This invention relates to a traction assembly for a vehicle which uses an endless traction band and a plurality of wheels for propulsion. More particularly, the traction assembly comprises a sprocket wheel which has a different size and number of sprocket teeth depending on whether the traction kit replaces the front wheels or the rear wheels of the vehicle. The sprocket wheel of the traction kit can also be configured such that its sprocket teeth are laterally offset. The traction kit can also comprise an anti-torque system that prevent physical contact between the traction kit and the vehicle and that can bias the position of the traction kit in order to improve the steering performance.

Ski Width: 5.5' Ski weight: Approximative 4.10 lbs. Ultra-Light Ski The lightest on the market. Kimpex Handle:Uses the same handle as the original Kimpex plastic skis. Raised rear portion. Pre-drilled holes for easy installation of runners. DOUBLE KEELS: Characteristic which has made the ARROW ski's reputation.

Finally, the traction assembly can comprise a pivotable extension which lengthens the traction assembly and improves its traction capabilities. B) a second elongated member comprising a third end and a fourth end, the second member being slidingly coupled to the first member such that the third end is substantially located between the first end and the second end of the first elongated member, the fourth end being configured for pivotal attachment, the second member comprising a second transverse abutment structure substantially located at the third end, and a third transverse abutment structure located between the fourth end and the second end. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present patent application is a divisional application of commonly assigned U.S.

Patent application Ser. 11/626,116, filed Jan. 23, 2007, now U.S.

7,870,914, itself claiming the priority of commonly assigned Canadian Patent Application No. 2,533,857, entitled “Improved Traction Assembly for a Vehicle” and filed on Jan. 24, 2006, at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. The present application claims the benefits of priority of all these prior applications. The disclosures of these prior applications are incorporated herein by reference. FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a traction assembly for a vehicle.

More particularly, this invention relates to traction assemblies having different sprocket sizes, to traction assemblies having sprocket wheels with offset teeth, to anti-torque devices for traction assemblies and to traction assemblies' extension kit. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The type of surfaces over which a vehicle is ridden significantly affects its capacity and efficiency. While the riding behavior is one of the most important aspects involved in the concept of most vehicles, the ability to allow interchangeability of parts or to retrofit new components on existing vehicles greatly satisfies the owner of vehicles and represents an interesting market source for vendors of specialized parts destined to vehicles such as All-Terrain vehicles (hereinafter “ATV”), light trucks, jeeps, etc. Specialized parts for those vehicles include carrying cases, winches, plow assemblies just to name a few. These kits may develop the vehicle's capacity to accomplish other functions, to extend its duration of use throughout the seasons or to allow the use of the vehicle under different riding conditions. For instance, different riding or traction kits (hereinafter, “traction kits”) are sometime installed to replace the wheels of existing all-terrain vehicles.

In principle, the kits should minimize the need to change existing components, must be able to fit on the vehicle without interference and should try to minimize any negative change to the overall riding behavior of the vehicle and comfort of the driver. However, since most vehicles are not initially designed to be used with these traction kits, the overall behavior and/or characteristics of the vehicle can be affected when equipped with one of these kits. Even though these traction kits generally improve traction and weight distribution, they can alter other characteristics such as steering or power transfer. For example, some ATVs are specifically designed such that the power and torque are not equally distributed among the front and rear wheels. An example of such a vehicle is the Polaris™ Sportsman™ ATV wherein the front wheels receive 80% of the power that is sent to the rear wheels. In other words, the front wheels do not actively contribute to the propulsion of the vehicle as long as the rear wheels do not spin or slip as to lose 20% of their traction power.

In practice, this creates a two wheel drive vehicle that automatically becomes a four wheel drive vehicle when the rear wheels slip or spin beyond a certain threshold. This aspect is really appreciated by the drivers. However, when equipped with traction kits such as the one disclosed in U.S. 6,006,847, the traction kits replacing the rear wheels rarely “spin” or lose traction since the traction kits improve the traction. Therefore, the front wheels or kits are rarely used to their full capacity and the ATV remains effectively a two “wheel” drive vehicle. Another problem with traction kits, especially for ATVs, can be the limited width of the vehicles.

Indeed, equipped or not with traction kits, the width of ATVs is usually limited to about 52 inches. If the traction kit equipped vehicle is wider, it would not fit into the pickup bed of a standard pickup truck or in some trailers. Moreover, when the vehicles are too wide, they are prohibited in certain trails. This total width limitation thus limits the width of the traction band that can be used with these traction kits.

