| January 18, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Bloomberg wrote a follow up to the story about Mary Erdoes claiming JPMorgan had had 69 billion daily cyber attacks, with the bank recharacterizing the number of attacks. A spokesperson from JPMorgan is quoted as saying:
"Ms. Erdoes was referring to observed activity collected from our technology assets, malicious or not. This activity is then processed by our monitoring infrastructure," Joseph Evangelisti, a spokesman for JPMorgan, said in a statement. "Examples of activity can include user log ins like employee virtual desktops, and scanning activity, which are often highly automated and not targeted."
The story did continue to claim that JPMorgan has seen an increased number of hacker attempts in the last year, evidently just not 69 billion a day. I think the most impressive numbers from the story are the $15 billion JPMorgan spent on technology last year to bolster its security and other technology initiatives and the 62,000 technologists it employs.
Coinbase and the SEC are facing off in court and beanie babies found its way into the conversation, with Bitcoin compared the small bean filled collectible that was all the rage in the 1990s in a boom and bust cycle. For me, this may be a way to win in court, but it is not a winning market argument for the value of Bitcoin. Now if they had compared Bitcoin to Pokémon Cards, Comic Books, McDonald's Happy Meal Toys and Pogs, that would have been another story.
CME Group announced that the Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Company (STG) has acquired a 32.6% stake in the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), forming the Gulf Mercantile Exchange alongside CME Group and other stakeholders, with the option to increase their shareholding in the future. The investment includes new shares to support DME's growth.
FIA and CME Group have jointly responded to the CFTC's proposed rulemaking to enhance safe and liquid investment options for FCMs and DCOs, expressing support for these efforts and anticipating further engagement with the CFTC on the initiative.
During a campaign stop in New Hampshire, former President Donald Trump said he opposes the idea of a central bank-issued digital dollar, citing concerns about government control over individuals' finances and pledging not to allow its creation, Bloomberg reported.
Meanwhile, Former CFTC Chairman and Willkie Farr & Gallagher senior counsel J. Christopher Giancarlo, who was given the nickname "Crypto Dad," and served as CFTC Chair under former President Trump, discussed in a CoinDesk First Mover video the future of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the U.S. Giancarlo said the Digital Dollar project "does not advocate the U.S. deploy a Central Bank Digital Currency." The headline for the story says he said the prospect of a Bitcoin ban is no longer likely.
In this YouTube video, NYSE's Doug Yones provided an update on the Spot Bitcoin ETF via NYSE TV.
R.J. O'Brien & Associates appointed Patrick Christie to lead its agricultural technology (ag tech) business unit, and DV Group announced a strategic expansion across its subsidiary trading companies, including DV Energy, to further diversify its offerings in global financial markets.
I will be at STAC's Mid-Winter Meeting at the Hilton in Chicago later this morning. If you are there, please say hello.
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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A benchmark analysis from the sustainability advocate Ceres examined the climate-related risk management, governance, and lobbying practices of 12 of the largest U.S. electric utility companies and found deeply contradictory advocacy practices. The report, "Toward Consistency: Assessing the Power Sector's Climate Policy Advocacy," found that the 12 utilities agree with the scientific consensus concerning the causes of climate change; 100% of them have lobbied either individually or as part of a coalition for Paris-aligned climate policies in the last three years. Despite this support, 100% of these companies have also lobbied in opposition to Paris-aligned climate policies. View the analysis and download the report here. ~SAED
Margaret Atwood leads off a series of four videos, dubbed Democracy 2024, in the Financial Times examining the state of government, representation, rights and freedom. In a year in which more than half the world goes to the polls, the Financial Times says, Atwood asks whether democracy is fragile and easily destroyed or flexible and resilient. Other Democracy 2024 videos include the Turkish novelist Elif Shafak looking at democracy's delicately balanced ecosystem; the Nigerian writer Lola Shoneyin examining [[https://jlne.ws/3HpXcYk|Democratic freedoms; and the Indian comedian Aditi Mittal in a sketch exploring family tensions over the meaning of democracy. ~SAED
Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Can AI and a supercomputer beat the markets? This is one of the hedge funds trying to find out from MarketWatch.
- Options Discovery Episode 29 from John Lothian News.
- S&P 500 Wobble Pushes 'Fear Gauge' to Highest Since November from Bloomberg. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Amanda Cain - John Lothian Profiles - Part One
JohnLothianNews.com
In a recent interview with John Lothian Profiles, Amanda Cain shared her journey into the financial services industry and her experiences as a pioneering woman in the field. Cain's entry into the industry began when she was invited to join the EDF Man Commodities Training Program, a move that she described as lucky and unexpected. She recalled a time when she was one of the few women in the industry, with limited female colleagues.
Watch the video »
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Options Discovery Episode 29: Understanding The Foundations To Become A Successful Options Trader; Mark Esposito, Options Mentor at McMillan Analysis Corps., Discusses This and More With JLN's Asma Awass
JohnLothianNews.com
In this episode of Options Discovery, Asma Awass discusses the different principles that traders should understand about options. This episode includes a breakdown of calls and puts, choosing the underlying asset, and volatility & the Greeks. Asma then sits down with Mark Esposito, an options mentor at McMillan Analysis Corp, who shares more insight on the foundations of options trading. You can check out the Options Mentoring Program here: https://www.optionstrategist.com
Watch the video »
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Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale join FIA Tech ownership consortium; Move shows further industry support for FIA Tech's innovation
FIA Tech
FIA Tech, a leading futures industry technology provider, today announced that Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale have joined its ownership consortium and recent funding round, bringing the total funds raised to $84.2m. Both will also join FIA Tech's board of directors. With the addition of these two institutions, FIA Tech's ownership consortium will comprise twelve global clearing firms as well as the Futures Industry Association. Investors now include ABN AMRO Clearing, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale, UBS and Wells Fargo. This investment adds $14.8 million to the $25.4m raised in April 2023 for the strategic growth of the Trade Data Network.
/jlne.ws/426Euhy
***** FIA Tech has transformed itself into an industry technology centerpiece.~JJL
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'The Dow' for Crypto Markets? New CoinDesk 20 Index Underpins Futures Contracts at Bullish
Nick Baker - CoinDesk
Cryptocurrencies just got a new benchmark that, similar to the stock market's Dow Jones Industrial Average, explains how the market is broadly doing. And the index has an investable product based on it, potentially giving the measure a shot at broader adoption - something previous marketwide benchmarks have failed to win.CoinDesk Indices on Wednesday introduced the benchmark, called the CoinDesk 20 Index, that tracks the world's largest and most-liquid cryptocurrencies. The behemoths, bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum's ether [ETH], are among its 20 members, but it goes well beyond them to give traders a diversified summary of the market's performance.
