| August 03, 2023 | | | |  | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
John Lothian News | |
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| | | | Observations & Insight | | | 
Exegy's Laurent de Barry on Exegy's tech solutions, how it helps firms address IT costs, and its crypto plans
JohnLothianNews.com
Laurent de Barry, Director of Hardware Trading Solutions at Exegy, spoke with JLN Correspondent Julie Ros at IDX in London. She asked him how Exegy helps firms address IT cost constraints, and he mentioned how Exegy helps companies make sure that when they pay for a solution it will help them differentiate themselves from the marketplace. He talked about the acquisition of Vela in 2021 and how it enriched Exegy's portfolio. Ros also asked him who Exegy's primary customers are. He talked about the major latency races among market makers and quant firms and said that is not likely to end anytime soon.
Watch the video »
| | | | | | Lead Stories | | | Introducing the 'No Downside' Exchange-Traded Fund
Eric Balchunas, and Joel Weber - Bloomberg
It sounds too good to be true. An exchange-traded fund that is 100% protected from any losses but still gets to participate in stock market gains? While there is a catch and a trade-off involved, that is pretty much what the Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETFâ2 Yr to July 2025 (TJUL) sets out to do in a strategy using options.
/jlne.ws/3YmxPhA
A Sudden Jump in Volatility Spells Trouble for US Stocks
Jan-Patrick Barnert - Bloomberg
Stock market volatility is suddenly back on radar screens as equities drop for a third day in a row. That doesn't bode well for the performance of markets, which haven't seen a pullback of 5% or more since March.
The VIX Index is trading at 16.9 this morning, its highest level in two months, and bouncing from a low of 12.7 last week. While in absolute terms the level is still low compared to history, this week's surprise spike might cause some of the market forces behind this year's rally to switch direction.
/jlne.ws/3YmmONb
The Economy's Odometer Is Broken
Justin Lahart - WSJ
American workers shook off their winter blues and got more productive in the second quarter. But don't be too quick to proclaim that a new era of productivity has emerged.
The Labor Department on Thursday reported that U.S. productivity, as measured by what a typical worker produces in a typical hour, grew at a seasonally adjusted 3.7% annual rate last quarter from the prior quarter. That came on the heels of a 2.1% decline in the first quarter, a 1.6% increase in the fourth quarter last year and...well, you get the picture. Productivity figures, which have always been volatile, have been a complete mess since the pandemic hit.
/jlne.ws/43T579c
Tupperware, Rite Aid, Yellow: Meme Stocks Are Having a Moment
Gunjan Banerji - WSJ
Shares of Tupperware, Rite Aid and trucking giant Yellow have been on a wild ride.
The eye-popping swings in recent days are reminiscent of the meme-stock craze during the pandemic that turned GameStop into an unlikely stock-market star. How it works: Traders rush into shares and options of distressed companies and stoke huge jumps with bets that they'll defy the odds and cash in big.
/jlne.ws/3OF0Ula
Ackman Says He's Short 30-Year Treasuries as Supply Ramps Up
Natalie Ching Mun Choy - Bloomberg
Bill Ackman is making sizable bets on declines for 30-year US Treasuries as a hedge on the impact of higher long-term rates on stocks. Ackman also sees the short as a "high probability" standalone play, the Pershing Square Capital Management founder said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. An increasing supply of Treasuries will be needed to fund the current budget deficit, future spending plans and higher refinancing rates, Ackman said. He is making the investment via options, rather than shorting bonds outright.
/jlne.ws/3YjWof2
Oil rises 2% as Saudi Arabia and Russia keep supplies tight
Scott Disavino - Reuters
Oil prices gained about 2% on Thursday as Saudi Arabia and Russia took steps to keep supplies tight into September and possibly beyond.
Brent futures rose $1.94, or 2.3%, to settle at $85.14 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.06, or 2.6%, to settle at $81.55.
A lack of big price moves in recent weeks has cut Brent's historic or actual 30-day close-to-close futures volatility to its lowest since February 2022.
In other oil markets, U.S. diesel futures rose about 2% to close at their highest since January 2023.
/jlne.ws/3OnVyJy
The Billion-Dollar Hedge Fund Club Is About to Get Bigger
Peter Rudegeair - WSJ
For startup hedge funds, bigger is increasingly better.
A handful of new firms are aiming for 10-figure launches, people familiar with their plans said, including Nick Laster's Lykos Global; JCAP, the brainchild of a 30-year-old quant; LuminArx Capital Management, started by former Blackstone executives; and stocks-focused Obion Capital Management.
/jlne.ws/3qfE61Q
| | | | | | Exchanges | | | Cboe Announces Winners of the Options Institute S&P Dow Jones Indices Dispersion Research Grant
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), the world's leading derivatives and securities exchange network, today announced Dr. Lorenzo Schoenleber, Assistant Professor in Finance at the Collegio Carlo Alberto and the University of Turin, and Dr. Grigory Vilkov, Professor of Finance at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, as the winners of the Options Institute S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) Dispersion Research Grant, which is focused on exploring dispersion as an asset class.
