HSBC bank PLC, London

Abstract

This report is an account of the summer project completed by me in HSBC Bank PLC, London. I was with the Sector Trading Desk which is a part of the Equities business at HSBC. Primarily, the bank is a financial conglomerate offering its customers a mind-boggling array of services ranging from retail banking to sophisticated financial products designed for the markets. The Sector Trading desk deals in pan-European securities with a small team looking specifically at the emerging markets - India, Poland, Egypt, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan. As the name suggests, the team is divided into smaller sector-specific teams - some of the sectors being Pharma, Financials, Utilities, Consumers and Telecom, Media and Technology (TMT).My primary responsibilities consisted of following a specific sector, following certain specific stocks and coming up with trading ideas based on views taken on them. Further, I followed the movement of major European indexes and devised profitable strategies, including derivatives - plain vanilla options and futures as well as simple strangles. Additionally, I prepared are port on the underlying reasons behind the unprecedented level of volatility witnessed in the markets in May.