| January 10, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
You can feel the electricity, the anticipation of the spot bitcoin ETF approval or rejection in the air. So when the SEC X/Twitter account was hacked yesterday and a message was sent saying the ETFs were approved, the markets responded. But then the electricity was turned off as the message turned out to be a hack. Stay tuned as the juice gets turned back up.
Have you paid for your 2024 subscription to JLN yet? You can do that on www.johnlothiannews.com and clicking on this link. I encourage you to sign up for the recurring payments if you are a regular reader. That makes it easier for both of us to manage. If you would like an invoice, you can send me an email at johnlothian@johnlothian.com and I will be glad to send you one.
Later today we will publish part two of our Scott Shellady Open Outcry Traders History Project video interview. Scott is known as "The Cow Guy" for his wearing a Holstein cow print trading jacket. He is the host of a show on RFD-TV and has many great stories to tell, which is why we had to turn his interview into a three-part series. We will also be publishing the podcast version of the whole discussion with Scott today.
On January 9th, The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) was lauded by Built In for its outstanding workplace environment in the 2024 Best Places to Work Awards, marking OCC's third consecutive year of recognition. This annual awards program encompasses a diverse array of companies, from startups to large enterprises, all across the United States. OCC's exceptional workplace culture earned it a place on several esteemed lists, including the Best Large Places to Work in Chicago, IL, Best Places to Work in Dallas, TX, Best Large Places to Work in Dallas, TX, Best Places to Work in Washington DC, and Best Large Places to Work in Washington DC.
Registration is open for the 42nd Annual Options Industry Conference, which will be held at the historic Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC from April 30 - May 2, 2024. John Lothian News will be present conducting video interviews at the conference. We hope to see you there.
ICE is holding a webinar titled "Managing asset repricing risk in mortgage credit." The description includes: "The impact of climate change and shifting property insurance markets. The rising cost and diminished availability of hazard insurance is pressuring the mortgage borrower's ability to repay. Residential and commercial MBS investors are now tasked with projecting how this can impact future asset prices and collateral performance."
The webinar is on Tuesday, January 30 at 11 a.m. ET and features David Varano, Director, Business Development, ICE, Evan Kodra, Senior Director, Sustainable Finance, ICE and Dave Burt, Founder & CEO, DeltaTerra Capital. You can register HERE.
Cboe Global Markets is looking to fill a Senior Manager, Product Management role in Chicago.
The Wall Street Journal wants you to know "How Much Caffeine You Should Actually Have-and When." The subheadline for the story is "Figure out the right amount of caffeine to boost alertness without disrupting your sleep." My question is, "Who sleeps?"
For you Hamilton musical fans and gun collectors, Barron's reports that a pair of pocket pistols belonging to Alexander Hamilton will be sold at auction. The pistols have his initials on them "and can be dated to the six-year period between July 1798 and July 1804, when Hamilton was killed in a duel by longtime rival Aaron Burr."
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
*****
Misinformation and disinformation topped the short-term threats identified in The World Economic Forum Global Risks Report 2024. Placing second was extreme weather, and third was societal polarization. Extreme weather risks were the highest concern over the long term. Released ahead of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos January 15-19, 2024, the Global Risks Report captures insights from nearly 1,500 global experts and analyzes global risks over the short-term (two years) and long-term (10 years). The report concludes by considering approaches for addressing these global risks. Download the report here. Listen to a podcast from Radio Davos on the Global Risks Report here. ~SAED
Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Futures Discovery: Careers in the Futures Industry from John Lothian News.
- Cryptoverse: Bitcoin derivatives traders bet billions on ETF future from Reuters via Yahoo Finance.
- Option Style, A Driver for the Value of an Option Contract from John Lothian News. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Scott Shellady - Open Outcry Traders History Project - Part One
JohnLothianNews.com
Scott Shellady, known as the "Cow Guy," discussed his journey from playing football at the University of Colorado to becoming a successful trader and market commentator with John Lothian News in an Open Outcry Trader History Project Interview. He encountered a roadblock in his initial attempt to pursue a degree in finance, so he started out studying art. He was later able to switch to finance as he experienced success in football. He was reluctant at first to follow in his father's footsteps to the Chicago Board of Trade, but eventually he decided to explore his father's world of trading at the CBOT.
Watch the video »
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Futures Discovery: Careers in the Futures Industry
JohnLothianNews.com
In episode 4 of Futures Discovery, we're diving into the diverse world of careers within the futures industry. From the fast-paced world of trading to the analytical realms of risk management and technology, there's a multitude of career paths in this dynamic field.
Watch the video »
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TradeStation Securities and CQG Collaborate to Provide CQG's Enhanced Analytics Combined with TradeStation's Multi-Asset Brokerage Capabilities; Integration with CQG provides traders functionality for equities and futures-all in one place through CQG's Integrated Client platform.
CQG
TradeStation Securities, Inc. ("TradeStation Securities"), an award-winning,* self-clearing online brokerage for trading stocks, ETFs, options and futures, has announced that CQG, a global provider of high-performance technology solutions for traders, brokers, commercial hedgers and exchanges, has integrated with TradeStation Securities' brokerage services. This arrangement further expands CQG's multi-broker network and gives TradeStation Securities clients an array of additional functionality for trading futures and equities.
/jlne.ws/3RRoWK0
****** Big deal for both firms, who were rivals at one time.~JJL
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Music streams hit 4 trillion in 2023. Country and global acts - and Taylor Swift - fueled the growth
Associated Press via Bloomberg
Listened to more music last year? You're not alone. The global music industry surpassed 4 trillion streams in 2023, a new single-year record, Luminate's 2023 Year-End Report found. Global streams were also up 34% from last year, reflective of an increasingly international music marketplace. Stateside, three genres saw the biggest growth in 2023: country (23.7%), Latin (which encompasses all Latin musical genres, up 24.1%) and world (a catchall that includes J-pop, K-pop and Afrobeats, up 26.2%.)
/jlne.ws/3SbFz4m
****** There is a market opportunity in here somewhere.~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our top story Tuesday was The Wall Street Journal's Love and Deceit: Work-From-Home Era Spawns 'Pillow Talk' Insider Trading. Second was A Glimpse Inside a Devastated Gaza, from The New York Times. Third was Crypto and fintech groups fined $5.8bn in global crackdown on illicit money, from the Financial Times.
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| Lead Stories | AI advances risk facilitating cyber crime, top US officials say
Luc Cohen - Reuters
Advances in artificial intelligence may facilitate hacking, scamming and money laundering by reducing the technical know-how required to carry out such crimes, top U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials said on Tuesday. Rob Joyce, director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency, said at the International Conference on Cyber Security at Fordham University in Manhattan that less capable people are using AI to guide hacking operations they would not have otherwise been able to carry out themselves.
