| February 22, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
JB Mackenzie has left Charles Schwab and joined Robinhood, where he will serve as general manager and vice president of futures and international. Mackenzie ran the futures and forex business for TD Ameritrade and for Thinkorswim before it was acquired by TD Ameritrade. He is also a former MF Global and Penson GHCO executive.
This is one of the smartest hires Robinhood could have made to become more involved in the futures markets.
Crain's Chicago Business reports that the number of Chicagoans who've returned to the office has topped 50% for the first time since the pandemic hit. This is higher than the national average, according to data from the real estate technology firm Kastle Systems. Evidently all those card swipes you have to do are measured somewhere.
Speaking of Crain's, they are looking for nominations for "Notable CFOs."
I have not used cash much since the pandemic, and not that frequently before, but now bank branches in London and across Britain are being set up to not even accept cash at all, The Telegraph reports. Banks in London have accepted cash since 1650 when a cloth merchant called Thomas Smith opened the first provincial bank branch in his native Nottingham, the story says.
Now when I need cash, I go to an ATM. I threw a $20 bill in a goodwill offering basket last night at a Fat Tuesday pancake dinner at my church. I will have to replace that emergency $20 bill soon. And, when I need to deposit a check, I simply do it with my phone from the comfort of my desk. It is understandable why banks are moving to cashless branches. They also save on the security guard cost and probably their insurance too.
In the U.S. we are getting ready for a big winter storm across large parts of the country. It has already grounded 1000 flights, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chicago is going to get some rain, freezing rain and thunderstorms, but other parts of the midwest will get several feet of snow and near record low temperatures. However, in Ottawa, Canada, warm weather has prevented the world's longest ice rink from opening as mild temperatures have kept the 7.8-kilometer (5-mile) Rideau Canal Skateway closed. The skateway, which is both a tourist attraction and a neat way to travel in Canada's capital city, is another casualty of global warming, Bloomberg reported.
Tom Conigliaro is starting a new position as managing director at S&P Global.
ABN AMRO's Amsterdam Investor Forum 2023 will be held on October 10 and 11. Save the date.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Enforcement, Miami Regional Office, is looking to fill a general attorney position in Miami, FL.
Mike Wilkins, who is always moving forward, announced on LinkedIn that he and numerous other employees of R3 had been laid off and he is seeking new employment.
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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Nasdaq's Green Voices Spring Newsletter was released today. It includes links to a video, "Carbon Removal for a Greener World;" offers an overview of how ESG impacts board members; and provides access to a report on Nasdaq's proprietary Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools and their analysis of ESG discussions in earnings call transcripts. The newsletter also offers a downloadable calendar of important ESG reporting dates. View the newsletter here.~SAED
Deloitte has released the 2023 oil and gas M&A outlook. The report examines falling market capitalization of yearly oil and gas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and examines whether the downward trend will continue. The outlook report discusses five trends that could reshape the dealmaking landscape. You can download the report here.~SAED
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Jimmy Carter has been wronged by history; Ronald Reagan, meanwhile, benefits from an eternal free pass
Edward Luce - Financial Times (opinion)
The downside to US political memory is that substance often counts for little. If it were taken more seriously, Jimmy Carter would be credited for having seeded the Soviet Union's demise and Ronald Reagan would not have been canonised as a modern saint. But marketing is a powerful drug. Conventional wisdom insists that Carter played Chamberlain to Reagan's Churchill. After four years of Carterian vacillation, Reagan grabbed the reins in 1981 and the rest is history. Except that it is shoddy history. Understanding how the US won the last cold war is key to managing the next one.
/jlne.ws/3EvcTfC
***** The great thing about history is that with time, you get to reflect on people, events and how things really played out after the smoke of the politics of the day has cleared.~JJL
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Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Its Investment Adviser Settle SEC Probe
Dave Michaels and Jonathan Weil - The Wall Street Journal
Ensign Peak Advisors Inc., which oversees a $44 billion U.S. equities portfolio for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will pay $4 million to settle regulatory claims that the money manager obscured the church's investment holdings. The Mormon Church will also pay a $1 million fine, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. The money manager and the church settled the SEC's investigation without admitting or denying wrongdoing.
/jlne.ws/3Spt4Rh
****** What $100 billion? I don't know what you are talking about.~JJL
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Split verdict in federal insider trading case involving Chicago attorney, friend
Jason Meisner - Chicago Tribune
In a split verdict, a federal jury on Thursday convicted a Chicago attorney of using insider information from a friend to make a windfall in stock purchases involving an education-technology company, while acquitting the friend on all counts. The jury deliberated for about nine hours over two days before the verdict was announced Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Judge Manish Shah's courtroom.
/jlne.ws/3xI0NMb
****** Strange case where the person who was alleged to give the tip was acquitted, but the person who acted on the alleged tip was convicted, though not of conspiracy. How can you have no tip, but still have insider trading? This case is not over. Disclosure: I think I know the family of one of the parties. ~JJL
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Anne Dias, Ken Griffin's ex-wife, sells Gold Coast condo
Dennis Rodkin - Crain's Chicago Business
Anne Dias, the investment executive who is Citadel chief Ken Griffin's ex-wife, sold a Gold Coast condo at a loss of over $1 million. The three-bedroom, 3,900-square-foot condo on Chestnut Street sold yesterday for $2.5 million. State and county public records show that a legal trust bought the condominium when it was newly built in 2008 for more than $3.96 million.
/jlne.ws/3YQqSVj
****** The Griffin family sure has a lot of real estate in Chicago to sell, at a loss. There is still a Lincoln Park mansion that she owns that is on the market for half a million dollars less than it was bought for in 2015. Maybe these losses are rounding errors for the Griffins, and no big deal. ~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our top story Tuesday was Millions brace for major coast-to-coast winter storm, from CNN. Second was Derivatives market still hit by fallout from Ion Markets cyber attack, from the Financial Times. Third was Trading Technologies and Eurex enter into commercial partnership to offer EnLight directly from TT platform, a TT press release.
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MarketsWiki Stats
27,213 pages; 243,042 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
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| Lead Stories | BIS Chief on Crypto: A Technology Doesn't Make for Trusted Money
Joanna Ossinger and Haslinda Amin - Bloomberg
The argument that crypto is an alternative to fiat currency has been settled following last year's turmoil in the digital-asset sector, according to Agustin Carstens, the head of the Bank for International Settlements. "That battle has been won," Carstens said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Wednesday. "A technology doesn't make for trusted money."
/jlne.ws/3Soi32F
Euronext Explores Takeover of H&F-Backed Allfunds; Other suitors have studied bids for Amsterdam-listed Allfunds; H&F and BNP Paribas are Allfunds's biggest shareholders
Jan-Henrik Foerster and Manuel Baigorri - Bloomberg
Euronext NV is considering an acquisition of private equity-backed fund distribution platform Allfunds Group Plc, people with knowledge of the matter said. The European stock exchange operator has held talks with major shareholders including buyout firm Hellman & Friedman, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.
/jlne.ws/41cdqNj
Hybrid working set to push US office vacancies to record by 2030; Cushman & Wakefield forecasts 1.1bn sq ft of empty space in fundamental shift for commercial property
Joshua Chaffin - Financial Times
Hybrid working will push US office vacancies 55 per cent above their pre-pandemic levels to a record 1.1bn square feet by 2030, according to a stark industry forecast that attempts to quantify the damage to the commercial property sector wrought by changing work patterns. The report by commercial real estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield found that 330mn sq ft of office space - roughly equivalent to all the office inventory in the Washington metropolitan area - would be made redundant by hybrid or remote working by the end of the decade. That would come on top of another 740mn sq ft of space that it classified as "normal or natural" vacancy.
/jlne.ws/3IrdTCy
BMO Financial Group and BNP Paribas Announce Global Commercial Agreement
BMO Financial Group - PR Newswire
BMO Financial Group ("BMO") and BNP Paribas announce today a long-term commercial agreement and new cross-border framework to enhance coverage and access to a global network for their commercial banking clients. They will also enter into a comprehensive leasing services partnership. As part of this collaboration agreement, both banks will continue to provide, and expand on international services offered to clients.