/jlne.ws/48Eynnc
***** I wish CoinDesk luck with this and hope they are around as long as Dow Jones with its index.~JJL
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It's not just you, Google Search really has gotten worse; A new study by German researchers found that Google Search is plagued with SEO spam.
Meera Navlakha - Mashable
Has your Google Search experience changed for the worse? You may not be alone. This revelation comes from a new study by German researchers from Leipzig University, Bauhaus-University Weimar, and the Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. The researchers posed the question "Is Google Getting Worse?", examining 7,392 product review queries on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo for a year.
/jlne.ws/3Si3xuV
****** There is your term of the year: "SEO Spam." ~JJL
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Wednesday's Top Three
Our top story Wednesday was Bloomberg's AI Certification Program Verifies Systems Are 'Fairly Trained'. Second was The Virtue Economy Is Over, an opinion piece from Allison Schrager in Bloomberg. Third was India to keep diversifying oil supply, accelerate energy transition -Oil Minister, from Reuters.
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| Lead Stories | Coinbase Compares Buying Crypto to Collecting Beanie Babies; Exchange compares tokens to plush toys to oppose regulation; Courts are divided on whether crypto sales are securities
Chris Dolmetsch - Bloomberg
Coinbase Global Inc. said buying cryptocurrency on an exchange was more like collecting Beanie Babies than investing in a stock or bond. The biggest US crypto exchange made the comparison Wednesday in a New York federal court hearing. Coinbase was arguing for the dismissal of a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing it of selling unregistered securities. William Savitt, a lawyer for Coinbase, told US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla that tokens trading on the exchange aren't securities subject to SEC jurisdiction because buyers don't gain any rights as a part of their purchases, as they do with stocks or bonds.
/jlne.ws/4b3uV7a
JPMorgan Says Hacker Attempts Have Increased This Year; JPMorgan sees hackers getting 'smarter, savvier,' Erdoes says; Cybercrime has become a top concern among bank CEOs globally
Harry Wilson - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has seen an increase in hackers attempting to infiltrate its systems as the Wall Street giant and its rivals continue to deal with a surge in global cybercrime, according to Mary Callahan Erdoes, who leads JPMorgan's asset and wealth management division. "The fraudsters get smarter, savvier, quicker, more devious, more mischievous," Erdoes said in a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "It's so hard and it's going to become increasingly harder and that's why staying one step ahead of it is really the job of each and everyone of us."
/jlne.ws/47ELbZt
Hidden Road Continues Expansion into Listed Derivatives Clearing Hidden Road, the global credit network for institutions, has launched listed derivatives clearing, starting with CME Group products
Hidden Road
Hidden Road, the global credit network for institutions, today announced that it has extended its credit intermediation, clearing and financing offerings to cover listed derivatives markets through the firm's U.S. entity, Hidden Road Partners CIV US LLC, a registered futures commission merchant (FCM). The listed derivatives business is starting with CME Clearing (NASDAQ: CME) as its first venue and will be expanding venue and clearinghouse coverage globally over the coming months.
/jlne.ws/41YpfaJ
Coinbase and the SEC Face Off in Court
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
A highly anticipated hearing between crypto exchange Coinbase and the Securities and Exchange Commission kicked off Wednesday morning. Coinbase is asking a federal court judge to dismiss the high-stakes lawsuit brought against the company last year. The SEC sued Coinbase in June last year for operating as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.
/jlne.ws/3vwTxF9
The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before; Yes, crypto has surged since Sam Bankman-Fried went down. And sure, ETFs have made Bitcoin easier to buy than ever before. But the basic story-buyer beware-remains the same.
Max Chafkin - Bloomberg
Bitcoin mania seemed pretty much cooked last fall. Sam Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive officer of crypto exchange FTX, was convicted in November of orchestrating a massive fraud, and a few weeks later, Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of FTX rival Binance, pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges and stepped down as CEO. With two of the wealthiest and most admired figures in the industry likely on their way to prison for crimes related to the basic operation of their respective company, the notion that any sane person would still choose the crypto roller coaster over the conventional financial system seemed close to unimaginable.
/jlne.ws/48UVxWf
Firms pitch inverse cryptocurrency funds after SEC's bitcoin ETF approval; Planned funds could add leverage, write options and cover other digital currencies
Will Schmitt - Financial Times
US asset managers are vying to launch exchange traded funds with leveraged bitcoin exposure and expand into bitcoin-based options and other cryptocurrencies after last week's Securities and Exchange Commission approval of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs.
/jlne.ws/3U3Gi9a
US Supreme Court reconsiders longstanding doctrine on agency power; Justices have been asked to overturn 40-year-old 'Chevron deference' in potentially landmark decision
Stefania Palma - Financial Times
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday wrestled with whether to throw out a 40-year-old legal doctrine that gives federal agencies considerable leeway to craft rules and regulations, in a pair of cases that could result in big changes to how the government is run.
/jlne.ws/3O7FzjJ
Open outcry: A renaissance? "Trading floors represent a different way of doing things, not a worse way, not an inferior way. A different way of doing it - there's value in that," says one market expert.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
Despite the indisputable decline in physical trading practices, it is enduring within an increasingly technological capital markets world which has already put innumerable out-dated practices out of fashion. Market opinion - and moves - suggest that mourning the death of open outcry may be premature.
/jlne.ws/3SlHQdA
Jamie Dimon tells Davos that Bitcoin is a 'pet rock' that does nothing-except help with fraud and money laundering
Paolo Confino - Fortune
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is done talking about Bitcoin-again. In a CNBC interview from Davos, a visibly amused Dimon declared he was swearing off opining about the crypto currency. When asked about the new Bitcoin ETF the Securities and Exchange Commission approved last week, Dimon interrupted CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin, also of The New York Times, to say:
/jlne.ws/48tCdzz
Jamie Dimon Bashes Bitcoin Again: 'A Pet Rock'
Lyllah Ledesma - CoinDesk
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon took another opportunity to publicly air his criticism about Bitcoin [BTC], saying his personal advice is to not get involved. The use cases for Bitcoin are "AML, fraud, sex trafficking and tax avoidance," said Dimon, holding court Wednesday on CNBC from Davos. "I defend your right to do Bitcoin," continued Dimon, who one month ago in Congressional testimony urged Senator Elizabeth Warren to "close it down."
