Bloomberg Blog

A Record-Breaking Week

What a week. The S&P 500 had the biggest slump since November 2008. U.S. stocks tumbled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ Composite, and Russell 2000 - - all tumultuous.

This point in time is certainly disconcerting for people, especially business and financial professionals. Since Bloomberg has many lenses into the moving markets through our data, news, and analytic tools, we wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of what we are seeing.

The recent market turmoil broke historic highs for market data activity globally, according to Bloomberg’s Research & Development team. Bloomberg processed 43.7 billion ticks on August 10, 2011 (a tick is an upward or downward movement in a security's trades, bids, and offers prices; tick data provides all market activity, not only volume of shares traded, giving investors full market transparency to make more informed trading decisions). This is 46 percent higher than previous days, including peaks in volatility experienced during the Japanese earthquake, the flash crash, and the apex of the financial crisis.

 
Market tick volume reaches historic highs

Bloomberg.com had some of its biggest traffic days ever, with more than 60 percent increases over average daily unique visitors and page views. The live TV player on Bloomberg.com had nearly three times the amount of unique visitors than what we see on average per day. And, we were the first in reporting the announcement of S&P's downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating on the Bloomberg Professional service.   
 

 

Most read stories on Bloomberg.com:

-    U.S. Stocks Fall as S&P 500 Has Biggest Slump Since November 2008

-    S&P Seen Surrendering to Tea Party Costing U.S. Taxpayer

-    Stocks Tumble Most Since 2008 as Treasuries, Gold Surge on S&P Rating Cut

 

Most watched videos on Bloomberg.com:

-   Buffet says 'bet heavily' against double recession

-   Marc Faber says markets 'extremely oversold'

-  Jim Rogers on U.S. Rating downgrade, global markets

Whether you subscribe to the Bloomberg Professional service, watch our TV station, listen to our radio programs, or visit our web site, we'll continue to keep you informed on the issues that matter most during this concerning time.

 

The Bloomberg Team

Bloomberg Testifies at Senate Hearing on Proposed Regulations for Derivatives Trading

Bloomberg testified before the U.S. Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment regarding regulations on over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives on June 29th.

As the largest independent trading platform for OTC derivatives, we provided perspectives on provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act, which requires companies to trade credit-default swaps (CDS) and other derivatives products through regulated exchanges called swap execution facilities -- or SEFs.  Given our unique position in the marketplace as a wholly independent player, the Senate Banking Committee asked us to comment on how SEFs should be regulated.

In short, we support the mandatory clearing and post-trading reporting requirements, but have concerns about the way the regulations will be promulgated, as poorly constructed rules have the potential to inhibit market trading flexibility and raise costs for the end user -- which would not fully achieve the important goals set out by the Dodd-Frank legislation.

As with all new regulations, the devil is in the details. As stated in our testimony before the Senate, sophisticated market participants do not really need or want federal regulators micromanaging execution protocols. 

Bloomberg intends to register as a SEF and we are actively engaged with regulators in the rule making process.  Our customer base is evenly distributed amongst buy side and the sell side participants, so we are an independent company not beholden to anyone, nor are we biased toward any particular element of the market.  As an empirically-driven and data-centered member of the financial services community, our goal is to bring transparency and efficiency to the marketplace -- including in the highly complex derivatives market.

To read the Bloomberg testimony, click here, or if you prefer to watch the full Senate hearing, you can do so here.

 

Ben Macdonald is Bloomberg's Global Head of Fixed Income

Top-Ranked Hedge Fund Manager Donald Brownstein Talks Finance at Bloomberg Markets "Movers & Shakers" Breakfast

On Wednesday, June 15, 2011, Bloomberg Markets magazine held its first “Movers and Shakers” breakfast in Manhattan - a series which spotlights important financial leaders in an intimate, exclusive setting with financial and securities industry executives.

The first guest for the series was Structured Portfolio Management’s Donald Brownstein, who was named 2010’s top hedge fund manager in the magazine’s February issue.

He arrived early at Bloomberg Television’s New York studios to be interviewed by host Erik Schatzker before heading up to the 28^th floor dining room. There, he was greeted by Bloomberg President Dan Doctoroff and a fast-gathering group of admirers including CEOs, presidents, managing directors, economists, and heads of investment services from such notable companies as JPMorgan, BlackRock, Fitch Ratings, Oppenheimer, Pershing, and BNY Mellon.

With every seat filled and a magnificent view from the top of Bloomberg's Midtown Manhattan headquarters, Brownstein was introduced by Bloomberg Markets editor Ron Henkoff and publisher Mike Dukmejian. Brownstein held everybody rapt, even taking notes, when discussing some of his favorite topics -- fixing the housing market, foreclosures, interest rates, and solutions to the debt crisis – followed by a provocative Q&A session.

 
 

 Photo by Jin Lee

 

Drew Kerr leads communications for Bloomberg Markets.