​Daily Bulletin: Thursday March 12

For a second day in a row, the SPY was in focus from investors with a four-way put spread hitting the market on Thursday. It was the iShares MSCI Japan ETF, however, that stood out to traders with flow seen in Mar-15 calls. The flow came after the Nikkei 225 finished close to 19,000 during a trading session in Asia that saw South Korea cut rates and positive jobs data come out of Australia. In today’s coverage, we talk to Seeyond Volatility Equity Strategies about its outlook for vol and how it is reducing sizeable short positions in short-term VIX futures following a decline in the benchmark since early February. Staying with Europe, Sheetal Dhanuka, head of flow trading in equity derivatives at Goldman Sachs in London, has left the firm. According to market participants, Dhanuka has retired from the firm. In the Americas, we report on how U.S. listed options on the FTSE 100, FTSE EM and China 50 indexes are being prepped to launch within six months.