Category Archives: derivative
Venezuela Signs $3.2 Billion Debt Restructuring Deal With Russia
As Venezuela teeters right on the brink of complete financial collapse, Bloomberg reports that Russia has agreed to restructure roughly $3.2 billion in outstanding obligations. While details of the restructuring agreement are scarce, both sides reported that the deal spreads payments out over 10 years with minimal cash service required over the next six years. […]
“They’re Ba-ack!” – Citi Says Synthetic CDOs May Reach $100 Billion In 2017, 5x Increase In 2 Years
35-year-old Jia Chen of Citibank probably has no idea where that title quote above came from. That’s because she was roughly 4 years old when Poltergeist II hit theaters back in 1986… …that said, Citibank, as we noted a few weeks back, has every confidence that Jia is the perfect person to put in charge […]
Robert Gore’s “Hard Core Doom Porn”
Authored by Robert Gore via Straight Line Logic blog, It will be a crash like we’ve never seen before. SLL has been accused of trafficking in “doom porn.” Guilty as charged. If you don’t like doom porn, don’t read this article, it’s hard core. If you prefer feel good and heartwarming, there are plenty of […]
It Has Never Been Cheaper To Hedge A Market Crash Using This One Trade
In mid-August, at the height of the North Korea geopolitical turbulence, and amid uncertainty about the Fed balance sheet unwind, fears of a government shutdown and the US debt ceiling, as well as the fate of Trump tax reform and Obamacare repeal, when the VIX soared following a series of missile launches by Kim Jong […]
No Worries Anywhere: Vol Not Priced For Budget Ceiling Debate
Via Global Macro Monitor, Do the markets price risk anymore? That seems to happens when the world is awash with central bank based liquidity. We do see the VIX creeping back over 10 after trading with 8 handle for its only second time in history last Wednesday. Just as with about everything else, with the […]
CFTC Approves Options Trading In Bitcoin
US regulators aren’t yet comfortable with bitcoin ETFs (although a quad-levered S&P ETF is just fine for mom and pop), but apparently options and swaps are another story. This week, the CFTC took a bold step forward in terms of granting institutional investors access to the bitcoin market, approving the creation of the first SEF […]
Bill Blain Flips Out: “Not Much Surprises Me Any More About Markets, But Really? Really!?”
On Monday morning, we reported that in a stunning development, chronic defaulter Argentina – which just one year ago emerged from its latest bankruptcy – has found enough willing greater fools to sell 100-year bonds to. One person who especially stunned, was Mint’s Bill Blain, who issued an entire note describing his disgust with what […]
Tumbling Oil Launches Record Options Trading As “800 Million Barrels” Change Hands
With oil’s recent somnolent, low-vol levitation at their back, the number of hedge funds and other speculators who were soothed by the gradual move higher and betting on the success of OPEC reflationary strategy, had recently grown to an all time high, as seen in the chart below showing the number of long net-spec positions […]