| August 23, 2021 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Cboe Global Markets has filed with the CFTC the terms and rules for the AMERIBOR Term-30 futures of the American Financial Exchange. This is a huge step forward for Dr. Richard Sandor's Ameribor suite of products. Trading will begin on September 13, pending regulatory review.
A former presenter at the MarketsWiki Education World of Opportunity is going to be nominated by President Joseph Biden to be ambassador to Japan. Rahm Emanuel, who is also a former mayor of Chicago, former congressman and former presidential chief of staff, is to be named to the prominent foreign post, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Emanuel, then mayor of Chicago, spoke at our World of Opportunity event held in Trading Technologies' offices back in 2015.
There are many critical crises for the world impacting women, girls and marginalized communities. Blythe Masters via LinkedIn suggested one way to help them is to support the Global Fund for Women. Here is a post about a "Feminist Response To Crises In Afghanistan, Haiti, And Lebanon."
FIA's MarketVoice Data Spotlight has a story, "How China's soy futures market stacks up." The story looks at the many more contracts the Dalian Commodity Exchange trades versus the larger amounts of soybeans traded on the Chicago Board of Trade. -- LinkedIn
Gary DeWaal, who celebrated a birthday over the weekend, offered this insight into cryptocurrency regulation on a post on LinkedIn:
Remember when Apple Computer was considered part of the financial service industry's fintech "Wild West?" SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's recent comment that crypto markets are akin to the "Wild West" reminded me of how the State of Massachusetts famously considered the 1980 IPO of Apple too risky and initially barred sales of the company's shares to its citizens: https://lnkd.in/gXr9PY6q. Not such a great edict in retrospect! The oversight of crypto markets suffers not because crypto products and markets are themselves inadequately regulated, but because financial services in the United States overall are regulated based on often anachronistic laws and rules developed during the first half of the last century and crypto products and markets don't neatly fit in among often artificial boundaries based on whether products are termed securities, derivatives or cash commodities, or whether services are brokerage, banking or money transmission. We need a holistic overhaul of financial regulation to accommodate evolving technologies of today and tomorrow — not just to deal with crypto products and markets.
Mark Phelps, CEO of GH Financials Ltd., started training for the London Marathon on January 1, 2020. Some 20 months later he finally finished the Vitality Half Marathon, 38 seconds slower than he did it in 2020. He is running in the 2021 London Marathon on October 3, 2021 to raise much needed funds for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), who now, more than ever, needs donations to ensure it can continue to help children suffering from terrible abuse. You can donate to help support Mark's marathon running HERE.
John Stotts officially joined Stable today as CIO. He has held senior roles at Belvedere, Infinium and Allston, as well as managing director at Nasdaq.
A researcher friend of mine is looking to get information on how Warsaw Stock Exchange performs contract adjustments for stock derivatives as a result of corporate actions. If anyone has any insights, or contacts at the exchange, please reach out to me.
At an Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday, a 15-year-old Eagle Scout from the Boy Scout troop I stepped down from as Scoutmaster back in November of 2016 presented me with a mentor's pin. He cited my help offering a special workshop working with him on First Class Trail requirements. He said without that he wouldn't have become an Eagle Scout. His father also mentioned that at his first summer camp when he became homesick, I talked him out of it and bought him some ice cream. His overcoming homesickness also led to him becoming an Eagle Scout, his father said. Parents in the troop used to call me the "Scout Whisperer" for my ability to talk to homesick Scouts. His Eagle Project was to collect bicycles to give to underprivileged youth in the U.S. and around the world. At the same time he was doing his Eagle project, two Chicago suburbs were doing the same thing, collecting bicycles. He collected twice as many as the two suburbs.
There were no new donations to the JLN MarketsWiki Education GoFundMe campaign over the weekend.
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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Last week Wolters Kluwer's "Jim Hamilton's World of Securities Regulation'' featured a comprehensive look at the late Philip McBride Johnson's 50-year career and his impact on derivatives law, from his chairmanship of the CFTC and his role in forging the pivotal Shad-Johnson Accord, to his leadership as founding member and chair of the American Bar Association's Derivatives and Futures Law Committee. Read the column here. ~SC
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The Spread - August 20, 2021
JohnLothianNews.com
- Will CME Group finally buy Cboe Global Markets?; Options volume outpaces exchange-traded derivatives action; Will the Fed taper sooner or later?; Volatility comes back as August options expire;
- John Lothian talks about Cboe sharks, MIAX SPIKES and remembers Philip McBride Johnson;
- Tastytrade's Jermal Chandler explains why you need to keep a close watch on gamma in the "Term of the Week."
Watch the video »
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The Vaccinated Are Worried and Scientists Don't Have Answers
Kristen V Brown and Rebecca Torrence - Bloomberg
Anecdotes signal surprising number of infections in vaccinated; Officials must formulate plans despite a dearth of hard data
Anecdotes tell us what the data can't: Vaccinated people appear to be getting the coronavirus at a surprisingly high rate. But exactly how often isn't clear, nor is it certain how likely they are to spread the virus to others. Though it is evident vaccination still provides powerful protection against the virus, there's growing concern that vaccinated people may be more vulnerable to serious illness than previously thought.
