| December 27, 2022 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Heavy snow in Western New York killed 28 and in parts of Japan killed 17 over the Christmas holiday. Thirty more people were killed by the sub-arctic storm across the U.S. as freezing temperatures and blowing snow knocked out power, froze pipes and stranded people in their cars for hours. To see how crazy it was in Buffalo, here is a video of the Buffalo Bills football team players digging their cars out of the parking lot after having returned to Buffalo from a Christmas Eve game with the Chicago Bears.
My son Robby made it home for Christmas by getting up at 3:00 in the morning on Thursday to drive from Missouri to Chicago to beat the snow storm. Kat had come in earlier in the week. My son Tim was delayed by his job and took my advice and just stayed in place in Missouri. We enjoyed Christmas via Zoom with Tim.
I hope you and yours were safe and stayed warm during this snowy and freezing holiday season.
Last year my family gift to everyone was a powerpack to charge their devices with in case of a power outage or when they are traveling or camping. This year, I gave everyone a powerful headlamp with rechargeable batteries that can also recharge your cell phone or other device. It was a "let there be light" Christmas.
Dan Berkovitz resigned on Friday as general counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a role he took after stepping down as a CFTC commissioner. The Washington Examiner ran a story on December 20 which pointed out that while he was a CFTC commissioner Berkovitz was the dinner companion of Sam Bankman-Fried with FTX colleagues at a ritzy west-end Washington, D.C., Indian restaurant in October of 2021. FTX and SBF were lobbying for friendly industry regulations, the story says.
I don't know if the two are related, but some crypto-native publications are hinting at it. The Block reported on the Washington Examiner story and noted that Berkowitz was a critic of decentralized finance or DeFi "for lacking intermediaries to protect investors, calling it "a Hobbesian marketplace."
The VIX trading pit experienced some excess liquidity over the Christmas holiday in the form of a burst pipe above the trading floor that left water damage. Thus, today trading is electronic only, Cboe said. The Cboe trading floor will be open for all other Cboe products, the exchange operator said.
When looking for a liquid investment with great price appreciation in 2022, most of us got it all wrong. It was wine investors who had it right when Burgundy prices soared 27.4% in the first 11 months of the year, according to wine exchange Liv-ex's Burgundy 150 index, the Financial Times reported. Liv-ex's Champagne 50 index jumped 21.6%, the story said.
The New York Times is already out with its list of "Notable Deaths of 2022." The list includes: Queen Elizabeth II, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Sidney Poitier, Bill Russell, Loretta Lynn, Jiang Zemin, Madeleine Albright, Jean-Luc Godard, Shinzo Abe, Regine, Meat Loaf, Ivana Trump, Vin Scully and many others who died in 2022.
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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MWE SHORT: Carlos Saez - Illustrating Trading System Design and Planning for Failure
JohnLothianNews.com
When planning for success, how often do we embrace the possibility of failure? Carlos Saez, then of the former Spot Trading, illustrates and explains trading system design and discusses how preparing for failure can be beneficial for not only a product being developed, but also one's career.
Watch the video »
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Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX wined and dined top regulator official at ritzy DC restaurant, emails show
Gabe Kaminsky - Washington Examiner
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former FTX CEO facing prison time, wined and dined a top government regulator official at a swanky Washington, D.C., restaurant with his FTX colleagues while lobbying for friendly industry regulations, emails show. On Oct. 5, 2021, Bankman-Fried, FTX General Counsel Ryne Miller, and then-FTX President Brett Harrison went to dinner at the luxury Indian restaurant Rasika West End with Dan Berkovitz, who at the time was a commissioner for the U.S.
/jlne.ws/3hToSvn
****** I have dined with CFTC staffers before. They always pay their own way, just as Berkovitz did.
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No room in Bethlehem's inns as tourists return for Christmas season
Bethan McKernan - The Guardian
There's once again no room at the inn in Bethlehem as the Palestinian city gears up for its first Christmas season after two years of pandemic restrictions. During the week of Christmas this year, 120,000 tourists and pilgrims from all over the world are expected to visit the occupied West Bank town, home to the Byzantine Church of the Nativity, which stands on the spot where it is believed Jesus was born. The predicted numbers for 2022 are almost on a par with 2019, when Bethlehem saw an all-time high of 150,000 visitors in the same time period, and 3 million visitors overall.
/jlne.ws/3vgEo7t
***** Don't be an ass, use Airbnb to reserve a stable.~JJL
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Santa Claus undaunted by arctic blast, U.S. military says
Keith Coffman - Reuters
U.S. military officials have assured anxious children the arctic blast and snowstorm that wreaked havoc on U.S. airline traffic this week will not prevent Santa Claus from making his annual Christmas Eve flight. "We have to deal with a polar vortex once in a while, but Santa lives year-round in one at the North Pole, so he's used to this weather," deadpanned U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Ben Wiseman, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, which tracks the yuletide flight.
/jlne.ws/3PTJnEF
***** What I want to know is, how cold does it have to be for Santa to shelter in place?~JJL
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How Christmas Turned Into an Orgy of Consumption
Stephen Mihm - Bloomberg
'Tis the season to spend lots of money on extravagant, largely useless gifts. At least that's what the latest figures from the National Retail Federation would suggest. This November and December, US shoppers will likely spend upward of a trillion dollars, with the bulk of the money going toward Christmas gifts. It wasn't always so. Before the 19th century, Christmas remained a relatively minor holiday rooted in pagan rituals. But as the US industrialized and became the world's largest economy, Christmas became a celebration of commerce and consumption, with Santa Claus its greatest salesman.
/jlne.ws/3VpdC7Q
****** The story of Christmas you don't hear told. I love the role of department stores, especially Woolworth's.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story on Friday was Explainer-How did Bankman-Fried secure $250 million bail? from Reuters. Second was Trading firm adds two floors to Loop office, from Crain's Chicago Business. And third was Chinese Startup's $140,000 Car Can Fly Over Traffic Jams, from Bloomberg. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is finally here!
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MarketsWiki Stats
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
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| Lead Stories | Crypto Bankruptcies Chip Away at Customers' Anonymity; Bankruptcy courts are weighing if crypto customers' identities should remain private despite the transparency rules of chapter 11
Akiko Matsuda - The Wall Street Journal
The collapse of several cryptocurrency platforms this year is testing the industry's promise of user privacy as bankruptcy courts weigh if millions of individual customers' identities should be revealed to the public. Hundreds of thousands of customers of Celsius Network LLC have already lost their anonymity because of its chapter 11 filing after a court ruling in September forced it to disclose its account holders' names and coin balances. A different bankruptcy court is expected to consider next month if failed crypto exchange FTX can seal information on its customers' identities and contact information from its publicly-available filings.
/jlne.ws/3vlPRmy
'Made of flesh, not iron': China's medics battle zero-Covid exit wave; Doctors and nurses given 'no choice' but to work while infected after influx of cases inundates hospitals
Cheng Leng, Qianer Liu and Eleanor Olcott - Financial Times
China's medical staff are being asked to work while sick and retired workers are being recalled to duty, as frontline health professionals bear the brunt of Beijing's about-face on its tough zero-Covid policy. Experts have warned that the situation will deteriorate as the virus spreads from China's big cities to rural areas with more precarious healthcare systems, as the country struggles with one of the world's biggest Covid outbreaks.
/jlne.ws/3GkdVfB
Cyber attacks set to become 'uninsurable', says Zurich chief; There is growing concern among industry executives about large-scale strikes
Ian Smith - Financial Times
The chief executive of one of Europe's biggest insurance companies has warned that cyber attacks, rather than natural catastrophes, will become "uninsurable" as the disruption from hacks continues to grow. Insurance executives have been increasingly vocal in recent years about systemic risks, such as pandemics and climate change, that test the sector's ability to provide coverage. For the second year in a row, natural catastrophe-related claims are expected to top $100bn.
/jlne.ws/3FZxvwk
SPAC Boom Ends in Frenzy of Liquidation
Amrith Ramkumar - Wall Street Journal
During the boom in blank-check companies, their creators couldn't launch them fast enough. Now they are rushing to liquidate their creations before the end of the year, marking an ugly conclusion to the SPAC frenzy. With few prospects for deals soon and a surprise tax bill looming next year, special-purpose acquisition companies are closing at a rate of about four a day this month, nearly the same pace they were being launched when the sector peaked early last year.
/jlne.ws/3YNIYYt
Bankman-Fried, FTX execs received billions in hidden loans, ex-Alameda CEO says
Luc Cohen and Tom Hals - Reuters
Sam Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives received billions of dollars in secret loans from the crypto mogul's Alameda Research, the hedge fund's former chief told a judge when she pleaded guilty to her role in the exchange's collapse. Caroline Ellison, former chief executive of Alameda Research, said she agreed with Bankman-Fried to hide from FTX's investors, lenders and customers that the hedge fund could borrow unlimited sums from the exchange, according a transcript of her Dec. 19 plea hearing that was unsealed on Friday.
/jlne.ws/3VpnsGH
Why the $290 Trillion Global Debt Splurge Is Becoming Unsustainable
The Wall Street Journal
Funding shortages and big cuts to government services in some of the world's poorest countries indicate the massive global debt load is increasingly unsustainable. WSJ's Dion Rabouin explains why we're starting to see this and what's next.
/jlne.ws/3hRTTzI
These Crypto Founders And Bitcoin Moguls Lost $116 Billion In 2022
John Hyatt - Forbes
In January 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried was riding high. His Bahamas-based FTX had just raised $400 million from prominent venture capitalists at a $32 billion valuation. A few weeks later, when Forbes published its annual World's Billionaires list, SBF, as he's known, was crypto's second-wealthiest person, worth $24 billion.
