| November 20, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
OpenAI fired CEO Sam Altman, then spent the weekend trying to figure out how to bring him back after pressure from executives and investors. In the end, Microsoft hired Altman to lead a "new advanced research team," the Financial Times reported. You will see the various related stories in the Fintech section. The Financial Times reports on the weekend's events in a story titled 'I've never seen anything like this': how OpenAI's dramatic weekend unfolded.'
CME Group's Executive Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy was interviewed by NBC Sports during the CME Group Tour Championship on the hole-in-one donation campaign with CME and St. Jude. Jenny Shin hit a hole-in-one during the second round of the tournament on the eighth hole, generating a donation of $20,000 from the CME to St. Jude. So far in 2023 there have been 18 holes-in-one in the LPGA tournaments that have netted a total of $360,000 donation from the CME to St. Jude. Since 2018, the hole-in-one campaign from the CME has raised $3.2 million.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has died at the age of 96, The Wall Street Journal reported. She served as a key advisor to her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, who said this about her, "Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished," in a statement issued Sunday. "She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me."
The repercussions of Elon Musk's antisemitic statement on X, formerly Twitter, continue to reverberate among advertisers. Advertisers who have pulled out from X include IBM, Lionsgate, the European Union, Apple, Disney, Comcast, Paramount and Warner Bros. Wired's story about the subject has the title "Elon Musk May Have Just Signed X's Death Warrant."
Are you confused about what this whole AI thing is all about and want to learn more? Enter Amazon. The Wall Street Journal is reporting "Amazon Launches Free AI Classes in Bid to Win Talent Arms Race." The subheading of the story is "Company aims to train two million people in AI as fight for skilled workers ramps up with Microsoft, Google."
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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The United National Environment Programme (UNEP) released its Emissions Gap Report 2023. The 14th edition of the UNEP report titled, "Broken Record; Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again)" found that temperatures hit new highs in 2023, but emissions were not cut to the degree necessary. A temperature rise far above the 2015 Paris Agreement goals is projected unless countries deliver more than they have promised. Read the full report here. ~SAED
Our most read stories yesterday on JLN Options were:
Hefty options 'disaster hedges' draw buyers as US stocks extend rally from Reuters.
Zero-Day is Here to Stay: A 0DTE Breakdown With Cboe from Schaeffer's Investment Research.
Why Markets Suddenly Moved Into Happy Mode from The Wall Street Journal. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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| Sponsored Content |
To reinforce the function of margin, that is to "protect investors," Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC), a group entity of Japan Exchange Group (JPX), that handles clearing of JPX's derivatives market, has changed its Margin calculation methodology from "SPAN method" to "VaR method" on November 6, 2023
Under the VaR Margin calculation method, there are 2 types of calculation methods, Historical Simulation Method (HS-VaR Method) and Alternative Simulation Method (AS-VaR Method).
HS-VaR method is used for Index Futures/Options (such as our flagship contract Nikkei 225 futures, excluding dividends index futures), Japanese Government Bond (JGB) Futures/Options, Interest Rate Futures (3-Month TONA Futures) listed on Osaka Exchange (OSE), and TOCOM's Electricity and LNG Futures contracts. On the other hand, AS-VaR method is used for OSE's Dividends index futures, Precious Metals Futures/Options, Rubber Futures, Agricultural Futures and TOCOM's Energy Futures (other than Electricity/LNG Futures).
* In JST: JST minus 15 hours = Chicago time.
** Instruments subject to AS-VaR Method are also recorded.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION
Note: Each Broker decides its handling of the amount of Margin to investors independently based on the Margin requirement JSCC notifies the Brokers. So, the Margin requirement JSCC calls for the Brokers and the amount of Margin Brokers require for investors to deposit may be different.
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Contact: Osaka Exchange / Tokyo Commodity Exchange Derivatives Business Development
E-mail: ose-dmg@jpx.co.jp
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The Time is Always Right to Do the Right Thing: Scaling Impact for a Better World
Bevon Joseph - LinkedIn
In our pursuit of meaningful change and tangible impact, my guiding principle aligns with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s profound assertion: "The time is always right to do what is right." This belief, deeply embedded in my personal and professional journey, emphasizes the necessity of immediate, scalable action to drive progress.
Immediate Action, Scaled Impact
Reflecting on Nelson Mandela's words, "It always seems impossible until it's done," I am reminded of the power of immediate action. In sectors such as finance, technology, and education, while the challenges are immense, they are equally matched by opportunities for transformative change. Our era offers the potential to amplify actions globally, essential for impactful transformations.
/jlne.ws/40Ku2M8
***** Bevon Joseph's latest column. He has some big new news that we will be reporting more about soon.~JJL
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How Elon Musk, for Many, Went Too Far; A misleading tweet, a vexed billionaire and a new firestorm over antisemitism
Tim Higgins - The Wall Street Journal
Elon Musk insists he isn't an antisemite. But this past week, the billionaire entrepreneur left many wondering. At the very least, a string of inflammatory tweets he sent Wednesday showed how gratuitous Musk can be and how easily tweets on his own social-media platform can be misleading and trigger him.
/jlne.ws/46lShBA
***** Would someone please buy X/Twitter from Mr. Musk to help shut him up.~JJL
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A Hedge-Fund Founder's Obsessive Storytelling; A new book about Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, paints an unflattering picture-but it's hard to imagine a record more damning than the one Dalio has created himself.
Tarpley Hitt - The New Yorker
In the spring of 2010, a Web site called Dealbreaker obtained a notable PDF. Dealbreaker was a gossip-and-news blog in the mold of Gawker, focussed specifically on the cartoonish personalities and plotlines that emerged from the world of Wall Street and high finance. This PDF was of particular interest, as it concerned one of the more colorful, idiosyncratic, and egomaniacal figures which that province had yet produced: Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds in the world. The document laid out what Dealbreaker called the "Tao of Dalio," and what Dalio called his "Principles," a novella-length manifesto that the blog claimed Bridgewater employees were encouraged to read, deploy in their daily lives, and quote from regularly at work.
/jlne.ws/3MQ4xmY
****** Ray Dalio obsessive? No way!~JJL
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Top 7 Leaders and Entrepreneurs Reshaping Tomorrow, 2024 and Beyond
Jon Stojan - USA Today
In an age where innovation is rapid and transformative, certain leaders stand out not just for their business acumen but also for their visionary approach to the future. These entrepreneurs don't merely adapt to change; they orchestrate it, creating waves that ripple throughout industries and societies alike. The year 2023 has seen its share of trailblazers, but a select few have particularly captured the world's attention. Dive in as we spotlight the top five entrepreneurs of this year who are boldly reshaping tomorrow, driving forward with daring ideas and groundbreaking endeavors.
