| March 31, 2022 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
FEX Global Pty Ltd has been approved by the CFTC to permit trading by direct access from the U.S. The Australian-based Foreign Board of Trade is licensed to operate markets in energy, commodity and environmental derivatives products. FEX is a long-time JLN sponsor. Congratulations to Brian Price and his team on this approval.
Thank you to JPX for making a donation for humanitarian aid for the Ukraine emergency. JPX decided to donate "JPY 100 million to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with the aim of providing humanitarian aid to the affected populations in Ukraine and countries in the region."
A year ago longtime industry public relations pro and former White House Assistant Press Secretary David Prosperi did a podcast with Brian Williams, formerly of NBC News and MSNBC, and Sam Donaldson, former ABC News White House correspondent, on the anniversary of the March 30, 1981 Reagan assassination attempt. Last week he did a follow up chat with those two men for the SIRIUSXM POTUS channel. The interview will air on Sirius XM channel 124 Saturday, April 2 at 5pm CT, and Sunday, April 3 at 11am CT.
A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO), a nonprofit organization supported by many financial services firms and members of those organizations in Chicago, New York, London and elsewhere, has launched its second annual Move for ALTSO campaign. ALTSO provides free orthopedic care - prosthetic limbs, orthotic devices, and appropriately fitted wheelchairs, to children in the developing world. Their goal this year is to have donors "move" 5,000 miles in seven days and raise $30,000 to open a new program in Vietnam and reach more kids in need. To sign up CLICK HERE.
The Wall Street Journal knows a winning game when it sees one, even if it is owned by a competitor, which is why today the Journal has a story titled "What Is Wordle and How to Play? Tips and Tricks to Help You Master the Word Game; Everything you need to know about the online game that has taken the internet by storm." The New York Times bought Wordle back in January.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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The Institute for Financial Markets (IFM) is holding a Virtual Workshop April 4 - 5, 2022 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET in two 90-minute sessions. The workshop explains the multilateral systems that provide the infrastructure for transferring, clearing and settling payments, derivatives and other financial transactions among financial institutions and end users. The Course Fee is $225.
Group Discount: 10% off any registration with 3+ participants from the same organization. To take advantage of this discount, you can contact the IFM at 202-223-1528, or via e-mail at info@theIFM.org. The course is taught by Marti Tirinnanzi, who serves on the board of directors and the audit committee for Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). It is geared to market users, potential investors, firm clients and stakeholders of cleared derivatives. You can go here to register.~SR
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CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam Gears Up for Full CFTC
JohnLothianNews.com
CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam Gears Up for Full CFTC John Lothian News Rostin Behnam had the advantage of being a CFTC commissioner since 2017 before being confirmed as chairman in December of 2021, giving him insight into the organization and good working relationships with its staffers.
JLN spoke to Behnam at the International Futures Industry Conference in Boca Raton, Fla., about the start of his chairmanship and what he hopes to accomplish. https://jlne.ws/3qSKxFo
Watch the video »
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NFA orders Dallas, Texas introducing broker and commodity trading advisor Member Coquest Incorporated to pay a $275,000 fine
NFA
NFA has ordered Coquest Incorporated (Coquest), an NFA Member introducing broker and commodity trading advisor located in Dallas, Texas, to pay a $275,000 fine. John Alan Vassallo, a principal and associated person (AP) of Coquest, shares liability with the firm jointly and severally for $150,000.
/jlne.ws/38l6A17
***** Former NFA board member John Vassallo, who represented IBs, had a complicated case. I hope he can move forward from this in a positive way.~JJL
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Solar Storm to Hit Earth, Adding Dazzle to the Northern Lights; Airlines and grid operators on notice for geomagnetic disturbances.
Brian K Sullivan - Bloomberg
A solar storm will sweep across the Earth Wednesday night, raising prospects of dazzling Northern Lights visible as far south as Chicago while prompting airlines and electric-grid operators to step up monitoring of the potentially damaging geomagnetic activity. Solar eruptions—called coronal mass ejections—burst from the sun in two waves Monday and are building up enough energy to potentially become a level 3 geomagnetic storm when it hits, according to Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist with the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center.
/jlne.ws/3tSUHHS
***** Just what we need, a nice spring solar storm.~JJL
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U of C business school back on top; The Booth School of Business full-time MBA program tied for No. 1 with the University of Pennsylvania, says U.S. News & World Report. Northwestern's No. 3.
Elyssa Cherney - Crain's Chicago Business
The University of Chicago's business school leads the pack for both its full-time and part-time programs, according to U.S. News & World Report's latest rankings, published today. The U of C's Booth School of Business tied with the University of Pennsylvania in the top spot for full-time MBA programs, surpassing Stanford University and improving upon its ranking as third last year. For part-time programs, the U of C retained its No. 1 position from the 2022 list.
/jlne.ws/3iNjGG7
***** Was there ever any doubt?~JJL
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Wednesday's Top Three
Our top story Wednesday was of course Hackers Steal About $600 Million in One of the Biggest Crypto Heists, from Bloomberg. Other publications also covered the story. Second was News & Views from Broadway Technology. Third was The Trade News' CME Group appoints new directors for its FX team and BrokerTec platform.
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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
Publisher | | | Sarah Rudolph
Editor-in-Chief
| | | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
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Associate Editor
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| Lead Stories | Crypto Platforms Ask for Rules But Have a Favorite Watchdog; As the SEC signals that it wants more oversight of digital asset markets, the industry makes it clear it prefers to be supervised by the smaller CFTC.
Robert Schmidt and Allyson Versprille - Bloomberg
It was a classic Washington networking party. Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and chief executive officer of FTX, one of the world's largest crypto trading platforms, held court on a February evening in a private room at the Park Hyatt hotel on the edge of Georgetown. Drinks flowed from an open bar, and hors d'oeuvres were served to the clutch of congressional aides, financial lobbyists, and former regulators. The goal of Bankman-Fried, a 30-year-old billionaire, was to showcase his new lobbying operation—and to persuade influential Washingtonians that crypto needs more regulation.
/jlne.ws/3K07huG
The Business Conference Is Back. Here's How to Make It Better; The time-honored corporate tradition is due for a radical reassessment.
Tyler Cowen - Bloomberg
The pandemic has prompted a rethinking of many practices and routines of professional life, such as working from home, meetings and interviewing online. Now another such pastime is ripe for a reassessment: the face-to-face conference. What do people actually want from their interactive experiences? The first insight from the pandemic era is that most formal presentations should simply be abolished. The sad reality is that hardly anyone is listening, or for that matter should be.
/jlne.ws/3IUI4QS
SEC Proposes Rules to Enhance Disclosure and Investor Protection Relating to Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, Shell Companies, and Projections
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed new rules and amendments to enhance disclosure and investor protection in initial public offerings by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and in business combination transactions involving shell companies, such as SPACs, and private operating companies.
/jlne.ws/3iTpqhy
US regulators pave way for greater disclosures from blank-cheque company sponsors; Spacs shouldn't 'overpromise future results', SEC chair says
Stefania Palma and Nikou Asgari - FT
The US securities regulator has proposed sweeping reforms of special purpose acquisition companies, including stripping them of legal safeguards that have allowed sponsors to present rosy forecasts to potential investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission voted on Wednesday in favour of proposals that would increase disclosures for Spac sponsors, in particular their potential conflicts of interest and performance projections, bringing them more in line with rules governing traditional initial public offerings.
/jlne.ws/3wSFpVy
SEC Proposes New Disclosure Requirements for SPACs; Blank-check firms accounted for majority of IPOs in 2021
Paul Kiernan - WSJ
Federal regulators proposed a bevy of new requirements for special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, and their takeover targets amid widespread concern that the vehicles skirt important investor protections.
/jlne.ws/3iXVsZL
China Weighs Raising Billions to Rescue Troubled Financial Firms; Deposit insurance plans, trust funds, banks would contribute; China moves to stem risks from small banks, weak developers
Bloomberg News
Chinese authorities are considering a plan to raise several hundred billion yuan for a new fund to backstop troubled financial firms, according to people familiar with the matter. The People's Bank of China is leading the effort, seeking to shore up confidence in the $60 trillion financial system as the economy slows and a debt crisis in the property industry spreads. The stability fund would dwarf other pools available to bail out troubled institutions and their depositors.
/jlne.ws/3IT6YQP
Ukraine War Hastens Investor Migration to Private Markets; Russia's invasion has amplified six significant evolutions in finance and the global economy.
Mohamed A. El-Erian - Bloomberg
Much of the commentary about the Ukraine war's implications for the investment-management industry has tended to be both immediate and narrow, particularly in discussions about the spillovers for different segments. By zooming out, however, some longer-term ramifications become more apparent for both public and private markets.
/jlne.ws/3iRIOeV
CFTC Issues Order of Registration to FEX Global Pty Ltd to Permit Trading by Direct Access from the U.S.