/jlne.ws/3WGcGwM
Six Ways to Protect Your Money in 2023
Imani Moise, Joe Pinsker, Ashlea Ebeling, Veronica Dagher and Anne Tergesen - The Wall Street Journal
The highest inflation in four decades. A bear market in stocks. Fears of a recession. A crypto implosion. The past year was a trying one for American households. It strained their budgets, reduced their spending power and clobbered their 401(k) balances. Despite a recent burst of positive news-moderating gas prices and a slowing pace of inflation-many believe the economy will be in worse shape in 2023 than it is now.
/jlne.ws/3I4i1tO
SEC general counsel Dan Berkovitz to step down
Inbar Preiss - The Block
Securities and Exchanges Commission general counsel Dan Berkovitz will step down effective Jan. 31. While known as a decentralized finance hardliner, reports indicate that in his previous role at the CFTC he met and dined with disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Berkovitz was lobbied by Bankman-Fried just before joining the SEC, the Washington Examiner reported. Bankman-Fried currently faces a prison sentence of as much as 115 years stemming from an eight-count indictment.
/jlne.ws/3VrMIMg
Caroline Ellison Apologizes for Misconduct in FTX Collapse, Former Alameda executive's guilty plea was sealed until Sam Bankman-Fried extradition
Corinne Ramey and James Fanelli - The Wall Street Journal
Caroline Ellison, a close associate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, apologized in court this week as she pleaded guilty to fraud and other offenses, telling a judge that she and others conspired to steal billions of dollars from customers of the doomed crypto exchange while misleading investors and lenders.
/jlne.ws/3GmOSJ8
Caroline Ellison 'Knew That It Was Wrong,' Implicates Sam Bankman Fried
Ryan Ozawa - Decrypt
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of collapsed algorithmic trading firm Alameda, told a judge that she agreed with disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in providing "materially misleading financial statements to Albinameda's lenders."
/jlne.ws/3vgVm5O
Sam Bankman-Fried should cut a plea deal because an acquittal at trial is 'virtually impossible,' former Watergate prosecutor says
Brian Evans - Business Insider
A former Watergate prosecutor, Nick Akerman, suggested that Sam Bankman-Fried should avoid a trial and push for a plea deal because the FTX founder has almost no chance of getting acquitted by a jury in a trial. In an interview with Yahoo Finance on Thursday, Akerman pointed to the fact that Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, an FTX cofounder, have agreed to plea deals and are cooperating with prosecutors.
/jlne.ws/3C7g6Rh
'The ICU is full': medical staff on frontline of China's COVID fight say hospitals are 'overwhelmed'
Martin Quin Pollard - Reuters
In more than three decades of emergency medicine, Beijing-based doctor Howard Bernstein said, he has never seen anything like this. Patients are arriving at his hospital in ever-increasing numbers; almost all are elderly and many are very unwell with COVID and pneumonia symptoms, he said.
/jlne.ws/3WPIkbn
The Most Dangerous People on the Internet in 2022
Wired
Russian soldiers poured into Ukraine, accompanied by a wave of cyberattacks across the country. A major cryptocurrency exchange imploded and declared bankruptcy, vaporizing billions of dollars from that digital economy. The once-biggest dark-web drug market-after being demolished by law enforcement-clawed back to the top of the online underworld after doggedly resurrecting itself.
/jlne.ws/3WN3AhY
Humility and Kindness in the Workplace; Gen Z has an opportunity to bridge the technical knowledge gap and here's how
Matthew Scharpf - Illinois Institute of Technology
Year after year, as sure as the sunrise, despite tech revolutions and financial crises, through booms and busts, for better or worse, this process worked. And by being physically present with each other, these stages allowed classmates and colleagues to become the closest of friends, even wedding party members and spouses. Through hard work, merit, and accomplishments, networks and institutions were built which fostered trust and interdependency. Out of these grew trade and camaraderie, yielding communities serving others around them and bringing the world myriad innovations, nurturing a healthy, educated, broad, and classically liberal middle class.
/jlne.ws/3hWekvx
Wall Street's Big Banks Score $1 Trillion of Profit in a Decade
Max Abelson and Hannah Levitt - Bloomberg
Malick Diop felt something shifting on Wall Street. He'd joined Morgan Stanley in the grim days of 2009, when big banks were trying to pay back taxpayer bailouts and deflect public fury. But four years later, the ire was fading and ambition was the order of the day. "It really felt like, for the first time, the job and the career weren't defined by the context of the financial crisis," Diop said. "We are past this now. And now it's time for us to do new deals." In the years that followed, his rise to managing director traced a new boom.
/jlne.ws/3Gu9IGB
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has trashed bitcoin as useless, inefficient, and largely a Ponzi scheme. Here are his 12 best quotes about crypto from the past decade.
Theron Mohamed - Business Insider
Paul Krugman has repeatedly trashed bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, dismissing them as useless, wasteful, niche, and only valuable due to hype and speculation. Over the years, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist has called out the crypto industry for enabling criminals, complicating transactions, preying on vulnerable people, and operating as a pyramid scheme.
/jlne.ws/3WJoBK5
Biggest climate toll in year of 'devastating' disasters revealed; Most expensive storm cost $100bn while deadliest floods killed 1,700 and displaced 7 million, report finds
The Guardian
The 10 most expensive storms, floods and droughts in 2022 each cost at least $3bn (£2.5bn) in a "devastating" year on the frontline of the climate crisis, a report shows. Christian Aid has highlighted the worst climate-related disasters of the year as more intense storms, heavy downpours and droughts are driven by rising global temperatures as a result of human activity. They include storms and drought in the UK and Europe, along with major events on every inhabited continent.
/jlne.ws/3hYETjx
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Russia's Lavrov: Either Ukraine fulfils Moscow's proposals or our army will decide
Ronald Popeski and Lidia Kelly - Reuters
Moscow's proposals for settlement in Ukraine are well known to Kyiv and either Ukraine fulfils them for their own good or the Russian army will decide the issue, TASS agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
/jlne.ws/3BZ9Zyf
Putin says Russia ready to negotiate over Ukraine, Kyiv voices doubts
Guy Faulconbridge - Reuters
President Vladimir Putin said Russia was open to negotiations over the war in Ukraine and blamed Kyiv and its Western backers for a lack of talks, a stance Washington has previously dismissed as posturing amid persistent Russian attacks.
/jlne.ws/3FXhTcG
How Citizen Spies Foiled Putin's Grand Plan for One Ukrainian City
Jeffrey Gettleman - The New York Times
On a foggy morning a few months ago, Valentyn Dmytrovych Yermolenko, an aging Ukrainian fisherman with a bad back and horrible knees, puttered down a narrow channel off the Dnipro River, his inflatable dinghy cutting through the mist. His city, Kherson, had been taken over by the Russian Army, and on the floor of his boat, concealed under a fishing net in a black plastic tub, Mr. Yermolenko had hidden three disassembled automatic rifles.
/jlne.ws/3veImOd
The light of Hanukkah shines in Ukraine
Scott Simon - NPR
Many have compared President Zelenskyy's address to a joint session of Congress to the appearance Winston Churchill made 81 years ago. But I was reminded of when Churchill addressed the Canadian House of Commons a few days later. He said French generals who urged surrender to Germany had told their government, "'In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken.'"
/jlne.ws/3I7DbHl
Russian State TV Hails Lauren Boebert For Refusing To Stand For War Hero Volodymyr Zelensky
Mary Papenfuss - HuffPost
Right-wing Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) won a significant new fan - Kremlin state TV - for refusing to stand and applaud Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he spoke to Congress in Washington, D.C., last Wednesday. It hailed her as "brave" for failing to honor Zelensky, who has led his nation against a bloody, brutal invasion by Russia. The broadcast also gave shout outs to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) and far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson for dissing the leader considered a hero by his country.
/jlne.ws/3C5A6nw
Ukraine Foreign Minister Aiming For February Peace Summit
E. Eduardo Castillo and Hanna Arhirova - HuffPost
Ukraine's foreign minister said Monday that his nation wants a summit to end the war but he doesn't anticipate Russia taking part, a statement making it hard to foresee the devastating invasion ending soon. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that his government wants a "peace" summit within two months at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as mediator.
/jlne.ws/3YNAG2S
The UN has said nuclear war is 'back within the realm of possibility.' Here are the places in the US most likely to be hit in a nuclear attack.
Alex Lockie, Abbie Shull, Sonam Sheth - Business Insider
The UN secretary-general said that nuclear war is "back within the realm of possibility" following Russia's warning earlier this year it was putting its nuclear forces on alert amid its war in Ukraine, which threatens to draw NATO into direct combat with Russia. Since then, nuclear threats have continued to raise concerns a nuclear weapon could be used in a conflict for the first time in decades. Much of the focus as of late has been on the risk of Russian President Vladimir Putin using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine in a desperate move to change his army's forturnes on the battlefield, but the Russian leader has also directed warnings at the US and NATO.
/jlne.ws/3I8cMsX
'Big war is back': 5 lessons from Russia's invasion of Ukraine; Moscow remains undeterred from war aims despite depleted ability to launch major ground offensive
John Paul Rathbone - Financial Times
It was in the dead of winter when Moscow airdropped several hundred paratroopers into the neighbouring country's main airfield with orders to capture the capital, kill the president and install a client regime. As tanks also crossed the border, the Kremlin expected the country would quickly fall.
