| July 29, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
My wife's birthday is this week, so on Saturday we went to the Barry Manilow concert at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL. Cheryl had seen the now 81-year-old singer/performer twice before we got married in 1989. Manilow put on an excellent performance, which was rather amazing given his age and the rather weak performance I had seen from another 81-year-old that induced him to step down from running for president.
At the end of his performance, Manilow spoke to his audience, particularly his younger audience members, and encouraged them to exercise their right to vote, one of the great things about being an American. It was not a partisan message by any means, though it stood in stark contrast to the one delivered by former President Donald Trump this weekend while speaking to an audience of Christians at the Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida. At the end of his remarks, according to a story in the Independent, at a Friday event hosted by the conservative Christian organization Turning Point Action he told the audience, "Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore ... You got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."
Now, given that he was in Florida and could have been talking to an audience of advanced age, the whole "you won't have to vote again" may have had to do with the audience's expected mortality rates. However, if it was something else, then it is something else.
While America might be about to take a giant step backwards as a democracy, Chicago is taking a quantum leap forward as a technology center. The Chicago Tribune featured an opinion piece in its Sunday paper by Samir Mayekar and Nadya Mason titled "The quantum revolution is coming to Illinois."
The commentary explains that the term "quantum" is expanding beyond scientific and pop culture contexts, signifying the development of powerful tools set to transform industries like healthcare and finance, with significant economic implications. Recently, Illinois announced the creation of the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park in South Chicago, supported by PsiQuantum, the state, and up to $140 million from the federal government. This initiative is expected to generate a $20 billion economic impact and create thousands of jobs over the next decade.
Illinois' leadership in quantum technology is reinforced by Gov. J.B. Pritzker's $500 million budget allocation to boost quantum computing. The new campus, located on a historically industrial site, aims to harness local talent from top engineering universities, including the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago. This development promises to advance quantum technology, enhance national security, and spur innovation. The initiative builds on the region's existing infrastructure, like the Chicago Quantum Exchange and the quantum accelerator Duality, fostering a robust ecosystem similar to Silicon Valley and Boston.
Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. this weekend offered the crypto crowd and its billionaires a huge bribe from the U.S. Treasury to back them. Trump wants to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the planet and have "it to be mined, minted and made in the U.S." He must believe bitcoins are real coins to be minted. Trump also said he would "sack" the head of the SEC, Gary Gensler, and put in place regulators who love crypto rather than ones who hate it. That is a nice sound bite, but most agency heads resign when a new administration from the other party comes into office. Mr. Genser's commissioner term runs until 2026, so he could stay around and hate on crypto longer to spite Mr. Trump if he wanted.
RFK, Jr. wants the U.S. to buy bitcoin every day after he is president until it owns four million bitcoin, Bloomberg reported. Kennedy had said Trump wanted to build a Fort Knox for bitcoin and authorize the U.S. to buy a million bitcoins. Kennedy upped the bid for the crypto crowd's vote. It is a great way to get your election campaign funded by crypto billionaires, assuming you can win.
JPX reported that the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) experienced a significant surge in electricity futures trading during the April-June 2024 period, with transaction volumes reaching 397 GWh-eight times higher than the previous quarter and the second highest quarterly volume ever recorded. This increase was primarily driven by the successful expansion of TOCOM's market maker programs, which involve designated market makers continuously quoting reference prices, thereby facilitating more transactions. These futures allow power companies to hedge against price fluctuations on the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX), having been trial-listed in 2019 and permanently listed in 2022. Notably, the largest trading volume occurred in April-June 2022, driven by hedging needs amid fuel price volatility following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The recent expansion covered the July-September 2024 baseload electricity futures, aimed at capturing summer hedging demand when electricity usage peaks. Market makers, including brokerage firms, benefit from discounted trading fees if they meet TOCOM's conditions. Despite this success, ensuring continued growth in transaction volumes remains a challenge for the future.
On July 25th, SGX FX Futures reached a new milestone by achieving a single-day record of USD$25.7 billion for USD/CNH futures contracts. The notional open interest for USD/CNH contracts also saw a notable increase of 3% to 213,814 lots, approaching the historical high set in June 2024, SGX reported on LinkedIn.
The SEC report "Charting the Course: A Systematic Exploration of Influences Shaping Money Market Fund Growth" by Daniel Hiltgen, dated July 26, 2024, examines the factors influencing the growth of money market funds (MMFs). The report highlights that during market turmoil, institutional investors in particular shift to government MMFs, considered low-risk, leading to the industry's growth from $2.2 trillion to $6.2 trillion over two decades. In contrast, prime and tax-exempt MMFs have declined by 30% since the 2008 financial crisis due to crises and regulatory changes. The analysis uses data from various sources, including Form N-MFP, and covers factors like past crises, regulatory reforms, Federal Reserve policies, and alternatives to MMFs. Key findings show the federal funds rate as a primary driver of long-term growth. During the 2023 banking crisis, about 40% of withdrawn deposits were re-deposited into banks via MMFs purchasing FHLB securities, enabling more FHLB lending to banks.
The New York Times features a lovely story about a stroll that led the FT's Gillian Tett to change her mind about dating and eventually marry the man she went on the walk with, Buckhill Capital Founder and Managing Partner Henrik Jones. The story, titled "The Sunday Stroll That Changed Her Mind About Dating," has the subtitle "Gillian Tett was 'resolutely single' until she met Henrik Jones three years ago. While on an introductory walk, she 'realized he was amazing' and decided to extend the walk."
Nouriel Roubini is now a senior advisor at Hudson Bay Capital Management LP, he shared on LinkedIn, though he has been in the role for a while, he said.
Friday I told a humorous story that some on the JLN team thought was oversharing as it included a purported line from my wife yelling at me. Only part of the story was true, that I work from home, my wife is at the other end of the house and that she seems to hear all my conversations. The part about the yelling, or quote in ALL CAPS, was a story. I wonder if Rodney Dangerfield had these problems. As a comedian, I get no respect.
Speaking of humorous wife stories, at Henry Shatkin's funeral that I attended on Friday, one of his daughters opened her remembrance by telling one of Henry's favorite stories, which was from an episode of an old TV show, "Car 54, Where Are You?" The two policemen, Francis Muldoon and Gunther Toody, want to go fishing, but Toody must ask his wife first. He tells Muldoon he has, even though he hasn't. When Muldoon shows up to pick up Toody to go fishing and his wife asks him why he is here, knowing nothing about the fishing trip, she says, "If 26 years of marriage mean nothing to you, then you can go." Toody yells to Muldoon, who is out by his car, "She says I can go!"
Henry's favorite joke was the one about guys in prison who assign numbers to well known jokes and a new prisoner shouts out a number and no one laughs. His cellmate tells him it is all in the delivery.