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that it has issued an Order of Registration to FEX Global Pty Ltd (FGL), a Sydney, Australia-based Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT) licensed to operate markets in energy, commodity, and environmental derivative products.
/jlne.ws/372LCDb
Apple Working to Bring More Financial Services In-House; The effort, dubbed 'Breakout,' would replace fintech partners; Apple eyes payment processing, credit checks and other tasks
Mark Gurman - Bloomberg
Apple Inc. is developing its own payment processing technology and infrastructure for future financial products, part of an ambitious effort that would reduce its reliance on outside partners over time, according to people with knowledge of the matter. A multiyear plan would bring a wide range of financial tasks in-house, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren't public. That includes payment processing, risk assessment for lending, fraud analysis, credit checks and additional customer-service functions such as the handling of disputes.
/jlne.ws/3DrbyVf
Thirteen-Hour Power Cuts Get Sri Lanka to Shorten Stock Trading; Extended power outages, rupee's devaluation spooking investors; Inflation accelerates to the highest level under a new series
Anusha Ondaatjie and Anand Basu - Bloomberg
Sri Lanka's stock market will stay open for fewer hours this week as a shortage of dollars delays fuel imports, forcing the country to impose daily electricity outages and making it hard for businesses to operate. Trading sessions will run from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. local time at least through Friday, the Colombo Stock Exchange said in a statement, instead of the usual 2:30 p.m. close. The position will be reviewed over the weekend.
/jlne.ws/3J0krGp
Biggest Crypto Exchange Braces for Competition in Its Dubai Hub; Binance CEO says more employees, competitors will move to UAE; The exchange isn't used by any sanctioned Russians, Zhao says
Ben Bartenstein - Bloomberg
Binance Holdings Ltd. expects some of its top competitors to set up headquarters in its unofficial home jurisdiction of Dubai, drawn by the sun-splashed emirate's crypto-friendly policies. Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao, the firm's co-founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview that at least five other exchanges are applying for licenses in Dubai, following recent approvals for Binance and the Bahamian exchange FTX.
/jlne.ws/3K05l5o
BNP Paribas Loses Swiss Franc Loan Case at France's Top Court; Bank may have to pay more than 250 million euros, lawyer says; Lender didn't provide enough information on loans, court rules
Alexandre Rajbhandari - Bloomberg
BNP Paribas SA's personal finance unit lost a case at France's highest court in its dispute over swiss-franc mortgages marketed between 2008 and 2009. France's Cour de Cassation said that the bank had not given enough information to its customers about the loans' mechanism, according to the decision published Wednesday that partially overturned an earlier ruling. The loans, which were denominated in Swiss francs but redeemable in euros, saw repayments shoot up when the Swiss currency became a haven after the 2008 financial crisis.
/jlne.ws/3wSEmF1
CFTC looks at expanded authority to regulate crypto, for less than a 10% budget increase; The agency's $365 million proposed FY2023 budget includes significant allocation for CPAs and whistleblowers.
Cointelegraph
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has released its Fiscal Year 2023 (FY2023) budget request, seeking $365 million. This marks a 9.9% increase over the previous year and 20% over FY2021. The commission regulates the country's derivatives market and has been increasingly active in recent years in policing financial products that incorporate cryptocurrencies.
/jlne.ws/3tT461X
Four Women Join CFTC in U.S. Senate Vote Hailed as Historic
Pete Schroeder - Reuters
Four women will take seats on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, returning the derivatives regulator to full strength, after a unanimous U.S. Senate vote hailed as historic by the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
/jlne.ws/3IUIM0o
New-look CFTC hails diversity after four commissioners confirmed
Kyle Brasseur - Compliance Week
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will feature its "most diverse set of commissioners in the agency's history" after the confirmation of four nominees to vacant board seats Monday. The Senate unanimously approved the appointments of Christy Goldsmith Romero, Kristin Johnson, Summer Mersinger, and Caroline Pham to serve as commissioners at the derivatives market regulator. Romero and Johnson fill Democratic openings, while Mersinger and Pham are Republicans. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, lauded the historical significance of the appointments.
/jlne.ws/3NBo60T
Meet the 'crypto caucus': the US lawmakers defending digital coins; A bipartisan mix of libertarians, business champions and tech utopians is uniting on legislation to help the sector grow
Kiran Stacey - FT
After months of tortuous negotiations, Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill was about to pass Congress last summer when Patrick McHenry became alarmed about one particular element. Along with colleagues in the Senate, the Republican member of Congress from North Carolina realised that a clause had been quietly inserted into the 2,700-page bill, which forced brokers of cryptocurrency to report their transactions and customer information to the tax authorities.
/jlne.ws/3wS3knP
BNY offers to swap overseas shares in Russian groups with local stocks; Exchanging depositary receipts for domestic listings could pave way for official split of Russian bourse
Philip Stafford - FT
BNY Mellon has launched a scheme that allows the US bank's clients to swap their holdings of overseas shares in Russia's biggest companies for local listings as Moscow's capital markets diverge from the west.
/jlne.ws/3uIKqNB
How High Energy Prices Could Help Both the Climate and the U.S.; With Russian output shut in, U.S. producers could gain market share even as world hastens shift to renewables
Greg Ip - WSJ
The surge in global energy prices triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine sure doesn't seem like any sort of blessing. It has driven up inflation, squeezed household budgets and battered President Biden's approval ratings. And yet for Mr. Biden, there may be a silver lining. Higher prices, if sustained, could reduce global fossil-fuel consumption and encourage the shift to zero-emission energy. At the same time, sanctions and boycotts on Russia pave the way for U.S. oil-and-gas producers to expand market share. They may thus provide Mr. Biden a pathway to both combat climate change and promote the U.S. oil-and-gas industry.
/jlne.ws/3uBsXqc
SEC Chief Casts Doubt on Imminent Deal to Avoid China Delistings; Chinese authorities face 'hard set of choices,' Gensler says; He signals only full compliance with U.S. rules will suffice
Robert Schmidt and Benjamin Bain - Bloomberg
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler tamped down speculation that a deal is brewing to keep about 200 Chinese stocks from losing their listings, signaling that only total compliance with U.S. audit inspections will allow the companies to keep trading on American markets. "There have been thoughtful, respectful, productive conversations, but I don't know where this is going to end up," Gensler said in a Tuesday interview, referring to ongoing negotiations. "It's up to the Chinese authorities, and it could be frankly a hard set of choices for them."
/jlne.ws/3qOojEp
China Says it Opposes U.S. Putting Its Firms on Security List
Bloomberg News
China said it firmly opposes the U.S. adding Chinese firms to a list of companies deemed a threat to national security, warning the move seriously violated international economic and trade rules. The comments came from Shu Jueting, a spokeswoman for China's commerce ministry, in response to a question about the Federal Communications Commission's move to place China Telecom (Americas) Corp and China Mobile International USA Inc. on the list.
/jlne.ws/36ZKY9G
Exclusive-ICE considers relocating London CDS clearing, sources say
Huw Jones - Reuters
The Intercontinental Exchange is considering shifting the clearing of contracts that underpin global debt markets away from London, two industry sources said on Wednesday. A potential relocation to Chicago is being evaluated, the sources said of a move that could stoke fresh concerns about Britain's post-Brexit role in global finance.
/jlne.ws/3IVINkG
America's Oil Reserve Weapon Risks Misfiring; Washington isn't the only player in this drama. Watch how OPEC+ nations react to the move.
David Fickling - Bloomberg
In oil markets, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has a reputation a little like the one the Russian armed forces used to have — vast and fearsome, a rival you'd be unwise to tangle with. Russia's aura of military invincibility was dealt a near-fatal blow over the past month in the muddy fields of Ukraine. The Biden administration should watch out: America's most formidable energy weapon may fall flat, too.
/jlne.ws/374uJs4
MAS and BIS Innovation Hub develop analytics platform for supervision
Raphael Lim - Business Times
THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub Singapore Centre have developed a prototype analytics platform that could help regulatory authorities perform more effective supervision. The Project Ellipse platform enables regulatory and other data - such as articles and news - to be integrated into a single platform, which helps authorities identify potential risks to individual banks and the banking system, BIS and MAS said in a statement on Thursday (Mar 31).
/jlne.ws/384i5cT
Baidu Added to SEC List of Firms Facing Possible Delisting; American reviewers can't inspect company's audits, agency says; U.S. law requires firms to grant access or face delisting
Benjamin Bain - Bloomberg
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday added Baidu Inc. to a growing list of companies that may get kicked off American stock exchanges because of Beijing's refusal to permit U.S. officials to review their auditors' work. The SEC's publication of the businesses' names is required by a 2020 U.S. law that started a three-year clock for firms to comply with inspection requirements that cover all public companies in the U.S. The SEC also added Futu Holdings Limited, Nocera Inc., iQIYI Inc. and CASI Pharmaceuticals Inc. to its provisional list for possible delisting.
