| March 25, 2022 | | | |  | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
John Lothian News | |
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| | | | Observations & Insight | | | Early bird pricing for the 40th annual Options Industry Conference, being held May 10-12, 2022 at La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio, ends today, March 25.
| | | | | | Lead Stories | | | Traders 'Playing With Fire' Using Fund (CEE) to Bet on Russian Stocks
Elaine Chen - Bloomberg
With few options left on U.S. exchanges to bet on Russian assets, investors have rushed into a tiny closed-end fund tracking eastern European stocks.
Trading volume on the $51 million Central and Eastern Europe Fund (ticker CEE) managed by DWS Group spiked in recent weeks after major Russia-focused exchange-traded funds were halted. Nearly 1.4 million shares were exchanged during the week ending March 18 amid news of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, the highest weekly trading volume since 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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Traders see 8.6% U.S. inflation ahead of Fed's May meeting as expectations may be turning entrenched
Vivien Lou Chen - MarketWatch
Traders are pricing in a U.S. inflation rate heading for 8.6% through March and April, before Federal Reserve officials even get a chance to deliver a possible 50 basis point interest rate hike in May.
Derivatives-like instruments known as fixings imply that the headline, year-over-year consumer-price index gain for March and April will be 8.6%, up from a 40-year high of 7.9% in February. Only the March reading will be available to Fed officials by the time of their May 3-4 meeting; April's data isn't set to be released until the following week.
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Shanghai Nickel Jumps to Record With China Import Window Closing
Bloomberg
Nickel rose to an intraday record in Shanghai after another spike in London put imports out of reach for many Chinese buyers.
The metal jumped as much as 14.5% to a record of 281,250 yuan ($44,206) a ton, the maximum allowed, on the Shanghai Futures Exchange before easing to 265,230 yuan as of the midday break. Nickel climbed by its trading limit of 15% on Thursday to $37,325 on the London Metal Exchange after Chinese tycoon Xiang Guangda covered some of his short positions.
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Stock futures and oil prices tick lower as investors weigh impact of US-Europe energy talks
Harry Robertson - Business Insider
European countries stopped short of sanctioning Russian crude imports, cooling the upward pressure in the oil market.The S&P 500 was on track for its second week of gains, but nonetheless remained around 5% lower for the year. Stock futures ticked lower on Friday after equity markets rose broadly the previous day, while oil prices slipped as investors gauged the impact of energy talks between the US and European Union.
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Russian ruble loses key lifeline as US sanctions target Putin's $140 billion gold stockpile
Carla Mozee - Business Insider
Any sales of Russia's $140 billion gold stockpile could help bolster the beleaguered ruble.The ruble dropped below a penny vs. the US dollar after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Gold transactions between Americans and Russia are prohibited, according to a US Treasury Department notice that cited executive orders signed by President Joe Biden.
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World stocks poised for consecutive weekly gains for first time in 2022
Saikat Chatterjee - Reuters
World stocks paused for breath on Friday but are set for a second consecutive week of gains for the first time in 2022 though sentiment was broadly cautious as markets evaluated the economic risks from the Federal Reserve's policy tightening and Russia's war in Ukraine.
U.S. stock futures were marginally higher in the last full week of the quarter while European stocks are set for a minor weekly loss led by financials and energy stocks after two weeks of gains.
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| | | | | | Exchanges | | | LME to almost double size of default fund as metals prices swing
Philip Stafford and Neil Hume - Financial Times
The London Metal Exchange is to nearly double the size of the fund that protects the market as a whole against a sudden collapse of one of its members as the price of metals swings sharply.
A notice sent to members of the LME's clearing house on Friday said the fund for base metals would jump from $1.1bn to $2.075bn in April "due to a rise in stress testing losses in March".
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LCH's CDSClear to offer client clearing of credit index options; As part of the launch, BNP Paribas and JP Morgan become the first banks to provide client clearing of credit index options through CDSClear.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
The London Stock Exchange Group's (LSEG) clearing arm, LCH, has revealed that BNP Paribas and JP Morgan are the first banks to offer client clearing of credit index options at CDSClear.
/jlne.ws/36NYTPV
| | | | | | Regulation & Enforcement | | | CFTC Extends Public Comment Period on FTX Request for Amended DCO Registration Order
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is extending the deadline for the public comment period on a request from LedgerX, LLC d.b.a. FTX US Derivatives (FTX) to amend its order of registration as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO).
FTX currently offers clearing of futures and options on futures contracts on a fully collateralized basis directly to retail participants (non-intermediated model). In its request for an amended order of registration, FTX proposes to clear margined products for retail participants while continuing with a non-intermediated model.
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| | | | | | Miscellaneous | | | The 'wisdom of crowds' can cost you dearly when the stock market is in turmoil
Scott Nations - MarketWatch
It's easy to become anxious as an investor. It's particularly easy to become anxious when war is erupting in Europe, stock markets are gyrating, inflation is spiking, and the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to snuff out that inflation.
So what do many investors do in times like this? While we like to think that we'll be rugged individualists and go our own way, too often we reflexively look around to see what everyone else, the great lowing herd of investors, is doing. And then many of us will join that herd.
/jlne.ws/3tDUvvW
What Teenagers Really Learn from Stock-Market Games
Jason Zweig - WSJ
Every year, more than a million high-school students across the U.S. learn about investing through stock-picking games. If you have teenagers, they may be playing this spring.
Proponents say these games are exciting and inspire an interest in investing.
We could make drivers' education exciting, too, by teaching kids to run red lights and crash into brick walls. I suppose you could even argue that might make the survivors better drivers.
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