Indexes
Walker Crips launches first growth product
Walker Crips Structured Investments (WCSI) has launched its first growth product on the retail market. The Annual Growth Plan, a non-capital protected plan, provides exposure to the FTSE-100 index. The three-year kick-out plan offers a return of 10% a…
US Wrap: Out comes Barclays again, with plethora of reverse convertibles
Barclays Bank's set of product offerings bloomed as the issuance week in the US as the week drew to a close. The UK bank produced a sequence of reverse convertibles that concentrated mainly on energy stocks, although with many other sectors represented:…
US Wrap: RBC moots real estate rebound
Royal Bank of Canada has launched an accelerated growth note linking to the iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate Index. The bullish trade offers 300% participation in the index over only six months, up to a cap of 39%. It does not incorporate any downside…
Forging an index
Efforts by miner BHP Billiton to create an iron ore index that would represent the underlying benchmark for a series of derivatives instruments appear to be floundering as Chinese steel producers press hard for pricing advantage. Kathleen Kearney reports
The profits of carry
Carry trade
Index invasion
Commodity Indexes
RICI© – Enhanced SM Index
Sponsored Statement
SGAM AI plans launch of S&P-linked sharia-compliant index funds
SGAM Alternative Investments (SGAM AI) plans to launch a series of sharia-compliant index funds linked to Standard & Poor’s (S&P) sharia indexes by the end of August.
Deutsche Bank launches dbARB
Deutsche Bank has followed in the footsteps of Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs with the launch of its own hedge fund replicating index, the db Absolute Return Beta index (dbARB).
Eyeing the pricing
Natural Gas
JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley launch Trac-x Japan CDS index
US investment houses JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are merging their Japanese credit derivatives indexes Janice and MSJ-CDS, respectively, into Trac-x Japan, a new tradable index that tracks the 50 most liquid Japanese credit default swaps (CDS).
US gas market challenges
A new report from the investigative office of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission finds that competitive natural gas markets in the US are robust, but warns of challenges ahead. Kevin Foster reports
The price of good information
The accounting scandals across the US – particularly at Enron – have led to demands for more independent market data in the energy sector. Who’s providing it, and is it meeting the industry’s needs? Kevin Foster reports