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John Lothian Newsletter
October 25, 2018 "Irreverent, but never irrelevant"
 
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Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Yesterday was the 89th anniversary of Black Thursday.~SD

It used to be "There's an app for that." Now, it's "There's an ETF for that." The most recent entry into the category? The US Vegan Climate ETF. I don't think they'll be trading cattle futures...~SD

Are you interested in the history of financial futures? We are developing a documentary series about exactly this. We are also looking for firms who might be interested in financially supporting the effort. We are looking for firms to be sponsors, or advertisers. You will be prominently mentioned in each segment of the series as being sponsors. Contact me if you are interested.~JJL

The CFE traded 1826 Bitcoin futures yesterday. The CME Group traded 3682 Bitcoin futures yesterday.~JJL


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IFM

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SEC Won't Release 'Speed Bump' Study It Promised Two Years Ago; Investors expressed surprise at decision not to publish the study, which the agency committed to in 2016
Cezary Podkul - WSJ
The Securities and Exchange Commission won't release a study of the impact of brief delays in stock trading on market quality and pricing that investors have been expecting for two years.
/on.wsj.com/2CH1mee

***** This is just a speed bump until the report finally comes out, one way or another.~JJL

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Report on the Effects of IEX's Intentional Access Delay on Market Quality, including Price Discovery
SEC
/on.wsj.com/2CFNQrd

***** Heavily redacted report.~JJL

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When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn
Matthew Rosenberg and Maggie Haberman - NY Times
When President Trump calls old friends on one of his iPhones to gossip, gripe or solicit their latest take on how he is doing, American intelligence reports indicate that Chinese spies are often listening — and putting to use invaluable insights into how to best work the president and affect administration policy, current and former American officials said.
/nyti.ms/2CEKmVJ

**** This story includes this tidbit from a Trump phone call: "CEO of Blackstone just nods along waiting for his chance to suggest we abolish the Commodity Futures Trading Commission."~JJL

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An anti-violence program decked out in a kerchief and badge vest; Restoring the Village, a new program unique to Chicago, brings Scouting to underserved neighborhoods for the first time.
Lisa Bertagnoli - Crain's Chicago Business
Cesar Mariano grew up in Little Village. Unlike a lot of boys his age in the United States, he didn't hear about Boy Scouts until he was in high school. These days, Mariano, 43, is a cubmaster for Cub Scout Pack 1986 in Little Village. The pack, established in spring 2017, is the first Boy Scout troop in Little Village in decades, if ever.
bit.ly/2CB5mgd

***** Great story about an initiative to bring Scouting to at risk youth in Chicago. This was why I voted as a member of the search committee to hire Jeff Isaac as the Scout Executive for Pathway to Adventure Council. Also, the scout referenced in this story has attended a session of Trading Tech 300.~JJL

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Wednesday's Top Three
The top story yesterday was the Wall Street Journal's How One Stubborn Banker Exposed a $200 Billion Russian Money-Laundering Scandal. The second was The Block's take on Seed CX, A Chicago crypto exchange has assembled a slate of new directors to help prepare for a November launch. Third was the big announcement regarding OOFs Trading Technologies Partners with TradeStation to Offer Its Options-on-Futures Technology to TradeStation Customers.

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Lead Stories
Blockchain technology poised to enter European settlement system; Licence approval for UK's Setl represents a further coup for proponents
Philip Stafford - FT
One of Europe's biggest securities settlement systems is set to welcome a blockchain-based depository after Setl, a UK fintech group, received a licence from French regulators.
/on.ft.com/2R66V9V

Anybody Want Bitcoin Futures? Anybody?; The contracts that were seen as a step toward bringing crypto to Wall Street remain a tiny market.
Lily Katz, Nick Baker - Bloomberg
On a Sunday evening last December, as the cryptocurrency craze consumed the world, traders waited eagerly at their computers to witness the debut of a flashy new financial product.
/bloom.bg/2CE1Rpb

Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche Boerse successfully complete tests for blockchain prototypes
Deutsche Boerse
Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche Boerse have successfully completed the performance tests of their jointly specified prototypes for securities settlement based on blockchain technology. The prototypes support the settlement of securities transactions, payments, interest payments and repayments at the maturity of a bond. It was developed on both Hyperledger Fabric (version 1.0) and the Digital Asset Platform and subjected to demanding performance tests.
bit.ly/2CFOLrF