1. Vince Molinari: Redefining Financial Media with FINTECH.TV
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***** Congratulations to Vince Molinari on this well-deserved ranking.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story Friday was Muni Bond Blowup Exposes Flaws in $600 Billion Corner of Market, from Bloomberg. Second was Elon Musk Said Antisemitic Social-Media Post Was 'the Actual Truth', from The Wall Street Journal. Third was Bloomberg's Retired Wind Turbine Blades Live on as Park Benches and Picnic Tables.
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| Lead Stories | Company Led by Former NYSE President Buys Crypto News Site CoinDesk; CoinDesk says former Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Matt Murray will chair an independent editorial committee
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
A company run by former New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley said on Monday that it has acquired crypto-focused media company CoinDesk. Bullish, the crypto exchange run by Farley, bought 100% of CoinDesk in an all-cash deal. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk, acquired the media company in 2016 for $500,000. The deal comes a year after CoinDesk broke news about Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire that would ripple through the market and compound the financial troubles of its parent company.
/jlne.ws/49V27gS
How a Hack Shook Wall Street's Multitrillion-Dollar Foundations; The cyberattack on ICBC rekindled investors' concerns about the repo market
Eric Wallerstein - The Wall Street Journal
The recent hack of a Chinese banking giant reignited Wall Street's long-running fears of disruptions to the short-term cash markets underpinning the global financial system. Traders swiftly contained the cyberattack on the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. But some said the incident exposed cracks in the multitrillion-dollar market for repurchase agreements, known as repo, where banks and hedge funds borrow cash mainly using Treasurys as collateral.
/jlne.ws/3sxI9YJ
Wall Street watchdog floats plan to let brokers promise future results; Finra proposal would allow performance projections in marketing to wealthy and institutional investors
Brooke Masters - Financial Times
Brokers would be able to market some investments with projections of future performance and promise targeted returns when they are working with institutional and wealthy individuals, under a rule proposed by an industry self-regulatory body. The rule change floated by Finra would mark a departure from a general ban on brokers promising specific outcomes when they sell securities. That has raised concerns among some investor advocates.
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A Ransomware Gang Wanted Its Victim to Pay Up. So It Went to the SEC; New disclosure rules potentially heighten risk for corporate victims of cybercrimes
Ben Foldy - The Wall Street Journal
The call is coming from inside the hack. A ransomware gang claimed this past week that it broke into the systems of the fintech platform MeridianLink MLNK. The breach has been reported to regulators. The company didn't report it, as new rules will require them to do. The hackers did. New Securities and Exchange Commission rules, which go into effect next month, require that hacked companies disclose materially important cybersecurity incidents to investors within four days of discovering them. The hackers, called both AlphV and Black Cat, didn't wait for the rules to take effect to use the threat of disclosure to pressure the company to meet its ransom demands.
/jlne.ws/47l0fw6
A $1.5 Trillion Loan Market Gets Stung by Anti-ESG Movement; Issuance of sustainability linked loans is down 80% in the US; As US falls back, APAC is now seen as new growth market
Greg Ritchie and Jacqueline Poh - Bloomberg
US borrowers are retreating en masse from the world's second-biggest ESG debt class. The $1.5 trillion market for sustainability-linked loans, in which borrowing is tied to environmental, social or governance goals, has seen an overall slowdown in volumes this year as both interest rates and greenwashing fears rise. But nowhere has the decline been as precipitous as in the US, where the number of new sustainability-linked loans is down 80% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3G4RKtd
With spot bitcoin ETFs looming, clock ticks on futures products; After explosive beginning, these types of funds may be relegated
Will Schmitt - Financial Times
Two years ago the first US exchange traded fund linked to bitcoin became the fastest ETF to hit $1bn in assets. But the coming weeks are set to test whether it and rival bitcoin futures ETFs can survive. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) now stands at $1.4bn, and it tracks the crypto token through futures. This type of product has been the only way for US investors to add bitcoin ETFs to their portfolios, as regulators have not approved numerous applications to launch ETFs tracking the crypto token itself.
/jlne.ws/3MTrjdD
World Has 14% Chance of Keeping Warming Below 1.5C in Best Case; UNEP report says meeting net-zero pledges won't stop heat rise; Most realistic scenario is temperature can be later drawn down
John Ainger - Bloomberg
The world only has a tiny chance of keeping global warming below a key threshold that could cause several climate tipping points to be reached, drastically exacerbating the likelihood of extreme weather, according to a new report from the United Nations.
/jlne.ws/47Ei3lI
IRS Urged to Crack Down on Wealthy Tax Cheats in Puerto Rico
Jim Wyss and Angelica Serrano-Roman (BTAX) - Bloomberg
A group of US lawmakers is asking tax authorities to accelerate an investigation into rich Americans seeking lucrative tax breaks in Puerto Rico. Twelve Democratic members of the House of Representatives asked the Internal Revenue Service on Friday to expedite a congressional request for information about efforts to root out people allegedly abusing Puerto Rico's tax benefits. In July, the IRS said it was investigating about 100 wealthy individuals and might pursue criminal charges after announcing an audit of the benefits in 2021.
/jlne.ws/40Jzf6Q
Climate change: China signals reboot of suspended voluntary carbon market is near with release of draft guidelines, regulations; The guidelines provided examples of carbon reduction activities in 16 industries, and included use of renewable energy and carbon capture
Yujie Xue - South China Morning Post
China has published draft regulations and guidelines for its voluntary carbon market, the China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) scheme, in the latest move suggesting the reboot of the suspended market is getting close. The National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC), the key think tank under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), in charge of climate policies research, released proposed rules on registration procedures, and guidelines for the design and implementation of voluntary carbon offset projects under the CCER scheme on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/46i4RBH
Wall Street's ESG Craze Is Fading; Investors pulled more than $14 billion from sustainable funds this year
Shane Shifflett - The Wall Street Journal
Wall Street rushed to embrace sustainable investing just a few years ago. Now it is quietly closing funds or scrubbing their names after disappointing returns that have investors cashing out billions. The about-face comes after tightened regulatory oversight, higher interest rates that have slammed clean-energy stocks and a backlash that has made environmental, social and corporate-governance investing a political target.
/jlne.ws/3R7mzDS
X chief Linda Yaccarino resists pressure from advertisers to quit; Brands have paused spending on social media platform over concerns about Elon Musk and antisemitic content
Hannah Murphy and Christopher Grimes - Financial Times
Linda Yaccarino is resisting growing pressure from advertisers to step down as the chief executive of X, as big brands pause their spending on the platform over concerns about its owner Elon Musk and antisemitic content. Over the weekend, a groundswell of executives and friends of Yaccarino from the advertising industry privately urged her to resign in order to save her reputation, according to three people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/3uoMQol
Short-seller Jim Chanos, who cashed in by betting on Enron's infamous collapse, to close his hedge funds after 38 years
Hema Parmar & Bloomberg via Fortune
Jim Chanos, the legendary short-seller known for his bearish bets against Enron and Tesla, is shuttering his hedge funds after almost four decades. Chanos & Co., which he founded as Kynikos Associates in 1985, plans to return capital to investors by the end of the year, according to a letter to clients Friday.
