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John Lothian Newsletter
November 09, 2017 "Irreverent, but never irrelevant"
 
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Hits & Takes

This evening is the LaSalle Street Trading Tech Awards at the Chicago Board of Trade Building supporting the Pathway to Adventure Council of the Boy Scouts of America. John Hague of RSM and I are the co-chairs of the event. I would like to thank John for his leadership and also the management of the CBOT Building, Glenstar Properties, for helping make this event happen. This event is the reincarnation of the LaSalle Street Dinner Dance where the who's who of the Chicago financial community would party under a circus tent in front of the Chicago Federal Reserve Building on LaSalle Street. Tonight should be fun as we honor those firms who participated in Trading Tech 300 and five Scouts who have earned the Harlan Ten Pas Award.~JJL

I would also like to thank all the sponsors of the event. I will have the final list of them for you tomorrow. ~JJL

Yesterday was the launch of FANG Plus futures at ICE. ~JJL

Bitcoin topped $7,800 yesterday, as noted in Marketwatch's wrapup. ~JK

Asia Pacific Financial News from John Lothian News - November 8, 2017 ~JJL

The Center for Financial Markets and Policy at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business is hosting Russ Behnam, Commissioner, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tue, November 14, 2017 at a program titled "The Dodd-Frank Inflection Point: Building on Derivatives Reform." ~JJL

The latest issue of The TRADE is now available online. ~JJL

Have you seen the CME Datamine? ~JJL

We referenced how much energy it takes to power a Bitcoin transaction at the beginning of the month. Now, the creator of the BitTorrent protocol, Bram Cohen, is developing a cryptocurrency, Chia, as an eco-friendly competitor. ~SD


++++

CME Group to Host 10th Annual Global Financial Leadership Conference
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it will host the 10th annual Global Financial Leadership Conference (GFLC) Nov. 13-15, at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort in Naples, Fla. The GFLC is an exclusive, invitation-only event that brings together decision-makers from the world's leading financial institutions to discuss the global investment climate and outlook, debate critical economic issues and share insights and analysis of geopolitical trends and the global financial landscape.
/goo.gl/JyikF2

*****Media wishing to attend GFLC should contact Laurie Bischel~JJL

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America's 'Retail Apocalypse' Is Really Just Beginning
By Matt Townsend, Jenny Surane, Emma Orr and Christopher Cannon - Bloomberg
The so-called retail apocalypse has become so ingrained in the U.S. that it now has the distinction of its own Wikipedia entry.
/goo.gl/NNB6rx

***Looking forward to "Retailpocalypse" the movie.~SR

++++

Isaac Newton Learned About Financial Gravity the Hard Way
By Jason Zweig - WSJ
Was one of the most immortal scientists in history also one of the world's most mortal investors?
/goo.gl/HBDJ3L

***** The universal law of trading is that markets go down faster than they go up.~JJL

++++

Wednesday's Top Three
Yesterday's top story was from the Chicago Fed, a paper called Blockchain and Financial Market Innovation. Second went to Business Insider's Bitcoin trading matures as institutions pour in. Third went to the announcement from CME Coming Soon: Bitcoin Futures

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Sponsored Content
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ICE Futures U.S. is launching the NYSE FANG+ Index

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John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals.
 
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John Lothian News Editorial Staff:
 
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Lead Stories
Could the 'Intellicator' Spill the Market's Secrets?; If approved by SEC, critics say service could enable sophisticated algorithmic traders to exploit investors
Alexander Osipovich - WSJ
Some Wall Street heavyweights are crying foul over a proposal by Nasdaq Inc. they say will expose hidden trading strategies—the latest clash between traders and exchanges over Big Data.
/goo.gl/V7edH1

2 Chinese investors drop out of bid for Chicago Stock Exchange
Nereida Moreno - Chicago Tribune
Two of the three China-based bidders for the Chicago Stock Exchange have withdrawn from a group trying to acquire the market, officials said Wednesday.
/goo.gl/pE3kpk