/jlne.ws/3m0ZMMD
UK Overtakes India as the World's Sixth-Biggest Stock Market; Weaker pound boosts exporters, driving FTSE 100 to record; Rupee's retreat, Adani rout spark declines in Indian stocks
Sagarika Jaisinghani - Bloomberg
The UK has surpassed India as the world's sixth-largest equity market for the first time in almost nine months as a weaker pound boosted the appeal of heavyweight exporters trading in London and Adani Group-led jitters weighed on stocks in Mumbai. The combined market capitalization of primary listings in the UK, excluding ETFs and ADRs, reached about $3.11 trillion on Tuesday, some $5.1 billion higher than their Indian equivalents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That hasn't happened since May 29.
/jlne.ws/3m24PNa
Stablecoins Attract Scrutiny in SEC's Drive to Control Crypto; Agency investigates whether the cryptocurrencies' issuance violated investor-protection laws
Dave Michaels - The Wall Street Journal
Washington's battle to rein in crypto has a new front: stablecoins. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether stablecoins, cryptocurrencies that maintain a price of $1, are among the products that were issued in violation of investor-protection laws. SEC enforcement lawyers have told Paxos Trust Co. that regulators plan to take enforcement action over its stablecoin, BUSD, although that decision isn't final.
/jlne.ws/3Z4h9uq
JP Morgan cracks down on traders' use of ChatGPT
Matthew Field - The Telegraph
JP Morgan has restricted traders' use of ChatGPT as employers grow increasingly nervous over sensitive data being exposed. JP Morgan is among investment banks to have placed temporary curbs around access to the chatbot tools. Accenture, the tech consultancy which has more than 700,000 workers, has also warned staff over exposing client information to ChatGPT's tools.
/jlne.ws/3lZl9OE
Hong Kong to Establish Task Force to Help Develop Crypto Hub; Financial Secretary Paul Chan lays out plan in budget speech; City building out regulatory regime for virtual-asset sector
Kiuyan Wong - Bloomberg
Hong Kong will set up a task force to provide recommendations on how it can achieve a recently adopted goal of becoming a crypto hub. "Over the past few months, a large number of innovative enterprises with potential have been considering setting up business in Hong Kong," Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in his 2023-2024 fiscal year budget speech.
/jlne.ws/3Y17C6A
Tesla Board Misrepresented Musk's $55 Billion Pay Package, Judge Told; Tesla's proxy disclosures flawed, lawyer for shareholder says; Firm' lawyer counters plan's 'give and get' properly disclosed
Jef Feeley - Bloomberg
Tesla Inc. directors misrepresented a $55 billion pay package they recommended for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, a lawyer for shareholders said in closing trial arguments in a suit challenging Musk's compensation. Board members filled proxy disclosures with "half-truths" about the package, which would be the largest-ever awarded to a CEO, the lawyer, Greg Varallo, said Tuesday in Delaware Chancery Court. Chancery Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick will decide the case without a jury.
/jlne.ws/3YWuRzY
Epstein Victims Say Banks Chose Profits Over Following Law; Filings come as Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan try to shake lawsuits; Victims say banks were essential to sex-trafficking venture
Joe Schneider and Ava Benny-Morrison - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. chose to profit from Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking venture rather than follow the law, victims of the pedophile told a judge, urging him not to throw out their lawsuit seeking damages from the banks. Lawyers for the banks asked the judge in December to dismiss the complaints, saying the victims' claims didn't "come close to adequately alleging" that the banks were part of the financier's sexual-abuse ring.
/jlne.ws/3Kynavh
Wall Street in Line to Reap Benefits of US Crypto Custody Shake-Up; Big banks may partner with crypto firms to launch services; Progress has been slow-moving, giving native firms an edge
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
Traditional financial firms and the crypto custodians they've backed may be best-positioned to cash in on proposed changes to US regulation for safeguarding digital assets, thanks to an existing portfolio of licenses and a trusted reputation in handling client funds. But first, it'll take some grit.
/jlne.ws/3Sj3c9O
Missing Chinese banker was working to set up Singapore family office; China Renaissance chief Bao Fan was establishing a fund to safeguard wealth before disappearance
Mercedes Ruehl, Tabby Kinder and Leo Lewis - Financial Times
Missing Chinese investment banker Bao Fan was preparing to move some of his fortune from China and Hong Kong to Singapore in the months leading up to his disappearance, according to four people with knowledge of his plans. The billionaire founder and chair of investment bank China Renaissance, who brokered some of China's biggest tech deals, was establishing a family office in the city-state to manage his personal wealth in the final months of 2022, the people said.
/jlne.ws/3KucNsg
CoinDesk's Major Award Is a Huge Moment for Us and Crypto Media Generally
Michael J. Casey - CoinDesk
The news that Ian Allison and Tracy Wang are joint recipients of a Polk Award, one of the most prestigious in journalism, for three November scoops that led to the unraveling of FTX's empire is a source of immense pride for all of us at CoinDesk. This is a milestone, not only for CoinDesk, but for crypto media generally. It underscores the role that sound, professional journalism can play in bringing transparency to the too-often-opaque and, sadly, scam-ridden crypto industry.
/jlne.ws/3xOgVvC
Coinbase Says It Will Be 'Net Beneficiary' Amid Heightened Regulatory Scrutiny
Andrew Asmakov - Decrypt
Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., took an opportunity to address the current regulatory landscape in its Q4 2022 earnings report released Tuesday, saying it is in a strong position to overcome both existing and future challenges.
/jlne.ws/3ZaWIfs
2022 Events Cast 'Serious Doubts' on Stablecoins as Money: BIS Chief
Sandali Handagama - CoinDesk
The events of 2022 have cast "serious doubts on the ability of stablecoins to function as money," said Agustin Carstens, general manager at the Bank for International Settlements, during a Wednesday speech.
/jlne.ws/3XTygOr
Analysis-Stablecoin regulatory crackdown sends warning to industry
Hannah Lang - Reuters
The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's warning shot on Binance's stablecoin over whether or not it is a security could offer a hint at what type of dollar-pegged tokens may draw regulatory scrutiny, critical information for other digital asset firms offering a less volatile way to trade crypto. Stablecoins, with a market valued over $137 billion according to CoinGecko, are digital tokens typically backed by traditional assets like the U.S. dollar or U.S. treasuries that are designed to hold a steady value.
/jlne.ws/3kgdVFw
Russia and China Have a Stranglehold on the World's Food Security
Alan Crawford, Frank Jomo, Elizabeth Elkin and Matthew Bristow - Bloomberg
The cargo trapped for months at the Dutch port of Rotterdam was so precious that the United Nations intervened to mediate its release. The World Food Programme chartered a ship to transport it to Mozambique, from where it's being taken by truck through the interior to its end destination, Malawi. It's not grain or maize, but 20,000 metric tons of Russian fertilizer, and it can't come soon enough.
/jlne.ws/3YS8gEB
Being Surrounded by Men Not New, Always Disappointing, Lagarde Says
Zoe Schneeweiss - Bloomberg
Christine Lagarde said being one of just two women in the European Central Bank's 26-member Governing Council is something she's used to, while highlighting that a more balanced group would produce better results. "I was a woman in many circles of men," the ECB's first female president told Finnish TV during a non-monetary-policy meeting this week in the Nordic country.
/jlne.ws/3ExGqFp
Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers agreed to pay for an expert to explain VPNs and disappearing messages to the judge in his case
Pete Syme - Business Insider
Lawyers for the FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried wrote to the judge presiding over his criminal case on Tuesday, agreeing to pay for an expert to help explain virtual private networks (VPNs) and disappearing messages. The letter, signed by Bankman-Fried's attorney Christian Everdell and viewed by Insider, said lawyers agreed to the appointment of "an independent technical expert, paid for by the defense, to advise the Court on technical issues concerning Mr. Bankman-Fried's bail conditions."