Henry Saul Shatkin - and that is the shortened version of the name Henry gave himself - started his career in the futures industry at Uhlmann Grain for $25 per week. He left to go to the CME for $50 per week, but found it "too shady," according to Rob. CME Chairman Emeritus Leo Melamed, who was at the Friday service with his wife Bette, worked to make the CME less shady, while Henry headed back to the CBOT and set up a self-clearing firm, Shatkin Trading, accumulating friendships, not things, Rob Shatkin said. He also said, "Henry was not a religious man per se, but God smiled on Henry and Henry smiled on all of us."
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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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Jim Toes from MarketsWiki.
- Patricia Kevin-Schuler from MarketsWiki.
- ICE in small deal to boost options business from Reuters. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Trump faces outrage after telling Christian audience they won't have to vote again
Gustaf Kilander - Independent
Former President Donald Trump is facing outrage after appearing to suggest that he would end elections in the US if he's re-elected while speaking to a Christian audience. Towards the end of his speech at the Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida on Friday, Trump said, "Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore ... You got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."
/jlne.ws/3Wr8NgC
***** I would love former president Trump to explain this in a debate. Unfortunately, it does not seem like we are going to get that chance unless the polls start to show him well behind.~JJL
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Security Traders Association of Chicago Unveils 2024 STAC Fund College Scholarship Recipients; 21 local Chicago students receive awards to further their academic careers in finance
STAC
The Security Traders Association of Chicago (STAC), a membership organization for individual professionals in the securities industry in Chicago and an affiliate of The Security Traders Association (STA), today announced it awarded 21 college scholarships for the 2024 - 2025 academic year from its STAC Fund. Created to give back to deserving individuals and organizations in the Chicagoland community while encouraging financial awareness, the STAC Fund is a 501c3 organization that provides college scholarships to deserving Chicagoland students and makes grants to charitable and educational institutions. The STAC Fund has made over $500,000 in charitable donations and scholarship awards over the past decade thanks to the generosity of STAC members, sponsors and friends. 2024 STAC Fund scholarship winners include:Andreas Ackron, Aaron Appiah-Kubi, Anthony Baffi, Olivia Bansley, Patrick Connolly, Angel Escobedo, Shea Fitzgerald, Stella Fortino, Alicia Giachetto, Hadi Khamsi, John Masino, Henry Meinertzhagen, Natalie Midura, Ayat Musieh, Liam Nolan, Lahey O'Connor, Molly Raymond, Nyic'Quavayion Willis, Emma Witmer, Vicky Worotniak, and Eliezer Zagorin.
/jlne.ws/4cQxk5P
***** Nice work by STAC to support the Chicago community and grow financial awareness.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story Friday was Bloomberg's Wall Street Blockchain Pioneers Are Torn Over Crypto's Gray Zone. Second was The New York Times' I've Tried Hundreds of Wines This Year. These Are the Bottles I Buy Again and Again. Third was You Inherited an IRA. Here's How to Avoid a Huge Tax Bill., from Barron's.
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| Lead Stories | Euronext 'ready to strike' with further acquisitions; Head of Europe's biggest stock exchange operator says group would consider combination with any large regional rival
Nikou Asgari - Financial Times
Europe's biggest stock exchange operator Euronext is on the lookout for more acquisitions as it seeks to entrench its position in the region's capital markets. Stéphane Boujnah, chief executive, said "combining Euronext with any large exchange in Europe" could "create a lot of synergies". "We are monitoring all sort of situations and we are ready to strike or jump on any situation that becomes actionable," he told the Financial Times.
/jlne.ws/4d0Xy5N
Software crash exposes tensions between security and competition; Regulators like to rein in tech giants but a European Commission requirement on Microsoft was partly responsible for the outage
Josephine Wolff - Financial Times (opinion)
Who is to blame for the CrowdStrike software outage that took down millions of computers across every industry sector all over the world last week? As is often the case with cyber security incidents, there's plenty of blame to go around. CrowdStrike failed to properly vet the channel file it pushed out to its customers, crashing their Windows computers, and it also appeared to roll out that file to everyone all at once, rather than starting with a small number of customers to identify any problems before releasing the update widely.
/jlne.ws/46ruguy
Larry Fink's stately search for his successors; The head of the giant asset manager has been grooming a new top team for more than a decade. Some worry he is taking too long
Brooke Masters - Financial Times
BlackRock's Larry Fink wants everyone to know that he still loves the job. Though the chief executive and chair of the world's largest investment manager once talked of retiring in the early 2020s, the 71-year-old now shows no sign of wanting to let go of the firm he helped found 36 years ago. Over the past seven months, he has been in 14 countries and spearheaded two deals worth close to $16bn combined that further push BlackRock into private markets, an area that the firm has highlighted for strategic growth.
/jlne.ws/3WElNki
Trump vows to sack SEC boss and end 'persecution' of crypto industry; Candidate tells bitcoin enthusiasts he would ensure rules were written by people "who love" cryptocurrencies if elected
Alex Rogers - Financial Times
Donald Trump said he would end the "persecution" of the crypto industry, sack the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and free a convict the community views as a martyr. In a direct pitch to cryptocurrency devotees at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday, the Republican candidate promised to end the Biden administration's "crusade" against bitcoin.
/jlne.ws/3SQ6kLZ
Department of Commerce Announces New Guidance, Tools 270 Days Following President Biden's Executive Order on AI; For the first time, Commerce makes public new NIST draft guidance from U.S. AI Safety Institute to help AI developers evaluate and mitigate risks stemming from generative AI and dual-use foundation models.**
Department of Commerce
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today, on the 270-day mark since President Biden's Executive Order (EO) on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development of AI, the release of new guidance and software to help improve the safety, security and trustworthiness of artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
/jlne.ws/3WiniU5
People are flipping out about T-bill issuance; 'Activist Treasury issuance' or simply going with the flow?
Kate Duguid and Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
Back in June, Republican senators were yelling at Janet Yellen about giving the US economy a "sugar high" via short-dated debt. Smart people at JPMorgan, Barclays and Apollo worry that the government's reliance on T-bills to fund the deficit risked a rerun of the 2019 repo crisis. The latest salvo is a paper from Trump-era Treasury official Stephen Miran and economist Nouriel Roubini, who argue that borrowing skewed more towards short-term debt is tantamount to "stealth quantitative easing" and is interfering with the Fed's ability to fight inflation:
/jlne.ws/3WryH3I
China to Stop Publishing Daily Global Stock Flows in Mid-August; Decision to halt daily data was first flagged back in April; Decision is seen as attempt to boost local investor confidence
Bloomberg News
China took another step to obscure information about overseas funds going into and out of its sagging stock market, saying it will stop publishing daily flows data in the middle of August. The decision, which was hinted at in April and made explicit by the country's stock exchanges on Friday, follows a move in May to end data on intraday flows through trading links with Hong Kong. Investors will lose the ability to calculate net flows at the end of each trading day from Aug. 18.