/bloom.bg/3y4IgYt
***** Be smart, play it safe.~JJL
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The U.S. Is Getting a Crash Course in Scientific Uncertainty; As the pandemic takes an unexpected direction, Americans again must reckon with twists in scientific understanding of the virus.
Apoorva Mandavilli - NY Times
When the coronavirus surfaced last year, no one was prepared for it to invade every aspect of daily life for so long, so insidiously. The pandemic has forced Americans to wrestle with life-or-death choices every day of the past 18 months — and there's no end in sight.
/nyti.ms/3zb2KQH
***** I remember a novel, "Things Change." Yes, they do.~JJL
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55 Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Taxes on 2020 Profits - ITEP
Matthew Gardner and Steve Wamhoff - Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
At least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes in their most recent fiscal year despite enjoying substantial pretax profits in the United States. This continues a decades-long trend of corporate tax avoidance by the biggest U.S. corporations, and it appears to be the product of long-standing tax breaks preserved or expanded by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as well as the CARES Act tax breaks enacted in the spring of 2020.
/bit.ly/3sDaRmp
***** My father always said if you paid a lot of taxes that was a good thing, it meant you were making a lot of money. I guess if you make enough money, you can figure out a way not to pay taxes on your corporate profits. I would classify this not as bad, but as short-sighted to its implications.
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Remote Work May Now Last for Two Years, Worrying Some Bosses; The longer that Covid-19 keeps people home, the harder it may be to get them back to offices; 'There is no going back'
Chip Cutter - WSJ
With the latest wave of return-to-office delays from Covid-19, some companies are considering a new possibility: Offices may be closed for nearly two years.That is raising concerns among executives that the longer people stay at home, the harder or more disruptive it could be to eventually bring them back.
/on.wsj.com/3mp7bDU
*****Remote work is going to last a lot longer than 2 years.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story Friday was John Lothian's Buy the Sharks, Sell the Bait, about the rumors of a possible CME buyout of the Cboe, from JLN. Second was Quantitative Brokers' QB Roll Tracker tool showing the progress of the Treasury roll at the CME Group. Third was The structured, the nimble, and the delegator, "A tale of data from the BrokerTec migration to CME," from ION Group.
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MarketsWiki Stats
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| Lead Stories | Cboe Futures Exchange to List AMERIBOR® Term-30 Futures on September 13, 2021
CBOE
New interest rate futures aim to support market participants' transition away from LIBOR; AMERIBOR Term-30 benchmark designed to serve as "plug in and play" replacement for One-Month LIBOR
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, today announced plans to launch futures on the AMERIBOR® (American Interbank Offered Rate) Term-30 interest rate benchmark. The new futures are expected to be available for trading on Cboe Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE) on business date Monday, September 13, 2021, subject to regulatory review.
/yhoo.it/3sDJGYC
Wall Street charity bike ride draws a bigger crypto crowd this year
Frank Chaparro - The Block
Crypto's presence at a popular Wall Street charity event has grown; Paxos, FTX, and BlockFi are among the firms representing crypto at Wall Street Rides Far.
"There's some up hill, some wonderful down hill, but at the end of it you feel very satisfied and fulfilled." Brad Vopni's description of the crypto market's cycles sounds very similar to a bike ride he'll be participating in the fall: Wall Street Rides Far, a yearly charity event that draws market participants from across the trading world to raise money for the Autism Science Foundation. The event has several trails ranging from beginner tracks to a 60-mile long ride for expert bikers.
/bit.ly/2Wk4HeL
Cathie Wood's Calling; The high-profile tech investor's origin story is unique in the industry.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jason Karaian, Sarah Kessler, Stephen Gandel, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni and Anna Schaverien - NY Times
A fund manager finds her flock
Cathie Wood, the hottest fund manager on Wall Street, didn't rise to prominence in the typical way. A common path to success for money managers is to land larger and larger accounts, transitioning from managing billions of dollars from wealthy individuals to handling trillions from pension funds, endowments and sovereign wealth funds. Wood has taken the reverse route, explains The Times's Matt Phillips in a big new profile of the fund manager.
/nyti.ms/3klAchb
Jerome Powell's Policy Revolution Was Blindsided by Covid-19
Rich Miller - Bloomberg
It seemed like a good idea at the time. When Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell rolled out a new modus operandi for running monetary policy at the elite Jackson Hole economic symposium a year ago, the economy was just coming out of a pandemic-driven nosedive. That was after a decade of disappointingly slow growth, with inflation stubbornly below target.
/bloom.bg/3yaSHd5
Central Banks Are Risking Their Independence; The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England all seem willing to take on vexing social challenges. If they aren't careful, they may end up losing their autonomy.
Mervyn King and Dan Katz - Bloomberg
Central bankers and journalists will assemble for the virtual Jackson Hole conference later this week. Their agenda will be broad. The future path of quantitative easing, the health of the labor market, and other critical monetary and regulatory matters will command center stage. But we can also expect pronouncements on issues once considered the domain of elected politicians, including climate change, racial justice and inequality.