/jlne.ws/3K3rQ9C
Axie Infinity Delays Launch of Origin Online Game After Hack
Joanna Ossinger - Bloomberg
Axie Infinity postponed the launch of its Origin play-to-earn game by a week after hackers stole roughly $600 million of cryptocurrencies from a software system underpinning the popular online gaming world. Axie Infinity: Origin will now be available on April 7 on the Mavis Hub, according to a post on Substack on Thursday. Origin was built to be approachable for a mainstream, worldwide audience, Axie had said in a post in February.
/jlne.ws/372oF3l
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Putin 'Misinformed' by Advisers on the War, White House Says; 'Persistent tension' between Putin and military leaders cited; Assessment is based on findings by U.S. intelligence agencies
Jordan Fabian and Josh Wingrove - Bloomberg
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been misinformed by advisers about his military's performance in Ukraine and the effect of sanctions on his country's economy, a White House spokeswoman said, citing unspecified U.S. intelligence. "We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership," White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said in a briefing Wednesday. "We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing, and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth."
/jlne.ws/3NCb2bA
4,000 letters and four hours of sleep: Ukrainian leader wages digital war; 31-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov is building wartime apps and recruiting an IT army to beat Russia in what he calls 'World Cyberwar I'
Cat Zakrzewski - Washington Post
Weeks after Russia invaded, Ukraine's youngest cabinet minister launched a complaint to the Chinese drone company DJI, claiming that Russia's military was using its popular technology to target missile attacks. "@DJIGlobal are you sure you want to be a partner in these murders?" tweeted Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister of digital transformation. "Block your products that are helping russia to kill the Ukrainians!"
/jlne.ws/36Zffp4
Why the world is so worried about Russia's 'tactical' nuclear weapons
Adam Taylor and William Neff - Washington Post
The war in Ukraine has led to a resurgence of fears about the use of nukes. Russia is armed to teeth with nuclear weapons, which some analysts fear it would consider using to escalate the conflict if it felt it was losing, and Ukraine's Western backers are also armed with nukes, which means that the conflict — if it were to spiral beyond Ukraine — would pit nuclear powers against each other. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that Russia should stop its "dangerous irresponsible nuclear rhetoric," and warned that it could "never win a nuclear war."
/jlne.ws/3uK8ZtL
Opinion: Koch Industries' valentine to Vladimir Putin
Dana Milbank - Washington Post
Give Koch Industries credit for consistency: It's aiding the foes of democracy at home and abroad. In the two weeks since I wrote about U.S. companies that remained in Russia despite Vladimir Putin's savage invasion of Ukraine, corporations have, admirably, continued stampeding to the exits. More than 450 multinational companies have withdrawn from Russia in some form, according to the list maintained by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his team at the Yale School of Management, sending a clear message to Russians that Putin's actions are beyond the pale.
/jlne.ws/3Dp4WXy
Aluminum Giant Rusal Flags Stark Risks Triggered by War in Ukraine
Bloomberg News
United Co. Rusal International PJSC delivered a stark assessment of the threats the aluminum giant faces amid Russia's growing economic isolation, from potential raw materials shortages to the irreplaceable loss of markets and higher financing costs. The Moscow-based company is fighting blow-back from the invasion of Ukraine, which prompted sweeping economic retaliation -- including a ban by Australia on sending alumina to Russia.
/jlne.ws/3IQlhFF
Tesla Dodges Nickel Crisis With Secret Deal to Get Supplies
Dana Hull and David Stringer - Bloomberg
The invasion of Ukraine has added to agita among electric-vehicle makers over the supply of nickel, a critical ingredient in EV batteries, since Russia is one of the world's biggest producers. But Tesla Inc. had already been scouring the globe for the metal, signing pacts with several nickel suppliers since 2021.
/jlne.ws/3DmAInY
Russia's Military Was Great Until It Wasn't; Good equipment and clever military doctrine reveal little about how an army will perform in a war.
Phillips Payson O'Brien - The Atlantic
Let me tell you a story about a military that was supposedly one of the best in the world. This military had some of the best equipment: the heaviest and most modern tanks, next-generation aircraft, and advanced naval vessels. It had invested in modernization, and made what were considered some of Europe's most sophisticated plans for conflict. Moreover, it had planned and trained specifically for a war it was about to fight, a war it seemed extremely well prepared for and that many, perhaps most, people believed it would win.
/jlne.ws/36ZwmqP
Russia drafts 134,500 conscripts but says they won't go to Ukraine
Reuters
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of Russia's annual spring draft, but the defence ministry said the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/35q7EiU
Russia Internet Giant Risks Running Out of Vital Tech in a Year; Yandex may exhaust stocks of vital semiconductors for servers; Sanctions threaten products from search to self-driving cars
Giles Turner - Bloomberg
Russia's omnipresent tech company, which created products ranging from the country's dominant search engine to its biggest ride-hail service, is facing a looming shortage of hardware as U.S. sanctions punish President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. Yandex NV may run short of the semiconductors needed for the servers it uses to power its business within a year to 18 months because of import restrictions, two people with direct knowledge of the issue said, asking not to be identified in order to speak candidly. Sanctions on dual-use technology, which have both military and commercial uses, have hit its self-driving vehicle unit particularly hard, they said.
/jlne.ws/3JV4ItO
Ukraine Update: Putin Tells Draghi Payments Can Be Made in Euros
Bloomberg News
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Italy's prime minister that European gas purchases can still be made in euros, reinforcing a message relayed by the German government and signaling a possible softening in the Kremlin's demand for payment in rubles.
/jlne.ws/3iNvp7M
The next frontier for smart contracts - truly adjustable debt instruments
The Trade
In order to know where the bond market is headed, it's helpful to review its evolution to date. The transfer of ownership of bonds was once a purely physical experience, with an actual certificate passing from one person to another. The first real enhancement to this process was the electronification of large parts of the bond markets over the past 40 years.
/jlne.ws/3NC5P3z
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | CME Group's head of Asia Pacific to retire; APAC head announces his departure from the firm after serving in the region for the last 30 years at the likes of CME Group, Dubai Mercantile Exchange and BNP Paribas.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Chris Fix, CME Group's managing director and head of Asia Pacific, has announced his retirement after serving at the financial derivatives exchange for close to seven years. Based in Singapore, Fix led CME Group's growth strategy for the region, oversaw partnerships with regional exchanges and developed products and services to meet existing and prospective clients' needs.
/jlne.ws/3IOOvF6
CME Group Rolls Out Micro Bitcoin, Ether Options to Up Crypto Exposure; New options complement the company's more than 20 micro products; The derivatives to offer greater precision in managing exposure to BTC and ETH.
Finance Magnate
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, a leading derivatives marketplace, expanded its suite of derivative offerings on Monday by launching micro-sized Bitcoin and Ether options to cover more participants in the cryptocurrency marketQ4 2021 volumes have gone up or down and how much? This comes two months after the security and commodity exchange company announced that it would launch a 20-year bond future to help investors better manage their US treasury curve exposure. The new options complement CME Group's diverse slate of more than 20 micro products that have traded more than 1.2 billion contracts since their introduction, the company said.
/jlne.ws/3qNMGSD
Post-Libor, Banks Benefit from More Choice
ABA Journal via AFX
Richard Sandor
The most influential and discredited number in modern finance began its disappearing act from the global capital markets at the end of December 2021. Given Libor's dominant role as an interest rate benchmark since the 1970s, the fact there was little disruption speaks volumes about the resiliency and innovation taking place in our financial system.
/bit.ly/377y3CQ
Starting tomorrow, BME and BBF Fintech bring together startups, students and entrepreneurs at Hack&Disrupt!
BME-X
The second edition of the first international hackathon focused on solving challenges on sustainable finance will distribute 5,000 euros in prizes; The meeting features Bilbao Plaza Financiera, the Bilbao City Council, BBK, Mondragon Team Academy and the Provincial Council of Vizcaya as collaborators
/bit.ly/3DsC54P
EBS Market Integration onto CME Globex
CME Group
Subject to applicable regulatory approvals, EBS Market's Central Limit Order Book and eFix Matching Service will launch on CME Globex. You will receive subsequent notices with additional details and actions required to support the EBS Market integration onto CME Globex.
/bit.ly/35pjSZ4
CME STP Notices: March 31, 2022
CME Group
Three-Month SOFR Futures vs Eurodollar Futures Inter-Commodity Pack Spreads on CME STP
Effective Sunday, May 15 (trade date Monday, May 16), a futures pack spread (CME Globex product code - SEP) between the Three-Month SOFR Futures vs Eurodollar Futures contracts will be listed for trading on CME Globex and submission for clearing via CME ClearPort. In CME STP, trades on this new futures pack spread will be decomposed into individual Trade Capture Reports for Three-Month SOFR futures (Clearing product code - SR3) and Eurodollar futures (Clearing product code - ED).
