​Daily Bulletin: Thursday March 26

It was a relatively muted day in the listed markets, with a sizeable April-15 call in the VIX and a big four-way put spread in PowerShares QQQ standing out to market participants. In Europe, some traders are interpreting the spike in put flow in one-year maturities in the Eurostoxx 50 this week being driven in part by a slight increase from insurers in using risk controlled strategies through put options to mitigate prohibitive capital charges under Solvency II. Those traders note that one-year downside buying in SX5E on Wednesday, particularly, highlights that insurers are increasingly looking to riskier assets as a consequence of recent action from the European Central Bank (ECB) in quantitative easing, which creates a supply/demand imbalance in bonds. In People & Firms, an ex-equity derivatives salesperson at Barclays in London, is set to join Citigroup in a similar role, also in London.