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State Street Global Advisors is pitching the first international inflation-protected exchange-traded fund

ETF Securities, an exchange-traded commodities provider, has hired Emil Petersen to be head of Nordic sales in a new position. He was previously head of EMEA and Nordic sales for index provider FTSE Group. Prior to that, he was a sales director for TowerGroup in Europe and has been in the industry for 15 years. The firm also hired Neil Jaimeson as senior sales rep in the U.K. and Ireland. He was previously head of marketing and business development at Selftrade, an execution-only stockbroker. He has 25 years of experience. Spokesmen for those companies did not return calls.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange, the International Securities Exchange and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange are planning to start trading options on streetTRACKS Gold Shares ETFs (GLD) next month, making their first foray into commodities. Options exchanges have been trying to convince the Securities and Exchange Commission to let them trade options on commodities such as gold, silver and oil for three years, but the regulator balked, citing unresolved regulatory overlap issues with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Another Fed boost, another stock rally, but this is all palliative. Inflation and recession in the USA, but the Rest of the World may get off lightly.

The exponential demand for ETFs recalls the excitement at the height of the private equity cycle, the discovery of hedge funds and investors' enduring passion for real estate.

The IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) is not the first to see its volumes increase by migrating to electronic trading. Its move on March 3 to make all futures trading of its Dollar Index contract electronic has resulted in a surge in activity.

James Lofthouse is joining JPMorgan in London from Deutsche Bank, to work in FX sales covering UK asset managers and hedge funds. Lofthouse reports to Seamus Mckibben.

One global head told me this week that as recently as two years ago FX was regarded as the mat that all the whizzkids in credit and equity derivatives wiped their shoes on as they made their way up. I don’t think that’s the case now.

In its March quarterly review, the Bank for International Settlements discusses the impact of the credit crunch. One section focuses on the turbulence on dollar, sterling, euro and yen swaps.

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the French regulator, has recently decreed that financial institutions must include the currency amount for settlement when they report their transactions. Under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid), firms must include the settlement amount for all securities-related transactions.

Standard & Poor’s has launched what it claims are the first two real-time currency indices, even though Deutsche Bank and others have provided similar products for several years. The company says the indices will “provide investors with exposure to emerging economic superpowers that currently lack a liquid currency futures market. The S&P Chinese Renminbi Index and the S&P Indian Rupee Index are the first in what will be a series of real-time currency indices launched in 2008.” The indices are based on rolling three-month non-deliverable forwards.

The CME has launched futures and options based on the US non-farm payroll data. It says that the contracts will allow its customers to directly manage their exposure to the government labour number or to offset positions in financial markets. In a press release, Rick Redding, CME Group managing director of products and services, says: “There is a strong correlation between the non-farm payroll report and CME financial futures contracts as well as other financial instruments. Listed futures and options on futures on the non-farm payroll are a transparent, straightforward and accessible way for our customers to offset unexpected financial market moves that often occur when this number comes out.”