Whoever needs more proof that fear in the markets has subsided should take a look at the current front-month, at-the-money straddle on S&P Depository Receipts (NYSE: SPY) versus a similar straddle at the end of last year, around the time when the CBOE SPX Volatility Index (VIX) was still hovering around 60%. Currently, the SPY is trading for around $93. So the current front-month, at-the-money straddle is the 93-strike. The call is currently trading for approximately $1.70 ...

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss banks including ZKB and Mirabaud are pulling out of business with individuals who pay U.S. taxes, newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) reported on Saturday. The banks are reacting to pressure from U.S. authorities, who are waging a legal battle with UBS to try to force it to give up the names of tens of thousands of Americans suspected of cheating the U.S. government by concealing accounts abroad, the newspaper said. Without giving its sources, NZZ said ZKB wanted to stop doing business with all ...

Sri Lanka's central bank chief said Saturday that the island could live without a major IMF bailout that had been delayed by the final stages of the government's fight with Tamil Tiger rebels. The government had requested the 1.9-billion-dollar loan in March to help stave off its first balance of payments deficit in four years after foreign currency reserves fell to around six weeks' worth of imports. The loan was delayed under political pressure from the United States, Britain and other countries who felt the government was ...

TAIPEI (Reuters) - About 10 global and Taiwan financial firms have submitted bids to buy troubled AIG's <AIG.N> Taiwanese insurance unit, newspapers said on Saturday, in a deal that could fetch up to over $2 billion. Global private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts <KKR.UL>, MBK Partners and Affinity Partners are among the bidders for AIG unit Nan Shan Life, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News said, quoting identified sources. The report comes a day after industry sources told Reuters that Carlyle <CYL.UL&gt ...