Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that it filed a civil enforcement action against Christopher Varlesi of Chicago, Ill., individually and doing business as Gold Coast Futures and Forex (Gold Coast). The CFTC is charging Varlesi with fraudulently operating a commodity pool to trade commodity futures and off-exchange foreign currency (forex) contracts. The CFTC complaint also charges Varlesi with making false statements to pool participants, misappropriating pool funds, and failing to register as a commodity pool operator. On March 8, 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr. entered an emergency ex parte restraining order freezing Varlesi’s assets. The order also prohibits him from destroying or altering books and records. The judge set a hearing date for March 15, 2012.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Illinois man charged with commodities fraud of over $1 million from at least 18 individuals
Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that it filed a civil enforcement action against Christopher Varlesi of Chicago, Ill., individually and doing business as Gold Coast Futures and Forex (Gold Coast). The CFTC is charging Varlesi with fraudulently operating a commodity pool to trade commodity futures and off-exchange foreign currency (forex) contracts. The CFTC complaint also charges Varlesi with making false statements to pool participants, misappropriating pool funds, and failing to register as a commodity pool operator. On March 8, 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr. entered an emergency ex parte restraining order freezing Varlesi’s assets. The order also prohibits him from destroying or altering books and records. The judge set a hearing date for March 15, 2012.
Bonuses recommended for MF Global Holdings executives
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- The MF Global Holdings Ltd. executives who oversaw the company before it failed last year should get bonuses this year if a bankruptcy court approves, said Frank Piantidosi, an adviser working with the trustee, Louis Freeh. The compensation packages are still being prepared, and would apply to three top executives: Bradley Abelow, Chief Operating Officer; Laurie Ferber, General Counsel and Henri J. Steenkamp, Chief Financial Officer, Piantidosi of Freeh Group International Solutions LLC said in an e-mail.
“The value that Brad, Henri and Laurie bring by helping to liquidate and recover assets for the estate outweighs the cost to retain them,” Piantidosi said. It would cost more to replace them with outside consultants less familiar with MF Global’s operations, he said.
CFTC to boost high-frequency trading firm oversight
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Creating a registration category for high-frequency trading firms that buy and sell rapidly will help U.S. regulators determine whether new rules should be imposed on them as a group, according to Bart Chilton, a Democrat at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Private automated trading companies and units in banks that rely on split-second timing to implement strategies should register as high-frequency traders so regulators know who they are and what they’re doing, CFTC Commissioner Chilton said in an interview during a TradeTech conference in New York yesterday. While banks and brokers are already regulated, some proprietary firms aren’t overseen by anyone, he said.
Gross reduces Treasuries
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., cut holdings of Treasuries last month for the first time since eliminating the securities from his portfolio in February 2011. Gross raised the proportion of U.S. government securities in Pimco’s $252 billion Total Return Fund to 37 percent of assets, from 38 percent in January, according to a report on the company’s website. He raised mortgages to 52 from 50 percent, the highest level since June 2009. Pimco doesn’t comment directly on monthly changes in its portfolio holdings. U.S. government-backed mortgage bonds have returned 0.59 percentage point more than similar-duration Treasuries this year through yesterday, according to Barclays Capital index data. Mortgages have gained in part on speculation the Federal Reserve may expand purchases of the securities as part of its stimulus measures to keep the economic recovery going.
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Natural Gas Bounces off 10 Year Low
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Natural-gas futures settled 2.3% higher Friday, but the market remains pessimistic with prices just pennies above 10-year lows. The modest gain followed selloffs that sent prices down to the lowest level since mid-February 2002 in each of the past two days. Friday's book-squaring isn't a sign of recovery, traders said. "This doesn't change the picture, we're going to grind lower" especially as demand typically eases in the spring, said Gene McGillian, analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn. "There's nothing on the horizon to suggest a rally is in the works."
NYSE Euronext Volume Rises on Cocoa
Commodities daily trading on NYSE Euronext (NYX) advanced 0.7 percent in February from a year earlier as increased buying and selling of cocoa and sugar futures and options compensated for a drop in wheat trading.
Daily trading averaged 87,440 commodity contracts on NYSE Liffe in Europe last month, up from 86,830 contracts in February 2011, online data published by the exchange today showed. Daily trading jumped 16 percent from January.
ISDA Activates Greek Credit-Default Swaps
Greece’s debt restructuring will prompt payouts on credit-default swaps tied to the country’s government bonds. The decision by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association ends months of speculation that Greece’s default might not set off the swaps, a result that could have undermined their role as insurance against debt defaults.
Is a War With Iran Already Priced Into Oil?
The last time the price of Brent crude closed below $100 a barrel was Oct. 6, 2011. It’s since gone up nearly 30 percent, to a high of $126.20 on March 1. Tensions over Iran’s nuclear program have people spooked that a potential attack would disrupt the country’s 2.2 million barrels of daily oil exports. And so money has been pouring into oil futures contracts, driving up the price without any significant change in the underlying supply-and-demand fundamentals. Only the threat of one.
So who’s buying?
March 6, 2012 Commitments of Traders Charts
Based on CFTC weekly report.
(Weekly as of October 2000.)
08 Mar 11 - 06 Mar 12
Battle over gold in a house of God
Nothing inspires passions and paranoia like a disputed fortune, and this one not only belongs to a god, but also is worth an estimated $21 billion, more than India's annual education budget.
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