| May 02, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Former New Federal Reserve President Bill Dudley writing in Bloomberg has a commentary titled "This Debt-Limit Standoff Could Be Really Disastrous." The subheadline is "Markets and the economy are in no way prepared for the shock that failing to reach a deal would deliver." There, you have been warned.
Also, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. runs the risk of running out of money as soon as June 1, the Financial Times reported. Get ready for your summer vacation to be ruined.
Forget CEOs named John or women CEOs, there is only one woman chief economist on Wall Street at the two dozen financial institutions designated by the Federal Reserve as primary dealers. Only Morgan Stanley has a woman chief economist, Ellen Zentner. Eighteen months ago, at least three women held such roles, Bloomberg reports.
The Financial Times wants you to know "How Jamie Dimon swooped on the remains of First Republic" and how "Within the space of two months, JPMorgan turned from adviser to depositor to buyer."
The HKEX Foundation is inviting funding applications from local charitable institutions for the HKEX Charity Partnership Programme 2023. The Programme supports Hong Kong local charities undertaking long-term community projects in the areas of financial literacy, diversity and inclusion, poverty relief and environmental sustainability. Apply on or before 31 May 2023. Learn more about the Programme HERE.
As you watch the dumpster fire that is Twitter burn to the ground and are looking for an alternative, you might consider former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's Bluesky. The site is invite-only and in beta-mode, but you can sign up to be invited. I have signed up. Sign up HERE.
The Financial Times has a story about Bluesky titled "Jack Dorsey's Bluesky emerges as latest challenger to Elon Musk's Twitter," with a subheadline of "New social media platform gains momentum as once-friendly tech billionaires go toe-to-toe." The Wall Street Journal also has a story about Bluesky, this one titled "What Is Bluesky Social? The Jack Dorsey-Backed Twitter Alternative Explained." Blue Horseshoe loves Bluesky.
The latest health epidemic is loneliness, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, Reuters reports. There are many reasons for the loneliness pandemic, including people culling their friend groups during the Covid pandemic. But people are also engaging less in the community. You could say that even happens in the futures industry with the closing of the trading floors and now the work from home trend.
One ex-Chicago athlete who is making a difference to help stop violence in the city is ex-Bull Joakim Noah, who has launched a new violence-prevention program. You have to like a guy who left Chicago for New York as a free-agent, but never left Chicago in terms of his commitment to the city and its youth. The Chicago Sun Times has the story.
It is important for a journalist to know their readership. Two of yesterday's top stories were minimally related to the rest of the JLN content, but were among the most clicked stories. One story was too universal to not be clicked on, what is the healthiest beer. The other story had to do with the shortage of white oak and its impact on bourbon production.
The April issue of NoviFori's NovaNews is out.
Greater Chicago Food Depository CEO and Executive Director Kate Maehr was chosen to Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson's transition subcommittee for Human Rights, Equity & Inclusion.
Former JLN staff Chris McMahon is starting a new position as senior marketing manager - content at ValueMomentum.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) has released the May issue of Focus. The WFE publication contains contributions from Europe, North America and Asia such as "Fixed Income Tradable Ecosystem: North American and European Credit Markets" and "SZSE's efforts to build a sustainable exchange：Guiding Innovative Capital to Low-Carbon Industries." Download the magazine here.~SAED
The World Economic Forum has published The Future of Jobs Report 2023, which explores how jobs and skills will evolve over the next five years. It found 75% of organizations are planning to introduce AI over the next five years. But almost a quarter of jobs will change as various impacts, including the green transition, play out. ~ SAED
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BMLL's Paul Humphrey discusses the firm's new partnerships and the engineering - and predictive - marvels of Level 3 data
JohnLothianNews.com
Paul Humphrey, the CEO of BMLL, talked with John Lothian News at the FIA International Futures Conference in Boca Raton, FL., about the Level 3 historical data and analytics firm's move into futures and the U.S.
Watch the video »
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Biden proposes 30% climate change tax on cryptocurrency mining
Ben Adler - Yahoo Finance
The White House is trying to persuade Congress to pass a 30% tax on the electricity used in cryptocurrency mining in the next federal budget in order to minimize the nascent industry's impact on climate change.
/jlne.ws/3LnukS4
****** This makes a lot of sense, but it also legitimizes the practice and will increase its climate impact. The tax would have to be much more onerous to make a climate impact.~JJL
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Crypto Is Still a Mess. A Crackdown Would Do It Good; Stronger rules would be a gift to genuine innovators.
The Editors - Bloomberg
US regulators appear to be on a collision course with crypto. Sometime soon, many issuers and intermediaries could be forced out of business or at least out of the country. It could be the best thing that ever happened to the industry. There's plenty to dislike in the crypto realm. Celebrity touts and the promise of riches have lured people into buying myriad tokens with no intrinsic value; of more than 40,000 issued last year, an estimated one in four were outright pump-and-dump scams. Investor protections are lacking at even the most established intermediaries, as the demise of the FTX trading platform demonstrated. Blockchain-enabled payments have facilitated all sorts of criminal behavior, from aiding human trafficking to funding North Korea's nuclear program. If the market hadn't imploded last year, it might have become big enough to threaten the entire financial system.
/jlne.ws/3nnDea6
****** The latest hack apparently is to the Bloomberg editorial staff by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.~JJL
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The Sun the Banking World Revolves Around; It's not a criticism to question the degree of trust that has been placed in Jamie Dimon - thus making him one of the most important bankers in history. And what is or isn't a bailout?