/jlne.ws/3U8ieSD
Judge Questions SEC's Claim to Regulate Coinbase; Crypto exchange is seeking dismissal of lawsuit at center of agency's oversight strategy
Dave Michaels and Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
A federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether allowing the Securities and Exchange Commission to impose its regulations on Coinbase would give the agency sway over markets it doesn't have authority to supervise. "I want to understand how your standard does not sweep in the collectible market or commodities," U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla told SEC lawyers in the courtroom. "It is a real fear that I have that your argument is just sweeping too broadly."
/jlne.ws/47GN3Bd
The SEC Is at the Mercy of the Courts at a Perilous Moment
Alexander Talel - Time
For nearly a century, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has wielded largely un-checked power over investment mechanics and capital formation. But federal courts are quietly poised to change that. While SEC Chairman Gary Gensler continues to try to broaden his agency's purview, pending federal cases-including two now before the Supreme Court-threaten to existentially diminish the SEC's power, just as the complexities of modern markets reach new heights.
/jlne.ws/3U8mQYX
Could Beanie Babies Be Securities? Judge Raises Question at SEC-Coinbase Hearing
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
A key question being debated at the Wednesday hearing between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Coinbase: What makes an asset a security? The SEC defines the term with the Howey test, which examines whether investors expect to earn a return from the work of third parties. The key elements of the test are the investment of money, common enterprise and reasonable expectation of profits derived from the efforts of others. Judge Katherine Polk Failla, who is presiding over the hearing, asked an SEC lawyer if the agency's definition is too broad and could apply to collectibles or commodities. "We are all just afraid that you have so little limitation on your standard that some really thoughtful attorneys are going to bring the Beanie Baby class action," Judge Failla said. The SEC lawyer argued that a buyer of collectibles such as baseball cards is not buying into a common enterprise, but the hope that the card appreciates in value. "The value of that baseball card is going to depend on customer taste and passage of time and what have you, but there's no way to make that more valuable," he said.
/jlne.ws/47zEuYM
BP Names Auchincloss as New CEO After Predecessor's Scandal
Laura Hurst - Bloomberg
BP Plc appointed Murray Auchincloss as its permanent chief executive officer, four months after the shock resignation of his predecessor. The decision ends a period of uncertainty for the London-based oil major and indicates a continuation of the company's existing plan for the transition to clean energy.
/jlne.ws/41ZRGFb
R.J. O'Brien Appoints Patrick Christie to Lead Hrvyst Ag Tech Business Unit
R.J. O'Brien & Associates
Chicago-based R.J. O'Brien & Associates (RJO), the oldest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States, announced today the appointment of Patrick Christie as Senior Executive Officer and Head of Hrvyst, the firm's agricultural technology (ag tech) business unit. Christie has more than 25 years of experience in starting, operating and investing in emerging technologies, including most recently in the ag tech and agribusiness sectors.
/jlne.ws/3HqhPTY
DV Group Announces Strategic Expansion, Building on Global Presence, Further Diversifying Offerings
DV Group
DV Group, a diversified global financial services firm, today announced a significant strategic expansion across its subsidiary trading companies, including DV Energy, a division of DV Trading. The expansion marks DV Group's latest strides in its commitment to providing liquidity to the global financial markets across all asset classes.
/jlne.ws/3S7ctCb
At Davos, ESG begins a quiet rebranding-here's what that looks like; Despite what critics may claim, environmental, social, and governance priorities are far from dead.
Clint Rainey - Fast Company
As global elites descend on Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF), some critics are eager to stress how ESG-once the event's buzziest of buzzwords-has become passe, or worse ("dead," "dying," "beyond redemption"). Following the backlash and division ESG has stirred up in political circles, the theme of this year's meeting is Rebuilding Trust. Political hostility is zapping "human energy that could otherwise be channeled into shaping a more optimistic future," writes founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab, and it's creating a wave of worldwide angst he calls "unprecedented." The 2024 agenda has been built around "restor[ing] mutual trust between individuals and nations."
/jlne.ws/3vOslll
EU Banking Watchdog Extends Anti-Money Laundering Measures to Cover Crypto Firms
Sandali Handagama - CoinDesk
The European Union's banking watchdog on Tuesday issued guidance for crypto firms to comply with its anti-money laundering and terrorist-financing requirements. By extending the scope of its existing measures to cover crypto, the European Banking Authority (EBA) "harmonizes the approach" that crypto asset service providers (CASP) across the EU should adopt to combat financial crime, it said in a press statement.
/jlne.ws/4216B1V
EU Set to Seek Ambitious Goal of 90% Emissions Cut by 2040; Carbon removal technologies seen as key in reaching new goal; European Commission to unveil options for next decade Feb. 6
Ewa Krukowska - Bloomberg
The European Union's executive arm is set to recommend a 90% net reduction of greenhouse gases by 2040, a target backed by climate scientists and criticized by the industry in the face of high energy prices and growing international rivalry in clean technologies. The European Commission plans to endorse the goal in line with advice from its board of scientists for climate that it's the best pathway to meet the Green Deal's overarching aim of zeroing-out pollution by the middle of the century, according to people with knowledge of the issue. The blueprint for the next decade is set to be adopted on Feb. 6, marking the first stage of a debate with member states on how to design future policies and objectives.
/jlne.ws/3Hm3pUW
You Switched the Lights On. Traders Made Billions of Dollars; A new breed of traders is upending Europe's energy markets.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
Before dawn on a recent autumn day, fog set in over large swaths of eastern Europe. In any other financial market, the weather wouldn't have mattered much. Perhaps a few delayed flights, maybe some traffic jams, most of little consequence. But in Europe's electricity bazaar, bad weather equals money. More than 1,000 kilometers away from the fog, a small group of largely anonymous trading firms based in Denmark was ready to pounce. As soon as the infrared picture from a Meteosat weather satellite arrived at their headquarters, computers automatically dissected it, feeding the data into complex trading algorithms.
/jlne.ws/3HmB5lt
That Thunder Out of China Is Loss of Confidence; The building blocks of gobal investor belief in the world's second-largest economy are being pulled away, one by one.