/jlne.ws/47usurl
Hackers seize control of SEC's X account to promote crypto; The false post set off a brief frenzy among crypto traders before the agency regained control
Joseph Menn - The Washington Post
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday an "unknown party" had hacked its official account on the social media platform X to promote bitcoin, the latest of multiple hacks used to push cryptocurrencies. Tech is not your friend. We are. Sign up for The Tech Friend newsletter. The account @SECGov posted on the platform, formerly known as Twitter, that the agency had approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds for listing on national exchanges.
/jlne.ws/3TNHkWS
Launches of ESG funds plummet as investors pull back; Managers drop sustainability labels from products amid scrutiny from clients and regulators
Will Schmitt - Financial Times
Launches of funds claiming environmental, social or governance attributes all but dried up in the past six months, as investors baulked at increased scrutiny of sustainability claims by companies and asset managers.
/jlne.ws/4aKqn5L
Bitcoin ETF hopefuls still expect SEC approval despite social media hack
Hannah Lang and Suzanne McGee - Reuters
U.S. asset managers remain hopeful the securities regulator will permit the trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), even after a fake post on the agency's social media account saying they had been approved sparked confusion on Tuesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will decide on Wednesday whether to approve an application from asset managers Ark Investments and 21Shares to launch a spot bitcoin ETF. More than a dozen bitcoin ETF applications, including from BlackRock (BLK.N), Fidelity and VanEck, are also pending with the agency.
/jlne.ws/3NYo0Cn
SEC's Bitcoin ETF debacle was result of employee not utilizing two-factor authentication: X safety
Lawrence Richard - Fox Business
X's corporate safety account has determined that a post from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning Bitcoin on Tuesday was not the result of a hacking attempt. About 15 minutes after the SEC said on X that Chairman Gary Gensler approved of Bitcoin ETFs, Gensler himself said the post was false and its "account was compromised." Hours later, the X Safety account said a preliminary investigation found the account was not breached but was accessed "rather due to an unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number associated with the [official SEC] account through a third party."
/jlne.ws/3HcxZAf
CME and S&P DJI to collaborate on launch of options later this month; The options will be available on S&P 500 annual dividend index futures from 29 January.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
CME Group is set to launch options on S&P 500 annual dividend index futures on 29 January, subject to a regulatory review. The move is set to provide an enhanced, more innovative and diversified offering for clients. Tim Brennan, head of capital markets at S&P Dow Jones Indices (DJI), highlighted the key benefits of the collaboration: "By providing the underlying view into US dividend trends through our S&P 500 Dividend Points Index (Annual), coupled with CME Group's financial products, market participants can track and express their views on an important component of equity returns."
/jlne.ws/41Pxl5n
SEC Blames Hack for Incorrect Post About Bitcoin ETF Approval; Price surges toward $48,000 before Chair Gary Gensler, agency disavow message on X social-media network
Paul Kiernan and Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
The Securities and Exchange Commission's official X account was hacked when the agency posted late Tuesday that it had approved exchange-traded funds holding bitcoin, forcing Chair Gary Gensler and the regulator to disavow the erroneous post. Bitcoin briefly jumped to near $48,000 before Gensler said on the social-media network that the message was "unauthorized" and that the SEC "has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products." The agency later posted that its account was "compromised."
/jlne.ws/3vuS2Y6
It's Deadline Day for an SEC Decision on Spot Bitcoin ETFs. Here's What to Watch.
The Wall Street Journal
Today could be the day. The Securities and Exchange Commission faces a final deadline Wednesday to rule on at least one of 11 applications for exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin. The decision is long awaited by cryptocurrency watchers-and the prospect that some or all of the applications will be approved has lately been seen as bullish for bitcoin. There was some drama late Tuesday: After a message on the social network X said the SEC had approved the funds, the message was deleted and the agency said its account had been "compromised."
/jlne.ws/3S9Gh26
SEC Account Hack Amplifies Concerns Over Security at Musk's X; Breach underscores questions about reliability of news on X; Elon Musk's X has been seeking to win back advertisers
Kurt Wagner - Bloomberg
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said its account on social network X was "compromised," leading to a spike in the price of Bitcoin and raising fresh questions about X's reliability as a source of information and the strength of its security practices. The incident, one of the most consequential breaches in years on the platform formerly known as Twitter, began with a post on the SEC's official verified account, which inaccurately shared that the regulator had approved spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds - a decision that had been anticipated for later this week. The price of Bitcoin quickly shot up more than 2.5% as news of the post spread online and via media outlets, including Bloomberg News, that were watching the SEC's feed for such an announcement.
/jlne.ws/3HiPOO0
Jane Street Scores $7 Billion Trading Haul During Market Swings
Paula Seligson, Katherine Doherty, and Jill R Shah - Bloomberg
Jane Street Group LLC reeled in $7.3 billion of net trading revenue in the first nine months of last year, as the proprietary trading giant benefited from market swings and an expansion of its products. The figures - disclosed to investors as part of a debt deal - also showed the company expected to generate $3 billion to $3.5 billion of net trading revenue in the fourth quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. That would bring it close to the $10.7 billion it made in the full year of 2022, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
/jlne.ws/3tJUDNr
Shadow Banking Won't Give Jamie Dimon a Rest; JPMorgan's CEO is right to worry about banks' shrinking share of the overall financial system.
Marc Rubinstein - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. reports earnings on Friday, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon is bound to have some choice words about the state of his industry when he sits on a call with investors at 8:30 a.m. In the past, Dimon has bemoaned growing competition from non-banks. Three years ago, he highlighted how stricter regulatory oversight was pushing some traditional banking business lines into the arms of shadow banks. "They're dancing in the streets," he said last year of hedge funds, private equity and private credit firms that avoid stringent bank capital requirements. Each year, his annual shareholder letter tracks how banks' share of the overall financial system has shrunk while shadow banks have grown.
/jlne.ws/41UKkCB
Bank Runs Are Terrible. The Fed Can Eliminate Them; There's a better way to ensure lenders can always pay their depositors.
Bill Dudley - Bloomberg
Almost a year ago, America experienced a frightening financial shock: a run on banks, in which depositors raced to pull money out of institutions that they feared were about to collapse. Such events can and should be a thing of the past, but this will require significant changes in the way the Federal Reserve backstops the banking system.
/jlne.ws/496damf
How many banks might ECBitcoin break? And if a European CBDC doesn't break a few, what's the point?
Bryce Elder - Financial Times
Morgan Stanley has a note out today on the digital euro, the European Central Bank's grasp to retain monetary sovereignty in an increasingly paperless union. Work on a eurozone Central Bank Digital Currency began in earnest in November, with two years allocated for the preparation phase. There's a lengthy Q&A on the ECB website explaining what we're going to call ECBitcoin will and won't be, which includes lots of reassurances about inclusivity and privacy protection and not much on its potential to accelerate bank runs:
/jlne.ws/3S9NHCu
Bitcoin's Respectability Takes a Fresh Hit With SEC Hack. Here's Why.