/bit.ly/3uLDL58
Towards a green hydrogen market: EEX becomes foundation member of H2Global
EEX
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) is participating in the H2Global foundation funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK). As more and more well-known companies are positioning themselves behind the plans of the new federal government for a comprehensive green energy turnaround, the global commodities exchange will contribute its expertise to the development of more sustainable markets, by developing a trading market particularly for hydrogen.
/bit.ly/3KbSY6p
HKEX Impact Funding Scheme Invites Applications from Social Enterprises
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is, today (Thursday), pleased to invite applications from social enterprises in Hong Kong for funding, through the HKEX Impact Funding Scheme 2022 (Scheme), a tailored HKEX Foundation charitable programme.
/bit.ly/3JUBf2R
Claim Notice for The Fidelity Fund and Guarantee Scheme
HKEX
Pursuant to Rule 910A of the Rules of the Exchange, a notice calling for claims for compensation against the Fidelity Fund and Guarantee Scheme will be issued whenever there is a cessation of trading or Exchange Participantship.
/bit.ly/3Lu2mlN
HKEX Impact Funding Scheme Invites Applications from Social Enterprises
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is, today (Thursday), pleased to invite applications from social enterprises in Hong Kong for funding, through the HKEX Impact Funding Scheme 2022 (Scheme), a tailored HKEX Foundation charitable programme.
/bit.ly/3JUBf2R
ICE To Launch U.S. Residential Mortgage Rate Lock Index Futures
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, today announced that it plans to launch its first mortgage futures contracts on June 13, 2022, subject to regulatory approval.
The two futures contracts will be cash-settled and based on the ICE U.S. Conforming 30-year Fixed Mortgage Rate Lock Index and the ICE U.S. Jumbo 30-year Fixed Mortgage Rate Lock Index. The indices are published daily and track U.S. residential mortgage loan applications where borrowers and lenders have committed to lock-in the interest rate prior to closing. By being underpinned by primary market rates, the futures contracts offer investors a more refined hedge to manage exposure to U.S. residential mortgage rates than the existing suite of available products.
/bit.ly/3Lu4jyD
Donation towards Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine Emergency
JPX
In light of the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) has decided to donate JPY 100 million to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with the aim of providing humanitarian aid to the affected populations in Ukraine and countries in the region.
/bit.ly/3iSFzEc
Medium-Term Management Plan 2024; Exchange and beyond
JPX
/bit.ly/3J0fFbX
Establishment of Japan Exchange Group, Inc. Osaka Head Office
JPX
At its board of directors meeting held today, Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) resolved to establish an Osaka Head Office on April 1, 2022.
/bit.ly/38gXQZM
JPX Group Publishes Human Rights Policy
JPX
On March 31, 2022, Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) published its Human Rights Policy.
This Policy applies to all JPX Group officers and employees. In addition, JPX expects all business partners to support and respect the Policy and will work with them on human rights issues.
/bit.ly/3qQaEwJ
SGX Group and UK government's sustainable development investment programme partner to mobilise public capital for emerging markets
SGX Group
-SGX Group is collaborating with the UK government's flagship development and climate investment programme, MOBILIST, to unlock the potential of public capital markets for sustainable finance
-MOBILIST is designed to support new issues through equity capital, technical assistance funding, and enhanced visibility through UK government platforms
-SGX Group is a key strategic partner for MOBILIST at the heart of a priority region for the UK government
/bit.ly/3wQuBae
Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange and Montréal Exchange Closed for Good Friday
TMX
Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange and Montréal Exchange will be closed on Friday, April 15, 2022, for Good Friday.
The Exchanges will re-open and resume regular trading hours on Monday, April 18, 2022.
/bit.ly/3qSvICB
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | DATA MarketAxess rolls out DataBP's self-service portal to simplify market data licensing; MarketAxess is looking to scale its business and launch new offerings by leveraging DataBP's platform, which utilizes API and cloud-based technology, to optimize its management of post-sales relationships and market data.
Melissa Fleur Afshar - Waters Technology
Exchanges and trading venues across asset classes are struggling to manage the number and diversity of the contractual relationships they have with subscribers and redistributors. So, to address this challenge, MarketAxess has partnered with market data administration platform provider DataBP to optimize market data licensing management and post-sales processes for institutional fixed-income trading clients of its trading platform.
/jlne.ws/3wSxNCm
Robinhood Will Stay Open Late; Also volcano bonds, Ronin hack, investment bank interview cheating and Goldman's office hours.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
Robinhood After Dark
Historically there were people whose job it was to trade stocks, and they showed up at the New York Stock Exchange building each weekday from 9:30 to 4 to trade stocks, and if you wanted to trade stocks your best bet was to show up there and trade with them. Now those people are mostly for decoration, and the stocks trade on computers. But there are still people whose job it is to trade stocks, or at least to supervise the computers, and a lot of them work in New York, and it would be inhumane to expect them to trade stocks 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
/jlne.ws/3qOOGdv
Goldman buys robo-adviser NextCapital; The retirement-advisory firm will remain headquartered in Chicago.
Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is buying retirement-advisory firm NextCapital Group as its expands its asset-management services. NextCapital's platform will allow Goldman Sachs Asset Management to augment its advisory services in the defined-contribution retirement plans through personalized managed accounts and digital advice, the New York-based bank said Tuesday in a statement. Terms of the deal, which is expected to be completed in the second half of the year, weren't disclosed.
/jlne.ws/3Dopdwk
Egyptian financial super app Khazna raises $38M from Quona Capital and Lendable
Tage Kene-Okafor - Techcrunch
In a country where 50% of its 100 million people are active smartphone users, two out of every three individuals have little or no access to formal financial services in Egypt. With banks doing their best to deepen financial services to the underbanked and unbanked across the North African country, startups are also playing their part. One such provider is Cairo-based Khazna — a self-described "financial super app" that has raised a $38 million Series A in debt and equity. The company has received a total of $47 million since its inception.
/jlne.ws/3tUcrm7
Fintech Startup Finova Capital Bags $65 Mn From Norwest Venture Partners, Others
Hemant Kashyap - Inc42.com
Fintech startup Finova Capital has raised $65 Mn in a funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners. Maj Invest and Faering Capital also participated in the funding round, with Faering returning as an existing investor.
/jlne.ws/3NBPITO
T-Mobile to Shut Down Old 3G Mobile Network Starting March 31
Scott Moritz - Bloomberg
T-Mobile US Inc. will go ahead with the planned shutdown of its two- decade-old legacy 3G wireless network after giving users more time to upgrade their phones. "We are proceeding with the orderly shutdown of our CDMA network beginning on March 31," a T-Mobile representative said Wednesday. The network will be completely decommissioned by May 31.
/jlne.ws/3JPU5IB
Mobile apps help bring financial literacy skills to overlooked groups; Fintech start-ups offer women and minorities knowledge to make decisions about all things money
Elizabeth Uviebinene - FT
Gone are the days where many women felt uncomfortable discussing money because they were told it was too personal or they lacked confidence. From building up an emergency fund to discussing our freelance rates, my friends and I do not shy away from being open about it — which is very different from how we were brought up.
/jlne.ws/3IXl4kd
MillTechFX expands multi-bank FX marketplace into Europe; The firm aims to help asset managers reduce FX costs and burdens associated with FX execution and rolling hedging requirements through its FX marketplace.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Following the success of its multi-bank foreign exchange (FX) marketplace in the UK and North America, MillTechFX, affiliate of Millennium Global Investments, has expanded into Europe.
/jlne.ws/3JVchAI
TIIP Launches New SAIL Platform to Speed Industry Adoption of System-level Investing; The Systems Aware Investing Launchpad (SAIL) is the first resource to provide investors with a "one-stop shop" for practical system-level investing implementation support and tools.
PR Newswire
The Investment Integration Project (TIIP), an applied research and consulting firm focused on system-level investing, today launched the Systems Aware Investing Launchpad (SAIL), an all-encompassing investment information platform for investors seeking to better manage systemic social and environmental risks. mSAIL, which grew out of a comprehensive industry needs assessment conducted by TIIP in 2021, consists of two unique components—a plug-and-play solution investors can use to chart their course to become a system-level investor, and a community of practice aimed at driving broader industry transformation.
/jlne.ws/3j6kO8d
The road to enhanced payments - speech by Victoria Cleland; Given at the Central Bank Spring Meetings
Bank of England
We are taking steps to support the payment industry in the UK to innovate and offer better services for its customers. Victoria Cleland talks about how we do that.
It is a pleasure to be joining you today. And to have an opportunity to highlight the importance of a crucial, but in the past too frequently overlooked, element of central banking - payments.
