Trading
Shrinking cost of FX options
LONDON -- The cost of buying currency options has come down only "moderately" for clients in recent weeks and months, said options specialists interviewed by FX Week last week. But in terms of the increased risk protection they currently provide for that…
StanChart tops Asian interbank poll
HONG KONG -- Standard Chartered was the runaway winner for currency products in FX Week sister publication AsiaRisk ’s annual interbank derivatives poll.
Euro/Swiss franc risk reversals
Simple risk reversals are the best way for Swiss investors to manage low domestic interest rates and a softening Swiss franc versus the euro, says David Durrant, chief currency strategist and senior economist for the Americas at Julius Baer Asset…
Yuan peg relaxation in 2004?
BEIJING -- The Chinese yuan’s controversial peg to the US dollar could be relaxed in 2004, according to some analysts in the Asia-Pacific. However, observers warn that the US should maintain healthy political relations with the People’s Republic in order…
Dollar crisis? Think again
The US current account deficits are sustainable, and the dollar correction has largely come and gone, says Frank Gong, chief FX strategist at Bank of America in Hong Kong
Dollar dive helps set new CME records
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Mercantile Exchange reported a succession of record volumes last week, as the dollar’s dive prompted heavy trading in the world’s biggest exchange-traded FX marketplace.
Reuters’ Chinese data deal
SHANGHAI -- Reuters has signed an agreement with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) to deliver enhanced financial market information to CFETS’s customers. CFETS, a subsidiary of the People’s Bank of China, offers yuan foreign exchange…
CME reports November uptick
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) last week reported increased year-on-year foreign exchange volumes for November, citing further growth on its electronic trading platform Globex as a key driver.
FSA warns over complex products
LONDON -- Financial Services Authority (FSA) chairman Callum McCarthy has warned of the dangers of banks selling complicated financial products to customers who do not fully understand them.
NFA lifts emergency action against COESfx
NEW YORK -- Regulatory body National Futures Association (NFA) lifted an emergency enforcement action against New York-based electronic currency network COESfx on December 3.
Sars ‘rebound’ boosts HK dollar
HONG KONG -- The recent strengthening of the Hong Kong dollar is due to government policies encouraging economic co-operation between Hong Kong and mainland China and the ‘rebound’ from the Sars outbreak, claims a Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)…
Hotspot live on Bloomberg
NEW JERSEY -- Hotspot FXi, the New Jersey-based online institutional FX trading platform, goes live today with streaming spot prices on Bloomberg terminals.
The ratchet structure: improving with the market
With more complex options available and increasing customer sophistication, strategies in vogue are changing swiftly. David Popplewell and Richard Summerbell in RBS’s FX options structuring group in London say they are seeing a distinct shift in…
Market eyes fresh dollar falls
LONDON -- Forex market analysts and traders are predicting fresh falls for the dollar in the coming months after euro/dollar hit successive record highs last week.
FXall breaks volume record
NEW YORK -- Growing institutional use of FXall helped the multi-bank portal set a new volume record in November, it announced last week.
Aussie dollar nears its cyclical peak
The Australian dollar’s rally is almost over and investors should look to take profits or reduce long positions in the coming months, says Karen Pringle, senior currency strategist at ANZ Investment Bank in London.
Non-exporters still have exposure to currencies
Options could be the answer for a manufacturing company facing the twin problems of foreign competitors undercutting its prices and of the companies it supplies being less successful with an appreciating currency. Alex Barrett and Demetri Papacostas, of…
AIG cuts ahead of integration
GREENWICH, CT -- Recruitment consultants in the US report that up to 70 staff have already left the American Insurance Group as it prepares to integrate subsidiaries AIG Trading and AIG Financial Products.