Barron's
The hackers who managed to break into the Securities and Exchange Commission's X account to falsely post that a Bitcoin ETF has been approved aren't doing crypto any favors. A Bitcoin exchange-traded fund getting the green light from regulators would be a huge deal for cryptocurrencies. For one, a mainstream financial instrument would be buying and holding Bitcoin at scale. There could also be a lot of investors waiting for the SEC's blessing before putting their money in crypto. In short, it will unlock a rush of new money in the asset class, pushing prices even higher. Or so the theory goes.
/jlne.ws/3SclCdR
The Fed Launched a Bank Rescue Program Last Year. Now, Banks Are Gaming It; Borrowing at the bank term funding program is up to record highs but not because of new stresses
David Benoit and Eric Wallerstein - The Wall Street Journal
An emergency lending program the Federal Reserve created during the 2023 banking crisis has turned into easy money. Borrowing from the Fed's bank term funding program has increased to new highs in recent weeks, a strange consequence of the market's flip to forecasting multiple Fed rate cuts over the coming 12 months.
/jlne.ws/3vwXYA0
GFXD Sets Out Key Agenda Items for 2024
MarketsMedia
London-based James Kemp leads the Global FX Division (GFXD) of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA), which works to ensure a well-functioning, efficient, and cost-effective global FX market, among its key objectives. Now in his 14th year at the helm of the industry association, Kemp speaks with Markets Media Group Senior Writer Julie Ros about the ongoing efforts to keep abreast of industry best practices.
/jlne.ws/41UuwQj
'It's a scary time' as world shatters temperature record; And 2024 may bring more of the same.
Zack Colman - Politico
The Earth notched up its warmest year on record last year - but even that new peak is in danger of being surpassed in 2024. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed a milestone Tuesday that scientists had long predicted: 2023's average global temperature surpassed the previous peak set in 2016, and reached the highest mark since record-keeping began in 1880.
/jlne.ws/3SbC5yO
The climate costs of war and militaries can no longer be ignored
Doug Weir - The Guardian
In early 2022, journalists began to ask us how Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was affecting the climate crisis. While we could point to landscape fires, burning oil refineries and the thirst of diesel-hungry military vehicles, the emissions data they sought just wasn't available. When it came to the reverberating consequences of Russia's manipulation of Europe's fossil fuel insecurity, or to the weakening of the international cooperation necessary for coordinated global climate action, our guesses were no better than theirs.
/jlne.ws/4aP9abi
Battery Metal Price Plunge Is Closing Mines and Stalling Deals
Thomas Biesheuvel - Bloomberg
A meltdown in some of the most-hyped energy-transition metals is wreaking havoc across the mining world, stalling projects, scuppering deals and triggering a scramble for cash that promises to reverberate through the industry for years.
/jlne.ws/3vwnoOd
U.S. Carbon Emissions Fell in 2023 as Coal Use Tumbled to New Lows; The drop was big, but emissions would need to fall three times as fast for the rest of the decade if the country wants to meet its climate goals.
Brad Plumer - The New York Times
America's greenhouse gas emissions fell 1.9 percent in 2023, in large part because the burning of coal to produce electricity plummeted to its lowest level in half a century, according to estimates published on Wednesday by the Rhodium Group, a nonpartisan research firm.
/jlne.ws/47KvuQN
Impax Asset Management to acquire corporate credit business from partner firm Formuepleje Group; Following completion of the acquisition, Formuepleje's credit portfolio managers will become part of Impax's fixed income team, reporting to Ross Pamphilon.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Impax Asset Management has entered into an agreement to acquire the corporate credit assets from fixed income manager Absalon Corporate Credit, part of Formuepleje Group. The deal is subject to closing conditions. The sum has not been disclosed.
/jlne.ws/47ux0pN
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukraine's War Effort Is Stuck. This Heroic Battlefield Failure Shows Why; Rout of elite Ukraine forces in counteroffensive is a lesson in why the war effort is stalled
James Marson and Oksana Grytsenko - The Wall Street Journal
Ukraine's counteroffensive against the country's Russian invaders last year envisioned that elite forces, like the unit led by Capt. Anatoliy Kharchenko, would sweep in to deliver the final blows of a D-Day-like triumph. But by the time paratroopers in Kharchenko's company entered the battle on a moonless night last August, the counteroffensive was already skidding toward failure-and his men were about to learn all of the deadly reasons why.
/jlne.ws/48qSfu9
Ukraine producing more drones than state can purchase, minister says
Reuters
Ukrainian manufacturers have ramped up output of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to the extent that Kyiv's current drone procurement budgets are not sufficient to buy everything being produced, Ukraine's technology minister said on Tuesday. Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister who also handles the digital brief, has championed the use of drones to fight off the Russian invasion since its early days.
/jlne.ws/3RKQbWE
Russia's Oil Drilling Boom Proves Moscow's Resilience to Western Sanctions
Bloomberg
Russia was on pace for a second year of record oil drilling in 2023, further evidence of the nation's resilience to Western sanctions. The boom in activity came alongside a recovery in both the volume and value of Russia's oil exports, a stark illustration of how the country's fossil fuel industry has been a crucial source of funds for President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, which is about to enter its third year.
/jlne.ws/3tSLpyg
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Houthis Launch Fresh Red Sea Barrage as Blinken Tries to Contain Gaza War; The U.S. is trying to build a consensus on how Gaza will be governed once the conflict ends
William Mauldin and Thomas Grove - The Wall Street Journal
Yemen's Houthi rebels launched their largest barrage so far of missiles and drones into the crucial Red Sea shipping lane while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued his efforts to prevent the conflict in Gaza from escalating into a broader regional war. Blinken sat down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank as part of a tour through the region, which also includes half a dozen Arab states as well as Turkey.
/jlne.ws/4aNvPor
Houthis Launch Missiles, Drone Barrage in New Red Sea Attack; Assault carried out after Blinken warns of 'consequences'; Five ships from US, UK responded; no injuries are reported
Bill Faries and Paul Wallace - Bloomberg
Yemen's Houthis launched their largest missile and drone attack to date on ships in the Red Sea, forcing a response from US and UK forces patrolling the critical waterway. American and British jets and warships shot down 18 drones and three anti-ship missiles around 9 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the US military.
/jlne.ws/48OvvUm
Israel's Far Right Calls for Palestinians to Resettle Outside Gaza; Comments spark tensions with U.S., as Blinken calls them inflammatory and irresponsible
Shayndi Raice and Carrie Keller-Lynn - The Wall Street Journal
Far-right Israeli ministers are increasingly calling for Palestinians to leave Gaza and for Jews to rebuild settlements there, complicating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to maintain diplomatic support for the war against Hamas while also ensuring his own political survival.
/jlne.ws/3NX1yJS
US Navy shoots down barrage of Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen over Red Sea, US Central Command says
Oren Liebermann - CNN
The US Navy shot down 21 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, according to a statement from US Central Command, in one of the largest Houthi attacks to take place in the Red Sea in recent months. The military called it a "complex attack" carried out by the Iranian-backed militants.