/jlne.ws/3YKBZjb
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Cboe VIX Options to Trade Electronic-Only on Tuesday Due to Temporary Trading Pit Closure Resulting from Burst Pipe
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, announced that options on the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) will trade electronic-only today. The transition to electronic-only trading for VIX options is the result of the temporary closure of the VIX pit on the Cboe trading floor due to water damage sustained from a burst pipe above the trading floor. The Cboe trading floor will be open and available for all other Cboe Options Exchange products.
/jlne.ws/3FVjorW
Cboe VIX Options trades electronic-only on Tuesday; Water damage from a burst pipe resulted in a temporary trading pit closure with no open outcry trading for the day.
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
Options on the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) are trading electronic-only on Tuesday, with no open outcry trading (at least for today) after water damage from a burst pipe above the trading floor resulted in a temporary closure of the VIX trading pit.
/jlne.ws/3C3ttSy
MARF admits a new 30-million-euro Commercial Paper Programme from Eurofirms
BME-X
BME's fixed income market, MARF, has admitted to trading today a new 30-million-euro Commercial Paper (CP) Programme from Eurofirms Group. This programme is the first registered by the company on the MARF and will allow it to access qualified investors to diversify its short-term sources of financing. The CPs to be issued under the programme will have maturities ranging from three days to a maximum of two years and will have unit notional amounts of 100,000 euro.
/jlne.ws/3FW8a6C
IGBM index new composition for the first half of 2023; The index will comprise 109 stocks, following the inclusion of Opdenergy, and the exclusion of Siemens Gamesa, Ezentis, Innovative Solutions Ecosystem, Lingotes Especiales, Libertas 7, Montebalito and Squirrel Media
BME-X
The Indice General de la Bolsa de Madrid (IGBM) Management Committee, during its ordinary index review meeting has decided that the Indice General de la Bolsa de Madrid (IGBM) and the Indice Total will be made up of 109 stocks in the first half of the year, following the inclusion Opdenergy, and the exclusion of Siemens Gamesa, Ezentis, Innovative Solutions Ecosystem, Lingotes Especiales, Libertas 7, Motebalito and Squirrel Media.
/jlne.ws/3Wt5YdJ
Discover Euronext with Francesco, Post Listing Advisory Manager at Corporate Services
Welcome to the Jungle Solutions - YouTube
/jlne.ws/3I8JURz
Trading Schedule during National Holidays for Year 2023
SHFE
Pursuant to the Circular on Issues Concerning the Holiday Schedule for Year 2023 (ZJBF [2022] No.113) issued by the General Office of the China Securities Regulatory Commission ("CSRC"), Shanghai Futures Exchange ("SHFE") hereby announces the following trading schedule during national holidays for year 2023.
/jlne.ws/3GmBcNW
Membership Resignation: Arraco Global Markets Limited (In Administration)
LME
1. Notice is hereby given that The London Metal Exchange (LME) has approved the resignation of the following RIB Tier 2 Member pursuant to Regulation 10.3(a) of Part 2 of the LME Rulebook:Arraco Global Markets Limited (In Administration) 2. The LME resignation will take effect immediately. All system access to LME has been disabled.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa
The Kaliningrad region began placing the third issue of bonds for the population on Financial Services
MOEX
On December 26, 2022, the Ministry of Finance of the Kaliningrad Region began placing a new, already third issue of national bonds exclusively on the Finuslugi platform. The purchase and sale service is available to Finuslug customers both on the website and in the mobile application, you just need to register on the platform by linking the account of the State Services portal.
/jlne.ws/3hNtZNP
Changes in Nifty Fixed Income indices
NSE
The Index Maintenance Sub-Committee (Debt) of NSE Indices Limited, as part of its periodic review, announces the following replacements in Nifty fixed income indices: These changes shall become effective from January 02, 2023.
/jlne.ws/3Gnmo1W
SGX RegCo takes action against UOB Kay Hian Private Limited
SGX
Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) refers to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) media release on 31 August 2022, where MAS imposed a $375,000 composition penalty on UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) for failing to comply with business conduct requirements under the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism requirements under MAS Notice SFA04-N02.
/jlne.ws/3FT9VBz
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Mastercard Ordered by FTC to Help Rivals Route Transactions; Agency says card companies use technology to stymie rivals; Order is culmination of years-long probe into tokenization
Emily Birnbaum and Jennifer Surane - Bloomberg
The Federal Trade Commission ordered Mastercard Inc. to start providing its competitors with customer account information they need to process debit payments, a move that could cut costs for merchants.
/jlne.ws/3PWuoK4
Elon Musk Sounds the Alarm About ChatGPT
Luc Olinga - The Street
It's the attraction of the end of the year. In less than a month, the chatbot ChatGPT has been a dazzling success. From academics to techies to the general public, the artificial intelligence (AI) of the ChatGPT tool blows minds. Social networks and press articles in different languages are full of examples of the more than impressive results of those who have tested ChatGPT. The conclusion is unanimous: breathtaking.
/jlne.ws/3viCPpH
A Look at the Gold Rush to Become the New Twitter; Platforms new and old are hoping to win from those departing the bird app.
Tim Culpan - Bloomberg
Twitter Inc.'s demise is imminent. At least that's the declaration from those who've announced their move to another platform. That they've made these pronouncements on Twitter itself, and then stuck around to watch, highlights how difficult it is for users to cut their addiction since Elon Musk took a machete to the network.
/jlne.ws/3jwCTQ8
Chip Inventories Swell as Consumers Buy Fewer Gadgets; Semiconductor companies slash production plans amid weak demand
Asa Fitch - The Wall Street Journal
The world is now awash in chips. The oversupply marks a sharp turnaround from a global shortage during two years of supercharged demand. Consumer appetite for electronics has weakened against a backdrop of rising interest rates, a falling stock market and recession fears. Chip inventories are swelling, mirroring what is happening in the wider economy where retailers are stuck with goods on their shelves and producers of a range of products in high demand early in the pandemic now face a glut.
/jlne.ws/3YT2YZE
ITP Corporation is Among the Pioneers of an Innovative Global Blockchain Revolution
NewMediaWire
Founded in 2013 in Washington, D.C., ITP Corporation, known as Intelligent Technology Pioneer Corporation, is dedicated to global blockchain technology research and development, innovation, cryptocurrency trading services, asset custody, network security, and operations. ITP Corporation has won many awards from the Global Blockchain Consortium for innovation in the blockchain space, a feat that few companies have achieved.
/jlne.ws/3PRUWfK
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Russians Hacked JFK Airport Taxi Dispatch in Line-Skipping Scheme
Wired
We at Wired are winding down for the year and gearing up for what is sure to be an eventful 2023. But 2022 isn't going down without a fight. This week, following a new surge in mayhem at Twitter, we dove into exactly why the public needs real-time flight tracking, even if Elon Musk claims it's the equivalent of doxing. The crucial transparency this publicly available data provides far outweighs the limited privacy value that censoring would give to the world's rich and powerful. Unfortunately, Musk's threats of legal action against the developer of the @ElonJet tracker are having broader chilling effects.
/jlne.ws/3PVD3MT
BTC.com hacked, around US$3 mln assets stolen
Timmy Shen - Forkast
Blockchain browser and mining pool BTC.com said on Monday that it got hacked earlier this month, and lost around US$2.3 million of its own assets and US$700,000 of clients' assets.
/jlne.ws/3C3hDI6
North Korea-linked NFT Phishing Campaign Targets OpenSea, X2Y2, Rarible Users
Will McCurdy - Decrypt
Researchers have unearthed a new phishing campaign involving North Korea-linked hackers targeting NFT users purchasing tokens on platforms such as OpenSea, X2Y2, and Rarible. Users would first purchase legitimate-looking NFTs on these websites, and these NFTs would then direct the buyer to fraudulent NFT-related websites to complete the minting process.
/jlne.ws/3C5JW8N
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Lawyer fees mount in crypto bankruptcies; Advisers in Celsius case bill $52mn for four months' work
Sujeet Indap - Financial Times
The investment bank B Riley is so determined to persuade the troubled bitcoin miner Core Scientific to avoid filing for bankruptcy that it has offered as much as $72mn in fresh financing to keep the company from seeking a court-supervised Chapter 11 restructuring.
/jlne.ws/3C3Bdnu
Jim Cramer: I would not touch crypto in a million years
CNBC
CNBC's Jim Cramer weighs in on the cryptocurrency sector after Sam Bankman-Fried was released on $250 million bail following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
/jlne.ws/3HZVQoB
Bankman-Fried's 'Blame Ellison' Defense Undercut by His FTX Co-Founder's Plea Deal; FTX co-founder Gary Wang is also cooperating with prosecutors; Some attacks on Ellison's credibility may not work on Wang
Ava Benny-Morrison - Bloomberg
Sam Bankman-Fried for weeks seemed to be trying to get ahead of former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison's widely expected cooperation deal with prosecutors, subtly casting blame on her for FTX's collapse. But when Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams finally announced Ellison's plea agreement Wednesday night, it came with a brutal stinger for Bankman-Fried: federal prosecutors also had a deal with Gary Wang, his FTX co-founder. Wang was far more integral to FTX than Ellison, making him a more dangerous witness for Bankman-Fried.
/jlne.ws/3WsFoBq
Crypto exchanges simply aren't following the rules, and it isn't a lack of regulation that is the problem with the market, former CFTC chair says
Jennifer Sor - Business Insider
A lack of regulation is not the problem with crypto, but rather the fact that exchanges simply are not following rules that are already in place, according to former Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Chair Timothy Massad. Massad pointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission's existing rules to protect investors. But many crypto exchanges just aren't registered with the regulator and are claiming that crypto tokens aren't securities, though SEC chief Gary Gensler has said that they are.