However, larger and/or longer traction bands could be beneficial since they would provide larger contact areas with the ground, thus distributing the weight of the vehicle over a larger area. The improved weight distribution would create less pressure on the ground and more particularly, on the snow.

The vehicle would thus have a lesser tendency to sink in soft terrain and would be more stable. The installation of traction kits on vehicles and especially ATVs can also affect the steering capabilities of the vehicles. Indeed, the traction band of these traction kits has a much larger contact area with the ground than regular tires. Thus, when these kits replace the front wheels of a vehicle, it might be more difficult to turn the vehicle since the larger contact area creates more friction with the ground.

Therefore, upon installation of these traction kits, some vehicle parameters like steering, weight distribution or vehicle characteristic like width may be affected. Numerous traction kits have been proposed throughout the years. In “Wheel Mount Track Conversion Assembly” (U.S. 5,607,210 issued on Mar. 4, 1997), Brazier proposes a traction kits to replace the wheels of wheeled vehicles. His system further comprises an anti-torque system that prevents the kit from contacting the vehicle. Though it can be easily mounted on a wheeled vehicle, the system of Brazier does not solve the problems mentioned above.

In “Endless Track Structure for Light Wheeled Vehicle” (U.S. 6,006,847 issued on Dec.

28, 1999), Knight proposes an improved sprocket wheel shaft and idler wheels suspension system. In “Conversion system for all terrain vehicles” (U. Swathi Muthyam Songs Free Download In South Mp3 here. S. 6,095,275 issued on Aug. 1, 2000), Shaw proposes an ATV equipped with conversion kits such as ski assemblies and traction assemblies to replace existing wheels. Although adapting to the existing power system, the conversion system does not provide adjustability means for the weight distribution of the vehicle, such that the ATV's weight is dispersed to the ground surface through the traction and ski assemblies.

In “Track Assembly for All-Terrain Vehicle” (U.S. 6,874,586 issued on Apr. 5, 2005), Boivin et al. Disclose a traction kit wherein only a fraction of the traction band is in contact with the surface when this surface is flat. As we can see, many traction kits have been proposed but yet, none of them have solved the problems mentioned above. There is therefore a need for a traction assembly which improves riding condition when traction assemblies are used to replace existing wheels on vehicles. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved traction assembly for a vehicle which uses an endless traction band.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a traction assembly which can improve the power and torque transmission ratio. Another object of the present invention is to provide a traction assembly which can allow for the installation of wider traction bands. Another object of the present invention is to provide a traction assembly which can allow for the installation of longer traction bands. Another object of the present invention is to provide a traction assembly which can improves and facilitates steering. Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To attain these and other objects which will become more apparent as the description proceeds according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an improved traction assembly. The object of the present invention involves a traction assembly that can preferably replace a wheel on vehicle.

The traction assembly thus involves a vehicle with a frame and at least one traction axle. Preferably, the traction assembly can replace wheels on either side of the front portion and/or the rear portion of the vehicle. More particularly, the traction assembly includes a sprocket wheel and a longitudinally extending traction band cooperating with such sprocket wheel. The sprocket wheel is preferably fixedly attached by means known in the art to the traction axle (or the wheel hub) of the vehicle. The traction assembly also comprises a support structure or frame, preferably in the form of a slider bar on which at least one but preferably two idler wheels are mounted. These idlers wheels are preferably mounted at the extremities of the support structure.

A plurality of road wheels can also be mounted on either side and along the support structure to increase the stability of the traction band. In one embodiment of the present invention, the traction kit installed on the front and the rear wheels of a vehicle are substantially the same except for one characteristic. In this embodiment, the sprocket wheels of the traction kits used to replace the rear wheels of a vehicle have a number of sprocket teeth which is different from the number of sprocket teeth of the wheels used on the front traction kits. This difference in sprocket teeth number allows for an improved power and torque transmission for certain vehicles. It is to be understood that different uses or different vehicles may require different front and rear sprocket teeth number. In another embodiment of the present invention, the sprocket wheels of preferably the rear traction assemblies comprise radially extending teeth. However, these teeth are laterally offset toward the vehicle.

This offset allows the use of a wider traction band on the rear traction assembly without increasing the total width of the vehicle. Wider traction bands allow for better traction and better weight distribution. In still another embodiment of the present invention, the frame of the traction kit can be equipped with a frame extension which extends the total length of the traction kit. This longer traction kit can therefore support longer traction bands.