/jlne.ws/48pyjYv
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Abaxx Announces Closing of Strategic Financing in Abaxx Singapore
Abaxx
Abaxx Technologies Inc. (NEO:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) ("Abaxx Tech" or the "Company"), a financial software and market infrastructure company and majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte. Ltd. ("Abaxx Singapore"), the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, "Abaxx Exchange" and "Abaxx Clearing"), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, is pleased to announce that Abaxx Singapore has closed its best efforts equity private placement as previously announced on January 3, 2024 (the "Offering") for gross proceeds of US$27,323,013. The Offering consisted of the issuance of 953,787 preferred shares (the "Preferred Shares") to strategic partners and 4,837,392 ordinary shares (the "Ordinary Shares") and 3,730,362 Ordinary Share purchase warrants (the "Warrants"). The investors for Preferred Shares are Abaxx's first group of globally recognized strategic participants in the market infrastructure and commodity ecosystems (CBOE III LLC "Cboe", TLW Trading LLC "TLW", Traxys Lithium Investments Limited "Traxys"), while Abaxx Tech (through an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary) is the investor for the Ordinary Shares and Warrants.
/jlne.ws/3HcoZLp
Cboe Canada Welcomes Guardian Capital LP For Inaugural Launch of Defined Maturity Bond ETFs
Cboe Canada
Today, Cboe Canada Inc. welcomes Guardian Capital LP ("Guardian Capital") for the launch of five new funds. The suite of five funds invests in investment grade bonds with varying defined maturity dates and are now available for trading under the following symbols:
/jlne.ws/48ueGhQ
CME Group International Average Daily Volume Reaches Record 6.8 Million Contracts in 2023, Up 8% from 2022
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that average daily volume (ADV) outside the United States reached a record 6.8 million contracts in 2023, up 8% from 2022. This record was driven largely by growth in Equity Index and Interest Rate products, up 26% and 23% respectively.
/jlne.ws/48sobya
CME's lithium contract volumes thrive after price slump
Polina Devitt and Siyi Liu - Reuters
A surge in hedging activity by the lithium industry and traders after the recent price slump has benefited CME Group (CME.O) which saw volumes on its lithium contract soar last year. Growing demand for lithium from the electric vehicle (EV)sector means increasing exposure to price volatility of the material used in the batteries that power these vehicles.
/jlne.ws/4aTNFX0
SPAN 2 Framework Energy Model Parameter Changes - Effective January 10, 2024
CME Group
As per normal review, CME Clearing has undertaken a review of the hypothetical stressed scenarios parameter used in the SPAN 2 Framework's natural gas pod. In particular, within the SPAN 2 framework, the hypothetical stressed scenarios parameter is incorporated in the stress value-at-risk sub-component of the market risk component. Following this review, CME Clearing has determined it will introduce hypothetical stressed scenarios parameter changes to align with current volatility across the term structure for natural gas. While the impact to production portfolios will vary depending upon the risk profile for each individual portfolio, CME Clearing expects an increase in margin requirements for spreads against the front month natural gas contract and the total margin for futures and options products to increase by under 1%.
/jlne.ws/48J8Wk7
New Product Summary: Initial Listing of the Options on S&P 500 Annual Dividend Index Futures Contract - Effective January 29, 2024
CME Group
Initial Listing of the Options on S&P 500 Annual Dividend Index Futures Contract
/jlne.ws/3TQ978X
Product Modification Summary: Administrative Amendments to the Contract Title of all Micro Yield Futures Contracts - Effective February 05, 2024
CME Group
Administrative Amendments to the Contract Title of all Micro Yield Futures Contracts.
/jlne.ws/3tB0bKc
Deutsche Boerse announces successful completion of the acquisition of the leading digital fund distribution platform FundsDLT
Deutsche Boerse Group
Global market infrastructure provider Deutsche Boerse today announced the completion of its acquisition of FundsDLT following approval from the Luxembourg financial regulator Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). Deutsche Boerse Group now holds 100 percent of FundsDLT, a leading decentralized platform for end-to-end fund issuance and marketing based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) based in Luxembourg. The company will operate within the Clearstream Fund Services business segment, but will operate independently of Clearstream, Deutsche Börse Group's post-trade infrastructure provider in Luxembourg. It will maintain its legal identity and its accreditation with the CSSF.
/jlne.ws/48vul0C
HKEX Signs Cooperation Agreement With Xi'an Government
HKEx
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) and the Xi'an Municipal People's Government (Xi'an Government) today (Wednesday) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen cooperation, and in particular support Xi'an-based companies that are interested in seeking a listing in Hong Kong. Under the MOU, HKEX and the Xi'an Government will exchange information on the latest developments in the capital markets of Hong Kong and Xi'an, as well as jointly host seminars for Xi'an-based organisations on capital raising opportunities in the region. Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, is developing as a major research and development hub in Northwest China. Key industries in Xi'an include equipment manufacturing, healthcare, new energy, semiconductor as well as mining. Currently, there are nine Xi'an-based companies listed on HKEX.
/jlne.ws/3SaP0Bk
More stock splits, easier for individuals to buy, Minimum investment 1/7 of bubble era
JPX
The minimum investment required to buy shares in a publicly traded company is falling. In 2023, the average for TSE Prime companies was about 280,000 yen, about 1/7 of what it was in 1989 during the bubble period. This is because more and more companies are splitting their shares at the request of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This will make it easier for individuals to buy and provide momentum for the newly launched Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA).
/jlne.ws/41RDQo8
TMX Group Equity Financing Statistics - December 2023
TMX Group
TMX Group today announced its financing activity on Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) for December 2023. TSX welcomed three new issuers in December 2023, compared with seven in the previous month and two in December 2022. The new listings were a closed-end fund, a mining company and consumer products & services company. Total financings raised in December 2023 increased 74% compared to the previous month, but were down 15% compared to December 2022. The total number of financings in December 2023 was 39, compared with 34 the previous month and 25 in December 2022.
/jlne.ws/3tMnvo7
The Moscow Exchange summed up trading results in December 2023
MOEX
The total trading volume on the Moscow Exchange markets in December 2023 amounted to 139.6 trillion rubles (94.6 trillion rubles in December 2022). The total trading volume for the 12 months of 2023 amounted to 1.3 quadrillion rubles (1.1 quadrillion rubles for the 12 months of 2022).
/jlne.ws/3RUkkmp
Investments in money market exchange-traded funds exceeded 200 billion rubles
MOEX
The net asset value of money market exchange-traded mutual investment funds (MUIFs) traded on the Moscow Exchange stock market exceeded 200 billion rubles, demonstrating a 15-fold increase in 2023. At the end of December last year, more than 359 thousand investors held money market exchange-traded funds in their portfolios, which is three times more than at the beginning of 2023. The average daily trading volume in money market funds quadrupled compared to 2022 and amounted to RUB 460 million. The total volume of transactions with money market funds last year exceeded 570 billion rubles. The average investment in money market funds by one private investor currently exceeds 600 thousand rubles.