/jlne.ws/3WLIUH6
Judge kept FTX execs' plea deals secret to get founder to US
Larry Neumeister - The Associated Press
A judge agreed to a request by prosecutors to keep it secret that two of Sam Bankman-Fried's executive associates had turned against him so that the cryptocurrency entrepreneur would agree not to fight extradition from the Bahamas to the United States, according to transcripts of plea deals made public Friday. U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams said during plea proceedings Monday in Manhattan that transcripts of the pleas could remain sealed until Bankman-Fried reached New York.
/jlne.ws/3FWeSJV
HK Police Arrest Two Men in Crypto Exchange AAX-Related Case
Dorothy Ma and Kiuyan Wong - Bloomberg
Police in Hong Kong arrested two men on Friday in a case related to cryptocurrency exchange AAX and has frozen the company's bank account. One of the people arrested "manages the platform," Lee Wai-chung, an officer at the commercial crime bureau, said at a press conference Friday. Local media reported that one of the people was Thor Chan, the founder and ex-chief executive officer of AAX.
/jlne.ws/3WrIV2S
FTX execs hid $8 billion in liabilities in a customer account that Bankman-Fried referred to as 'our Korean friend's account,' CFTC prosecutors allege
Laila Maidan - Markets Insider
The case of "where did the money go" is beginning to unravel for crypto exchange FTX. On November 11, the exchange's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for FTX and about 130 of its affiliated companies. The decision came after a scurry of withdrawals left the exchange illiquid.
/jlne.ws/3YNJfut
The FTX Trade That's Tempting Oaktree and Baupost: Credit Weekly; Also, BOJ-jolted buyers of Japan bonds ready to look overseas; More support for China's beleaguered property developers
Shannon D Harrington - Bloomberg
It will be months, if not years, before FTX's customers know how much they'll get back from the failed crypto exchange. But as Bloomberg's Justina Lee and Rachel Butt reported this week, some of the world's savviest distressed debt investors are already looking to make a play.
/jlne.ws/3hTww8Z
SBF and Crypto Are Going Through Some Things; Loss is grief, no matter what you've lost. FTX's executives and investors have a lot to process.
Brooke Sample - Bloomberg
Even if you don't know much about crypto, the flameout of FTX and the subsequent arrest of founder Sam Bankman-Fried, accused of orchestrating a years-long fraud that diverted billions in customer funds from FTX to Alameda, is juicy stuff. Last week, SBF was extradited to the US after spending time in jail in the Bahamas; two of his associates have pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
/jlne.ws/3Vs0L4L
'This is crypto extinction': Peter Schiff predicted the 2008 financial crash - now he sees the total destruction of digital currencies very soon. 3 assets he likes instead
Jing Pan - MoneyWise
Last year, when bitcoin hit $50,000 and the upward momentum seemed unstoppable, he said "While a temporary move up to $100K is possible, a permanent move down to zero is inevitable." If you share the same view, you probably want to know where Schiff is finding refuge in this ugly market. Since Euro Pacific Asset Management has released its latest 13F filing - a report that institutional investment managers file quarterly to disclose their holdings - let's take a look at some notable themes in Schiff's portfolio.
/jlne.ws/3hU9QWi
Officials warn of crypto scam where genuine-looking sites show fake profit
Salvador Rizzo - The Washington Post
The mobile application showed a profit of $2.8 million on what appeared to be a hot day of trading on the Singapore exchange. But whenever the trader tried to withdraw funds back home in the United States, she faced customer service representatives asking for mysteriously high tax payments or fees, according to court documents.
/jlne.ws/3hNnpXD
What Would Crypto Look Like Without Centralized Exchanges Like FTX?
Daniel Roberts - Decrypt
Whether the politicians currently talking tough about the latest crypto crisis agree or not on the matter, crypto isn't dead (yet). Or at least the crypto that exists outside of a particular three-letter centralized crypto exchange isn't dead yet.
/jlne.ws/3YPTVZC
'Cryptopocalypse'-Coinbase CEO Issues Serious 'Contagion' Warning After Bitcoin And Ethereum Price Crash
Billy Bambrough - Forbes
Bitcoin ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies are deep in a brutal so-called crypto winter, with around $2 trillion wiped from the market this year (and possibly a $65 billion earthquake just around the corner). The bitcoin price has crashed under $17,000 per bitcoin, down from almost $70,000 late last year, while the ethereum price has seen a similar sell-off-sparking serious problems for some of the biggest crypto companies.
/jlne.ws/3juCfTk
Bitcoin Mining CEO Says Large Investors Are Angling To Enter The Industry This Crypto Winter
Steven Ehrlich - Forbes
At Foundry, we're focused on empowering decentralized infrastructure. Half of our business is focused on proof-of-work. The other half is focused on proof-of-stake. On the proof-of-work side, we provide all kinds of services to the miners. Our goal is to grow the North American mining ecosystem, and we support miners by providing services such as FoundryX, which is a marketplace for buying and selling machines, logistics services, deployment services and an academy.
/jlne.ws/3WNUCB1
'Merry Christmas'-Shock $300 Million Binance Bombshell Could Be About To Hit The Price Of Bitcoin And Crypto
Billy Bambrough - Forbes
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have been sent sharply lower by the ongoing FTX crisis that could be about to engulf other major crypto companies. The bitcoin price has plunged to lows not seen for more than two years, with the $2 trillion crypto crash triggering a stark global financial crisis warning and fears swirling around FTX rival Binance.
/jlne.ws/3jxkNNV
Would You Buy an NFT From a Vending Machine? (Podcast)
Philip Lagerkranser - Bloomberg
It's been an extremely messy month or so in crypto since Sam Bankman-Fried's exchange FTX went down. But in this episode, we're going to talk about something entirely different - an NFT vending machine. NFTs were all the rage last year, but this year its prices have dropped along with the rest of crypto.
/jlne.ws/3hTCU00
NFT creators diversify into real-world assets to generate new revenues; Entrepreneurs behind digital art collections expand into retail and entertainment amid crypto downturn
Cristina Criddle and Joshua Gabert-Doyon - Financial TImes
Creators of best-selling internet collectibles have responded to a crash in the value of crypto and digital assets by seeking new revenues, such as using cartoons to sell real-world products and create entertainment franchises. Digital items known as non-fungible tokens burst into mainstream culture last year as people snapped up animal collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats and Pudgy Penguins.
/jlne.ws/3vk30fW
Fidelity Wants to Give Investment Advice in the Metaverse Say Trademark Filings
Andrew Asmakov - Decrypt
The $4.5 trillion asset management firm Fidelity Investments has filed three new trademark applications covering a host of Web3 products and services, including an NFT marketplace and a crypto trading platform in the metaverse.
/jlne.ws/3Gix7KK
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Biden Administration Delays Tax Rules for Crypto Brokers
Andrew Duehren - The Wall Street Journal
The Biden administration delayed a requirement that cryptocurrency brokers begin tracking and reporting investors' gains to the Internal Revenue Service, punting on the original Jan. 1 timeline for a change that had been resisted by crypto brokers and some members of Congress. As part of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill signed into law in 2021, Congress required brokers of digital assets to detail the proceeds of their customers' transactions to the IRS in a 1099 form.
/jlne.ws/3PVziHh
How Many Republicans Died Because the GOP Turned Against Vaccines?
Yasmin Tayag - The Atlantic
No country has a perfect COVID vaccination rate, even this far into the pandemic, but America's record is particularly dismal. About a third of Americans-more than a hundred million people-have yet to get their initial shots. You can find anti-vaxxers in every corner of the country. But by far the single group of adults most likely to be unvaccinated is Republicans: 37 percent of Republicans are still unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated, compared with 9 percent of Democrats. Fourteen of the 15 states with the lowest vaccination rates voted for Donald Trump in 2020. (The other is Georgia.)
/jlne.ws/3YRUORy
Indicted crypto magnate's political contributions to Jesús 'Chuy' Garcia making waves in mayor's race
John Byrne - Chicago Tribune
As disgraced cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried faces charges he defrauded investors of billions of dollars, his wide-ranging political campaign contributions to politicians, including Chicago mayoral candidate Jesús "Chuy" Garcia, are drawing questions and criticism. Bankman-Fried on Thursday was released on a $250 million bond package while he awaits trial following the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange. And the widening scandal has politicians across the country scrambling to explain their connections to the FTX exchange founder.
/jlne.ws/3WJGLLP
US Speeds Up Timeline in Delisting Threat For Chinese Companies; Congress hastens delisting threat for blocking audit access; Timeline for potential trading ban cut to two years from three
Benjamin Bain and Erik Wasson - Bloomberg
US lawmakers ratcheted up pressure on Chinese companies whose shares list on American stock exchanges to be more transparent with their financial audits. Congress on Friday passed legislation to speed up the timeline for kicking companies off the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq if Washington regulators can't fully review their audit work papers. After months of high-stakes drama, the tension eased last week when the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said it gained sufficient access to audit documents from firms in China and Hong Kong for the first time.
/jlne.ws/3I2CBdQ
A national weed glut is causing prices to plummet and imperiling businesses
Paul Demko - Politico
Michigan has way too much weed. The number of cannabis grow operations serving the state's recreational market has almost doubled in the past year. The number of active marijuana plants now exceeds 1.2 million, roughly six times the volume seen in 2020.
/jlne.ws/3WrTbIG
Russia's Gas Production, Exports Shrink Under Sanctions Pressure
Ann M. Simmons - The Wall Street Journal
Russia's natural-gas production will fall by 12% this year and its exports will decline by about a quarter, a high-ranking Russian official said Monday in a sign of international pressure on the country's energy market due to sanctions over its war in Ukraine. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told Russia's state news agency TASS that the drop in gas production compared with last year was largely due to the closure of export infrastructure. Most of Russia's natural-gas exports have been via pipelines, primarily to Europe.