/jlne.ws/3IM0pCQ
Bankman-Fried Resists Testifying in Voyager Digital Bankruptcy
Joel Rosenblatt - Bloomberg
Sam Bankman-Fried is resisting efforts to make him testify in the bankruptcy case of the digital asset lender Voyager Digital Ltd. Lawyers for the co-founder of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed causing billions of dollars in losses, asked a federal judge in California Tuesday to block a subpoena from lawyers representing unsecured creditors in the bankruptcy case underway in New York.
/jlne.ws/3IN6QFy
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Putin attempting to sabotage North Sea energy assets, Netherlands warns
Chris Price - The Telegraph
Russia has been secretly collecting intelligence to sabotage Netherlands' North Sea energy infrastructure. A Russian ship collecting intelligence on energy infrastructure was discovered at an offshore wind farm in the North Sea, according to the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MVID). Dutch marine and coast guard ships escorted the vessel from the North Sea before any sabotage effort was successful, said Jan Swillens, MVID's head general.
/jlne.ws/3m12npR
Ukrainians Dig Into Their Own Pockets to Fund Everything From Drones to Mortars
Marc Champion and Daryna Krasnolutska - Bloomberg
Look at the cash register at an Okko filling station in Ukraine and you'll see a counter ticking higher beneath a cartoon of a winged shark. It tells customers how much of their money is going to buy targeting drones for the army. Come Back Alive, for which the gas station chain is helping to raise 325 million hryvnia ($8.8 million) for 25 Shark drone systems, is not your average charity; licensed to import arms, it has orders for nearly 500 mortars, according to Oleg Karpenko, the head of donor partnerships.
/jlne.ws/3ERbBvN
EU Urges Countries to Send Ukraine Ammunition From Own Stocks
Alberto Nardelli - Bloomberg
The European Union's top diplomat has asked the bloc's defense ministers to immediately provide Ukraine with ammunition from their existing stockpiles and from orders they have already placed. "Our immediate priority remains to deliver to Ukraine. Time is of the essence," Josep Borrell wrote in the letter, dated Feb. 21, and seen by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3SiNETr
The Geopolitical Multiverse Is Back to Two Superpowers; China's rise and Putin's invasion of Ukraine have put a stop to a multipolar world order.
Andreas Kluth - Bloomberg (opinion)
If American intelligence is right and China really is about to arm Russia in its genocidal war against Ukraine, we may be entering a new era in international relations. An even more dangerous one? That remains to be seen. In effect, Chinese military support for Russia would finally turn the Ukrainian conflict into a proxy war between two hostile blocs, with a third trying to stay out of the fray. The US, the European Union and the geopolitical "West" - from Canada to Japan and Australia - would be supplying Kyiv. China, Iran, North Korea, Belarus and a few other rogues - let's call them the "East" - would be helping Moscow.
/jlne.ws/3EqIIpO
Tobacco group Philip Morris admits it may never sell its Russian business; Company signals 'no hope' of a deal because of Kremlin terms on foreign companies' asset sales
Oliver Barnes - Financial Times
Philip Morris International admitted it would "rather keep" its business in Russia than sell on stringent Kremlin terms that would deny shareholders fair value, highlighting the challenges facing companies trying to leave the country without taking a huge financial hit.
/jlne.ws/3xM5g0q
Putin's Wartime Russia: Propaganda, Payouts and Jail; Russian leader is using media, state budget and government oppression to maintain domestic support
Ann M. Simmons - The Wall Street Journal
As the conflict in Ukraine approaches a one-year mark, Russian President Vladimir Putin has lashed his future ever more tightly to the war, deploying anti-West propaganda, government repression and state handouts to maintain domestic support. Mr. Putin has depicted the war in Ukraine as an existential clash with the West-one, he says, that is threatening traditional Russian values as well as the country's territorial integrity.
/jlne.ws/3Z8NlwI
Ukraine Grain Shipments Slow as Export Deal With Russia Nears End; Some traders are growing reluctant to ship wheat out of Ukraine amid concerns Russia won't extend a U.N.-backed grain-export deal
Yusuf Khan - The Wall Street Journal
Grain exports from Ukraine have slowed markedly in recent weeks, pushing up global prices, amid shipping delays and concerns about the looming expiration of a United Nations-backed deal to give food cargoes safe passage. Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year had initially trapped shipments of wheat, sunflower oil and other agricultural products, sparking concerns of a global food crisis. Shipments then recovered later in the year to near prewar levels after Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a U.N.-backed pact to resume food exports via Black Sea ports.
/jlne.ws/3SnL3HU
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | BHP calls for London Metal Exchange nickel benchmark overhaul
Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
The world's largest mining group has called for urgent reform of the nickel market on the London Metal Exchange, arguing that last year's chaos shows that the critical pricing mechanism has become increasingly removed from the way the metal is traded. BHP on Tuesday became the latest industry player to openly criticise the LME's nickel contract, which has been dogged by low liquidity since last March when prices more than trebled to record highs in three days.
/jlne.ws/3ImBFQi
CME Group to Launch Micro E-mini S&P MidCap 400 and Micro E-mini S&P SmallCap 600 Futures on March 20
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced it will launch Micro E-mini S&P MidCap 400 and Micro E-mini S&P SmallCap 600 futures on March 20, pending regulatory review. These new contracts will complement the existing E-mini S&P MidCap 400 and E-mini S&P SmallCap 600 futures. "At one-tenth the size of their E-mini counterparts, our new Micro E-mini MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600 futures contracts will provide enhanced versatility to market participants as they manage equity market risk," said Paul Woolman, Executive Director of Equity Products at CME Group, "With the addition of these two new contracts, we will now have Micro E-mini futures available to trade across the entire suite of S&P indices - large-, mid-, and small-cap - both extending the reach of these sectors to a broader array of market participants, as well as providing a more precise toolset for investors to scale index exposure."
/jlne.ws/3Zd3tx4
Intercontinental Exchange Selects Dow Jones as Main Provider of News Content Available on ICE Desktops
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure, today announced it has selected Dow Jones as its main provider of news content on ICE desktops. Under the expanded agreement, customers will have access to premium news, data and insights from Dow Jones Newswires. This includes select content from The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and Investor's Business Daily across ICE desktop platforms, including ICE Connect, Market-Q and eSignal.
/jlne.ws/3IhLhM2
Abaxx Provides Corporate Update and Quarterly Development Activities
Abaxx
Abaxx Technologies Inc. (NEO:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) ("Abaxx" or the "Company"), a financial software and market infrastructure company, majority shareholder of the Abaxx Commodity Exchange (ACX) and Clearinghouse, and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast summarizes development activities over the past quarter and the general progress of the Company's business plans.
/jlne.ws/3EykoCr
ASX Responds To ASIC Requirements for Additional Special Reports
ASX
ASX acknowledges that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has set out further requirements of ASX. ASIC requires ASX to prepare two additional special reports, as announced in ASIC's media release today (available here). The first of the new special reports requested by ASIC relates to the independent review into the CHESS replacement project application delivery which was commissioned by ASX last year. ASX is progressing its action plan to address the recommendations from this independent report.
/jlne.ws/351gPmZ
Benoit van den Hove to succeed Vincent Van Dessel as CEO of Euronext Brussels
Euronext
Euronext today announced that the Supervisory Board of Euronext N.V. will propose the appointment of Benoît van den Hove as CEO and Chairman of Euronext Brussels and member of the Managing Board of Euronext N.V., at Euronext's Annual General Meeting on 17 May 2023. As he will reach retirement age in December 2023, Vincent Van Dessel will step down as CEO of Euronext Brussels on 1 July 2023 and as Chairman of Euronext Brussels on 1 December 2023.