/jlne.ws/3HklySV
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | SEC's account compromise was 'not due to any breach of X's systems,' company says
Sheila Chiang, Joanna Tan - CNBC
Social media X said late Tuesday it has completed a preliminary probe into the compromised account of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that displayed a false post claiming the SEC had approved bitcoin ETFs for trading. "Based on our investigation, the compromise was not due to any breach of X's systems, but rather due to an unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number associated with the @SECGov account through a third party," said X in the post, confirming that the SEC's account was compromised.
/jlne.ws/3TVjcSa
Sterling Trading Tech Positioned for Continued Growth; Names Dave Weiss Chief Technology Officer
Sterling Trading Tech
Sterling Trading Tech (STT), a leading provider of proprietary order management systems, risk and margin solutions, and trading platforms for the capital markets worldwide, announced today the appointment of industry veteran Dave Weiss as Chief Technology Officer. He will be responsible for leading STT's technology and development through its next phase of maturity.
/jlne.ws/47pilwc
MDX Technology launches customisable broker screen for institutional investors with increased integration into messaging apps; New development will help accelerate time-to-market for brokers, as well as providing connectivity to messaging apps such as WhatsApp.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Data, price sharing and workflow solutions provider MDX Technology (MDXT) has launched a new customisable broker screen solution. The new broker screen builds on MDXT's existing Connect platform, which offers tailored features that can help brokers better navigate competitive markets. The development will also allow clients to stream prices directly from their Excel whiteboard into the broker screen.
/jlne.ws/41OPJvf
Microsoft Says AI Service Will Accelerate Scientific Discovery; The technology helped winnow 32 million materials for a battery down to 18 promising candidates in 80 hours, the company says.
Dina Bass - Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. is using powerful computers and artificial intelligence to help researchers speed up the painstaking work required to discover new chemical compounds and materials that could be used for everything from batteries to eco-friendly paints.
/jlne.ws/3S9HgPQ
Chinese companies resort to repurposing Nvidia gaming chips for AI; US export controls force developers to strip components from PC graphics cards
Qianer Liu - Financial Times
Chinese companies are resorting to chips repurposed from standard PC gaming products to develop artificial intelligence tools, after Washington blocked US exports of high-performance processors. Thousands of Nvidia gaming graphics cards are being stripped of their core components in factories and workshops every month, before being installed on new circuit boards, according to two factory managers and two chip buyers familiar with the situation.
/jlne.ws/3NSHUPq
Could an AI 'death calculator' actually be a good thing? A new Danish algorithm exploits the fact that both language and life are sequences
Anjana Ahuja - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3SmT7dL
AI starts to show promise as tool to sift mountain of sustainability research; When measuring the impact of academic research, human judgment remains supreme. But for how long?
Andrew Jack - Financial Times
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | NSA official warns of hackers using AI to perfect their English in phishing schemes; NSA Cybersecurity Director Rob Joyce said the language used in hacking and phishing schemes was becoming more sophisticated and convincing.
Kevin Collier - NBC News
Hackers and propagandists are turning to generative artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT to make their operations seem more convincing to native English speakers, a senior official at the National Security Agency said Tuesday. Speaking at the International Conference on Cyber Security at Fordham University in New York, NSA Cybersecurity Director Rob Joyce said the spy agency has seen both cybercriminals and hackers who work for foreign intelligence agencies using such chatbots to seem more like native English speakers.
/jlne.ws/41VjuKY
China Orders Banks, Insurers to Review Cyber and Data Security; Broad directive comes after November ransomware attack on ICBC; China has stepped up control of data to safeguard security
Bloomberg News
China's financial regulator told its banks and insurers to thoroughly review cyber and data security across all their businesses, underscoring the government's increased focus on national security and data integrity.
/jlne.ws/3Hfu85I
Hackers hit Moscow internet provider in response to Kyivstar cyber attack - source
James Pearson and Tom Balmforth - Reuters
Hackers linked to Ukraine's main spy agency have breached computer systems at a Moscow-based internet provider in retaliation for a Russian cyber attack against Ukrainian telecom giant Kyivstar, a source with direct knowledge of the operation told Reuters on Tuesday. The hacking group, dubbed "Blackjack", has previously been linked to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The hackers deleted 20 terrabytes of data at M9 Telecom, a small Russian internet and TV provider, leaving some Moscow residents without internet, the source said.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Redditors Speculate on the Mysterious Connection Between BlackRock, Bitcoin's Founder Satoshi Nakamoto, and Reddit's WallStreetBets
Rohail Saleem - Wccftech.com
A Reddit post exploring a potentially interesting connection between the investment titan BlackRock, Bitcoin's founder Satoshi Nakamoto, and the WallStreetBets forum has gone viral over the past few hours. While the post is quite speculative in nature, it does leverage certain coincidences to raise a few pointed questions that merit a thorough inspection.
/jlne.ws/4b4h155
Crypto Boosters Attack SEC for 'Manipulating' BTC Market After ETF Tweet; Lawmakers and crypto boosters are asking questions about how the SEC's X (formerly Twitter) account was compromised, leading to a bogus tweet on Tuesday.
Danny Nelson - CoinDesk
Nearly seven years ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied the first spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application, citing the risk presented to investors by market manipulation. It would become a familiar refrain for the countless rejections that followed.
/jlne.ws/3H9IdBD
Bitcoin Hedging Ramps Up as SEC's ETF Approval Deadline Nears; Markets see outsized call selling despite rising spot prices; Cautious sentiment has prompted more put buying as well
David Pan - Bloomberg
Bitcoin options traders are already locking in profits even before the Wednesday deadline by which the US Securities and Exchange Commission must decide if it will allow an exchange-traded fund to directly hold the digital asset. Market participants have seen a surge in the selling of short-term call option contracts over the last 24 hours. The put-to-call ratio for the contracts that will expire on Jan. 19 is now above 1 - much higher than two weeks ago, according to data compiled by Deribit, the largest crypto options exchange.
/jlne.ws/47u3dxu
BlackRock, Ark lower fee for planned spot bitcoin ETFs
Reuters
BlackRock (BLK.N) and Ark Investment Management on Wednesday lowered the fees for their proposed spot bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs), looking to undercut almost a dozen other competitors racing to launch such investment vehicles. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust would charge 0.25%, compared with the 0.30% fee set earlier. ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF lowered its fee to 0.21% from 0.25%.
/jlne.ws/3vBkgAo
Is there any potential left for the metaverse economy? Hype over the virtual world is cooling as enthusiasm for AI's potential in the real world boils over
Morgan Haefner and Ananya Bhattacharya - Quartz
In 2022, the world learned the word for what you get when the lines between the real world and the internet blur: the metaverse. By 2023, a lot of people were even able to wrap their heads around the concept. But as 2024 gets underway, the metaverse economy as it has been imagined hasn't taken off. There are too many questions-what does policy and governance look like, how will children be protected, how much is a virtual shoe really worth, and so on-and not enough answers. Experts are split down the middle on whether or not a fully immersive virtual world is even possible.
