Top Headlines
Citi, Barclays Close to Settling FX Lawsuit With Private Investors – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Citi and Barclays are expected to pay as much as $800 million combined to settle a lawsuit with investors who say the banks manipulated foreign exchange rates, according to people close to the situation. The payments are likely to be more than double those made by JP Morgan and UBS, which have already settled their parts of the same suit.
CME Said to Be in Talks for GFI Tech Assets After Losing to BGC – Bloomberg
CME Group is pursuing GFI Group’s trading software units Fenics and Trayport after losing a takeover battle for the brokerage to BGC Partners.
US May Revoke Settlement Agreements in Currency Rigging Probes – Bloomberg
The US Justice Department is weighing whether evidence of wrongdoing in currency trading means banks violated old deals resolving probes into the rigging of benchmark interest rates.
Retail Currency Trading: How Safe Is It? – Institutional Investor
Losses and bankruptcies spawned by the Swiss currency’s surge left a number of questions about retail currency trading.
Dominant Dollar Makes 2015 Special for FX – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
The torpor that marked FX markets for a large part of 2014 has given way to big swings in 2015. That is making a real difference to returns. But it isn’t just investors who need to watch out; currency moves are clearly on the radar for policy makers. The focus is firmly on the surging US dollar and the falling euro as monetary policy diverges across the Atlantic.
Dollar Rally needs US Growth Underpin – Financial Times (subscription)
The dollar is on a tear, stirring memories among veteran currency strategists of great dollar bull runs of the past. Not since 1985 has there been a pace of growth to match the rise in the past 12 months of the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of its peers.
Bank of England Sounds Alarm on Pound – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Bank of England officials are worried that a strengthening pound risks prolonging a spell of ultra-low inflation in the UK, a development that could put a brake on interest rate increases expected to begin early next year.
Euro Fetching Less Than $1 Becomes Hot Call for Options Traders – Bloomberg
The foreign exchange market is starting to realise the euro’s tumble may not end at parity. There’s an almost one-in-four chance the euro will end the year below $1, options prices suggest, up from 5% at the end of 2014 and 11% on 1 March, before the European Central Bank started bond purchases that have sent the currency sliding.
Danish Central Bank Raps FX Speculators: ‘You Lose Twice’ – Reuters
Denmark’s central bank defiantly rapped speculators that have piled in to buy the national currency, telling them they have lost twice due to higher interest rates in the eurozone and because it will cost them to get out of the crown again.
Offshore Yuan Erases Discount to Onshore Amid Stimulus Optimism – Bloomberg
For the first time in almost six weeks the yuan cost about the same to buy in Hong Kong as it did in Shanghai, a sign global investors are turning less bearish. |