John Authers - Bloomberg
Shanghai Surprise
Everyone was braced for trouble in Chinese markets this week. The election in Taiwan threatened to be a major geopolitical flashpoint and scare off investors. Then Saturday's presidential result came in largely as expected, the status quo on the island largely seemed intact, China said little or nothing about it. Chinese stocks traded calmly on Monday. Since then, they've tanked.
/jlne.ws/48XI1RF
'The Bank Runs Are Faster Now': Regulator to Call for Stricter Rules on Flighty Deposits
Gina Heeb - The Wall Street Journal
A top U.S. regulator plans to call for new rules that would require large and midsize lenders to show they can withstand the type of rapid deposit runs that took down three banks in early 2023. Banks would have to demonstrate they could cover "acute, ultra-short-term" deposit outflows under the plan, which is set to be informally proposed Thursday by the head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
/jlne.ws/427EkH4
What Is the Basel III Endgame, and Why Are Banks So Upset About It? Federal regulators want to raise capital requirements for big banks. Their plan is drawing criticism from groups that aren't normally aligned with the industry.
Emily Flitter - The New York Times
An unlikely coalition of banks, community groups and racial justice advocates is urging federal regulators to rethink the plan they proposed in July to update rules governing how U.S. banks protect themselves against potential losses.
/jlne.ws/3vIkyFW
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukraine's Desperate Hour: The World Needs a Russian Defeat; After one year of war, it looked like Putin was going to lead a weakened, humbled nation. Entering year three, he has a chance to break Western solidarity.
Hal Brands - Bloomberg
This is part two of a three-part series on the past, present and future of the war in Ukraine. Part one explores whether a different US strategy could have put Ukraine in a stronger position than it holds today. Part two examines the lessons and global impacts of the war. Part three analyzes how US and Ukrainian strategy will unfold in 2024 and after. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Western analysts have tried to discern what that conflict means for the wider world. In the hopeful early months of the war - characterized by Ukrainian resilience, Russian incompetence and Western unity - it often seemed that the conflict was revealing the strength of the free world and the debility of its enemies.
/jlne.ws/3O7DtAn
The US Stock Market Is Eating the World. Just Look At Your Shoes; What the "Birkenstock spread" says about Europe's need to revive animal spirits.
Lionel Laurent - Bloomberg
The "Birkenstock spread" might sound like an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. But it's one way of seeing how two European footwear companies have performed on the stock market since going public - one in New York, one in London. It should set alarm bells ringing across continental financial hubs, not just the UK.
/jlne.ws/48XHrDt
Russia Rules Out Nuclear Arms Talks With US Over Ukraine Support; No grounds for arms-control talks with US, Lavrov says; Russia accuses US of escalating confrontation over Ukraine
Bloomberg News
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed the US over its support for Ukraine and warned on the risks of confrontation between nuclear powers as he ruled out any discussions on strategic security with Washington. "There is already more and more talk of a direct clash of nuclear powers," Lavrov told reporters Thursday at his annual news conference in Moscow. "There are fewer and fewer restraining factors in the West."
/jlne.ws/3Hm4hJc
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea; Crews increasingly unwilling to navigate southern Red Sea; Three bulk carriers hit by projectiles in space of three days
Aine Quinn, Julian Lee, and Alex Longley - Bloomberg
The US and UK's decision to hit back at Houthi militants after weeks of attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea has only escalated the chaos across the shipping industry, underscoring the threat of an enduring supply-chain crisis as vessels navigate the crucial trade route.
/jlne.ws/3Sp99no
Saving Gaza Means Pressing Iran as Well as Israel; Escalation risk is growing as Netanyahu and the world talk past each other.
Marc Champion - Bloomberg
The gulf between how Israel and much of the world thinks about events in Gaza is growing, and with it the risk of regional escalation. The nature of that disconnect needs to be better understood, and soon, to reduce the threat of a disastrous wider war with Iran. International attention continues to focus on Palestinian suffering, seen now through the prism of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where South Africa has accused the Jewish state of genocide. Many in the Middle East and West take Israel's guilt as a given. For them, after decades spent illegally occupying Palestinian lands, Israel is the problem and the solution is self-evident: The Israel Defense Forces need to stop shooting and leave Gaza.
/jlne.ws/3Oavpi9
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Eurex to launch derivatives on Socially Responsible Investing indices; New contracts based on SRI indices will be calculated by STOXX and MSCI, meeting growing demand for an advanced ESG methodology.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Derivatives exchange Eurex will expand its equity-index linked product suite with futures on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) indices. Starting from 22 January, Eurex will begin trading futures on SRI indices calculated by STOXX and MSCI, strategic partners in Eurex's offering of derivatives on ESG indices.
/jlne.ws/48UYgir
Eurex to introduce derivatives on Socially Responsible Investing indices
Eurex
Eurex broadens its offering of derivatives on ESG indices with futures on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) indices. Offering aims to serve new user groups with stricter ESG mandates. Futures on the following indices to be launched: STOXX Europe 600 SRI, MSCI SRI Europe, MSCI SRI USA, MSCI SRI World, and MSCI SRI EM. Eurex, Europe's leading derivatives exchange, will expand its equity-index linked product suite with futures on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) indices.
/jlne.ws/3Ubdvjj
Saudi Tadawul Group acquires a strategic stake in Dubai Mercantile Exchange creating Gulf Mercantile Exchange
CME Group
Saudi Tadawul Group will acquire a 32.6% stake in DME Holdings Limited, the parent company of Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), through the acquisition of a mix of new and existing shares, becoming the joint largest shareholder alongside CME Group. DME will be rebranded as the Gulf Mercantile Exchange to reflect its position as the key regional commodities exchange in the Middle East with global relevance. Through DME's flagship DME OQD Contract - the crude oil futures contract that generates the world's largest amount of physically delivered crude oil - physical delivery volumes reached 210 million barrels of oil in 2023, up from 181 million in 2022. The investment by Saudi Tadawul Group brings together world-class strategic partners and expertise to accelerate DME's growth potential, including CME Group, the Oman Investment Authority, and Dubai Holding alongside global financial and commercial shareholders. The partnership will unlock further opportunities in the energy, metals, and agricultural commodity markets and support the ongoing transition to a sustainable economy through the launch of next-generation derivative contracts.