/jlne.ws/3ZfZgcf
Green Bond Digital Tracking Wins Special Award at MoE's ESG Finance Awards Japan
JPX
JPX Market Innovation & Research (JPXI) has received a Special Award in the fundraisers category at the 4th ESG Finance Awards Japan, hosted by the Ministry of the Environment. The award was given for JPXI's issuance of its Digitally Tracked Green Bond and the Green Tracking Hub that enables timely visualization of the bond's greenness indicators. The ESG Finance Awards Japan recognizes comprehensively outstanding organizations, cutting-edge initiatives, and initiatives that serve as examples for others to follow: this could be organizations that impact the environment, society, and the economy by supporting companies' transitions to sustainable business models, or investors, financial institutions, and financial service providers that promote the expansion of sustainable finance as well as fundraisers who use these funding providers. By sharing these with wider society, the Awards aim to further promote, expand, and improve the quality of ESG finance.
/jlne.ws/3YUqNjt
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | How AI Can Help Protect Whales From a Wind Farm Boom; Artificial intelligence is being used to detect endangered right whales as climate change drives them into the path of clean energy projects.
Todd Woody - Bloomberg
The blustery waters off Massachusetts are prime real estate for wind farms key to meeting US climate targets. That area of the ocean is also a climate refuge for an iconic marine mammal teetering on the brink of extinction, the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. As an offshore wind farm boom gets underway along the East Coast, new artificial intelligence and computer vision technology could help protect the whales from a jump in ship traffic.
/jlne.ws/3SkFkT8
Trading Technologies and Eurex enter partnership to offer EnLight through TT platform; Integration will help reduce the time-to-market of price discovery from various participants, making use of TT's large distribution network.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Trading Technologies (TT) and Eurex Frankfurt have partnered to offer the Eurex EnLight selective request-for-quote (RFQ) solution directly through the TT platform. According to the two firms, the partnership will provide institutions of TT's global distribution network the opportunity to streamline their RFQ and larger scale, complex trade execution activity on a single screen.
/jlne.ws/3xGaJpL
Redburn promotes from within for new head of electronic execution; Incoming electronic execution head has been with Redburn since 2016 after joining from State Street, The TRADE can reveal.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Redburn has selected one of its own to become its new head of electronic execution, according to an internal memo seen by The TRADE. Ian Cannacott has been appointed head of electronic execution after serving at Redburn as an electronic sales trader and associate partner for the last seven years. Cannacott joined Redburn from State Street in 2016 where he had previously been operating as vice president and program trader.
/jlne.ws/3YRqzd6
TransFICC to launch eTrading service for interest rate swaps; New service supports all IRS workflows and aims to meet client demands for increased efficiency when responding to RFQs.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Low-latency connectivity and workflow services provider TransFICC has launched its eTrading service, combining a hosted desktop GUI with IRS venue and workflow integration, pricer API, sever hosting and secure connectivity.
/jlne.ws/3Sq5MuO
Peter Thiel-Backed SPAC Weighs Merger With HK Fintech Hyphen, Sources Say
Manuel Baigorri and Elffie Chew - Bloomberg
Bridgetown Holdings Ltd., the US-listed blank-check company backed by billionaires Peter Thiel and Richard Li, is considering a merger with financial technology firm Hyphen Group, according to people familiar with the matter. A transaction could value the combined company at several hundred million dollars, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Li is already among the Hong Kong-based Hyphen's investors.
/jlne.ws/3Il8KMk
ConsenSys Acquires Easy-to-Use Blockchain Notification Tool 'Hal' to Strengthen Web3 Development
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
Ethereum development shop ConsenSys has acquired Hal, a platform that sifts through blockchain data and allows users to create notifications for things like trading, governance voting and tax compliance, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition brings 10 Hal employees and more than 40 application programming interfaces (APIs) for "blockchain listening and signals" to Infura, ConsenSys' popular Web3 connectivity layer.
/jlne.ws/3XQZm98
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Coinbase says some employees' information stolen by hackers
Carly Page - TechCrunch
Crypto exchange Coinbase has confirmed that it was briefly compromised by the same attackers that targeted Twilio, Cloudflare, DoorDash and more than a hundred other organizations last year. In a post-mortem of the incident published over the weekend, Coinbase said that the so-called "0ktapus" hackers stole the login credentials of one of its employees in an attempt to remotely gain access to the company's systems.
/jlne.ws/3xLBKYE
AT&T seeks to shed cybersecurity division -sources
Milana Vinn - Reuters
AT&T Inc, the second-biggest U.S. wireless carrier, is exploring a sale of its cybersecurity division, potentially undoing an acquisition it completed five years ago, according to people familiar with the matter. The sale of the cybersecurity business would add to a string of divestments AT&T has turned to in order to pay down debt following its $108.7 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc in 2018, a deal it has since also unwound.
/jlne.ws/3XRxba6
Copenhagen Airport Says Its Website Is Target of a Cyberattack
Christian Wienberg - Bloomberg
The Copenhagen Airport said it's with "greatest probability" the target of a cyberattack which has lead to several users being unable to access its website. Flights are not affected and the airport is working on restoring the stability of the website, it said in a tweet on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3ZhksP3
Gartner Predicts Nearly Half of Cybersecurity Leaders Will Change Jobs by 2025
Gartner
By 2025, nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs, 25% for different roles entirely due to multiple work-related stressors, according to Gartner, Inc. "Cybersecurity professionals are facing unsustainable levels of stress," said Deepti Gopal, Director Analyst, Gartner. "CISOs are on the defense, with the only possible outcomes that they don't get hacked or they do. The psychological impact of this directly affects decision quality and the performance of cybersecurity leaders and their teams."
/jlne.ws/41fG4gq
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | BIS Report Highlights How Retail Investors Fared After FTX's Collapse
CoinDesk
While most crypto app users worldwide lost money on their bitcoin holdings after last year's collapses of the Terra ecosystem and the FTX exchange, investors outside of major economies took the biggest hit, the Bank for International Settlements said in a report published on Monday. "The Hash" panel discusses the key takeaways and what it suggests about the impact of the recent crypto contagion.
/jlne.ws/3ZfhdHV
Coinbase's institutional, user bases 'continue to be relatively loyal' amid crypto winter: Analyst
Yahoo! Finance
Moshe Katri, Wedbush Securities Managing Director of Equity Research joins Yahoo Finance Live to break down Coinbase's latest earnings report and the future of the crypto market. Coinbase is reporting a loss here for its fourth quarter but revenue coming in slightly better than expected. We saw revenue of $629.1 million. The street was expecting $581.1 million transaction revenue off 86% year over year.
/jlne.ws/3KvZKGW
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong: 'Policy Is My Top Priority For This Year'
Hannah Miao - The Wall Street Journal
The legislative and regulatory outlook for the crypto market loomed large over Coinbase's fourth-quarter earnings call. "I've been spending a lot of time in D.C. ...Policy is my top priority for this year," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said. "There's a recognition that in the wake of FTX we need stronger consumer protection."
/jlne.ws/3SnmIBO
Coinbase earnings: Revenue, losses beat expectations as volumes plunge to cap 2022
David Hollerith - Yahoo! Finance
Coinbase Global (COIN) reported fourth quarter results Tuesday afternoon that beat Wall Street expectations as revenue unexpectedly rose and losses for the full year were narrower than feared. After these earnings shares rallied as much as 6% before settling flat in after hours trading. Here are Coinbase's key fourth quarter results against Wall Street expectations, according to data from Bloomberg:
/jlne.ws/3EtIZIq
Galois Capital-which shorted crypto fraud Terra-can't avoid contagion of FTX
Ben Weiss - Fortune
Galois Capital, a crypto hedge fund that famously bet against Terra's Luna token and once boasted $200 million in assets, told investors that it was shuttering after previously admitting that half of its assets were trapped on FTX, the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. Kevin Zhou, founder of the fund and former head of trading at cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, said Galois has stopped all trading and will return 90% of the remaining money it still has under its control to its clients, according to documents reviewed by the Financial Times.
