​Daily Bulletin: Thursday Jan. 8

Jan 8, 2015

Wild swings in the VIX haven’t been met with huge increases in volumes of options or futures trading, with most U.S. traders and market makers reporting modest orderly trading this week. But, the fear gauge is still showing more short-term vol expected, despite the S&P 500 continuing to rally today over 30 points. Single stocks in the U.S. saw another interesting day of volume, with Blackstone seeing put volume in the listed and OTC markets, as well as BBBY, DD and WMT. In Asia, institutional investors bought up to one-year out-of-the-money calls last month on the Kospi 200 index in size in an effort to profit from an expected rally in the Korean equity market over the next 12 months. The flow has increased as economists and strategists expect further Bank of Korea rate cuts, improved corporate governance and a weaker won in 2015 to drive the country’s equity market higher after underperforming many other Asia Pacific markets in recent years.

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