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Brexit is not the problem, Europe's lack of liquidity is; Amid stagnant volumes and increasing fragmentation, the industry must draw its focus away from UK and European divergence and refocus its attention on competing with the rest of the world, writes Annabel Smith.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
The UK and the European Union must stop focusing on post-Brexit divergence and convergence and re-align their interests to tackle stagnant flows in Europe in comparison with the US and Asia. That was the key takeaway from the FIX conference that took place in Paris earlier this week. Since their split at the start of 2020, Europe and the UK have been focused on emerging as the victor of Brexit with home of the European financial hub to be in either the City of London or Paris.
/jlne.ws/3G2HbXx
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Pope says peace in Ukraine, Middle East possible with good will
Reuters
Pope Francis on Sunday renewed calls for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East during his Angelus prayer, saying it was essential to keep up efforts to stop the ongoing conflicts. "I pray for the tormented population of Ukraine ... and the people in Palestine and Israel," he told the crowds gathered in St. Peter's square, adding he had spotted some yellow and blue Ukrainian flags.
/jlne.ws/40JJacy
The Invisible War in Ukraine Being Fought Over Radio Waves; Using electromagnetic waves to flummox and follow smarter weapons has become a critical part of the cat-and-mouse game between Ukraine and Russia. The United States, China and others have taken note.
Paul Mozur and Aaron Krolik - The New York Times
The drones began crashing on Ukraine's front lines, with little explanation. For months, the aerial vehicles supplied by Quantum Systems, a German technology firm, had worked smoothly for Ukraine's military, swooping through the air to spot enemy tanks and troops in the country's war against Russia. Then late last year, the machines abruptly started falling from the sky as they returned from missions.
/jlne.ws/47GjxvD
A Russian general who was critical of the army's operation was found dead
Sebastian Cahill - Business Insider
Another member of the Russian military was found dead under unknown circumstances this week. Lieutenant General Vladimir Sviridov, 68, and his wife Tatyana, 72, were found dead Wednesday in their bedroom, per the Kyiv Post. They looked to have been dead for about a week prior to their discovery, according to the Post.
/jlne.ws/3G7ZlXR
Second drone in as many days shot down near Moscow as Russia and Ukraine exchange attacks on capitals; Ukrainian officials earlier warned Russia would step up aerial offensive during winter
Arpan Rai - Independent
Russia and Ukraine sent drones targeting each other's capital cities over the weekend in signs of renewed intensity for their aerial warfare. Drones were shot down on both Saturday and Sunday in areas around Kyiv and Moscow. Air defence systems for both sides intercepted attacks and no casualties were reported.
/jlne.ws/3QUlCxs
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| Israel/Palestine Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Palestine | Israel Takes Fight Underground to Hamas's Vast Gaza Tunnel Network; The militant group has spent decades expanding and fortifying a subterranean labyrinth
Rory Jones, Anat Peled and David S. Cloud - The Wall Street Journal
Israeli forces have taken control of much of northern Gaza-at least the parts that are above ground. Beneath the strip's devastated urban landscape, Hamas still reigns. The war is entering a new phase, as the Israeli military takes its fight underground and into Gaza's legendary subterranean tunnel network. It is the beginning of a battle two decades in the making. Hamas militants have spent years expanding and fortifying the tunnels into a vast maze, and Israel has been training to fight in them, creating specialized units and developing new weapons.
/jlne.ws/46uQsCA
Israel, Hamas Close In on Hostage Deal Amid Mounting Scrutiny of Gaza Death Toll; Talks, which could still collapse, would see some hostages freed in exchange for pause in fighting
Saeed Shah, Summer Said and Dov Lieber - The Wall Street Journal
Israel and Hamas are closing in on an internationally brokered deal to pause fighting and free some of the roughly 240 hostages taken by the militant group, officials close to the talks said, amid heightened scrutiny of the civilian toll of Israel's invasion of Gaza.
/jlne.ws/3QEaPHq
Israel and Hamas appear close to hostage release deal, say officials; Agreement could involve limited ceasefire in Gaza Strip and release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails
Jason Burke in Jerusalem and Patrick Wintour - The Guardian
Israel and Hamas appear to be edging towards a deal that would see the release of a significant number of hostages, possibly in return for a limited ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Senior US and Israeli officials, as well as the Qatari prime minister, all suggested an agreement was close on Sunday, although observers have cautioned that public statements during such negotiations are often misleading and any potential deal could easily collapse.
/jlne.ws/3sFMCse
The Hamas massacre didn't give Israel the right to kill 12,000 Palestinians. Cease-fire now; Palestinians look for survivors under the rubble of a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike.
Paul Thornton - LA Times
Good morning. I'm Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. Let's look back at the week in Opinion. By the time you read this, around 12,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, probably more, will have been killed since Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre targeting Jews in Israel. Yes, the hostages taken from Israel more than a month ago remain missing, and yes, Hamas and other militant groups continue to launch rockets at a terrorized Israeli populace. By any reasonable standard, the Israeli military has the right to act until Hamas releases the hostages and it can assure Israeli civilians a measure of security, especially in the communities that endured unspeakable horror last month. But 12,000 deaths in barely more than a month is not reasonable. Hospitals being starved of the supplies they need to keep their sickest, most vulnerable patients alive is not reasonable. These are atrocities that must stop now.
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Israel, Oppenheimer and the laws of war; Legality and morality are not always the same thing in wartime
Gideon Rachman - Financial Times
"A date that will live in infamy" was how Franklin Delano Roosevelt described December 7 1941 - the day that Japan attacked America at Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 US personnel, including 68 civilians. In response, the US launched an all-out war on Japan that culminated in the use of the atomic bomb. It is widely estimated that about 70,000 people were killed in Hiroshima alone.
/jlne.ws/3um7B3Z
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | CME Group set to launch euro STR options next quarter; Launch follows the addition of overnight index futures based on the euro short-term rate at CME Group in October last year.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
CME Group has announced that it will launch options on euro STR futures in Q1 2024, which will be listed by and subject to the rules of CME. In October last year, CME Group announced the first day of trading of a new set of overnight index futures based on the euro short-term rate. The contracts allow for a more efficient means of hedging European money market rates, enabling price discovery across the forward curve, IBOR/OIS basis trading and managing cross-country basis spreads and price differentials between EU and US interest rates.
/jlne.ws/3Nez0LR
LSEG appoints Michel-Alain Proch as CFO
Alex Pugh - MarketsMedia
Reporting to David Schwimmer, Proch will join LSEG on 26 February 2024 before joining the board as CFO on 1 March 2024. Proch will relocate to London from Paris to take up the role. Proch is currently group CFO for Publicis Groupe, where he is a member of the management board leading the global finance team across 100 countries. Prior to this, he has held several listed company CFO positions, notably at Ingenico and Atos, where he was also CEO, North America and group chief digital officer.