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Power companies paid civil rights leaders in the US south. They became loyal industry advocates; A joint investigation by Floodlight and Capital B shows millions of dollars flowed from utilities to Black leaders and their groups since at least 2009
Mario Alejandro Ariza, Kristi E Swartz, Adam Mahoney - The Guardian
Former Florida state representative Joe Gibbons sat in the library of the Faith Community church in Greensboro, North Carolina, trying to convince its pastor to quit promoting rooftop solar.
/jlne.ws/3ScpWtB
X / Twitter purges then reinstates journalists, podcasters, and leftist accounts critical of Elon Musk; Why? Who knows.
Tim Marcin - Mashable
Elon Musk's X / Twitter once again purged journalists - among others - who were critical of the billionaire's politics. But as quickly as they went, they seemingly soon came back. This time X barred a handful of journalists, podcasters, and other users. Among the purged: the Intercept's Ken Klippenstein, the Texas Observer's Steven Monacelli, podcaster Rob Rousseau, and the account for the leftwing podcast TrueAnon. But just as some of the previous, seemingly arbitrary bans of other journalists didn't last, this incident was quickly resolved on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3ScZdNw
Congress Explores Curbing Pandemic Tax Break in Bid for Last-Ditch Deal; Lawmakers hope to finish a deal that could include $100 billion in tax breaks for businesses and families
Richard Rubi - The Wall Street Journal
U.S. lawmakers are considering curbing a troubled pandemic-era tax credit as they negotiate a bipartisan deal that could include about $100 billion in tax breaks for businesses and families. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) said Tuesday he wants to limit abuses of the employee retention tax credit, or ERC. The program, created in 2020 to encourage employers to keep workers attached to their jobs, has cost about triple earlier estimates.
/jlne.ws/3TUJowd
Violent political threats surge as 2024 begins, haunting American democracy; 'I believe people when they say that they want to hurt us or kill us. I don't think they're idle threats,' a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice said
Sarah Ellison, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Patrick Marley - The Washington Post
Rusty Bowers, a former speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives who played a pivotal role in resisting efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, drove into his neighborhood east of Phoenix the day after Christmas to a spine-chilling scene.
/jlne.ws/48qU8ad
'A deceptive tactic': Nancy Pelosi disclosed a 7-figure bet on NVIDIA over the Christmas holidays - despite recent efforts to 'permanently ban' lawmakers from trading stocks; Disclosure shows the former house speaker bought call options on Nov. 22.
Bethan Moorcraft - Moneywise
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her venture capitalist husband reportedly bet millions on technology giant Nvidia (NVDA) late last year - despite immense scrutiny and backlash against congressional stock trading. The former house speaker bought Nvidia call options on Nov. 22 - her largest stock purchase in the last three years, according to stock trading news site Unusual Whales.
/jlne.ws/3vp1nAC
Biden's Oil Policies Threaten the Next Energy Crisis, Trade Group Warns
Jennifer A. Dlouhy - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Fed considering changes to Basel proposal: supervision chief
Reuters
Officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve are carefully considering possible adjustments to key parts of the pending "Basel III endgame" overhaul for bank capital regulations, the central bank's supervision chief said on Tuesday, including operational risk calculations and potential offsets for mortgage servicing. The remarks from Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr suggested for the first time that the Fed is mulling significant changes to a policy that has drawn stiff opposition from the banking industry, which says it needlessly risks causing banks to curtail lending.
/jlne.ws/47uRbUs
Canadian behind My Forex Funds trading website fights fraud allegations on both sides of the border
David Milstead - The Globe and Mail
The website My Forex Funds said it wanted to find profitable, successful foreign-exchange traders and split profits with them in long-term partnerships. But regulators in the United States and Canada allege it was all a fraud, and a receiver will now take control of $90-million held by the company's Toronto-area founder and chief executive officer as the matter is tested in courts on both sides of the border.
/jlne.ws/3Heq0mg
Commissioner Pham to Speak at Bloomberg House Davos
CFTC
Commissioner Caroline D. Pham will be recognized at "Women Who Lead" and participate in a panel discussion, "Crypto at a Crossroads: Future-proofing Digital Assets" at Bloomberg House Davos.
/jlne.ws/3vC98Dl
SFC cautions public against impersonators of senior SFC executives
Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today cautioned the public against instant text messages from scammers impersonating the SFC's senior executives including its Chairman. Members of the public have recently reported to the SFC that they received text messages on WhatsApp from individuals claiming to be the SFC's Chairman Mr Tim Lui and Executive Director of Supervision of Markets, Mr Rico Leung. According to their reports, these text messages contained comments on specific stocks.
/jlne.ws/3HbGbka
China Says Ex-PBOC Official Took 'Massive' Bribes to Help Firms
Bloomberg News
A former senior official with China's central bank took large bribes to help businesspeople, according to a state media documentary on Beijing's anti-graft efforts. Fan Yifei, ex-deputy governor at the People's Bank of China, accepted "massive" amounts of money from company executives to facilitate loans and grant other favors, state broadcaster China Central Television said in a documentary.
/jlne.ws/3O1LRBd
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Markets Get Ready for Risk-Free Fed Arbitrage Trade to Expire; Bank funding facility established as 'emergency program': Barr; Use reached record $141 billion, according to latest Fed data
Alex Harris - Bloomberg
An alluring risk-free arbitrage opportunity is set to end after the Federal Reserve's top bank watchdog signaled that the central bank is unlikely to renew a key lending facility created during last year's banking crisis. The Bank Term Funding Program, which supported lenders through that tumult, "really was established as an emergency program," said Michael Barr, the Fed's vice chair for supervision, at an event Tuesday. The BTFP, which is slated to expire March 11, has attracted a swath of users in recent weeks as traders look to lock in loans at a rate that's more attractive than the alternatives.
/jlne.ws/4aRwncP
Pimco Predicts Equity-Like Returns From Bonds Even After Rally; Six- to 12-month outlook no longer favors duration extension; Yields near 15-year highs create 'array of opportunities' Michael Mackenzie - Bloomberg
Bond investors can still reap equity-like returns in 2024 despite the steep declines in yield from last year's highs, according to Pacific Investment Management Co. Pimco's latest "cyclical outlook," focused on the next six to 12 months, looks for the bond market's recent gains to be sustained but not extended in a way that would warrant increasing exposure to interest rates, as they recommended in October.
/jlne.ws/3RSNSRl
The Bond Market Rally Is Overlooking a Soaring $2 Trillion Debt Problem; Investors are ignoring the cloud of rising deficits around the world.
