Chris McMahon, MSJ

Note: This feature length cover story by Chris McMahon originally appeared in the July 2006 issue of Futures Magazine. Link to original @ Futures Magazine New Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben S. Bernanke recently learned an important and difficult lesson. After telling Congress in late April the Federal Reserve Bank may pause in its campaign to raise interest rates, a move that triggered a market rally, he seemingly reversed himself when days later he told a CNBC reporter the market misunderstood his statement and added, "It's worrisome that people would look at me as dovish and not necessarily an aggressive inflation fighter." The move from inflation "dove" to inflation "hawk" caused the market to tank. During an address on financial literacy, Bernanke apologized to the Senate Banking Committee for upsetting the markets and added that in the future his comments would go through regular communications channels. Watching an accomplished economist

Note: This feature length cover story by Chris McMahon originally appeared in the June 2006 issue of Futures Magazine. Link to original @ Futures Magazine Employees at futures broker Lind-Waldock held a party one Friday in late April to celebrate an achievement: For the first time since October of last year, funds in customer segregated accounts exceeded the amount held when Refco Inc., then parent company to Lind-Waldock, collapsed into scandal and filed for bankruptcy. For customers of regulated Refco business units, the protections afforded them under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulatory structure worked. Despite some uncomfortable moments, futures traders were able to access their funds, which were held in segregated accounts, and transfer those funds to another futures commission merchant (FCM) with a minimum of trouble. And for those who stayed with introducing brokers that cleared futures trades through Refco LLC, most were up and running again in a matt