| February 14, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Cboe Global Markets Inc. this morning reported that its Cboe Europe Derivatives unit will begin to offer trading in single stock options on leading European companies. These options products are expected to be available for trading in November of 2023 and will be cleared by Cboe Clear Europe. All of this is subject to regulatory approval.
Chicago is not the only city to see office buildings being converted into living spaces for work-from-home workers. The Financial Times has a story titled "Turning offices into condos: New York after the pandemic; A growing roster of the city's towers are being rendered obsolete by remote working. Developers spot a chance to meet demand for homes" that explores the subject in New York.
Ex-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has declared she is running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, joining former President Donald Trump as the only two declared candidates to date, the Financial Times reported.
IMC is seeking applicants to "join the world's most innovative trading firm" and "land a dream job working in tech, trading, and everything in between at IMC Sydney." Intern and graduate applications are open, IMC said in a post on LinkedIn. I like IMC's ending tagline: "Apply today to take your career beyond the obvious."
MIAX has issued a warning to people not to be confused by a website using the name "MIAXAX," as it is not affiliated with MIAX or any of its exchanges. The company and website using "MIAXAX" is using the MIAX name and marketing its platform and services to consumers. As of this morning, the website www.miaxax.com is not working, so the message must have gotten to them to cease and desist.
JLN is setting up interviews for the FIA Boca conference in mid-March and it will be upon us before you know it. We are shooting video interviews again on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you have some news, or care to share your views on industry issues, and will be in attendance, please contact me if you are interested in an interview.
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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Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) and Tokyo Stock Exchange will host a hybrid seminar, the International Conference on Sustainability Disclosure, on Friday, March 3, 2023, at the Otemachi Financial City South Tower 3rd Floor Conference Center from 14:30 to 17:30 (Japan Standard Time). Joining the agencies as co-hosts are the IFRS Foundation, Financial Accounting Standards Foundation (FASF), Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), Japan Exchange Group, Inc. / Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. (JPX/TSE), Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA), and The Securities Analysts Association of Japan (SAAJ). Companies, investors, market participants, stock exchanges, audit firms, standard-setters, regulators and policy makers will attend to discuss approaches for developing sustainability disclosure frameworks. The event is in Japanese and English. Learn more about the free event here. ~SAED
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ION incident is still affecting reporting, although most clients are now back online; Although the impact of the cyber-attack has been mitigated, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has warned that its weekly Commitments of Traders report will remain delayed, while Euronext has also delayed derivatives reporting.
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
The cyber-attack that brought down the derivatives platform of ION Group on 31 January continues to see its effects ripple through the market, despite reportedly bringing customers back online from last week. According to a statement from CFTC, the agency is still monitoring reporting delays due to the incident at ION Cleared Derivatives, which provides order management, execution, trading and trade processing services.
/jlne.ws/3YPURwh
***** Time to fire up the fax machines.~JJL
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Futu users in Hong Kong gain access to U.S. stock trading; Fast-growing digital brokerage partners with American after-hours trading service
Jack Stone Truitt - Nikkei
Hong Kong-based users of the digital brokerage platform Futu will be able to trade U.S. equities during local business hours for the first time on Monday, Nikkei Asia has learned. Futu Holdings, which operates in greater China as Futubull and Momoo overseas, is partnering with American after-hours trading platform Blue Ocean Technologies to give users access to U.S. equities from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hong Kong time.
/jlne.ws/3YPWrhH
****** A Blue Ocean of liquidity is now available to Futu users.~JJL
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Sam Bankman-Fried's Super Bowl VPN Use Prompts Government Concern
Jack Schickler - CoinDesk
Founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been using a virtual private network (VPN) to access the internet, U.S. prosecutors have said, potentially prompting a further clampdown on his bail conditions. After learning he had used the privacy tool twice over recent weeks, "the Government promptly informed defense counsel and raised concerns about the defendant's use of a VPN," said a letter from the U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon to Judge Lewis Kaplan, dated Feb. 13.
/jlne.ws/3YSR4OV
****** Sam seems more and more slippery. It sounds like he could be in solitary confinement in prison and he would still be communicating with the outside world.~JJL
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WHO Expects to More Than Double $43 Million Earthquake Appeal
Marthe Fourcade - Bloomberg
The World Health Organization said it will more than double the amount of funds it's trying to raise for its earthquake response in Syria and Turkey, given the scale of the crisis. Funding needs will be dramatically higher than the $43 million the WHO initially appealed for, Hans Kluge, the WHO's regional director for Europe, said in a briefing Tuesday. The two countries need life-saving supplies and assistance in areas ranging from trauma care to vaccination to rebuilding health infrastructure, Kluge said. Kluge expressed concern about infectious diseases as well after the massive earthquake crippled water and sanitation facilities.
/jlne.ws/3xmHTuk
****** We are going to need a lot more than that.~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our top story Monday was United States tells citizens: Leave Russia immediately, from Reuters. Second was US shoots down 'octagonal' flying object near military sites in Michigan, from The Guardian. Third was It is time to cut Russia out of the global financial system, an opinion piece in the Financial Times from Ukraine's minister of finance.
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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
Publisher | | | Sarah Rudolph
Editor-in-Chief
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| Lead Stories | Cboe Europe Derivatives expands into single stock options; The new options are expected to be available for trading by November 2023 and will initially launch in 10 EU countries, clearing into Cboe Clear Europe.
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX), the pan-European equity derivatives exchange of Cboe Global Markets, is expanding its product suite to include single stock options on leading European companies. The new products should be available for trading by November 2023 and will be cleared by Cboe Clear Europe, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.
/jlne.ws/3YqP0h8
Financial Firms Want a Piece of Hong Kong's Crypto Pie
Weilun Soon - The Wall Street Journal
Interactive Brokers said on Tuesday that it has launched crypto trading in the Asian financial hub, as investor demand for digital assets grows in the city. Not everyone qualifies, though. The global electronic broker said only individuals with more than the equivalent of $1 million in assets and institutions with more than $5.1 million can trade bitcoin and ethereum on its platform alongside other kinds of assets. "Crypto has been around long enough that we know it's here to stay, and if trading is done in moderation and part of a broader asset class, it's up to the client to decide" how they should be trading, said David Friedland, Interactive Brokers' head of the Asia Pacific region. It is partnering with OSL Digital Securities, a Hong Kong-based digital-asset brokerage and trading platform.
/jlne.ws/3xma6RS
Crypto Investors Brace for More Crackdowns From Regulators; Officials cut off access to products and services vital to digital-currency business
Dave Michaels, Alexander Osipovich and David Benoit - The Wall Street Journal
The walls are closing in around crypto. Regulators hadn't taken action against many of the industry's biggest players, but are now cutting off access to products and services central to the digital-currency business. On Monday, New York regulators shut down new issuance of the world's third-largest stablecoin, BUSD, prompting investors to flee the coin and raising worries about the future of crypto exchange giant Binance, which gives the coin the "B" in its name.