/jlne.ws/3O7xYSc
NSE is the world's largest derivative exchange for fifth consecutive Year; Ranks 3rd largest globally in equity segment in calendar year 2023
NSE Group
NSE Group (National Stock Exchange of India and NSE International Exchange) has once again emerged as the world's largest derivatives exchange group in calendar year 2023 by number of contracts traded based on statistics published by Futures Industry Association (FIA), a derivatives trade body. National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) is the world's largest derivatives exchange for the fifth consecutive year in 2023. NSE is ranked 3rd in the world in equity segment by number of trades (electronic order book) in 2023, as per the statistics maintained by World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
/jlne.ws/3S4a1wj
LSEG establishes Technology Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad
London Stock Exchange Group
Plans to hire over 1000 engineers and professionals by the end of 2025; Hyderabad chosen for its alignment with LSEG's ambitions in talent, innovation, infrastructure, and financial services. LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) announces the opening of its Technology Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad, India, a key step in the company's global expansion efforts. The facility aims to spearhead new product and service development by prioritising low-latency technology development and capitalising on the local startup ecosystem.
/jlne.ws/48EPNjy
Nasdaq December 2023 Volumes and 4Q23 Statistics
Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today reported monthly volumes for December 2023, as well as quarterly volumes, estimated revenue capture, number of listings, and index statistics for the quarter ended December 31, 2023 on its investor relations website. A data sheet showing this information can be found at: http://ir.nasdaq.com/financials/volume-statistics.
/jlne.ws/3HIVmC1
Re: Regulatory Capital Rule: Large Banking Organizations and Banking Organizations With Significant Trading Activity
CCP Global
The Global Association of Central Counterparties ("CCP Global") is the international association for central counterparties ("CCPs"), representing 41 members who operate over 60 individual CCPs across the Americas, EMEA, and the Asia-Pacific region. CCP Global appreciates the opportunity to respond to the Regulatory Capital Rule: Large Banking Organizations and Banking Organizations With Significant Trading Activity2 (the "Basel III Endgame Proposal" or "the Proposal") issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("the Federal Reserve"), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, "the Agencies"). We welcome the Agencies' ongoing efforts to support financial stability, confidence in the financial system, and a banking organizations' resiliency.
/jlne.ws/48EP0PC
SGX-ST Listings Disciplinary Committee reprimands Tee International Limited and former Group CEO and Managing Director Phua Boon Kin Eric
Singapore Exchange Group
1. The SGX-ST Listings Disciplinary Committee ("LDC") reprimands Tee International Limited (the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") and its former Group CEO and Managing Director Phua Boon Kin Eric ("Phua") for breaching the following Mainboard Rules: a. Mainboard Rule 703(1)(a) by failing to disclose a claim served on the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Trans Equatorial Engineering Pte. Ltd. ("Trans Equatorial"), by Fuji SMBE Technology Pte. Ltd. on or about 2 December 2020, for the outstanding sum of S$2,694,000, representing approximately 13.9% and 14.1% of the Group's net asset value ("NAV") and cash equivalent balance ("CCE"), respectively, that disclosure being necessary to avoid the establishment of a false market.
/jlne.ws/47FlmZd
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Thomvest Ventures closes $250M fund to invest across fintech, cybersecurity, AI
Christine Hall - TechCrunch
Thomvest Ventures is popping into 2024 with a new $250 million fund and the promotion of Umesh Padval and Nima Wedlake to the role of managing directors. The Bay Area venture capital firm was started about 25 years ago by Peter Thomson, whose family is the majority owners of Thomson Reuters. "Peter has always had a very strong interest in technology and what technology would do in terms of shaping society and the future," Don Butler, Thomvest Ventures' managing director, told TechCrunch. He met Thomson in 1999 and joined the firm in 2000.
/jlne.ws/3U6iOAn
Substantive Research White Paper reveals state of Market Data pricing ahead of FCA Wholesale Data Markets Study; Aggressive pricing leads to 'endless cycles' for market data consumers as they never 'catch up' with vendor increases
Substantive Research via Mondovisione
Substantive Research, the research discovery and research spend analytics provider for the buy side, today publishes its White Paper outlining its latest findings on wholesale market data pricing. The survey is published ahead of the FCA's Wholesale Market Data Study, due to be released by 1 March 2024.
/jlne.ws/3S6O3J2
T+1 in the UK: Ignore the clock
The Trade Blog
As the US shift to T+1 settlement looms ever closer, John Bevil, senior solutions manager at Xceptor, discusses the potential for a similar adjustment on the other side of the Atlantic, the key hurdles for firms, and the importance of best practice irrespective of time constraints.
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BNY Mellon connects to CLSNet netting service; The platform has experienced record growth this year, with the average daily notional value of net calculations consistently exceeding $115 billion in the last 12 months.
Chris Lemmon - The Trade
BNY Mellon has become the latest to join bilateral payment netting calculation service, CLSNet. The platform standardises and centralises post-trade processes across a range of trade types, including same-day trades and NDFs, which aims to reduce risk and achieve greater operational efficiency for a range of currency flows. As settlement risk in the FX market continues to be a focus, especially in emerging market currencies and other growing segments of the market, participants are looking for ways to mitigate risk effectively via automated post-trade services.
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Quantum Computers Could Transform Financial Markets, Says BOE
Tom Rees - Bloomberg
Super-powerful quantum computers may drive major innovations in financial markets by allowing for more complex transactions, according to the Bank of England. A post on its Bank Underground blog said that the technology could create "quantum markets" that may transform payments and cause "high-level changes to how the market functions."
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OpenAI Coup Less Stressful Than Superintelligent AI, Altman Says; Stakes will get higher as AI develops, ChatGPT-maker CEO said; OpenAI leader spoke on panel at World Economic Forum in Davos
Thomas Seal - Bloomberg
Sam Altman said that his dramatic and quickly-reversed firing at OpenAI was less nerve-wracking than how the world approaches making artificial intelligence as capable as humans. "As the world gets closer to AGI, the stakes, the stress, the level of tension - that's all going to go up," the ChatGPT-maker's chief executive officer and co-founder said on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
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Meta Says its AI Tools Boost Ad Campaigns' Returns by 32%
Benoit Berthelot and Francine Lacqua - Bloomberg
Ads running on Meta Platforms Inc.'s apps saw return on spending increase by an average of 32% with the help of artificial intelligence, global business group head Nicola Mendelsohn said. Ads using AI also reduced the cost of acquisition by about 17%, Mendelsohn said in an interview with Bloomberg Television from the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
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How AI is decoding the animal kingdom; Scientists are eavesdropping on animal conversations. Will generative AI enable us to talk back?