Steven A. Cohen, Andreessen-Backed DIY Quant Fund Struggles
Gregory Zuckerman - WSJ
A quant-trading firm backed by hedge-fund investor Steven A. Cohen and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has run into early problems.
Quantopian gained attention by creating a network of 160,000 users who developed more than 600,000 trading algorithms, grabbing the early lead in an emerging area of do-it-yourself quant trading.
jlne.ws/2AlAprL

China approves interbank bond derivatives trade for overseas investors
Reuters Staff
China's central bank said on Thursday that foreign investors would be permitted to trade in bond derivatives in the country's interbank market.
/goo.gl/CFXzx8

Exchange operators believe in cryptocurrencies: CBOE
Reuters Staff
The major futures exchanges believe in the development of cryptocurrency trading and will push on with launching exchange traded funds that allow investors to trade in them, chief operating officer and president of Cboe Global Markets said on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/bg6TDd

SIFMA Requests Delay in CAT In Light of Ongoing Concerns
SIFMA
SIFMA today issued the following statement from Randy Snook, executive vice president, business policies and practices, on its letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission requesting a delay in the Consolidated Audit Trail compliance deadline:
/goo.gl/iGZp7V

In 2017, Investors Can Either Buy Bubbles or Be Left Far Behind
Luke Kawa - Bloomberg
Equal-weighted 'Bubblicious' portfolio up more than 120% YTD; Chinese real estate, short volatility, duration all rewarded
The best way to crush the crowd in 2017? Buy the things everyone insisted would never keep going up.
/goo.gl/6QEG2Y

China Urged to Harmonize Young CDS Market With Rest of World
Bloomberg
China should harmonize its year-old domestic market for credit-default swaps with standards found offshore to help them become an effective and liquid tool that strengthens the bond market.
jlne.ws/2hnHAvY

Bank CEOs Can't Agree on How Scared They Should Be of Amazon
Jennifer Surane and Laura J Keller - Bloomberg
Tech titans have an edge with consumers, bank leaders concede; But Wells Fargo's Sloan sees opportunities for partnerships
Amazon.com Inc.'s been plowing into industry after industry, and executives atop some of the biggest U.S. banks are hoping finance won't be the next target for disruption.
/goo.gl/9Vh2m4

Hong Kong's Real Bull-Market Killer
Shuli Ren - Bloomberg
Chinese investors are piling into Hong Kong stocks again, but they're being choosy, treating two peas from the same pod in different ways.
/goo.gl/dNcpKu

Traders Are Growing Nervous About Market Divergences; A few major U.S. stock indexes are breaking down even as the S&P 500 and Dow notch fresh highs
Chris Dieterich - WSJ
Analysts are wringing their hands over fresh signals that could portend the long-awaited pullback in the stock market.
/goo.gl/CwkXwR

Endowments Boom as Colleges Bury Earnings Overseas; American universities are using offshore strategies
to swell their coffers, skirt taxes and obscure investments that could spark campus protests.
Stephanie Saul - NY Times
In 2006, the endowments of Indiana University and Texas Christian University invested millions of dollars in a partnership, hoping to mint riches from oil, gas and coal.
/goo.gl/hbaVwh

Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Follow Futures, Cboe President Says
Brian Louis - Bloomberg
Cboe Global Markets Inc. sees bitcoin exchange-traded funds on the horizon.
The Chicago-based exchange operator is competing with local rival CME Group Inc. to introduce bitcoin futures. Cboe announced in August that it wanted to offer the contracts, which would use Gemini bitcoin market data, by the end of this year or early next year. Each company needs approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
/goo.gl/f6LZJq

Bitcoin Expansion Is Off the Table. At Least for Now.
Nathaniel Popper - NY Times
A long-running civil war over the design of Bitcoin appears to be over for now, after one side in the fight acknowledged on Wednesday that it had not won sufficient support from other virtual currency backers.
/goo.gl/3esxhj