/jlne.ws/3GjMUsV
Hong Kong Plans to Reopen Border With China in Weeks; Chief Executive Lee gives presser after visiting Chinal; HK to discuss reopening plan with Guangdong, Shenzhen: Lee
Jinshan Hong and Dorothy Ma - Bloomberg
Hong Kong intends to start reopening its borders with China before mid-January, aiming at returning to pre-Covid cross-border travel arrangements, the city's leader said. The borders will "open fully in a gradual, orderly way," Chief Executive John Lee said during a press briefing at the city's airport on Saturday on returning from a trip to Beijing, where he met President Xi Jinping.
/jlne.ws/3Gi2hSG
Hong Kong will re-open China border as COVID surges
Josh Horwitz - Reuters
China, grappling with a new wave of COVID-19 infections, took another step towards loosening its pandemic-related restrictions on Saturday when Hong Kong's leader announced it would aim to re-open its borders with the mainland by mid-January. Speaking at a news conference upon returning from Beijing, Hong Kong Chief executive John Lee said authorities would aim to "gradually, orderly, and fully" re-open all entry points between the two sides, and coordinate with the government of nearby Shenzhen to manage the flow of people.
/jlne.ws/3VkRRWJ
Japan's LNG Buyers Check How Insurance Halt Will Affect Supplies; Three insurers will stop marine hull war coverage from Jan. 1; Sakhalin-2 LNG buyers include Jera, Tokyo Gas, Kyushu Electric
Shoko Oda and Tsuyoshi Inajima - Bloomberg
Japan's buyers of Russian liquefied natural gas are assessing how imminent changes to shipping insurance - triggered by the ongoing war in Ukraine - will affect supplies from the key Sakhalin-2 project in Russia's Far East. Three Japanese insurance companies - Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., Sompo Holdings Inc. and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc. - will stop providing cover for marine hull war risks in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian territorial waters from Jan. 1, spokespeople for the companies confirmed to Bloomberg. The plans were reported by Japan's Nikkei newspaper on Dec. 24.
/jlne.ws/3FU5iY0
Speculators Slash Bets Against the Yen as BOJ Leaves Carry Traders Gasping; Leveraged funds cut yen shorts to smallest since August: CFTC; The BOJ's policy shift triggered a surge in the yen this week
Maria Elena Vizcaino - Bloomberg
The yen looks to be losing its appeal as the currency of choice to fund so-called carry trades, with speculators cutting bearish bets on it to the lowest level in nearly four months in the wake of this week's shock move by the Bank of Japan. Leveraged funds cut their net-short position on the yen by 8,274 contracts to 13,207, the lowest level since the end of August, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for the week through Tuesday. That was the day that the BOJ rocked markets with its decision to loosen the parameters of its yield-control policy, sending the currency soaring by close to 5% on the day at one stage.
/jlne.ws/3VraBUj
India to Spend $24 Billion on Free Grains for 800 Million People; Government to give free food to eligible people for one year; The move comes ahead of elections in several states next year
Pratik Parija and Vrishti Beniwal - Bloomberg
India will provide free grains to about 800 million people for one year, a move that could help the ruling party reap political benefits and set the tone for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reelection for a third term. The government will spend 2 trillion rupees ($24.1 billion) on the program, Food Minister Piyush Goyal said after a cabinet meeting on Friday. The new initiative will replace an earlier drive of highly-subsidized food grains for eligible people in the world's second-biggest producer and consumer of wheat and rice.
/jlne.ws/3Q1tjB2
India makes COVID test mandatory for arrivals from some countries, including China
Munsif Vengattil - Reuters
India has mandated a COVID-19 negative test report for travelers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand, the health minister said on Saturday. Passengers from those countries would be put under quarantine if they showed symptoms of COVID-19 or tested positive, Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
/jlne.ws/3PSBX4w
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | CFTC Staff Issues No-Action Letter Regarding Investments of Customer Funds in Securities Benchmarked to SOFR
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Market Participants Division today announced it is extending CFTC Staff Letter No. 21-02 regarding investments of customer funds by futures commission merchants (FCMs). In issuing the extension in conjunction with the Division of Clearing and Risk, the scope of the letter was expanded to include investments by derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs).
/jlne.ws/3WOyXZt
Statement of Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger on Extension of Staff No-Action Letter Regarding Investments in Securities with Adjustable Rate of Interest Benchmarked to SOFR
CFTC
I support extension of the staff no-action relief in Letter 21-02 regarding investments of customer funds by futures commission merchants in permitted investments that contain an adjustable rate of interest that is benchmarked to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (also known as SOFR), and the expansion of that staff no-action relief to derivatives clearing organizations.
/jlne.ws/3YQ1VtG
Statement of Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson on Extension of Staff No-Action Letter Regarding Investments in Securities with Adjustable Rate of Interest Benchmarked to SOFR
CFTC
Commission regulation 1.25 is a seminal provision governing futures commission merchant ("FCM") and derivatives clearing organization ("DCO")[1] investment of customer funds. The regulation authorizes FCMs and DCOs to investment customer funds in a sensibly limited set of permitted investments consistent with the prudential objectives of preserving customer funds and maintaining liquidity.[2]
/jlne.ws/3PUOk04
SEC Approves the 2023 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Budget and Accounting Support Fee
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to approve the 2023 budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the related annual accounting support fee.
/jlne.ws/3C34QFM
PCAOB's Ballooning Budget
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce - SEC
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB") is requesting $349.5 million for its 2023 budget and a $329.4 million accounting support fee to fund it.[1] Sarbanes-Oxley gave the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") responsibility for approving the PCAOB's budget, and the associated accounting support fee levied on companies and SEC-registered broker-dealers to fund the budget.[2] I cannot support the PCAOB's 2023 budget and accounting support fee, which-continuing the PCAOB's budget expansion-are substantially higher than the 2022 numbers and may facilitate mission-creep at the PCAOB.
/jlne.ws/3WtbPjp
Did the SEC's Gary Gensler really get crypto regulation right? I am not so sure.
Francine McKenna - The Dig
That's a bold statement. Is it accurate to give Gary Gensler all the credit and is it, perhaps, too soon for anyone to claim victory? A campaign kicked off by Matt Stoller Nov 11, followed by The American Prospect's Dave Dayen Nov 23 and Bob Kuttner Nov 28, and then wrapped up in a bow by a Bloomberg columnist on Nov 30 - quoting Stoller and Dayen - positions U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler as the one regulator reining in crypto.
/jlne.ws/3vif01j
ASIC issues infringement notice against superannuation trustee for greenwashing
ASIC
ASIC has issued an infringement notice to superannuation trustee Diversa Trustees Limited (Diversa) in further action against alleged greenwashing.
/jlne.ws/3WNIDn4
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Elon Musk Warns Against Margin Debt on Risk of Market 'Mass Panic'
Shiyin Chen - Bloomberg
Billionaire Elon Musk is warning against something he himself has done - borrowing against the value of securities one owns - because of the risk of "mass panic" in the stock market. "I would really advise people not to have margin debt in a volatile stock market and you know, from a cash standpoint, keep powder dry," Musk said in the All-In podcast released Friday. "You can get some pretty extreme things happening in a down market."
/jlne.ws/3vk3aUi
Traders Are Losing Hope in Stock Market After Year of Rolling Losses, Fakeouts; S&P 500 retreat lasts an average 2.3 days, longest since 1977; Options hedging, government bonds fail to offset equity losses
Lu Wang - Bloomberg
For all the ink spilled over its horrors, the 2022 stock market will go into the books as an undistinguished one in the history of bad years. For traders who lived through it, though, certain things have made it feel worse than top-line alone numbers justify, a potential impediment to a quick recovery.
/jlne.ws/3WvPzVZ
Why the Price of Plastic Is Crashing After a Record Surge; An under-appreciated source of inflation?
Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal - Bloomberg
Plastic is in almost everything and prices of polypropylene, polyethylene and a host of other polymers went nuts in 2021, surging to record highs. Now they've come crashing back down to Earth and have reached a two-year low. So what happened to send the price of plastics surging, and why are they falling now?
/jlne.ws/3YNCUiP
A Heroic End to Bonds' Villainous Year Spurs Hope for Treasury Investors; Bonds are now doing better, but losses in 2022 have been big; Liquidity and auctions could make markets choppy in final week
Liz McCormick and Alex Harris - Bloomberg
There are encouraging signs that next year will be a better one for bond investors following brutal losses in 2022. After being smashed for much of this year by runaway inflation and breakneck interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, positive returns are making a comeback in Treasuries and the market is poised for its second straight month of positive total returns. It's been helped by a now-elevated running yield and a rebound in bond prices that's been fueled by recession fears and signs of slowing consumer-price gains.
/jlne.ws/3vgjLZe
News Corp. Rises on Report of Bloomberg's Interest in Dow Jones, WaPo
Crayton Harrison - Bloomberg
News Corp. shares gained Friday on a report by Axios that Michael Bloomberg is interested in acquiring the company's Dow Jones unit. The stock climbed 2.8% to $18.31 at the close in New York. Axios, citing an unidentified person familiar with Bloomberg's thinking, said Bloomberg hasn't approached News Corp. controlling owner Rupert Murdoch or hired any advisers to evaluate such a move. Axios also said Bloomberg might be interested in buying the Washington Post.
/jlne.ws/3YTfqss
New Mortgage Borrowers Could End Up Paying Thousands More for a Home Loan
Vicky Shaw, The Press Association - Bloomberg
High numbers of home-owners are set to refinance their mortgages in the coming year. But some may find themselves paying tens of thousands of pounds more over the course of their new home loan than they would have done if they had taken out a deal just a year ago. A string of Bank of England base rate increases over the last 12 months has pushed up borrowing costs - and mortgage rates jumped in the wake of the mini-budget, with many deals also being withdrawn.