/jlne.ws/3RUMUDS
EU Bonus Cap Hasn't Dampened Bankers' Risk Appetite, Study Finds
Laura Malsch and Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
The European Union's cap on banker bonuses has failed to rein in risk-taking at Europe's biggest banks, one of the purported objectives of the regulation, according to a study published by a leading German economic research institute on Tuesday. Restrictions on variable pay merely lead to banks increasing the fixed component of executives' salaries, Michael Koetter, head of the financial markets department at Halle Institute for Economic Research, said in a statement. In some instances, the cap may encourage even riskier behavior by top managers if performance-related bonuses have less of an influence on their overall compensation, the authors suggest.
/jlne.ws/40SYW4y
LCH SwapAgent processes first swap under DRV German Master Agreement; Latest move demonstrates LCH SwapAgent's commitment to improve standardisation, efficiency and simplicity in the bilateral derivatives market.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
LCH SwapAgent has processed its first EUR/USD cross-currency swap in accordance with a DRV German Master Agreement governed by German Law. The counterparties to the trade were Unicredit Bank AG and Commerzbank AG. The extension of LCH SwapAgent's rulebook to support the DRV German Master Agreement highlights the former's commitment to supporting the requirements of the German market, fully integrated within the global SwapAgent service.
/jlne.ws/3IpJcz3
Bankman-Fried's Prosecutors Raise New Concerns Over Internet Use
Peter Blumberg - Bloomberg
US prosecutors said their discovery that Sam Bankman-Fried used a virtual private network to access the internet on two recent occasions raises concerns that the FTX co-founder could be hiding his online activities. The Manhattan judge handling Bankman-Fried's criminal fraud case last week expressed his own concerns that even if the defendant is barred from using encrypted messaging apps like Signal, he could still use old-fashioned secret code to contact witnesses in the case, similar to letters penned by Mary, Queen of Scots, more than 400 years ago.
/jlne.ws/3Yw0903
Gemini Faced Criminal Probe Over Claims in CFTC Lawsuit
Ava Benny-Morrison - Bloomberg
Former executives at cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust Co were the subject of a now-closed criminal investigation surrounding the company's debut of the first US-related Bitcoin futures contract, according to a court filing. The probe focused on issues at the heart of a civil case brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in June. Regulators accused the Winklevoss twins' exchange of misleading authorities about how it would prevent manipulation in Bitcoin prices that were to serve as a reference for the derivatives based on the cryptocurrency.
/jlne.ws/3YQzV8k
Binance suffers worst day since December as crypto crackdown escalates
James Titcomb - The Telegraph
Binance has suffered its worst day for customer withdrawals since December after US regulators cracked down on a digital coin endorsed by the cryptocurrency exchange. The business endured more than $830m (£680m) of outflows on Monday, according to the data firm Nansen, the biggest since late last year when customers were spooked by concerns about its financial reserves.
/jlne.ws/3I0owvP
Paxos Says It's 'Prepared to Vigorously' Fight SEC Lawsuit
Andre Beganski - Decrypt
Paxos confirmed Monday it received a Wells Notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission, stating it's prepared to take on the agency and any enforcement actions related to stablecoin Binance USD. A Wells Notice is an official letter from the SEC that informs recipients the agency is preparing to bring a potential enforcement action against them. Paxos received notice from the SEC that the agency is considering enforcement action against the company for not registering BUSD as a security, the company stated.
/jlne.ws/3E7mNUF
Equities settlement fails steadily decline in H2 2022, ESMA data shows; Decline in equities market were somewhat offset by increases in fails in both the corporate and government bond markets.
Chris Lemmon - The Trade
Equities settlement fails across CSDs within the European Union fell to a monthly average of below 6% during the second half of 2022, a vast improvement on rates witnessed over the past two years This is according to the latest data available from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which showed a steady decline from the significant rate of fails in 2021 - rising above 10% on a number of occasions.
/jlne.ws/3Xu9SCX
Credit Suisse Says Rogue Staffer Took Personnel, Salary Data; Information stolen included salary details from 2013 to 2015; Bank says there's no evidence that data was forwarded on
Sally Bakewell, Crystal Tse and Hugo Miller - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG warned part of its workforce that a former employee copied and took some of their personal data years ago, including descriptions of their compensation. The staffer, who had legitimate access to data at the time, transferred the information onto a personal device in breach of Credit Suisse policies and later left the company, the Swiss bank told employees in emails and letters, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3Xr61GF
Citi halted financing for Trafigura's nickel deals in October - Bloomberg
Reuters
Citigroup Inc stopped financing nickel deals for commodity trader Trafigura with companies linked to Indian businessman Prateek Gupta on Oct. 27, Bloomberg News reported, citing a court filing. Trafigura last week said it booked a $577 million charge in the first half of 2023 after discovering that some nickel cargoes it received did not contain the metal in a case of "systematic fraud". Citi's move had prompted the commodity trader to send inspectors to check containers that were supposed to ship the metal, Bloomberg News reported late on Monday, adding that it was not clear what led the U.S. bank to pull financing. Trafigura has said the fraud was committed by a group of companies connected to and controlled by Gupta, including TMT Metals and companies owned by Gupta's UD Trading Group.
/jlne.ws/40SPw9m
Hacking Crypto Wallets Is Latest Strategy in Quest to Recover Lost Billions
Margaux Nijkerk - CoinDesk
One of the downfalls of crypto is the costliness of user errors. If someone loses the keys to their crypto wallet, they could lose access to their crypto holdings forever. Luckily for them, there's a growing cottage industry of wallet recovery services, a breed of crypto dark-arts practitioners to help recover lost funds.
/jlne.ws/3YrRsUx
There was only one crypto ad at the Super Bowl this year
Scott Nover - Quartz
The Super Bowl is a three-ring circus: there's the game, the halftime show, and-of course-the ads. Many of the Super Bowl's hundreds of millions of at-home viewers tune in specifically for the ads, or enjoy them enough to stay hushed and wide-eyed when a team calls timeout or a quarter ends. The Super Bowl is the, er, Super Bowl of the advertising world; brands pay creative agencies for highly-produced television spots, often with celebrity endorsements, clever writing, and memorable messages.
/jlne.ws/3YIlmDM
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukraine Has the Battlefield Edge; Russia's mobilization has given it a numerical advantage, but wars are not won by manpower alone.
Gil Barndollar - The Atlantic
As the conflict in Ukraine nears its first anniversary, both sides have settled in for a long war. Russia mobilized some 300,000 reservists in September to stabilize its front as winter set in. Despite recent successes in Kharkiv and Kherson, Ukrainian leaders are now warning that a new Russian offensive is imminent, boosted by these reinforcements. Some analysts believe that this offensive may already have begun.
/jlne.ws/3RUC7JV
Analysis: Loans to Russian soldiers fuel calls for European banks to quit
John O'Donnell and Simon Jessop - Reuters
A Russian scheme to grant loan payment holidays to troops fighting in Ukraine, and for banks to write off the entire debt if they are killed or maimed, has added to growing pressure for the remaining overseas lenders in Russia to leave. Almost a year since Moscow launched what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, a handful of European banks, including Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBIV.VI) and Italy's UniCredit (CRDI.MI), are still making money in Russia.
/jlne.ws/3HSEiJg
The West has captured thousands of Iranian weapons. Send them to Ukraine.