Eurex to broaden clearing battle with UK's LCH
Philip Stafford in London - FT
Deutsche Boerse's derivatives exchange is to broaden its battle in clearing with the UK's LCH by extending its scheme to share profits with users to foreign exchange swaps and repo markets.
/on.ft.com/2CCkRnU

A Stock Exchange Building Out Blockchain Isn't Buying the Hype
Matthew Burgess - Bloomberg
Australian bourse plans to introduce new system in 2021; It may become the first major venue to widely use blockchain
Australia's leading stock exchange operator plans to roll out blockchain technology for settlements in 2021, it said this week. That doesn't mean it's buying into the hype around the new system.
/bloom.bg/2CFtvlN

Algorithms to Boldly Go Where No Scientist Has Gone Before; Researchers tend to cluster and mine the same familiar territory. AI can overcome that tendency and point to new questions.
Faye Flam - Bloomberg
As algorithms and artificial intelligence infiltrate science, don't expect bots to replace researchers — but AI may guide scientists and funding agents toward the most promising unexplored territory.
/bloom.bg/2CCX3As

3 Signs That China's Stock Market Woes Are Starting to Infect the Rest of the World
Mark DeCambre - MarketWatch
Fears that a slowdown by China's economy will eventually ripple through the rest of the world have been playing out, reflected in a sweeping global equity-market downturn.
bit.ly/2CC6pMR

China's Market Rescuers Could Use a Rescue; Brokerages charged with tackling shares pledged against loans face a growing burden as losses spread.
Nisha Gopalan - Bloomberg
Pity China's brokers. Not only must they grapple with the challenges facing their U.S. counterparts of shriveling commissions amid a stock rout - they're compelled to keep riding to the rescue of the market.
/bloom.bg/2CFdXyn

Asian Stocks Lose $5 Trillion This Year With No End in Sight
Moxy Ying and Livia Yap - Bloomberg
MSCI Asia Pacific Index takes its annual plunge to 16 percent; Slump comes after 3 percent S&P 500 drop on earnings worries
After a slump in U.S. stocks, Asia's main equity gauge has finally succumbed, entering a bear market overnight. The region's equities have already lost more than $4.9 trillion in value this year, and Thursday isn't looking pretty.
/bloom.bg/2CEhL2S

Barclays Cruises While Deutsche Bank Spins
Paul J. Davies - WSJ
The diverging fates of Barclays and Deutsche Bank have one simple connection: the amount of cheap funding they can offer investment banking clients.
U.K.-based Barclays is enjoying a strong recovery in investment banking revenue this year, boosted significantly by the financing it can give to trading clients. Germany's Deutsche Bank, by contrast, is hobbled by its own high cost of funding, which makes it less attractive to clients.
/on.wsj.com/2O5cnaX

Uncharted Bitcoin OTC Markets Gear Up For Institutional Inflows
Aaron Stanley - Forbes
As the entrance of institutional players into the crypto space continues to draw nigh, the market for a murky off-exchange form of trading known as over-the-counter is becoming an increasingly critical lynchpin to the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
/goo.gl/48n8qP

New York sues Exxon for misleading investors on climate change risks; Oil company accused of being deceptive about the emissions threat to its business
Ed Crooks in New York - FT
ExxonMobil has been sued by New York state's attorney-general for allegedly misleading investors over the risks that climate change regulations posed to its business.
/on.ft.com/2CGrDJh

Financial companies choose to make workplaces more inclusive; Traditional firms are now more palatable for LGBT+ people
Javier Espinoza - FT
Tim Franks started the process of coming out in the workplace two decades ago.
/on.ft.com/2CEizom

At 34, She's Gone From Goldman to Failed Artist to Startup Queen
Keiko Ujikane and Shingo Kawamoto - Bloomberg
Hiring social network founder Naka also worked for Facebook; Her startup, Wantedly, listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2017
By the age of 34, Akiko Naka has already experienced more career-wise than most people do in a lifetime.
/bloom.bg/2CEPSHP

Janet Yellen sounds alarm over plunging loan standards; Ex-Fed chair sees systemic risk in leveraged lending and warns against deregulation
Sam Fleming in Washington - FT
The US needs to deal with a "huge deterioration" in the standards of corporate lending instead of focusing on deregulation, Janet Yellen has warned.
/on.ft.com/2CCYgI0