/bloom.bg/387mKYw
Russian Domestic Wheat Price at Season Record Fuels Concerns
Yuliya Fedorinova and Anna Andrianova - Bloomberg
August wheat price reaching its highest in at least a decade; USDA, analysts lowering their forecasts for annual harvest
Russian domestic wheat prices jumped in August to levels typically not seen this time of year, raising concerns about food price inflation and possible government reaction. Wheat prices for the month are surging to the highest in at least a decade, contrary to the typical decline during this period as the new harvest flows in. That may be the result of farmers holding the grain back from the market because they're wary of making bad deals under a recent import tax. The duty was meant to help stifle inflation, yet the annual rate is now 6.5%, the highest since 2016.
/bloom.bg/38cx3KB
Trading conditions in $22tn Treasury market worsen ahead of Jackson Hole; 'Lousy' liquidity sets stage for choppiness when Fed chief Jay Powell speaks this week
Kate Duguid - FT
Trading conditions in the $22tn US government bond market, a bedrock of the global financial system, have deteriorated as traders brace themselves for a key speech this week from Federal Reserve chief Jay Powell.
/on.ft.com/2WfxilI
Female board members at FTSE 100 companies paid 40% less than men; Research shows average pay last year was £1.5m for women and £2.5m for men at UK's largest businesses
Attracta Mooney - FT
Female board members at the UK's largest companies are paid about 40 per cent less than their male counterparts, according to new data that reveal the gender pay gap is widest in the upper ranks of corporate Britain.
/on.ft.com/388kRdT
Cryptocurrency's Surge Leaves Global Watchdogs Trying to Catch Up; Binance and BitMEX exchanges have come under regulatory pressure, but coordinated crypto oversight seems limited in the U.S., Europe and Asia
Dave Michaels, Caitlin Ostroff and Elaine Yu - WSJ
The cryptocurrency industry is getting so big and enabling so much risk-taking that governments around the globe are taking notice. The value of bitcoin now exceeds $900 billion, more than all but a handful of companies. Digital currencies called stablecoins grease ever more trading and issuance. Giant crypto exchanges in Asia offer 100-to-1 bets, often serving traders in countries where their products aren't legal.
/on.wsj.com/3B65bUY
Family feud at world's largest pork processor goes up a notch as father dismisses son's fraud claims as 'untrue and 'misleading'; World's biggest pork producer said allegations by Wan Hongjian are 'untrue and misleading'; Wan Hongjian stripped of his directorship and other roles at the company in June
Chad Bray - South China Morning Post
WH Group, the world's biggest pork producer, struck back a second time on Monday at allegations by a former director that shaved US$1.4 billion off its market value last week.
/bit.ly/3gmXSAA
It's Called The Bond Taper. Yes, It's Geeky. But This Is Why You Should Know About It
David Gura - NPR
You might want to get familiar with this term because you will be hearing it a lot: the bond taper, or more widely known as just the taper. When markets were in free-fall as the pandemic started to spread last year, the Federal Reserve knew it had to act quick - and big - to avoid a repeat of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
/n.pr/3klrjnJ
Climate change activists target City of London's Guildhall
Reuters
Climate change activists climbed the outside of the headquarters of the City of London's government on Sunday as they began two weeks of protests focused on the capital's financial district.
/reut.rs/3j9xuMb
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | 'No one wants to go back': Covid scuttles IPO and debt roadshows; Formerly globetrotting executives have turned to video conferencing to court investors
Joe Rennison, Eric Platt and Joshua Franklin, and Nicholas Megaw - FT
VTex was valued at $3.5bn in a public listing last month after its executives and bankers wooed investors in more than 50 meetings. Instead of logging thousands of air miles and checking in to glitzy hotels, the Brazilian tech group's marketing blitz relied on a less flashy solution: video conferencing.
/on.ft.com/3gpz8aF
Surging Delta Cases Reverse the World's March Back to the Office
Bloomberg
The worst of the coronavirus pandemic may be receding into the rear-view mirror, but office workers are little closer to returning to their desks full-time. The spread of the delta variant has forced many U.S. employers that had been hoping to get staff back to their desks after Labor Day to delay those plans until at least October—or even next year.
/bloom.bg/3qixE5Z
Beating Back Delta Will Take Extra Covid Shot for Privileged Few
Jason Gale - Bloomberg
Infectious variant requires more antibodies to curb spread; Waning antibody levels spur some countries to offer third shot
The roll out of a third dose of Covid vaccine has sparked debate on ethical and political grounds, since a large swath of the human population is yet to receive any inoculation. But the case for boosters on scientific grounds is building.
/bloom.bg/3kgBwS9
Delta variant is making Americans nervous and raising fresh worries about the economy
Jeffry Bartash - MarketWatch
While Washington is riveted by the chaotic scene in Afghanistan, Wall Street and Main Street are wondering if the spread of the coronavirus delta variant is going to injure the U.S. economy. Surveys of consumers show that Americans are quite worried about delta.
