SMF Notes MKM Partners hedges event risk

MKM Partners notes central bankers are center-stage this week, with the FOMC statement coming at 2:15pm ET tomorrow and both the BOE and ECB set to announce policy decisions Thursday morning. Interspersed among these events will be important U.S. economic data for July, including ADP employment and ISM Wednesday and the employment report Friday. Firm says with obvious event risk into week's end, they believe there is demand for short-term hedges and long volatility exposure in the event of a market dislocation, particularly related to the ECB. With implied volatility low on a relative basis and skew flat, a range of options strategies can be deployed to manage an adverse outcome. Firm says two they recommend are SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY, 138.82) weekly (Aug 3 expiration) 138/135 put spreads and iPath S&P 500 VIX ETN (VXX, 13.26) 14 strike calls.