​Weekly Bulletin: April 6-10

While VIX volumes were pretty thin on the ground most of the week, Friday saw some nice trades with a three leg spread ratio and a sizable put option trading. The trades were seen as the benchmark moved to about 12.8. We also have news Friday that ABN AMRO Clearing is reportedly close to being ready to clear the EURO STOXX 50 Variance Future. The Eurex product was unveiled last year and the exchange has been working with clearers to get systems ready. Back in the U.S., the announcement of U.S. nonfarm payrolls last Friday, which fell below market expectations, has driven a shift in approach from hedge funds in trading S&P 500 options conditional on U.S. rates, while the start of quarterly earnings next week is set to drive trading Tuesday. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo release their Q2 financial models then, potentially giving investors an insight into how the banks will factor in the first rate rise in a decade. We’ve also announced the members of our first EMEA Industry Committee, which includes senior equity derivatives representatives from firms such as JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Société Générale, UBS, and BNP Paribas. Senior portfolio managers from BTG Pactual, Aviva, Fulcrum and Dominice & Co make up the buyside portion of the EQDerivatives EMEA Industry Committee.