/jlne.ws/3YpzQf6
Bill Ackman's four unfortunate IPO snafus
Craig Coben - Financial Times
Bill Ackman has an enviable record as an investor, but as an equity syndicate banker, he's learning the ropes the hard way. That's admittedly not his job, but he appears to have assumed that role in marketing the IPO of the Pershing Square USA permanent capital vehicle. And this may explain why the offering was postponed Friday night after downsizing from a record-breaking $25bn to a still-substantial $2.5-$4bn. And whatever Ackman may say, or his company "clarify", that's exactly what has happened. Normally, the underwriters' syndicate desks handle all the smooth-talking with prospective investors. They deliver carefully crafted messages that balance marketing finesse and legal restrictions. Navigating what you can and can't say is a compliance minefield, but for the syndicate managers it's second nature. But things can go awry when clients take matters into their own hands.
/jlne.ws/3yhunw2
A pioneer of small-cap stockpicking steps back after five decades
Small-cap 'legend' is retiring at 84 just as shares in smaller US companies are back in favour; 'There's a variety of ways to make a lot of money' in small-cap investing, Chuck Royce says
Will Schmitt - Financial Times
Timing the US stock market is usually a fool's errand, a fact not lost on venerable small-cap investing pioneer Chuck Royce. Earlier this year, he and other investors focused on smaller US companies watched as they suffered their worst stint relative to larger stocks in more than two decades.
/jlne.ws/3Wp9SWr
Plan to send Azeri gas to Europe may simply disguise Russian fuel, say experts; Kyiv examining plan to replace Russia gas supplies with fuel from Azerbaijan
Isobel Koshiw and Alice Hancock and Shotaro Tani - Financial Times
Experts have suggested a plan to replace Russian gas flowing to Europe through Ukraine with gas from Azerbaijan risks becoming a conduit for the disguised export of fuel from Russia. Gas from Russia is pumped to Europe through pipelines that transit Ukraine. Kyiv is considering trying to replace that supply with Azeri gas.
/jlne.ws/46mfQvH
US reveals security concerns around TikTok and ByteDance; Department of Justice alleges sensitive American user data was stored in China
Stefania Palma and Hannah Murphy - Financial Times
The US government has disclosed new national security concerns around TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance, as it fights their challenge to a law that would force a sale or ban of the app. In legal documents filed on Friday, the US Department of Justice alleged some of TikTok's US user data had been stored in China and the company was able to collect data based on users' views on sensitive issues such as abortion.
/jlne.ws/3WrCmyu
EuroCTP unveils advisory committee members; Committee members include experts from: Deutsche Borse, Norges Bank, Bloomberg, XTB, and more...
Claudia Preece - The Trade
EuroCTP has unveiled the first members of its advisory committee - an independent body composed of leading industry participants aiming to exchange views and co-design 'the best' European consolidated tape. Through these discussions, all perspectives are set to be taken into account when it comes to defining how the tape will operate.
/jlne.ws/3y5lgPa
From Believers to Bitcoin: 24 Hours in Trump's Code-Switching Campaign; When Donald J. Trump tries to win over a crowd that is not inherently his own, the results can be awkward.
Shawn McCreesh - The New York Times
In a matter of just 24 hours this weekend, Donald J. Trump traversed two very different worlds, neither one of them his own. On Friday night, he appeared before religious leaders in West Palm Beach, Fla. The next afternoon, he was in Nashville, yukking it up with thousands of crypto-evangelists at a Bitcoin conference.
/jlne.ws/3YndLxp
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Only six Ukrainian pilots trained to fly new F-16 fighter jets
James Kilner - The Telegraph
Only six Ukrainian pilots have reportedly been trained by European Nato members to fly F-16 fighter jets due to be delivered to Kyiv next month. Ukraine has been urging its allies for months to send them the jets, claiming they would help defend against long-range strikes and bring about a swift end to the war. Citing Ukrainian and Western officials, the Washington Post reported that not only are there far too few trained pilots to give Ukraine an edge but the jets can not immediately be used on the front line due to improving Russian air defences.
/jlne.ws/4djHLyK
Russia needs men so badly that its sign-up bonuses are nearly on par with the US military's
Aditi Bharade - INSIDER
Russia's army is bleeding, and it's raising its recruitment bonuses to US military levels to draw in more men. Russian media reported that new recruits would get a new signing bonus of 1.9 million rubles, or about $22,000 if they sign contracts with the Russian defense ministry. The announcement said that, including the monthly salary and other benefits, soldiers stand to make around 5.2 million rubles, or $61,000, in their first year of service.
/jlne.ws/4c3IFhL
Ukraine developed new shields for its US-made Bradleys, which are excelling against Russia
Sinead Baker - INSIDER
Ukraine has also created shields for its tanks as both sides try to protect their gear from drones. Ukraine has created new shields for its US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, which have become a key tool in the fight back against Russia's invasion but are targets for Russian drone attacks. Oleksandr Myronenko, the COO of Ukraine's Metinvest Group, told Newsweek that the shields, which cost about $2 million each, were "successful in testing" and that "we are now moving into mass production."
/jlne.ws/3WH7iMG
The real danger that Trump would pose for Ukraine; Agreeing to Russia's demand for a neutral Ukraine could leave the country at the mercy of Moscow
Gideon Rachman - Financial Times
What would a Trump presidency mean for Ukraine? A lot of the speculation about a potential "betrayal" of the country centres on a possible cut-off in arms supplies, linked to the acceptance of Russian annexation of chunks of Ukrainian territory. Territory and weaponry are both key questions. But another less discussed issue is also emerging as a vital topic: Ukrainian neutrality.
/jlne.ws/4fBKOnZ
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | As fighting rages, displaced Gazans struggle with disease and lack of shelter
Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Ramadan Abed - Reuters
Thousands of Palestinians fled a community in the central Gaza Strip on Monday in the face of new Israeli evacuation orders, worsening the humanitarian plight in an area already inundated with displaced people fleeing an assault in the south. Israeli forces, which have now captured nearly the entire Gaza Strip in nearly 10 months of war, have spent the last several weeks launching major operations in areas where they had previously claimed to have uprooted Hamas fighters.
/jlne.ws/3LKNeTw
Israeli officials say they seek to avoid all-out war in Lebanon retaliation
Maayan Lubell and Maya Gebeily - Reuters
Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but not drag the Middle East into all-out war, two Israeli officials said on Monday, as Lebanon braced for retaliation after a rocket strike that killed 12 children and teens in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Two other Israeli officials said Israel was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting following Saturday's rocket strike at a sports field in a Druze village. All four officials, who included a senior defence official and a diplomatic source, spoke on condition of anonymity and gave no further information about Israel's plans for retaliation.
