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CME picks exec to run global currency trading unit

CME Group Inc. has hired foreign exchange market veteran Roger Rutherford to head its global currency trading unit from London, according to a person familiar with the situation. Get the full story »

After setbacks, CME chief stakes out new ground

Craig Donohue. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)

Bruised by two big setbacks this year, the CME’s Craig Donohue is staking out new ground in a landscape ripped up and reseeded by the financial crisis.

CME Group Inc., the world’s largest operator of derivatives exchanges, was an obvious beneficiary of the crisis as regulators clamped down on over-the-counter swaps markets blamed for the 2007-2009 crisis.

But Chief Executive Donohue’s early attempts to clear credit derivatives and on another front, to block limits on speculative commodities trades, have stumbled. Get the full story »

CBOE: Regulator’s ‘flash crash’ report falls short

The head of the largest U.S. options exchange said a regulator report falls short of explaining what happened in the May “flash crash,” adding to skepticism that has grown since it was released October 1. Get the full story »

CME rival gets capital injection, eyes U.S. swaps

ELX Futures said on Thursday its stakeholders recently injected “many millions of dollars” into the small U.S. Treasury futures exchange to help it expand to incorporate over-the-counter swaps and other products.

Neal Wolkoff, chief executive of the year-and-a-half-old market which is trying to take on futures giant CME Group Inc., said they did this in the last 10 days. He called it “a generous amount of money,” but did not say how much. Get the full story »

CBOE profit up 41% on new fees

CBOE Holdings Inc., which operates the biggest U.S. market for stock and stock-index options, said profit last quarter rose 41 percent, driven by new trading access fees and lower expenses. Get the full story »

Cupcake diplomacy? CFTC chief touts ties with SEC

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler says he’s so close to his counterpart at the Securities and Exchange Commmision that SEC Chief Mary Schapiro gave him a treat a couple weeks back.

“Mary and I talk often,” he told a crowd at the Futures Industry Association’s annual meeting in Chicago. “It was my birthday a few weeks ago. She made me cupcakes. They were good cupcakes too, and they were homemade!”

Schapiro and Gensler have taken great pains to publicly show they are working together instead of feuding over turf, as their agencies historically often did. Get the full story »

SEC votes to ban ‘naked access’

Federal regulators have mandated new requirements for brokerage firms aimed at reining in risk from their trading customers who get split-second access to markets to buy or sell stocks.

Ex-federal prosecutor to head CFTC enforcement

A former Manhattan-based federal prosecutor was appointed Monday as the new director of enforcement for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

David Meister, who is an attorney at Skadden Arps, will replace Acting Enforcement Director Vincent McGonagle. Before  joining Skadden, Meisteer was an assistant U.S. attorney in New York’s Southern District, where he was on the office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Get the full story »

CFTC’s Chilton calls for limits on financial futures

A regulator at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday called for trading curbs on financial futures such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 E-mini, saying they could help prevent a repeat of the flash crash.

In a speech at the University of  Notre Dame, CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton said the agency has the authority to impose limits on how many financial futures contracts any one market player can hold, though he didn’t offer any details on what kind of limits might be appropriate. Get the full story »

Paul Kolton, first CBOE chairman, dead at 87

New York Times | Paul Kolton, founder of the Chicago Board Options Exchange who went on to become the he first paid chairman of the American Stock Exchange, has died at age 87.

CME Group 3Q profit up, in line with Street view

CME Group Inc., the world’s biggest futures exchange operator, said third-quarter profit rose in line with Wall Street expectations, as an increase in trading helped buoy the bottom line.

Net income jumped 21 percent to $244 million, or $3.66 per share, from $202 million, or $3.04 a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 13 percent to $733 million, as trading increased 14 percent. Get the full story »

Tighter derivatives rules gain headway in U.S.

The first global crackdown on the $615 trillion derivatives market gained momentum on Tuesday as U.S. regulators unveiled a new tool to police fraud and European officials urged tighter controls.

Moving to rein in vast, only loosely-regulated markets that were blamed for contributing to the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission laid out plans to foil traders who seek to manipulate prices or defraud investors. Get the full story »

Swaps clearing process clears first CFTC hurdle

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday approved a proposal to establish a process for deciding which swaps or class of swaps should be submitted to clearinghouses.

The proposal, approved  5-0, will be published for comment. A second vote is needed to implement it. Get the full story »

CBOE Volatility Index falls to lowest level since Apr.

U.S. stocks could see big swings to the downside next week on any remotely “bad” news since volatility indexes are at levels considered too low.

The Chicago Board of Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge widely used to measure investors’ anxiety levels, fell 2.54 percent on Friday to close at 18.78, its lowest level since April. The VIX, which rose to near 50 in May, has been around or under 20 for the past two weeks. Investors also will face a blizzard of earnings, which many analysts believe will continue to support the rally that began early this month. But any disappointments in either earnings or outlooks could, of course, trigger a sharp sell-off. Get the full story »

CME to trade on-the-run Treasury futures contracts

From Bloomberg News | Futures market CME Group Inc. will start trading on-the-run Treasury futures contracts next week that will provide investors exposure to benchmark 2-, 5- and 10-year notes.