/jlne.ws/46mFLll
LSEG appoints Michel-Alain Proch as Chief Financial Officer
London Stock Exchange Group
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) announces today that Michel-Alain Proch has been appointed Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of LSEG plc. Reporting to David Schwimmer, he will join LSEG on 26 February 2024 before joining the Board as CFO on 1 March 2024, subject to regulatory approval. Following publication of the Group's 2023 Full Year Annual Results on 29 February 2024 Anna Manz will step down from the Board and leave the Group. Michel-Alain Proch is currently Group Chief Financial Officer for Publicis Groupe SA where he is a member of the Management Board leading the global finance team across 100 countries. Prior to this, he has held several listed company CFO positions, notably at Ingenico and Atos, where he was also CEO, North America and Group Chief Digital Officer. Michel-Alain is Vice-Chairman of the Board, Maisons du Monde.
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Qatar Stock Exchange: FTSE Global Equity Index Series December 2023 Quarterly Changes
Mondovisione
Qatar Stock Exchange would like to announce that the results of FTSE Russell Global Equity Index Series quarterly review, published on November 17th 2023, will be effective after the close on December 14th 2023 for the Qatari market. The changes announced may be subject to revision until close of business on December 1st 2023. Effective Monday, 4 December 2023, the index review changes will be considered final.
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ASX Announces Product Based Solution For Chess Replacement - Industry Consultation On Next Phase To Commence In 2024
ASX
ASX has completed its reassessment of the solution design to replace CHESS and will proceed with a product based solution to be delivered by global technology provider TATA Consultancy Services (TCS). The CHESS replacement project will now move to the next phase of detailed design and implementation, with further stakeholder consultation to commence in the first quarter of 2024.
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Notice Of Disciplinary Action
CME
# CME 22-1617-BC. Effective Date 17 November 2023. MEMBER: StoneX Financial Inc. CME RULE VIOLATIONS: Rule 526. BLOCK TRADES (in Part) The Exchange shall designate the products in which block trades shall be permitted and determine the minimum quantity thresholds for such transactions. The following shall govern block trades:
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Notice Of Disciplinary Action
CME
# COMEX 22-1591-BC. Effective Date 17 November 2023 MEMBER: WEDBUSH SECURITIES, INC. COMEX RULES: 432. General Offenses (In Part). It shall be an offense: L.3. to fail to produce any books or records requested by duly authorized Exchange staff, in the format and medium specified in the request, within 10 days after such request is made or such shorter period of time as determined by the Market Regulation Department in exigent circumstances.
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Notice Of Disciplinary Action
CME
# NYMEX 22-1591-BC. Effective Date 17 November 2023. MEMBER: WEDBUSH SECURITIES, INC. NYMEX RULES: 432. General Offenses (In Part) It shall be an offense: L.3. to fail to produce any books or records requested by duly authorized Exchange staff, in the format and medium specified in the request, within 10 days after such request is made or such shorter period of time as determined by the Market Regulation Department in exigent circumstances.
/jlne.ws/46iIRGR
Notice Of Disciplinary Action
CME
# COMEX 21-1523-BC-2 Effective Date 17 November 2023. NON-MEMBER: Vincent Bucci. EXCHANGE RULES: RULE 534. WASH TRADES PROHIBITED. No person shall place or accept buy and sell orders in the same product and expiration month, and, for a put or call option, the same strike price, where the person knows or reasonably should know that the purpose of the orders is to avoid taking a bona fide market position exposed to market risk (transactions commonly known or referred to as wash sales). Buy and sell orders for different accounts with common beneficial ownership that are entered with the intent to negate market risk or price competition shall also be deemed to violate the prohibition on wash trades. Additionally, no person shall knowingly execute or accommodate the execution of such orders by direct or indirect means.
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Notice Of Disciplinary Action
CME
# COMEX 22-1537-BC-1. Effective Date 17 November 2023
NON-MEMBER: TING JIANG. COMEX RULES: 539. Prearranged, Pre-Negotiated and Noncompetitive Trades Prohibited. (In Part) 539.A. General Prohibition. No person shall prearrange or pre-negotiate any purchase or sale or noncompetitively execute any transaction. https://jlne.ws/46mFH55
Appointment Of Disciplinary Panel Members
London Metal Exchange
Summary. 1. This Notice announces the appointment of Sarah Clarke KC and Andrew Williams to the Disciplinary Panel.
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Re-Appointment Of Disciplinary Panel Members
London Metal Exchange
Summary. 1. In accordance with Regulations 14.56 and 14.58 of Part 2 of the LME Rulebook, the London Metal Exchange (the "LME") is pleased to announce that Phillip Crowson and Scott Dobbie have been re-appointed as members of the Disciplinary Panel with immediate effect for a five year term.
2. The full list of members of the Disciplinary Panel, together with its terms of reference, is available on the LME website at www.lme.com/en/about/governance/lme-governance/rules-and-regulations-committees.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa
SGX Securities welcomes Winking Studios Limited to Catalist
SGX
SGX Securities is pleased to welcome Winking Studios Limited to Catalist under the stock code "WKS". Winking Studios Limited is an art outsourcing and game development studio with over 25 years of experience providing complete end-to-end art outsourcing and game development services across various platforms such as console, PC, online and handheld content for the video games industry. They operate primarily in Taiwan and China where they have seven studios, with operations supported by their office and team in their Singapore headquarters.
/jlne.ws/46lJcZt
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Jewish Celebrities and Influencers Confront TikTok Executives in Private Call
Sapna Maheshwari - The New York Times
More than a dozen Jewish TikTok creators and celebrities confronted TikTok executives and other employees in a private meeting Wednesday night, urging them to do more to address a surge of antisemitism and harassment on the popular video service.
/jlne.ws/47Imo7t
Elon Musk May Have Just Signed X's Death Warrant; IBM, Disney, Lionsgate, the European Union, and, reportedly, Apple have all pulled advertising from X following Elon Musk's apparent endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Experts say it could soon get much worse.
Vittoria Elliott, Lauren Goode - Wired
Elon Musk may have put the final nail in X's coffin. On Wednesday, Musk appeared to endorse an antisemitic post by user @breakingbaht alleging that "Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them." In response, Musk posted, "You have spoken the actual truth."
/jlne.ws/3G9yCdi
Elon Musk, under fire, threatens lawsuit against media watchdog
Reuters
Elon Musk threatened on Saturday to sue media watchdog Media Matters and those who attacked his social media platform X, following moves by several large U.S. companies to halt advertising on the site after being promoted alongside antisemitic content. Musk and X have been under a microscope all week for antisemitic and racist content that has proliferated on the site since he purchased it in 2022.
/jlne.ws/40N1j9v
Elon Musk says he's prepping 'thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters' and others after ad exodus over antisemitism controversy
Mrinmay Dey and Reuters via Fortune
Elon Musk threatened on Saturday to sue media watchdog Media Matters and those who attacked his social media platform X, following moves by several large U.S. companies to halt advertising on the site after being promoted alongside antisemitic content. Musk and X have been under a microscope all week for antisemitic and racist content that has proliferated on the site since he purchased it in 2022.