/on.mktw.net/3B4WwCu
Reluctant Egyptians Urged to Get Vaccines as New Wave Looms
Abdel Latif Wahba - Bloomberg
Egypt's health minister urged a reluctant population to sign up for coronavirus vaccinations as officials expect a new surge in infections next month. Hala Zaid said Monday that 10 million people have so far registered for Covid shots, only about a 10th of the North African nation's population with 7.5 million receiving the jab. Interest in being vaccinated had fallen off in recent weeks, the minister said.
/bloom.bg/3sHtJk5
China Hits Zero Covid Cases With a Month of Draconian Curbs
Bloomberg News
Local cases back to zero, as China seeks to lock in safety; China returns as the biggest country posting zero Covid cases
It's been just over a month, and China has once again squelched Covid-19, bringing its local cases down to zero. It was more difficult this time, even though the leaders of the world's most populous nation used the same playbook they followed to quell more than 30 previous flare-ups. The arrival of the more infectious delta variant has raised the stakes, as the pathogen refines its ability to escape curbs and flout vaccination. It's unclear how long the victory will last.
/bloom.bg/3zartnT
Israel hopes boosters can avert new lockdown as Covid vaccine efficacy fades; Earliest to vaccinate, Israel is the first country to confront fading protection of Pfizer's jabs with a third shot
Mehul Srivastava and John Burn-Murdoch - FT
After Israel raced ahead to vaccinate much of its population and reopened its economy in March, the Mediterranean nation became a lode star for the world.
/on.ft.com/384IFPM
Israel finds COVID-19 vaccine booster significantly lowers infection risk
Reuters
A third dose of Pfizer (PFE.N)'s COVID-19 vaccine has significantly improved protection from infection and serious illness among people aged 60 and older in Israel compared with those who received two shots, findings published by the Health Ministry showed on Sunday.
/reut.rs/3zge8dW
How to Calculate Delta-Variant Risks for Children This Fall; Is school safe? Soccer? Birthday parties? Doctors suggest some principles to guide decision-making for parents with unvaccinated children
Sumathi Reddy - WSJ
With the Delta variant of Covid-19 infecting more children, many parents are worried about how to keep their unvaccinated young kids safe as schools reopen and extracurricular activities resume.
/on.wsj.com/3zdGOEl
Dying in the Name of Vaccine Freedom
Alex Stockton and Lucy King - NY Times
In the video above, Alexander Stockton, a producer on the Opinion Video team, explores two of the main reasons the number of Covid cases is soaring once again in the United States: vaccine hesitancy and refusal. "It's hard to watch the pandemic drag on as Americans refuse the vaccine in the name of freedom," he says.
/nyti.ms/3sEFzeU
A lucky few seem 'resistant' to Covid-19. Scientists want to know why
Amitha Kalaichandran - STAT
Her husband collapsed just before reaching the top of the stairs in their small one-bedroom house in São Paulo, Brazil. Frantic, Thais Andrade grabbed the portable pulse oximeter she had purchased after hearing that a low oxygen reading could be the first sign of the novel coronavirus. Erik's reading was hovering eight points lower than it had that morning. He also looked feverish.
/bit.ly/2WayGq8
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | China Exchanges to Improve IPO Pricing on Star, ChiNext Boards
Bloomberg News
China's stock exchanges have issued revised draft IPO listing rules that may help realize better prices by enabling offline institutional investors to bid higher on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style Star and Shenzhen's ChiNext boards. Both the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange published the guidelines Friday on their websites and sought feedback from the public by Sept. 5.
/bloom.bg/3moDYJk
Shares in Hong Kong bourse rally after Chinese stock futures approved; Agreement will allow global investors to hedge exposure to mainland markets and inflicts another blow on SGX
Hudson Lockett - FT
Shares in the operator of Hong Kong's bourse rallied after it was cleared to offer index futures for mainland Chinese shares, an important hedging tool that could broaden the exchange's appeal to international investors.
/on.ft.com/388lIeB
Cboe Global Markets Declares Increased Third-Quarter 2021 Dividend
Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Quarterly cash dividend increased 14 percent to $0.48 per share; 11th consecutive year Cboe has increased its dividend
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, today announced its Board of Directors has declared an increased quarterly cash dividend of $0.48 per share of common stock for the third quarter of 2021, representing a 14 percent increase from the prior quarter's dividend of $0.42 per share.
/bit.ly/2UAca9h
Hong Kong Bourse Jumps on China A Share Index Futures Launch
Bloomberg News
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. rallied by the most in seven months after receiving a long awaited clearance to offer A share index futures contracts, giving global investors a new tool to hedge China risk. HKEX shares rose as much as 6.8% on Monday. Singapore Exchange Ltd., which had introduced the first index futures tracking A shares, slumped 4.9% as of 11:38 a.m. in Singapore.
/yhoo.it/3jbSQIZ
Eurex to launch Bitcoin ETN futures; The offering will make Eurex the first regulated market for Bitcoin related derivatives in Europe when it launches later this year.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Deutsche Börse Group's derivatives arm, Eurex, has made plans to launch Bitcoin exchange traded note (ETN) futures next month to meet significant demand from institutional investors. The new derivatives will go live on 13 September and mark the first regulated market for Bitcoin derivatives in Europe, with access to pricing for the digital asset on-exchange and centrally cleared.