John Authers
Jamie to the Rescue, Again
Was there ever any doubt? Wall Street awoke Monday to the news that First Republic had been seized by the government, and the bulk of its business taken on by Jamie Dimon's JPMorgan Chase & Co. The man has been a dominant figure on Wall Street for a quarter century, and judging by the market reception, he has delivered again, both for his own shareholders and for everyone else. Investors certainly think that JPMorgan has got itself a good deal. Its stock gained 2.14% while that of PNC Financial Services, its main rival for First Republic, dropped 6.33%.
/jlne.ws/3VlPC76
****** There should be some bigger personal prize for Dimon coming, a knighthood, a Nobel Prize or if he plays his card right, Saint Jamie.~JJL
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AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton warns about growing risks as he quits Google; British scientist cited fears about the rapid development of the new technology
Madhumita Murgia - Financial Times
Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has left Google after more than a decade at the US search giant, citing fears about the rapid development of generative AI. Hinton, a part-time professor at the University of Toronto who is widely viewed as the godfather of modern artificial intelligence, said he quit to speak freely about the dangers of AI.
/jlne.ws/41Z4HOo
****** If this were a movie, he would be on the top of the hit list of the AI drone robots.~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our most read story last Friday was USA Today's What is the healthiest beer? Consider these factors before you crack open a cold one. As a beer aficionado I added a click to that story. Second was from Yahoo Finance; CME Group Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CME) CEO Compensation Is Looking A Bit Stretched At The Moment. Third was from Bloomberg; The White Oak Shortage That Could Ruin the Bourbon Industry.
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MarketsWiki Stats
27,309 pages; 244,660 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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| Lead Stories | American Financial Exchange Appoints Veteran Financial Services Executive John Shay as CEO
American Financial Exchange
The American Financial Exchange (AFX), an electronic exchange for direct lending and borrowing for American banks and financial institutions, today announced that the exchange has appointed veteran financial services executive John Shay as CEO, effective immediately. AFX recently announced that 100% of the company was acquired by 7RIDGE, a specialized growth equity firm invested in transformative technologies for financial services.
/jlne.ws/3LsrVpa
Credit Suisse AT1 Bondholders Who Lost $1.7 Billion in UBS Deal File Lawsuits
Hugo Miller and Sabah Meddings - Bloomberg
Hundreds more Credit Suisse Group AG bondholders sued Switzerland's banking regulator after their securities valued at about $1.7 billion were wiped out during the lender's government-brokered takeover by UBS Group AG.
/jlne.ws/44isvhN
First Republic's failure shows we are fighting an unwinnable war
Ben Wright - The Telegraph
When Silicon Valley Bank was busy imploding earlier this year, and depositors were pulling their money out of shaky lenders to put it in safer-looking banks, the joke was that everyone was going to end up banking with JP Morgan. Now that the US uber-lender has agreed to acquire most of First Republic, another stricken bank, the gag is even less funny.
/jlne.ws/3Nptzui
Citadel Securities' Zhao Says AI Frees Humans for Bigger Tasks
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Citadel Securities Chief Executive Officer Peng Zhao said he sees automation and artificial intelligence freeing workers for innovative pursuits, not replacing people in the workplace. "I am personally very optimistic with the current AI revolution that we're facing," Zhao said Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California. "Being liberated from the repetitive, mental laboring aspect of what we have to do as humans, that allows humans to focus upon the highest-value portion of planning."
/jlne.ws/44niC2a
COP28 President Al Jaber Calls for End of 'Fossil Fuel Emissions'; The push leaves room to burn more oil and gas, while boosting investment in technologies to capture the carbon dioxide produced in the process.
Petra Sorge - Bloomberg
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber said climate diplomacy should focus on phasing out emissions from oil and gas, leaving the door open for the continued use of fossil fuels while ramping up technologies to capture the carbon pollution produced from burning them. "In a pragmatic, just and well-managed energy transition, we must be laser focused on phasing out fossil fuel emissions, while phasing up viable, affordable zero-carbon alternatives," Al Jaber, who also heads Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., said at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3p3zue9
The Banking Crisis Might Not Be Over Yet
Peter Coy - The New York Times
The banking crisis may not be over. True, regulators seized First Republic Bank early on Monday and sold it to JPMorgan Chase, the nation's biggest bank. But other regional banks are still bleeding deposits. And the Federal Reserve is still putting pressure on the banks by raising interest rates, which tempts depositors to take out their money and put it in higher-yielding money market mutual funds.
/jlne.ws/3Lo5xwX
The difference between First Republic and other recent bank failures; Biden administration officials took a back seat in cleaner resolution brokered by regulators at FDIC
Brooke Masters, Stephen Gandel and James Fontanella-Khan, and James Politi and Colby Smith - Financial Times
Although the March 10 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank helped spark First Republic's implosion on Sunday night, US regulators took a markedly different approach to cleaning up the mess this time around. When SVB failed in March, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the agency that manages US banking collapses, shut it down in the middle of a work day before it had lined up a potential buyer. That meant it had to set up a so-called bridge bank run by regulators until it brokered a sale of SVB more than a fortnight later.