/jlne.ws/40LN70w
Governments race to regulate AI tools
Reuters
/jlne.ws/3SPkOwq
The weather forecast may show AI storms ahead; Meteorology has long been a public good but those days may be numbered
Andrew Blum - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3R5AWZ5
ChatGPT maker OpenAI ousts CEO Sam Altman
Jeffrey Dastin, Anna Tong, Samrhitha A and Krystal Hu - Reuters
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OpenAI Board Urged by Microsoft, Investors to Restore Altman; Board has considered resigning, hasn't made final decision
Emily Chang, Ashlee Vance, Edward Ludlow, and Dina Bass - Bloomberg
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Altman Sought Billions For Chip Venture Before OpenAI Ouster; Altman was fundraising in the Middle East for new chip venture
Edward Ludlow and Ashlee Vance - Bloomberg
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OpenAI Leaders' Efforts to Bring Back Altman Reach Impasse Over Board Role
Emily Chang, Edward Ludlow, Rachel Metz, and Dina Bass - Bloomberg
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The Doomed Mission Behind Sam Altman's Shock Ouster From OpenAI
Max Chafkin and Rachel Metz - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3QTS0QO
Japanese whisky continues to get pricier amid solid popularity
Hirofumi Kanaoka - Nikkei
/jlne.ws/3SVuJjI
Mira Murati is suddenly in charge at OpenAI as interim CEO. Her cover interview with Fortune hints at how she'll lead it
Steve Mollman - Fortune
/jlne.ws/3MOVdQh
The Fear and Tension That Led to Sam Altman's Ouster at OpenAI
Cade Metz - The New York Times
/jlne.ws/3MQqHWm
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Hackers Are Exploiting a Flaw in Citrix Software Despite Fix; Citrix Bleed was exploited before company flagged it; LockBit gang among those said to be abusing the flaw
Katrina Manson - Bloomberg
A critical flaw in software from Citrix Systems Inc., a company that pioneered remote access so people can work anywhere, has been exploited by government-backed hackers and criminal groups, according to a US cyber official.
/jlne.ws/3sJb7oA
The Cybersecurity Lawsuit That Boards Are Talking About; An S.E.C. lawsuit against a software company hacked by Russian state actors in 2020 could affect how companies handle cybersecurity risks.
Sarah Kessler - The New York Times
For the last month, an under-the-radar lawsuit has privately been a hot topic of conversation in Fortune 500 boardrooms and corporate security departments. In October, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued a software company hacked by Russian agents in 2020, accusing it of defrauding investors by not disclosing allegedly known cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities. The lawsuit named not just the company, SolarWinds, but also its chief information security officer, Timothy Brown. A year earlier, a former chief security officer at Uber, Joe Sullivan, was found guilty of failing to disclose a data breach to federal regulators. Executives heading up cybersecurity have a sense that their personal risk is increasing.
/jlne.ws/47hIKNl
Black Friday scam warning issued to parents; Only a quarter of parents said they always researched sellers before they buy
Jabed Ahmed - Independent
Parents looking to get a bargain ahead of Christmas on Black Friday are being urged to be on their guard against fake deals - as the amount lost to purchase scams rose to £41m in the first half of this year.
/jlne.ws/47cFF0R
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Jump Spins Off Wormhole Project, Shrinking Its Crypto Business; Senior Wormhole employees to run it as an independent entity; Jump Crypto's workforce has dropped by about 50% from peak
Katherine Doherty, Yueqi Yang, and Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
Jump Trading Group has parted ways with Wormhole, the crypto project it injected about $320 million into almost two years ago following a massive hack, as the market maker retrenches in the digital-assets space. Senior Wormhole staffers including its chief executive officer, Saeed Badreg, and Chief Operating Officer Anthony Ramirez left in recent weeks to run Wormhole as an independent entity, said people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private information. It wasn't clear how many people in total departed Jump as part of the move.
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Bitcoin mining is energizing sustainability through green innovation
Jayson Browdere - The Hill
A recent opinion column piece in this publication argued that Marathon Digital Holdings, where I am vice president of policy, and the Bitcoin community at large are conducting a "greenwashing" campaign in support of an irredeemable environmental hazard. It is worth noting that this argument pushes a narrative funded by "industry competitors."
/jlne.ws/3uuacbP
He lost $200,000 when FTX imploded last year. He's still waiting to get it back
David Gura - NPR
Last November, Jake Thacker discovered more than $200,000 of his crypto and cash had gone missing. He'd been counting on it to pay off debts, and to pay taxes on stock he'd sold. One year later, Thacker's money is still nowhere to be found. Thacker was caught up in the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, unable to withdraw what he had stored on the site.
/jlne.ws/3MS7iEt
Japan to Start Digital Securities Trading From Next Month; Security tokens of Ichigo and Kenedix to trade on exchange; Other Asia markets is also opening door for trading the tokens
Takahiko Hyuga - Bloomberg
Osaka Digital Exchange Co. will begin Japan's first trading of digital securities next month in the form of security tokens issued by real estate firms Ichigo Inc. and Kenedix Inc., tapping individuals' demand for alternative assets that may offer better returns. Tokyo-based Ichigo will sell about ¥3 billion ($20.1 million) of securities backed by property investments, and trading will start on Dec. 25, according to a filing to authorities on Monday.
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Billionaires are out of touch and much too powerful. The planet is in trouble
Rebecca Solnit - The Guardian
When you talk about the climate crisis, sooner or later someone is going to say that population is the issue and fret about the sheer number of humans now living on Earth. But population per se is not the problem, because the farmer in Bangladesh or the street vendor in Brazil doesn't have nearly the impact of the venture capitalist in California or the petroleum oligarchs of Russia and the Middle East. The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%. The rich are bad for the Earth, and the richer they are the bigger their adverse impact (including the impact of money invested in banks, and stocks financing fossil fuels and other forms of climate destruction).
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Elon Musk says he isn't antisemitic as advertisers flee his social-media network
Barbara Kollmeyer - MarketWatch
That's X owner and Tesla TSLA Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, in a post late Sunday on the social platform till recently known as Twitter, in which he responded to several days of criticism over what appeared to be a public endorsement of antisemitic conspiracy theories.
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Many former Trump aides say he shouldn't be president. Will it matter? Critics are grappling with how they can puncture Trump's candidacy in 2024 and whether their voices will have any impact
Josh Dawsey - The Washington Post
John F. Kelly, the longest-serving chief of staff in President Donald Trump's White House, watches Trump dominate the GOP primary with increasing despair. "What's going on in the country that a single person thinks this guy would still be a good president when he's said the things he's said and done the things he's done?" Kelly said in a recent interview. "It's beyond my comprehension he has the support he has." Kelly, a retired four-star general, said he didn't know what to do - or what he could do - to help people see it his way.