/bit.ly/3B5kSMo
ASX trading system was not ready to go live, concludes IBM outage review; IBM review of a market outage at ASX in November has suggested the system was not ready to go live and did not have the appropriate governance.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
A day-long outage at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in November was caused by the launch of a new trading system that was not ready to go live, an independent review conducted by IBM has concluded. The market outage on 16 November followed the launch of a new version of the exchange operator's equity trading system provided by Nasdaq, ASX Trade, where software failures caused inaccurate market data.
/bit.ly/3B6k0H4
Independent review of ASX trade outage November 2020
ASX
/bit.ly/2TwaCc9
- Performance Bond Requirements: Agriculture, Energy and FX margins - Effective August 23, 2021 -- CME
- Product Modification Summary: Amendments to Payment Date of the Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures-Style Margined Financial Calendar Month Option Contract - Payment Date to be Last Trade Date - Effective August 23, 2021 -- CME
- Amendments to Payment Date of the Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures-Style Margined Financial Calendar Month Option Contract - Payment Date to be Last Trade Date -- CME
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Technology can help democratise financial services; If properly regulated, digital tools offer an opportunity to reduce global inequality
Tarun Ramadorai - FT
The economic damage wrought by the pandemic has been partly masked by the extraordinary levels of support infused by governments worldwide. Come September, many pandemic relief measures will begin to wind down in both the US and the UK. This will expose the uneven impact of the pandemic, with lower-income and lower-wealth households worst affected. Wealth inequality, already a serious concern before the pandemic, is now even more extreme.
/on.ft.com/2XRg0MB
'Connect' schemes will force Chinese buy side IT overhaul; Initiatives that provide greater access to international markets, like the Stock Connect and Bond Connect programs, will drive change at Chinese asset managers struggling with legacy trading technologies.
Wei-Shen Wong - Waters Technology
Today, onshore Chinese asset management firms maintain a plethora of systems, often cobbled together to bridge the shortcomings of other providers. But looming initiatives intended to drive greater participation by Chinese investors in international markets could stretch these setups to breaking point, software vendors warn.
/bit.ly/2UB5mbt
PayPal's Dan Schulman on seizing the opportunities in digital payments; The boss of the tech platform believes crypto can make the financial system more efficient and inclusive
Tim Bradshaw - FT
In early 2016, PayPal's chief executive Dan Schulman decided he really needed to wrap his head around cryptocurrency. Back then, a single bitcoin could be purchased for about $400, while PayPal was worth about $50bn, after splitting from its former parent eBay a few months earlier.
/on.ft.com/383v7Eb
CGS-CIMB Securities adopts Bloomberg trading OMS and data license; The adoption of Bloomberg's solutions will support CGS-CIMB's growth of its fixed income offering in Asia-Pacific.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Asia-based financial services firm, CGS-CIMB Securities, has adopted Bloomberg's trade order management system (TOMS) and data license. CGS-CIMB claimed that the adoption would allow it to grow its regional fixed income business and expand into new markets including South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
/bit.ly/3mpayKU
kACE partners with Algorithmica to launch FX Volatility Aggregator
Fenics Software Limited
kACE, a division of Fenics Software Limited, an entity within the BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP) ("BGC Partners," "BGC" or the "Company") group of companies, announced today the launch of its kACE Volatility Aggregator (kACE VA) application, a collaboration between kACE and Algorithmica, leveraging both organisations' vast experience in FX derivatives and advanced analytical solutions to deliver unparalleled volatility aggregation functionality.
/prn.to/3z9XEUM
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | China Inc braces for fallout from Didi data probe
Edward White, Sun Yu, Tabby Kinder, and Kana Inagaki - FT
When Chinese regulators announced an investigation into data security at Didi Chuxing last month, one-fifth of the New York-listed ride-hailing group's market value was immediately wiped out. Beijing-based Didi, the entire Chinese technology sector and global investors are now braced for the results of the unprecedented probe.
/on.ft.com/3gp1GBo
Ransomware poses threat to vulnerable local governments
Karina Elwood - The Washington Post
President Biden publicly committed to aggressive action on cybersecurity and defending American infrastructure. Recent high-profile attacks left people panic buying gas along the East Coast and debilitated hundreds of institutions around the globe. But underneath the big attacks, in the metropolitan area surrounding the nation's capital where security is a top priority, local government agencies such as school districts, city halls and police departments are among the most vulnerable to ransomware attacks, experts say.
/wapo.st/2XGb0Km
Harris meets with Singapore officials to begin Asia visit
Alexandra Jaffe - The Washington Post
The White House on Monday announced a series of new agreements with Singapore aimed at combating cyberthreats, tackling climate change, addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating supply chain issues. The announcements coincide with Vice President Kamala Harris' visit to the region, as part of the Biden administration's efforts to counter Chinese influence there.
/wapo.st/2WlED3j
JPMorgan Chase Bank Notifies Customers of Data Exposure
Ionut Arghire - Security Week
JPMorgan Chase Bank last week sent out notification letters to inform customers that their personal information might have been inadvertently exposed to other customers. The New York City-based financial services provider has started informing customers that, due to a technical bug, their personal information might have been exposed to other customers. The data was viewable on chase.com or in the Chase Mobile app.