/jlne.ws/3HwM2kH
Judge says JPMorgan could be liable for Epstein sex trafficking if Staley knew about it
Jonathan Stempel - Reuters
JPMorgan Chase & Co could be liable to women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse if they can show that former executive Jes Staley had first-hand knowledge that the financier ran a sex-trafficking venture, a U.S. judge said on Monday.
/jlne.ws/44jFEXM
Coinbase Insiders Sued for Dumping Stock, Saving $1 Billion
Robert Burnson - Bloomberg
Coinbase Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong, board member Marc Andreessen and other officers avoided more than $1 billion in losses by using inside information to sell stock within days of the cryptocurrency platform's public listing two years ago, before bad news sent the share price tumbling, according to a lawsuit filed by an investor.
/jlne.ws/44n8IO2
Deregulating Banks Is Dangerous; As First Republic Bank is sold to JPMorgan, the Federal Reserve relearns some important lessons.
John Cassidy - The New Yorker
The second-largest bank failure in U.S. history occurred on Monday, when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized First Republic Bank, a San Francisco-based bank that had been teetering for weeks amid worries about its profitability, and sold it to JPMorgan Chase, the country's largest bank. First Republic's shareholders will be wiped out, and JPMorgan will pay the government insurance fund $10.6 billion.
/jlne.ws/40QIP6l
US Weighs More Business Deposit Insurance After Banks Fail; FDIC announces several options for deposit insurance fund; Agency says increasing coverage for businesses is good option
Katanga Johnson - Bloomberg
A top US regulator wants a sweeping overhaul of deposit insurance after recent bank failures partly drained a pool of money the government uses to protect lenders' clients. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Monday laid out three options for the bedrock fund, which currently covers up to $250,000 on most accounts. The regulator highlighted the impact of technological changes and high concentrations of uninsured depositors in pockets of the banking system as reasons for a possible overhaul.
/jlne.ws/3LswKyu
U.S. Bank Failures Are Fueling Crypto Adoption
Frank Holmes - Forbes
Cryptocurrency adoption in the U.S. increased amid fears of a full-blown banking crisis, a new poll finds. According to Morning Consult, 22% of Americans, over one in five, said they owned at least one form of crypto in April, representing a four-percentage-point increase from January. Not surprisingly, Bitcoin was the most widely held digital asset in April, with 16% of respondents saying they owned some of it.
/jlne.ws/41QS2No
Bitcoin Set New Record of Daily Transactions the Same Day the U.S. Government Quietly Engineered a Bank Buyout
Daniel Kuhn - CoinDesk
On Sunday, as the U.S. government worked behind the scenes with two major banks to engineer the latest financial rescue plan, the Bitcoin network hit a new all-time high for the number of daily transactions processed. There were more confirmed transactions than it ever had in its 14-year history, beating the previous record set during the 2017 bull run.
/jlne.ws/3Hx4MR4
Interactive Brokers Group Reports Brokerage Metrics and Other Financial Information for April 2023, includes Reg.-NMS Execution Statistics
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: IBKR) an automated global electronic broker, today reported its Electronic Brokerage monthly performance metrics for April.
/jlne.ws/3LLHCZH
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | The Counteroffensive
Anne Applebaum and Jeffrey Goldberg - The Atlantic
In March 1774, Prince Grigory Potemkin, the favorite general and sometime lover of Catherine the Great, took control of the anarchic southern frontier of her empire, a region previously ruled by the Mongol Khans, the Cossack hosts, and the Ottoman Turks, among others. As viceroy, Potemkin waged war and founded cities, among them Kherson, the first home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. In 1783, he annexed Crimea and became an avatar of imperial glory.
/jlne.ws/40XUekO
Ukraine's Arms Industry Survives Russian Onslaught to Hit Back; Weapons makers boost output, dispersing production to avoid attacks
Alistair MacDonald - The Wall Street Journal
For Ukraine's largest weapons maker, the war started with a barrage of Russian missiles that destroyed one factory and several of its giant Antonov cargo planes. Despite a persistent onslaught, Ukroboronprom says it has delivered more than eight times the weapons to Ukraine's military over the past year than the one before.
/jlne.ws/41QRpU2
Ukrainian farmer comes up with novel way to demine his fields
Vitalii and Hnidyi - Reuters
A Ukrainian farmer has come up with a novel way to remove mines left in his fields after Russia's invasion -- he's kitted out his tractor with protective panels stripped from Russian tanks and operates it by remote control. After Russian forces were driven back from parts of eastern Ukraine by a Ukrainian counteroffensive last year, mines remained in many fields, making it perilous for farmers to sow grain for the next harvest.
/jlne.ws/3LNTZEA
McCarthy Says He Supports Aid to Ukraine, Urges Russia to Leave; Speaker vows to continue security support to Israel on trip; McCarthy has sharp exchange with Russian news agency reporter
Erik Wasson - Bloomberg
Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave his most full-throated support for aiding Ukraine in its war against the Russian invasion, in a heated exchange with a Russian news agency reporter in Jerusalem.
/jlne.ws/3HwN6Fv
Wagner's Prigozhin Warns He's Ready to Withdraw From Bakhmut; Mercenary leader complains of acute ammunition shortage; Defense ministry appointed new supply and logistics deputy
Bloomberg News
/jlne.ws/3LpsbFt
China could play a crucial role in ending the war in Ukraine; Russia needs its ally's support but the prolonged conflict has become a strategic liability for Beijing
Gideon Rachman - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/41Utwes
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | CME Group Reports April 2023 Monthly Market Statistics
CME Group
Second-highest April ADV on record; SOFR futures and options continue ADV growth; Strong ADV increases in options, commodities and cryptocurrencies. CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today reported its April 2023 market statistics, reaching an average daily volume (ADV) of 19.8 million contracts during the month, the second-highest April ADV in company history. Market statistics are available in greater detail at https://cmegroupinc.gcs-web.com/monthly-volume.