IHS Markit to mentor lawmaker Swinburne in board diversity drive; Leading MEP takes part in programme's launch to 'take the next step' after UK leaves EU, and promote senior roles for women
Samuel Agini - Financial News
Kay Swinburne, the influential policymaker who helped shape swathes of post-crisis financial regulation in Europe, is to be the first participant in a new mentorship programme designed to increase the number of female candidates for corporate boardrooms.
bit.ly/2CEmL7E





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Exchanges, OTC & Clearing
Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities
Traders, Exchanges to Square Off in Market-Data Fee Fight; In a letter to the SEC, Virtu's CEO says exchanges should have to periodically disclose how much money they earn from each product sold to brokers and traders
Dave Michaels - WSJ
Traders want the government to require stock exchanges to reveal more about how they make money from market data, a crucial ingredient in stock trading that has become a flashpoint on Wall Street.
/on.wsj.com/2CFvYwz

CCP Disclosures 2Q 2018 - What the Data Shows
Amir Khwaja - Clarus FT
Clearing Houses 2Q 2018 CPMI-IOSCO Quantitative Disclosures are now available, so lets look at what the data shows, similar to my 3Q 2017 trends article.
/goo.gl/165Loj

Nasdaq Wins Patent for Newswire Service Built on a Blockchain
Nikhilesh De - Coindesk
Nasdaq has won a patent outlining how blockchain could be used to release information as part of a wire service.
bit.ly/2CH2Yoi

OCC says new tech must be compatible with blockchain
Louisa Chender - FOW
OCC president John Davidson says earliest connection to blockchain could be in sec lending space
bit.ly/2CEkclY

India stock exchange gets nod to launch copper futures contracts
Asia Asset Management
The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) has received regulatory approval to launch 25 metric tonne copper futures contracts, just days after launching its commodity derivatives platform.
/goo.gl/EkMJE6

Moscow Exchange Launches Futures On Non-Ferrous Metals
Mondovisione
On 24 October 2018, Moscow Exchange will launch trading in futures contracts on non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, nickel, zinc and copper. With the new contracts, the Exchange aims to make it easier for Russian market participants and their clients to invest in global commodity instruments.
/goo.gl/2uUE7C

Eurex targets OTC FX and repo clearing with expansion of partnership profit scheme
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Eurex Clearing is planning to expand its Partnership Program to cover over-the-counter (OTC) FX and repo instruments by the first quarter next year.
bit.ly/2CFxb75

Eurex Clearing to expand Partnership Program to Repo and Foreign Exchange
Eurex
Eurex Clearing plans to expand its Partnership Program to cover the repo and OTC foreign exchange (OTC FX) segments. The design of the program extension is complementary to the OTC interest rate derivatives segment, which started in January 2018. As part of its partnership program Eurex Clearing shares governance and economics with the most active program participants.
bit.ly/2CCxCiu

CME Group Inc. Reports Third-Quarter 2018 Financial Results
CME Group
CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) today reported revenue of $904 million and operating income of $550 million for the third quarter of 2018. Net income was $412 million and diluted earnings per share were $1.21, up from $0.91 in third-quarter 2017. On an adjusted basis, net income was $495 million and diluted earnings per share were $1.45, up from $1.19 in third-quarter 2017. Financial results presented on an adjusted basis for the third quarters of 2018 and 2017 exclude certain items, which are detailed in the reconciliation of non-GAAP results.http://bit.ly/2CIdR90

CME Group quarterly profit rises 33 pct
Reuters
Exchange operator CME Group Inc reported a 33.4 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday as it earned more from providing market data services to clients and reaped the benefits of a tax cut.
/reut.rs/2CE6hMN




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Fintech
A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors
Barchart Launches First Ever Continuous Price Assessments for Physical Grain
Barchart
Barchart, a leading provider of financial market data and technology, is pleased to announce the launch of the first ever continuous price assessments for physical grain - with coverage of North American Corn, Soybeans, and Wheat. Sitting within Barchart's cmdty product line, these innovative patent pending indexes allow users to measure execution quality, mark their books to market, and use as a reference rate for physical contracts.
bit.ly/2CDW4A3

