EXCHANGES

LSE Starts New Trading System for EDX, Seeks Nasdaq Business
By Nandini Sukumar, Bloomberg
London Stock Exchange Group Plc said its new trading system for the EDX London Ltd. futures market started today, as the U.K. company seeks to take on rival Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. in Nordic derivatives trading.
http://bit.ly/5bRd1I

The 'Fear' Gauge Is Flashing Complacency
Stock-market volatility is back to normal. That could imply more gains ahead, but more likely it means investors have gotten complacent. The most closely watched volatility measure, the Chicago Board Options Exchange's VIX index, closed on Friday at 21.25, near its lowest level since August 2008 and near its historical average of 20.28. The VIX, which tracks volatility in S&P 500 options, spiked to more than 80 at the worst of the Lehman Brothers crisis, implying volatility unseen since at least the Great Depression, according to older volatility measures.
http://bit.ly/55ZBgL


REGULATION

Finra defers increased margin requirement for options on leveraged ETFs
Emma Dunkley, ifaonline.co.uk
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) has deferred the increased maintenance margin requirement for options on leveraged ETFs until April 30 2010. The industry body has also deferred the increased day-trading margin requirements with respect to leveraged ETFs, until the same date.
http://bit.ly/4C9Oy7


TECHNOLOGY

ISE and Deutsche Börse Systems Announce Selection of RCN Metro as Connectivity Provider
Business Wire
RCN Metro’s Financial Services Network Ring will Support ISE’s New Trading System Migration
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) and Deutsche Börse Systems (DBS) today announced that they have signed an agreement with RCN Metro Optical Networks, a division of RCN Corporation (NASDAQ: RCNI) and a premier provider of fiber optic-based network solutions, to deploy RCN Metro’s low latency fiber network (Xtreme Network) to connect ISE’s current and future data center sites.
http://bit.ly/4oGf7o

ConvergEx's Eze OMS Delivers Integrated Risk Reports and Data Powered by RiskMetrics Group to Alternative Investment Firms
PRNewswire
ConvergEx, a premier provider of investment and execution technology solutions to institutional clients worldwide, today announced that clients of its award-winning order management system, the Eze OMS(TM), will now be able to receive integrated intraday, daily and monthly risk management analysis and reports through RiskMetrics Group, a leading provider of risk management and corporate governance services to the global financial community.
http://bit.ly/5mFkeq

STRATEGY

OptionsHouse Pricing is The New Normal
The Broker News Blog
OptionsHouse announced a modified pricing plan last week that, we believe, signals more changes to come as more brokers choose to compete on value and not on price. In order to understand why we think this is likely the first in a series of chain reactions, we offer up a quick history lesson:
http://bit.ly/4NwISR

OPTIONS EDUCATION

Exploring Vertical Option Spreads: Part Five
Josip Causic, Options Insider
The goal of this article is to explain the last of the four possible vertical spreads which will bring this series of five articles to a conclusion. Once again, this vertical debit put strategy is not meant to be a trade recommendation for it is just a theoretical explanation.
http://bit.ly/53Tbb2

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