Jonathan Lord and Andrea Kendall-Taylor - The Washington Post (opinion)
Last month, both the U.S. and French navies intercepted cargo vessels smuggling thousands of weapons from Iran bound for Yemen. Tehran sent the shipments in defiance of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the provision of weapons to the Houthis, Iran's Yemeni partner and proxy force in the civil conflict. The two seizures alone netted thousands of Russian-style assault rifles and machine guns, dozens of antitank missiles, and over half a million rounds of ammunition. Likewise, last summer, the British navy snagged an Iranian vessel carrying surface-to-air missiles and engines for land-attack cruise missiles.
/jlne.ws/3E7dF2h
Satellite photos show carnage in Vuhledar where Russian losses are mounting amid Ukrainian defense
Erin Snodgrass - Business Insider
The Kremlin is floundering in east Ukraine where successive Russian assaults near the town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region continue to fall short more than three months into the offensive. Videos and photos from the area in recent weeks depict carnage and chaos near the mining town of Vuhledar, even as Russian officials continue to claim that all is going according to plan nearly a year into the unprovoked war.
/jlne.ws/3YOioO5
Moldova Closes Airspace Over Security Issues; Country's flag carrier warns passengers of closing, while European airspace controller cites security issue
Benjamin Katz - The Wall Street Journal
The national airline of Moldova said the country has closed its airspace, a day after President Maia Sandu accused Russia of plotting to overthrow the government. "At this moment, the airspace of the Republic of Moldova is closed," Air Moldova said on its Facebook account. "We are waiting for the resumption of flights." Eurocontrol, which manages Europe's airspace, said in an operational statement that Moldova had informed it that the country's airspace was temporarily closed due to "security issues." The airspace closure is currently set to last until 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
/jlne.ws/3Xtfxcy
Russia's Grip on Nuclear-Power Trade Is Only Getting Stronger; New data show exports in the strategic industry jumped more than 20% last year, as long-term projects boost Russian influence.
Jonathan Tirone - Bloomberg
Russia's nuclear exports have surged since the invasion of Ukraine, boosting the Kremlin's revenue and cementing its influence over a new generation of global buyers, as the US and its allies shy away from sanctioning the industry. Exclusive trade data compiled by the UK's Royal United Services Institute show that Russian nuclear fuel and technology sales abroad rose more than 20% in 2022. Purchases by European Union members climbed to the highest in three years. From Egypt and Iran to China and India, business is booming.
/jlne.ws/3XtZ0VF
Russia Did Most Oil Drilling in Decade Even as Sanctions Hit; EU says Russia has been forced into cutting crude production; Data show oil industry has proved resilient to sanctions
Bloomberg News
When Russia announced last week that it would cut oil production by half a million barrels a day in retaliation against Western sanctions, there was skepticism about whether it was really doing so by choice. Russia is entangled in a tightening web of economic restrictions, from prohibitions on exports of technology to the country to a recent European Union ban on most imports of its oil. As far as the West is concerned, Moscow is buckling under the weight of sanctions.
/jlne.ws/3YRIakL
Russia's 'Human Wave Attacks' Are Another Step Into Hell; Using young men as cannon fodder isn't new, but it's still diabolical. That's Putin for you.
Andreas Kluth - Bloomberg
"Keep going until you're killed." That's what Andrei Medvedev recalls being told by his commanders at the Wagner Group, a private Russian mercenary army that recruits people like him out of prison to wage the Kremlin's war of aggression against Ukraine. Medvedev is unusual in that he not only lived to tell the tale but somehow escaped to Norway. Most others in his situation aren't so lucky. As the war approaches its first anniversary, increasing numbers of Russians in Ukraine - both regular soldiers and Wagner mercenaries - are being treated by their superiors as "cannon fodder." Barely trained and often badly armed, they're ordered to throw themselves at the more hardened Ukrainian defenders, in a cynical tactic based on overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers.
/jlne.ws/3YR7c39
Banks With Russia Ties Targeted by US Treasury Whistleblowers; US will pay for tips on money-laundering, sanctions violations; Program picking up after paying no awards in first two years
Sabrina Willmer - Bloomberg
A US law passed after Russia invaded Ukraine has given a boost to a flawed Treasury Department program that lawyers claimed deterred whistleblowers from providing tips on the role of banks in sanctions and anti-money laundering violations. As a result, Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, has gotten more than 100 whistleblower submissions over a three-week period this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The agency fielded just 100 tips in the program's first two years and made no payments to whistleblowers.
/jlne.ws/3xktO0n
Secretive Network Rescues Russia's Antiwar Dissidents in Nick of Time; Hundreds of people facing long prison sentences are being spirited out of the country by groups that arrange daring escapes, with one trip using six different cars over more than 4,000 miles.
Neil MacFarquhar and Alina Lobzina - The New York Times
The three young women, participants in an antiwar chat group, were falsely accused last fall by one of its members of plotting with him to firebomb a military enlistment office. The trio quickly went underground, hiding in a friend's house in their home city of Vladivostok, in Russia's Far East, while seeking a way to escape the country and potentially lengthy prison sentences. That brought them to a group called In Transit, part of an extensive underground railroad that is rescuing hundreds of Russians who have been targeted for expressing opposition to the invasion of Ukraine or even sympathy for Ukrainian refugees.
/jlne.ws/3YMaDIz
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Cboe Europe Derivatives to Expand into pan-European Single Stock Options
CBOE
Cboe Global Markets Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) today announces that Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX), its pan-European equity derivatives exchange, is planning to expand its product suite to include single stock options on leading European companies. These products are expected to be available for trading in November 2023 and cleared by Cboe Clear Europe, the leading pan-European clearing house, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.
/jlne.ws/40ToTRC
CME Group to Launch Event Contracts on Bitcoin Futures on March 13
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced it will expand its suite of event contracts to include Bitcoin futures on March 13, pending regulatory review."Our new event contracts on Bitcoin futures provide a highly transparent and less complex way for investors to access cryptocurrency markets - with the added benefit of a fully regulated platform," said Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equity and FX Products at CME Group. "These contracts, which track the daily price moves of our deeply liquid benchmark Bitcoin futures, offer an innovative, lower-cost way for investors to trade their views on the up or down price moves of bitcoin."
/jlne.ws/3In1ssx
Euronext Corporate Services' IntegrityLog supports greater protection for whistleblowers in Austria
Euronext
Euronext Corporate Services' IntegrityLog supports the implementation of the European Union (EU) Whistleblower Directive in Austria. The online tool can automate whistleblowing for companies in a safe and anonymous way to guarantee protection for whistleblowers. On 1 February 2023, the Austrian law implementing the EU Whistleblower Directive was adopted by the Austrian parliament, changing the way whistleblowers are protected. The new law includes the obligation for companies and public institutions with at least 50 employees, as well as municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, to implement a whistleblowing system.
/jlne.ws/3xkhFsb
NSE Indices launches Nifty G-Sec Oct 2028 Index
NSE
NSE's index services subsidiary, NSE Indices Limited today launched a new target maturity index Nifty GSec Oct 2028 Index. The Nifty G-Sec Oct 2028 Index follows a target maturity structure with maturity date of October 31, 2028. It includes government securities maturing during twelve month period ending October 31, 2028.