Customers' money trapped at UK fintech due to Malta bank freeze
Nicholas Megaw and David Crow - Financial Times
Customers of a UK-based financial technology company have been left unable to access money stuck in their accounts after the Maltese authorities froze activities at a bank co-owned by the company's founder.
London-based LeoPay provides international money transfers and multi-currency bank accounts, but some customers began complaining over the weekend that they could no longer make payments while others discovered that their accounts had been closed without warning.
/goo.gl/cK4Xcf

Fintech: are you ready to get on board for the boom?
Heidi Scrimgeour - The Guardian
Everyone's talking about the UK's fintech sector. A portmanteau of financial technology, fintech can be found everywhere - from your banking app to internet payment and credit scoring systems.
But fintech is more than just the convergence of the technology and finance sectors. It also refers to the ways technology is impacting the services and infrastructure that define the financial sector.
bit.ly/2yyAQRk

Agribusinesses to standardise trade operations with new technologies
Emiko Terazono, Commodities correspondent - FT
Leading agricultural commodities traders known as the "ABCDs" have agreed to work together to standardise and digitise deals in order to increase efficiency and transparency and reduce transaction times.
/on.ft.com/2CGvmGL

Chinese Fintech Unicorns Dominate the Top of the 2018 Fintech100 List
Shirley Tian - CapitalWatch
Chinese Fintech giants continue to dominate the top of the Fintech100 List this year, with Ant Financial in first, JD Finance second, and Baidu fourth.
The 2018 Fintech100 is the fifth edition of the annual report, a collaboration between Fintech investment firm H2 Ventures and KPMG Fintech. The Fintech 100 list can be divided into two asepcts, which includes the 'Leading 50' fintech firms around the globe, ranked based on innovation, capital raising activity, size and reach; and the 'Emerging 50', exciting new fintechs that are at the forefront of innovative technologies and practices and are often pursuing new business models.
bit.ly/2yu9600

UBS signs U.S. deal with Broadridge for cost-sharing wealth technology
Reuters
UBS Group AG's Wealth Management Americas unit said on Thursday it will roll out a new software platform to its U.S.-based financial advisers and staff that will allow the Swiss bank to split some tech costs with other firms.
/reut.rs/2CEHqID



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Cryptocurrencies
Top stories for cryptocurrencies
Bakkt could get regulatory green-light for its bitcoin futures as soon as next week
The Block Crypto
Intercontinental Exchange's Bakkt could get the green-light to launch its bitcoin futures product as soon as next week, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.
bit.ly/2CEN7q0

Universities Show A Surprising Leading Light In Cryptocurrency Adoption
Darryn Pollock - Forbes
Blockchain, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency adoption are seeping into all facets of global society, and this is despite the bearish market for the actual digital tokens. A Medium article titled: 'Why Bitcoin and Crypto have no future' goes on to list around 40 evidences that suggest counter to the title's claim.
bit.ly/2O4Rhd0

This College Freshman Is Out to 51% Attack Your Cryptocurrency
Brady Dale - Coindesk
A college freshman is coming after your cryptocurrency - but not to steal your coins, just to prove that someone could do so pretty easily. According to a crypto enthusiast and security researcher going by the handle "geocold51," most small-scale cryptocurrencies are at risk from the industry's most feared vulnerability - the 51% attack.
bit.ly/2AriXoL

Japan grants cryptocurrency industry self-regulatory status
Taiga Uranaka - Reuters
Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) on Wednesday gave the cryptocurrency industry self-regulatory status, permitting the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association to police and sanction exchanges for any violations.
/reut.rs/2z0fVpz

Is The Reversal Of Crypto Ad Bans A Sign of Mainstream Acceptance To Come?
Andy Klein - Forbes
Cryptocurrency companies and trading platforms took a sucker punch to the belly in early 2018, when behemoths like Facebook, Google and Twitter announced they would ban crypto advertisements from appearing on their platforms. Facebook was the first to pull the plug, but Google's announcement in mid-March was the haymaker, as what many consider the world's number-one website banned content on initial coin offerings (ICOs), wallets and cryptocurrency investing advice.
bit.ly/2PT6PSV

Judge Issues Temporary Dismissal in Bitcoin Cash Lawsuit Against Coinbase
Nikhilesh De - Coindesk
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Coinbase alleging the exchange hurt investors when it listed bitcoin cash by allowing insider trading. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, from the Northern District of California, dismissed a lawsuit filed by Arizona resident Jeffrey Berk against Coinbase, who claimed that the exchange allowed insiders to trade bitcoin cash prior to its listing on the exchange. This in turn harmed investors, he said in March.
bit.ly/2OMX7F2




