Newedge, the world's largest independent futures broker, is said to be leaking traders.

According to The Financial Times, sources say that the firm 'is facing a raft of departures from its metals team, as traders are being poached by Jefferies'.

One former Newedge executive told the newspaper: 'It's a mess over there. Their owners want to sell them, there's no business strategy and no-one wants to stay because they don't know what's going to happen'.

Newedge is a joint ventire between Credit Agricole and Societe Generale.

In the meantime, Reuters reports that Credit Agricole is in talks to sell its loss-making Cheuvreux brokerage arm to financial services group Kepler Capital Markets, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Kepler is one of two or three potential buyers for the unit, which has been in search of a partner since China's Citic Securities dropped plans to buy a 20 percent stake in it, a source close to Cheuvreux told the news agency.

Finally, Reuters reports that a programming error on a massive trade by a broker-dealer on Friday nearly caused a 'disastrous' set of events at market close that could have cost millions, but was caught by a person overseeing end of day trading, the exchange, owned by NYSE Euronext, said.

The event illustrates the difference in market structure between a fully electronic exchange and the Big Board, which has a hybrid system where the open and close are monitored by flesh and blood 'Designated Market Makers' (DMMs), said Lou Pastina, executive vice president of operations at NYSE.

Hit the link below to access the complete Reuters article:

NYSE catch saves broker from disastrous blunder