/bit.ly/3Dcs1fG
Education Sector Sees Cyber Attacks Jump, Check Point Says
Gwen Ackerman - Bloomberg
The education and research center sector saw attacks grow by almost 30%, with Italy, India and Israel being the top targets, the Check Point researchers found. It said educators have become more vulnerable since the sector pivoted to a mostly remote workforce at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
/bloom.bg/3grUOTL
Singapore, USA promises deeper cooperation in cybersecurity
Louis Prives - Texas News Today
Singapore and the United States have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand cybersecurity collaboration across defense, finance and R & D. Such initiatives include further information sharing, collaborative exercises, training, and development. Three MOUs were signed on Monday as part of this week's three-day visit to Asian countries by US Vice President Kamala Harris.
/bit.ly/3B7EhvR
Why automation is key to education's cybersecurity problem
Renee Tarun - eSchool News
School districts face substantial budget constraints, making it difficult to address the massive and growing problem of cybersecurity risk. And speaking of that growing problem, the fact is that the threat landscape has proliferated and continues to proliferate so greatly that humans alone cannot tackle it all.
/bit.ly/3gq0AW1
AI-Fueled Deep Fakes Signal New Era of Cybercrime
Etay Maor - Security Boulevard
The flames of what the FBI calls the emergence of "synthetic content" (defined as fake audio, video, text or images) are being fanned by social media and spreading like the proverbial wildfire. Election-related manipulated videos alone have grown 20x since 2019. Soon, it will be extremely hard for ordinary individuals to determine truth and reality from falsehood and fiction. The FBI confirms that synthetic content is being exploited by cybercriminals and nation-states to advance their malicious goals and "foreign influence operations."
/bit.ly/3sDbiwY
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Cryptocurrency Companies Are Leaving China in 'Great Mining Migration'; Miners face high costs, other hurdles in removing their machines after Chinese crackdown
Caitlin Ostroff and Elaine Yu - WSJ
When China vowed to crack down on cryptocurrency mining early this summer, Nasdaq-listed Bit Digital Inc. ramped up efforts to get its more than 20,000 computers out of the country. The machines are the heart of the New York-based company, which makes money by plugging the high-powered computers into cheap electricity sources so they can work through mathematical problems to unlock new bitcoin. The process, called mining, has gone from something any individual with a PC could do a decade ago, to a massive industry that uses numerous computers and lots of electricity.
/on.wsj.com/3B5nsBI
Liquid Exchange Hacker Covers Tracks by Sending $20M to ETH Mixer
Anna Baydakova - Coindesk
Whoever hacked the Japanese crypto exchange Liquid for an estimated $90 million has been taking steps to cover their tracks, according to public blockchain data.
/yhoo.it/3moyYnG
FTX.US President on US Expansion, Partnerships and Crypto Markets
CoinDesk
Brett Harrison, president of FTX.US, the U.S. affiliate of crypto exchange FTX, discusses future plans for the exchange as it readies offering cryptocurrency derivative trading in less than a year. This comes as FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told CoinDesk in July FTX.US has "enormous" growth potential in the U.S. Plus, Harrison's insights into the latest partnership with Kevin O'Leary, the ?greatest regulatory concerns for U.S. exchanges and a crypto markets outlook.
/yhoo.it/37Xo4x5
Crypto Will Play Role in Future Economies: Deloitte Survey Majority
Rahul Nambiampurath - BeInCrypto
Deloitte surveyed over 1,200 executives in the financial services industry, learning that a vast majority believe that crypto will become important in the next two years.
/yhoo.it/3yeNosN
Binance Hires Former Abu Dhabi Global Market Head as Singapore CEO
Sebastian Sinclair - Coindesk
Binance has hired Richard Teng, the former CEO of Abu Dhabi's financial watchdog, to head the exchange's operations in Singapore, the company said in a press release on Monday.
/yhoo.it/3y4Gy9v
PayPal launches crypto buying and selling in the UK
Anna Irrera - Reuters
PayPal Holdings Inc will allow customers in the UK to buy, sell and hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies starting this week, the company said on Monday.
/yhoo.it/3y9sgo1
Asset managers rush to file applications for bitcoin futures ETFs; SEC chair says such funds could win regulatory approval but analysts think investors might stay away
Rheaa Rao - FT
At least four asset managers have filed for ETFs that invest in bitcoin futures after Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler earlier this month indicated that he could approve such funds. But investors may not want them in lieu of physically backed bitcoin ETFs, analysts have said.
/on.ft.com/2UDxb2I
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Russia cannot use Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a 'weapon', Merkel says; Germany chancellor seeks to calm Ukrainian concerns over the nearly completed $11bn pipeline
Roman Olearchyk and Joe Miller - FT
Chancellor Angela Merkel has sought to assuage Ukrainian concerns over the nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, saying Germany would not allow Russia to weaponise the gas corridor.
/on.ft.com/3D7X3oV
Florida is America's Future: Old, Southern and Retired; Why we should be concerned that the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. are retirement villages in the South.