/jlne.ws/3YuDTE1
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | TNS Addresses Gap in Industry With Purpose-built Dedicated Server Solution for the Capital Markets; The TNS Dedicated Server solution specifically designed to meet the performance demands of the capital markets improves time to market and optimizes costs while providing low-latency network access, troubleshooting and support
TNS
Transaction Network Services (TNS) today announced the launch of its standardized Dedicated Server offering, which is the first phase in the deployment of its new Cloud platform for financial markets. This new product, designed specifically for high-performance trading, utilizes TNS' state-of-the-art bare metal servers, as well as ultra-low latency trading connectivity through TNS Layer 1.
/jlne.ws/3XsxNmk
Blue Ocean Technologies Partners with Futu Clearing Inc to Provide Futubull Clients Real-Time Trading & Data Access to US Equities for the First Time in Hong Kong
Blue Ocean Technologies - PR Newswire
Blue Ocean Technologies LLC (BOT), a global fintech leader in afterhours trading and the holding company of Blue Ocean ATS; and Futu Clearing Inc., the US-based clearing and execution subsidiary of Futu Holdings Limited ("Futu") (Nasdaq: FUTU), an advanced fintech company upgrading the investing experience by offering fully digitized financial services in multiple markets, announced today a connectivity and market data partnership.
/jlne.ws/3YL1f80
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said ChatGPT is 'cool,' but it's a 'horrible product'
Samantha Delouya - Business Insider
OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman knows there are issues with his company's AI chatbot, ChatGPT. In fact, he recently called it a "horrible product" in a podcast interview. "People are really just going to a site that sometimes works and sometimes is down," Altman said on the New York Times tech podcast, "Hard Fork," citing ChatGPT's frequent error messages.
/jlne.ws/3I1zRvA
Pension fund AP2 taps BTON Financial technology to automate trading workflows; AP2 will use BTON's Smart Broker Router to identify the optimal execution algorithm for specific orders.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Swedish pension fund Andra AP-fonden (AP2) has selected technology from BTON Financial to improve its trading performance and automate its workflows, The TRADE can exclusively reveal. The pension fund will use BTON's Smart Broker Router to identify the optimal execution algorithm for each specific trade. It will also gain access to transaction cost analysis (TCA) data collected from previous trades across BTON's customer base.
/jlne.ws/3S1Y6Pc
Blockchain Association Files Amicus Brief in Coinbase Insider Trading Case
Sam Reynolds - CoinDesk
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is attempting to create a "chilling effect" on the blockchain industry by labeling nine tokens at the center of an insider trading case as securities, but not giving the token creators a chance to defend themselves. Last year, the SEC lodged a complaint against former Coinbase manager Ishan Wahi for tipping off his brother and close friend regarding new listings of tokens on Coinbase. Earlier this month, Wahi pleaded guilty to insider trading charges, changing his plea from not guilty. Wahi is still contesting the securities fraud charges.
/jlne.ws/3XzYXaF
Avalanche Blockchain Saw 1,500% Transactional Growth in 2022: Nansen
Shaurya Malwa - CoinDesk
Transactions on the Avalanche blockchain grew as much as 1,500% last year compared to 2021 even as the broader industry saw the collapse of several centralized crypto players and entered a technical bear market. In Avalanche's Q4 report shared with CoinDesk, data and analytics firm Nansen said the network demonstrated strength with notable increases in both NFT trading volume and the overall number of transactions.
/jlne.ws/3ImP8bL
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | ChatGPT and more: What AI chatbots mean for the future of cybersecurity
Danny Palmer - ZDNET
From relatively simple tasks, such as composing emails, to more complex jobs, including writing essays or compiling code, ChatGPT -- the AI-driven natural language processing tool from OpenAI -- has been generating huge interest since its launch. It is by no means perfect, of course -- it's known to make mistakes and errors as it misinterprets the information it's learning from, but many see it, and other AI tools, as the future of how we'll use the internet.
/jlne.ws/3XtZn2v
Majority of Firms Make Cybersecurity Decisions Without Attacker Insight
Alessandro Mascellino - Infosecurity Magazine
Four out of five (79%) businesses make most cybersecurity decisions without insights into the threat actor targeting their infrastructures. The claims come from Google-owned threat analytics company Mandiant, which has also said that while 67% of cybersecurity decision makers believe senior leadership teams still underestimate cyber-threats, 68% agree their organization needs to improve its understanding of the threat landscape.
/jlne.ws/3IwX3DP
Accenture Acquires Morphus, Brazil-Based Cybersecurity Company
Accenture
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Morphus, a privately held Brazil-based cyber defense, risk management and cyber threat intelligence services provider, expanding its practice capabilities in Brazil and Latin America. Financial terms were not disclosed.
/jlne.ws/3YOm4zn
How Companies Can Minimize the Cybersecurity Risk From Their Tech Vendors
Suman Bhattacharyya - WSJ
For many companies, a looming cybersecurity threat comes from the companies they hire to help with day-to-day operations: their technology vendors. Most companies use technology vendors for a range of critical functions-such as hosting information on the cloud; organizing information and data; conference-room software; and payment software and other tools to interact with customers and employees.
/jlne.ws/3jX3era
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | U.S. judge puts SEC, CFTC cases against FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried on hold
Reuters
A U.S. judge on Monday put two regulators' civil lawsuits against Sam Bankman-Fried on hold until the conclusion of the Department of Justice's criminal case against the founder of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange. U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan granted a Justice Department motion to stay the lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
/jlne.ws/3lpxvz4
Boies, co-counsel move to grab control of all private FTX cases
Alison Frankel - Reuters
Get ready for a fight over control of private litigation arising from the megabillion-dollar collapse of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX - and the legal fees that go with it. Plaintiffs' lawyers have filed at least 11 class action complaints in federal courts in California and Florida on behalf of allegedly defrauded FTX customers. The suits overlap, but they name a variety of different defendants and espouse several different legal theories.
/jlne.ws/3jQUuD1
FTX's Turkish Entities Dismissed From US Bankruptcy Proceedings
Tim Hakki - Decrypt
Delaware bankruptcy court Judge John T. Dorsey on Monday signed an order approving the dismissal of FTX's Turkish entities from the collapsed exchange's U.S. bankruptcy proceedings. The order was signed in response to a request made by FTX last month, arguing that the Turkish entities should be dismissed, as including them is "not strategic" and will result in "a waste of scarce resources."
/jlne.ws/3KePDpE
FTX promised students in Africa up to 40% commission for getting their friends to trade on the now-bankrupt crypto exchange
Ryan Hogg - Business Insider
Collapsed crypto exchange FTX recruited students in Africa to sign their friends up to trade on its platform, telling them they had the chance of earning as high as 40% commission.mThe push to enlist "ambassadors" on university campuses in Africa was one of several efforts by Sam Bankman-Fried's once-leading exchange to pull in new members on that continent.
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Digital Asset Infrastructure Provider Taurus Raises $65M From Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank
Jamie Crawley - CoinDesk
Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider, raised $65 million in Series B funding led by Credit Suisse (CS) with participation from Deutsche Bank (DBK). The Geneva, Switzerland-based firm plans to use the funds to make new hires and expand across Europe and the United Arab Emirates, according to an announcement on Tuesday. Taurus declined to provide a valuation for the company.
