Eurex launched Total Return Futures (TRFs) in 2016 in response to growing demand for listed alternatives to total return swaps. Since then, the product has evolved into an instrument used by a wide variety of firms for multiple purposes, enabling firms to lock in financing rates and as a beta replacement tool.

The Executive Board of Norges Bank has decided to revoke the exclusion of Thoresen Thai Agencies PCL. The company has been excluded since 2018 due to its practice of sending decommissioned vessels to be broken up for scrap in Bangladesh, where working conditions are extremely poor.

Two factors in addition to the ongoing climb in yields may have played a part in this equity market drop. Firstly, consumer sentiment deteriorated with a sharp drop in expectations. The drop in confidence (103.0 from 108.7) was less significant than the much larger drop in expectations. The present conditions index actually increased marginally...

The Japanese yen continued its decline after a series of losses extending since around midnight yesterday. The US dollar against the Japanese yen (USD/JPY) reached a new record level this year at 148.458, the highest since November of last year.

The last decade has seen a growth bias among financial assets, one that has become entrenched in equity indices. At the same time, bonds seemingly shed much of their protective qualities, offering investors very little by way of diversification.