/jlne.ws/40YcnPI
Deutsche Boerse Photography Foundation presents "Ernest Cole. house of bondage
Deutsche Boerse
The exhibition "Ernest Cole. House of Bondage" will be shown from June 2nd to September 17th, 2023 at The Cube in Eschborn. It is the first major retrospective of the South African photographer in Germany. The exhibition can be visited as part of regular guided tours and on "Open Saturday" on September 16, 2023. The exclusive press preview will take place on June 1, 2023 at 11 a.m. The Arthouse Kinos Frankfurt accompany the exhibition thematically with a selected program as part of a cooperation. The exhibition "Ernest Cole. House of Bondage" at The Cube, Eschborn. From June 2nd, the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation will be showing the life's work of South African photographer Ernest Cole. With around 130 works, it is the first major exhibition by the important chronicler of apartheid politics in Germany.
/jlne.ws/42gHZkx
JPX Monthly Headlines - April 2023
JPX
JPX group companies undertake various initiatives and disseminate information with the aim of providing the most attractive markets to all users.
Every month, we showcase the highlights of these efforts in short and concise summaries just for you.
/jlne.ws/41WmyWg
TMX Group Limited Declares Dividend of $0.87 per Common Share
TMX
The Board of Directors of TMX Group Limited today declared a dividend of $0.87 on each common share outstanding, payable on June 2, 2023 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 19, 2023. TMX Group hereby advises that this dividend is designated as an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes.
/jlne.ws/427bNjA
TMX Group Limited Reports Results for First Quarter of 2023
TMX
TMX Group Limited [TSX:X] ("TMX Group") today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. TMX Group Limited Reports Results for First Quarter of 2023.
/jlne.ws/3p2FnbO
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Samsung Bans Staff's AI Use After Spotting ChatGPT Data Leak; Employees accidentally leaked sensitive data via ChatGPT; Company preparing own internal artificial intelligence tools
Mark Gurman - Bloomberg
Samsung Electronics Co. is banning employee use of popular generative AI tools like ChatGPT after discovering staff uploaded sensitive code to the platform, dealing a setback to the spread of such technology in the workplace.
/jlne.ws/3VquzAd
FDIC order against Cross River Bank is a warning on fintech alliances
Penny Crosman - American Banker
The FDIC has slapped Cross River Bank in Teaneck, New Jersey, with a consent order saying it engaged in unsafe or unsound banking practices related to fair lending regulations. The order was issued in March but made public on Friday. Cross River is a banking-as-a-service provider that makes loans through fintech lenders such as Affirm, Upstart, Rocket Loans and the former Kabbage.
/jlne.ws/41WEWhN
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Computer system used to hunt fugitives is still down 10 weeks after hack
Devlin Barrett - The Washington Post
A key law enforcement computer network has been down for 10 weeks, the victim of a ransomware attack that has frustrated efforts by senior officials to get the system back up and running - raising concerns about how to secure critical crime-fighting operations. While the initial breach of a computer system within the U.S. Marshals was previously known, the precise details of what that system did and how long it has remained down have not been previously reported.
/jlne.ws/40XlD6H
FBI Focuses on Cybersecurity With $90M Budget Request
Nate Nelson - DARKReading
The FBI is requesting more than $63 million in new funding to fight cyber threats in 2024.
On April 27, FBI Director Christopher Wray presented before the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, regarding his agency's share of President Biden's Fiscal Year 2024 budget request.
/jlne.ws/3HwNR1j
Here's What 15 Top CEOs And Cybersecurity Experts Told Us At RSAC 2023
Kyle Alspach - CRN
Generative AI may have been the unofficial theme of last week's RSA Conference 2023, but plenty of other meaty topics came up for discussion - and debate - among the tens of thousands who attended. CRN was on hand at RSAC 2023 in San Francisco to speak with top CEOs and cybersecurity experts and hear what's on their minds. When asked for their top issue at the conference, most actually brought up topics other than ChatGPT and the implications of generative AI for cybersecurity.
/jlne.ws/44hIuwt
NIST Cybersecurity Framework Gets 'Significant Update'
Lindsey O'Donnell-Welch - Decipher
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is making sweeping updates to its Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) to better integrate areas like supply chain risk management and governance. First published in 2014, the framework is a set of standards designed to help organizations assess, understand, manage and mitigate the security risks that they face. While voluntary for the private sector, the framework serves as a backbone for many government policies around the world, and the 2017 Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure executive order made it mandatory for U.S. federal agencies. Certain insurance firms have made the framework mandatory for specific sectors as well, and organizations can also require the use of the framework within their supply chain.