/jlne.ws/3zVNts0
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | ASX launches Environmental Futures contracts
ASX
ASX launches Environmental Futures contracts to support liquidity and scale across Australian and New Zealand carbon and renewable energy markets ASX today listed three Environmental Futures contracts, marking the next maturity phase for carbon and renewable energy markets in Australia and New Zealand. These new contracts allow participants to price and hedge emissions reduction risk amid the transition to a lower carbon economy.
/jlne.ws/4fnuQgU
CIE Automotive registers its Commercial Paper Programme on MARF
BME
CIE Automotive has registered the renewal of its Commercial Paper Programme on BME's fixed income market, MARF, for an amount of 400 million euro. The commercial paper to be issued under this programme will have unit notional amounts of EUR100,000 and maturities of up to 24 months. Until this renewal of the programme, CIE Automotive registered its Commercial Paper Programme on the Dublin Stock Exchange.
/jlne.ws/4c3iqYD
Product modification Summary: Amendments to the European Low Sulphur Gasoil Calendar (1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 month) Spread Option Contracts and the Temporary Suspension of Trading and Clearing of the Previously Listed Contract Months - Effective July 29, 2024
CME Group
Amendments to the European Low Sulphur Gasoil Calendar (1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 month) Spread Option Contracts and the Temporary Suspension of Trading and Clearing of the Previously Listed Contract Months.
/jlne.ws/3A3yjBf
Initial Listing of the Adjusted Interest Rate S&P 500 Total Return Index (SOFR) Futures Contract
CME Group
/jlne.ws/4dgWIkW
Retail Commercial Program
TMX
Bourse de Montreal Inc. (the "Bourse" or "MX") is pleased to announce the launch of its Retail Commercial Program (the "Program") for eligible Approved Participant ("AP") or Foreign Approved. Participant ("FAP") or Client sponsored by an AP or FAP. The Program is designed to encourage and support selected participants in their efforts to invest in the retail segment of the equity and ETF options market by allowing them to benefit from a reduced fee per contract in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth.
/jlne.ws/3WG0qz9
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | How the quantum and United Center projects could spark action in investment-starved neighborhoods
Danny Ecker - Crain's Chicago Business
For years, Chicago planning officials have labored to kickstart real estate development in disinvested South and West side neighborhoods, chipping away at one publicly-subsidized apartment building, one retail project, one community center at a time. Now, two massive proposals and billions of dollars in new investment stand to supercharge their effort. Along a once-gritty stretch of Lake Michigan, the newly announced Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park stands to turn the long-dormant U.S. Steel South Works property into a cutting-edge 128-acre campus for quantum computing research. Palo Alto-based startup PsiQuantum will anchor the project with a commitment to invest $1 billion into it and bring scores of jobs to the area as it vies to build the world's largest quantum computer in South Chicago.
/jlne.ws/3A04bXm
AI could force 12 million workers to switch jobs in coming years, causing unprecedented competition
Jennifer Sor - Business Insider
The days of casual job-hopping may be coming to an end. AI is about to make it a lot harder to get a new gig, especially for people working in industries that are highly exposed to AI disruption, career experts told Business Insider. The advent of AI is a big warning for customer service reps, cashiers, office assistants, and production workers. "Medium-skilled" workers are the most likely to be displaced by the technology, according to Georgios Petropoulos, a labor market and digital tech researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
/jlne.ws/46nXKtc
Apple's AI Features Rollout Will Miss Upcoming iPhone Software Overhaul
Mark Gurman - Bloomberg
Apple Inc.'s upcoming artificial intelligence features will arrive later than anticipated, missing the initial launch of its upcoming iPhone and iPad software overhauls but giving the company more time to fix bugs. The company is planning to begin rolling out Apple Intelligence to customers as part of software updates coming by October, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That means the AI features will arrive a few weeks after the initial iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 releases planned for September, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing unannounced release details.
/jlne.ws/4cbTyOI
FTC's Khan Backs Open AI Models in Bid to Avoid Monopolies; Khan comments made at San Francisco event on AI startups; Agency is probing Microsoft, OpenAI over antitrust concerns
Leah Nylen and Lizette Chapman - Bloomberg
Open artificial intelligence models that allow developers to customize them with few restrictions are more likely to promote competition, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said, weighing in on a key debate within the industry. "There's tremendous potential for open-weight models to promote competition," Khan said Thursday in San Francisco at startup incubator Y Combinator. "Open-weight models can liberate startups from the arbitrary whims of closed developers and cloud gatekeepers." "Open-weight" models disclose what an AI model picked up and was tweaked on during its training process. That allows developers to better customize them and makes them more accessible to smaller companies and researchers. But critics have warned that open models carry an increased risk of abuse and could potentially allow companies from geopolitical rivals like China to piggyback off the technology.
/jlne.ws/4d1ZScy
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | US reveals security concerns around TikTok and ByteDance; Department of Justice alleges sensitive American user data was stored in China; TikTok is confident it 'will prevail in court'
Stefania Palma in Washington and Hannah Murphy in San Francisco - Financial Times
The US government has disclosed new national security concerns around TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance, as it fights their challenge to a law that would force a sale or ban of the app. In legal documents filed on Friday, the US Department of Justice alleged some of TikTok's US user data had been stored in China and the company was able to collect data based on users' views on sensitive issues such as abortion. Under a bill Congress approved in April, ByteDance must divest TikTok by January 2025 or face a countrywide ban. The move came after US officials warned the popular platform posed national security risks, partly because ByteDance could be compelled to share the personal information of the 170mn Americans who use the app with Beijing under Chinese law.
/jlne.ws/3Wmt0UN
Cyber attacks on shipping rise amid geopolitical tensions; State-backed hackers present a fresh threat to an industry that has long faced security concerns
Oliver Telling - Financial Times
The shipping industry is facing a sharp rise in cyber attacks as geopolitical disputes prompt state-linked hackers to target trade flows. Shipowners, ports and other maritime groups faced at least 64 cyber incidents in 2023, a review of company, media and academic reports by researchers at the Netherlands' NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences has found. A decade earlier, there were three, and zero in 2003. Over 80 per cent of identified incidents since 2001 with a known attacker originated in Russia, China, North Korea or Iran, according to data from the university, which trains mariners.
/jlne.ws/4dn2OAe
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Trump Backs U.S. Bitcoin Reserve and Says Democrat Win Will Be Disaster for Crypto: 'Every One of You Will Be Gone'
Danny Nelson, Shaurya Malwa, Ben Schiller, Aoyon Ashraf - CoinDesk
Former U.S. President Donald Trump promised to maintain a "strategic national bitcoin reserve" and "never sell" the government's seized bitcoin in a freewheeling speech that tightened the Republican candidate's grip on the crypto voting and fundraising bloc. Leading up the event, there had been speculation and hope among crypto fans that Trump would announce such a reserve.
