Environment-Renewables
Jittery oil market fuels Nymex highs
New angles
Evolution expands US west coast emissions brokerage ops
Energy broker Evolution Markets has expanded its environmental market operations for the western US with the hire of Laura Meadors, an expert in environmental market design and analysis. She is based in the San Francisco office, which opened in February…
Delivering the goods
There’s huge scope for growth in the freight derivatives market, but to attract more players, existing participants need to adopt more innovative and sophisticated trading practices, participants say. Stella Farrington reports
Growing up fast
Weather trading is seeing strong volume growth in the US, largely due to the influx of hedge funds into the market. Why such a big increase in interest, and what sort of strategies are the funds adopting? By Joe Marsh
Blowing hot and cold
Across Europe, government enthusiasm and support for wind energy will dictate the ability for wind project sponsors to refinance project loans via the bond market. Jan Willem Plantagie of Standard & Poor’s explains
Strength in numbers
Weather derivatives seem to have a bright future: the market is enjoying record liquidity levels as new players, trading ever more diverse products, flood into the market. Oliver Holtaway reports
Pricing the weather
Pricing weather derivatives is different from valuing other derivatives contracts – actuarial methods play a greater role. Steve Jewson looks at the varied approaches available
Baiting the hook
End-users such as utilities and industrial companies are not showing the same keenness as hedge funds for trading weather derivatives, despite the efforts of banks, dealers and brokers to lure them in. By Joe Marsh
SEC: What's Next?
William Donaldson's quick retirement from the chairmanship of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month brings to mind the pithy Italian proverb from the recent Papal Conclave: "After a fat Pope, a skinny pope."
A calculated gamble
After a promising start, Canadian carbon trading has slowed. The country has much work to do if it wants to get a domestic greenhouse-gas trading market running ahead of the 2008 Kyoto deadline. By Catherine Lacoursiere
Emissions education
As the European carbon market continues to grow, so too do some unique challenges: not least the gap between retail and wholesale players and the problem of counterparty credit risk. Oliver Holtaway reports
A good time to build
US utilities may need to spend more than $100 billion in the next 25 years on new power plants and transmission capacity. Richard McMahon looks at how utilities are assessing long-term risks and attracting potential investors
Battle lines drawn in ISS court case
ISS Global
ECX and Powernext team up on carbon trading
French electricity exchange Powernext and the Amsterdam-based European Climate Exchange (ECX) have agreed to jointly offer carbon futures and spot contracts. The partnership is complimentary, because ECX lists a futures contract and Powernext offers a CO…
New carbon brokerage targets non-power-sector SMEs
Three senior players in the European emissions trading market have launched Carbon Capital Markets, a broker-dealer service that targets small to medium-sized companies (SMEs) outside the power sector.
Stateside summit
Adding to the success of Energy Risk Europe in March, last month’s Energy Risk USA conference raised some lively debate. ERM, credit risk and the problems facing quant analysts were among the hot topics. Oliver Holtaway reports
Powernext to launch spot carbon contract in late June
French electricity exchange Powernext will launch its delayed CO 2 emissions spot market on June 24, barring any technical or administrative difficulties among market members.
DrKW launches retail carbon product
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has paved the way for private investors to gain exposure to the carbon emissions market with a new securitised product.
Spectron brokers first 'clean' spark spread
Energy broker Spectron has facilitated the UK’s first carbon-neutral, or 'clean', spark spread trade.
Testing the waters
Pension funds
The state of affairs in leveraged loans
leveraged finance market
Winds of change
correlation
NPD losses force wind down
New angles
ABN Amro expands commodity-trading team, opens Singapore office
Dutch bank ABN Amro has made several commodity trading and marketing hires in London and New York, and opened an office in Singapore.