/jlne.ws/3KOsg6b
Robinhood Needs to Steal More Users; Online brokerage posts surprise profit, but drop in active users shows how much further it still has to go
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journal
Robinhood Markets turned a surprise profit in the second quarter. But that may not be enough to nab back its momentum just yet. What originally got the world so excited about Robinhood-explosive growth in active users-is a thing of the past. Monthly active users declined by about a million over the course of the second quarter, to 10.8 million. That is around half the level of two years ago, when Robinhood was in the midst of 2021's wild trading surge. Transaction-based revenue from equities, options and crypto trading is also falling, dropping 8% quarter over quarter.
/jlne.ws/3YlKTDH
****** What is the unique value proposition of Robinhood today?~JJL
July 2023 figures at Eurex; Strong rise in Repo volumes to EUR 332 billion; Strongest growth again in daily GC Pooling at plus 150 percent y-o-y; Notional outstanding in OTC Clearing up 20 percent
Eurex
Eurex, Europe's leading derivatives exchange, reports an 8 percent decrease in total trading volume to 118.6 million contracts in July from 128.3 million contracts in the same month last year. Interest rate derivatives decreased by 5 percent year-on-year in July from 50.4 million to 48 million traded contracts. Index derivatives decreased by 11 percent, from 61.4 million to 54.4 million contracts traded. In equity derivatives 15.9 million contracts were traded in July, decreasing by 3 percent from July last year.
/jlne.ws/45cPjPz
| | | | | | Regulation & Enforcement | | | SEC Chairman Gary Gensler Discusses the Risks to Finance in AI
Austin Weinstein - Bloomberg
Gary Gensler would like to talk about something other than crypto. After two years of battling an industry that he says is riddled with scams and fraud, the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission is focused on a different technology that has all of finance buzzing: artificial intelligence.
Unlike digital coins and nonfungible tokens, AI warrants the hype, according to Wall Street's top regulator. "This is the most transformative technology of this generation," Gensler says. "There's a 'there' thereâwe can get to crypto later. We're taking so much of what we humans do on a daily basis and automating it."
/jlne.ws/442ktsc
SEC Charges Florida Investment Adviser a Second Time for Insider Trading
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed insider trading charges against Charles Rustin Holzer, a family office executive and former broker who last year settled SEC charges that he traded in options of Dun & Bradstreet Corp. (DNB) on inside information. The SEC's latest complaint alleges that, in addition to the options trades that were the subject of the SEC's prior lawsuit, Holzer also placed unlawful trades in DNB stock through offshore accounts that were not disclosed to the SEC in connection with the prior investigation and settlement.
/jlne.ws/3QwAovo
| | | | | | Technology | | | Cboe Digital to clear first external technology venue Crossover Markets' CROSSx; Launched earlier this year, CROSSx is an execution-only cryptocurrency electronic communication network backed by US-based hedge fund Two Sigma and Nomura.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Digital asset technology firm Crossover Markets Group is collaborating with Cboe Digital to offer a clearing solution for trades across digital asset execution platforms. Crossover's flagship product, CROSSx, has become the first external technology venue to provide connectivity to Cboe Digital.
/jlne.ws/3QjxhHi
| | | | | | Moves | | | Ajay Jain is starting a new position as vice president, regulatory technology at Cboe Global Markets. He was previously senior director of data and analytics at Cboe and before that had been executive director and head of market regulatory systems at CME Group
| | | | | | Strategy | | | Active Bond ETFs Are Vying for Investors' Money. We Weigh the Pros and Cons.
Lauren Foster - Barron's
Bond managers are betting big on active exchange-traded funds.
In recent months, two bond kingsâBlackRock's Rick Rieder and Pimco's Dan Ivascynâhave gotten in on the act. It's another sign of the growing popularity of ETFs as an alternatives to mutual funds, where active managers have long held sway.
/jlne.ws/449Kiql
Milestone Minute: Pacer ETFs Cash Cow Series
Cboe (Video)
Milestone Minute: Pacer ETFs Cash Cow Series
/jlne.ws/3Qk5hTW
| | | | | | Miscellaneous | | | Warren Buffett dismisses Fitch downgrade: 'Some things you shouldn't worry about'
William Watts - MarketWatch
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett doesn't sound too shaken up by Fitch Ratings' decision earlier this week to knock its rating on U.S. government debt down to AA+ from AAA.
The downgrade prompted several market watchers to observe that investors aren't driven to buy U.S. Treasurys based on the credit rating. Analysts didn't expect the downgrade to result in any meaningful forced selling of Treasurys, noting that many major Treasury holders, such as funds and index trackers, had already prepared for the move by changing mandates to specifically refer to Treasurys rather than AAA credit.
/jlne.ws/3rY0ldr
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