Persis Love, Irene de la Torre Arenas, Sam Learner and Sam Joiner - Financial Times
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Thailand to delay launch of massive handout scheme beyond May
Reuters
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Ransomware negotiation: When cybersecurity meets crisis management
Mirko Zorz - Help Net Security
In this Help Net Security interview, Tim Morris, Chief Security Advisor at Tanium, discusses ransomware negotiation, how it typically unfolds, and how organizations should have a playbook that clearly outlines what to do, when to do it, who is notified, who will inform the board, who will talk to the press, etc. Additionally, he discusses ransomware gangs, the role of cyber insurance, and how governments and regulatory bodies are responding to the ransomware threat.
/jlne.ws/3tPTcgz
The power of AI in cybersecurity
Helga Labus - Help Net Security
The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI (GenAI), has revolutionized organizational landscapes and transformed both the cyber threat landscape and cybersecurity.
/jlne.ws/47ICJIN
Veterans' Data at Risk After Cybersecurity Measure Removed, Officials Say
Shaun Waterman - Newsweek
The private information and medical records of America's 18 million veterans has been put at risk by the temporary removal of one element of the cybersecurity program at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to current and former officials and contractors. If the so-called Data Loss Prevention (DLP) endpoint program had not been canceled, it could have prevented the accidental disclosure of the personal data of 1,500 veterans in North Carolina last year, according to five current or former officials of Veterans Affairs.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Reapbitex Revolutionizes Cryptocurrency Trading with Innovative Platform
News Direct
In a groundbreaking move, Reapbitex emerges as a frontrunner in the world of cryptocurrency trading, introducing a cutting-edge platform that promises to redefine the landscape of digital asset exchange. With a commitment to transparency, security, and user-friendly features, Reapbitex is poised to become a game-changer in the evolving realm of blockchain technology.
/jlne.ws/3u0fY5l
Digital currency will be key to international commerce, US dollar dominance: Circle CEO
Seana Smith - Yahoo Finance
Digital currency will help the US dollar maintain its power and underpin a new infrastructure for transactions and exchanges, Circle CEO and co-founder Jeremy Allaire told Yahoo Finance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Currency competition in the future is a technology competition, it's not just a monetary policy competition," Allaire explained. "The dollar is the world's reserve currency, but the US can't take that for granted."
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Crypto Projects With Combined $383B in Valuation Based in Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Hope C - CoinMarketCap
Crypto projects based in Switzerland and Liechtenstein have experienced a remarkable surge in value, with a 107% year-over-year increase to reach $383 billion, according to a report by Swiss venture capital firm Crypto Valley (CV VC). Ethereum, through the Ethereum Foundation, leads the pack with a market cap of $273 billion, followed by Solana at $43.3 billion and Cardano at $20.8 billion. This growth is largely attributed to the overall recovery in the crypto market.
/jlne.ws/3U0IpL5
SEC, Warren are crypto 'regulatory Axis of Evil': Scaramucci
Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi - Yahoo Finance
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved and gave the go-ahead for firms to offer spot bitcoin ETFs last week. SkyBridge Founder and Managing Partner Anthony Scaramucci joins Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to comment on investor sentiment for these new bitcoin (BTC-USD) fund listings and how he views crypto regulation in the United States. "We've overly politicized regulation in the country, and I would love to see the SEC move to a more non-partisan, non-political standard the way the Fed is," Scaramucci says, citing Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma.) and SEC Chair Gary Gensler as antagonizing the asset class.
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Illicit crypto addresses received at least $24.2 billion in 2023 - report
Elizabeth Howcroft - Reuters
At least $24.2 billion worth of crypto was sent to illicit crypto wallet addresses in 2023, including addresses identified as sanctioned or linked to terrorist financing and scams, crypto research firm Chainalysis said on Thursday. Cryptocurrencies enable people to send money around the world without using the mainstream financial system. The underlying blockchain technology creates a record of transactions where senders and receivers are identified only by their wallet addresses, which are a string of letters and numbers.
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Binance Has Seen Crypto Inflows Surge Since Its Historic Fine; January best month for inflows since at least November 2022; New CEO Richard Teng must still contend with lawsuit from SEC
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
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Inflows to spot bitcoin ETFs drop on second day of trading
Reuters
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Bitcoin spot ETFs break US$10 bln trading barrier
SlamAI - Forkast
/jlne.ws/3vy2i1K
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump Will Move Markets More Than the Fed; The difference is that unlike rate cuts, the former president's campaign fortunes aren't yet priced in. That could change soon.
John Authers - Bloomberg
Pricing in Politics
Very little that happens this year will matter as much for markets as the US election. Indeed, it's just possible that the campaign and its result could move markets even more than what the Federal Reserve might do.
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Trump Tells New Hampshire Voters He'd 'Never Allow' a Federal Reserve Digital Dollar
Stephanie Lai and Gregory Korte - Bloomberg
Former President Donald Trump came out against the idea of a central bank-issued digital dollar, saying he wanted to "protect Americans from government tyranny." "As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency," Trump said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire Wednesday night. "Such a currency would give a federal government - our federal government - absolute control over your money. They could take your money and you wouldn't even know it's gone."
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South Korean President Yoon Calls for Bold Tax Reforms to Boost Stocks, End Korea Discount
Youkyung Lee - Bloomberg
South Korea's president and a top regulatory official have outlined policy changes they're eyeing to bolster the country's stock market. Poor protection of minority shareholders and heavy taxes, such as levies on inheritance that can reach as high as 60% for holders of listed firms, are two main causes behind Korea's market discount, President Yoon Suk Yeol said. And the country's top financial regulator said officials are seeking ways to boost the prices of stocks trading below book value.
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Future FinTech CEO Denies SEC's Manipulative-Trading Allegations; Shanchun Huang said he intends to fight the SEC's lawsuit in court and provide evidence he didn't trade in the company's stock before he became chief executive
Dean Seal - The Wall Street Journal
The chief executive of Future FinTech Group, Shanchun Huang, denied allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that he artificially inflated the company's share price before taking over as CEO. Through his attorney, Huang said Wednesday morning that he intends to fight the SEC's lawsuit in court and provide evidence that he didn't trade in Future FinTech's stock before becoming CEO in March 2020.
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Coinbase, SEC lock horns in US court over crypto securities
Hannah Lang, Jody Godoy and Chris Prentice - Reuters
A federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday grilled Coinbase and the U.S. securities regulator about their divergent views on whether and when digital assets are securities, in a case closely watched by the cryptocurrency industry. Coinbase has asked the court to dismiss the Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit alleging the largest U.S. crypto exchange is flouting its rules.
