​Daily Bulletin: Wednesday May 6

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen caused a stir in volatility trading today, after airing her views that U.S. equities were potentially overvalued and could cause a risk to the wider financial markets. Her comments saw the VIX spike up to 16 and prompted a number of listed VIX call options. In Europe, U.K. general election driven downside options trading in the FTSE 100 has been largely muted in recent days from investors, with equity derivatives salesmen instead highlighting continued interest in structural trades that mostly involve unwinding short-term put options. Meanwhile, BNP is to offer structured products on the Solactive oekom Ethical Low Volatility Index to retail and institutional clients in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia. The index tracks the price movements of low volatility stocks passing the environmental and social governance screenings of sustainable investments rating agency oekom research.