Catalan Crisis Courses Through Spain's Financial Plumbing; Volumes in repo markets rose sharply, indicating banks were piling into wholesale money markets
Jon Sindreu - WSJ
The political turmoil that upended Spanish markets last month triggered a scramble among banks to find new sources of funding.
/goo.gl/EWves9





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Exchanges, OTC & Clearing
Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities
Murky Corner of U.S. Stock Market Takes Step to Clean Up Fraud
Annie Massa and Matt Robinson - Bloomberg
OTC Markets Group adds new policies on stock promotion; SEC cracked down on fraudulent stock promotion in April
A corner of the U.S. stock market where fraudsters often lurk has taken a step toward cleaning up.
/goo.gl/W2jAFU

SGX welcomes Keppel-KBS US REIT to Mainboard; Singapore Exchange (SGX) today welcomed Keppel-KBS US REIT to Mainboard under the stock code "CMOU".
SGX
Keppel-KBS US REIT is a Singapore real estate investment trust with an initial portfolio of 11 income-producing commercial assets in seven cities across the US. The REIT Manager is jointly owned by Keppel Capital, the asset management arm of Keppel Corporation and a premier manager of real estate assets in Asia, together with KBS Pacific Advisors Pte Ltd., an established commercial real estate investment manager in the US - both of which are also the sponsors of Keppel-KBS US REIT.
/goo.gl/A9bnGS

CME's planned bitcoin futures will attempt to rein in big price swings; CME will apply limits to its bitcoin futures' trading range when the product launches, the exchange says; Bitcoin is notoriously volatile and the limits on the futures product could help reduce overall volatility; The development of a less volatile bitcoin futures product may also help the case for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
Evelyn Cheng - CNBC
The world's largest futures exchange wants to guard against extreme volatility in its planned bitcoin futures product.
/goo.gl/7ypRfX

T7 Release 6.0: Introduction timeline for partition-specific gateways
Eurex
Shortly after the launch of T7 Release 6.0, Deutsche Börse will start the migration to partition-specific (PS) gateways. PS gateways will replace the existing high frequency gateways and will only allow transaction routing to a specific partition. Sessions may login to only one PS gateway at a time and have to specify the partition ID in their initial connection request to the connection gateway. Low frequency gateways will remain in place and allow routing to all partitions.
/goo.gl/Y5NqzX

Eurex KOSPI Product: Changed trading hours on 16 November 2017
Eurex
Due to the South Korean Exam Day, continuous trading of the Eurex KOSPI Product (OKS2) will start on 16 November 2017 at 11:00 CET (regular: 10:00 CET).
/goo.gl/Lt7RcS

ELITE welcomes 20 new UK companies
London Stock Exchange Group
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) today welcomes 20 new UK companies to its unique business support and capital raising programme, ELITE. This brings the total number of UK companies in the ELITE community to over 120, which includes companies such as online investment management service provider, Nutmeg, British furniture brand, Swoon Editions, and developers of affordable credit card sized computers, Raspberry Pi.
/goo.gl/ndCeFH

London Stock Exchange and APIR systems enter into partnership to issue LEIs to Australian market
London Stock Exchange Group
London Stock Exchange today announces that it has entered in a partnership with APIR Systems, who will act as a registration agent in Australia and South East Asia to support the issuance and maintenance of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI).
/goo.gl/scd2EC

JPX Monthly Headlines -October 2017
JPX
JPX group companies undertake various initiatives and disseminate information with the aim of providing the most attractive markets to all users.
/goo.gl/ZEzLrG




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Fintech
A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors
Former Bitcoin King Is Bankrupt—And He Could Get Rich Again; Rise in cryptocurrency's price means former CEO of exchange could be in for windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars
Kosaku Narioka - WSJ
Creditors of the collapsed Japanese bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox are on course to miss out on the recent surge in bitcoin prices. Instead, it is the exchange's former chief executive, now on trial for embezzlement, who could turn a handsome profit.
/goo.gl/pWoz27