/jlne.ws/3p5VW6o
Biden to private sector: Cybersecurity is your responsibility-not the user's
Brandon Kirk Williams - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Biden administration's recently-released National Cyber Strategy proposes a new social contract that places the responsibility of protecting the nation's cybersecurity on the private sector, not individual users. The novel model for national cyber resilience, which overturns decades of cybersecurity practice, is the result of an impending avalanche of disruptive technological threats that will eclipse the ability of everyday citizens and small businesses to protect data. No longer can the country rely on a model where private sector vendors and suppliers push security onto users. The National Cyber Strategy pledges to use government power to realign incentives and shape markets-by using carrots of government funding and sticks of regulation-to forge a new social contract for cybersecurity at a transitional moment.
/jlne.ws/3LhnsW0
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Coinbase Sued for Privacy Violations Over Users' Biometric Data
Tim Hakki - Decrypt
Crypto exchange Coinbase is being sued for the unauthorized collection and improper use of customers' biometric data and for violating Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday with a District Court in California.
/jlne.ws/3Hrv7Ab
Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy Books a Much Smaller Bitcoin Impairment Charge
Aoyon Ashraf - CoinDesk
Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy (MSTR) booked a far smaller accounting writedown tied to its bitcoin (BTC) hoard last quarter versus the final three months of 2022, helped by the cryptocurrency's giant rally to begin the year.
/jlne.ws/3LLWlE9
'Bitcoin Request for Comment' Tokens Surge to $137M in Market Value
Omkar Godbole - CoinDesk
Interest in "Bitcoin Request for Comment" or BRC-20 tokens built with Ordinals and stored on the Bitcoin base chain has skyrocketed, lifting their market value by several hundred percent.
/jlne.ws/3AIEvLU
Bitget crypto exchange still hiring, eyes Hong Kong license, to rebrand BitKeep wallet
Pradipta Mukherjee - Forkast
The Bitget cryptocurrency exchange, which started up in 2018 and says it now has more than 8 million users in 100 countries, last month set up a US$100 million fund to support development of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and non-fungible token (NFT) projects, prioritizing partners in Asia. In an interview with Forkast's Pradipta Mukherjee, Bitget's managing director Gracy Chen talks about its crypto exchange license application in Hong Kong, hiring more people, launching exchange traded funds, and building its brand this year.
/jlne.ws/44o1qdg
Ex-CFTC Chair Dithers on Whether Ether Is Security or Commodity; The question continues to go unanswered.
Sabrina Toppa - TheStreet
The Securities and Exchange Commission's chairman Gary Gensler made headlines last week for his inability to straightforwardly answer if Ether was a security or commodity. Late last week, Timothy Massad, the former chair of the CFTC (the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) walked into the same line of questioning only to dither in his response.
/jlne.ws/3np7LEr
Crypto Exchange Poloniex Agrees to $7.6M Fee to Settle Sanctions Violation Charges
Nikhilesh De - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/3LOveZi
Jury starts deliberating in ex-OpenSea manager's NFT insider trading case
Luc Cohen - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3AIEhEq
Sotheby's launches NFT marketplace for transactions on Ethereum, Polygon networks
Timmy Shen - Forkast
/jlne.ws/422natC
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen Sends Letter to Congressional Leadership on the Debt Limit
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Today, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen sent a letter to all members of Congressional leadership regarding the debt limit. It reads: I am writing to follow up on my previous letters regarding the debt limit and to provide additional information regarding the Treasury Department's ability to continue to finance the operations of the federal government.
/jlne.ws/3Hu2kLc
JPMorgan deal forces Biden administration to defend record on mergers
Andrea Shalal and Pete Schroeder - Reuters
JPMorgan Chase & Co's deal to buy First Republic Bank pushed the Biden administration into a corner, leaving officials scrambling to explain how their stance against mergers squared with allowing the largest U.S. bank to get even bigger.
/jlne.ws/44jJgci
Republican States Are Racing Toward Authoritarianism; From silencing Democratic lawmakers to denying election results to limiting trans rights, the GOP is stepping up its attacks on American democracy.
Francis Wilkinson - Bloomberg
Whether Texas Governor Greg Abbott makes good on his recent vow to pardon a man convicted of killing a legally armed Black Lives Matter protester remains to be seen. The killer had announced his homicidal intent on social media before the killing. News reports also noted that he had posted racist content online and had sought contact with underage girls, the latter of which may complicate the governor's messaging.
/jlne.ws/3LIvBEt
U.S. Supreme Court to examine whistleblower claims against financial firms in UBS case
Daniel Wiessner - Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine how difficult it should be for financial whistleblowers to win retaliation lawsuits against their employers as the justices took up a long-running case involving Switzerland's UBS Group AG. The justices will hear an appeal by Trevor Murray, a former UBS bond strategist, of a lower court's decision to throw out his 2021 lawsuit that accused the company of unlawfully firing him for refusing to publish misleading research reports and complaining about being pressured to do so.
/jlne.ws/44nA5YD
Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen Sends Letter to Congressional Leadership on the Debt Limit
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Today, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen sent a letter to all members of Congressional leadership regarding the debt limit. It reads: I am writing to follow up on my previous letters regarding the debt limit and to provide additional information regarding the Treasury Department's ability to continue to finance the operations of the federal government.
/jlne.ws/3Hu2kLc
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Securities or not, crypto in the US needs new regulations and clearer guidance
Lionel Zhao - Forkast
The Biden executive order of March 2022 gave a clear signal that increased scrutiny and regulation were on their way. However, the order offered no clarity regarding which federal regulator would be tasked with the job. The crypto industry should not be in the crosshairs of a turf war between government agencies.
