MARKETS
Wizardry
Resources
The “Financial wizardry” series is running in the FT and will discuss financial products that are generating debate and explain how they operate.
Ask The Expert
The markets in 2010
In the first few weeks of 2010 readers can quiz experts at some of the biggest trading houses in the City.
Short View
The Streets split
Either job creation or falling stock prices will eventually bridge the rift between Wall Street and Main Street, says John Authers
Gone are the days when you only needed to know about stocks, bonds and cash. With derivative instruments allowing hedge funds and proprietary traders to devise ever more sophisticated cross-asset class strategies, the FT will guide you through the latest advances in today’s financial wizardry.
New instruments that call the tune
In a dramatically transformed investment world, ever greater innovations not only spread the risk but also drive change. Derivatives and structured instruments have evolved particularly quickly in the worlds of credit, equities and commodities.
Pushing back the frontiers
Calpers is leading the way for investment managers as it seeks to capitalise on a new strategy allowing it to harness, to some extent, the power of short selling.
Rush to tap into Islamic market
UBS this month will launch an instrument that claims to be the world’s first sharia-compliant investment product linked to commodity prices. And they are convinced that demand should be hot – particularly among powerful Middle East investors, who have historically placed much of their money in Switzerland.
Related content and features
Gillian Tett
The dream machine: invention of credit derivatives
Ten years ago a group of young bankers had a weekend away in Boca Raton. In between throwing each other in the pool, and a lot of drinking, they invented something that changed the world of finance - credit derivatives.
Market Insight
Economic derivatives help form consensus
The days of measuring “consensus” expectations for economic data by polling economists could be numbered. Economic derivatives, which enable investors to hedge exposure to the data, are helping to develop a more market-based consensus.
Why volatility becomes an asset class
Volatility is becoming an asset class in its own right. A range of structured derivative products, particularly those known as variance swaps, are now the preferred route for many hedge fund managers and proprietary traders to make bets on market volatility.
