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Join FXPA at FIA Boca
Attending FIA Boca next week? Please join the membership of the Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA) for a Meet & Greet session at the FIA Boca conference. Representatives from the FXPA will be in the Lounge Area adjacent to Bar Luna from 5:30-6:30 on Tuesday, 10 March. Please rsvp to jros@profit-loss.com

Dollar Revs Up for Jobs Data, Euro Bonds Rally on ECB – Reuters
The dollar hit a new 11-year high against major currencies on Friday as investors bet the monthly US jobs report would add to the chance of rate hikes, even as the European Central Bank embarks on a 1 trillion euro campaign of bond-buying.

Turkey’s Dangerous Game Risks Financial Chaos – CNBC
The Turkish government is playing a dangerous political game that risks hitting the country with a full-blown currency crisis and ratings downgrade, experts warn.

UK’s SFO Investigating Bank of England Auctions – Profit & Loss (subscription)
The period under investigation starts with the Bank of England bailout of Northern Rock in 2007 and continues through the Lehman Brothers’ failure and banking liquidity crisis. Although the authorities have declined to elaborate on the nature of the investigation, Profit & Loss understands it is keying on bids made to the Bank of England by bank traders during funding auctions.

SNB Says Repeal of Currency Cap Could Hit Its Performance – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Switzerland’s central bank Friday warned its repeal of a cap on the country’s currency and market volatility could threaten its performance this year, jeopardising customary payments to the federal and regional governments, as it confirmed it had swung to a profit in 2014.

Nowhere but down? Euro reacts to QE – CNBC
With the European Central Bank about to launch its 1 trillion euro ($1.1 trillion) bond-buying program on Monday, foreign exchange experts are already preparing to readjust their forecasts for the single currency.

Sterling at 7-Year High Vs Struggling Euro, Weak Against Dollar – Reuters
Sterling hit a more than seven-year high against the struggling euro on Friday, as interest rate differentials moved in favour of the British pound with the European Central Bank gearing up to launch its 1-trillion euro bond buying programme

FX Vol Threatens Portfolio Returns – Euromoney
Volatile currency markets in 2015 threaten to erode international investors’ portfolio returns on traditional equities and bonds, highlighting the need for a strong hedging strategy, advise market participants.

RMB Depreciation Expectations Shift Trading Strategies – Euromoney
As China gradually loosens its grip on its FX regime, an ostensibly overvalued RMB is expected to fall back in line with global currencies, presenting a range of opportunities for traders, ranging from USD/CNH spot positions and the options market, to punts on the CNY-CNH differential.

 

 

Regulatory News

ECB Announcement Creates Divide in Predictions for the FX Market – Profit & Loss
The European Central Bank (ECB) delivered an upbeat forecast today (5 March), with FX analysts particularly interested in the reiteration that its new quantitative easing (QE) programme may continue beyond September 2016.

ESMA and RBA Conclude MoU on Access to Data Held in Trade Repositories
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) have concluded a memorandum of understanding that will allow RBA to have access to data held in European trade repositories according to its mandate.

ESMA’s Liquidity Threshold ‘Too Low’, Says ISDA – Profit & Loss
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has criticised the European Securities and Markets Authority’s use of “very low” thresholds when assessing derivatives products’ liquidity, particularly its judgment that one trade a day constitutes “continuous trading”.

US Banks Pass the Fed’s Latest Stress Test – Profit & Loss
The Federal Reserve has announced that all of the 31 biggest US banks included in its supervisory stress tests now have enough capital to continue lending during severely stressed market conditions.

 

 

Company News

Moscow Exchange Suspends FX Trading Due to Gateway Glitch – Profit & Loss
The Moscow Exchange’s FX and precious metals market experienced a temporary outage today due to a failure in the gateways used to access the market’s trading system.

LSE Looks to the Futures With Open Access Offer – The Times (subscription)
The London Stock Exchange is paving the way to launching a full market in futures instruments and derivatives that would compete head-on with Liffe, the London financial futures market.

LSE Opens LCH Door to ICE, Eurex, CME – FOW (subscription)
Nasdaq NLX has become one of the first exchanges to sign up to use the new portfolio margining service unveiled on Tuesday by clearing house LCH.Clearnet.

CFH Systems to Bridge FX Liquidity Between London and China – LeapRate
CFH Systems has invested in dedicated fibres between London and Beijing, bridging the FX liquidity of London with mainland China. Working in conjunction with China Unicom, a Chinese internet provider, CFH’s new connectivity solution will be live by the end of April 2015.

 

 

Market Savvy  

Emerging Markets Falling Between the Cracks (and BRICS)
Olivier DesBarres
The distinction between developed, emerging, in transition and frontier economies has in the past 10-15 years become somewhat more blurred and arguably misleading, in my view, for a number of reasons. For starters it’s a very subjective definition. Secondly, it’s a fluid set of groupings. Finally sell-side institutions (and in some cases countries themselves) have been conservative in redefining the boundaries.

 

 

Press Releases

New Spectra Trading Platform Release Postponed
The Moscow Exchange has rescheduled the planned release of a new version of the Spectra trading platform due to additional checks required to implement the functionality. The new release date will be announced in due course.

State Street Launches GX Investment Labs to Support Clients’ Investment Decisions
Investors need tools that can analyse their portfolios across multiple asset classes, investment regimes, and allocations, says Will Kinlaw, senior managing director and head of research and investment strategies at State Street Global Exchange. “GX Investment Labs convert our most widely followed research ideas into practical and interactive tools that help our clients apply them to their portfolios.”

 

 

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