The Chicago Mercantile Exchange hosted its first Global FX Summit on Jan. 19, featuring several foreign exchange industry leaders. Turnout was about 300 people.
The summit began with a one-hour educational seminar geared to those new to FX trading. An opening speech by Diane Swonk, newly appointed chief economist at Mesirow Financial, kicked off the afternoon. Two simultaneous sessions followed, one for the proprietary firms, trading arcades and individuals, which discussed the latest in trading platforms in the foreign exchange cash markets. The other session, for hedge funds, CTAs, and investment managers, focused mainly on trading strategies and risk management issues.
The last event was a roundtable discussion with Robert Savage, managing director of FX sales at Goldman Sachs; Bill Brown, managing director at Morgan Stanley; Cornelius Luca, author of Trading in the Global Currency Markets; Barbara Rockefeller of Rockefeller Treasury Group; and Yra Harris, independent currency trader. The discussion was moderated by Andy Busch, currency strategist with BMO-Harris Bank.
The roundtable participants determined that one of the most important areas to watch in currencies in the future would be oil — specifically, what currencies will increase or decrease in response to higher oil prices. The panelists all pointed toward Asia.
“In the case of Japan and China, their lack of domestic sources of energy and their need to import huge amounts of crude oil, natural gas, and other energy makes them particularly sensitive to changes in oil prices,” Morgan Stanley’s Brown said.
Goldman Sach’s Savage said all eyes should be on emerging-market “BRIC” countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China).
“The BRICs have large population bases, large natural resources, and unending technical talents as well as large consumer bases, creating huge opportunities for play in the currency markets,” Savage said.
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