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Be careful what you wish for? Regulators pick up pace in the crypto industry crackdown
Lachlan Keller - Forkast
After a 2022 that included cryptocurrency exchange failures, bankruptcies, and flurries of fraud allegations, regulators are starting to follow up with a crackdown on the industry in what may shape up to be a year defined by enforcement. Many in the industry had called for needed clarity around the legal status of different forms of digital assets to help drive out bad actors, but the moves so far this month against the U.S. crypto exchange Kraken and stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust Company have generated quite some angst.
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Binance Withdrawals Surge as Paxos-BUSD Drama Weighs on the Exchange
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has endured some $831 million of net outflows in the past 24 hours, according to blockchain intelligence firm Nansen's data. Investors appear to be spooked by a regulatory crackdown on the Paxos-issued Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin and so are reducing their holdings on the platform.
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Binance USD's $16B Market Cap Up for Grabs as Paxos Regulatory Action Stirs Up Stablecoin Rivalry
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
The decision by stablecoin issuer Paxos to stop issuing Binance USD (BUSD) at the direction of the New York Department of Financial Services will shake up the $136 billion stablecoin market - with industry leaders Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC likely to gain share. Another winner could be MakerDAO's DAI, the leading decentralized stablecoin.
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Crypto's Banking Problem: Industry Needs Access but US Regulators Keep Digital Assets at Bay
Cheyenne Ligon and Jesse Hamilton - CoinDesk
Crypto can't become what many of its proponents want it to be without banks, but U.S. regulators are circling the wagons around the banking system they oversee. That barrier is only getting wider as the Federal Reserve and other agencies turn away crypto firms trying to link with the traditional financial system.
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US regulator orders halt to minting Binance-branded stablecoin
Scott Chipolina - Financial Times
US financial regulators have shut down further issuance of BUSD, the Binance-branded stablecoin, as a clampdown on the crypto sector gathers momentum. Paxos, the stablecoin company behind issuance of the token, said on Monday it would end its relationship with the Binance exchange over BUSD, which is used to help traders move more quickly in and out of the crypto market.
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Cryptoverse: Punk apes and a resurrection of NFTs
Medha Singh - Reuters
It's alive! The NFT market is twitching out of its torpor, defying reports of its demise. Total NFT sales on the ethereum blockchain - which hosts most trading - jumped to $780.2 million in January from $546.9 million the month before, according to market tracker CryptoSlam.
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Magic Eden Lays Off 22 Staff as Part of Company-Wide Restructuring
Rosie Perper - Bloomberg
Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden on Monday announced that it would be laying off 22 members of its staff as part of a "company-wide restructuring." In a message posted to Twitter, CEO and co-founder Jack Lu explained that the company needed to make changes to its team in order to reach new goals in 2023.
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Digital Is Coming to Currency; The question is how it will be designed
The Wall Street Journal Letters
Sean Fieler is right to be concerned about privacy as we consider a U.S. central bank digital currency ("A Digital Dollar Would Empower the Fed, Not Americans," op-ed, Feb. 8), but he fails to consider the troubling status quo if America doesn't act to establish standards and safeguards for the future of money. Payments data is increasingly centralized in large databases maintained by commercial or government actors, which creates significant honey pots of sensitive information susceptible to surveillance and monitoring. Consider that Alipay and WeChat have more than two billion users transacting within their proprietary databases and that China's digital yuan gives the government control over the ledger for its fiat currency.
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | US to Sell 26 Million More Barrels From Strategic Oil Reserve
Jennifer Jacobs and Ari Natter - Bloomberg
The Biden administration plans to sell more crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fulfilling budget directives mandated years ago that it had sought to stop as oil prices have stabilized. The congressionally mandated sale will amount to 26 million barrels of crude, according to people familiar with the matter. The sale is in accordance with a budget mandate enacted in 2015 for the current fiscal year, said a spokesperson for the Department of Energy.
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The US is paying a record amount of interest on its debt. It's only going to get worse
Tami Luhby - CNN
Like many Americans, the federal government is shelling out a lot more money to cover interest payments on its debt after a series of Federal Reserve rate hikes over the past year. The Treasury Department paid a record $213 billion in interest payments on the national debt in the last quarter of 2022, up $63 billion from the same period a year earlier. The fourth-quarter tab was also nearly $30 billion more than in the prior quarter, which is the largest quarterly increase on record, said Jerry Dwyer, an economics professor emeritus at Clemson University. Borrowing costs are expected to become an increasingly heavy burden in coming years. The Congressional Budget Office is set to provide its latest estimate on Wednesday.
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A sound choice for the Bank of Japan's next governor; Kazuo Ueda should conduct a review of monetary policy to chart a path forward
Financial Times
During almost three decades of on-and-off deflation, the Bank of Japan governor's mission was straightforward: do your best to support the economy and move inflation up towards its target. Now it has suddenly become complicated, leaving Kazuo Ueda - the outsider who is prime minister Fumio Kishida's surprise choice to run the BoJ - with a formidable task on his hands. It will take a deft policymaker, a visionary economist and a savvy communicator to steer the BoJ to a safe harbour.
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China's Xi Vows Deeper Iran Ties Amid US Push to Curb Oil Trade; Raisi and Xi held talks in Beijing to address investment ties; Visit comes after US warns China over imports of Iranian crude
Bloomberg News
Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to deepen ties with Tehran after meeting Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi in Beijing, weeks after the US said it would increase pressure on China to stop buying Iranian oil. Raisi's trip, the first by an Iranian president since his predecessor Hassan Rouhani in 2018, also comes amid signs of tensions between Tehran and Beijing after recent complaints from Iran about a lull in bilateral ties between the two. The US meanwhile wants to enforce sanctions on Iranian crude exports to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities.
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | U.S. prosecutors flag former FTX chief Bankman-Fried's VPN usage to judge
Abinaya V and Shubham Kalia - Reuters
U.S. prosecutors have raised concerns over FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried's usage of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access the internet and have asked a U.S. district judge for more time to discuss his bail conditions. FTX collapsed and filed for bankruptcy in November, with Bankman-Fried accused of cheating investors and causing billions of dollars in losses. He pleaded not guilty on Jan. 3 to eight criminal charges including wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
/jlne.ws/3RVn6HN
India watchdog probes short-seller's allegations about Adani, market activity
Arpan Chaturvedi - Reuters
India's markets regulator on Monday told the country's top court it was looking into the allegations made against the Adani Group by U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research in a critical report, a court filing seen by Reuters showed. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also said it was looking into the market activity immediately before and after Hindenburg published its report on Jan. 24, the filing said.
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Opening Statement of Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero Regarding Global Markets Advisory Committee Meeting; "Expecting the Unexpected in Global Markets"
CFTC
Good morning. I'm pleased to be here with all of you new and former GMAC members, and our presenters. Thank you for taking the time to advise the Commission. I want to thank Commissioner Pham for her leadership of this committee. I value her experience on global issues. I also value Chairman Behnam's leadership on The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions ("IOSCO").