/jlne.ws/3C5zpKW
What is an index fund and how does it work?
Aly Yale - CBS News
Handpicking stocks and bonds is one way to invest in the stock market. Index funds, which allow you to invest in a wide array of stocks all at once, are another. If you're not well-versed in the market, index funds can be a good way to diversify your portfolio without putting in a lot of effort, capital or research. Still, they're not right for everyone. Make sure you speak with a financial adviser who can help guide you through the process.
/jlne.ws/3I7DvG3
Cash Cushions Dwindle at U.S. Pension Funds; Fund managers' embrace of less-liquid assets could backfire if market turbulence persists
Heather Gillers - The Wall Street Journal
Cash holdings are the lowest since the financial crisis at U.S. government pension funds and just above last year's 13-year low for U.S. corporate pensions, heading into a year that many on Wall Street expect to test investors. Cash holdings hit 1.9% of assets at state and local government pension funds and 1.7% of assets at corporate pension funds as of June 30, according to an annual snapshot from Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service.
/jlne.ws/3FXWj7U
Invest in Yourself the Way You'd Invest in the Stock Market in 2023; From learning new skills to cultivating interests and relationships, investments of time and money now can pay off in the years ahead
Julia Carpenter - The Wall Street Journal
Want your stock to rise in 2023? The same principles investors use to build wealth can be applied to enriching yourself in other ways. Just as we buy stocks and bonds to generate financial growth, we can build a portfolio of how we spend our time and money now that pays off in the months and years ahead.
/jlne.ws/3G3OYEa
The Junk Bond Reckoning Is Coming in 2023; Companies have been able to put off borrowing at high rates, but they must start to address the wall of high-yield maturities coming in 2024.
Jonathan Levin - Bloomberg
Ever so subtly, the high interest rates of the past year have started to separate the viable businesses from the ones sustained by cheap money. Expect 2023 to kick that process into high gear. Interest rates started surging in late 2021 as the Federal Reserve began to acknowledge that inflation wasn't "transitory," but relatively few companies have had to deal with the consequences. Many of them met their near-term borrowing needs during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, when rates were unusually low. Defaults and bankruptcies have begun to inch up since then, but only slowly and from extraordinarily low levels.
/jlne.ws/3I9o7sZ
Asset Management: The Year That Was; It has been a landmark 12 months for asset allocation
Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
One thing to start: Welcome to your special year-end edition of FT Asset Management. Let's kick off with our new video on fractured markets, in which FT experts and financial industry insiders examine where the next big threats to the global financial system lie.
/jlne.ws/3WMs0bi
The central bank horror story; A liquidity crisis could inflict reputational damage after slow responses to surging inflation
John Plender - Financial Times
Equities, bonds, long-dated index-linked gilts, credit, crypto - the list of market horror stories in 2022 is extensive. Yet the biggest casualty this year was surely the reputation of big central banks. In the period since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, their inflation forecasting has been dismally off-beam. Their response to the rapidly rising price level was slow and, in the notable case of the US Federal Reserve, initially timorous.
/jlne.ws/3PTiOQ2
Time for new investors to take an old approach; Losing money should not lead young people to lose faith in investing
The editorial board - Financial Times
Burnt by big tech, let down by meme stocks and left shivering in the depths of the crypto winter: many new investors, particularly young people, are now sitting on sizeable losses. Losing money should not mean losing faith in investing. It should mean turning to steadier and more proven, if less flash and get-rich-quick, investment strategies.
/jlne.ws/3vk22jG
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Don't underestimate the power of climate bullsh*t; The claim that net zero policies are to blame for the energy crisis is starting to gain traction
Pilita Clark - Financial Times (opinion)
Floods in Pakistan killed more than 1,700 people this year. China had its longest heatwave since national records began. The UK sweltered in 40C heat and the past eight years are set to be the planet's warmest on record. What a relief it would be if none of this had anything to do with climate change. Imagine if scientists had got it wrong and there was no need to stop burning coal, or build more wind farms, or reduce carbon emissions to net zero. As it happens, some people say this is actually the case. They may be in a minority but in a year of spiralling energy costs, there are signs their guff is hitting home. It is to them that my 2022 climate bullsh*t awards are dedicated.
/jlne.ws/3jvU9Fb
The TRADE predictions series 2023: ESG; Participants from FINBOURNE Technology and Fidelity International predict how environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing will accelerate in the upcoming year.
Editors - The Trade
Tom Stevenson, head of equity trading EMEA, Fidelity International: The trading community has made great strides in the promotion of wellbeing, diversity, and sustainability in recent years. However, there is always more to be done, and I believe 2023 will see more trading desks addressing the importance of these topics. Perhaps we may even see a rekindling of the debate around shortening market hours in Europe, to help improve outcomes for end clients in terms of transaction costs, and to potentially address some of the themes above.
/jlne.ws/3YOlTVE
Financiers, end-users press for ESG mine ratings as critical minerals demand grows
Diana Kinch - S&P Global Commodity Insights
A market is opening up for rating mining projects from an environmental, social and governance, or ESG, standpoint, as original equipment manufacturers and technology companies heighten scrutiny of the origins of raw materials for their "green economy" products, such as electric vehicle and energy storage batteries. Such ratings will facilitate decisions by financiers and end-users on which projects to support and which products to buy, and help align the mining sector's ESG indicators, which currently lack standardization.
/jlne.ws/3VkRX0o
Analyzing Sentiment in Quarterly Earnings Calls - Q4 2022
S&P Global Market Intelligence
In the below, we used Transcript Sentiment Scores to analyze the performance of the S&P 500 and its constituents. Transcript Sentiment Scores use natural language processing to provide a way to look at earnings call transcripts in a quantitative fashion. S&P Capital IQ Pro provides net positivity, numeric transparency, language complexity, and analyst selectivity ratio metrics for transcripts at the total, speaker, and component level.
/jlne.ws/3jwytZA
Five Questions to Ask Before You Buy a Heat Pump; Heat pumps and heat pump water heaters are up to four times as efficient as their conventional gas or electric counterparts.
Todd Woody - Bloomberg
Heat pumps are one of the most effective ways to shrink your home's carbon footprint and your utility bills at a time of rising electricity and natural gas costs. The technology can heat and cool homes, and supply hot water.
/jlne.ws/3jkzPq3
What Fracking Can Tell Us About the Future of Fusion; Energy breakthroughs usually come through refinements of existing technologies and processes, not a blinding flash of transformation.
Liam Denning - Bloomberg
A year in which energy markets were torn apart by our species' long-standing habit of murdering one another ended with a hopeful scientific breakthrough. In the early hours of Dec. 5, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility produced a nuclear fusion reaction that generated more energy than it took in from the lasers driving it. Announcing this, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm hailed the NIF's work as offering the potential to solve complex problems "like providing clean power to combat climate change."
/jlne.ws/3WOA6QL
16 Ideas for Greener Living; Do your 2023 goals for the new year include lowering your carbon footprint? Here are easy and more challenging tips for an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Zahra Hirji - Bloomberg
Deciding that you want to reduce your carbon footprint is the easy part. Figuring out how to do it, well, that can be hard. How much effort do you want to put in? How much money do you want to spend? Can you really live without hamburgers? Depending on whether you're able to take on big or small changes, Bloomberg's Greener Living team has a list of things to try.
/jlne.ws/3C389wA
Synthetic Meat Will Change the Ethics of Eating
Virginia Postrel - The Wall Street Journal
A century ago, "a chicken in every pot" was an ambitious political slogan. It has long since become an everyday reality. Americans will consume nearly 100 pounds of chicken per capita this year, according to the National Chicken Council, up from around 67 pounds in 1992, when chicken first surpassed beef.
/jlne.ws/3IczTm2
Amazon Packages Burn in India, Final Stop in Broken Recycling System; Plastic wrappers and parcels that start off in Americans' recycling bins end up at illegal dumpsites and industrial furnaces - and inside the lungs of people in Muzaffarnagar.
K Oanh Ha - Bloomberg
Muzaffarnagar, a city about 80 miles north of New Delhi, is famous in India for two things: colonial-era freedom fighters who helped drive out the British and the production of jaggery, a cane sugar product boiled into goo at some 1,500 small sugar mills in the area. Less likely to feature in tourism guides is Muzaffarnagar's new status as the final destination for tons of supposedly recycled American plastic.
/jlne.ws/3WNmdSE
Perfume's Best Scents Are Being Snuffed Out; Global warming is rippling through the multibillion-dollar perfume industry, destroying the delicate flowers behind some of our favorite fragrances.
Natasha White - Bloomberg
During harvest times, the town of Grasse bursts with aromas of roses, tuberose, and jasmine. The small hillside idyll on the French Riviera, often considered the capital of modern perfumery, is a flower source for the likes of Chanel and Dior. Although its contribution to the global industry is tiny, the quality of Grasse's flowers-particularly jasmine, which sells for a higher price than gold-makes the region crucial to a high-end perfumer's palette.
/jlne.ws/3FUHTWo
The EU can lead on financial reforms but must bring others with it
Kate Levick - E3G
At COP27 a lively discussion took place between countries on how to take forward the Paris Agreement's finance goal. EU member states took the lead among those calling for Article 2.1c, as the goal is otherwise known, to be placed on the formal negotiation agenda. Sitting alongside the Paris Agreement's goals to cap global temperature rise at 1.5°C, and to adapt to climate change, the language of the finance goal is: "Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development."
