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The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) introduced the Wilder NASDAQ OMX Global Energy Efficient Transport Index(sm) (Nasdaq:HAUL). The Index is a modified equal weight index designed to define and track companies internationally that develop and promote innovative, energy efficient modes of transportation and stand to benefit from a transition towards more energy efficient transportation.

For the week of August 18th - August 22nd, 2008 the total trading volume on FORTS (Futures & Options on RTS) equaled 235,9 bln. roubles or 4,6 mln. contracts, including 20,3 bln. roubles during the evening trading session. The total open interest as of the last day of the week, August 22nd, 2008 reached 388,5 bln. roubles or 10,0 mln. contracts.

A seminar organised by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) today on the emerging opportunities for the regional funds industry presented an exciting outlook for the sector over the next few years.

Over the week of August 18th - 22nd, 2008, the RTS Index went down by 4,69% to reach 1701,61 points (1785,36 points as of August 15th, 2008). Most of the negative impact on the Index dynamics was related to the falling prices for Gazprom ordinary shares (GAZP) (minus 29,11 points), ОАО "LUKOIL" ordinary shares (LKOH) (minus 12,84 points) and OJSC "OC "Rosneft" ordinary shares (minus 11,62 points).

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) announced today that its Head of Listing, Richard Williams, has notified the company of his decision not to seek renewal of his employment contract, for a further three-year term, for family reasons. Mr Williams has agreed to an extension of his contract, which expires at the end of September 2008, for five months until 28 February 2009 and he will return to the UK thereafter. The Board will, in the interim, search for Mr Williams' successor.

How badly could a commodities bust damage financial firms?

FINANCIAL investors have sophisticated arguments to explain their stampede into commodities. Many say they provide returns that are not correlated to equities or bonds, improving a portfolio’s diversification. Yet the suspicion is that the sudden appetite of institutional investors, hedge funds and banks for punting potash and palladium is really explained by the soaring prices of the past few years. That invites two questions; will investors’ interest evaporate if prices fall further from recent highs? And could a commodities bust further destabilise the financial system?

Despite a flurry of fund launches in the past year the amount of traditional cash tracking commodities is still quite small. Barclays Capital reckons $270 billion of “long-only” money sits in investment vehicles, such as exchange-traded funds. That is equivalent to less than 1% of the world’s stockmarket capitalisation. Only about a quarter of this is from temperamental retail investors; the rest is from institutions, such as pension funds, which are unlikely to reverse their asset-allocation decisions quickly. Furthermore, it is not typically geared-up using debt or derivatives, which means there is less risk of catastrophic losses. ...

Chinese shares enjoy a brief moment of respite

INVESTORS had long ago seen their hopes dashed of a pre-Olympic boom in China’s stockmarket. Indeed, among the shares hardest hit this summer were those that unscrupulous brokers had touted as sure-fire winners from the games: restaurants selling Peking duck, hotels, and the like. But after a sudden 8% gain on August 20th, an even more tantalising idea emerged: could they benefit from a post-Olympic bounce?

A number of foreign fund managers have begun poking around the market, impressed by the valuations. Even after this week’s rally, stocks were trading at 14 times 2008 earnings—not a steal, but still far cheaper than the 40 times earnings at which they traded at their 2007 peak. ...

Fannie, Freddie and Lehman ensure August is anything but quiet

WITH blood stocks in New York City low, health officials this month issued an emergency appeal for donations. The lifeblood of financial institutions—confidence—is in equally short supply. Five months after the Bear Stearns debacle, and a month after America’s Treasury unveiled unprecedented steps to support the mortgage market, some whose share prices had only recently hinted at recuperation are again looking dangerously anaemic.

At the top of the critical list are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The quasi-private mortgage agencies are in danger of being overwhelmed by losses on their holdings of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Ajay Rajadhyaksha of Barclays Capital estimates that Freddie’s balance-sheet has a negative value of at least $20 billion when marked at market prices; Fannie is $3 billion in the red. Both saw their share prices fall about 44% between August 18th and 20th as it appeared ever more likely that the government would intervene, wiping out existing shareholders. They are caught in a trap: the greater the risk of nationalisation, the harder it will be for the two institutions to persuade investors to provide an estimated $15 billion of new capital that each one needs if nationalisation is not to happen. ...

Are credit-default swaps living up to the hype?

IN THE weeks before Bear Stearns, a Wall Street bank, collapsed in March, nervous investors scanned not just its share price for a measure of its health, but the price of its credit-default swaps (CDSs), too. These once-obscure instruments, now widely enough followed that they have even earned a mention on an American TV crime series, clearly indicated that the firm’s days were numbered. The five-year CDS spread had more than doubled to 740 basis points (bps), meaning it cost $740,000 to insure $10m of its debt. The higher the spread, the greater the expectation of default.

Once again, CDS spreads on Wall Street banks are pushing higher, having fallen in March after the Federal Reserve extended emergency lending facilities to them. Reportedly one firm, Morgan Stanley, is monitoring its own CDS spreads to assess the market’s perception of its corporate health; if they rise too high, it intends to cut back its lending. Whether the CDS market is accurately assessing the creditworthiness of Lehman Brothers, trading on August 20th at 376 bps, double the level in early May, will be the next test of its worth. ...

Some reasons not to expect a collapse in raw-materials prices

DURING the six months to the end of June commodities posted their best performance in 35 years, rising by 29%. In July they had their worst month in 28 years, falling by 10%. The slide continues: an index compiled by Reuters, a news agency, shows that prices are almost a fifth below the pinnacle reached in early July. The Economist’s index, which excludes oil, has fallen by over 12%. Breathless headlines have hailed the bursting of a bubble.

But most analysts are more reticent. They cite various reasons for the recent drop in prices, chief among them the darkening economic outlook in rich countries. In recent weeks it has become clear that Europe and Japan are faring even worse than America, and so are likely to consume less oil, steel, cocoa and the like. But that does not necessarily presage a collapse in commodity prices, they argue, thanks to enduringly strong demand from emerging markets such as China. ...