This lengthened traction kit is preferably installed on the rear axle of the vehicle since it requires more space. The extension is also preferably, but not necessarily, pivotally mounted of the frame of the traction kit in order for the extended traction kit to follow the variations in the ground surface. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the traction assembly further comprises an anti-torque device. 80% was given for example purpose only. Different manufacturers may have different power train ratio and therefore, the choice of sprocket wheels must be done accordingly.

Sprocket Wheel with Offset Teeth FIGS. 7 a and 7 b shows a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. 7 a, we can see a traction kit 300 as usually designed in the prior art. The wheels of the vehicle or ATV 30 are replaced by traction kits 300.

The sprocket wheels 301 are mounted on the wheel hubs 31 of the vehicle 30 using method and means known in the art. As shown in FIG. 8, in the prior art, the teeth 303 of the sprocket wheels 301 are aligned with the plane of rotation of the central wheel portion 307 of the sprocket wheel 301.

The central wheel portion 307 is configured to be mounted to the wheel hub 31 of the vehicle 30. In that sense, the central wheel portion 307 is provided with a series of openings 309. Returning to FIG.

7 a, we can see that this configuration limits the width of the traction band 305 that can be used with the traction kit 300. More precisely, to remain in the preferred 52 inches (132.08 cm) limit for the total width D of the vehicle 30, the width of the traction band 305 was usually limited to width w of 11.5 inches (29.21 cm). In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 7 b, we can see that the teeth 304 of the sprocket wheels 302 are laterally shifted with respect to the central wheel portion 308 of the sprocket wheel 302. More particularly, the sprocket teeth 304 are laterally displaced toward the vehicle 30.

Understandably, in this preferred embodiment, the sprocket teeth 304 generally rotate in a plane different from the rotation plane of the central wheel portion 308. 9 shows in more details the sprocket wheel 302 of the present invention. As indicated above, the sprocket wheel 302 comprises a central wheel portion 308 generally configured (via holes 312) to be secured to the vehicle 30, typically to the wheel hub 31 thereof, and a plurality of radially extending sprocket teeth 304 configured to conventionally engage the holes (not shown) formed in the body of the traction band 305/ 306. The sprocket teeth 304 and the central wheel portion 308 respectively have width 310 and 314. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the sprocket teeth 304 are laterally offset with respect to the central wheel portion 308 by an offset distance d, which can typically be around 1 inch (2.54 cm).

Preferably, though not exclusively, the offset distance d corresponds to the width 310 of the sprocket teeth 304 such that the width 310 of the sprocket teeth 304 does not substantially overlap the width 314 of the central wheel portion 308. The offset distance d allows the use of wider traction band 306 since the offset reduce the effective total width by 2*d. Indeed, by having sprocket teeth 304 offset toward the vehicle by a distance d, the sprocket wheel 302 effectively shifts the traction band toward the vehicle by the same distance d.

If d is 1 inch (2.54 cm), then the total width D of the vehicle 30 would be 50 inches if we use prior art traction bands 305. We can thus widen traction band 306 by at least d (1 inch or 2.54 cm) toward the exterior and possibly d (1 inch or 2.54 cm) toward the interior in order to have symmetric and balance traction bands 306 of a width W of 13.5 inches (34.29 cm). Thus, by offsetting the teeth 304 of the sprocket wheels 302 with respect to the central wheel portion 308 thereof, we can use wider traction band 306.

Wider band 306 implies larger contact area and thus, an improved weight distribution and a better traction. Wider bands 306 also imply a more stable vehicle 30. Traction kits 300 with comprising sprocket wheels 302 of the present invention are preferably but not exclusively used to replace only the rear wheels of the vehicle or ATV 30. Larger traction band 306 in the front of the ATV 30 could indeed hinder the steering capabilities of the ATV 30. Frame Extension In FIG. 10, we can see an exploded view of another embodiment of the present invention. The traction kit 400 of this embodiment comprises a frame structure 401 which in turn supports a sprocket wheel 402, pivotally mounted of the frame structure 401, a plurality of road wheels 403 and tension wheels 404.

A traction band (not shown), preferably made of rubber or reinforced rubber, although other material could be used, is tensioned around the sprocket wheel 402, the road wheels 403 and the tension wheels 404. The lower part of the frame structure 401 can also support a slider bar 405 onto which the traction band can slide. In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 10, the tension wheels 404 are removed from the traction kit 400 and replaced by the frame extension member 450.

It is to be understood that the tension wheels 404 were mounted on the frame structure 401 via a tensioning assembly 409. Tensioning assemblies are known in the art and will not be described any further.