/jlne.ws/3LKOdDc
The Clock Has Ticked on Bitcoin's Post Halving Surge, 100 Days After the Latest Quadrennial Halving
Omkar Godbole - CoinDesk
The bullish impact of the halving-led slowdown in bitcoin's {{BTC}} supply expansion tends to kick in after 100 days, new research by ETC Group shows. Bitcoin mining reward halving is an inbuilt code that takes effect every four years or after 210,000 blocks are mined on the blockchain. The quadrennial event reduces the reward miners receive for validating transactions by 50 percent.
/jlne.ws/46oy6o8
One Trading receives AFM approval for European crypto derivatives trading; The approval from the Dutch Financial Markets Authority (AFM) makes One Trading the only perpetual futures trading venue within the EU and the first European cash-settled perpetuals platform.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
The AFM has granted crypto-asset exchange One Trading an Organised Trading Facility (OTF) license, making the trading venue the first regulated derivatives exchange in Europe accessible to retail clients. The approval makes the exchange the only perpetual futures trading venue within the EU and the first European cash-settled perpetuals platform.
/jlne.ws/4dcwTma
Nomura's Crypto Unit to Offer Higher-Yielding Ether ETF Alternative; Fund will not be available in the US immediately after launch; Fund provides yield from Ether 'staking' through partnerships
Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
On the heels of the launch of ETFs that hold the Ethereum cryptocurrency, Nomura Holdings Inc.'s digital-asset unit plans to offer a higher yielding alternative that includes a key component US issuers likely left out to help win regulatory approval. The Ether ETFs didn't include staking, a process where investors can earn passive income by temporarily making their tokens available to the Ethereum network to use in helping validate transactions. Nomura's Laser Digital plans to launch the fund by early September with support from Galaxy Digital and crypto startup Dinero. It will be open to so-called accredited investors such as hedge funds and private investment offices, rather than retail buyers.
/jlne.ws/3yh9OQp
Trump Became Crypto Believer After Falling in Love With NFTs of Himself; His cowboy-and-superhero nonfungible tokens led Donald Trump down the digital-asset rabbit hole. He emerged as a crypto advocate, and now industry heavyweights are lining up to return him to the White House.
Olga Kharif, Stephanie Lai, David Pan, and Teresa Xie - Bloomberg
It was supposed to be a cryptocurrency conference, but it could've easily been mistaken for a Trump rally. At an event where vendors hawked red hats reading "Make Bitcoin Great Again," the crowd erupted in applause when Donald Trump vowed to fire Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission chair, and replace him with regulators who love the digital-asset industry should he return to the White House.
/jlne.ws/46mdsoJ
Sen. Cynthia Lummis announces bill for US Treasury to buy 1 million bitcoin worth $68 billion: Bitcoin 2024
Daniel Kuhn - The Block
Senator Cynthia Lummis, of Wyoming, will introduce a bill to direct the U.S. Treasury to purchase 1 million bitcoins - worth about $68 billion at current prices - over a period of five years next week, she said in an interview with The Block. The move is made to counter the effects of dollar debasement, she said. "Bitcoin BTC +1.85% is a great store of value. Over the last four years or so it has increased about 55% per year. During the same period, the U.S. dollar has declined in value and we've seen increasing inflation," Sen Lummis said.
/jlne.ws/4fp0udP
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump, Appealing to Bitcoin Fans, Vows U.S. Will Be 'Crypto Capital of the Planet'; Donald Trump, speaking at a Bitcoin conference, told cryptocurrency holders that he would end the "persecution" of their industry.
Chris Cameron - The New York Times
Former President Donald J. Trump vowed on Saturday that he would turn the United States into a "Bitcoin superpower" if returned to the White House, wielding much of the same rhetoric of persecution that he has applied to himself and his supporters to appeal to cryptocurrency enthusiasts who want to see less regulation. "Sadly, we see the attacks on crypto," Mr. Trump told a gathering of cryptocurrency fans in Nashville. "It's a part of a much larger pattern that's being carried out by the same left-wing fascists to weaponize government against any threat to their power. They've done it to me."
/jlne.ws/4fociNK
'Absolute Game Changer'-Congress Introduces Radical Bitcoin Bill As Trump Primes Price For A $100 Trillion Surge To Replace Gold
Billy Bambrough - Forbes
The bitcoin price has climbed almost 20% since Trump was revealed to be the headline speaker at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, with billionaire investor Mark Cuban issuing a "crazy" bitcoin price prediction. Now, after Trump promised to create a "strategic national bitcoin reserve" and predicted bitcoin could eclipse gold's $16 trillion market capitalization, U.S. senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has introduced a bill to direct the U.S. Treasury to purchase 1 million bitcoins worth almost $70 billion-while MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor has upped his huge bitcoin price prediction.
Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance; A small influential network of right-wing techies orchestrated Vance's rise in Silicon Valley - and then the GOP. Now the industry stands to gain if he wins the White House.
Elizabeth Dwoskin, Cat Zakrzewski, Nitasha Tiku and Josh Dawsey - The Washington Post
In the weeks before former president Donald Trump announced his vice-presidential pick, some of tech's biggest names launched a quiet campaign to push for one of their own: Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The former president fielded repeated calls from tech entrepreneur David Sacks, Palantir adviser Jacob Helberg, and billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Vance's former employer and mentor, imploring him to add the one-time Silicon Valley investor to the ticket, according to three people familiar with the entreaties, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversations.
/jlne.ws/3YhSbdS
Scaramucci: 'I Agree With Every Single Thing' Trump Has Said On Bitcoin
Bibhu Pattnaik - Benzinga
Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, a prominent figure in the finance world and now a vocal critic of his former boss Donald Trump, has nonetheless voiced his support for Trump's position on Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
/jlne.ws/3A3IgyA
Department of Justice accuses TikTok of being a national security threat
ABC News Videos
The Department of Justice accused the popular social media platform TikTok of being a national security threat in new court filings. ABC News' Perry Russom reports.
/jlne.ws/3yfEYaW
EU prepares two-step trade plan to tackle Donald Trump; If the Republican candidate returns to the White House, Brussels will offer a quick deal then threaten retaliation against tariffs
Andy Bounds - Financial Times
Brussels is developing a two-step trade strategy to deal with Donald Trump, offering the Republican a quick deal if he wins a second term as president, and targeted retaliation if he opts for punitive tariffs instead. EU officials see the carrot-and-stick approach as the best response to Trump's pledge to impose a 10 per cent minimum tariff, which they estimate could reduce EU exports by around EUR150bn annually.