/jlne.ws/3VolQP2
'Regulators Aren't Supposed to Stop a Bank Failure': Former FDIC U.S. Regulator
CoinDesk
A third major bank has failed in 2023, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announcing on Monday that it took possession of First Republic Bank and that JPMorgan will now acquire most of its assets and deposits. This comes as the FDIC says the crypto-friendly institution Signature Bank fell apart due to mismanagement and "contagion effects" after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the wind-down of Silvergate Bank. Jason Brett, Key Bridge Advisors managing director and former U.S. Regulator at the FDIC, discusses the role of regulators following what has happened in recent months.
/jlne.ws/42cXlGL
Coinme, Subsidiary and CEO Fined $4M by SEC Over UpToken Offering
Sandali Handagama - CoinDesk
Bitcoin (BTC) kiosk company Coinme has agreed to pay nearly $4 million to settle charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging it was party to an unregistered security offering, the regulator announced Friday. Coinme, its subsidiary Up Global SEZC and the CEO of both entities, Neil Bergquist, were all named in the order for allegedly running a crypto fundraiser known as an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017 for "UpToken."
/jlne.ws/3Hr8ufd
SEC Charges Florida Trader with Microcap Stock Manipulation Scheme and Obtains Final Judgment
SEC
On April 27, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final consent judgment against Carlos Eduardo Reyes Alvarez of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, permanently enjoining him from violating the antifraud and anti-manipulation provisions of the federal securities laws stemming from his manipulation of at least 28 microcap stocks.
/jlne.ws/3VmIKq6
Crypto Exchange Poloniex to Pay $7.6 Million to Settle Probe Into Sanctions Violations; The agreement follows a $10 million settlement the trading platform agreed to pay in 2021 as a result of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation
Mengqi Sun - The Wall Street Journal
Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex LLC has agreed to pay about $7.59 million to settle allegations it allowed users in sanctioned regions to trade digital assets on its platform, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | First Republic Sale Fills Bankers With Relief and Worry; Bankers at California gathering say deal will stabilize system; Real estate, interest rate concerns mount among attendees
Annie Massa, Katherine Doherty and Hannah Miller - Bloomberg
Hours after JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to buy First Republic Inc., attendees of the Milken Institute Global Conference in California started the day huddled under a covered pavilion as rain leaked in.
/jlne.ws/3oZjyd0
Be Like Meta and Issue Corporate Bonds While You Can; Borrowers waiting for a rally after the Fed pauses interest-rate increases may be disappointed.
Jonathan Levin - Bloomberg
The US corporate bond market experienced a spurt of new issuance on Monday, led by Meta Platforms Inc.'s $8.5 billion sale. Other companies should pay heed, because it's becoming riskier every day to defer financing plans.
/jlne.ws/3LLYGie
Stock Pickers on Wall Street Are Going All-In on Recession Bets; Hedge funds' relative cyclical exposure falls to a record low; Being early on recession trade can be costly, BofA study shows
Lu Wang - Bloomberg
As Wall Street economists and central bankers debate if and when the US economy will slip into a recession, big money managers aren't waiting to find out.
/jlne.ws/3NxNMyc
Investors Are Piling Into Actively Managed ETFs; Active ETFs are helping bring more complex trading strategies to the masses
Jack Pitcher - The Wall Street Journal
Investors are pouring money into actively managed exchange-traded funds, underscoring the appeal of active strategies after years of calls for passive index investing to take over.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Chicago's $1 Billion Water Deal Shows Great Lakes Wealth; Region provides 80% of North America's fresh surface water; Illinois has a blueprint to grow the $17 billion water economy
Isis Almeida and Kim Chipman - Bloomberg
As American states such as California grapple with harsher and more frequent droughts, the US Midwest is touting its ample water supplies to spur economic growth. Chicago has just signed a contract valued at $1 billion to sell its water elsewhere - the first such deal in 40 years - and the city expects more to come. Illinois is also launching a federally-funded plan to expand its $17 billion "Blue Economy" to lure companies from water-intensive chip manufacturers to climate-tech startups.
/jlne.ws/41Unjz5
ESG fund downgrades in Europe look set to reverse; New guidance that means fund managers can rely on their own methodology is expected to add to confusion
Emma Boyde - Financial Times
Just months after swaths of downgrades of "sustainable" investment funds in Europe, the industry is braced for mass upgrades, analysts say, risking a new wave of greenwashing accusations. The reclassification from "light green" Article 8 funds to their "darker green" Article 9 counterparts is expected as a result of a clarification issued by the European Commission in April.
/jlne.ws/3Nu3VVa
Virtual Reality Promised us a New World. Instead, It's Become a Breeding Ground for Harassment.; Misogyny is alive and well in the metaverse.
Moira Donegan - Elle
There was snow all around her, and white caps topping the mountain peaks in the distance. The woman ascended to the top of a stone tower and looked out over the virtual world of QuiVr, a headset-based archery game. The game was vivid, enchanting. "Never had I experienced virtual reality that felt so real," she wrote later, under the pseudonym Jordan Belamire. "I was smitten. I never wanted to leave this world." From her perch atop the tower, she drew closer to the edge.
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Northern Ireland faces legal action over new gas storage project; Environmental groups bring rare action over construction of seven underground caverns off Antrim
Attracta Mooney and Jude Webber - Financial Times
Northern Ireland's decision to sign off an undersea project that could provide a quarter of the UK's gas storage capacity will be challenged in the High Court in Belfast on Tuesday over environmental concerns. No Gas Caverns and Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland are seeking to overturn a decision by former Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) minister Edwin Poots to grant a marine licence, granting construction rights in sea areas for the Islandmagee facility.