Allison Schrager - Bloomberg
One of the most important trends to emerge from the 2020 Census didn't get much attention last week, but it reveals more about how both the U.S. economy and its politics will look in the coming years than most other details focused on by the news media.
/bloom.bg/3sC0r6E
China warns thousands of officials over links with businesses; Corruption watchdog issues directive to Hangzhou authorities as Xi Jinping targets 'social ills'
Tom Mitchell and Sun Yu - FT
The Chinese Communist party has warned thousands of officials in the city of Hangzhou, home of leading technology companies such as Jack Ma's Alibaba, to root out any "conflicts of interest" they or their family members may have with local businesses.
/on.ft.com/3jblObC
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | Anti-money laundering fines surge as watchdogs impose tougher penalties; Authorities levied $1bn in the first half of 2021, on track to hit last year's total of $2.2bn
Stephen Morris - FT
Global regulators are continuing to fine companies for anti-money laundering failings at a high rate, particularly in the UK and EU, as watchdogs heap pressure on the financial industry to stiffen its defences against crime.
/on.ft.com/3ygvshO
Update on the independent expert review of November's ASX Trade outage
ASIC
On 16 November 2020, an outage occurred shortly after a major upgrade to ASX's equity trading platform, ASX Trade, called the ASX Trade Refresh project (the project). ASIC and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) (the regulators) view operational incidents of this nature with significant concern. To examine the issues, the regulators informed ASX of their expectation that an independent review of the project be conducted in the first half of 2021. In consultation with the regulators ASX appointed IBM Australia Limited to undertake an independent expert review.
/bit.ly/3B7Bt1M
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Companies Find It's a Good Time to Push Pension Obligations Off Balance Sheets; Lockheed Martin, Arconic and others have bought annuities this year to reduce risk from their defined-benefit pensions
Mark Maurer - WSJ
Finance chiefs are stepping up their efforts to move pension obligations off company balance sheets through annuity purchases and other financial tools, taking advantage of well-funded plans and a respite from the scramble over the past year to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
/on.wsj.com/2WeaBP3
Nickel Is Becoming a Battleground for Bets on Battery Future
Thomas Biesheuvel - Bloomberg
The race to supply automakers with nickel to power their batteries is pitting two of the biggest names in mining against each other. A company owned by Australian iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest signaled its refusal to back down after a proposal to buy Canadian nickel developer Noront Resources Ltd. was trumped by the world's biggest miner, BHP Group. And Forrest has been busy back home too: Australian nickel producer Western Areas Ltd. -- which announced this week it's in takeover talks with a local rival -- revealed Friday the tycoon has become a substantial shareholder.
/yhoo.it/3mosIMM
Dividends Roar Back With Janus Predicting Near-Record Levels
Lukas Strobl - Bloomberg
Janus Henderson raises forecast after surprising recovery; Global dividends are likely to reach $1.39 trillion this year
Global companies are so flush with cash that they're racing to bring back dividends, according to a global study by Janus Henderson Investors.
/bloom.bg/3sCOsWm
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Solar Power Booms in Georgia, Where It Isn't Mandated; The state has no subsidies or renewable-energy requirements, but solar farms draw support of Republican utility regulators, rural communities
Elena Shao - WSJ
Georgia has no mandates requiring power companies to add renewable energy and hasn't made climate change a political priority. Solar power is booming there anyway. The state went from having virtually no solar industry a decade ago to ranking ninth nationwide in installed solar capacity this year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Solar has flourished in Georgia as tech companies such as Facebook Inc. FB 1.20% look to locate facilities near cheap renewable-energy sources and rural communities turn to solar farms to create tax revenues and jobs.
/on.wsj.com/3D7XMq9
Banks' Hidden ESG Risks Exposed in Norway Wealth-Fund Review
Lars Erik Taraldsen - Bloomberg
Climate risk is lurking in unexpected places, review finds; Fund is under pressure to do more to brace for global warming
Finance has emerged as one of the sectors around which climate risk is least well understood, according to a review intended to set a new investing mandate for the world's biggest wealth fund.
/bloom.bg/2W7HXzd
Germany Flirts With Power Crunch in Nuclear and Coal Exit
Vanessa Dezem and Josefine Fokuhl - Bloomberg
German consumers have the highest power bills in Europe; Transition to more solar and wind power has slowed down
One of Germany's biggest challenges in the fight against climate change is to keep the lights on. As Europe's biggest economy shuts its last nuclear reactor next year and utility RWE AG warns that coal plants may close earlier than planned, critics say green energy isn't being added quickly enough. Germany's ability to meet peak demand is poised to shrink rapidly over the next two years, increasing the risk of blackouts.
/bloom.bg/3j6gxSW
Business can stop the ESG backlash by proving it's making a difference; Honesty about impact is needed to build confidence in a movement blighted by hype and woolliness
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson - FT
The momentum behind environmental, social and governance-themed investing has seemed unstoppable for the past few years. Trillions of dollars have poured into ESG funds and countless executives have renounced Milton Friedman's shareholder primacy dictum, in a once-in-a-generation shift in the business consensus.
