EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE 7/27
ICE Futures US will end floor trading for certain options contracts, including some soft commodities contacts, and become fully electronic starting October 19. According to the WSJ, ICE spokesman Lee Underwood said that “there has been an emphatic shift from floor to electronic execution in the options market, and as a market operator we have an obligation to respond.” Undewood also said that ICE Futures US will shift its business from lower Manhattan to Midtown Manhattan in mid-2013.
CME Chairman Terry Duffy defended the LIBOR and said that it will remain a “predominant benchmark” for banks and other firms seeking to hedge against changing short-term borrowing costs, the WSJ reported. CME CEO Phupinder Gill also said that “this contract is too important for us to not continue to adjust it and pay attention to it.”
DB1 warned that growth would be difficult for the rest of the year as the financial crisis has decreased investors’ desire to trade, according to the Financial Times. DB1 CFO Gregor Pottmeyer said that “it will be increasingly challenging to generate growth in the current fiscal year because of the weaker market environment and the ongoing uncertainty amongst market participants.”