/jlne.ws/4c6lEL9
China says relations with Japan at 'critical stage'
Reuters
/jlne.ws/3WoyluH
Eighty nations strike deal over e-commerce, but lack US backing
Reuters
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | State Street to Pay $7.5 Million to Settle Allegations of Russia-Related Sanctions Violations; A subsidiary of the financial-services firm received payments from two Russian entities facing U.S. sanctions restrictions
Mengqi Sun - The Wall Street Journal
State Street has agreed to pay about $7.5 million to settle allegations a subsidiary of the financial-services firm received payments and redacted invoices from two Russian entities that faced U.S. sanctions restrictions. The subsidiary, Charles River Development, a financial technology company specializing in software for communicating trading information, allegedly altered the dates and reissued invoices and accepted contractual payments from two clients majority-owned by Russian banks Sberbank or VTB Bank between 2016 and 2020, according to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
/jlne.ws/3zVV8GM
Yellen Rejects Roubini Claim of 'Manipulation' in Treasuries
Christopher Condon - Bloomberg
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen firmly rejected an accusation from the economist Nouriel Roubini that her department has manipulated the issuance of Treasury securities in a way that lowers real borrowing costs across the economy. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Yellen said Roubini's argument, laid out in a paper published Tuesday, "suggests a strategy that is intended to ease financial conditions, and I can assure you 100% that there is no such strategy. We have never, ever discussed anything of the sort."
/jlne.ws/4fiZEiS
US indicts Andrew Left in $16 million stock market manipulation scheme
Reuters
A federal grand jury has indicted prominent activist short seller Andrew Left on multiple counts of securities fraud for a long-running $16 million market manipulation scheme, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. The indictment, filed on Thursday, said Left "commented on publicly traded companies, asserting that the market incorrectly valued a company's stock and advocating that the current price was too high or too low," the Justice Department said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/3LCCM0h
Activist Short Seller Charged for $16M Stock Market Manipulation Scheme
Department of Justice
A federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned an indictment yesterday charging a prominent activist short seller with multiple counts of securities fraud for a long-running market manipulation scheme reaping profits of at least $16 million. According to the indictment, Andrew Left, 54, formerly of Beverly Hills, California, and now a resident of Boca Raton, Florida, was a securities analyst, trader, and frequent guest commentator on cable news channels such as CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg Television. Left conducted business under the name "Citron Research" (Citron), an online moniker he created as a vehicle for publishing investment recommendations. Citron's online presence included a website and a social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
/jlne.ws/4cXkgf9
ANZ finds no evidence of market manipulation in preliminary analysis
Lucy Carter - The Desk
Investigations into ANZ's Australian Markets business are ongoing, with preliminary analysis by the organisation finding no evidence of market manipulation. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC) investigation into the situation, which is expected to last a number of months, considers ANZ's issuance of 10-year Treasury Bonds by the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) in 2023. Stating that it is "cooperating fully" with the regulator, ANZ's external counsel is in the process of gathering trading data analysis around the issue from independent experts. Alongside this case, ANZ is also facing investigations into its data reporting processes and conduct and behavioural matters within its Sydney dealing room.
/jlne.ws/4fjDltj
Federal Court Orders El Paso Man and His Firm to Pay Over $31 Million for Forex and Cryptocurrency Fraud
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced Senior Judge David C. Guaderrama of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered an order on July 9, assessing monetary relief totaling over $31 million against Abner Alejandro Tinoco and his company Kikit & Mess Investments, LLC. The order requires Tinoco and Kikit & Mess, both formerly of El Paso, Texas, to pay, jointly and severally, $6,203,792.18 in restitution to 199 defrauded victims; $6,257,904.89 in disgorgement with dollar for dollar credit for any restitution payments to victims; and a $18,773,714 civil monetary penalty, which is three times the amount of unlawful gains from their fraudulent foreign currency (forex) and cryptocurrency scheme.
/jlne.ws/3LKdSMc
SEC Awards Whistleblower More Than $37 Million
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $37 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action. The whistleblower persisted in reporting the misconduct internally, which led the employer to conduct its own investigation and eventually report the results to the Commission. This self-report caused the Commission to open an investigation. Further, without the whistleblower's ongoing, extensive, and timely assistance, the staff would not have learned the full context and extent of the employer's misconduct.
/jlne.ws/3ytxNvE
SEC Charges Ex-CEO of View Systems, Inc. with Securities Fraud for Falsely Claiming the Company Was Engaged in Business Operations that It Was Not
SEC
On July 26, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Colombian resident Juan Campo, the former CEO of View Systems, Inc., with securities fraud for creating the false impression that View Systems was actively engaged in two potentially lucrative lines of business, temperature screening for Covid-19 and cannabis, and for including a fake audit report in a View Systems SEC filing.
/jlne.ws/3YmKqmM
SEC Charges Andrew Left and Citron Capital for $20 Million Fraud Scheme
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against activist short seller Andrew Left and his firm, Citron Capital LLC, for engaging in a $20 million multi-year scheme to defraud followers by publishing false and misleading statements regarding his supposed stock trading recommendations.
/jlne.ws/4d2xBm8
SEC Charges Georgia Man and Florida Lawyer for Their Roles in Fraudulent Investment Scheme
On July 25, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged 68-year-old Roosevelt Tobias Bailey, of Buford, Georgia, and his company, Borg Investment Bank & Capital Trust, with conducting a fraudulent prime bank and gold and diamond investment scheme. The SEC also charged Alvin C. Jones, Esq. of Tampa, Florida, for aiding and abetting the scheme.
/jlne.ws/3SpVI5W
Appointment of New Deputy Chairman for MAS
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that Mr Chee Hong Tat, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance, will be appointed Deputy Chairman of the MAS Board of Directors for the period 23 August 2024 to 31 May 2027. Mr Chee was appointed to the MAS Board on 1 June 2024.
/jlne.ws/3WoTrt1
SFC warns public of Proxinex for suspected virtual asset-related fraud
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today warns the public of an entity operating under the name of Proxinex for suspected virtual asset-related fraud (Note 1).
/jlne.ws/3A0Kw9D
SEBI launches chatbot "SEVA"for investors In line with its mandate of investor protection,
SEBI
SEBI has launched SEBI's Virtual Assistant (SEVA) -an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based conversation platform for investors. The Beta version of the chatbot includes features like citations for generated response, speech-to-text and text-to-speech functionality for accessibility, follow-up questions, etc.
/jlne.ws/4d1YbvI
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Investors save nearly £80bn in fees from index trackers; Customers continue to withdraw their money from active funds; Returns on actively managed funds have been lacklustre in recent years
Emma Dunkley - Financial Times
Investors across Europe and the UK who bought index trackers instead of funds run by stockpickers have saved nearly £80bn in fees over the past 12 years, putting more pressure on the actively managed fund industry. According to research by asset manager Vanguard, investors have saved about £77.4bn in European domiciled funds since 2011 by opting for passive investments over active funds. The research, based on data from Morningstar, is another blow to active funds as customers continue to withdraw their money in favour of cheaper index trackers. UK savers took £136mn out of active funds in May, according to the latest data from the Investment Association, an industry body. In contrast, index trackers attracted £2.1bn.