/on.ft.com/386X5PC
Wind-Turbine Makers Struggle to Profit From Renewable-Energy Boom
Rising raw-material costs, unpredictable U.S. subsidies and concerns transporting the giant machines are crimping earnings for companies such as Vestas and General Electric
Jennifer Hiller and Katherine Blunt - WSJ
The world's appetite for green energy is greater than ever, but that isn't translating into big profits for some of the companies behind the boom. Top wind-turbine makers are struggling with lower earnings as rising raw- material costs, problems shipping the hulking machines, and uncertainty over the future of U.S. subsidies pressure their businesses.
/on.wsj.com/3zndRWs
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Number of 'dog' funds falls as value stocks rebound; Bestinvest survey reveals 77 UK funds still underperform the market
Joshua Oliver - FT
The boost for value stocks during the Covid-19 recovery this year helped to cut the number of funds that performed much worse than the market, according to an industry report. Value funds that have long been out of favour — overshadowed by the success of growth-oriented funds — saw their fortunes recover somewhat as investors turned cautious about tech companies and other growth stocks.
/on.ft.com/3gn0FJX
Goldman Sachs, BofA See Lost Decade Over for Emerging Markets
Farah Elbahrawy, Ben Bartenstein and Srinivasan Sivabalan - Bloomberg
Elevated commodity prices and expectations for earnings growth are igniting bullish bets on emerging-market equities after more than a decade of underperformance that left them approaching a 20-year low against developed-nation stocks.
/yhoo.it/3D5V5oV
Citadel to Pull $500 Million From Melvin Amid Plotkin's Rebound
Hema Parmar and Katherine Burton - Bloomberg
Citadel will redeem about $500 million from Melvin Capital Management, according to a person familiar with the matter, scaling back its $2 billion January infusion into Gabe Plotkin's hedge fund after the investment turned positive.
/yhoo.it/3D8dgdK
Michael Burry's Pretty Big Short Hinges on Treasuries Sinking
Liz Capo McCormick and Ye Xie - Bloomberg
Call it the Pretty Big Short. Michael Burry, whose huge, wildly profitable bets against the housing bubble were made famous in "The Big Short," is wagering that long-term U.S. Treasuries will fall.
/yhoo.it/3ml74ZN
Canada's Big Five banks to require staff entering premises to be vaccinated
Nichola Saminather - Reuters
Canada's five biggest banks are mandating that employees working from their offices must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 this fall, taking a firmer stance than some of their U.S. counterparts and some other Canadian companies.
/reut.rs/3zabeYb
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China Regulator Halts 42 IPOs on Probe of Broker, Law Firm
Bloomberg News
China's market regulator halted 42 initial public offerings in Shanghai and Shenzhen after starting a probe into an investment bank, a law firm and other parties involved in the deals. The news of the shelved IPOs was reported by Shanghai Securities News, which cited disclosures by the exchanges and company filings.
/yhoo.it/3sF8P58
U.S. Banks and Money-Transfer Firms Tread Carefully in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan; Lenders are uncertain whether U.S. sanctions against the Taliban apply across the nation
Ian Talley and Orla McCaffrey - WSJ
Two major U.S. money-transfer services have suspended payments into Afghanistan, and American banks are more closely scrutinizing transactions with Afghan counterparts, as they await clarity on whether U.S. sanctions on the Taliban apply across the nation now that the Islamist group is in control.
/on.wsj.com/3kecjI8
'Hunger Season' Looms in South of Madagascar on Longer Drought
Kamlesh Bhuckory - Bloomberg
Southern Madagascar is on the brink of a severe humanitarian crisis as hundreds of thousands struggle with the impact of a prolonged drought, according to a United Nations official.
/bloom.bg/3D8etSk
China strengthens supervision of accounting firms in fight against forgery
Reuters
China said on Monday it will tighten scrutiny over accounting firms in a fight against financial forgery, vowing "zero tolerance" toward misconduct. The guidelines, published by China's State Council, or cabinet, come as Beijing launches a flurry of regulatory crackdowns against sectors ranging from Internet to tutoring.
/yhoo.it/383om5o
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Declining Salmon Population Threatens Fishing Tourism in Pacific Northwest; This year regional agencies recorded one of the smallest counts of spring Chinook salmon in a generation in the Snake and Columbia river basin
Sarah Trent - WSJ
Beneath the vacancy sign at the Salmon River Motel, a black and white placard reads "Salmon Lives Matter, Give a Dam." For years the motel has been a profitable business in this canyon town of 400 three hours north of Boise, with a mile-long Main Street that swells each summer with visiting sport fishermen.
/on.wsj.com/3glqhXq
You've Got Another Job Offer. Here's What to Tell Your Boss; If you're open to staying at your current workplace, think hard about your role there and what you want from it that you're not getting
Rachel Feintzeig - WSJ
People are on the move. You've scored a tempting—but not perfect—job offer. Do you bring it to your boss? It can be a powerful negotiating position, one that could end with what you really want: a promotion, more money, the ability to work remotely for the long term.
/on.wsj.com/3sDGOLx
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