Anchalee Worrachate, Liz Capo McCormick, and Garfield Reynolds - Bloomberg
Right around the start of November, two words suddenly disappeared from the chatter in the bond market: debt supply. As bond prices surged across the developed world day after day, sending yields tumbling and handing investors some much-needed profits, the angst about soaring budget deficits melted away.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Why Corporate America Has Gone Quiet on ESG
WSJ Staff
The movement to bring accountability into business decisions stretches back centuries, but the term ESG-for efforts in "environmental, social and governance"-only gained momentum about 20 years ago. In recent years, however, many chief executives have stopped mentioning it in earnings calls, and interest in once-popular ESG funds has faded. WSJ reporter Chip Cutter spoke about the shift. Cutter: "A few years ago, executives regularly boasted about ESG initiatives. Companies launched new reports and corporate leaders regularly referenced sustainability commitments when speaking to investors or other outside groups. Now, following years of simmering investor backlash, political pressure and legal threats, a number of business leaders are making a conscious effort to avoid the once widely used term.
/jlne.ws/41ZvriI
US Emissions Fell 1.9% in 2023, Ending Post-Pandemic Rebound; The drop marks the first time since 2019 that emissions went down as the economy grew.
Jessica Nix - Bloomberg
US greenhouse gas emissions declined 1.9% last year compared to the year before - the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic that emissions went down while the nation's economy grew, according to a new analysis by the Rhodium Group, a research firm. Driving the downward trend were reductions in the power sector (8%) and buildings sector (4%), due in part to the continuing decline of coal as a fuel. Coal generated 17% of US power in 2023, a record low, the report says, with nuclear power surpassing it for only the second time in US history. A mild winter also eased fuel demand and led to lower emissions from buildings.
/jlne.ws/3TVmrci
New Research Explores a Restorative Climate Path for the Earth; Existing green growth policies are leading nowhere fast, so scientists say it's worth exploring alternatives like degrowth to stay within planetary boundaries.
Bob Berwyn - Inside Climate News
With Earth's average annual temperature speeding toward 1.5 degrees Celsius faster than expected and global climate policy on a treadmill, an increasing number of researchers say it's time to consider a "restorative pathway" to avoid the worst ecological and social outcomes of global warming. In a study published today in Environmental Research Letters, an international team of scientists wrote that reaching global goals could require focusing on ways to drive rapid changes in the way people live, move, work and eat; on making sure that global wealth is distributed more equitably; and on restoring and protecting biodiversity and ecosystems like forests, oceans, fields and rivers that are critical to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
/jlne.ws/48R8AIl
Can artificial intelligence pave the way for greener cement and steel?
Mike Scott - Reuters Ethical Corporation Magazine
LLMs can make frontier technologies like CCUS, biofuels, clean hydrogen more commercially viable; Carbon Re estimates it can cut emissions from fuel use by 20% applying AI to existing cement plants; Covestro using AI to cut waste at two of its chemical plants, improving efficiency by 5%; Real prize for heavy industry could come from using AI to invent new materials with lower emissions. Artificial intelligence and heavy industries such as cement, steel, energy and chemicals would seem to occupy worlds at opposite ends of the technology spectrum. But the two worlds are increasingly colliding as "hard-to-abate" industries, which cannot easily transition to renewable energy, turn to AI to help them in their challenge of cutting CO2 emissions.
/jlne.ws/47t0lB1
Diamonds Made With Solar Power Are Offering Fiancees Ethical Fashion; Lab-grown diamonds, relatively unknown a decade ago, now make up a fifth of diamond sales by value
Yusuf Khan - The Wall Street Journal
After eight years of dating, 29-year-old Peter Henshall decided it was the right time to pop the question to his partner Tasha. He wanted to be subtle about his proposal. But, as he grappled with picking a ring, he felt he needed to ask her one very important question: "Would you prefer a natural or lab-grown diamond?" Like many other 20- and 30-somethings, Tasha wanted a lab-grown ring. Her main reasoning? Sustainability.
/jlne.ws/3vmAz3Z
'The goose lays more golden eggs every year': Warren Buffett explains why the concept of capitalism doesn't work for young people today - and the straightforward way he says he'd solve it
Serah Louis - Yahoo Finance
/jlne.ws/48MtsQP
How an order from Oklahoma's governor seeks to defund DEI in state offices
PBS News Hour
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German Baltic LNG Terminal Start Delayed to Clear Storm Damage; Last year's storm Babet had interrupted pipeline laying; Environmental group sues against decision to extend works
Petra Sorge - Bloomberg
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The secret to a successful energy transition? Put people first
Megan Rowling - Reuters via The Daily Mail
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What's up in ESG: DEI mandates, green debt profits, ESG software boom ahead; 2024 will bring controversy over diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, a rush to deploy ESG software and more citizen lawsuits over ineffective climate regulations.
Nico McCrossan - GreenBiz
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Banks should increase use of 'discount window' to prevent crises -expert group
Reuters
Commercial banks should prepare to borrow more readily from central banks to limit contagion in times of stress and discourage runs by depositors, an expert regulatory panel said on Tuesday in a report about last year's banking crisis. The Group of 30 (G30), an international forum of central bankers, economists and private financiers, also said improving accounting standards, more comprehensive stress testing and better supervision, would help prevent future bank failures.
/jlne.ws/3HdQ4Ot
US banks' profits to shrink as they brace for souring loans
Tatiana Bautzer - Reuters
U.S. banking giants are expected to report lower profits for the fourth quarter after they set money aside to cover souring loans while also paying more to depositors. The largest banks' net interest income (NII) - or the difference between what they earn on loans and pay out on deposits - probably fell on average 10% in the fourth quarter, Goldman Sachs analysts said. An estimated 15% decline in trading revenue will also weigh on earnings, they said.
/jlne.ws/41VqBmE
How Citigroup Can Avoid Another False Dawn; The bank's stock has outperformed in recent months, but coming reports may be key
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journal
There are few more dangerous words in finance than "this time is different." But for Citigroup , perhaps it is safer to say that at the very least, "this time is not quite the same." Over the past three months, Citigroup shares have led the way among the big six U.S. global banks, rising more than 30% in that time. But the bank's stock has trapped bargain-hunting investors before. Back in 2019, its shares soundly outperformed peers including JPMorgan Chase, with a more than 50% rise.
/jlne.ws/47xnq5s
Citigroup Briefly Displaced as Least-Loved Big Bank Stock; HSBC upgraded Citi on Monday, then BMO cut the firm on Tuesday; Morgan Stanley was briefly the least-loved big bank stock
Bre Bradham - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. briefly shed its standing as the least-loved big bank stock on Wall Street, pushing Morgan Stanley to the bottom of the pile. Then another analyst chimed in. Citigroup, helmed by Jane Fraser, had held the lowest consensus rating among the six biggest US banks since May 2022, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That changed this week when an analyst at HSBC Holdings Plc shuffled his recommendations - upgrading Citigroup and lowering Morgan Stanley.