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Coinbase and SEC Dig in With U.S. Judge on Whether Securities Law Applies to Listings
Jesse Hamilton, Elizabeth Napolitano - CoinDesk
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against Coinbase delves into a ton of complexity, but before anything else, a judge has to decide whether transactions in about a dozen tokens traded on the U.S. exchange were securities. Both sides - the SEC and Coinbase - agreed in a Wednesday court hearing that the tokens themselves aren't securities. The SEC lawyers argued that each trade amounted to an investor buying into a token ecosystem in which the purchaser is hoping to share in its gains, and as long as a single one of those transactions could be considered an investment contract, Coinbase has broken securities law. But the company said these are secondary-market trades in which no contract is in place, so they can't be securities.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | A Former NSA Chief Caught SPAC Fever, and Investors Got Burned; The collapse of Keith Alexander's IronNet has led to lawsuits, but he says the company just made honest mistakes.
Katrina Manson - Bloomberg
During his time with the US Army, General Keith Alexander ran top-secret spy operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, led the US's efforts to develop offensive cyber capacity and, as director of the National Security Agency, endured criticism over the expansion of mass surveillance. But the cyber spymaster is quick to admit that he suffered a costly intelligence failure in unfamiliar territory: Wall Street. Two years ago, Alexander took his startup, IronNet Cybersecurity Inc., public on the New York Stock Exchange. The company promised a novel approach: monitoring networks for cyberthreats in real time and sharing anonymized data about them to preempt hacks. Its path to the public markets was also novel: Instead of a traditional initial public offering, IronNet merged with a special-purpose acquisition company.
/jlne.ws/3vI2BHx
Streaming model for music set for a streamlining; Spotify plans to cull millions of barely listened-to tracks come as the big labels focus on artists with superfans
Anna Nicolaou - Financial Times
The music industry, for all its quirks and eccentric personalities, has done some growing up in recent years. Its largest companies have listed on public stock exchanges. The world's biggest institutional investors have gone into business with music executives, with mixed results.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Carney Sees 'Massive Disconnect' in Green Finance Rhetoric; IEA expects annual clean-energy spending to exceed $4 trillion; Many of the investments will make solid returns, Carney Says
Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
There's plenty of money to be made by investing in the green energy transition, and financial professionals who say otherwise aren't paying attention to the facts, according to Brookfield Asset Management Chair Mark Carney. There's a "massive disconnect" between what some of the heavyweights of global finance are saying and the wave of money flowing into green projects, Carney, who's a former governor of the Bank of England, said in an interview on Wednesday at the Bloomberg House in Davos, Switzerland.
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EU Parliament Approves New Law Banning Misleading Product Sustainability Claims
Mark Segal - Bloomberg
Lawmakers in the European Parliament voted 593-21 on Wednesday to adopt a new anti-greenwashing law banning a series of commercial practices, including the use of unproven generic product claims such as "environmentally friendly," or "climate neutral," or marketing a product as having a reduced environmental impact based on the use of emissions offsetting schemes. The agreement follows the release in March 2022 by the EU Commission of a set of proposals to amend the EU's existing rules aimed at protecting consumers from unfair commercial practices such as untruthful or aggressive advertising and providing consumers with information on products, to include considerations relating to the green transition. A recent study by the Commission found that more than half of green claims by companies in the EU were vague or misleading, and 40% were completely unsubstantiated.
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Making ESG a Crime; Also illegal NDAs, Spirit/JetBlue, Fed operating losses and structured equity funds.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
ESG crime. Oh sure whatever: Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire are seeking to make using ESG criteria in state funds a crime in the latest attack on the beleaguered investing strategy. Representatives led by Mike Belcher introduced a bill that would prohibit the state's treasury, pension fund and executive branch from using investments that consider environmental, social and governance factors. "Knowingly" violating the law would be a felony punishable by not less than one year and no more than 20 years imprisonment, according to the proposal.
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What Donald Trump's Return Means for US Climate Ambition; The US looking out only for itself "shoots a hole in everything we're trying to accomplish," hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer says on this week's Zero.
Tiffany Tsoi, Oscar Boyd, and Akshat Rathi - Bloomberg (Zero podcast)
Tom Steyer is a hedge-fund billionaire who made his money investing in distressed assets, including fossil fuel projects. He's also an avowed climate activist and a major donor to US politicians seeking to tackle climate change. After a short-lived run for president, Steyer in 2021 set up Galvanize Climate Solutions, a firm that invests in companies and technologies promising emissions reductions this decade. It recently raised $1 billion.
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10 million reasons for the private sector to invest in social enterprise
Peter Liu, Brigitte Mohn and Veerle Klijn - World Economic Forum
New data suggests over 10 million enterprises put purpose before profit, tackling pressing issues like climate change and poverty. These social enterprises account for $2 trillion in annual turnover, creating 200 million jobs. The Corporate Social Innovation Compass launched at Davos shows how companies can unlock the potential of social innovation for their business. A first-in-kind research by the Schwab Foundation's Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship finds that there are approximately 10 million social enterprises worldwide, accounting for 3% of all businesses worldwide. These enterprises are distinct from traditional business in that they go beyond a focus on revenue and profit alone.
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The US Environmental Group Behind Palau's Plan to Shrink Its Massive Marine Sanctuary; The Nature Conservancy's role in the government move to reopen an ocean reserve to industrial fishing highlights the global debate over how to aid Pacific island nations imperiled by climate change.
Todd Woody - Bloomberg
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Debut 30-Year India Green Bond to Test Appetite for Longer Debt
Ronojoy Mazumdar - Bloomberg
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What If the Clean Energy Transition Costs Much Less Than We've Been Told? Talk about astronomical costs of a sustainable economy is leaving out some of the savings of using fewer fossil fuels, according to a new analysis.
Dan Gearino - Inside Climate News
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BlackRock stresses financial strength over ESG in company calls; Report for 2024 on engagement priorities drops reference to global warming
Patrick Temple-West and Brooke Masters - Financial Times
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Investors beef up net-zero voting policy guidance; A group of influential investors has unveiled fresh guidance on how financial sector firms can ensure voting policies are aligned with the net-zero transition.
