Week InReview:  October 31, 2014

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Sometimes I feel like if aliens opened a wormhole and invaded the solar system tomorrow, there are people who would immediately start writing articles blaming the incursion on the Federal Reserve's program of quantitative easing." (Noah Smith, Bloomberg View)

 

IN THE INDUSTRY

San Francisco Postpones Eminent Domain Exploration: (Oct. 30) San Francisco Board of Supervisors had, on Oct. 28, approved exploring forming a joint powers authority with Richmond, CA to establish a homeownership stabilization authority along with options including using eminent domain to help households with underwater mortgages. The agreement is now on hold. Read more

DTCC SDR Withdraws CME Swaps Suit: (Oct. 29) Depository Trust & Clearing Crop. and its subsidiary swap data repository DTCC Data Repository (U.S. LLC voluntarily withdrew their suit seeking to invalidate a 2013 Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. swaps data reporting rule. Read more

 

AT THE AGENCIES

SEC's Luparello on HFT Rules: (Oct. 30) Stephen Luparello, director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the agency is weighing rules on high-frequency trading and dark pools. The regulations would require some high-frequency traders to register with the agency, prohibit certain trading strategies when U.S. capital markets are under duress and require dark pool trading venues to disclose information about their operations. A second rule, which he described as an anti-disruptive trading regulation, would require "certain market participants not to trade in destabilizing ways when the market is already somewhat fragile." Read more (subscription only)

CFTC Workers Join Union: (Oct.30) In an election at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that ended Oct. 29, 87 percent of the workers who voted agreed to sign up with the National Treasury Employees Union. Read more

 

This is not an all-inclusive list of congressional, agency and market participant actions related to these issues. It is a snap-shot of what we believe is of most interest to institutional investors. Some links are to subscriber-only sites. 

 

Be sure to check our website for this InReview, upcoming events, and all our INVESTORS updates.  www.association.institutionalINVESTORS.org