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Argentina's New President Wants to Adopt the U.S. Dollar as the National Currency; But Latin America's third-largest economy is broke and lacks funds to swap the nearly worthless peso for the greenback
Ryan Dube and Santiago Perez - The Wall Street Journal The self-styled anarcho-capitalist who won Argentina's presidency on Sunday plans to ditch his nation's peso and adopt the U.S. dollar as the national currency. President-elect Javier Milei's top campaign proposal was aimed at eradicating rampant inflation that has for decades ravaged South America's second-biggest economy by removing the battered national currency from circulation and stripping the central bank of its power to print money. Uncontrolled money-printing to cover public expenditures, economists say, has fueled 143% inflation, one of the world's highest
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US confident Arab states will not weaponise oil, says Biden adviser; Amos Hochstein tells FT energy markets are coping 'fairly well' despite pressure from two wars
Andrew England - Financial Times
The White House's chief energy adviser has said he is confident that Arab oil producers will not weaponise energy, despite mounting anger across the Middle East over Israel's siege and bombardment of Gaza. Amos Hochstein told the Financial Times that the level of collaboration between the US and Gulf producers, including Saudi Arabia, had been "very strong" over the past two years.
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Republicans for a Carbon Tax; A Senate tariff bill is another sign that the GOP is giving up on pro-growth economics.
The Editorial Board - The Wall Street Journal
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Arab foreign ministers press China to support end to Israel-Hamas fighting; Wang Yi backs 'immediate ceasefire' as Beijing seeks to step up influence in Middle East
Joe Leahy, James Shotter and Andrew England - Financial Times
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Wall Street's top cop needs to stop spinning the SEC's wheels and end meme stock insanity
Charles Gasparino - NY Post
If you spend some time on social media, you might have heard there was this great investment out there. It's the stock of Bed Bath & Beyond, the bankrupt home furnishings company. Well after it announced plans to liquidate over the summer, it was said the legendary Carl Icahn saw value in the stock that was set to disappear from the face of the earth. Its remaining parts were already sold to Overstock, shares delisted and about to go terminal in late September, meaning they would no longer exist even in a bucket shop broker's trading account. And yet, Ryan Cohen, the billionaire activist investor who sold his stake last year, was allegedly ready to make another go of a business that had just been evaporated.
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Private Equity: Past & Present, Charters & Code
CFTC
Thank you for that kind introduction, [Professor de Fontenay]; and thank you for your gracious invitation, Professors de Fontenay, Morley, and Clayton. I'm honored to be with you at this inaugural roundtable, the first of many I sincerely hope. Please allow me to begin by noting that I'm appearing here today in my official capacity as the Director of the Division of Investment Management, and that my comments do not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, the Commissioners, or my fellow members of the staff.
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Remarks at the Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems, 2023 Japan - U.S. Symposium
Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
Thank you for the introduction, John [Gulliver]. It is a privilege to share the keynote address at the 26th annual Japan - U.S. Symposium with Vice Minister Shigeru Ariizumi from the Financial Services Agency.[1] My first visit to Japan was as a high school student in 1987. At that time, the notion of "Japan Inc." was common in the United States and there was a sense that Japan had no limit on its future growth. My second visit to Japan was seventeen years later in 2004 as part of a delegation led by Irene Hirano Inouye, who would later found the U.S.-Japan Council. By that time, Japan's bubble economy had long since vanished and the concerns over Japan's economic future and its increasingly aging society permeated the discussions instead. In fact, one of my briefers for that 2004 trip is here today - Glen Fukushima, a long-time U.S. expert on Japan's business environment with whom I now work in his role as vice chairman of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
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SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Former Registered Representative Charged with Unsuitable Investment Recommendations and Unauthorized Trading
SEC
On November 14, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a final judgment against Alan Z. Appelbaum, a former registered representative of Aegis Capital Corporation.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Bond Routs Turn Explosive in 5% Rates World: Credit Weekly; Corporate borrowers are seeing debt tank after earnings; Investors wary about risky credits as issuers miss estimates
Sri Taylor and Ethan M Steinberg - Bloomberg
The first trade hit the tape at 9:54 a.m. The price: 38 cents on the dollar. These were the bonds of a little-known company called Enviva Inc., a wood-pellet maker in Bethesda, Maryland. Just the night before, on Nov. 8, they had closed at 64 cents. The rout deepened rapidly as the day went on, sending the bonds to as low as 31 cents.
/jlne.ws/3R5ExGJ
Almost No One Pays a 6% Real-Estate Commission-Except Americans; How the rest of the world buys and sells homes explained, in three charts
Veronica Dagher - The Wall Street Journal
The way we buy and sell homes in the U.S. isn't normal-at least not compared with the rest of the world. The commission on a home sale here is typically around 5% to 6%, usually split between the seller's and buyer's agents. In most countries, the commissions are substantially smaller.
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How to Keep Your Bank From Closing All Your Accounts; Banks have suddenly shut down the accounts of scores of customers. Here's how you can avoid becoming one of them.
Ron Lieber - The New York Times
Having a checking account is a privilege, not a right, but most people forget this until they lose access to their accounts. The security software that banks use to sniff out criminal activity is easily frightened. It sets off millions of alarms across the industry each year, and most of them are false.
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The Estate Taxes Catching Americans by Surprise; Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., have estate or inheritance taxes or both. The rules can change from year to year.
Ashlea Ebeling - The Wall Street Journal
Karl Yee was about to pay a nearly $112,000 Massachusetts tax bill for his late mother's estate when he got a reprieve from the governor. A retroactive change to the state's estate-tax law had dropped the estate's bill to $12,000. "Hallelujah!" he said, after hearing the news.
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Private equity resorts to buying back companies after IPO flops; EQT, Cinven and General Atlantic among those involved in take-private deals for businesses floated two years ago
Will Louch and Ivan Levingston in London and Antoine Gara - Financial Times
Private equity firms are resorting to buying back companies they only recently took public, in a bid to salvage investments that have struggled to perform on stock exchanges. Firms including EQT, Cinven and Silver Lake have in the past few months either taken private or considered buying back public companies they owned or in which they held a large minority stake.
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Private equity's new financial engineering brings risks; NAV loans can buy time but cannot stop the inevitable if businesses have not improved
Holden Spaht - Financial Times
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Ardian: the European private equity powerhouse with a succession problem; Seventy-year-old Dominique Senequier has built a $156bn firm over three decades. What happens when she leaves?