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Commissioner Goldsmith Romero to Participate in the Federal Bar Council's Winter Bench & Bar Conference 2023
CFTC
Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero will participate on a panel, Digital Assets & Blockchain: Legal Issues and Developments, at the Federal Bar Council's Winter Bench & Bar Conference 2023.
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Opening Statement of Commissioner Caroline D. Pham before the Global Markets Advisory Committee
CFTC
I am so pleased to sponsor and host the first meeting of the CFTC's Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC). Last year was the 50th anniversary since the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) became law. It is one of the four laws that are the pillars of openness in the federal government. The key values promoted by the FACA are transparency, openness, accountability, accessibility, and public involvement, and these are the same values that guide me as a Commissioner
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CFTC Charges Three Puerto Rico Residents and Their Companies with Misappropriating Over $13 Million in Connection with Commodity Pool Ponzi Scheme
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico against Ramon Salvador Delgado-Gomez (Gomez) and his companies FX Latino (FXL) and FXL Investment PR LLC (FXLI), Walmy Rivera-Santiago (Rivera) and her company JRH Services Inc. (JRH), and Hector Javier Santos-Pagan (Santos) and his company Infinity Investment and Construction Management Corp. (Infinity), charging them with fraud and registration violations in connection with a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme involving pooled investments in retail foreign currency trading (forex).
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SEC Obtains Court Order for Partial Asset Freeze and Other Temporary Relief in Fraud Action Against Microcap Public Company and CEO
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on February 10, 2023, the court entered a temporary order granting certain emergency relief, including a freeze on some assets, in the SEC's pending action, filed earlier in February 2023, against Connecticut resident Seong Yeol Lee and Ameritrust Corporation, a public company Lee controls. The court's order also provides for a temporary asset freeze against two entities associated with Lee and Ameritrust. The SEC's action alleges that Lee and Ameritrust misled and stole at least $4 million from investors in the United States and the Republic of Korea.
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Kraken to Discontinue Unregistered Offer and Sale of Crypto Asset Staking-As-A-Service Program and Pay $30 Million to Settle SEC Charges
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Payward Ventures, Inc. and Payward Trading Ltd., both commonly known as Kraken, with failing to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset staking-as-a-service program, whereby investors transfer crypto assets to Kraken for staking in exchange for advertised annual investment returns of as much as 21 percent.
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Crypto Firm Paxos Faces SEC Lawsuit Over Binance USD Token; The agency has been intensifying its enforcement of major crypto players
Vicky Ge Huang, Patricia Kowsmann and Dave Michaels - The Wall Street Journal
The Securities and Exchange Commission has told crypto firm Paxos Trust Co. that it plans to sue the company for violating investor protection laws, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest move in the agency's escalating campaign in crypto enforcement. The SEC's enforcement staff issued a letter to Paxos known as a Wells notice, which the agency uses to inform companies and individuals of a possible enforcement action, according to the people.
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How the SEC Could Reshape Ethereum's Staking Landscape for the Better
Margaux Nijkerk and Sam Kessler - CoinDesk
A surprise settlement last week between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Kraken, a leading crypto exchange platform, raised existential questions for the future of "staking" on blockchains like Ethereum. Ethereum experts and blockchain analysts say the seemingly adverse industry development in the U.S. may bring benefits, such as helping to decentralize the Ethereum network and forcing service providers to clarify how they earn yield for retail investors.
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Crypto company Paxos confirms SEC notice of potential charges relating to BUSD stablecoin
Frances Yue - MarketWatch
Stablecoin issuer Paxos said Monday that it received a Wells Notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 3, confirming a report by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. The notice said that the SEC is considering recommending an action alleging that Paxos failed to register BUSD, a stablecoin issued by Paxos and branded by the world's largest crypto exchange Binance, as a security.
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Former CEO of Big Un Limited charged with insider trading
ASIC
The former CEO of Big Un Limited, Mr Richard Evans, also known as Richard Simon Evertz, has appeared via his lawyer in the Downing Centre Local Court charged with insider trading.
ASIC alleges that Mr Evans communicated inside information about Big Un to a shareholder on or around 10 January 2017. The information concerned the number of customers who had already been onboarded to purchase Big Un's promotional 'TV Show' package at a cost of $12,000, together with a $20 million funding arrangement with 'Finstro', a product of Sydney-based financier First Class Capital, which allowed customers to make this purchase on deferred payment terms.
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FCA to gain powers to crack down on 'buy now, pay later' firms
Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan - Financial Times
The UK's main financial watchdog would receive sweeping powers to clamp down on "buy now, pay later" companies in breach of its rules, including banning them from further lending, under draft government proposals aimed at giving consumers who use the popular but controversial short-term credit product greater protection.
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FCA takes action against illegal crypto ATMs in Leeds
Brian McGleenon - Yahoo!Finance
The UK's financial regulator has swooped in to inspect several sites across the city of Leeds, which they suspected to be hosting illegally operated cryptocurrency ATMs. Crypto ATMs are similar to normal cash machines but they enable customers to purchase or convert funds into cryptoassets, such as bitcoin (BTC-USD) or ethereum (ETH-USD).
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | U.S. gas producers skimped on price hedges and now face a reckoning
Arathy Somasekhar - Reuters
A rout in natural gas prices will hurt first-quarter earnings and cash flows at gas producers as hedges - the industry's version of price insurance - were inadequate to offset the expected losses, analysts and industry experts said. Producers starting the year with fewer hedges than historically will have to sell more gas at the market rate of about $2.45 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), below the breakeven prices for producing gas in some regions, and that may force some companies to reduce drilling and put off completing wells.
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Investors Pour Into Chinese Stock Funds in Reopening Bet; Funds that buy China's equities have seen five consecutive weeks of inflows, stemming exodus
Jack Pitcher and Hardika Singh - The Wall Street Journal
Global investors are pouring money into funds that track Chinese stocks, betting that the long-awaited reopening of the world's second-largest economy will keep powering markets higher. Investors have added more than $2 billion on a net basis this year to U.S.-based mutual and exchange-traded funds that buy Chinese equities, according to data from Refinitiv Lipper. That reflects five consecutive weeks of inflows and marks a reversal from the second half of last year when they pulled almost $1 billion. It also coincides with an exodus from U.S.-focused stock funds.
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Look Who's Making Money Off Your Money; Companies are earning much higher interest income on customer cash advances, cushioning them against an economic slowdown
Chris Bryant - Bloomberg
Lending your hard-earned cash to a company for free, sounds like a bad deal (for you) -- particularly when it can park the money at a bank and pocket the interest itself. But, in fact, customers do this willingly all the time when they pay in advance for goods and services or entrust their money to a financial intermediary.
/jlne.ws/3YJb8TE
New Cars Are Only for the Rich Now as Automakers Rake In Profits; With pandemic-era chip shortages fading, manufacturers are keeping inventories low - and prices high. The shift to EVs will make things worse.
David Welch and Keith Naughton - Bloomberg
A shiny new car in the driveway has been an emblem of middle-class prosperity for generations. But for the typical American family, it's now a distant dream. The average monthly payment for a new car has soared to a record $777, nearly doubling from late 2019, according to Kelley Blue Book owner Cox Automotive. That's almost a sixth of the median after-tax income for US households. Even used models have climbed to $544 a month on average.
