Courtesy of Pam Martens
Robert Kaplan, President of the Dallas Fed
A transaction that has been missed by major news outlets on the financial disclosure form for Dallas Fed President, Robert Kaplan, is a line item showing that Kaplan made “multiple” trades of more than $1 million in S&P 500 futures.
This is a stunning revelation for a multitude of reasons. First, Kaplan’s financial disclosure form shows that he already had exposure to the S&P 500 through more than $1 million in an S&P 500 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), which trades during regular stock market hours.
Using S&P 500 futures gave Kaplan access to making directional bets on where the market would go after the stock market closed, which is typically when the Fed makes market-moving announcements.
The most popular and liquid S&P 500 futures contract is the E-mini S&P 500. A person can get as much as 95 percent leverage on this contract – far more than the 50 percent leverage that is available for stock trades.
The S&P 500 E-mini trades continuously from 6 p.m. Sunday night through 5 p.m. on Friday evening (EDT). The stock market is open only from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily (EDT).
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