The frame extension member 450 is pivotally mounted onto the frame structure 401 via mounting plates 460 and 462 and bolt or rod 459. The bolt 459 passes through aperture 458 of the frame extension 450 and apertures 461 and 463 of the mounting plates 460 and 462 respectively. The mounting plates 460 and 462 are also fixedly attached to the frame structure 401 via bolts and nuts assemblies or other equivalent fastening means.

The bolt 459 thus defines a pivot point around which the frame extension member 450 can at least partially pivot. This pivot point also permits the elongated traction kit 400 to follow the bumps and depressions of the ground on which the vehicle is driven. A rod 452 can further support a pair of supplemental road wheels 407 which are installed on either side of the rod 452. These road wheels 407 are mounted on the rod 452 via bushings and bolt and nut assemblies.

These road wheels 407 increase the support and stability of the traction band (not shown). To prevent excessive pivotal movement of the frame extension member 450 around the bolt 459, the frame extension 450 preferably further comprises an arcuate aperture 453. A small rod 454 is inserted through this aperture 453 and is further fixedly mounted on the mounting plates 460 and 462 via nuts and bolts assemblies or other equivalent fastening means. The frame extension is thus limited in its pivotal movement by the rod 454 which will abut at either end of the arcuate aperture 453 should the pivotal movement become excessive. The shape of the arcuate aperture 453 is chosen according to the specific shapes and dimensions of the frame structure 401 and the frame extension member 450. Understandably, other means to prevent excessive pivotal movements of the frame extension member 450 could be used without departing from the scope of the invention. To further limit the movement of the frame extension member 450 and to keep it in a preferred stable position, the frame extension member 450 can be further equipped with a mounting bracket 470.

The mounting bracket 470 comprises at least two holes 471, one located on each side of the frame extension member 450. These holes 471 are used as attaching points for two springs 472 and 474. The springs 472 and 474 are then further attached to the mounting plates 460 and 462 via small ear 464 (only one is shown albeit each mounting plates 460 and 462 is equipped with an ear) which includes a corresponding hole 465. As best shown in FIG. 11, with this arrangement, when the frame extension is in stable position, the rod 454 abuts on the upper end of the arcuate aperture 453 and the springs 472 and 474 are at rest. 12, when the frame extension 450 pivots upwardly (see arrow 490) about aperture 458 and bolt 459 and is in high position, rod 454 abuts in the lower end of the arcuate aperture 453, therefore limiting the amplitude of the pivotal movement. Moreover, as best shown in FIG.

12, as the frame extension pivots upwardly, the springs 472 and 474 are extended. When the force which produces the pivotal movement is removed, the springs 472 and 474, by virtue of their resiliency, will bring back the frame extension 450 to its stable position or low position as in FIG.

This arrangement also acts as a complementary suspension system. Should the frame extension member 450 not limited in its pivotal movement, the frame extension member 450 could create a momentum of force which could translate in excessive strain in the frame structure 401 which could ultimately break. Moreover, excessive pivotal movement of the frame extension 450 could also damage or even break the traction band (not shown). Finally, the frame extension member 450 is further preferably equipped with means 410 to receive the tensioning assembly 409 used to support the tension wheels 404. It is to be understood that the frame extension member 450 presented above was described according to a specific preferred embodiment. However, depending on the shape, dimension and design of the frame structure 401, the shape, dimension and design of the frame extension member 450 could change. Furthermore, it is envisaged, even though not preferred, that the frame extension member 450 be fixedly attached to the frame 401 instead of being pivotally mounted.

Since the frame extension member 450 can be retrofitted on an existing traction kit, the frame extension can come in a frame extension kit which would comprise: • • a frame extension member 450; • mounting means 460 and 462; • pivot means 459; • a correspondingly longer traction band; The kit could further comprise: • • at least one road wheel 407; • overpivoting prevention means 454; • resilient means 472 and 474. All the necessary brackets and fastening means would also be included in the kit. A method to retrofit frame extension kit described above to a traction kit 400 would comprise at least the following steps: • • releasing the original traction band; • removing the original traction band from the traction kit 400; • removing the rear wheels 404; • installing the frame extension member 450; • installing the rear wheel 404; • installing the new longer traction band on the extended traction kit 400; • tensioning the new longer traction band. The skilled addressee will obviously understand that other intermediate steps could be necessary given the particular traction kit 400 onto which the frame extension member 450 is installed.

Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein and illustrated in the accompanying figures, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise embodiments and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. Patent Citations Cited Patent Filing date Publication date Applicant Title * Aug 15, 1967 Jun 3, 1969 Katrak Vehicle Co Triple walking beam suspension and drive assembly for track laying vehicles Feb 24, 1970 Mar 21, 1972 Godfrey Pushnig Convertible snow track-wheeled scooter type vehicle * Jun 22, 1973 Oct 15, 1974 Caterpillar Tractor Co Triangular track resilient bogie suspension * Feb 24, 1977 Jun 6, 1978 Kawasaki Motors Corp. Snowmobile suspension system * Jan 20, 1978 Nov 21, 1978 Curnutt Charles R Horizontal inertia-responsive shock absorber * Dec 12, 1978 Oct 28, 1980 Caterpillar Tractor Co. Apparatus for shifting center of gravity of a work vehicle Dec 18, 1981 May 15, 1984 Barbieri Louis C Endless track attachment for a vehicle Nov 4, 1985 Oct 13, 1987 Suzuki Motor Company Limited Endless articulated steel band vehicle for off-road services * Nov 19, 1986 Jan 26, 1988 General Motors Corporation Suspension strut with quick take-apart upper mount * Aug 13, 1987 Apr 19, 1988 Beleggingsmiv.

Spring system * Feb 15, 1989 Sep 4, 1990 Phoenix Engineering, Inc. Track suspension system * Oct 31, 1990 Dec 24, 1991 Fiat Auto S.P.A. McPherson-type suspension unit for motor vehicles * Aug 8, 1994 Nov 21, 1995 General Motors Corporation Strut assembly with integral bearing and spring seat Dec 21, 1994 Mar 4, 1997 Brazier; Glen Wheel mount track conversion assembly Oct 17, 1996 Sep 21, 1999 Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho Crawler apparatus for vehicle Feb 18, 1997 Dec 28, 1999 Knight; Doyle D Endless track structure for light wheeled vehicle Feb 21, 1998 Aug 1, 2000 Shaw; Charles T. Conversion system for all terrain vehicles * Sep 20, 1999 Nov 20, 2001 Case Corporation Tracked suspension * May 4, 2001 Nov 5, 2002 Dale D. Cormican Snowmobile ski suspension system * Mar 18, 2003 Feb 17, 2004 Tan-Cheng Huang Shock absorber * Aug 7, 2002 Apr 6, 2004 Formula Fast Racing Track tensioning system for a tracked vehicle * Oct 30, 2002 Dec 21, 2004 Clark Equipment Company Loader frame and bolt-on track drive Jun 6, 2002 Apr 5, 2005 A & D Boivin Design Inc. Track assembly for an all-terrain vehicle * Nov 3, 2003 Sep 20, 2005 Hill John D Track drive undercarriage device, kit and method * Jun 27, 2003 Jan 3, 2006 Otico Vehicle drive device with flexible crawler and vehicle thus obtained * Jan 11, 2006 Jul 8, 2008 The University Of Western Ontario Snowmobile track suspension Jan 25, 2006 Mar 3, 2009 Soucy International Inc. Traction assembly for a vehicle May 17, 2007 Jun 30, 2009 Fargo Products, Llc.

Track system for a ground engaging vehicle * May 13, 2005 Sep 22, 2005 Michael Czysz Front suspension for motorcycle * Aug 26, 2009 Mar 4, 2010 Kubota Corporation Crawler Traveling Apparatus * Jul 25, 1997 Aug 31, 1999 Agtracks, Inc. Track system for vehicles.

In finance, a foreign exchange option (commonly shortened to just FX option or currency option) is a derivative financial instrument that gives the right but not the obligation to exchange money denominated in one currency into another currency at a pre-agreed exchange rate on a specified date.[1] See Foreign exchange derivative. The foreign exchange options market is the deepest, largest and most liquid market for options of any kind. Most trading is over the counter (OTC) and is lightly regulated, but a fraction is traded on exchanges like the International Securities Exchange, Philadelphia Stock Exchange, or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for options on futures contracts.