/jlne.ws/3kfFBKG
Many Existing Stablecoins Won't Meet Forthcoming Global Standards: FSB
Camomile Shumba - CoinDesk
Many existing stablecoins would not meet the "high-level" recommendations soon to be set by global standard setters like the Financial Stability Board (FSB), its Chair Klaas Knot said on Monday. The FSB's upcoming guidance targets the strengthening of stablecoin governance frameworks, redemption rights and stabilization mechanisms, Knot said in a letter to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors.
/jlne.ws/3KqGdHN
Retail Lost Crypto Money as Whales Sold in 2022 Crash, Report Finds; Whales reduced Bitcoin holdings in days after 'shock episodes'; In stormy seas, 'the whales eat the krill,' BIS report says
Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
When the Terra ecosystem collapsed last year and again as FTX fell apart, retail investors rushed to buy the big crypto dip. Meanwhile, "whales" were selling en masse - all at the expense of those smaller mom-and-pop traders. That's according to a study by the influential Bank for International Settlements.
/jlne.ws/3Ze9qKa
Friendsies 'Rug Pull' NFT Holders-Could the Community Take Over?
Andrew Hayward - Decrypt
Friendsies, an Ethereum NFT project from long-running art duo FriendsWithYou, announced today that it would "pause" all future plans around the project after raising more than $5 million worth of ETH in last year's mint. The team then apparently deleted their Twitter account shortly afterwards, leading to accusations of a "rug pull."
/jlne.ws/3SplW7I
Friendsies NFT Collection Deletes Twitter After 'Pause' Announcement Spurs Rug Pull Accusations
Cam Thompson - CoinDesk
Non-fungible token (NFT) collection Friendsies is in hot water after announcing a "pause" and deleting its Twitter - sparking rumors the project is a rug pull. The initial drop of the NFTs in 2022 raised roughly $5 million. Friendswithyou, the LA-based art duo who developed the NFT project, also made their Twitter account private after the announcement.
/jlne.ws/3KtQdzZ
Ordinals NFTs Can Make Stacks' STX a Multi-Billion Dollar Token: Matrixport
Will Canny - CoinDesk
Ordinals' non-fungible tokens (NFTs), that triggered a 50% rally in Stacks Network's STX token earlier this week, have the potential to push STX into a billion dollar token, Matrixport said in a research report on Wednesday. Ordinals is a new protocol that allows NFTs to be stored on the Bitcoin blockchain. STX is the native token of the Stacks Network, a layer 2 blockchain that leverages the security of the bitcoin blockchain to settle transactions.
/jlne.ws/3xG09ix
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | More States Push Back Against GOP's Anti-ESG Campaign; While Florida and Texas rail against sustainability, Democrats and Republicans in other states are embracing it.
Tim Quinson - Bloomberg
An increasing number of US states are starting to push back against the anti-ESG rhetoric emanating from the Republican Party and a few of its high-profile governors. Some are moving ahead with their own rules to address sustainability concerns and lower greenhouse gas emissions. With Congress deadlocked for at least the next two years, state governments are now at the forefront when it comes to environmental legislation. In Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, signed legislation establishing a statewide carbon-free electricity standard. In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy, also a Democrat, announced a series of steps aimed at achieving 100% clean energy by 2035.
/jlne.ws/3YWcdrO
Anti-ESG fund manager Vivek Ramaswamy files for US presidential run
Lauren Fedor - Financial Times
Vivek Ramaswamy, the 37-year-old fund manager who has denounced "woke" corporations and emerged as a leader in the rightwing backlash against ESG investing, has filed paperwork to run for US president, becoming the latest Republican to challenge Donald Trump for the party's nomination in 2024. Ramaswamy filed a "statement of organisation" and a "statement of candidacy" with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday indicating he intended to launch a long-shot run for the presidency as a Republican.
/jlne.ws/3IkeC8F
UK's Sunak Suggests He'll Seek Brexit Treaty Change From EU; British premier says he hears DUP concerns 'loud and clear'; UK Parliament will have a say on any new Brexit deal: Sunak
Alex Wickham and Ellen Milligan - Bloomberg
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suggested a coming deal with the European Union over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland would involve legal changes to the existing treaty, something the bloc has previously opposed. In the House of Commons on Wednesday, Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson complained that under the existing "unacceptable" deal - known as the protocol - "EU laws are imposed in Northern Ireland with no democratic scrutiny or consent." He asked the premier for an assurance "that he will address these fundamental constitutional issues, and do so not just by tweaking the protocol but by rewriting the legally-binding treaty text?"
/jlne.ws/3XSjebR
Putin Says Russia, China Reach 'New Milestones' on Cooperation; Top Chinese diplomat affirms 'strategic' ties at Putin meeting; China readies plan to halt war amid skepticism in US, Europe
Bloomberg News
President Vladimir Putin said he's waiting for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to visit Russia as he hailed deepening ties with Beijing at talks with China's top diplomat. Cooperation between Russia and China is "very important for stabilizing the international situation," Putin told Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi at talks in Moscow on Wednesday, asking him to pass on greetings to "my friend" Xi. Russia and China are reaching "new milestones" including in trade, which may grow to $200 billion sooner than their goal of 2024, Putin said.
/jlne.ws/3KMo8V5
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | CFTC's Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee to Meet February 28
CFTC
CFTC Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger, sponsor of the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee (EEMAC), today announced the EEMAC will hold a public meeting from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday, February 28 in Nashville, Tennessee at the Nashville Public Library. Members of the public may also attend the meeting virtually and if space permits, in person.
/jlne.ws/3xKy7m0
SEC Charges The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Its Investment Management Company for Disclosure Failures and Misstated Filings
SEC.gov
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a non-profit entity operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to manage the Church's investments, for failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church's equity investments, and for instead filing forms for shell companies that obscured the Church's portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak's control over the Church's investment decisions. The SEC also announced charges against the Church for causing these violations. To settle the charges, Ensign Peak agreed to pay a $4 million penalty and the Church agreed to pay a $1 million penalty.
/jlne.ws/3Z5pFti
SEC Obtains Final Judgments Against Two Participants in International Microcap Fraud Schemes
SEC
On February 16, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered final judgments by consent against Canadian resident Graham R. Taylor and Maryland resident William T. Kaitz. In August 2021, the SEC charged Taylor and Kaitz and seven other defendants for their roles in fraudulent schemes that collectively generated hundreds of millions of dollars from unlawful stock sales and caused significant harm to retail investors in the United States and around the world. Among other relief, the judgment orders Taylor to pay more than $4.9 million and Kaitz to pay more than $1.3 million.
/jlne.ws/3Kt8mhu
SEC Charges Investment Adviser Candlestick Capital Management LP with Violating a Trading Rule
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission on February 17, 2023 filed a settled complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut against investment advisory firm Candlestick Capital Management LP for violating an SEC Rule when it purchased stock in a public offering for two private fund clients after selling short the same stock for those clients, during a time period when the SEC Rule prohibited those purchases. The complaint also names the two private fund clients, Candlestick Master Fund LP and Candlestick US F&F Fund LP, as relief defendants. Candlestick Capital has agreed to pay an $810,000 penalty to settle the charges. The two private fund clients have agreed to disgorge the profits received from Candlestick Capital's unlawful trading, totaling approximately $1.6 million, plus prejudgment interest. The settlement is subject to court approval.
/jlne.ws/3m1CPsH
SEC Charges Investment Adviser Hite Hedge Asset Management LLC with Violating a Trading Rule
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission on February 17, 2023 filed a settled complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts against investment advisory firm HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC for violating an SEC Rule by purchasing stock in a public offering for five private fund clients after selling short the same stock, during a period when the SEC Rule prohibited those purchases. The complaint also names the three private funds that ultimately received the profits from HITE Hedge Asset Management's unlawful trading, HITE Hedge LP, HITE Hedge II LP, and HITE Hedge Offshore Ltd., as relief defendants. HITE Hedge Asset Management has agreed to pay a $103,591 penalty to settle the charges. The three funds have agreed to disgorge the profits received from HITE Hedge Asset Management's unlawful trading, totaling approximately $111,000, plus prejudgment interest. The settlement is subject to court approval.