Matt Mace - edie
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UK regulator to quiz top finance firms on sexism, bullying
Nell Mackenzie and Kirstin Ridley - Reuters
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BlackRock to push boards on resilience ahead of AGM season
Simon Jessop - Reuters
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Citigroup equities execs leaving as reorganization continues, sources say
Tatiana Bautzer - Reuters
Three senior executives are leaving Citigroup's equity-trading division, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, as the company undergoes a sweeping reorganization. The executives are Tim Gately, head of U.S. equities sales; Thomas Lynch, global head of prime services sales; and Matt Brady, America's head of Delta One sales, the sources said.
/jlne.ws/48Hm4Xl
US Bancorp posts lower fourth-quarter profit on FDIC charge
Reuters
US Bancorp reported a drop in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday after the lender incurred a charge related to replenishing a government deposit insurance fund. The bank's profit fell 14% to $0.49 per share. US Bancorp is part of a group of banks mandated to replenish a government insurance fund that was depleted of $16 billion following the collapse of some regional lenders.
/jlne.ws/4beD4pN
Bank CEOs, huddled in private in Davos, worry about competition, economy - sources
Stefania Spezzati and Megan Davies - Reuters
Bank CEOs meeting in private at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday aired concerns about the competitive risks from fintech firms and private lenders, and complained about onerous regulations, a source familiar with the matter said. At the meeting in Davos, attended by dozens of CEOs including JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon, executives also discussed a challenging global economic picture, with shifting interest rate policies and rising debt, another person with knowledge of the meeting told Reuters.
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Credit Suisse takeover is no 'deal of the century' but leaves UBS stronger, says CEO
Noele Illien and Sinead Cruise - Reuters
UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti dismissed critics' warning about the size of his bank's balance sheet on Wednesday, arguing that UBS's rescue of Credit Suisse had created a larger but also stronger lender. Ermotti returned to run UBS after the biggest bank merger since the global financial crisis was hastily arranged by Swiss authorities ten months ago to avert Credit Suisse's collapse.
/jlne.ws/3S0QLQe
Citi to cut 20 Asia Pacific equity research jobs - source
Reuters
Citigroup's is planning to lay off around 20 equity researchers in Asia Pacific as part of its global overhaul, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. Two researchers in Hong Kong are going to be impacted with the rest of the headcount reduction likely to take place in Japan, Australia and Korea, the person said. The cuts are going to make a small dent in the Wall Street bank's regional research workforce where it has several hundred employees based in multiple markets, according to the source.
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Bobby Jain's hedge fund launch falls short of $8bn-$10bn target; Millennium alumnus has tempered his ambitions after initially aiming for industry's biggest ever debut
Costas Mourselas and Harriet Agnew and Ortenca Aliaj - Financial Times
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Vanguard has no plans to join spot bitcoin ETF fray; But one observer points out it is already possible to access a bitcoin futures ETF via Vanguard's US platform
Alyson Velati and Daniel Gil - Financial Times
Vanguard has no immediate plans to add spot bitcoin exchange traded funds to its platforms, the company said, even as trading volumes ramped up on rival platforms. The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the first US ETFs that will hold bitcoin. The regulator approved the ETFs from Ark Invest and 21 Shares, Bitwise, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, Hashdex, Invesco, Valkyrie, VanEck and WisdomTree.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Year-End Bonuses Shrink 21% in Sign of Turbulent US Economy; Annual payouts declined in every industry, even those hard up for talent, according to small-business payroll provider Gusto.
Matthew Boyle - Bloomberg
US workers are getting smaller bonuses, a sign that belt-tightening employers aren't as concerned about losing talent as in recent years. The average cash bonus paid to employees last month was $2,145, down 21% from the previous year, according to payroll software company Gusto, which tracks payments made by more than 300,000 small businesses. Every industry posted a decline, ranging from 3.8% for technology firms to 36% for tourism and transportation companies. Not only were bonuses smaller, but fewer workers got them in most industries. Small businesses employ nearly half of all private-sector workers in the US, according to government data.
/jlne.ws/3U573KD
We asked the world's leading experts and employers whether AI is a 'Gray Rhino' or 'Black Swan' for the future of work-and found we're all about to get trampled by a herd of Gray Rhinos
Kelly Monahan - Fortune (commentary)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally transforming all aspects of society, including the world of work. With the convergence of generative AI, automation, and increasing computational power, the AI market is projected to reach $407 billion by 2027, with an expected annual growth rate of 37.3% between 2023-30. Our survey of 1,900 top executives found that the integration of AI is at the top of the list of critical factors executives at Fortune 500 companies plan to consider in 2024-and Upwork platform data reveals the newfound growth of roles in areas like prompt engineering, natural language processing (NLP), and AI-generated content creation.
/jlne.ws/3tXHwbo
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Chinese Lab Mapped Deadly Coronavirus Two Weeks Before Beijing Told the World, Documents Show; The lead time could have proved critical in combating pandemic, specialists say
Warren P. Strobel - The Wall Street Journal
Chinese researchers isolated and mapped the virus that causes Covid-19 in late December 2019, at least two weeks before Beijing revealed details of the deadly virus to the world, congressional investigators said, raising questions anew about what China knew in the pandemic's crucial early days.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China's Sudden Stock Rally Points to ETF Buying by State Funds
Bloomberg
Chinese equity benchmarks rebounded in afternoon trading, with a jump in turnover in some major exchange-traded funds raising speculation that buying by state funds maybe behind the reversal. Traded value of the Huatai-Pinebridge CSI 300 ETF surged to 15.3 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) on Thursday, the highest since 2015, while those for Harvest CSI 300 Index ETF and E Fund CSI 300 ETF also saw extraordinary spikes. That coincided with gains in the CSI 300 benchmark of mainland shares, which closed 1.4% higher after declining as much as 1.8%.
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Soaring Chinese Grain Imports Create Unease on Local Market
Hallie Gu - Bloomberg
China's grain imports jumped last year as the world's biggest buyer was lured by cheaper overseas supplies, but there are concerns that the hefty inflows will pile further pressure on domestic prices. Incoming corn cargoes surged 32% to 27.13 million tons, just below the record reached in 2021, according to customs data Thursday. This included a large amount of Brazilian grain after China green-lighted shipments from the country in a drive to diversify suppliers.
/jlne.ws/3HIOVPn
Bond giant Pimco says Turkey on track for investment grade rating; Fund manager bets on economic reforms by buying lira-denominated bonds
Mary McDougall and Adam Samson - Financial Times
Pimco has been wading into Turkey's bond market, betting that President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan's commitment to a sweeping economic overhaul has set the country on a path to regaining its investment grade credit rating.
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