/jlne.ws/3DvjqFw
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Apple and Meta Gave User Data to Hackers Who Used Forged Legal Requests; Hackers compromised the emails of law enforcement agencies; Data was used to enable harassment, may aid financial fraud
William Turton - Bloomberg
Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, provided customer data to hackers who masqueraded as law enforcement officials, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Apple and Meta provided basic subscriber details, such as a customer's address, phone number and IP address, in mid-2021 in response to the forged "emergency data requests." Normally, such requests are only provided with a search warrant or subpoena signed by a judge, according to the people. However, the emergency requests don't require a court order.
/jlne.ws/3iRjgP7
Cybersecurity Can Boost Your Bottom Line: 3 Often Overlooked Opportunities
Shivani Gupta - Forbes
Eternal vigilance is the price we pay to be in a connected world. It is common among business leaders to view the cost associated with maintaining this vigilance—i.e., an effective cybersecurity posture and the accompanying IT costs—as a toll exacted by the marketplace.
/jlne.ws/3JV1MgM
Cybersecurity managers with a direct line to executive boards set the tone for investment: study
Charlie Osborne - ZDNet
A new report examines how an organization's approach to cyberattack incident and response strategies can have implications for investment in the broader cybersecurity market.
On Thursday, financial services and credit rating provider Moody's published new research, including a survey of financial services, enterprise firms, infrastructure providers, public sector organizations, and government entities.
/jlne.ws/3tUoQ9D
Regulatory enforcement is our best weapon against cyberwar
Talilia Millman - The Hill
The war in Ukraine demonstrates that modern warfare is not just wielded on the battlefield. The war started with attacks on Ukrainian websites and computers, and it continues with Ukraine's supporters attacking Russian targets. On May 12, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order to improve cybersecurity for the federal government. However, when it comes to the private sector, all Biden administration initiatives are voluntary and depend on the goodwill of private companies.
/jlne.ws/3iW3i68
Proposal to Sanction Russian Cybersecurity Firm Over Ukraine Invasion Splits Biden Administration; Some officials are said to fear that sanctioning Kaspersky Lab could increase risk of Russian cyberattack
Vivian Salama and Dustin Volz - WSJ
The Biden administration is divided over whether to impose sanctions on Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity giant that officials warn could be used by the Kremlin as a surveillance tool against its customers, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House's National Security Council has pressed the Treasury Department to ready the sanctions as part of the broad Western campaign to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to officials familiar with the matter. While Treasury officials have been working to prepare the package, sanctions experts within the department have raised concerns over the size and scope of such a move. The company's software is used by hundreds of millions of customers across the world, making it difficult to enforce the sanctions.
/jlne.ws/3uFyz2N
Russia 'Singling Out' Americans for Harassment, State Dept. Warns; Security experts also caution on the risks to staff at companies continuing to operate in Russia
Richard Vanderford - WSJ
Russian authorities have "singled out" U.S. citizens in Russia for harassment, U.S. authorities said in a warning that underscores the physical and security risks companies still operating in the country face. Russian security services have targeted U.S. citizens for "detention and/or harassment," the U.S. State Department on Tuesday said in an updated warning to Americans that cautions against all travel to the country.
/jlne.ws/3iNHda9
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | MicroStrategy's Saylor Says Markets Not Ready for Bitcoin Bonds; Software maker decides to take loan rather than sell bonds; El Salvador's proposed issue isn't a 'pure' play, Saylor says
Crystal Kim - Bloomberg
Financial markets are unprepared for Bitcoin-backed bonds, according to MicroStrategy Inc. founder Michael Saylor, the most vocal advocate of companies adding the cryptocurrency to their balance sheets. "I'd love to see a day where people eventually sell Bitcoin-backed bonds like mortgage-backed securities," Saylor, MicroStrategy's Chief Execujtive Officer, said in an interview Tuesday after the software maker announced that it was taking a loan to buy more of the digital asset. "The market is not quite ready for that right now. The next best idea was a term loan from a major bank."
/jlne.ws/371zgv3
Blockchain.com Raises New Funding at $14 Billion Valuation; Lightspeed Venture Partners, Baillie Gifford among backers; Valuation is more than double at last financing round
van Levingston and Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
Startup Blockchain.com said it raised new funding that values the company at about $14 billion, more than doubling its worth in a sign that cryptocurrency firms still enjoy the favor of investors in turbulent venture capital markets. The financing round, which vaults Blockchain.com into the ranks of the most valuable crypto companies, was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with major participation from Baillie Gifford & Co, Blockchain.com said. Representatives for Lightspeed and Baillie Gifford didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
/jlne.ws/3ISwjKL
Crypto-Bridge Hacks Reach Over $1 Billion in Little Over a Year; More than $21 billion locked on Ethereum bridges, Dune says; Ronin was built to handle surging demand from Axie gamers
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
The $600 million hack this month of a crypto "bridge" supporting Axie Infinity's play-to-earn video game highlights the increasingly problematic nature of the arcane software used within the world of digital assets, blockchains and the metaverse. Weaknesses in bridges, which allow tokens designed for one blockchain to be used on another, has led to more than $1 billion in stolen cryptocurrency in a little more than a year across seven different incidents, according to data compiled by researcher Chainalysis. In the case of the Ronin Bridge, which was recently hacked, the software was adopted to help Axie Infinity's network accelerate transactions and reduce costs since the underlying Ethereum blockchain wasn't able to handle the surging demand from gamers quickly or cheaply.
/jlne.ws/3JTms8B
Giant Ronin Bridge Hack Could Change How VCs Invest in Crypto; Animoca co-founder Yat Siu says VCs will become more vigilant; Animoca is in talks with the Axie team about reimbursement
Hannah Miller - Bloomberg
A roughly $600 million hack of software underpinning the popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity is likely to change the attitude and responsibilities of venture capitalists investing in crypto, said Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu. The security breach allowed hackers to steal 173,600 Ether and 25.5 million USDC tokens and underscored the glaring weaknesses in so-called bridges that allow digital tokens to be swapped between different blockchains. Animoca, which has a range of businesses related to non-fungible tokens, is an investor in Sky Mavis, the developer of Axie Infinity.
/jlne.ws/3uGs2Fh
Ben McKenzie Would Like a Word With the Crypto Bros; The actor, best known for his starring role in "The O.C.," has become an outspoken critic of a volatile market driven by speculation. Who's listening?
David Yaffe-Bellany - NY Times
Ben McKenzie was driving his father's silver Subaru through Texas farmland, talking in breathless bursts about money: who has it, who needs it, what makes it real or fake. He detailed the perils of cryptocurrency exchanges, the online brokers that sell Bitcoin and Ether to speculators, then delivered a glowing endorsement of "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," a 700-page book by the economist Thomas Piketty about income inequality and the power of wealthy capitalists.
/jlne.ws/3IVCz4j
Crypto Wireless Company Helium Hits Unicorn Status; Helium is changing its name to Nova Labs with the new funding; The company created a wireless network powered by blockchain
Hannah Miller - Bloomberg
Helium Inc., the creator of a blockchain that powers a decentralized wireless network, raised $200 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management and Andreessen Horowitz. The startup, valued at $1.2 billion with the latest funding, also said Wednesday that it is changing its name to Nova Labs Inc.
/jlne.ws/36Y3Vto
Tim Tebow's NFT Company Campus Legends Forms 3-Year Partnership With INFLCR For NIL Deals
Tim Casey - Forbes
SEC Nation host Tim Tebow listens to his co-hosts during the SEC Nation broadcast in ... [+] ASSOCIATED PRESS
Campus Legends, a non-fungible token company co-founded last year by former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, has formed a partnership with INFLCR that will allow college athletes to create NFTs and make money off their name, image and likeness.
/jlne.ws/371TuF2
Wendy's teams up with Facebook's Meta to enter the 'Wendyverse'
Brooke DiPalma - Yahoo Finance
Wendy's (WEN) is ready to serve up its customers — in another dimension, the metaverse. The Ohio-based fast-food chain announced its entrée into the metaverse on Wednesday, in a new online community dubbed the 'Wendyverse.' To create the alternate reality, the company teamed up with Meta's (FB) Horizon Worlds. Beginning on April 2nd, U.S. and Canadian customers 18 and up with Facebook's virtual reality headset Quest 2 can access the 3D-world.
/jlne.ws/3uyksMA
How Top Fiction Writers Are Thinking About the Metaverse
Andrew R. Chow - Time
Technology and fiction have long shared a symbiotic relationship. Just as writers dreamed up fantastical worlds based on imagined technologies, those same worlds have inspired engineers, technologists, and scientists—spurring breakthroughs as well as thorny philosophical questions about their work.
/jlne.ws/3qMN1oA
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Australia Looks to Reduce Dependence on China Due to 'Coercion'; Frydenberg says Australia will seek new buyers for its exports; Treasurer denies his 2022 budget ignored climate change action
Ben Westcott - Bloomberg
Australia will invest more to find new buyers for its exports in an effort to ease trade dependence on China, its treasurer said, in the face of "economic coercion" from Beijing that shows little sign of abating.In an interview with Bloomberg, Josh Frydenberg said the government was "investing more in trade diversification" after China subjected products ranging from coal to barley, lobsters and wine to punitive trade actions.