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'Shadow trading' ETFs; Cool idea, but unconvincing
Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
Well well... This, from our mainFT colleague Steve Johnson, looks intriguing: Insider traders have used exchange traded funds to conceal billions of dollars' worth of trades, according to a team of academics who say their finding may be just the "tip of the iceberg".
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Antarctic Researchers Report an Extraordinary Marine Heatwave That Could Threaten Antarctica's Ice Shelves; The inexorable rise of ocean heat is now evident off the coast of West Antarctica, potentially disrupting critical parts of the global climate system and accelerating sea level rise.
Bob Berwyn - Inside Climate News
Research scientists on ships along Antarctica's west coast said their recent voyages have been marked by an eerily warm ocean and record-low sea ice coverage-extreme climate conditions, even compared to the big changes of recent decades, when the region warmed much faster than the global average. Despite "that extraordinary change, what we've seen this year is dramatic," said University of Delaware oceanographer Carlos Moffat last week from Punta Arenas, Chile, after completing a research cruise aboard the RV Laurence M. Gould to collect data on penguin feeding, as well as on ice and oceans as chief scientist for the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research program.
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EU Lawmakers Back Deal to Ban New Combustion-Engine Cars by 2035; Bloc reached agreement on the ban in lengthy talks last year; Car revolution will have global ramifications for industry
John Ainger - Bloomberg
European Union lawmakers gave their final blessing to a deal that will begin phasing out combustion engine cars in a drastic reshape of the continent's auto industry. The European Parliament signed off on the deal reached with member states last year, which requires carmakers to reach a zero-emission target by 2035. The agreement requires that they cut pollution by 55% this decade, and forms a key pillar of the bloc's overall aim of reaching climate neutrality by 2050.
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'Double-edged sword': why the badly needed rains in California could fuel catastrophic fires
Gabrielle Canon - The Guardian
Deep underneath the sodden soils and the berms of snow that now coat California, fuels for fire are waiting to sprout. Grasses and other quick-growing vegetation, spurred by the downpours that saturated the state at the start of the year, quickly turn to kindling as the weather warms. "When that rain comes - and it came last month - that results in significant fuel load increases," said Isaac Sanchez, a CalFire battalion chief. "[Plants] are going to grow, they are going to die, and then they are going to become flammable fuel as the year grinds on."
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Why your company may soon be hiring an 'ESG controller'
Sheryl Estrada - Fortune
Some major companies aren't waiting until the passage of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed climate-risk disclosure rule to add the right finance talent for ESG reporting. They're creating new roles. Regarding ESG (environmental, social, and governance), I conducted a job search on LinkedIn under "ESG finance" and "ESG controller" to see what I would find. Citi, one of the largest banks in the U.S., is seeking an ESG disclosures controller-a new role in the company's finance/controller function. The person would be "responsible for oversight of ESG-related disclosures in our financial and reporting processes for Citi's SEC filings, as well as information contained in Citi's publicly available ESG reports," according to the LinkedIn post.
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Guess Who Loses After Florida and Texas Bar ESG Banks? Banning Wall Street's biggest municipal bond underwriters has foisted a hidden tax on their residents totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
Matthew A. Winkler - Bloomberg (opinion)
What happens when Florida and Texas blacklist Wall Street's largest municipal bond underwriters because of their support for environmental, social and governance practices? The answer is a hidden tax foisted on their residents amounting to hundreds of millions of additional dollars. If socialism means state control of production, distribution and exchange of goods and services, then Florida and Texas fit the description. That's not the case with California, whose embrace of ESG and free markets has allowed it to borrow more cheaply than Florida and Texas even though it has lower credit ratings. Superior demand makes California debt the outstanding performer among the three largest US states.
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Biden Restarts $10 Billion Tax Credit for Clean-Energy Makers
Joe Biden
Ari Natter - Bloomberg
The Biden administration is restarting a popular tax credit for manufacturers of solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells and other clean energy equipment after getting a $10 billion infusion from the Inflation Reduction Act. Clean energy projects that expand domestic manufacturing, reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions or help create a domestic supply chain for critical minerals can begin applying for the "advanced energy" tax credit at the end of May, the Treasury Department announced Monday.
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The causes and impacts of Pacific north-west's brutal 2021 heatwave
Dr Rachel White - Carbon Brief
Heatwaves can have devastating impacts on humans and ecosystems. And the record-breaking Pacific north-west heatwave of June 2021 was no exception. It was one of the most extreme regional heat events ever recorded globally, breaking some local high temperature records by more than 6C. When a heatwave surpasses temperature records by such a distance, the impacts may be particularly catastrophic. https://jlne.ws/3jYfqaY
EU sustainability reporting standards must be taken over the finish line
Mirjam Wolfrum - Euractiv (opinion)
Set to be adopted in June 2023, the new rules adopted under the EU's groundbreaking Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive are raising the bar for corporate transparency globally; as such, it is important that they are upheld, writes Mirjam Wolfrum. The European Union has shown global leadership by developing comprehensive and high-quality corporate sustainability reporting standards which show a great appreciation of the urgent need to ensure all companies measure and report comprehensively on the sustainability matters that occur in their entire value chain.
/jlne.ws/40NQiEF
Switzerland won't follow EU out of controversial energy treaty: official; Experts fear that fossil fuel companies will restructure their operations through Switzerland to keep suing governments over climate action
Joe Lo - Climate Change News
Switzerland will not join the European Union's proposed mass exit from a controversial energy investment protection treaty, according to the official responsible for engaging on the issue. This week, the European Commission has proposed a joint EU exit from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), over fears its protections for fossil fuel investments will slow down climate action.
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Halifax Intermediaries embeds EPC data into mortgage application process
Cecilia Keating - Business Green
Move from lender's specialist mortgage arm aims to help clients understand their home's energy efficiency and fund improvements. Halifax's specialist mortgage arm has today launched a new product designed to spur discussions around energy efficiency between mortgage brokers and people at the start of the homebuying process. A new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) capture tool embedded into Halifax Intermediaries' application process for loans is aiming to ensure that a building's energy efficiency rating is recorded at the point of a mortgage or re-mortgage application.
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EU Set to Fall Shy of Zero-Emission Target for Trucks by 2040; Commission will unveil targets for heavy-duty vehicles Tuesday;p Netherlands led push for CO2 reductions to be set at 100%
John Ainger - Bloomberg
The European Union's executive branch will propose cutting emissions from trucks and buses by 90% within two decades as it seeks to bring one of the biggest-polluting sectors in line with ambitious net zero goals. The Commission will mandate that all heavy-duty vehicles, both commercial and private, reduce tailpipe emissions 45% by 2030 and then 65% by 2035, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. New city buses will have to be zero-emission by 2030.
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Global Liquidity Drain Is Coming for Markets, Citi's King Says
Alexandra Harris - Bloomberg
Risky assets may be in trouble now that one-off liquidity injections from global central banks that have been fueling a market rally in recent months have come to an end, according to Citi strategist Matt King. In a report published Sunday, King pointed to interventions in recent months undertaken by the Bank of Japan and People's Bank of China - as well as shifting line items on the European Central Bank's and Federal Reserve's balance sheets - that have added almost $1 trillion to global central bank reserves.
