Structured products
S&P launches 130/30 index
Standard and Poor’s has launched of the S&P 500 130/30 Strategy Index, which is designed to measure the performance of an investment strategy that establishes 30% over and underweight positions relative to the S&P 500.
Arc Kicks Out
UK-based distributor Arc Capital and Income has launched the Arc Stepped Kick-Out Plan offering a potential return of 17.5% in year one.
HSBC launches Climate Change range from proprietary index
HSBC is creating a range of structured products based around its Global Climate Change 100 index, to be targeted at investors looking for thematic and strategic investments.
2008 LDCE “under consideration”
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Interbank covered bond market shuts down
Market making in the interbank market in European covered bonds has been shut down for the rest of the week, to prevent spreads widening and volatility growing.
French banks act to save bond insurer CIFG
Two French banks, Caisse d'Epargne and Banque Populaire, will inject $1.5 billion into the New York-based financial guaranty company CIFG to prevent it losing its AAA credit rating.
FSA “no light touch” on hedge funds, says Sants
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Italy’s fast track to Mifid
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Deutsche launches Asian currency-correlation indexes
Deutsche Bank has launched a set of indexes designed to capture returns generated by the apparent growing co-ordination of currency policy among Asian central banks. They are the first such indexes in the market.
Credit cards could be source of next debt shock
Economists believe the next big shock to the financial system might not come from the property market but from consumer credit debt.
Swiss Re admits $1.07 billion loss on two portfolio CDSs
Zurich-based reinsurer Swiss Re has admitted a loss of SFr1.2 billion ($1.07 billion) caused by a fall in the market value of two credit default swaps (CDSs) referenced to a trading portfolio containing US subprime mortgages.
Meteor kicks out Nikkei for latest Prima launch
Meteor Asset Management has booted out the Nikkei 225 for the fifth product in its Prima series. The Prima Growth Plan 5 is a six-year autocallable investment that will be linked to the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 and the FTSE 100.
Lower losses than feared at Barclays
Barclays reported a total of £1.5 billion in write-downs associated with US subprime mortgages between June and October this year, reassuring investors who had feared far higher losses.
Bank of America's $19bn China windfall dwarfs $3bn writedown
The $3 billion writedown disclosed by Bank of America early this week has been overshadowed by the announcement that an investment in China stands to earn the firm $19 billion.
FSA cracks down on CFD use
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Merrill Lynch gets bullish about Lions in Africa
Merrill Lynch has launched two Africa Lions Index certificates, linked to stocks with exposure to more than 15 African countries, allowing investors to choose from an open-ended tracker certificate and a five-year 90% protected certificate. The…
Amaranth Sues JPMorgan for $1billion
The fall out from the collapse of energy hedge fund Amaranth Advisors took another twist after the fund launched legal action against investment bank JPMorgan Chase.
Markit buys IIC and CDS IndexCo
London-based market data provider Markit is to expand by taking over the dealer-owned International Index Company (IIC), which produces the iTraxx credit indexes and the iBoxx bond indexes, and the dealer consortium CDS IndexCo, which produces the CDX…
HSBC takes $4.4 billion in write-downs on weak US credit
HSBC has reported a total of $4.4 billion in write-downs on its US consumer lending, mortgage and investment banking businesses.
JP Morgan unveils new multi-commodity index
JP Morgan has launched a commodity curve index that references 33 commodities across various maturities.