Ethereum Creator Wonders Whether His Currency Should Be Scarcer
Matthew Leising - Bloomberg
In a rare interview, Vitalik Buterin frets over ether supply; Notes 'voodoo economics' of digital tokens with no limits
Vitalik Buterin, the inventor of the ethereum blockchain, may have created too much of a good thing.
/goo.gl/QuRFHQ

Coinbase Escalates Showdown on U.S. Tax Probe as Bitcoin Surges
Joel Rosenblatt - Bloomberg
IRS wants data on 14,355 customers, 8.9 million transactions
Industry group warns court of 'dangerous' threat to privacy
The 10,000 bitcoins that seven years ago famously paid for the delivery of two Papa John's pizzas would be worth more than $74 million today.
/goo.gl/NeQNzA

Someone Figured Out How to Put Tomatoes on a Blockchain
Annie Massa - Bloomberg
Blockchain startup tracks tomato ripeness, color, flavor; IBM enlisted food giants for an experiment in similar area
Intrigued by how blockchain was changing finance, an ex-banker at Wells Fargo & Co. and a former executive at Nasdaq Inc. began looking for other opportunities. They looked at applying the technology to insurance, law, even music.
/goo.gl/315JUB

Bitcoin Surges on Hopes That Upcoming Split May Be Avoided
Camila Russo and Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
SegWit2x upgrade was scheduled to go in effect in one week
Digital currency has climbed more than sevenfold this year
Bitcoin soared to a record after a technology upgrade that was threatening to disrupt the biggest cryptocurrency was called off, removing another concern for mainstream investors captivated by this year's more-than-sevenfold gains.
/goo.gl/3Z2poJ

Regulating A.I. is a 'silly idea,' VMWare CEO says; Trying to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) is a "silly idea," Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMWare told CNBC; Gelsinger said that AI can be a force for good; His comments mirror Intel CEO Brian Krzanich who told CNBC that AI would be difficult to regulate
Arjun Kharpal - CNBC
Trying to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) is a "silly idea," Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMWare told CNBC Wednesday, amid continued debate about the role of the technology in the future.
/goo.gl/aoJMiw

Citigroup CEO: Bitcoin Threat Will Give Rise to State Cryptocurrencies
Sujha Sundararajan - Coindesk
Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat has predicted that state-sponsored digital currencies will arise from the threat posed by bitcoin.
/goo.gl/TGtsRy

Bitcoin hits all time high as controversial 'hard fork' called off
Matthew Field - Telegraph
Bitcoin shot to just shy of $7,900 (£6,000) after a controversial proposal that could have split the cryptocurrency was called off.
/goo.gl/M7LST1




Politics
An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets
Brexit has broken British politics; To old friends, the UK appears to be in the grip of an inexplicable fever
Philip Stephens - FT
Sometimes a nation does well to see itself through the eyes of others. Never has that been truer of Britain. To old friends, Great Britain, as they used to call it, is in the clasp of an inexplicable fever. Renowned for solidity and pragmatism, the Brits have fallen to rage and resentment. Carefully judged self-interest has surrendered to dangerous dogmatism.
/goo.gl/r31dqh

Trump Tower Condo Prices Lag Behind Those of Similar Midtown Properties; Units' prices have fallen sharply since Donald Trump launch campaign in 2015
Josh Barbanel - WSJ
Condominium prices are faltering at Trump Tower, President Donald Trump's property on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, more than at similar buildings across the city.
/goo.gl/6EaDrZ



Regulation & Enforcement
For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts.
Ex-Trump adviser Carl Icahn hit with subpoena
Matt Egan - CNN
Carl Icahn's firm has been subpoenaed over the billionaire's role as President Trump's special adviser on deregulation.
Icahn Enterprises said in a recent filing that it's cooperating with the demand for information by the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. The firm is controlled by Icahn, who also serves as its chairman.
jlne.ws/2AmPSbk

Behind the Fall of a New York State Pension Fund Executive; Navnoor Kang, accused of taking bribes from Wall Street salespeople, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud
Justin Baer - WSJ
Navnoor Kang, a former New York state pension fund executive accused of taking bribes from Wall Street salespeople, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of fraud.
/goo.gl/48fBwR