/jlne.ws/3IWOkHE
Biden's Energy Marshall Plan for Europe Is No Quick Fix
Paul Takahashi and Sergio Chapa - Bloomberg
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has thrust liquefied natural gas into the international spotlight. LNG is natural gas that's been chilled to a liquid so it can be loaded onto huge tankers and shipped to countries that use it for heating and power generation. While demand for the fuel has soared in Asia, Europe has been slow to embrace it as an alternative to cheaper, piped natural gas from Russia, which supplies 40% of its needs.
/jlne.ws/3Kc7Fq5
Crypto industry dives into the midterms, raising millions to court Democrats; The surging sector is raising political cash for lawmakers across the map as it faces mounting scrutiny in Washington
Tory Newmyer - Washington Post
Crypto executives and investors flush with digital wealth are assembling a big-money effort to elect a slate of crypto enthusiasts to Congress in this year's midterm elections, the industry's first significant foray into American politics. Crypto interests are raising money for a super PAC that aims to spend $20 million promoting candidates friendly toward the sector. Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, hosted a previously unreported fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) over a Zoom call last week. Executives are organizing events for insiders to contribute to candidates in cryptocurrency. And they are backing some upstart pols, including elementary school teacher Aarika Rhodes, who has launched a primary challenge to Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), one of the industry's most outspoken critics.
/jlne.ws/36HoM4n
OPEC+ Ditches IEA Data for Assessing Compliance Amid Rift; Ministers to discuss removing IEA figures from output estimate; The groups have been criticizing each other more frequently
Salma El Wardany and Grant Smith - Bloomberg
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will no longer use oil data from the International Energy Agency to assess compliance with production quotas amid a deepening rift between the two institutions. OPEC, which includes the IEA as one of six external sources to assess members' output, may make a formal ruling on the matter when ministers gather on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3uH4ZKf
Italy Weighs EUR1.5 Billion Boost to Defence Budget; Draghi's government to present budget update next week; Growth outlook for 2022 set to be slashed below 3% from 4.7%
Chiara Albanese and Alessandra Migliaccio - Bloomberg
Italy is considering a plan to boost military spending by about 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion), a move that could stoke tensions within Prime Minister Mario Draghi's ruling coalition. The government may expand funding for the military this year as part of measures to allocate 2% of its output to the defense sector by 2028, two people familiar with the proposal said.
/jlne.ws/3LviL9H
Defend Ukraine — and Democracy in Poland and Hungary, too; The EU's problems with Warsaw and Budapest may seem to be from another time. That makes them no less important.
Andreas Kluth - Bloomberg
On Feb. 24, 2022, hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine, I happened to put a stick of butter in my fridge. The butter is still fresh — that's how recent this was. And yet that time already seems to belong to a distant and long-gone era.
/jlne.ws/3qSwmA9
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | SEC Warns Brokers Their Role Is 'Similar' To Advisors'
Ben Bain - Financial Advisor
Wall Street's main regulator is putting the investment industry on notice that brokers and financial advisers must abide by similar codes of conduct when helping retail clients choose which type of account to open. Securities and Exchange Commission staff on Wednesday said that both types of financial professionals share comparable duties to their customers. While rules for advisers and brokers kick in at different times, "they generally yield substantially similar results in terms of the ultimate responsibilities owed to retail investors," officials said in a bulletin.
/jlne.ws/3NCnJmP
The IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board welcomes the consultation on the first two Sustainability Disclosure Standards by the International Sustainability Standards Board
IOSCO
The IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board (Monitoring Board) welcomes today's publication of the first two exposure drafts of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). We see this as an important step towards the delivery of a global baseline of high-quality sustainability standards that aim to enhance transparency and comparability in global capital markets and meet investor needs.
/jlne.ws/35uh0dC
IOSCO welcomes ISSB's publication of sustainability standards exposure drafts
IOSCO
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) welcomes the publication of the Exposure Drafts of proposed climate and general sustainability disclosure requirements. These have been published today for public consultation by the nternational Sustainability Standards Board
(ISSB).
/jlne.ws/38ij1L1
BIS Innovation Hub and Monetary Authority of Singapore develop prototype supervisory analytics platform
MAS
New prototype 'Project Ellipse' enables quick access to early warning indicators, analytics, and prudential metrics for banking supervision; The Ellipse prototype is the first to be published on BIS Open Tech , a new platform for sharing software as public goods for further testing, customising and scaling; Integrating regulatory and other data, facilitated by advanced technology, could enhance the analytical capabilities of regulators to be more forward-looking and data-driven.
Singapore, 31 March 2022...The BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have developed a new prototype platform that integrates regulatory data and analytics. Known as Project Ellipse, the platform successfully demonstrates how regulatory and other data, such as articles and news, can be integrated into a single platform to help regulatory authorities identify potential risks to individual banks and the banking system.
/jlne.ws/3wSw7sz
CFTC Approves Application of KOR Reporting Inc. for Provisional Registration as a Swap Data Repository
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today approved the application of KOR Reporting Inc. (KOR) for provisional registration as a swap data repository (SDR) pursuant to section 21 of the Commodity Exchange Act and section 49.3(b) of the CFTC's regulations.
/jlne.ws/3tS967g
NFA permanently bars Chennai, India commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor eDeal Market LLC and its principal Nithya Narasimhan from membership
NFA
NFA has permanently barred eDeal Market LLC (eDeal), a former NFA Member commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor located in Chennai, India, and Nithya Narasimhan, its former principal and associated person, from membership and from acting as a principal of an NFA Member.
/jlne.ws/3wSBWWR
SEC Division of Examinations Announces 2022 Examination Priorities; Enhances Focus on Private Funds, ESG, and Operational Resiliency
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Examinations today announced its 2022 examination priorities, including several significant areas of focus and many perennial risk areas. The Division will focus on private funds, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, retail investor protections, information security and operational resiliency, emerging technologies, and crypto-assets. The Division publishes its examination priorities annually to provide insights into its risk-based approach, including the areas it believes present potential risks to investors and the integrity of the U.S. capital markets.
/jlne.ws/3JZRIDg
Statement on Proposal on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), Shell Companies, and Projections
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Today, the Commission is considering a proposal to strengthen investor protections in special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). I am pleased to support this proposal because, if adopted, it would strengthen disclosure, marketing standards, and gatekeeper and issuer obligations by market participants in SPACs, helping ensure that investors in these vehicles get protections similar to those when investing in traditional initial public offerings (IPOs).
/jlne.ws/3J08NLH
Damning and Deeming: Dissenting Statement on Shell Companies, Projections, and SPACs Proposal
Commissioner Hester Peirce - SEC
Thank you, Chair Gensler, Renee [Jones], Charles [Kwon], and Jessica [Wachter] for the presentation. The Commission's 2022 budget request includes additional resources to address "an unprecedented surge in non-traditional IPOs by special purpose acquisition companies."[1] If we adopt the rule that we are voting on today, we will not need additional resources to deal with Special Purpose Acquisition Companies ("SPACs"). The proposal—rather than simply mandating sensible disclosures around SPACs and de-SPACs, something I would have supported—seems designed to stop SPACs in their tracks. The proposal does not stop there; it also makes a lot of sweeping interpretations of the law that are not limited in effect to the SPAC context. Accordingly, I dissent.
/jlne.ws/35rkIol
Statement on the Proposal to Enhance Investor Protections in SPACs
Commissioner Allison Lee - SEC
The last two years have seen an unprecedented surge in the use of special purpose acquisition vehicles (SPACs) as an alternative means of going public. Indeed the amount of capital raised by SPAC initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2021 was more than $160 billion, a fifteen fold increase over 2018.[1] The rise of SPACs, and the corresponding innovation around their use, raises specific investor protection concerns, especially for retail investors. Today the Commission responds to those concerns by proposing a package of amendments designed to promote transparency and accountability in the SPAC market.
/jlne.ws/372KM9v
Statement on the SPACs Proposal
Commission Caroline A. Crenshaw - SEC
I'd like to thank the staff, my fellow Commissioners, and the Chair. The staff's work is, as always, the reason we are here today and I am grateful for, and deeply rely, on their expertise, acumen, and dedication. A special purpose acquisition vehicle ("SPAC") is a company that has no commercial operations and is formed solely to raise capital so it can acquire a private operating company and take that private company public. These vehicles are not new. They have existed for decades.[1] But in 2020 and 2021, we witnessed a sudden SPAC boom with more than $80 billion raised in 2020 and more than $160 billion raised in 2021. In 2019, by comparison, SPACs raised less than 9% of what they raised in 2021.[2] And while I am, of course, supportive of companies having greater access to the public markets through a variety of avenues, the current SPAC boom highlighted a process with significant conflicts of interest and a host of misaligned incentives. The result is a process that can extract fees and compensation at the expense of shareholders.[3] And, a process that may overvalue the prospective public company to the detriment of the public markets and investors.[4] I am hopeful that today's proposal will lead to rules that help mitigate some of the issues with SPACs while preserving an alternative and viable path for companies to go public.