/jlne.ws/3ZckEyZ
Elon Musk Cites Jury Verdict Over Tesla Tweets in SEC Battle; Car maker's CEO has been trying to end a 2018 settlement agreement with U.S. securities regulator
Erin Mulvaney and Meghan Bobrowsky - The Wall Street Journal
Elon Musk has filed legal paperwork to parlay a recent court victory over his tweets in 2018 about potentially taking Tesla Inc. private into a win also in a long-running legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Musk has been trying to scrap a settlement he reached with securities regulators in 2018 that required some of his tweets be preapproved. The unusual settlement came after the SEC alleged that Mr. Musk misled investors in 2018 with tweets that weren't truthful.
/jlne.ws/3SAUynn
SEC's Shadow Crypto Rule Taking Shape as Enforcement Cases Mount
Jesse Hamilton - CoinDesk
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler thinks the cryptocurrency industry is playing a game with his agency. He has said that companies are well aware of what they have to do to operate legally within the U.S. but they've decided not to do it - some of them in open scorn of the regulator.
/jlne.ws/3kkqHTi
Coinbase Adds Its Defiance of SEC to Litany of Risks
Paul Kiernan - The Wall Street Journal
Coinbase Global added the possibility of fighting the law-and the law winning-to the laundry list of risks it faces as regulators clamp down on cryptocurrency markets. Coinbase has long warned investors that, although it believes none of the cryptocurrencies on its U.S. trading platform are "securities," its analysis may prove wrong and expose the firm to big penalties from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
/jlne.ws/3kkamy2
Mormon Church, Investment Manager Pay $5 Million to Settle SEC Probe
Austin Weinstein - Bloomberg
A US financial watchdog fined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm $5 million for using shell companies to avoid giving the public a clear view of a stock portfolio that swelled into the tens of billions of dollars. The church agreed to pay $1 million, while its Ensign Peak Advisers paid $4 million, to settle the US Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint that they failed to file forms disclosing the church's equity investments.
/jlne.ws/3Ijfr1z
Mormon church and its investment adviser fined by US regulators
Ortenca Aliaj - Financial Times
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has fined the Mormon church and a non-profit organisation that manages its $32bn equity portfolio over attempts to conceal the scale of its investments. Ensign Peak Advisers, the investment firm owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), failed to file quarterly investment disclosures known as 13F forms and set up more than a dozen shell companies to help hide the size of the church's equity portfolio, according to a statement released by the US regulator on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3lZdiAz
ASIC brings criminal charges against third individual in relation to Courtenay House
ASIC
David Sipina, of Croydon, New South Wales, appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court on 21 February 2023, charged with criminal offences relating to alleged misconduct at the Courtenay House group of companies. Mr Sipina is the third individual to face criminal charges after former director Tony Iervasi and former contractor Athan Papoulias were both charged. Mr Iervasi and Mr Papoulias have both pleaded guilty (22-307MR and 22-356MR). Mr Sipina was engaged by Courtenay House Capital Trading Group to promote the Courtenay House business.
/jlne.ws/3Ewwfkt
E-money groups need 'significant shift in culture', UK regulator says; FCA warns change is required to meet duty of customer care that comes into force this year
Laura Noonan - Financial Times
The UK's financial regulator has criticised e-money businesses for "poor" financial crime and fraud controls that can leave customers unable to access their accounts, saying there needs to be a "significant shift in culture and behaviour" in the industry ahead of new consumer protection rules this year. The UK hosts more than 250 non-bank e-money businesses, including well-known names such as Revolut and Wise, which offer payments services, and smaller companies that serve more niche markets, such as New York's Payoneer, which was granted an operating licence last week. They are not covered by the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme - which offers some protection to customers if they lose their money - and are not as tightly regulated as banks.
/jlne.ws/3IlP6zO
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | How This 23-Year-Old Trader Bets on Memes, Options and Bankruptcy News
Gunjan Banerji - The Wall Street Journal
Vincent Delisi says he has traded since he graduated from college in 2021-right around the time meme stocks were all the rage. Shares of companies like GameStop and AMC Entertainment were soaring, luring scores of Americans into the stock market. "I barely went out. I was just really focused on watching YouTube videos," said Mr. Delisi, 23 years old. "It was just fascinating that people could make money on these companies that everyone thinks will go bankrupt."
/jlne.ws/41jSR1c
Adani Stock Bearing the Brunt of Rout Has Lost 76% in Value
Ishika Mookerjee and Ashutosh Joshi - Bloomberg
Adani Group companies have erased about $135 billion of their total equity market value since the explosive Hindenburg Research report, but none has been hit as bad as Adani Total Gas Ltd. The stock has seen three quarters of its value wiped out since the short seller report was published on Jan. 24. Yet, it is the second-most richly valued among group entities - was the priciest before Hindenburg allegations - and has relatively less liquidity.
/jlne.ws/3kcuQZC
Energy Traders, Flush With Cash, Are Moving Into Crops and Metals
Archie Hunter, Isis Almeida and Devika Krishna Kumar - Bloomberg
After making more money than ever in the last few years, some of the world's top energy traders are using the cash to expand in metals and agriculture. The bumper profits reaped from trading oil and gas have given them cash to invest and opportunity to diversify into other commodities. Since last year Gunvor Group, Hartree Partners LP and Vitol Group hired crop or metals traders.
/jlne.ws/3KuvJal
A month after the Hindenburg jolt, Adani continues to bleed
Niharika Sharma - Quartz
It's been nearly a month since the US-based Hindenburg Research published a report jolting one of India's largest conglomerates. A $120-billion market rout and a major stock market U-turn later, the Adani group continues to bleed from the bruise it received. The business empire has desperately tried to fix things but mostly failed.
/jlne.ws/3SnlwhR
ETF Traders Ditch Risk Assets En Masse, Pile Billions Into Bonds; Major credit ETFs JNK and LQD each post outflows of $1 billion; More than $2 billion was added to short-term Treasury products
Sam Potter - Bloomberg
In the grip of the worst day for stocks in two months, traders in the hyper-liquid world of ETFs ditched equities and corporate bonds and headed for the safety of government debt as yields broke out anew. Money managers on Tuesday pulled billions of dollars from major exchange-traded funds tracking stocks and credit as hot economic data spurs fresh fears that the Federal Reserve will be forced to ramp up its tightening campaign. A $1 billion outflow hit the-now $7.6 billion SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) in the largest withdrawal since 2020, according to overnight data compiled by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3EtYaS6
Chinese lithium prices fall 30% as demand for electric vehicles weakens; Cost of clean energy's 'white gold' still eight times what it was a year ago
Harry Dempsey and Gloria Li - Financial Times
Lithium prices in China have slumped by almost a third in the past three months after weaker demand in the world's largest market for electric vehicles has punctured a two-year rally for the key battery component. Prices have dropped 29 per cent from November highs to Rmb425,000 ($61,795) per tonne, according to pricing agency Fastmarkets, driven by concerns over the strength of EV demand in Asia's largest economy. "There has been persistent weakness in China," said Jordan Roberts, lithium analyst at Fastmarkets. "The market is waiting to see the impact from the reduced new energy vehicle subsidies and is concerned by low household confidence, which is tied to the country's property crisis."
/jlne.ws/3EwbC89
Rio Tinto halves dividend after commodity prices retreat; World's second-largest miner 'quietly confident' about global economic outlook
Nic Fildes and Leslie Hook - Financial Times
Rio Tinto more than halved its annual dividend to reflect lower commodity prices but said it was "quietly confident" the outlook for the global economy had improved after China relaxed its Covid-19 restrictions.