U.S. Subpoenas Icahn Over Biofuel Action While Trump Adviser
By Miles Weiss , Jennifer A Dlouhy , and Mario Parker - Bloomberg
U.S. Attorney for Southern District of N.Y. seeks information; Icahn Enterprises discloses request in securities filing
Federal investigators have issued subpoenas for information on Carl Icahn's efforts to change biofuel policy while he served as an adviser to President Donald Trump, according to regulatory filings.
/goo.gl/AHRvmt

US regulators demand CNN sale to approve AT&T-Time Warner deal; Dispute erupts in public as AT&T boss says he will not put news channel up for sale
James Fontanella-Khan and Shannon Bond in New York and Matthew Garrahan in Lisbon - FT
AT&T has been told by the US Department of Justice that it needs to sell CNN, Time Warner's cable news channel, to get its $84.5bn acquisition of the media company approved, according to three people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
/goo.gl/Ee9ouC

ISDA Reissues Invitation to Tender for Determinations Committees Secretary Role
ISDA
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today announced that it has reissued an invitation to tender for the secretarial role on the credit derivatives Determinations Committees (DCs).
/goo.gl/rLpSXp

Operators of 'binary options trading boiler room' convicted and sentenced
ASIC
Following an ASIC investigation, Jana Jaros and Jackson Laurence Malcolm Capper were convicted and sentenced for operating a financial services business without a licence and lodging false documents to ASIC containing false or misleading material.
/goo.gl/1AVrZF

ESMA updates benchmarks Q&As on third country issues
ESMA
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published updated Questions and Answers (Q&As) regarding the implementation of the Benchmarks Regulation (BMR).
/goo.gl/zMWjAx








Investing & Trading
Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities)
The Trump Rally - One Year Later
Phillip Brzenk - S&P Dow Jones Indices
The results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which were widely considered surprising, had many market participants believing that the proposed economic policies of Donald Trump, "Trumponomics," would be swiftly implemented. During his campaign run, Trump called for tax cuts, reduced corporate regulations, increased foreign trade tariffs, and increased defense and infrastructure spending.[1] Initial expectations held by many were that his policies would be a boon to the overall U.S. economy in the short term. In particular, companies and industries most closely tied to the U.S. economy and economic proposals would reap the majority of the benefits.[2][3]
jlne.ws/2AoW56t

Tough quarter for gold as demand slides to 8-year low; Lower inflows into bullion ETFs and a softer jewellery market in India
Neil Hume, Mining and Commodities Editor 2 comments
Demand for gold slumped to an eight-year low in the third quarter as the prospect of higher US interest rates and tighter monetary policy resulted in less buying from institutional investors.
/goo.gl/Tnf4xg

US richest 1% to gain most from Republican tax plan, report says; Lower income earners to get little from shake-up while wealthiest to reap nearly half the benefit
Washington and Lauren Leatherby in New York - FT
Taxpayers in the wealthiest 1 per cent of US households stand to receive nearly half the benefit of the Republicans' tax overhaul by 2027, according to a think-tank.
/goo.gl/GjaVSo

Rich School Endowments Aren't Taxed. Washington Is Out to Change That; Whatever happens with the proposed levy on private schools' investment earnings, now it's out in the open: The Republicans are hungry for college cash.
Janet Lorin - Bloomberg
A threat that U.S. private colleges and universities have dreaded for years just got closer to reality: Republicans in Congress want to tax rich endowments. The sweeping 400-page tax bill unveiled on Nov. 2 includes a 1.4 percent levy on private schools' investment income. It's one of many ways the bill is trying to raise money to partially pay for slashing corporate rates and other cuts. The tax could apply to private institutions with endowments of more than $250,000 per full-time student, according to a later amendment to the bill. That group includes about 70 colleges and universities.
/goo.gl/RBL19y