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Politics
An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets
The White House Says Socialism Is a Threat. It's Right.
Its new report makes a strong case, especially when it comes to health care.
Tyler Cowen - Bloomberg
Who would have thought that an attack on socialism would be so controversial? But these days it is. The White House's Council of Economic Advisers issued a report called "The Opportunity Costs of Socialism" to a scathing reception on social media: "dreck," said the economist Justin Wolfers, while Paul Krugman referred to it as "amazingly dishonest."
/bloom.bg/2CEyKCg

What Could Kill Booming U.S. Economy? 'Socialists,' White House Warns; A report from the Council of Economic Advisers compares Bernie Sanders to Chairman Mao, and warns that pickup trucks cost more in Sweden.
Binyamin Appelbaum and Jim Tankersley - NY Times
Karl Marx. Vladimir Lenin. Mao Zedong. Elizabeth Warren? The White House Council of Economic Advisers on Tuesday published a 72-page report criticizing what it described as the socialist ideas of leading Democratic Party politicians, and seeking to link President Trump's political rivals with figures reviled by most Americans.
/nyti.ms/2CChDRk

Donald Trump lies. And he is doing a lot more of it lately.
Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
President Donald Trump has always had a very casual relationship with the truth. From his roots as a self-promoting businessman in New York City to his late-in-life political career, he's showed a penchant for prevarication, to purposely misleading for his business or political benefit.
/cnn.it/2CGtaPx

Hedge Funds' Secret Ties to Pollsters Examined by U.K. Regulator
Gavin Finch, Cam Simpson and Kit Chellel - Bloomberg
FCA weighing whether private polls can lead to market abuse; British lawmaker Nicky Morgan calling for greater oversight
The U.K.'s financial watchdog is examining whether secret relationships between polling companies and hedge funds, especially the sale of market-moving exit polls and voter-opinion data, could violate market-abuse prohibitions.
/bloom.bg/2CCv8Rc

Now Running for Office, Adam Greenberg. You May Remember His First At-Bat.
John Altavilla - WSJ
Adam Greenberg, wearing a violet tie and an assured expression, inched closer to the edge of his chair at the Guilford Community Center. Instead of waiting for a pitch he could hit, he was now making one as an aspiring politician.
/nyti.ms/2CESJ3y



Regulation & Enforcement
For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts.
Regulator Seeks Information About Goldman Sachs Ethics Complaint
Emily Flitter - NY Times
The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an inquiry into the departure of a senior investment banker and Goldman Sachs partner who raised concerns about what he viewed as unethical conduct at the bank, according to people briefed on the inquiry.
/nyti.ms/2CEsOsQ

British finance watchdog to quiz polling firms over hedge fund clients
Huw Jones - Reuters
Britain's financial watchdog is to meet with polling companies to check if private polls for hedge funds need regulating during events like the Brexit referendum campaign.
/reut.rs/2CEBX4z

SEC Staff to Host Roundtable on Market Data and Market Access
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that its Division of Trading and Markets will host a two-day roundtable on October 25 and 26 on market data and market access. The roundtable agenda is below.
bit.ly/2CEP5Xq

New York Sues Exxon Mobil, Saying It Deceived Shareholders on Climate Change
John Schwartz - NY Times
New York's attorney general sued Exxon Mobil on Wednesday, claiming the company defrauded shareholders by downplaying the expected risks of climate change to its business.
/nyti.ms/2CEaS1w

CFTC Chairman Giancarlo to Keynote at Fintech Week
CFTC
bit.ly/2CFrgz0

CFTC Chairman Giancarlo to Participate on a Panel at OSC Dialogue 2018: Market Evolution Regulatory Change
CFTC
bit.ly/2CFsj1N

Financial firms yet to join Australian Financial Complaints Authority must act immediately
ASIC
More than 35,000 financial firms required to join the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) have now joined the scheme.
bit.ly/2CH89oe

Research study on Enforceable Undertakings released
ASIC
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released today a report of a pilot study by the Law Faculty of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) on the deterrent effect of Enforceable Undertakings (EUs) on peer financial services and credit providers. The study was undertaken, and the report written by an UNSW team led by Professor Dimity Kingsford-Smith.
bit.ly/2CGnfKE