/jlne.ws/3IYAQey
Statement on Staff Bulletin on Account Recommendations to Retail Investors
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Today, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission released a Staff Bulletin related to the obligations of broker-dealers and investment advisers when making account recommendations to retail investors. In particular, the Bulletin highlights broker-dealers' obligations under Regulation Best Interest and investment advisers' obligations under the Investment Advisers Act fiduciary standard to act in retail investors' best interest and not to place their own interests ahead of the investor's interests.
/jlne.ws/3JUxQRR
FCA unveils £71mn compensation scheme for steelworkers; British Steel Pension Scheme members were wrongly advised to give up guaranteed pensions
Josephine Cumbo - FT
The Financial Conduct Authority has unveiled plans for a £71mn redress scheme for thousands of steelworkers who were wrongly advised to give up their guaranteed pensions. Under FCA proposals set out on Thursday, financial advisers will have to review pension transfer advice given to former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme between May 2016 and March 2018.
/jlne.ws/3Ly5uNt
FCA extends crypto registration deadline for 12 firms in U-turn; UK financial regulator's temporary licensing regime was set to conclude at the end of this month
Laura Noonan and Joshua Oliver - FT
The Financial Conduct Authority has extended a temporary licensing programme for cryptocurrency firms, risking the ire of UK lawmakers who strongly urged the regulator to stick to the April 1 deadline.
/jlne.ws/35qga1m
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Markets Need to Lose the 'Peace in Our Time' Reflex; We don't have a Russia-Ukraine deal yet, and getting to one has pitfalls every step of the way. Then there's what comes afterward.
John Authers - Bloomberg
A Piece of Paper
Could this mean peace in our time? Positive sounds about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine sparked a Tuesday surge in global stock markets, particularly in Europe. Oil prices took a dive, and ructions in the bond markets intensified. A Russian announcement that its military was cutting back activity around Kyiv and Chernihiv in the north of Ukraine to concentrate on the Donbas in the east sounded like a sign of progress.
/jlne.ws/3uEczFv
Corn Is Out, Soy Is In on U.S. Farms Rocked by Soaring Costs
Kim Chipman and Michael Hirtzer - Bloomberg
Two crops dominate U.S. farming: corn and soybeans. The former requires massive amounts of fertilizer. The latter requires very little. Which is why the astronomical surge in fertilizer prices -- they're up some 27% this year and 130% over the past year -- is causing farmers to quickly re-calibrate the amount of each crop they put in the ground this spring. They'll dedicate about 2 million more acres this year to soy, a Bloomberg survey finds, and about 2 million fewer to corn.
/jlne.ws/3u0JPbb
America's Retirement Crisis Is a Financial Crisis Too; Without significant reforms, state budgets could be overwhelmed within a decade. A better system is urgently needed.
The Editors - Bloomberg
America is facing a retirement crisis. Most experts agree that a significant portion of the population will lack the resources to live comfortably after they stop working. This, in turn, will place an increasing burden on the country's social safety net.
/jlne.ws/3LtsUDY
Hugh Hendry On Why The World Still Can't Get Enough Dollar Assets
Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway - Bloomberg
For years 15 years, Hugh Hendry ran the hedge fund Eclectica Asset Management, earning a reputation as a provocative and contrarian thinker on the entire state of the world economy. These days though, he's living in St. Bart's, surfing, and managing luxury properties for the richest people in the world. But of course, he can't stop thinking about macro. On this episode of Odd Lots, Hendry joins Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal to talk about Europe's big energy mistake, China's property troubles, and why even after all this time, the world can't get enough dollar assets.
/jlne.ws/3DpF91i
How Wall Street 'vultures' are looking to make a killing off Russian debt
Ariel Zilber. - NY Post
Wall Street banks and hedge funds including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are scooping up Russian corporate and government bonds at rock-bottom prices in the hopes of turning a massive post-war profit, according to reports.
/jlne.ws/35q6HqP
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Never Had Covid? You May Hold Key To Beating the Virus; Experts say studying those who have not yet caught Covid has become just as critical as studying those who have.
Madison Muller - Bloomberg
More than half of Americans may have never had Covid, according to U.S. government data, leaving scientists wondering whether those who've avoided the novel coronavirus might actually be immune to the virus altogether. This could offer new clues into how to attack Covid. At this stage in the pandemic, people may be immune due to vaccines, a past infection, or a combination of both. There's also evidence that, in rare instances, some people may be Covid-immune without infection or vaccination at all.
/jlne.ws/3wLmb46
Thailand's Covid Cases Jump to Record as Easier Visa Rules Loom
Thomas Kutty Abraham - Bloomberg
Thailand reported a record number of new Covid infections on Thursday, a day before easier entry rules for foreign tourists are set to take effect. The Health Ministry confirmed 27,560 new cases and 85 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours. The infections included 61 imported cases, the ministry said on its website.
/jlne.ws/3uG7NHM
NYC Covid Cases Are Rising Again, Mostly Among Those 25 to 34; Cases are elevated in Manhattan's Financial District, Tribeca; Twitter warning contrasts with city's low alert levels
Alicia Diaz - Bloomberg
New York City Covid-19 cases are rising again, particularly among people 25 to 34 years old, according to city officials. The surge appears to be concentrated in Manhattan, the most vaccinated borough. In an unusual move, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene posted a warning on Twitter on Wednesday, saying they "strongly recommend" New Yorkers mask-up indoors and get booster shots.
/jlne.ws/374syoo
Shanghai Will Lock Down 16 Million in Toughest Virus Test Yet; Second lockdown will ensnare two-thirds of city's population; China's manufacturing activity contracted in March on virus
Bloomberg News
Part two of Shanghai's phased lockdown will see some 16 million people confined to their homes, with residents urged to isolate from members of their own household as authorities seek to curtail a record outbreak that's brought unprecedented disruptions to the financial hub.
/jlne.ws/3tWd1A4
The Long Covid Puzzle Is Getting More Complicated
Jason Gale - Bloomberg
More than 200 symptoms have been attributed, directly and indirectly, to long Covid. Unraveling the causes keeps getting harder. One reason is that different coronavirus variants affect the body in various ways, leading to different Covid symptoms and likely resulting in different patterns of persistent conditions — from hair loss and fatigue to heart palpitations and smell and taste distortions.
/jlne.ws/374uMUM
Covid, Russia and Economy Put the 'China Model' to the Test; With China's prosperity and global standing seemingly at risk, some are wondering — aloud — whether the country is on the wrong track.
Li Yuan - NY Times
A year ago, while many countries were still reeling from Covid-19, China seemed to be one of few places prospering through the pandemic. It was also the only major economy that reported growth in 2020. Global investors were bullish on Chinese stocks even as Beijing's regulatory crackdown on its private sector became more like a political campaign.
/jlne.ws/3tWymt8
Highest number of Covid patients in London hospitals for almost two months
Ross Lydall - Evening Standard
The number of patients with Covid in London hospitals is at its highest level for almost two months. A total of 2,330 inpatients on Wednesday had tested positive for the virus but only about 26 per cent were in hospital "primarily" because of Covid, according to NHS England statistics published on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3LqO7OM
Analysis: Governments want COVID vaccine developers to aim higher in hunt for better shots
Ludwig Burger and Emilio Parodi - Reuters
As governments prepare to live with COVID-19, some are questioning how much to rely on drugmakers to adapt vaccines to ward off future virus variants amid signs of tension between companies and regulators over the best approach, according to several sources familiar with the matter. Some vaccine experts say government agencies should fund and help develop a new generation of COVID shots, and seek innovation from smaller developers, as they did to identify current vaccines.
/jlne.ws/3DpzGHO
What Else Could Covid Inflict on Us? Ask Australian Rabbits; New virus variants evolve to evade hosts' immune systems. But those immune systems also keep adapting.
Faye Flam - Bloomberg
Rabbits were the victims of the deadliest epidemic in recent history — a germ warfare attack, really — with a virus that killed off more than 99% of the 100 million rabbits inhabiting Australia in 1950. However, the virus didn't "win" — both the virus and the rabbits are still around today and continue to influence each other's evolution.
/jlne.ws/3JWhNDb
The Case for Wearing Masks on Trains and Buses From Now On; Even before the pandemic, mass transit was a vector for disease.