From Circuit Breaker to Record Maker: Trump's Year in Charts
Sid Verma , Dani Burger , and Luke Kawa - Bloomberg
So called "Trump trades" took off, then crash-landed; Treasury curve flattens amid failure to enact fiscal stimulus
It's been a year since America awoke to Donald Trump, president-elect. While the victory upended the American political landscape, no such transformation occurred in financial markets, where calm has prevailed as risk assets have rallied.
/goo.gl/DTwNCQ

Diesel Becomes a Dirty Word for Oil Traders
Alex Longley , Bill Lehane , and Firat Kayakiran -Bloomberg
Diesel provided a key source of support during crude rally; Forces that lifted diesel have now abated, market weaker
The soaring diesel market has taken a turn for the worse. That could be bad news for oil bulls who amassed record bets on a rally in crude.
/goo.gl/64H3YW

Menu Prices Will Tell the Future of Inflation; When wages rise, these businesses must raise prices or go bust.
Conor Sen - Bloomberg
The labor market continues to tighten, so why aren't wages driving up inflation? Sometimes there's more to the equation than supply of workers (low) and demand for workers (high). Key actors still bear the scars of the great recession, and will do their part only when there is good reason. The restaurant industry explains it all.
/goo.gl/RahtFb

Inside the Dangerous World of Tiny IPOs
Matt Robinson and Benjamin Bain - Bloomberg
So-called mini-IPOs can raise money from mom-and-pop investors; The companies have lost an average 34 percent since listing
One executive was convicted of filing false tax returns, another for obstructing justice and a third accused of selling unregistered stock.
/goo.gl/cM9cj7

Shares Pause After Fresh Wall Street Records; Disappointing European corporate results weigh on equities, investors look to U.S. company earnings
Marina Force - WSJ
Global stocks were subdued Thursday as the Republican tax-reform plan in the U.S. remained under scrutiny and investors awaited a flurry of corporate results.
/goo.gl/Vdek5U

Sky-high stock market has investors looking to commodities
Devika Krishna Kumar, Chris Prentice - Reuters
A growing number of investors are plowing money into commodities, seeking to diversify their holdings on gnawing concerns about a stock market correction as equities scale new highs almost daily.
/goo.gl/UFdTmp

$34 BILLION HEDGE FUND: 'Markets are in a kind of dreamland' — and the ingredients for a crash are all here
Rachael Levy - Business Insider
Elliott Management, one of the world's largest hedge funds with $34 billion, told clients that the ingredients for a market crash are all here; The hedge fund was founded by billionaire Paul Singer, a big GOP donor; The firm has been prepping for a significant market event - raising $5 billion in about 24 hours earlier this year.
"Markets are in a kind of dreamland." That's according to Elliott Management, one of the world's largest hedge funds. The firm, led by billionaire GOP donor and hedge-fund manager Paul Singer, said markets are at high risk, partially due to super-low interest rates, according to a third-quarter client letter seen by Business Insider.
/goo.gl/jnQeNV

Opinion: Tony Robbins completely misses the mark on financial advisers; Financial Planning Association president: This is the investing help people really need
Shannon J. Pike - MarketWatch
Tony Robbins has built a massive global platform aimed at helping people improve their lives through a vast library of self-help content and keynote speeches. While he may have helped many people over the years, Robbins is now using that same platform to misinform the public and disparage many in the financial advice profession who, like Robbins, are trying to help people overcome personal financial challenges.
/goo.gl/k8obF6




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Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds
The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures
This French Bank Is Thriving on Exotic Deals
Donal Griffin and Fabio Benedetti Valentini - Bloomberg
CEO pushes complex products to grow as rivals struggle; Bank suffered billions in losses from CDOs in financial crisis
A decade after losses on complex financial products threatened to upend Natixis SA, the French bank is thriving on its taste for exotic deals.
/goo.gl/8jTCcR

