​Weekly Bulletin: Feb 16-20

Presidents Week in the U.S. saw light flows for the most part, however, some interesting trends picked up in the middle of the week, following the release of the U.S. Fed’s January minutes. While a rate hike was unanimously voted down, deliberations show a September increase is most likely, should the economy continue to improve. Oil and real estate saw interesting volume, while the VIX was also the target of elevated flow this week. We also talk to a vol fund manager on the current situation with expensive downside skew. In Europe, Nordic asset managers and pension funds were seen increasing their exposure to European banks through call spreads and call ratios on the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Index EUR. Traders and salespeople have noted an increase in bullish sentiment among investors in European banks despite the underperformance of the sector during the latter part of 2014, driven by deflation in Europe and the impact of regulation on earnings. Investors were also seen taking profits on the Eurostoxx Banks (SX7E) leg of SX7E vs. Eurostoxx 50 (SX5E) ratio call switch trades. Conference Update Also, don’t forget to register for our inaugural EQDerivatives U.S. conference. Capstone Investment Advisors s.v.p. derivative research strategist Jordan Sinclair and Malachite Capital Management co-founder Joseph Aiken have been added as speakers at Global EQD 2015, joining officials from AIG, Koch Industries, Ontario Teachers, HOOPP, Swiss Alpha, Caxton and Russell Investments. The equity and volatility conference takes places May 20-21 in Las Vegas. Secure your attendance spot before Feb. 28 and land an early registration discount. Head to our event and registration page now.