Mark Gongloff - Bloomberg
In every year before the pandemic, the months between September and, let's say, February were the Sickening Times, when my family was under constant assault from one illness or another. We knew this happened because our children spent hours in class with sneezing, booger-eating children, while I spent hours in metal tubes and offices with sneezing, booger-eating adults. But there seemed to be no way around it.
/jlne.ws/3iS24ZK
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | How Russia's Ukraine Invasion Undermines Climate Research; "Peaceful scientific cooperation between nations...cannot proceed as normal."
Tim Lydon - Mother Jones
The war in Ukraine is a deepening humanitarian tragedy that is disrupting international relations across the globe. Far from the front lines, Russia's aggression is taking another kind of toll—it's causing decades of scientific collaboration to unravel, even in the farthest reaches of the Arctic Ocean.
/jlne.ws/3wTX1QY
Banks face new standards on carbon emissions disclosure; Financial institutions will be required to disclose carbon linked to loans and investments
Simon Mundy and Michael O'Dwyer - FT
Financial institutions will be expected to publish estimates of the carbon emissions linked to their loans and investments, under draft international standards aimed at eliminating greenwashing by companies.
/jlne.ws/3iOH6uQ
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | FTSE Russell & ADX launch FTSE ADX 15 representing top listed companies
FTSE Russell
FTSE Russell announces 2018 Russell US Indexes Reconstitution schedule
FTSE Russell and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) announced today the launch of the FTSE ADX 15 Index (FADX 15) representing the top publicly listed companies on ADX. The new FTSE ADX 15 Index, a sub-index of the FTSE ADX General Index, is calculated by a combination of free float adjusted market capitalisation and median daily trading value of the top 15 traded companies on ADX.
/jlne.ws/3iUoaL3
Credit Suisse Investors Seek Special Audit of Greensill Debacle
Myriam Balezou - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG shareholders proposed a special audit over the collapse of a group of supply chain finance funds it ran with now-defunct Greensill Capital, after the bank refused to publish an internal report on the matter. The lender urged shareholders to vote against the proposal at the bank's annual general meeting next month, saying it could complicate efforts to recover investor money that remains locked up more than a year after it was frozen. The audit is being proposed by the Ethos Foundation and seven Swiss pension funds.
/jlne.ws/3uJKEE3
RBC Wealth Management to Buy Brewin Dolphin for £1.6 Billion; RBC will pay 515 pence per Brewin Dolphin share in cash; Deal represents a 62% premium to wealth manager's share price
Loukia Gyftopoulou - Bloomberg
RBC Wealth Management has agreed to buy Brewin Dolphin Holdings Plc, in an all-cash deal that values the wealth manager at about 1.6 billion pounds ($2.1 billion). RBC will pay 515 pence a share in cash for the company, according to a statement Thursday. The price represents a 62% premium to Brewin Dolphin's last closing share price.
/jlne.ws/3iXPPL7
SocGen Traders Making Temporary Move From Hong Kong to Singapore; At least a dozen traders will move cities starting in April; Hong Kong's Covid policies have left financial hub isolated
Ambereen Choudhury and Manuel Baigorri - Bloomberg
Societe Generale SA is temporarily relocating at least a dozen traders from Hong Kong to Singapore as the Chinese territory's stringent Covid strategy spurs Wall Street and European firms to move some staff out of Asia's largest financial hub.
/jlne.ws/3iXRksJ
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Stocks in China Suffer Worst Quarter in Years; The blue-chip CSI 300 Index lost nearly 15% in the three months to March 31
Rebecca Feng - WSJ
As China struggles to boost consumer confidence and keep the economy humming, some major onshore stock indexes have endured their toughest quarter since the country's 2015 market crash. The CSI 300 Index, which consists of the largest companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, lost nearly 15% in the three months to March 31, while the 500-stock Shenzhen Component Index dropped 18%. For both benchmarks, this was the biggest quarterly decline in percentage terms since the third quarter of 2015.
/jlne.ws/3LlAUXw
China Vows to Root Out Tax Evasion on Livestreaming Services; Major players include Kuaishou, Bilibili and Alibaba; Top influencer ordered to pay $210 million in December
Zheping Huang - Bloomberg
Chinese regulators pledged to step up oversight of the country's livestreaming platforms, a stark warning to an industry that's come under fire in recent years for tax evasion and content violations.
/jlne.ws/3NAqdCg
China's Oil Majors Open Their Checkbooks to Fight Fuel Scarcity
Bloomberg News
China's oil majors are boosting spending to take advantage of high prices and help meet political demands for energy security. The country's three state-owned drillers are planning capital expenditure of at least 530 billion yuan ($84 billion), up 4.6% from 2021. PetroChina Co. and Sinopec are budgeting for more spending than any oil major outside Saudi Aramco, despite smaller market capitalizations than many Western giants.
/jlne.ws/3ITWTTN
Quitting Russia LNG Proves Tough as Nation's Exports Stay Strong; Russian LNG exports in March are unchanged from February; Japan and France remain top destinations for Russian LNG
Stephen Stapczynski - Bloomberg
Russia's liquefied natural gas exports have remained strong since the invasion of Ukraine, highlighting how buyers from France to Japan are reluctant to halt deliveries of the fuel. LNG exports from Russia in March are roughly on par with daily deliveries a month ago, and are up 10% compared with a year earlier, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Russia is poised to be the world's fourth-largest exporter this month, the data showed.
/jlne.ws/3JXeFXA
Russia Bondholders Have No Hope With Default, Top Lawyer Says; Auslander sees no path to recover money if Russia defaults; Lawyer represented holdout creditors in Argentina in 2016
Selcuk Gokoluk - Bloomberg
Russian government bondholders would be left with no viable path to recover their money if the country defaults, according to one of the top global lawyers in sovereign debt litigation. Jay Auslander, who worked with Argentina holdout creditors in 2016, believes there would be little scope for litigating Russia in court in case of a default at least until the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3wRGD3f
Investors grant Ukraine's top food producer bond payment reprieve; Debtholders agree to give chicken processor MHP an extra nine months to pay interest
Tommy Stubbington - FT
Investors have granted Ukraine's biggest food supplier an extra nine months to make interest payments on its debt, in a deal the company says is vital to its efforts to maintain food supplies across the war-hit country.
/jlne.ws/3uIKQDF
Drought-Struck California Wants to Pay Farmers to Cut Plantings; A $2.9 billion pact could fallow up to 35,000 acres of rice; Agreement seen as a failure by some environmentalists
Kim Chipman and Brian K Sullivan - Bloomberg
California, gripped entirely in drought, proposed a $2.9 billion plan to pay farmers to reduce some of their planting in an effort to better manage water resources. The voluntary agreement negotiated between government officials and some of the state's major water agencies, which was announced on Tuesday, is also aimed at protecting salmon and other wildlife and ecosystems.
/jlne.ws/3tP603L
Crypto Miners in Texas Need 'Approval to Energize' in New Grid Hurdle; Big power users now need to clear review from grid operator; Ercot members set to create task force to evaluate big users
Naureen S Malik - Bloomberg
Texas has started requiring new large-scale cryptocurrency miners to seek permission to connect to the state's power grid in anticipation of a flood of requests expected to drive up electricity demand. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc., is requiring utilities to submit studies on the impact of miners and other large users tapping the grid before they can get "approval to energize," according to a March 25 notice from the state's main grid operator. Ercot members voted Wednesday to form a task force to hash out details of an interim plan that's ultimately meant to protect the grid from being overwhelmed.
/jlne.ws/3LxXNqz
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | The Can't-Lose Betting Strategy That's Taking the Gamble Out of Sports Gambling; Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel, and others have been handing out untold millions in sign-up bonuses. Coupon-clipping types are playing them against each other to make risk-free bets.
Keith Romer - Bloomberg
Dave is a 34-year-old high school guidance counselor from Buffalo, but his true calling is hunting deals. He and his wife started out as extreme couponers, buying up massive supplies of shampoo and paper towels for a fraction of their usual cost. From there they moved on to credit card sign-up bonuses and, between the two of them, opened more than 100 accounts. In July the couple paid for their six-week, 13-country honeymoon almost entirely with points and miles. But Dave had never considered applying his deal-hunting skills to gambling until he attended a talk at ZorkFest, a conference in Las Vegas that promises to help patrons wring every last dollar out of corporate promotional offers. There, a presenter explained how people in Colorado had used a system called matched betting to make tens of thousands of dollars harvesting intro bonuses and free bets from online sportsbooks.
/jlne.ws/3DoGJ3D
Lucky March Madness Fans Could Make Millions on Risky Final Four Bets; One college basketball bettor could take home $5.1 million if the Duke Blue Devils win it all.
Paulina Cachero - Bloomberg
A handful of high-rolling basketball fans stand to take home millions of dollars if their March Madness bets pay off. An estimated 45 million American adults planned to wager $3.1 billion on the 2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament, according to the American Gaming Association, making it one of sports' biggest betting events.
/jlne.ws/35rDrQx
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