08.08.2006 - In-house clearing threat to NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange's share of trading volumes in its own listed stocks fell last month to the lowest level since records began in 1976 as the battle for market share between US exchanges intensified.

08.08.2006 - Gold and Silver Set to Rally if Tightening Cycle Ends
Gold and silver have been influenced by two factors driving up prices: a weakening U.S. dollar and the anticipated end of the interest rate tightening cycle.

09.08.2006 - Bear Stearns, UBS among 13 firms fined by NYSE
Bear Stearns Cos. and UBS were the marquee firms named Wednesday among the 13 that NYSE Regulation Inc. said it fined for various violations. Bear Stearns was fined $115,000 for placing odd-lot orders for customers believed to be day traders and other violations in 2003 and 2006. UBS was fined $175,00 for record keeping and supervisory deficiencies at branch offices in 2003 and 2004. Other firms that agreed to fines were Daiwa Securities, Scott & Stringfellow and Southwest Securities Inc. NYSE Regulation is a not-for-profit subsidiary of NYSE Group Inc.

09.08.2006 - Derivatives take larger role with hedge funds
Surging flows of capital into hedge funds over the past few years have aroused fears that overcrowding in popular strategies will drive returns down and reduce the appeal of alternative investment approaches. However, the growth of sophisticated investment techniques involving the use of exchangetraded derivatives, with their high levels of liquidity and transparency, is offering managers and investors new opportunities to achieve higher returns, resulting in increased usage of futures and options worldwide.

09.08.2006 - Long-term Treasurys fall as traders assess inflation outlook
Longer-dated Treasury prices fell Wednesday, sending yields higher, as traders continued to digest the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision amid uncertainty over the inflation outlook in the U.S.

10.08.2006 - Buy global, short local
On Tuesday the Federal Reserve confirmed what the markets have been anticipating for months -- that the policy of hiking interest rates will stop, at least temporarily. Not surprisingly, the equity markets, which had been rallying since mid-June (or, as some would call it, buying the rumor of a Fed policy change), sold off on the news.

11.08.2006 - AIMA calls on SEC to remove dual registration requirement
Welcoming the SEC decision not to appeal the ruling against registration of hedge fund advisers, AIMA this week called for the removal of dual registration.

11.08.2006 - Oil rebounds after sharp drop on bomb plot
Oil edged higher on Friday after the previous session's 3 percent dive, as the initial impact faded of an attempted transatlantic aircraft bomb plot, which traders fear could sap oil demand and consumer confidence.

11.08.2006 - Dollar up before sales data; Japan's GDP misses
The dollar rose against foreign-exchange rivals Friday, gaining ahead of data expected to show a pick-up in U.S. retail sales during July, with disappointing economic news out of Japan also helping the greenback.

11.08.2006 - Crumbling infrastructure creates opportunity
The news that British oil company BP Plc. "suddenly" has a disaster on its hands with the Alaska pipeline comes as no real surprise to many experts. It's pretty basic; if you neglect anything long enough, it simply falls apart.

11.08.2006 - Copper Falls As Strike Talks Resume
Copper prices fell Friday, as the labor dispute at Chile's Escondida copper mine appeared to be closer to resolution. September copper settled 14.80 cents lower at $3.4765 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

13.08.2006 - BP deal to keep half of Prudhoe Bay open
BP, the UK oil group, said it would keep open half of Prudhoe Bay, North America's largest oil field, after agreeing with regulators to launch round-the-clock visual and infra-red surveillance of its key oil transit line.

17.08.2006 - New ETFs improve index tracking and reduce trading costs
Exchange-traded funds allow investors to track the performance of specific market segments more efficiently and reduce costs, helping institutions to create more efficient portfolios for use in core-satellite strategies.

18.08.2006 - AIMA highlights CRD impact on hedge funds
AIMA has highlighted the key changes set to be introduced by the EU Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) on 1 January 2007.

18.08.2006 - Copper Pushed Up by Chilean Mine Strike
Copper futures rose Friday at the New York Mercantile Exchange after labor talks broke down at Chilean copper mine Escondida, prompting a halt in production.

18.08.2006 - Dollar trades flat before weekend; China rate hike boosts yen
The dollar traded little changed versus major foreign-exchange counterparts Friday, as traders squared their positions ahead of the weekend.

18.08.2006 - Pumping the fear factor out of oil
This morning oil dipped below $70 a barrel for the first time since late June -- and prices may ease even further. Indeed, some analysts say that in two years, oil could be trading $20 lower than that.

18.08.2006 - Man Group launches guaranteed fund in Hong Kong
Man Group Plc, the world's largest listed hedge fund firm, will launch its first futures and options product in Hong Kong to carry a principal guarantee, as it looks to tap rising demand from retail investors for alternative investment products. The Man AHL Guaranteed Futures Ltd. fund will invest in more than 100 futures and options markets around the world using a computer-driven quantitative trading system, and will be opened for subscription from today, 21 August to 18 September.

18.08.2006 - A new and less expensive way to bet on oil
Two trends have been noticeable in the investment industry in the past year - the growth of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and of derivatives. And in the markets, there is seemingly overwhelming demand for commodities, led by oil. Combine these factors and you have Barclays Capital's new exchange-traded note (ETN), launched this week and designed to replicate the performance of the Goldman Sachs Crude Oil Total Return Index.

20.08.2006 - NFA distributes USD 1.9m to investors
National Futures Association said today that it made an initial distribution of nearly USD 1.9 million to 241 investors as part of a court order against a California company and two of its principals. The case was filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. In 2004, The CFTC filed a complaint charging Chase Commodities Corporation with fraudulently soliciting customers by exaggerating the profitability of trading options on futures.