SEC Issues Agenda for October 29 Meeting of the Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today released the agenda for the Oct. 29 meeting of the Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee meeting. The Commission established the advisory committee to provide a formal mechanism through which the Commission can receive advice and recommendations on fixed income market structure issues.
bit.ly/2CEQQ71








Investing & Trading
Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities)
Race to the 'trillion-dollar club' intensifies as markets turn; Faced with rising costs and pressure on fees, size is becoming key in the asset management industry
Robin Wigglesworth - FT
Global asset managers already had plenty of reasons to believe that big is best, but signs that the tide may be turning in global markets is handing them another.
/on.ft.com/2CHycf1

Fed faces growing challenge holding rates in target range; Level hits what the central bank had hoped would be a technical ceiling
Joe Rennison and Robin Wigglesworth - FT
The Federal Reserve's main market interest rate has drifted back close to the top of the central bank's target range, highlighting the difficulty of normalising monetary policy after the biggest central banking experiment in the modern era.
/on.ft.com/2CEMuNd

Tiger Global and Snoop Dogg VC firm back pot start-up; Metrc, which provides 'track and trace' systems to cannabis industry, raises $50m
Lindsay Fortado and Nicole Bullock - FT
Tiger Global, the hedge fund and venture capital group led by Chase Coleman, is leading a round of fundraising for Metrc, a cannabis regulatory compliance start-up, becoming one of the biggest-name investors to pile into the marijuana industry.
/on.ft.com/2CEMzR1

Moral investments aren't outperforming
Colby Smith - FT
This week, the world's largest asset manager went all in on ESG — a set of environmental, social and governance investment criteria that has recently swept through the marketing departments of much of the financial industry. BlackRock announced that it will launch a range of ESG-focused ETFs in the US and Europe that will enable investors "to align their investments with their values and long-term financial objectives."
/on.ft.com/2CCgKIu

Why the Dow tumbled 600 points and the Nasdaq fell into correction territory for the first time in 2 years
Mark Decambre - MarketWatch
A few short weeks ago the Dow industrials were on the verge of busting through another psychological milestone at 27,000.
/on.mktw.net/2CFbeoD

Under the surface, this stock market is slowly 'rotting away'\
Barbara Kollmeyer - MarketWatch
Some crazy lucky person is $1.6 billion richer this morning, but chances are slim it's you, unfortunately.
/on.mktw.net/2CH4AhQ

It's Hard to Be an Insider in Oil; Contracts are beside the point. Executives have a general duty to their corporation, but nobody has a fiduciary duty to oil.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
I wrote the other day that "insider trading" is, in the U.S., a concept that really exists only in the securities markets. "Even insider trading in commodities markets is mostly okay," I wrote, with a footnote about the "Eddie Murphy rule" that prohibits one particular form of commodities insider trading (on leaked nonpublic government reports).
/bloom.bg/2CIbSl4




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Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds
The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures
Lloyds' finance boss unexpectedly announces retirement as bank posts a fall in profits but its shares edge higher
Jane Denton - This is Money
The finance boss of Lloyds Banking Group has unexpectedly announced his retirement from the company.
/dailym.ai/2CENaSF

Barclays And Deutsche Bank: A Tale Of Two Investment Banks
Frances Coppola - Forbes
Barclays and Deutsche Bank, Europe's two mightiest investment banks, have both released third quarter results that, at first glance, appear encouraging. Barclays' profits before tax were 23% up, to £5.36bn ($6.87bn), though were knocked back to £3.12bn ($4bn) by conduct & litigation charges including a $2bn fine from U.S. regulators for mis-selling toxic securities before the financial crisis. And Deutsche Bank reported a profit of EUR506m ($576.84m), significantly better than analysts had predicted.
bit.ly/2CCgvx4

Norway's Biggest Bank Falls as Profit From Trading Slides
Jonas Cho Walsgard - Bloomberg
DNB ASA dropped after third-quarter profit disappointed with income from its investment banking and trading declining.
/bloom.bg/2CE223P