/jlne.ws/3KwG5Xo
Silicon Valley Bank profit squeeze in tech downturn attracts short sellers; California institution that serves start-up scene under scrutiny over investments that have left it with unrealised $15bn loss
Tabby Kinder, Dan McCrum and Antoine Gara and Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
Silicon Valley Bank, the Californian institution central to financing US start- ups, is facing scrutiny over an investment decision made at the peak of the tech boom that is squeezing its profitability just as the industry faces its worst downturn in decades.
/jlne.ws/3INaXlk
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | ISDA Response to ESMA's Consultation on Draft ESG Fund Naming Guidelines
International Swaps and Derivatives Association
On February 20, 2023, ISDA responded to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) consultation on proposed guidelines on funds' names using environmental, social and governance (ESG) or sustainability-related terms. In the response, ISDA highlights that a common cross-industry methodology for the calculation of the minimum proportions of sustainable investments for derivatives transactions is paramount to maintain ESMA's goal of promoting standardized disclosures, and requests that ESMA gives the industry sufficient time to form a consensus on the calculation thresholds for derivatives.
/jlne.ws/3IpNm8Q
Energy industry fails to tackle methane emissions despite soaring profits, IEA says; Levels of the potent global warming gas remained at a near-record high in 2022
Attracta Mooney - Financial Times
Global fossil fuel industry emissions of methane increased to a near record in 2022, prompting a call from the International Energy Agency for oil and gas companies to use "windfall" profits to clean up leaks of the potent global warming gas. The latest report from the IEA estimated the industry was responsible for 135mn tonnes of methane released into the atmosphere last year, only slightly below the record high in 2019.
/jlne.ws/3XTAc9C
United Airlines launches $100 mln sustainable fuel investment fund
Rajesh Kumar Singh - Reuters
United Airlines (UAL.O) launched on Tuesday a more than $100 million investment fund to support start-ups focused on the research and production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The Chicago-based carrier along with inaugural partners such as Air Canada (AC.TO), Boeing (BA.N), General Electric (GE.N) JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) and Honeywell (HON.O) have invested in the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, it said. United said the fund was open to investment by companies across industries and would prioritize investment in new technology and "proven" producers. The global aviation industry is under pressure to reduce carbon emissions and find ways to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions target set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 2021.
/jlne.ws/3So4VuD
Investors Pile $28 Billion Into ESG Funds That Dodged Downgrades
Frances Schwartzkopff - Bloomberg
In a year marked by mass client withdrawals and downgrades, investors spent 2022 piling money into funds that managed to keep the European Union's top ESG designation. The data, compiled by the European Fund and Asset Management Association, show the EU's highest environmental, social and governance classification, known as Article 9, drew euro 26 billion ($28 billion) in 2022.
/jlne.ws/3ZeZ9NM
Republicans Attack 'Illegal' DoL ESG Rule; Attorneys general have written to the Senate and House urging them to reject the proposed law permitting ESG considerations in retirement plans
Banking Exchange
Republican lawmakers have launched a fresh attack on the legality of rules governing ESG investing. Last week, a group of attorneys general from 27 states wrote to the leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives claiming that the Department of Labor's rule permitting ESG investments in retirement plans was "illegal".
/jlne.ws/3lVYPoY
China Mulls Mandatory ESG Disclosures for Domestic Public Firms; Regulators are working on framework for firms listed in China; Beijing, IFRS formed cooperation on sustainability disclosure
Dong Cao - Bloomberg
China is planning to make ESG disclosures compulsory as part of efforts to shift to a lower-carbon economy, according to people familiar with the matter. Regulators are working with advisory bodies and rating agencies to formulate a framework for mandatory environmental, social and governance-related disclosures for companies listed in China, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.
/jlne.ws/3IJ27VE
HSBC Says Greenwash Risks Have Potential to Impede Market Access; Bank adds `greenwashing' to list of risks as global regulators move to clamp down on overhyped climate claims.
Alastair Marsh and Greg Ritchie - Bloomberg
HSBC Holdings Plc is adding "greenwashing" to a list of risks it says have the potential to affect a bank's access to capital markets. "If we are perceived to mislead stakeholders on our business activities or if we fail to achieve our stated net-zero ambitions, we could face greenwashing risk resulting in significant reputational damage, impacting our revenue generating ability and potentially our access to capital," HSBC said in its annual report on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/41kylxs
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | SocGen to Pay $157 Million Over Allen Stanford Fraud Claims
Madlin Mekelburg - Bloomberg
Societe Generale Private Banking has agreed to pay $157 million to settle a lawsuit that alleges a group of banks enabled the $7 billion Ponzi scheme of financier R. Allen Stanford, according to a federal court filing Tuesday in Texas. The settlement comes as HSBC Bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Independent Bank - formerly Bank of Houston - are set to go to trial on Feb. 27 in Houston over claims they helped support Stanford's fraud through the banking services they provided.
/jlne.ws/3SnkMt2
Bank branches turn away customers depositing cash
Sam Meadows - The Telegraph
For centuries customers have used bank branches to withdraw and deposit cash, but this everyday activity could soon be a thing of the past. Banks across Britain have slowly started to launch a strange new type of branch - one that does not accept cash at all. It would have been unthinkable in 1650, when a cloth merchant called Thomas Smith opened the first provincial bank branch in his native Nottingham.
/jlne.ws/3Z3yNyq
Citigroup bucks Wall Street trend to give CEO Jane Fraser a pay rise
Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
Citigroup increased chief executive Jane Fraser's pay to $24.5mn for 2022, making her the only big US bank boss to receive a pay bump amid a challenging year for the industry. In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Citi said Fraser's pay consisted of a $1.5mn base salary and a $23mn bonus paid in a mix of cash, deferred stock and performance share units. The bank paid Fraser $22.5mn for her work in 2021, when she took over as CEO at the end of February, replacing Mike Corbat.
/jlne.ws/3SkNT0c
Citigroup's Jane Fraser Bucks Rivals as 2022 Pay Rises to $24.5 Million
Jennifer Surane - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. awarded Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser $24.5 million in pay for 2022, making her the only major US bank CEO to receive a bump in compensation for the year. In her first full year atop the company, Fraser, 55, was granted stock awards totaling about $19.6 million, a cash bonus of $3.45 million and $1.5 million in salary, the New York-based bank said in a filing Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3ExGmWb
FTSE UK Index Series - Indicative Quarterly Review Changes March 2023
FTSE Russell
FTSE Russell, the global index provider, advises of the following indicative changes to the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, based on data as of Friday 17 February 2023.
/jlne.ws/3IM3T8o
Deutsche Bank Rebuilds Mexico Office as Others Head for Exit
Michael O'Boyle - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG sees opportunity in Mexico where other investment banks don't. The German lender is expanding its operations in Latin America's second-largest economy, with an eye to tapping into international interest in the country's manufacturing base, according to Christiana Riley, chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank Americas. That means focusing on providing more foreign-exchange and fixed-income derivatives to corporate clients, she said.
/jlne.ws/3YKmfMB
Blackstone's Ike leaves to start new investment firm
Chibuike Oguh - Reuters
Melvin Ike, a managing director in Blackstone Inc's tactical opportunities group, has resigned to start his own investment firm, the private equity firm told Reuters. Ike's resignation was announced during a meeting of Blackstone's tactical opportunities fund investors held last week in New York, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3XUS0RI
White-label provider HANetf wades into model portfolio space; The ETF model portfolios are aimed at intermediaries such as wealth managers and robo-advisers
Alf Wilkinson - Financial Times
White-label exchange traded fund provider HANetf has launched a range of model portfolios allocating to both in-house and third-party products. Launched in collaboration with London-based financial technology firm Algo-Chain, the six portfolios are targeted at financial advisers, wealth managers, private banks, execution-only brokers, robo-advisers and any other money managers who want to offer ETF portfolios to their end clients.