The global market for exchange-traded currency options was notionally valued by the Bank for International Settlements at $158.3 trillion in 2005 For example, a GBPUSD contract could give the owner the right to sell?1,000,000 and buy $2,000,000 on December 31. In this case the pre-agreed exchange rate, or strike price, is 2.0000 USD per GBP (or GBP/USD 2.00 as it is typically quoted) and the notional amounts (notionals) are?1,000,000 and $2,000,000. This type of contract is both a call on dollars and a put on sterling, and is typically called a GBPUSD put, as it is a put on the exchange rate; although it could equally be called a USDGBP call. If the rate is lower than 2.0000 on December 31 (say 1.9000), meaning that the dollar is stronger and the pound is weaker, then the option is exercised, allowing the owner to sell GBP at 2.0000 and immediately buy it back in the spot market at 1.9000, making a profit of (2.0000 GBPUSD? 1.9000 GBPUSD)? 1,000,000 GBP = 100,000 USD in the process. If instead they take the profit in GBP (by selling the USD on the spot market) this amounts to 100,000 / 1.9000 = 52,632 GBP.

Although FX options are more widely used today than ever before, few multinationals act as if they truly understand when and why these instruments can add to shareholder value. To the contrary, much of the time corporates seem to use FX options to paper over accounting problems, or to disguise the true cost of speculative positioning, or sometimes to solve internal control problems. The standard clich? About currency options affirms without elaboration their power to provide a company with upside potential while limiting the downside risk. Options are typically portrayed as a form of financial insurance, no less useful than property and casualty insurance. This glossy rationale masks the reality: if it is insurance then a currency option is akin to buying theft insurance to protect against flood risk.

The truth is that the range of truly non-speculative uses for currency options, arising from the normal operations of a company, is quite small. In reality currency options do provide excellent vehicles for corporates' speculative positioning in the guise of hedging. Corporates would go better if they didn't believe the disguise was real.

Let's start with six of the most common myths about the benefits of FX options to the international corporation -- myths that damage shareholder values. Historically, the currency derivative pricing literature and the macroeconomics literature on FX determination have progressed separately. In this Chapter I argue the joint study of these two strands of literature and give an overview of FX option pricing concepts and terminology crucial for this interdisciplinary study.

I also explain the three sources of information about market expectations and perception of risk that can be extracted from FX option prices and review empirical methods for extracting option-implied densities of future exchange rates. As an illustration, I conclude the Chapter by investigating time series dynamics of option-implied measures of FX risk vis-a-vis market events and US government policy actions during the period January 2007 to December 2008. Chapter 2: This Chapter proposes using foreign exchange (FX) options with different strike prices and maturities to capture both FX expectations and risks. We show that exchange rate movements, which are notoriously difficult to model empirically, are well-explained by the term structures of forward premia and options-based measures of FX expectations and risk. Although this finding is to be expected, expectations and risk have been largely ignored in empirical exchange rate modeling.

Using daily options data for six major currency pairs, we first show that the cross section options-implied standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis consistently explain not only the conditional mean but also the entire conditional distribution of subsequent currency excess returns for horizons ranging from one week to twelve months. At June 30 and September 30, the value of the portfolio was?1,050,000.

Note, however, that the notional amount of Ridgeway's hedging instrument was only?1,000,000. Therefore, subsequent to the increase in the value of the pound (which is assumed to have occurred on June 30), a portion of Ridgeway's foreign currency exchange risk was not hedged. For the three-month period ending September 30, exchange rates caused the value of the portfolio to decline by $52,500.

Of that amount, only $50,000 was offset by changes in the value of the currency put option. The difference between those amounts ($2,500) represents the exchange rate loss on the unhedged portion of the portfolio (i.e., the 'additional'?50,000 of fair value that arose through increased share prices after entering into the currency hedge).

At June 30, the additional?50,000 of stock value had a U.S. Dollar fair value of $45,000.

At September 30, using the spot rate of 0.85:1, the fair value of this additional portion of the portfolio declined to $42,500. Ridge way will exclude from its assessment of hedge effectiveness the portion of the fair value of the put option attributable to time value. That is, Ridgeway will recognize changes in that portion of the put option's fair value in earnings but will not consider those changes to represent ineffectiveness. Aitan Goelman, the CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, stated: “The setting of a benchmark rate is not simply another opportunity for banks to earn a profit. Countless individuals and companies around the world rely on these rates to settle financial contracts, and this reliance is premised on faith in the fundamental integrity of these benchmarks.

The market only works if people have confidence that the process of setting these benchmarks is fair, not corrupted by manipulation by some of the biggest banks in the world.” The Commission finalized rules to implement the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act regarding Regulation of Off-Exchange Retail Foreign Exchange Transactions and Intermediaries. Pc Game Conflict Global Storm Torrent. The Commission also finalized Conforming Changes to existing Retail Foreign Exchange Regulations in response to the Dodd-Frank Act. Additional information regarding these final rules is provided below, including rules, factsheets, and details of meetings held between CFTC Staff and outside parties.