/jlne.ws/3NrwYc3
Business and Nonprofits Together Can Achieve Net Zero on Carbon; Instead of getting bogged down in ideological debates, corporations and NGOs need a plan that makes both sense and profits.
Anne Finucane and Gina McCarthy - Bloomberg
We're riding a wave of momentum from weeks of climate change action. New World Bank leadership promised to place climate front and center. President Joe Biden convened the world's largest economies to raise ambition and issued a long-awaited executive order on greenhouse gas reductions. Earth Day energized citizens. These meaningful milestones all responded to what the world's climate scientists declared as their "final warning," and echoed what United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres labeled "a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts" - "everything, everywhere, all at once."
/jlne.ws/3Hxqq81
Limiting Global Warming: Demand and Social Aspects
IPCC - Infographic Factsheet
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Quant Fund Sues a 'Special' Trader Leaving for Rival With its Algo's Secrets; Jump Trading demands court impose two year job restrictions; Non-compete clause is too wide, unenforceable: Verition Fund
Upmanyu Trivedi - Bloomberg
A quant fund sued a "special" trader in London to prevent him from joining a rival firm too soon, to protect secrets that are the "lifeblood of its business" and worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Allowing Damien Couture, who left Jump Trading Group in March last year, to leave the firm to join a hedge fund risks "abuse of confidential information" and "once the cat is out of the bag there is no stopping" him, James Laddie, a lawyer for Jump said in the UK High Court on Friday.
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First Republic's Jumbo Mortgages Brought On Bank's Failure; Chairman Jim Herbert helped pioneer mega loans in the 1980; Buyer JPMorgan will share any mortgage losses with the FDIC
Hannah Levitt, Jennifer Surane and Sonali Basak - Bloomberg
The seeds of First Republic Bank's downfall were sown in the jumbo mortgages of Silicon Valley, where a unique strategy to loan wealthy individuals extraordinary sums of money blew up in spectacular fashion.
/jlne.ws/44iIOLw
Why Chinese Banks Aren't Worried About Depositors Fleeing; The country's savers have learned the hard way that safety matters more than yield.
Shuli Ren - Bloomberg
Now that US savers have noticed they can get much better returns elsewhere, they're pulling money out of their bank accounts. This year, assets held by money-market funds soared by about $530 billion, to $5.3 trillion, as bank deposits tumbled.
/jlne.ws/44lvTs3
FTSE Russell launches Developed Extended Opportunities Real Estate index in collaboration with National Pension Service of Korea
FTSE Russell
FTSE Russell, a leading global index, data and analytics provider, has partnered with the European Real Estate Association ("EPRA") and The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("Nareit") in response to client interest in granular classification and portfolio level screening. In consultation with NPS, specific sector exposures were mapped out to develop the 'FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Extended Opportunities RIC 6/45 Capped Index'. Initially developed for NPS, the world's third-largest pension fund by total assets, the index has now been added to FTSE Russell's standard index series and is being offered to various clients in the market.
/jlne.ws/3Ltwq2C
Morgan Stanley Plans 3,000 More Job Cuts as Dealmaking Slumps; Headcount reductions are bank's second round within six months; Firm plans to spare wealth management teams including advisers
Sridhar Natarajan - Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley is preparing a fresh round of job cuts amid a renewed focus on expenses as recession fears delay a rebound in dealmaking. Senior managers are discussing plans to eliminate about 3,000 jobs from the global workforce by the end of this quarter, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That would amount to roughly 5% of staff excluding financial advisers and personnel supporting them within the wealth management division.
/jlne.ws/3LLHKbD
HSBC Posts $10 Billion Profit on Higher Rates and China Reopening; The bank will target a $2 billion stock buyback and said its Silicon Valley Bank U.K. acquisition boosted its results
Josh Mitchell and Elaine Yu - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3AQJWs4
JPMorgan CEO Contenders Are Holding the Reins at First Republic-Together; Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak will take lead in absorbing failed First Republic
Gina Heeb and David Benoit - The Wall Street Journal
For Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak, winning the bidding war for First Republic Bank was the easy part. Now starts the hard part: absorbing the troubled San Francisco lender and its stunned employees into JPMorgan Chase's coast-to-coast banking business. The task falls to the two women, who together run the bank's sprawling consumer operation and sit atop the list of candidates to eventually succeed Chief Executive Jamie Dimon.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | IBM halts hiring for 7,800 jobs that could be replaced by AI, Bloomberg reports
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert - Business Insider
AI-induced job cuts are here. IBM, the international computing giant headquartered in New York, is halting hiring in its non-customer-facing roles that could be replaced by artificial intelligence, Arvind Krishna, the company's CEO, told Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3Nw1bH4
The future of jobs: 2 experts explain how technology is transforming 'almost every task', Experts explain the future of jobs; Future of jobs: 75% of organizations are planning to introduce AI over the next five years.
Andrea Willige and Gayle Markovitz - World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2023 finds most technologies will have a positive impact on jobs in the coming five years. But almost a quarter of jobs will change as various impacts, including the green transition, play out. Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO at Coursera, the online learning company, and Saadia Zahidi, World Economic Forum Managing Director, discuss the report's implications for employers and workers. "We're pretty much all in the same boat, whether you are a factory worker or on the frontlines or whether you're a knowledge worker sitting behind a desk. Technology is shifting the way almost every job task will be performed."
