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The major (Wall Street) investment houses and banks dominate the list of
largest Futures Clearing Merchants ... the FCM's you hear about don't
hold a candle! Listed below find excerpt from latest CFTC report showing
customer funds at FCM's:
GOLDMAN SACHS & COMPANY 5,681,552,259
MERRILL LYNCH FUTURES INC 4,323,447,000
SALOMON SMITH BARNEY INC 4,006,935,587
MORGAN STANLEY & COMPANY INC 2,253,891,349
LIND-WALDOCK AND COMPANY 642,696,723
LFG LLC 336,142,329
The issue of retail distribution is another matter. Commodities are
generally considered speculative because of low margin requirements,so
regulators frown on brokers recommending commodities to all but the most
affluent customers. But the regulators won't give a second thought to
the brokers recommending GE, Microsoft, Cisco, and other high multiple
stocks.
Earl
----- Original Message -----
From: <Jpilleafe@xxxxxxx>
To: <realtraders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2000 8:06 AM
Subject: [RT] Re: GEN: Shift to Futures?
> Ask your self why Wall Street is in business and
> you get the answer to your question...(what is the
> likelihood of a shift toward managed futures?).
>
> Wall Street is in the business of selling stocks and
> bonds....pushing inventory,....and doing whatever it
> takes to generate commisions. Commodities,.. as
> an asset class are very unlikely to ever be part of
> Wall Street's business.
>
> Consider,...1. Few brokers or financial planners are
> licensed to trade or even able to get quotes on commodities
> ....for instance,...no commodity quotes are available through
> Charles Schwab,... 2. There is only one mutual fund indexed
> to the CRB index (a brokerage house loaded type product),...
> and 3. The CRB Index futures are Soooo thinly traded,...for
> FEB CRB contract average volume is 16-20 contracts. Etc.
>
> Ask any broker or financial planner how to gain exposure to
> commodities as an asset class,...and you will likely be greeted
> by a blank stare. This is not their world. It is alien to
everything
> they stand for ....the mantra.... "buy and hold stocks as the
> asset class for long term capital appreciation" is all they have been
> trained for.
>
> It's great that Abbey Cohen can give commodities a 3% wieghting
> in their "model" portfolio asset allocation....and I too found it
> interesting that she stated this......but what I found moreso
> interesting was that Louis Rukeyser did not ask her how the average
> individual's or institution's portfolio could get such exposure to
> commodities. Clearly not desirable from Wall Street's perspective.
> What a joke.
>
> Jim Pilliod jpilleafe@xxxxxxx
>
>
>
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