/jlne.ws/3jqIEPb
Financing a Just Transition: A Business Brief
United Nations Global Compact
This Business Brief addresses the roles of finance in advancing a just transition. It draws from recent developments to illustrate what is possible, while calling on key financial actors to develop and realize this potential, including financial institutions, the Chief Financial Officers and finance functions of corporations, investors, Chief Investment Officers, Chief Risk Officers and policymakers.
/jlne.ws/3FTTl4t
UN seeks to track hazardous events and disaster losses and damages
World Meteorological Organization
The UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) are collaborating to develop a new tracking system to record and analyse hazardous events and disaster losses and damages. As part of this collaboration, the three organisations jointly organized a Technical Forum in Bonn, 29-30 November 2022 that saw participation of around 175 representatives of disaster risk management, hydro-meteorological services, and other sectoral entities from around 50 governments and 60 international organisations.
/jlne.ws/3WMgbBW
GCoM at COP27: Energizing City Climate Action
Watch some of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM)'s key moments at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
/jlne.ws/3YTOOYz
BP criticised over plan to spend billions more on fossil fuels than green energy; Company's oil and gas investments for 2023 will be as much as double those on renewables
Alex Lawson - The Guardian
BP has been accused of prioritising fossil fuels over green energy as it plans to spend as much as double the amount on oil and gas projects than on renewable investments next year. The FTSE 100 company has earmarked up to $7.5bn (£6.2bn) for oil and gas projects, compared with a range of $3bn to $5bn for green energy.
/jlne.ws/3C3c8ce
''Waste disposal' most important in E among ESG: Korean pharma
Kim Yoon-mi - Korea Biomedical Review
A survey showed that the Korean pharmaceutical industry prioritizes waste disposal issues in the environmental category among ESG (environmental, social, governance) strategies. According to the survey conducted by the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association (KPMBA) on 71 companies from Sept. 1-30, about 54 percent of the respondents said waste disposal was the most pressing issue in the environment, and 21.1 percent picked carbon dioxide emission.
/jlne.ws/3Id6KHo
ESG: A Roadmap to Compliance in 2023
Edel Brophy, Head of ESG & Regulatory Compliance, Fenergo - MarketsMedia
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) regulations continue to evolve at pace across the world, meaning financial institutions (FIs) need to get smarter about how they manage and report matters related to ESG. Like other areas of compliance, access to accurate data and the ability to process it will be key to the time, resource and cost of remaining compliant. ESG compliance is a relatively new and fast-evolving regulatory field. A recent Fenergo survey of around 70 C-suite executives at leading FIs found that nearly four in ten (38%) are yet to implement an operating model for ESG compliance processes. Just six percent have implemented their operating models.
/jlne.ws/3vhDeZt
Eyes on ESG
Arendt & Medernach - Lexology
To better understand all the challenges and issues related to ESG and sustainable finance, our experts have put together a new series of videos that tackles specific regulations and concepts on the ESG topic. Each week, discover a new topic where our experts will guide you through your sustainable journey.
/jlne.ws/3WKARdv
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | China Banks Rush Traders Back to Office on Covid Disruptions; Brokers, funds ease threshold for employees to return to work; Some firms allow traders to trade remotely in rare compromise
Bloomberg
Some Chinese financial institutions are rushing employees back to office as surging absences of traders and other key personnel due to the nation's massive Covid-19 outbreak start to disrupt operations. Sinolink Securities Co. is asking staff who were off sick or home quarantined for seven days to return to work if they no longer show Covid symptoms, while those who have family members infected but have not tested positive themselves should also work from the office, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3WHeHZy
Egypt Banks to Help Clear Import Backlog Within Days, Sisi Says
Abdel Latif Wahba and Tarek El-Tablawy - Bloomberg
Egypt's banks will help secure the necessary dollars to clear a backlog of imports within four days, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Monday. The remarks, during a televised event, offered potential end date for an overhang in commodities that's helped fuel demand for the US currency on the black market. Officials have been working to clear an import backlog estimated at over $5 billion in December - with goods building up at ports large due to a letter of credit requirement imposed earlier by the central bank but which authorities have vowed to lift soon.
/jlne.ws/3Wsp6Zl
Hedge funds got their 'hedge' back in 2022: Morning Brief
Alexandra Semenova - Yahoo Finance
Hedge funds have garnered a bad rap in recent years, and rightfully so - performance has been lackluster and the exorbitant fees collected by firms have been hard to justify. Last year, hedge funds delivered broad-based annual returns of 10.3%, per the benchmark HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index from Hedge Fund Research. The S&P 500 returned nearly 27% over the same period.
/jlne.ws/3WJ4VpY
Financial Firm Beneficient Pushed Boundaries Before Bond Program's Collapse; Investigations into Beneficient's former parent company are examining how retail investors were sold $1.3 billion of bonds that are now in default
Alexander Gladstone - The Wall Street Journal
Beneficient Co. Group LP told investors it was increasing revenue by making loans backed by alternative assets such as stakes in private-equity and venture-capital funds. What those investors didn't know at the time was that Beneficient was making those loans to its own subsidiaries, then counting the interest and fees it got back as revenue.
/jlne.ws/3hSCeYG
Macro hedge funds toast blowout year that peers are keen to forget; Funds focused on bonds and currencies have profited from powerful trends that have hit equity specialists
Laurence Fletcher - Financial Times
Hedge funds trading bonds and currencies are on track for their best year since the global financial crisis, boosted by the steep interest rate rises that have inflicted heavy losses on equity specialists and mainstream investors.
/jlne.ws/3hWYyjZ
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Omicron subvariant XBB jumps to 18% of U.S. COVID cases, CDC says
Reuters
The highly-contagious Omicron subvariant XBB has surged to more than 50% of COVID-19 cases in the northeastern United States and risks spreading fast as millions of Americans begin holiday travel on Friday. In the week ended Dec. 24, XBB was estimated to account for 18.3% of the COVID-19 cases in the United States, up from 11.2% in the previous week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday (CDC).
/jlne.ws/3FZdfei
Covid-19's Spread in China Might Tell Us How Deadly Omicron Really Is
Brianna Abbott and Jon Kamp - The Wall Street Journal
Covid-19's rapid spread in China has prompted reports of crowded hospitals and inundated crematoria. It could also help answer whether Omicron is truly a milder version of the virus. Iterations of the Omicron variant are spreading rapidly in China after officials relaxed zero-Covid controls in place for most of the pandemic. Pharmacies say they are out of fever medications and hospitals are strained, employees have said. Chinese officials have reported a modest rise in Covid-19 cases and deaths, but some public-health experts and relatives of the deceased suspect a higher toll.
/jlne.ws/3WF8Una
A Covid-19 'senior wave' is driving up hospitalizations
Deidre McPhillips - CNN
When Linda Stewart felt a tickle in her throat a few weeks ago, she got worried. She's a 76-year-old woman, and she was well aware of the risks posed to her and her husband's health by Covid-19, flu and other colds that are sweeping the United States amid a rough respiratory virus season. "I don't want to take any chances with my health," she said.
/jlne.ws/3WEWhZo
How to Help Prevent Flu and RSV? You Might Not Like the Answer.
Alex Janin - The Wall Street Journal
As respiratory viruses surge across the country, a number of public-health officials and doctors are encouraging masking to protect against flu and RSV, in addition to Covid-19. Whether masks are enough-and whether people are willing to wear them after the country has largely moved on from pandemic precautions-is another matter.
/jlne.ws/3YNIWzT
China's COVID credibility damaged as two cities report hundreds of thousands more cases than official national tally
Fortune
Two Chinese cities reported daily Covid cases that far surpassed the official national tally, in another illustration of the unreliability of data in a country grappling with infections after abruptly ending Covid Zero.
/jlne.ws/3I0QARB
China Stops Releasing Daily Covid Data as Accuracy Questioned
Bloomberg
China's National Health Commission will stop publishing daily Covid-19 case numbers, after the accuracy of its data was questioned as millions were infected nationwide and the official tally remained strikingly low. The commission didn't provide a reason for the change in policy in a statement on Sunday, but said that the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will release Covid-related info for studies and reference.
/jlne.ws/3I3FFq5
Chinese Cities See Covid Peaking in January as Official Data Gets Obscured; Accurate tally of Covid outbreak in China remains unclear; China's economy, industry seen at risk from mass infections
Bloomberg
China's cities and provinces are reporting hundreds of thousands of daily Covid infections surpassing the official national tally as infections spread unabated across the country, predicting that outbreaks will peak during January. The National Health Commission, China's top health regulator, said on Sunday it will stop publishing daily Covid surveillance data, which was seen as widely underestimating the illness's explosive spread following Beijing's abrupt pivot from its Covid Zero policy earlier this month.
/jlne.ws/3C2PbWI
Growing vaccine hesitancy fuels measles, chickenpox resurgence in U.S.
Lena H. Sun - The Washington Post
A rapidly growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio - largely involving unvaccinated children - is fueling concerns among health officials that more parent resistance to routine childhood immunizations will intensify a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases. Most of the 81 children infected so far are old enough to get the shots, but their parents chose not to do so, officials said, resulting in the country's largest outbreak of the highly infectious pathogen this year.
/jlne.ws/3C3r1eZ
China's COVID-19 Surge Raises Odds Of New Mutant Coronavirus Variant
Laura Ungar and Aniruddha Ghosal - HuffPost
Could the COVID-19 surge in China unleash a new coronavirus mutant on the world? Scientists don't know but worry that might happen. It could be similar to omicron variants circulating there now. It could be a combination of strains. Or something entirely different, they say. "China has a population that is very large and there's limited immunity. And that seems to be the setting in which we may see an explosion of a new variant," said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University.
