Under the counter

Please release meWhat with all the activity in the derivatives world recently (specifically mergers galore on both sides of the Atlantic and the pressing need for me to plan a long-overdue holiday to coincide with England's inevitable retention of the Ashes in Australia starting later this month), it's been a while since I was able to bring you a roundup of some of the more outré emails I've recently received. This is a shame, because in amongst the morass of puff, piffle and outright putrescence that makes up the never-ending inflow of press releases, one can find occasional gems. First up in this week's selection of curios is a surprising suggestion from those publicity hungry fellows at CBOE, demonstrating once again that however tenuous one's link to an event, one should still try to cash in. CBOE's offering begins as follows: "What frightens investors most this Halloween? Ghouls? Goblins? Ghosts?...