/jlne.ws/3LGQM9h
Traders Fret as 32-Hour Central Bank Spree Hangs Over Market
Bloomberg
Investors begin the week desperate for answers to questions about the near-term path of global monetary policy after conflicting signals from key economies upended markets. Major central banks are set to meet in Tokyo and Washington on Wednesday and London on Thursday, with traders struggling to decide if the Bank of Japan will hike interest rates and then when and by how much the Federal Reserve and Bank of England will cut them.
/jlne.ws/4c60tZE
Mutiny in the Bond Market as Billionaires Pick a Debt Fight; Bruising encounters with European tycoons like Patrick Drahi and Paul Coulson mean many creditors have fallen out of love with individual business builders.
Eleanor Duncan, Abhinav Ramnarayan, and Luca Casiraghi - Bloomberg
It was only late last summer when telecoms billionaire Patrick Drahi was relying on the personal touch to soothe the frazzled nerves of his investors. As debt prices in his company Altice France came under pressure, he and his lieutenants were reassuring creditors that they'd be looked after. One prominent former owner of Altice's junk bonds, who asked to remain anonymous discussing private commercial matters, says he was told Drahi would do "whatever it takes" to make good on his commitments - echoing the words of his near namesake Mario Draghi at the height of the euro crisis. Today, any notion that Altice France and its creditors are in it together is history. The company is about to enter a bruising round of talks with angry debtholders, who've been informed that they'll have to take a haircut on valuations as it attempts to slash some EUR10 billion ($10.9 billion) of borrowing.
/jlne.ws/4fe5Etf
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Food as You Know It Is About to Change
David Wallace-Wells - The New York Times (Opinion)
From the vantage of the American supermarket aisle, the modern food system looks like a kind of miracle. Everything has been carefully cultivated for taste and convenience - even those foods billed as organic or heirloom - and produce regarded as exotic luxuries just a few generations ago now seems more like staples, available on demand: avocados, mangoes, out-of-season blueberries imported from Uruguay. But the supermarket is also increasingly a diorama of the fragility of a system - disrupted in recent years by the pandemic, conflict and, increasingly, climate change. What comes next? Almost certainly, more disruptions and more hazards, enough to remake the whole future of food.
/jlne.ws/4cZ6o3I
US Farmers Want to Adapt to Climate Change, But Crop Insurance Won't Let Them
Miranda Jeyaretnam - Bloomberg
In Kansas, where a prolonged drought has killed crops and eroded the soil, Gail Fuller's farm is like an oasis. Sheep, cows and chickens graze freely on crops and vegetation in a paradisiacal mess. But if Fuller's farm were to be hit by a tornado or flood, or be seriously impacted by the drought, he would be alone in footing the bill. That's because his farming practices aren't protected by federal crop insurance, a nearly century-old safety net that hasn't adapted to the climate change era.
/jlne.ws/3WHzcZ9
The Carlyle outpost still investing in oil and gas; US buyout group's London-based energy division combines counterintuitive strategy with commitment to cut emissions
Tom Wilson in London and Antoine Gara in New York - Financial Times
Marcel van Poecke joined Carlyle in 2013 to run the US private equity firm's new energy fund and immediately signed its first deal, buying his family office's stake in a Swiss oil refiner. In the decade since, the veteran Dutch investor has turned London-based Carlyle International Energy Partners into an unusual outpost of the buyout world by snapping up unloved oil and gas assets across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. While Carlyle's main private equity rivals, including Blackstone and Apollo, have backed away from fossil fuel projects citing climate concerns, van Poecke and CIEP have persisted, arguing that it is better to invest in reducing emissions from oil and gas businesses than to divest.
/jlne.ws/3WF8Sic
Paris Is Burning and the Fire's Made of Coal; So far, the big winner of the transition to clean energy has been the world's dirtiest source of power.
Tobin Harshaw - Bloomberg
Canary in a Coal Mine
I've been to a shocking number of fairly pointless museums in my life. 1I've been to a cheese museum, a mustard museum, a torture museum, a voodoo museum, a recreational vehicle museum, two circus museums (in the same town!!), three lead museums (in the same town!!), a museum of medical curiosities, a Museum of Jurassic Technology, a museum2 with my great-granduncle's Civil War dress-parade sword in the basement and, well, you get the idea.
/jlne.ws/4dn38iq
China Grid Giant Plans Record Spending to Ease Power Bottlenecks; State Grid lifts budget to $83 billion to build up its network; Improved connections will support delivery of renewable supply
Bloomberg News
China's main grid operator will raise spending to a record to ease transmission bottlenecks, underscoring Beijing's push to boost renewable-energy usage and potentially benefiting metals including copper. State Grid Corp. of China, which covers more than 80% of the country, will increase spending 13% to 600 billion yuan ($83 billion) this year, the Economic Information Daily reported, citing a budget plan. That follows an announcement from smaller peer, China Southern Power Grid Co., that it will lift capital spending for network upgrading by more than half by 2027.
/jlne.ws/3LKRx18
TotalEnergies Quits 'Too Challenging' South African Gas Finds; French explorer spent at least $400 million on the campaigns; Company also exits Block 5/6/7 in waters off Cape Town
Paul Burkhardt and Francois De Beaupuy - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3yjlsdG
Oman to Boost LNG Exports in Middle East's Latest Bet on Gas; New train in Qalhat will increase LNG exports by a third; Qatar and UAE also have plans to raise output capacity
Verity Ratcliffe - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/46rq2mG
La Nina's Likely Return Will Undo Some of Past Year's Crop Havoc; Pattern expected later this year may bring rain to West Africa;l Still, dry weather could hurt yields for Brazil coffee, sugar
Dayanne Sousa and Ilena Peng - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/46nEnR6
Companies 'Paralyzed' as Australia Plans Tough Climate Rules; Over 6,000 firms, institutions to be required to report data; Big companies estimate compliance costs could top A$3 million
Ishika Mookerjee - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3WmxwTf
The Carlyle outpost still investing in oil and gas; US buyout group's London-based energy division combines counterintuitive strategy with commitment to cut emissions
Tom Wilson and Antoine Gara - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/4c2UbK3
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Julius Baer Criticized by Monaco for Poor Client Controls on Transactions Worth $174 Million; $174 million in transactions lacked proper controls: regulator; Bank told regulator employee to blame, now under investigation
Anthony Cormier - Bloomberg
Financial authorities in Monaco reprimanded the local division of Swiss bank Julius Baer Group Ltd. for failing to maintain proper internal controls over £135 million ($174 million) in client transactions. The Commission de Controle des Activities Financieres announced last week that Julius Baer bankers did not have appropriate measures in place for a series of 10 transactions by an unnamed client.