How Some Small Banks Are Firing the Fed; As benefits of the holding-company structure fade, banks are cutting costs with self-administered regulatory relief
Christina Rexrode - WSJ
Bank of the Ozarks wanted to cut costs, so it ditched the Fed. The Little Rock, Ark., bank was regulated by the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., a state banking agency and others. It figured one way to reduce expenses would be to remove a layer of oversight.
/goo.gl/phuQ5G

CIC, Goldman Sachs establish China-U.S. industrial cooperation fund -U.S. State depart
Reuters Staff
China Investment Corp (CIC) and Goldman Sachs have signed a strategic agreement to establish a China and United States industrial cooperation fund on the sidelines of a state visit to Beijing by U.S. President Donald Trump.
/goo.gl/7AYrgu

Merrill Lynch to raise pay for top-performing brokers in 2018
Elizabeth Dilts - Reuters
Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Wednesday that it will increase the pay of brokers each month who grow their business in 2018 and will cut the monthly pay of those who do not, in a bid to the Wall Street brokerage's own growth.
/goo.gl/o4jST1

GOLDMAN SACHS ANNOUNCES NEW MANAGING DIRECTORS
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) today announced that it has selected a new class of Managing Directors, effective from January 1, 2018, the start of the firm's next fiscal year.
/goo.gl/p8wpMw

Goldman adds 509 to its ranks of managing directors; Goldman Sachs announced it has named 509 new managing directors, the second-highest employee rank behind partner; The base salary for the position is $389,098, with total compensation at $746,891, according to Glassdoor.
Jeff Cox - CNBC
Financial professionals sit in the Goldman Sachs booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
The ranks of Goldman Sachs' top management are about to swell, with a big push toward millennials, according to a company announcement.
/goo.gl/9PjNJE

Virtu rises by the most on record on KCG cost savings forecast
Nicole Bullock - FT
Shares in Virtu Financial rose by the most on record on Tuesday amid optimism about projected cost savings associated with the high speed trader's acquisition of rival KCG Holdings.
/goo.gl/ZfgGcY




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Regions
Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions
Saudi graft inquiry spreads beyond borders as UAE examines bank accounts
Stanley Carvalho, Tom Arnold - Reuters
Saudi Arabia's crackdown on corruption has spread beyond its borders as regulators in the United Arab Emirates ask UAE banks for information about Saudi citizens detained in the investigation, a possible prelude to freezing their accounts.
/goo.gl/ye5u3D

Japan clashes with South Korea over shrimp snub at Trump dinner; Tokyo protests after US president served seafood from disputed Dokdo islands
Bryan Harris in Seoul - FT
When Donald Trump visited Japan and South Korea this week, he hailed the strength of the US's Asian alliances in tackling the threat from North Korea.
/goo.gl/YgZBEY

China to 'Substantially' Ease Access to Financial Industry
Alfred Liu and Jun Luo - Bloomberg
Statement follows Xi Jinping meeting with Donald Trump; China urges U.S. to push forward CICC financial license
China pledged to keep nudging open the door to its mammoth financial industry -- but it will do so at its own pace.
On Thursday, amid a slew of Sino-U.S. dealmaking during President Donald Trump's visit to China, the Foreign Ministry said entry barriers to sectors such as banking, insurance, securities and funds will be "substantially" eased. That will happen "in accordance to China's own timetable and road map," the ministry said, following a meeting between Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping.
/goo.gl/LBEX9Z

Xi's Economic Adviser Poised for Key Role in China Debt Cleanup
Bloomberg News
Liu He seen as 'the brain' behind supply-side reform efforts; Economist is viewed as a combination of Summers and Bernanke
Liu He, a key adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping known for guiding economic policy behind the scenes, appears destined to occupy more of the spotlight.
/goo.gl/BMW9rn

Britain's Vanishing Housing Market
Elaine He - Bloomberg
Britain's housing market is vanishing before our eyes. It's not that prices are in free-fall -- so far -- but the number of transactions actually completing is dwindling.
/goo.gl/xpv4nu