22.08.2006 - Growth of ETFs likely to continue
Assets within exchange traded funds will quadruple to more than $2,000bn within the next five years as the investment vehicle attracts increasing numbers of institutional and retail investors.

22.08.2006 - Coffee hits seven year high
Coffee rose to a fresh seven year high on supply concerns while oil traded in a narrow range, awaiting details of the formal response from Iran to Western demands for an end to its programme of nuclear enrichment.

22.08.2006 - Record European fund growth
The number of new hedge fund launches in Europe reached another record level in the first half of this year, but the overall assets raised by those funds were lower than the figures for the first half of 2005.

23.08.2006 - Commodity investors "should look to hedge funds"
Investors in commodities should look to actively managed hedge funds rather than passive indexes to get exposure to the asset class, UBS Wealth Management said on Wednesday. Actively managed funds can time buying and selling of securities to take advantage of market opportunities, rather than sit on long positions of various commodities, as the indexes do. Active funds can so avoid value-destroying market movements such as negative roll yield -- the cost of holding onto a security whose long-dated future price is higher than its current price.

24.08.2006 - Changes in Exchange Minimum Margin Requirements
These changes are effective as of the close of business Monday, August 21, 2006.

24.08.2006 - Fed funds futures see no chance of September rate hike
The September fed funds futures contract was last up 0.01 at 94.75, which now implies no chance of a September rate hike. Late Wednesday, fed funds futures were pricing in a 12% chance that the Federal Reserve would raise its target on overnight rates to 5.50% from 5.25% at its next meeting on Sept. 20. Data showing a greater-than-expected declines in July new home sales and durable-goods orders. Meanwhile, the October fed funds futures contract was last unchanged at 94.72, which implies a 72% chance the Fed will hike rates after its two-day meeting ending Oct. 25. The December futures contract is currently pricing in a 46% chance that the fed funds rate will be at 5.50% after the Fed's Dec. 12 meeting.

25.08.2006 - Soybeans Move Lower
Soybean futures decreased in early activity Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, while grain futures were mixed. Wheat for September delivery rose 5 cents to $3.80 1/2 a bushel; September corn fell 1 cent to $2.26 1/2 a bushel; September oats rose 1 3/4 cent to $1.78 1/4 a bushel; September soybeans fell 1 1/2 cent to $5.50 a bushel.

25.08.2006 - Dollar Mostly Up, Gold Down in Europe
The U.S. dollar was mostly higher against other major currencies in European trading late Friday. Gold prices fell. The euro traded at $1.2745, down from $1.2801 late Thursday in New York.

25.08.2006 - Oil bubbles higher on U.S. Gulf storm threat
Oil briefly tested $74 a barrel on Friday as a tropical weather system brewing in the Caribbean threatened to sweep through the Gulf of Mexico next week and menace oil output yet to fully recover from last year's hurricanes.

25.08.2006 - Yen slides on weak inflation data
The yen endured another poor week in the currency markets, sinking back to the lows it reached in December 2005 when the currency hit a seven-year low in trade-weighted terms.

29.08.2006 - Gold ETF makes its mark in South Africa
South Africa may have been a later starter in introducing a gold ETF to its investment community, but the NewGold product launched in November 2004 appears to have made its mark in investment markets, overtaking a similar, longer established Australian product in the process. At the end of July this year, NewGold, which trades as an ETF only in Johannesburg, had a market capitalization of ZAR 1.55 billion or USD 223.8 million, a tidy jump from its starting point of just ZAR 20.9 million or USD 3.39 million at the beginning of November 2004.

30.08.2006 - Chicago's renminbi futures gambit
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has enlisted HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank as the first market makers for its new renminbi futures contracts, which aim to tap growing interest in the currency since China lifted its strict peg to the US dollar last year. The general market view is that Beijing will gradually ease its currency controls over the coming years and that the renminbi is likely to appreciate against the US dollar, since it is widely thought to be undervalued.

30.08.2006 - LME to launch cash settled, monthly and electronically traded small-size contracts
The London Metal Exchange (LME) is to launch small-size, cash settled, electronically traded monthly futures contracts initially for copper, aluminium and zinc before the end of November 2006.

31.08.2006 - Hedge funds shifting commodity investment
At the start of the year thanks mostly to unstoppable rally in crude, commodities were attracting a lot of media hype and interest from investors. New investment vehicles such as commodity-based hedge funds were launched, and fueled interest in underlying commodity futures markets. But crude oil prices have been trading weak for few days now, the market is divided between two camps, one camp has estimated an upward target of around USD 100 while others feel that prices could go lower, and trade in the range of USD 60 to 65 per barrel.

31.08.2006 - HFs may find another way to make bread
Now that it looks as if hedge funds may be retreating from crude oil, what's next in commodities? Some folks are hedging their bets on wheat, as weird weather worldwide has wreaked havoc on the food staple. Reuters reports that major producers of all varieties of grain—particularly the human-consumption quality - have all suffered crop shortfalls as a result of hot, dry summer around the globe. Australia, for example, is bracing for a one-third decline in production, while others expect somewhat smaller percentage drops as demand grows. That could raise prices to levels not seen in years.

31.08.2006 - Innovation the key to quality funds business
Jersey has made strong progress in positioning itself as a leading funds jurisdiction within the European time zone. By March this year the value of the fund assets under administration in the island had reached a record high of GBP156bn, up 50 per cent over the past year and 13.5 per cent over the first three months of 2006. Alternative funds - many of them established under the successful Expert Funds regime - now account for assets under administration of GBP34.6bn.

31.08.2006 - China to push for lower commodity prices
China has signalled it will demand a larger role in setting global commodities prices, with an announcement that it will form new industry negotiating groups to leverage its buying power to secure lower prices.