MiFid the killer of old style order execution

November will be a hot month for all banks and brokers in Europe as MiFiD will be implemented. It even looks like some of the trading venues of those brokers and banks can pick up a Darwin award. Those who invested heavily in technology in the past years (mainly the US and UK based prime brokers) will have a huge edge to those who didn't and it looks like there are still a view of those around in Europe. Problems could be there for those mid- tier investment banks and brokers that still execute their trades like they did back in the 90's. It looks like MiFid could be the expensive enforcer of Trading 2.0.

The definition of Best Execution......

Take without the owner's consent; "Someone stole my wallet on the train"; "This author stole entire paragraphs from my dissertation".....my bank executed my orders and altered transaction prices - to the bank's financial benefit.

Balkan surprise

Well well it looks like tensions in the Balkans are rising again. Some of the foot soldiers went already to the US to get the Kosovo into the picture. The question remains how important Kosovo is for the USA....very important.

Sarkozy Hedge Funds and AIr France

Sarkozy seems to be on the winning hand according to some media reports. We have to see how the markets and the euro will react to his victory. Hedge Funds according to this article should be less happy. It looks like Sarkozy can start his dialogue with Hedge Funds right away as "the vultures" seem to be looking for new prey.

1987 and 2007 start to look similar...

Why similar?

"Embarrassing admission of defeat"

The whole sub- prime thing doesn't bother me too much because the markets don't care at the moment. In the past weeks though we see more nasty news appearing on a frequent basis. Read the story on this "high profile hedge fund" from UBS. Maybe we can contact Bob again to restore the image of a respected Wall Street name.

Turkey for dinner?

A couple of days ago I was reading this post on The Kingsland Report and started thinking which of the EEM countries could implode. There are many possibilities but most of the country indices covered by the EEM could, in my opinion, be in for a healthy down tick or correction but not implode. Turkey in my opinion is a different story, Turkey is the market that could implode if current problems worsen.

Melamine food scare.....

The article in the New York Times on animal filler has launched a snowball of new details to come out and it looks like this scandal is spreading. What about the animal and fish food used in Europe?

The European Electricity Meltdown

Better check current water levels in Germany way below average and it is not even summer yet. during the heatwave of 2003 nuclear reactors had to shutdown as water levels became to low for the intake pipes. Most power plants could not use water a a way to cool as the water temperatures were too high. Here a map of nuclear facilities in Germany.....I am going to do a rain dance pagan style....

ABN AMRO and Barclays PPT presentation

The battle for ABN AMRO is still going strong. I came across this fresh PPT presentation on the ABN website with the title "Combination of Barclays and ABN AMRO"

Have fun..

European May Day?

May promises to be a hot month for the future of Europe and the equity markets. We all know the importance of the French elections and the future of Europe. The situation in Turkey comes as unexpected as the hot and dry weather this spring and will keep a lot of investors holding their breath as long as this crisis lasts. Then we see other stories coming from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia which might lead to a new Balkan crisis in the coming years.

The anarchist the stockbroker and Labour Day...

I still do not understand why most European stock exchanges are closed on a day that finds its origins in the eight hour day movement.