Nasdaq OMX plans to introduce contracts of steel on its futures exchange, with help from the World Steel Exchange. CME Group makes its own plans for new contracts, eyeing two new crude oil products by year’s end. Exchange operator Deutsche Börse is the combo breaker today, announcing not new contracts, but a new technology and service division.

In the wake of two technical faults in two weeks, exchange CBOE decides to hold off a bit on its plans to extend its trading day. Customers at the London Metal Exchange make dark suggestions that if the EU insists on pursuing aggressive regulatory reform, the LME’s business might very well head to Hong Kong instead. The London Stock Exchange is on track with its future acquisition of the Italian retail bond platform EuroTLX.

Clearing company DTCC files a lawsuit, taking aim at regulator CFTC for creating a rules it says inappropriately favors competitor CME Group. Exchange CBOE suffers its second (though this time more limited) operational fault in a week. Hedge funds, struggling to find a decent place to sit and be profitable for a while, look to Japan for the first time in a while as economic policy shifts there make the country more intriguing.

IntercontinentalExchange hopes global pricing benchmarks for natural gas will help lift its own gas futures market.  NYSE CEO does not want the SEC endorsing the idea of a separate stock exchange for small companies.  Brokers at London’s Tullett Prebon reportedly took former RBS trader Neil Danziger to strip clubs and on trips to Las Vegas.