/jlne.ws/3oYMYYL
Macquarie CEO Says Bank Struggling to Recruit Talent; Macquarie boosted workforce by more than 10% in past year; Most of the new hires were in data, techology and operations
Nabila Ahmed - Bloomberg
Macquarie Group Ltd.'s chief executive officer said the bank is struggling to recruit staff even as it boosted its global workforce by more than 10% in the past year.
/jlne.ws/3HrCFD1
The White House Is Probing How Companies Use AI to Surveil and Manage Workers; Lawmakers around US target tech used to control workforces; AI worker monitoring poses 'risks to safety and mental health'
Josh Eidelson - Bloomberg
The White House is probing how companies use artificial intelligence to monitor and manage workers, practices the Biden Administration says are increasingly prevalent and can inflict significant harm.
/jlne.ws/3oYPFcP
Citigroup's CEO Willing to Adjust Staffing Levels in Investment Bank
Jennifer Surane and Sonali Basak - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser said the company is willing to make adjustments to staffing levels inside its investment bank as the firm and its rivals continue to deal with an industrywide slump in dealmaking and underwriting activity.
/jlne.ws/3LrmOW2
Alison Hollingshead: We need to make our industry more attractive and more accesible; The COO of Jupiter Asset Management, Alison Hollingshead, talks to The TRADE about the challenges of recruitment - and why, contrary to popular opinion, coding isn't everything when it comes to the desired skillset for a trader.
Editors - The Trade
Do you think trading desks are challenging themselves enough in the talent recruitment process? Why?
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Here Are Five Ways Finance Is Trying to De-Risk Heat Waves; From heatstroke insurance for humans to policies that reimburse farmers for lower milk output, more financial products are addressing climate change.
Aaron Clark and Taiga Uranaka - Bloomberg
Climate change-driven heat waves are impacting everything from nuclear reactors in France to glaciers in Pakistan. As millions of people around the world are forced to cope with more stifling temperatures, some are turning to hacks like air-conditioned clothing. Cities are doing everything from planting trees to deploying 1,000-year-old underground canal technologies in a bid to keep cool.
/jlne.ws/3VqeNp4
Why viral reservoirs are a prime suspect for long COVID sleuths
Will Stone - National Public Radio
Scientists haven't unraveled the cause of long COVID. But evidence is growing that an ongoing viral infection could be driving the symptoms, at least in some patients. Brent Palmer's first inkling about long COVID started in the early days of the pandemic, before the term "long COVID" even existed. Some of his friends had caught the virus while on a ski trip and returned home to Colorado with the mysterious, new illness. It was a frightening time - and an irresistible opportunity for Palmer, who studies the immune response to infectious diseases like HIV.
/jlne.ws/3VlpyZP
Pfizer beats profit estimates on steady COVID products demand
Bhanvi Satija and Raghav Mahobe - Reuters via Yahoo Finance
Pfizer Inc on Tuesday beat estimates for first-quarter profit, helped by steady demand for its COVID products and said it expects newer drugs to contribute to growth later this year, sending its shares up nearly 3% in premarket trading.
/jlne.ws/3AMGPBE
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Spring break brings China a post-COVID travel boom, and a boost for its shaky economic recovery
Shuai Zhang - Cbs News
Something unimaginable just one year ago is happening in China. With coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions behind them, hundreds of millions of Chinese are flocking to tourist attractions around the country. Centered around the May Day holiday on the first of the month, China's spring break lasts five days, starting on April 29. The China Tourism Academy predicted that more than 240 million passenger trips would be made during the five-day period this year, beating even pre-pandemic figures.
/jlne.ws/44fPhad
Buried treasure, including nearly 200 Roman coins, found in Italy
Taylor Nicioli - CNN
Archaeologists in Livorno, Italy, are putting together the pieces of a great mystery that began with a stunning find. While hiking in a cleared area of a Tuscan forest northeast of Livorno, a member of the Livorno Paleontological Archaeological Group spotted a few glimmering coins in the dirt in November 2021. Upon closer inspection and excavation, researchers determined that the find included 175 silver Roman denarii coins.
/jlne.ws/41TpPW5
A French Dairy Dynasty Grows to $15 Billion From a Dozen Camembert Cheeses
Tara Patel - Bloomberg
France is home to the world's richest person, the wealthiest woman and now the biggest dairy fortune. Over the course of three generations, the secretive Besnier family has grown what began as an artisanal cheesemaking operation in northwestern France into Groupe Lactalis, one of the largest global food companies. The three siblings who own the closely held manufacturer - Jean-Michel, 55, Emmanuel, 52, and Marie, 42 - are now worth a combined $14.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Vice Is Said to Be Headed for Bankruptcy; The company, which was once valued at $5.7 billion, has been struggling to find a buyer this year.
Lauren Hirsch and Benjamin Mullin - The New York Times
Vice, the brash digital-media disrupter that charmed giants like Disney and Fox into investing before a stunning crash-landing, is preparing to file for bankruptcy, according to two people with knowledge of its operations. The filing could come in the coming weeks, according to three people familiar with the matter who weren't authorized to discuss the potential bankruptcy on the record.
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