Fewer Independent Restaurants Opening in London; Rising costs mean expansion is led by chains, new figures show
Richard Vines - Bloomberg
Restaurant owners are becoming less adventurous in London, and some are blaming Brexit for creating a squeeze.
/goo.gl/kaUJ2F

The Saudi Purge Isn't Just a Power Grab; It's a go-for-broke upheaval. The question now, for hopeful investors, is whether the crown prince follows his corruption crackdown by opening up an economy dominated by plutocrats and royal cronies.
Peter Waldman and Glen Carey - Bloomberg
It makes sense to be cynical about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ostensible crackdown on corruption in Saudi Arabia. Among the 11 princes, 4 ministers, and dozens of well-known businessmen arrested were some of the 32-year-old's last potential rivals to the Saudi throne. The move also smacks of an asset snatch. Police nabbed 3 of the Arab world's 10 richest men, including investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire best known for rescuing Citicorp in 1991 and making big bets on Apple Inc. and 21st Century Fox Inc. But was it only a Machiavellian power play? Or is this the start of a dramatic, go-for-broke attempt to transform a country that's resisted change for decades?
/goo.gl/rRjUqV

London jobs market at lowest ebb in 10 months as Brexit concerns mount; Some 6,300 new financial services roles were available in October, the lowest recorded since December last year.
Karthick Arvinth By Karthick Arvinth - IBTimes
The number of new jobs available in London's financial sector was at its lowest level this year in October, according to a report.
/goo.gl/WCHYHP








Brexit
Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union
Brexit and Britain's fraught democratic experiment; Questions about the UK's future may be uncomfortable, but they are also necessary
Frederick Studemann - FT
The choice of location was fitting. An old engine workshop once used by London's fire brigade, now repurposed as a museum of migration. What better place than a nondescript block tucked away in a dreary side-street just south of the Thames to launch a high-minded think-tank aimed at stimulating positive debate about Britain's post-Brexit future.
/goo.gl/NeP5V3

Brexit Talks Resume With EU Wary of U.K. Political Risk
Nikos Chrysoloras , Ian Wishart , and Dara Doyle - Bloomberg
Oliver Robbins has been in Brussels ahead of formal talks; EU envoys said to be wary of sending wrong signals to U.K.
Kit Juckes, Societe Generale's chief FX strategist, discusses the British pound and Brexit on "Bloomberg Markets."
Brexit talks resumed Thursday with no indication that a breakthrough is in reach: the Europeans are taking a cautious approach even as both sides hope for an agreement by year-end.
/goo.gl/sQZpq3

JPMorgan chiefs warn May of French Brexit raid on City jobs; Jamie Dimon emerged from talks with Theresa May with more "clarity" over the UK's post-Brexit plans for the City, Sky News learns.
Mark Kleinman, City Editor - SKY
The boss of JPMorgan? warned Theresa May and Philip Hammond on Wednesday that the French government is intensifying efforts to lure British banking jobs across the Channel, even as he hailed greater clarity about the UK's post-Brexit planning.
/goo.gl/ajp9qX

EU gives UK up to 3 weeks to make Brexit bill offer; December summit could fall short on transition guidelines without settlement
Alex Barker in Brussels and George Parker in London - FT
Brussels is giving Britain two to three weeks to set out how much it is prepared to pay in the Brexit divorce settlement, warning that the EU will otherwise struggle to prepare this year for a transition deal the UK badly wants.
/goo.gl/NrEXqK

EU states see Britain failing to meet Brexit divorce terms
Jan Strupczewski, Gabriela Baczynska - Reuters
EU envoys discussed on Wednesday delaying into next year the launch of talks with London on a post-Brexit relationship, raising the risk of businesses shifting out of Britain due to lack of clarity on what will happen after March 2019.
/goo.gl/c64SXh








Miscellaneous
Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections
China Spreads Propaganda to U.S. on Facebook, a Platform It Bans at Home
Paul Mozur - NY Times
China does not allow its people to gain access to Facebook, a powerful tool for disseminating information and influencing opinion.
/goo.gl/2TTZTX







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