/jlne.ws/48I2cmu
SVB Financial plans to hand VC business to creditors
Dietrich Knauth - Reuters
The bankrupt parent company of Silicon Valley Bank plans to turn over its remaining venture capital business to a new, creditor-backed company while it continues to fight U.S. regulators' seizure of nearly $2 billion in cash, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3NTSIN2
Launches of ESG funds plummet as investors pull back; Managers drop sustainability labels from products amid scrutiny from clients and regulators
Will Schmitt - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/4aKqn5L
BlackRock Cuts 3% of Global Workforce, Citing Dramatic Industry Shifts; The firm said 600 of its employees would lose their jobs; Memo to staff cites unprecedented changes in asset management
Silla Brush - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/47t1Cbh
Brevan Howard Joins in on Institutional Push to Tokenize Funds
Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3TUPWuN
Ex-Credit Suisse Star Trader Lemssouguer's Hedge Fund Soars 32%; Arini's assets have grown to $3.7 billion from launch in 2022; A new $544 million structured credit equity fund gained 26.7%
Nishant Kumar and Laura Benitez - Bloomberg
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Millennium backs biggest planned hedge fund launch in more than a year; Former portfolio manager at Izzy Englander's firm strikes out with expected $4bn-$5bn launch
Costas Mourselas - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/48nfjK6
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Elon Musk's Alleged Drug Use Comes Under a Microscope; On this episode of the Elon, Inc. podcast, illicit substances and the battle between SpaceX and the NLRB.
Max Chafkin - Bloomberg
Were we talking about almost any other executive, the report by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend about Elon Musk's alleged drug use would have qualified as a bombshell. The article contends the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla has used a collection of substances. This, according to the Journal's unidentified sources, has caused consternation within Musk's companies, with Tesla board members and SpaceX executives privately expressing concerns that the alleged drug use may be making Musk unreliable and erratic.
/jlne.ws/3SaJn6a
Poor tech kills hybrid work productivity; People who work from home say the IT they use is failing or performs poorly, which reduces their productivity, leading to hours of work lost
Cliff Saran, Managing Editor - Computer Weekly
While most knowledge workers say they are well-equipped to work from home, many feel hybrid working makes their job more difficult. A Censuswide survey for Scalable Software, based on a poll of 2,000 employees, found that 40% of employees say hybrid work makes their job harder. According to Scalable Software, this is higher in organisations with 1,001-1,500 employees (54%) and in those with 2,001-3,000 employees (55%). Employees are working an extra 3.1 weeks a year because of poor digital experiences. Scalable Software said this amounts to an increase of almost a full week compared with the 2.2 extra weeks identified when the survey was previously run in 2021.
/jlne.ws/3vxQa0P
Lloyds Bank Manager Awarded £450,000 After Winning Case Over Racist Slur He Made; Man fired after using N-word at work won unfair dismissal suit; Lloyds tried to appeal London employment tribunal ruling
Jonathan Browning - Bloomberg
The ex-Lloyds Banking Group Plc manager who won his unfair dismissal case over his use of a racist slur was awarded more than £450,000 ($572,560) from an employment tribunal that said he was unlikely to be able to work in the near term. Carl Borg-Neal was wrongly fired for using the N-word during an anti-racism training session, London judges ruled in August. The veteran employee who suffers from dyslexia said he was "hunted" by Lloyds' human resources and executives.
/jlne.ws/4aTCc9C
CFA Level I Pass Rate Drops to 35%
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
The pass rate for the first level of the chartered financial analyst exam fell further below its historic average, another sign that test-takers are still dealing with disruptions that became common after the Covid-19 outbreak. In November, 35% of candidates passed the Level I test, down from 37% for those who sat for the exam in August and 39% in May, the CFA Institute said Tuesday. That's the lowest pass rate since 2021, when results hit record lows across all levels of the CFA exam as performance was hurt by test-taking deferrals following the Covid-19 outbreak. It's also below the 40% average for the past decade, according to the institute.
/jlne.ws/3HcpO6X
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | A discovery in the muscles of long COVID patients may explain exercise troubles
Will Stone - NPR
Hit the gym. Get back in shape. That's what many patients with long COVID are told when they talk of the crushing fatigue that envelops them after even a light bout of physical activity. These symptoms of exhaustion, or post-exertional malaise as it's called, are a hallmark of long COVID and similar complex illnesses like chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS.
/jlne.ws/48EFa04
With COVID on the rise, your at-home test may be taking longer to show a positive result
Rong-Gong Lin - LA Times
With COVID-19 rising this winter, it's getting more complicated to discern whether you are infected. Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said she has noticed it's sometimes taking longer after the onset of symptoms for rapid tests to return a positive result. It used to be that someone might test positive for the coronavirus one or two days after the onset of symptoms using a rapid test, Hudson said. Now, positive results might not show up until the fourth day after symptoms start.
/jlne.ws/3vw7P9a
Spain makes face masks mandatory in hospitals as flu and Covid cases surge; Rules reintroduced as 'commonsense measure' despite opposition from some regional administrations
Sam Jones - The Guardian
Face masks will be mandatory in hospitals and health centres in Spain from Wednesday as the country experiences a surge in cases of flu, Covid and other respiratory illnesses. The government decision, which was made six months after the use of masks ceased to be obligatory in health facilities and pharmacies, has been met with opposition from some regional administrations.
/jlne.ws/3H9L5hT
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Rice Prices in Asia Poised to Stay Elevated on Tight Market; India's export curbs expected to stay in place until election; Thai white 5% broken rose to fresh 15-year high in December
Anuradha Raghu - Bloomberg
The rice market is set to remain tight at the start of the year on India's ongoing export restrictions and an expected boost from festival demand, providing impetus for elevated prices to climb even higher. The grain is vital to the diets of billions and further price gains would stretch household budgets. Thai white rice 5% broken - an Asian benchmark - eased to $646 a ton on Wednesday, slipping for the first time since early December, but still remains near a 15-year high.
/jlne.ws/48sJijN
Toronto's Downtown Office Vacancy Hits Record With More Supply; Vacancy rate in city's core rose to 17.4% in fourth quarter; More construction in Toronto has been pressuring the market
Ari Altstedter - Bloomberg
The vacancy rate for downtown Toronto office buildings reached a record high at the end of last year as a flood of largely empty space from newly completed projects hit the market. The downtown office vacancy rate in Canada's financial capital rose to 17.4% as nearly 625,000 square feet (58,100 square meters) of new space came to market during the fourth quarter, according to data released Tuesday by brokerage CBRE Group Inc.
/jlne.ws/3SaIYka
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Article on Bill Ackman's Wife Triggers Tensions Between Business Insider and Owner; Axel Springer says it is reviewing motivations behind article detailing plagiarism accusations against Neri Oxman
Alexandra Bruell - The Wall Street Journal
Since acquiring Business Insider nine years ago, Axel Springer has largely steered clear of intervening in the news outlet's editorial operations, even when high-profile people objected to unflattering articles about them. That hasn't been the case in recent days. The German media company said it is reviewing the process and motivations behind a recent BI article accusing designer and former professor Neri Oxman of plagiarism. The review comes amid complaints from Oxman's husband, the hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, about the publication's reporting tactics.
/jlne.ws/3tWCuMh
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