Search

Speaking at the Tabb Forum conference in New York last week, CFTC Commissioner Scott D, O’Malia addressed two topics that have been generating lots of buzz in the industry: the “futurization” of swaps and the long-awaited final rules for SEFs.

U.S. Treasuries endured a significant selloff in January, coming under pressure in a month which showed some modestly upbeat signs on the U.S. economy, a temporary solution to the U.S. debt ceiling standoff and a shift into riskier assets that helped push the S&P 500 to its highest level in more than five years.

There is renewed interest in emerging markets -- primarily due to the fact that the top emerging markets are growing while growth in the so-called developed countries has been anemic and, in some European countries, declining.

Alarmed by the impact of the latest financial crisis, regulators globally have released a set of new regulations.

The attempts to impose financial transaction taxes (FTTs) have a long, if inglorious, history, so it shouldn’t surprise us that the European Union began looking at them recently.

There are many questions surrounding swaps futures. The answers will dictate the winners and losers, not only of the swaps market, but of the macro global economy, and they could determine the nature and severity of the next financial crisis.

While the debate over the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s proposed Rule 1001 has, in some cases, been mischaracterized as a battle between the CME and DTCC, nothing could be further from the truth.

The Securities and Exchange Commission faces ideological differences with the CFTC and international regulators in implementing Dodd-Frank reforms. But the SEC’s slow, deliberate approach to rulemaking affords the global swaps market a safer transition from opaque to transparent.

Word is out that the CFTC is considering a reduction in its “minimum five RFQ” rule, which would require investors to solicit a minimum of five quotes in order to transact business on a swap execution facility (SEF).

A February 24-25 general election in Italy ended with no clear winners and a significant advance for anti-austerity sentiment, unsettling financial markets around the world with renewed fear of Europe’s debt crisis.