Deutsche Bank's Nicolas Moreau to Leave, Successor to be Named; Asoka Woehrmann is set to be named the new head of asset management
Jenny Strasburg - WSJ
Deutsche Bank AG's DB -6.54% asset-management chief Nicolas Moreau, who runs its publicly traded unit DWS Group GmbH, is leaving the bank, according to a person familiar with the matter.
/on.wsj.com/2CCxbVo

Wells Fargo Suspends 2 Executives Amid Regulatory Review
Emily Flitter - NY Times
Wells Fargo said it had suspended two senior executives as part of a continuing regulatory review of its sales practices, the latest blow to a bank that has spent years reeling from scandals.
/nyti.ms/2CFW6HJ




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Regions
Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions
China's rising share pledges pose market risk; Forced sales of stock held as collateral would exacerbate equity sell-off
Emma Dunkley in Hong Kong- FT
Chinese stockholders borrowing money against some $720bn worth of shares threaten to exacerbate the equity market sell-off and drive up corporate defaults, if falling prices force the sale of the shares held as collateral.
/on.ft.com/2CEQmha

Why the world's recycling system stopped working; China's refusal to become the west's dumping ground is forcing the world to face up to a waste crisis
Leslie Hook and John Reed - FT
As Robert Reed examines a mountain of trash piled three storeys high, a thin white plastic bag catches his eye. He fishes it out and holds it up. "That is a problem plastic," he says gravely. "These get stuck in the machines, and there is no market for them." He gives it a little wave and lets it float back down on to the heap.
/on.ft.com/2CFpxcT

Fracking Returns to Britain, and So Do Seismic Tremors Near Drilling Site
Stanley Reed - NY Times
Less than two weeks after an energy company won a court battle over opponents who feared hydraulic fracturing would cause seismic tremors in northwest England, the drilling work appears to be doing just that.
/nyti.ms/2CEBTC4

Nyrstar shares plunge after analysts says they could be worthless
Neil Hume, Natural Resources Company - FT
Shares in Nyrstar, Europe's biggest zinc smelter, slumped to a record low on Wednesday on fresh concerns about its ability to generate cash and service a large debt load.
/on.ft.com/2CD3uUe








Brexit
Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union
ECB faces challenges over Italy, Brexit — and its own strategy
Claire Jones - Financial Times
The European Central Bank is facing serious challenges: rising tensions between Brussels and Rome, doubts about monetary policy and worries about Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal.
A closely watched poll of purchasing managers published on Wednesday also showed that the region's businesses are struggling to come to terms with increased global trade tensions — and that the export-led slowdown is beginning to affect the much larger services sector.
/goo.gl/DcmvHh

With negotiations in turmoil, investors better brace for a hard Brexit
Joe Chidley - Financial Post
More than 600,000 people took to the streets of London last Saturday to demand a "People's Vote," a kind of do-over wherein whatever deal Britain and the European Union eventually strike on Brexit would be subject to plebiscite. Depending on how you look at it, this demand is either redundant — the people already voted on Brexit, back in June 2016 — or perfectly reasonable, given that nobody back then realized how shambolic the process of divorcing the EU would become.
bit.ly/2yxRJv8

Brexit: UK 'must be ready in case of go-slow policy at Calais'
BBC
Dominic Raab said this was the "worst-case scenario" and said that the UK could prepare by using "more amenable ports" in other countries.
There has been widespread concern about the impact of longer border checks at Calais if the UK leaves without a deal.
Businesses use the port to bring in vital components at short notice.
/bbc.in/2yyGv9X

BoE provides more Brexit-related information to UK financial services firms
Finance Fees
Several papers and a "Dear CEO" Letter aim to provide more information to financial services firms in relation to the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
bit.ly/2CB8VD7








Miscellaneous
Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections
Scientists Push for a Crash Program to Scrub Carbon From the Air
Brad Plumer - NY Times
With time running out to avoid dangerous global warming, the nation's leading scientific body on Wednesday urged the federal government to begin a research program focused on developing technologies that can remove vast quantities of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in order to help slow climate change.
/nyti.ms/2CDR5zb

China jails financial bloggers over posts on top dairy group; Yili case seen as part of wider crackdown on corporate journalism
Tom Hancock in Shanghai - FT
A Chinese court has jailed two journalists for publishing reports about Yili Group, China's largest dairy company, after its chairman disappeared from the public eye for months, in what has been seen as a sign of tightened restrictions on corporate journalism in China.
/on.ft.com/2CFtY7x








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