Will Louch and Harriet Agnew and Sarah White - Financial Times
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AT1 rush shows bank investors have short memories; UBS issue of capital instrument generates hotcake exuberance just months after Credit Suisse wipeout
Patrick Jenkins - Financial Times
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Office Landlords Can't Get a Loan Anymore; Owners are scrambling to pay back lenders, throwing in more cash or facing default
Konrad Putzier - The Wall Street Journal
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | COP28 faces a giant communication challenge; The upcoming climate summit needs to shift public opinion and generate political will - the planet's future depends on it
Vinod Thomas - Financial Times (opinion)
The writer is a former senior vice-president at the World Bank. The UN COP28 climate talks in Dubai, which begin at the end of November, will take place amid a confluence of geopolitical, health and economic emergencies. The UN's greatest strength lies in its access to the enormous quantity of scientific knowledge on global warming that is out there. But to shift public opinion and generate political will for climate action amid competing priorities, communication of that science needs traction. COP28 will rightly stress the commitments countries need to make in order to decarbonise economies and slow global warming. However, the summit should also launch a global campaign to inform the public and rally political support, particularly among the big emitters. After all, political backing was vital for the US, the EU and other high-income countries to mobilise rescue and stimulus packages in the wake of the global financial crisis. And high-income countries raised more than $20tn to fight Covid-19.
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Writer Kim Stanley Robinson: 'If the world fails, business fails'; The cult sci-fi author on Mars, Musk - and how speculative fiction can offer real-life solutions to the climate crisis
Kenza Bryan - Financial Times
Loud alarms sound from seat to seat on my train journey from London to Rotterdam. As we zoom past the waterlogged fields of northern France, passengers' smartphones flash up one by one with an automated government alert: "Exceptional floods are under way...take refuge on high ground." The world is approaching the "zombie years" of natural disasters and rapidly warming temperatures as imagined by my lunch date, the science-fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson. Robinson's 2020 novel The Ministry for the Future struck a chord with the climate anxious, just as his bestselling epics from the 1990s and 2000s, in which humans colonise the Moon and other solar systems, spoke to a more optimistic era of government-led space exploration.
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Fulcrum Bioenergy, Aiming to Produce 'Net-Zero' Jet Fuel From Plastic Waste, Hits Heavy Turbulence
James Bruggers - Inside Climate News
Six Senate Democrats last month sent a letter to the head of the Internal Revenue Service urging the federal tax agency to prohibit companies that make fuels from plastics and other petroleum products from qualifying for federal tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden's landmark climate legislation. The move was the latest in a string of bad developments for Fulcrum Bioenergy, the California firm that is seeking to turn Chicago-area trash and plastic waste into "sustainable" jet fuel at a Gary, Indiana, factory and construct a similar plant near Houston.
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Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Flock to Plastics Treaty Talks as Scientists, Environmentalists Seek Conflict of Interest Policies; With growing calls for the need to reduce plastic production, industry groups are pushing back.
James Bruggers - Inside Climate News
Fossil fuel and chemical company interests are out in force at the United Nations meeting in Nairobi, where delegates from about 170 countries are negotiating the potential terms of a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution. The Center for International Environmental Law, after combing over the official list of participants, has identified what it describes as 143 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered to attend the meeting, presumably to influence the outcome.
/jlne.ws/3sMqNqU
How to Boost EV Sales? Pay Drivers to Turn in Old Polluting Cars; US policymakers are rolling out big incentives for electric vehicle buyers who surrender a gas-powered model, advancing efforts to cancel carbon emissions.
Kyle Stock - Bloomberg
Colorado drivers bought 9,446 electric vehicles in the most recent quarter, but Carrie Atiyeh is particularly psyched about 45 of them. Atiyeh, associate director of transportation fuels and technology at the Colorado Energy Office, is one of the architects of the state's Vehicle Exchange Program, which hands out a rebate of up to $6,000 to anyone who buys a new EV while surrendering a combustion-engine car. The program, which launched in late August, saw 45 people cash in a clunker by the end of September.
/jlne.ws/3G8aHeh
Twenty countries ask EU to prepare for climate change health hazards
Kate Abnett - Reuters
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El Nino expected to cause floods and heatwaves into early 2024, warn scientists; Rio records hottest day of the year while Kenya, Somalia and Dubai are hit by severe flooding
Kenza Bryan and Steven Bernard - Financial Times
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Dubai's Costly Water World; The city has spent billions of dollars to provide fresh water to its residents and tourist attractions, but experts say the efforts are straining the Persian Gulf's natural resources.
Arielle Paul - The Wall Street Journal
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Global X replaces chief executive of $39bn ETF manager; Luis Berruga helped build the Mirae subsidiary into one of sector's largest providers
Will Schmitt and Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
Global X ETFs, the $39bn US asset manager owned by Mirae Asset Global Investments, is replacing its chief executive officer with an interim leader from the parent company. Luis Berruga is stepping down effective from Monday after five years as CEO of Global X, the New York-based company confirmed.
/jlne.ws/3R4kfNS
SNB Slammed for Reported $9 Billion Investment in Fracking; NGO says the SNB has invested in 69 fracking companies; SNB says portfolio is in line with accepted Swiss norms
Hugo Miller and Bastian Benrath - Bloomberg
The Swiss National Bank has been slammed for what a coalition of environmental NGOs says is its $9 billion investment in 69 oil and gas fracking companies. Fracking accounts for over half of SNB's roughly $16 billion invested in fossil fuel extraction, according to the report published by SNB Coalition and Climate Alliance Switzerland.
/jlne.ws/47C71NJ
Unions Are So Hot Even Megabank Employees Are Trying to Join; Workers at two Wells Fargo branches are expected to hold elections to decide whether to unionize
Ben Eisen - The Wall Street Journal
Workers at two Wells Fargo bank branches are planning to launch unionization efforts Monday, shifting the attention of the resurgent labor movement to an industry that has historically been cool to it. Employees in Albuquerque, N.M., and Bethel, Alaska, said they would notify the National Labor Relations Board that they plan to hold elections to decide whether to unionize. If they get enough votes, they could start the first union at a major bank in decades.
/jlne.ws/3G5Uc2z
Citigroup Cuts Over 300 Senior Manager Roles in Latest Restructuring
Jennifer Surane - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. is eliminating more than 300 senior manager roles as part of Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser's efforts to simplify the Wall Street giant. The company started announcing the cuts - which affect those staffers two levels below Fraser's executive management team - on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter. They amount to roughly 10% of the workers at that level, according to the person, who asked not to be identified discussing personnel information.
/jlne.ws/3MT6S0u
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Sex Workers Have Been Shunned by Banks, Even When Their Work Is Legal; Financial service companies often avoid what they deem high-risk industries like adult entertainment. When workers lose their accounts, they are left with few options.
Tara Siegel Bernard - The New York Times
Bella Cummins has run Bella's Hacienda Ranch, her Nevada brothel, for nearly four decades - and for four decades, she's been shunned by much of the banking industry. She's been denied a mortgage and several other loans, while many of her employees have had to wait up to two weeks for their paychecks to clear.
/jlne.ws/3sFLYei
The Pay Raise People Say They Need to Be Happy; We frequently overestimate just how much happiness money buys
Joe Pinsker - The Wall Street Journal
People are often convinced their lives would improve if only they could climb a few rungs on the income ladder. They are right, to an extent. Many studies have found a link between income and happiness, both in terms of day-to-day mood and longer-term life satisfaction. Having more money would help many people afford necessities, and on average, richer people report being happier. Exactly how much more money do we think we need to be happy? A new survey from the financial-services company Empower put the question to about 2,000 people.