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Hedge fund Element to slim down after $1bn hit in rally; Jeffrey Talpins' $12bn firm aims to be more nimble and able to respond to market moves
Laurence Fletcher- Financial Times
Jeffrey Talpins' Element Capital, one of the world's biggest macro hedge funds, is planning to shrink its asset base in an effort to improve performance after a run of poor returns, including losing more than $1bn in last month's market rally. New York-based Element, which manages around $12bn in assets and has one of the sector's best long-term track records, suffered a 9.6 per cent loss last month, according to people who had seen the numbers, as equity markets rose strongly on hopes that interest rate rises were almost done.
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Coal's comeback pays off for hedge funds; Bets by funds including Third Point and Makuria deepen investor divide over how to approach the fossil fuel
Laurence Fletcher and Leslie Hook - Financial Times
Hedge funds including Third Point, Makuria Investment Management and Odey Asset Management have reaped a windfall from coal's renaissance as they embrace a fossil fuel that many investors have shunned in the battle against climate change. The shares of coal-mining groups have soared as the price of thermal coal has more than tripled in less than two years, propelled by the energy crisis and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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Alliance Bernstein to slash jobs as Q4 sees AUM drop 17%; Investment manager also reported a 9% decline in full year net revenues, with fixed income posting the worst annual returns on record.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Alliance Bernstein has released its Q4 earnings, reporting a reduction in assets under management (AUM) of 17%. Total AUM in Q4 stood at $646 billion, up $334 billion or 6% from Q4 2022. However, Q4 2022 figures were down $132 billion or 17% when compared to Q4 2021. The investment manager also reported net revenues of $990 million, down 22% compared to Q4 2021.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Quantum Computing Startup Rigetti Lays Off 28% of Staff; Quantum computing progress is slow, and investors are gloomy.
Stephen Shankland - CNET
Rigetti Computing, one of a host of quantum computing startups competing with bigger players like IBM and Google, said Friday that it's cutting 28% percent of staff to focus on delivering and improving a new machine as soon as possible. The company, which replaced founding chief executive Chad Rigetti last year, also named a new chief technology officer, David Rivas, and a new chief financial officer, Jeffrey Bertelsen.
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Silicon Valley Talent Is Helping Grow Vietnam's Startup Hub
Nguyen Xuan Quynh and John Boudreau - Bloomberg
On a recent morning, Vinnie Lauria found himself weaving through the clogged, narrow streets of Ho Chi Minh City on a motorbike with his three-year-old son as they navigated the morning rush to school. Had he still been living in Silicon Valley the commute would have been less adventurous, but this was where the action was.
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Three-in-Four Londoners Would Quit Instead of Giving Up WFH
Helen Chandler-Wilde and Eamon Akil Farhat - Bloomberg
Nearly three-quarters of London's workers would rather quit their jobs than return to the office full-time, a survey revealed, with many demanding inflation-busting pay hikes to give up their right to flexible working. The research by Bloomberg Intelligence found that employees in the capital are confident in their bargaining power amid a tight labor market and widespread working-from-home following the Covid pandemic.
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Turning offices into condos: New York after the pandemic; A growing roster of the city's towers are being rendered obsolete by remote working. Developers spot a chance to meet demand for homes
Joshua Chaffin - Financial Times
Over the past quarter century Nathan Berman has developed a savant-like mastery of a peculiar trade in New York City property development: converting out-of-fashion office buildings into residential towers. Berman, now 63, a child of Holocaust survivors, emigrated with his family from Ukraine when he was 14, and took a meandering path to real estate. He worked for years as an art dealer, specialising in the works of Russian émigrés, before dabbling in property in the 1990s.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | The Future of Long COVID; This emergency is not about to end.
Katherine J. Wu - The Atlantic
In the early spring of 2020, the condition we now call long COVID didn't have a name, much less a large community of patient advocates. For the most part, clinicians dismissed its symptoms, and researchers focused on SARS-CoV-2 infections' short-term effects. Now, as the pandemic approaches the end of its third winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the chronic toll of the coronavirus is much more familiar.
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Oh, No. Time to Worry About Norovirus Again. Nausea, vomiting, stomach pain: The illness is contagious (and highly unpleasant).
Dani Blum - The New York Times
Cases of norovirus - a common, contagious virus that can induce vomiting and diarrhea - are generally rising across the United States, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Norovirus is spreading elsewhere, too; in England, cases are reportedly 66 percent higher than the average around this time of year, with the largest increase among people ages 65 and older.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | India's Soaring Russian Oil Imports Render Rupee Trade Futile
Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Adrija Chatterjee and Rakesh Sharma - Bloomberg
India's love for discounted Russia oil is widening its trade deficit with Moscow and the casualty is their much-touted rupee trade plan. The gap between their exports and imports is rising and that's making the local currency payment mechanism futile, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. No payment has been initiated because Russian banks do not want excess rupee piling up, they said.
/jlne.ws/3YSTkpn
Israel's first crude oil exports to start from Energean project; Shipment marks landmark for country long reliant on imports for energy security
David Sheppard - Financial Times
Israel's first-ever stream of oil exports has launched from Energean's Karish development in the eastern Mediterranean, a landmark moment for a country once vulnerable to a lack of domestic energy supplies. The nation's first overseas crude shipment was loaded on Monday from the Energean Power Floating Production Storage and Offloading unit, a giant vessel that has been used to develop the Karish gasfield.
/jlne.ws/3IjhYJd
Turkey to Temporarily Suspend Some Gold Imports After Quakes
Firat Kozok - Bloomberg
Turkey will suspend some gold imports as part of an emergency plan to mitigate the economic fallout from twin earthquakes that hit the country's southeast last week, according to an official with direct knowledge of the matter. The Treasury and Finance Ministry has finalized the regulation that will force a pause in gold purchases from abroad that fall into the category of "cash against goods," the official said, asking not to be identified as the decision has not been made public.
/jlne.ws/3XyXRvU
Turkey Injects Billions of Liras to Prop Up Stocks Before Open; Turkey to offer tax waivers on share buybacks as incentive; Trading was halted at Istanbul bourse after quake disaster
Firat Kozok and Kerim Karakaya - Bloomberg
Turkey is throwing its full weight behind stocks before the planned resumption of trading at the nation's key equity market on Wednesday. The government is channeling billions of liras from pension funds and state lenders into the stock market and planning tax waivers for buybacks, according to officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
/jlne.ws/40T6owJ
Gas Traders on Edge as Texas Export Plant Gets Closer to Restart
Mitchell Ferman - Bloomberg
Natural gas traders and buyers around the world are watching to see when a crucial US exporter of the fuel will fully recover from a June explosion. Freeport LNG on the Texas coast exported a partial cargo of gas on Sunday aboard BP Plc's Kmarin Diamond vessel, the first shipment since the blast shut down the plant. Although more ships are lined up to take on cargoes, the fuel is being withdrawn from storage tanks because Freeport's production lines are still idle.
/jlne.ws/3lufZd7
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