/jlne.ws/3hMq8AA
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | El Nino Is Coming-and the World Isn't Prepared
Bill McGuire - Wired
In 2023, the relentless increase in global heating will continue, bringing ever more disruptive weather that is the signature calling card of accelerating climate breakdown. According to NASA, 2022 was one of the hottest years ever recorded on Earth. This is extraordinary, because the recurrent climate pattern across the tropical Pacific-known as ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation)-was in its cool phase. During this phase, called La Niña, the waters of the equatorial Pacific are noticeably cooler than normal, which influences weather patterns around the world.
/jlne.ws/3FT6haF
China to End Quarantines for Inbound Travelers as 'Covid Zero' Dismantled; China to scrap eight-day inbound quarantine on Jan. 8; Covid downgrade removes legal justification for strict control
Bloomberg
China will no longer subject inbound travelers to quarantine from Jan. 8, putting the country on track to emerge from three years of self-imposed global isolation under a Covid Zero policy that battered the economy and stoked historic public discontent. People arriving in China will only be required to obtain negative Covid test results within 48 hours of departure, according to a statement from the National Health Commission Monday. That compares with the current requirement of eight days isolation - five days at a designated quarantine hotel, or central facility, followed by three days at home.
/jlne.ws/3Gg8M7p
Wealthy Chinese, Fed Up at Home, Find a Haven in Japan; Real-estate agents and people in the Chinese community say interest in emigration is rising
Miho Inada - The Wall Street Journal
A growing number of affluent Chinese are coming to Japan to live, according to real-estate brokers and people in the Chinese community here, in an indication of social and political tensions back home.
/jlne.ws/3YQ26Fm
17 Dead, Nearly 100 Injured After Heavy Snows In Japan
Mary Yamaguchi - HuffPost
Heavy snow in large swaths of Japan has killed 17 and injured more than 90 people and left hundreds of homes without power, disaster management officials said Monday. Powerful winter fronts have dumped heavy snow in northern regions since last week, stranding hundreds of vehicles on highways, delaying delivery services and causing 11 deaths by Saturday.
/jlne.ws/3FTk1lT
Japanese Companies Reach Natural-Gas Deals With Oman, U.S.; Battling high fuel costs, Tokyo looks to lock up LNG for mid to long term
Peter Landers, and Chieko Tsuneoka - The Wall Street Journal
Japanese companies said they reached deals with Omani and U.S. producers for mid- to long-term natural-gas supplies, a move to lock up the fuel after turmoil this year caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3WKlCRH
12 Stunning New Hotels in the Middle East That Demand a Visit
Lisa Fleisher - Bloomberg
If you're looking to visit the Middle East this year, a tempting array of options are vying for the attention of global travelers. The world's tallest hotel. Two hotels in one, sweeping together like crossed swords. One with the world's largest jellyfish tank. Another aimed at athletes. Rather than going for subtlety and blending into their surroundings, these hotels are bursting onto the scene and demanding a visit.
/jlne.ws/3C2Fojx
Turkey Announces Massive Boost to Black Sea Natural-Gas Reserves Estimate; President Erdogan says reserves reach 710 billion cubic meters; Reserves boost comes ahead of crucial elections in 2023
Firat Kozok and Beril Akman - Bloomberg
Turkey boosted its estimate of natural gas reserves in the Black Sea by nearly a third, thanks to appraisal work at an existing field and a separate discovery, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
/jlne.ws/3C5NesF
Canada's Hudson Bay polar bear population plummets as climate change warms Arctic
Gloria Dickie - Reuters
Canada's Western Hudson Bay polar bear population has fallen 27% in just five years, according to a government report released this week, suggesting climate change is impacting the animals. Every autumn, the bears living along the western edge of the Bay pass through the sub-Arctic tourist town of Churchill, Manitoba, as they return to the sea ice. This has made the population not only the best studied group in the world, but also the most famous, with the local bear-viewing economy valued at C$7.2 million ($5.30 million) annually.
/jlne.ws/3PWqsZO
A powerful winter storm claims at least 22 lives across the US as temperatures plunge, winds howl and power lines fall
Aya Elamroussi, Jason Hanna and Ray Sanchez - CNN
More than 315,000 homes and businesses nationwide were without power Christmas Eve, thanks to an Arctic blast and winter storm that tore down power lines with destructive winds and heavy snow and dipped temperatures dangerously low - conditions killing at least 22 people. As bone-chilling air continues to grip the US this holiday weekend, the storm still is pummeling parts of the Upper Midwest and interior Northeast with heavy snow and blizzard conditions.
/jlne.ws/3FYaNEL
Deadly "once-in-a-lifetime storm" pummels Buffalo
Herb Scribner and Sri Ravipati - Axios
One of the worst blizzards in Buffalo's history has claimed the lives of at least 28 people in western New York, officials said Monday. The latest: At least 27 people died in Erie County, many in the city of Buffalo, per a statement from county executive Mark Poloncarz Monday. Officials warned they expect the death toll to rise.
/jlne.ws/3I0vRNB
Winter Storm Is Freezing Pipes and Hammering Natural Gas Output
Gerson Freitas Jr - Bloomberg
US natural gas production suffered its biggest one-day drop in more than a decade on Friday as the massive winter storm battering much of North America froze liquids in pipes and forced wells to shut down. Supplies across the Lower-48 states shrank by nearly 10 billion cubic feet, or roughly 10%, from the previous day as temperatures across key producing areas including in top supplier Texas fell below freezing, according to BloombergNEF data.
/jlne.ws/3YT8mvS
Duke Energy Curbs Energy Load in Carolinas on Christmas Eve; Winter storm, plunging temperatures have sent power usage up; Outages are temporary and rotated among Carolinas customers
Gabriela Mello - Bloomberg
Duke Energy has warned of temporary blackouts for some customers on Christmas Eve as extremely cold temperatures create unusually high energy demand across the Carolinas. "This is necessary to extend available power generation and help maintain operations until additional power is available," the firm said in a statement on Saturday as work to repair outages from Friday's storm continues.
/jlne.ws/3PY4mpV
Seattle-Area Substations Attacked as Threats to Power Grid Widen; Thousands lose power after attacks at four power stations; Follows North Carolina incidents that prompted FBI probe
Ari Natter - Bloomberg
Four power substations in Washington State were attacked on Christmas Day, disrupting service to thousands of residents, just weeks after gunfire at electricity facilities in North Carolina prompted an investigation by the FBI. Law enforcement agencies are now investigating at least eight attacks on power stations in four states in the past month that have underscored the vulnerability of the nation's power grid. It remains unknown if they were connected.
/jlne.ws/3WGdUrS
Louisiana Sugarcane Crop Hit by Frost in Fresh Blow to US Supply
Marvin G Perez - Bloomberg
Louisiana's sugarcane fields have been hit by the cold blast covering a large swath of the country, and the exposure might erode the yield outlook for next year's harvest, according to World Weather Inc. The state and Florida are the top US producers of sweetener made from cane. Temperatures reached the upper teens and low 20s Fahrenheit Friday morning and are expected to drop to similar levels throughout the weekend, which could imperil the plants.
/jlne.ws/3I4K9Ns
Death toll rises to at least 57 as freezing temperatures and heavy snow wallop swaths of U.S.
Mithil Aggarwal and Melissa Chan - NBC News
A "once-in-a-lifetime" blizzard has killed at least 57 people in the U.S., including 27 in western New York's Erie County, officials said Monday. The number of deaths from the monstrous storm was expected to grow as snow continued to blanket Erie County, leaving roads in many areas impassable, including the majority of Buffalo, County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a news conference.
/jlne.ws/3VsJ8BA
US Natural-Gas Supplies Constrained as Extreme Cold Freezes Pipes
Gerson Freitas Jr - Bloomberg
US natural gas supplies are still constrained after wells and pipes froze due to extreme cold, while some recovery seems to be underway. Production of the heating and power-generation fuel on Monday is seen reaching 90 billion cubic feet, roughly 10% below normal, according to BloombergNEF estimates based on early pipeline schedules.
/jlne.ws/3jreV8R
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Don't Turn Your Hobby Into a Side Hustle; It's not good for our mental health to assess the potential profitability of every pastime.
Erin Lowry - Bloomberg (opinion)
During a holiday dinner party, the host suggested we each share a significant moment from the year. As one woman shared how her pottery class had allowed her to explore her creative side, another cheekily said, "Oh, you could totally open up an Etsy shop and sell your work." Before she even finished the sentence, I exclaimed, "No! Don't monetize your hobby!"
/jlne.ws/3VFUiU1
Russia's Abramovich Gave Largest US Weed Company Millions; Jordan responds to report on funds he got from the billionaire; Abramovich is still an investor in Curaleaf chairman's VC fund
Tiffany Kary - Bloomberg
The largest US marijuana company received hundreds of millions of dollars in financing from Roman Abramovich during its early years, but the Russian billionaire exited long ago, Curaleaf Holdings Inc. Executive Chairman Boris Jordan said in response to a media report.
/jlne.ws/3VpUy9w
Wine investors savour top Burgundies and vintage Champagne; Prices pop in 2022, contrasting with grim year for global equity and bond markets
Laurence Fletcher and Alan Livsey - Financial Times
Investors in vintage Champagnes and top-end Burgundies are toasting a year of big gains, but some of the fizz is coming out of the market as the global economic outlook worsens. Burgundy prices soared 27.4 per cent in the first 11 months of this year, according to wine exchange Liv-ex's Burgundy 150 index, while its Champagne 50 index has jumped 21.6 per cent,
/jlne.ws/3C6kd06
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