/jlne.ws/3YWf5oA
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | About half of us are back in the office
Sophie Rodgers - Crain's Chicago Business
The number of Chicagoans who've returned to the office tops 50% for the first time since the pandemic hit - a higher measure than the national average. That's according to data from real estate technology firm Kastle Systems, which analyzed building security card swipes and compared current figures to early 2020.
/jlne.ws/3Iqc34Q
U.S. probes Wells Fargo's retention of employee communications
Reuters
U.S. regulators are investigating Wells Fargo & Co's retention of employee communications over "unapproved" messaging tools, the bank said on Tuesday, the latest in a crackdown that has already sparked billions of dollars in fines. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission have undertaken the probes, the fourth-largest U.S. bank disclosed in a filing.
/jlne.ws/3KswNeY
Wells Fargo Discloses Probes as Scrutiny of Messaging Apps' Use Widens
Hannah Levitt - Bloomberg
Wells Fargo & Co. said that US regulators are investigating its retention of employee communications over unapproved messaging apps, the latest bank to get caught up in an industrywide sweep that's already yielded over $2 billion in fines. Probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission were disclosed Tuesday in a regulatory filing.
/jlne.ws/3lWA0JD
Coinbase CFO Doesn't Rule Out More Layoffs to Improve Financials; The company is working toward having a positive ebidta; 'We are nimble, we will take necessary steps,' Haas said
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
Coinbase Global Inc., which laid off staffers twice in the last year, is open to cutting more if it becomes necessary to improve the company's financial performance, Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said. The company, which previously said it would try to stay near break even, switched gears when it reported earnings Tuesday and said it will now strive to maintain positive earnings before items like interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
/jlne.ws/3kh6uxC
How Hybrid Work Is Changing Offices of the Future; Architects and real-estate developers are pioneering concepts to entice workers who will permanently split their time between home and office. Here are the innovations you'll see in coming years.
Ray A. Smith - The Wall Street Journal
Workplaces that look like your living room; flexible, multiuse spaces; outdoor terraces. Today's new hybrid work styles are reshaping the office buildings of tomorrow. Leading architects and real-estate developers are pioneering concepts aimed at workers who are splitting their time between home and office, and they predict these innovations will become mainstream in the years to come.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Develop vaccines for all animal influenza strain, says incoming WHO chief scientist
Natalie Grover - Reuters
Governments should invest in vaccines for all strains of influenza virus that exist in the animal kingdom as an insurance policy in case of an outbreak in humans, the incoming chief scientist at the World Health Organization said on Monday. Countries ranging from the United States and Britain to France and Japan have suffered record losses of poultry in outbreaks of avian flu in the past year.
/jlne.ws/3lTC5WG
Airlines Turn Market Darlings as Covid Forces Business Rejig; Key ratios are holding up as demand for air travel surges; Some airlines emerge from crises in better shape: Bilotkach
Angus Whitley - Bloomberg
Unloved during the pandemic with their business paralyzed almost overnight, airlines that cut back to survive the crisis are now blowing through profit forecasts and luring back investors. Virgin Australia, so financially frail when Covid-19 hit in 2020 that it folded in weeks, has undergone a remarkable transformation under new owner Bain Capital and plans to relist in Sydney.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Singapore's soaring expat rents undermine bid to oust Hong Kong as finance hub; Rising living costs damage city-state's ambition to lure regional businesses
Mercedes Ruehl - Financial Times
Two years ago, Lauren arrived in Singapore from Hong Kong wanting more living space for her growing family. Now, they intend to move back. The reason: a 61 per cent increase in the rent on their four-bedroom flat and the high and rising cost of living. A British mother of three whose husband works in finance, Lauren, who did not want to use her full name, said her experience of Asia's two rival financial centres has been an eye opener. "Everyone thinks Hong Kong is the most expensive city," she said.
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A $33 Billion Hit Shows China's Newest Stock Worry
Bloomberg News
Just as China's beleaguered tech stocks look to have put the worst of their regulatory blues behind them, a new threat is emerging as firms ramp up a battle for business at home. A report this week that JD.com Inc. is launching a subsidy campaign to fight back against the advances of rival PDD Holdings Inc. sent fresh shivers through the sector, slamming shares in both firms and their larger e-commerce rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Together, the three companies lost $33 billion of market value in US trading on Tuesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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China urges state firms to drop Big Four auditors - Bloomberg
Reuters
Concerns about data security have prompted Chinese authorities to ask state-owned firms to stop using the four biggest global accounting firms as Beijing seeks to curb the influence of Western auditors, Bloomberg News reported.
/jlne.ws/3KuTz5X
City of London Mayor Woos Australia's $2.3 Trillion of Pensions; Lyons pushes post-Brexit opportunities in UK infrastructure; Finance hub seeks to tap surge in appetite for private assets
Amy Bainbridge - Bloomberg
London's biggest investors are seeking to tap the surge in appetite for infrastructure assets from Australia's A$3.3 trillion ($2.3 trillion) of pension funds. That's the message from Nicholas Lyons, Lord Mayor of the City of London, who's in Australia to push UK investment opportunities. A report out Wednesday from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia shows that pensions' infrastructure holdings have surged in recent years and now comprise 8% of their total assets.
/jlne.ws/3kejpR7
Saudi Talks on Buying Egypt's United Bank Stall Over Pound
Bloomberg News
Talks between Saudi Arabia and Egypt over the purchase of Cairo-based United Bank have stalled over a disagreement about how to value the multi-million-dollar transaction, in a stumbling block as the government works to raise sorely-needed funding. Discussions over the state-owned lender have faltered over how to account for the plunging value of the Egyptian pound, people familiar with the situation said. They asked not to be identified as the matter is private.
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Venezuela's Oil Industry, Reopening to Investors, Is Major Polluter; Western companies looking to resume production will confront problems from spills to burning gas
Kejal Vyas - The Wall Street Journal
Across Venezuela's once-thriving oil industry, environmentalists say rusty pipelines and storage tanks routinely leak contaminants into the ground. Frequent spills stain the mangroves of national parks with oil. Refinery explosions in recent years have sent black smoke billowing into the sky. And Venezuela's national oil company, unable to process the natural gas that is a byproduct of oil production, burns enough each day to supply the state of Georgia.
/jlne.ws/3IuWadI
New York City Coffers are Flush With Cash as It Taps Bond Market; City has $14.6 billion cash balance, double last year's amount; Labor contract costs, office market weakness still loom
Martin Z Braun - Bloomberg
As New York City prepares to sell nearly $680 million of bonds Wednesday, investors are unlikely to see much short-term risk: Its coffers are flush with cash. The city's cash balance, which includes reserves, stood at $14.6 billion in early February, twice as much as the same time a year earlier, according to the Comptroller. Although Wall Street bonus payments are projected to decline 20%, personal-income-tax revenue withheld from workers paychecks in January was still almost 7% higher than the same month last year, showing that the city is still gaining from the strong labor market.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Top Sommeliers Are Offering Tuition-Free Wine Classes to BIPOC Students; A growing number of wine professionals are working hard to change the industry's lack of diversity.
Adam Reiner - Bloomberg
In December 2017, Cote Korean Steakhouse in New York City began offering wine classes to employees. The pupils for the course, overseen by director of beverage Victoria James, ran the gamut from dishwashers to managers. Soon it became evident that the classes had become a catalyst for career advancement within the restaurant.
/jlne.ws/3IkYtjb
How the crypto crash brought bad karma to a New York yoga studio; Newly-wealthy traders once shelled out for rooms and classes in Manhattan - but now the party's over
Joshua Oliver - Financial Times
New Vibe Yoga in New York's East Village is a nearly perfect yoga studio. The smell of peppermint and eucalyptus bathes the top-floor practice room, with its exposed brick walls and crackling wood fire, in a warm and tranquil haze. But even as its owner, Alex Schatzberg, has created a relaxing haven for his clientele, he himself is wrestling with financial anxiety.
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