/jlne.ws/3Gea177
The inescapable tyranny of the bad boss; Prevalence of toxic management is difficult to measure - but scandals show it is a problem in every sector
Pilita Clark - Financial Times
Imagine you are in your early twenties and you head off to your work Christmas party only to end up being hung upside down, topless, from a crane. Then imagine that your boss joins in the fun and slaps you on your bare chest, repeatedly. A young man named Ilyas Elkharraz says this happened to him when he was an apprentice carpenter at a glass installation company in the Australian city of Melbourne in 2020. When a TV show broadcast a video of the incident, it made headlines across the world. Last week, his then boss, Steven Yousif, pleaded guilty in court to failing to provide a safe workplace, after a regulator charged him with "repeated, unreasonable bullying behaviour".
/jlne.ws/3uokg6j
In search of chief executives who never grow 'old'; Competence and capability are the best ways to assess leaders whatever their age
Andrew Hill - Financial Times
By naming 53-year-old Janet Truncale as its next global chief executive, EY will hope it can put behind it a nasty bushfire ignited by one rival candidate over the final leadership taboo: old age. During his campaign for the top job, Andy Baldwin, 57, warned executives discussing his candidacy that they risked breaching age discrimination laws if they made too much of the fact that a four-year term heading the professional services firm would push him beyond 60. That is when EY usually requires its partners to step down.
/jlne.ws/3G6imd5
Pay Thousands to Quit Your Job? Some Employers Say So. Some U.S. businesses are forcing workers to sign contracts that demand steep "reimbursements" if they leave.
Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein - The New York Times
Benzor Shem Vidal started caring for his nonverbal autistic brother when he was 12. Vidal's parents, who lived with the two boys in a small house in steamy Cebu City in the Philippines, didn't have the money to send his brother to special-education classes, so when Vidal came home from school each day, he would find his brother mumbling to himself in the living room. Vidal would prepare him some food, making sure that he drank water between bites so he wouldn't choke. Vidal went to nursing school and graduated second in his class, perhaps because he already had a decade of informal experience. When his mother died in 2020, Vidal's father became his brother's sole caretaker, leaving Vidal to be the wage-earner for the family. He needed to make more money. So last year, at 26, Vidal moved to America to work at a nursing home in Brooklyn.
/jlne.ws/49HqXR7
Why Your Bonus Won't Match Your Performance This Year; There is likely to be greater disparity than normal in banker pay, with money going to those at risk of being poached by rivals.
Paul J. Davies - Bloomberg
You don't need to be a superstar quant trader to figure that banker bonuses will disappoint this year. Markets have struggled for direction, while capital raising and deal making have been dire. But pay is likely to be far more mixed than headline trends suggest: Many rewards will be granted to potential more than performance.
/jlne.ws/3szBIo3
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Does Novavax's Covid vaccine cause fewer side effects?
Amy Maxmen - NBC News
Erin Kissane, a co-founder of the COVID Tracking Project, rolled up her sleeve for the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine in mid-October soon after it was finally recommended in the United States. Like many people with autoimmune diseases, she wants to protect herself from a potentially devastating Covid infection.
/jlne.ws/46pfAKC
Stress and infertility are connected- but 4 mindfulness strategies can help with both
L'Oreal Thompson Payton - Fortune
When the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to take off, Alice Domar, Ph.D., had a hunch her clients with infertility were still more stressed about getting pregnant than the deadly virus that was spreading around. She was right. "We did a study of about 3,000 patients and they said that infertility was harder for them [to manage] than COVID," says Domar, an expert in mind-body medicine, author, professor and chief compassion officer at Inception Fertility, an fertility services provider. "We know that infertility causes a tremendous amount of stress, so the question becomes does stress cause infertility? With most species, if you stress them out, they stop reproducing. So it intuitively makes sense that stress would decrease fertility."
/jlne.ws/3MMLPg3
Seniors made up 63 percent of covid hospitalizations earlier this year; Over 75 percent of older adults who had been hospitalized with covid in 2023 had not gotten the bivalent vaccine
Linda Searing - The Washington Post
People 65 and older constituted nearly 63 percent of U.S. hospitalizations for covid-19, with the rate increasing with age, through the first eight months of 2023, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
/jlne.ws/46i0c2V
The Covid Vaccine Windfall Turns for Pfizer and Moderna; Reduced demand and revenue for the jabs isn't bad news. The industry is working as it's designed.
Allysia Finley - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. was in a fit of Covid panic during Thanksgiving week two years ago. The Omicron variant had emerged like a creature from the Black Lagoon. Public-health officials indicated we'd need another updated booster. Share prices in Pfizer and Moderna surged.
/jlne.ws/46sSVgt
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Chinese-funded lawsuits fuel backlash against litigation financiers; $13bn industry works to counter lawmakers' concerns that foreign backing could fuel corporate espionage
Joe Miller - Financial Times
The revelation that a Chinese company is funding several US patent lawsuits has put the $13bn litigation finance industry on the defence over claims that Beijing could exploit the American legal system and spy on corporations.
/jlne.ws/3NezSjB
Brazil's Maturing Private Markets Attract U.S. Investment Firms; Ares Management's $100 million deal with Brazilian private-equity shop Vinci Partners gives it a foothold in the vast market
Luis Garcia - The Wall Street Journal
Brazil's private-capital industry continues to mature and is attracting U.S. asset managers looking to expand in new regions, as investment risks increase in other markets such as China. Publicly traded U.S. firm Ares Management, which oversees about $395 billion mostly in private credit operations, recently formed a partnership with Brazilian private-equity manager Vinci Partners that involves marketing new funds offered by both firms. As part of the deal, Ares invested $100 million in Rio de Janeiro-based Vinci.
/jlne.ws/3R5Vlxb
Europe's Petrochemical Industry Is Heading for Death Row; The region's manufacturers are importing the building blocks to make plastic from overseas as energy prices make domestic production too costly.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
The last time European petrochemical plants processed so little of their favorite feedstock, Sweden's ABBA was the most popular band on the continent, and the Fall of Saigon had marked the end of the Vietnam War. It was 1975, and the region was still licking its wounds after the first oil crisis. Nearly half a century later, the industry is dying.
/jlne.ws/3G7Nn0l
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Japanese whisky continues to get pricier amid solid popularity; Luxury brands from Suntory and Nikka see prices rise by 40%
Hirofumi Kanaoka - Nikkei
Prices of Japanese whisky remain on a spirited upswing. As Japanese whisky has captivated the sophisticated taste buds of whisky lovers across the world with its high quality, exquisite craftsmanship and unique flavor profiles, some premium Japanese brands have seen their prices surge nearly 40% in the past five years.
/jlne.ws/3SVuJjI
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