​Weekly Bulletin: June 1 – 5

Asia and Hong Kong featured heavily in our coverage this week, as we looked at what could be next for the Hong Kong Exchange’s connect scheme with Shanghai. It seems the bourse is exploring the possibility of introducing range accruals and bonus certificates that Mainland Chinese investors would be allowed to purchase. We also talk to one newly minted Hong Kong based hedge fund, which is currently busy setting up three distinct strategies to launch early next year. In Europe, Société Générale is finding increased interest from pension funds to access the firm’s risk premia models, while Relative value hedge funds are showing increased interest in entering into ratio variance swap spreads on the S&P GSCI Industrial Metals index versus the ASX 200. In the U.S., Heavy volume in CBOE VIX calls was seen today, breaking a dry spell for the options. Over 200,000 calls were traded early in the morning, with a big June-July stupid trading via about 100,000 contracts, while increased option activity was seen in the Financial Select Sector SPDR Exchange-traded fund Tuesday, with one investor entering a bullish three-legged spread trade.