/jlne.ws/46mP1Yn
NatWest sues ex-GM unit for EUR155mn over financial crisis-era deals; UK bank brings case over securitisation of loans that US group sold in mortgage push
Alistair Gray - Financial Times
NatWest is suing a mortgage finance company formerly backed by General Motors for more than EUR155mn over soured securitisation deals struck in the run-up to the financial crisis. The High Court in London last week heard a case brought by the UK bank against CMIS, which was originally part of GM when the US car company was making a push into mortgage finance. The dispute relates to agreements that ABN Amro - the Dutch bank acquired in 2007 by a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which has since been renamed NatWest - entered into with CMIS under its previous guise of General Motors Acceptance Corp.
/jlne.ws/4c6muHN
NatWest sues ex-GM unit for EUR155mn over financial crisis-era deals; UK bank brings case over securitisation of loans that US group sold in mortgage push
Alistair Gray - Financial Times
NatWest is suing a mortgage finance company formerly backed by General Motors for more than EUR155mn over soured securitisation deals struck in the run-up to the financial crisis. The High Court in London last week heard a case brought by the UK bank against CMIS, which was originally part of GM when the US car company was making a push into mortgage finance.
/jlne.ws/3LKxkIy
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Bosses regain the upper hand in hiring; The balance of power in job markets is shifting back to employers
Anjli Raval - Financial Times
In uncertain times, British managers are searching for a sure thing. To bring on a new hire two years ago, bosses interviewed three candidates before making an appointment, according to recruiter Hays. Now it's about seven. Others say it can go well above 10. "Confidence in the market is just not there," said Dirk Hahn, Hays's chief executive. "Clients are more selective and if they want to hire, they want to find exactly the right person. The process is taking much longer."
/jlne.ws/3ykuBm5
Whistleblowing cases on the rise in UK's employment tribunal system; Increase in legal claims could point to failures in companies whose staff sound the alarm
Joshua Gabert-Doyon - Financial Times
In his job at Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust, Steve Murdoch worked well with paramedics and fundraising staff on everything from opening a charity shop to hooking up helicopters with blood bags. But when the charity hired a new head in 2021, he began to ask questions about his soon-to-be boss's credentials.
/jlne.ws/3Su1HqF
White Men Are Still Kings of the Job Market. Here's Proof. We don't have to guess whether candidates of a certain race or gender are more likely to be hired. The facts speak for themselves.
Sarah Green Carmichael - Bloomberg Opinion
Consider a man I'll call Adam. He's just gotten his PhD in biology and is applying for roles in a prestigious lab. He makes it to the final interview, but doesn't get the job. The hiring manager explains that although they liked his application, their last three hires were also White men, so this time they chose a woman of color. Many of us have heard some version of this story in recent years. Anecdotes like this get trotted out regularly as evidence that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have made it harder for qualified White men to find jobs. And such stories are central to the charge that Vice President Kamala Harris is a "DEI hire" - a term that has also been applied to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, who is Black, and US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the court.
/jlne.ws/3WGypaz
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | COVID-19 on the upswing in Chicago again this summer
Lisa Schencker - The Chicago Tribune
If it seems like you suddenly know a lot of people with COVID-19 this summer, it's not just you. COVID-19 is again on the rise in the Chicago area and across the country - the fourth consecutive summer the nation has experienced an upswing. "It hasn't gone away," said Dr. Robert Murphy, executive director of the Havey Institute for Global Health and a professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "We are personally seeing a large jump in the number of cases, and the number of prescriptions we're calling in for Paxlovid, the treatment that's available." COVID-19 test positivity was up to 9.8% in Chicago for the week that ended July 13, compared with 2.5% for the week that ended June 1, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
/jlne.ws/3A1h57D
The hunt for a rare nuclear isotope that could redefine cancer care; Extreme shortages of actinium are holding up the promising field of radiopharmaceuticals
Oliver Barnes in New York and Ian Johnston in London - Financial Times
Shortages of rare nuclear isotopes that rapidly shrink tumours threaten to undermine the development of breakthrough treatments in which health companies have invested billions of dollars, experts in the nascent radiopharmaceuticals field have warned. By combining a nuclear isotope with an antibody, the microscopic drugs - also known as radioligands - deliver a toxic payload directly to cancer cells. But actinium-225, the most common isotope used in the experimental treatment, whose decaying protons and neutrons emit powerful "alpha" radiation, is in increasingly low supply.
/jlne.ws/3WrgnIl
Excess Deaths in Australia Reveal Covid's Long, Lethal Tail; Report finds 5% more deaths in Australia in 2023 than expected; Covid's after-effects are resetting baseline of illness, death
Jason Gale - Bloomberg
Australians are still dying at higher rates than before the pandemic, reflecting how Covid-19's lingering effects may be driving a sustained increase in death and disease around the globe. Excess mortality - the increase above the expected toll had the pandemic not occurred - was 5% for Australia in 2023, the Sydney-based Actuaries Institute said in a report Monday, significantly higher than the 1-2% excess seen in years of crushing seasonal influenza epidemics.
/jlne.ws/4dcVVBO
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Top China Commodity Trader Embroiled in Downfall of Steel Giant
Alfred Cang - Bloomberg
One of China's biggest commodity traders is navigating difficulties triggered by the collapse of Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co., a key client for its metals business. Xiamen Xiangyu Co., a listed trader with revenues of more than $60 billion last year, said on Monday that its state-owned parent group would take on any claims with Jiangsu Delong, the stainless steel producer whose debt woes have gripped the global commodities sector.
/jlne.ws/46nBXlu
Ethiopia floats currency as it seeks to secure IMF deal; Foreign exchange reform will remove market distortions but some analysts fear it will stoke inflation
Andres Schipani in Nairobi and David Pilling in London - Financial Times
Ethiopia will float its currency in a long-delayed reform designed to ease chronic foreign currency shortages and attract foreign investment, a move that is expected to be a prelude to a multilateral funding deal. The country's central bank on Monday removed restrictions on the foreign currency market as part of efforts by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government to secure more than $10bn in funding from the IMF and World Bank and to restructure debt after defaulting in December.
/jlne.ws/4c5Y4OC
Vandals attack French telecoms lines days after rail sabotage
Reuters
Vandals attacked telecoms lines in parts of France overnight, disrupting some fixed and mobile services, the junior minister for digital matters, Marina Ferrari, said on X on Monday. A police source said it was too early to tell if there was any link to sabotage on the high-speed rail network, which caused travel chaos hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday. Ferrari called the vandalism "cowardly and irresponsible" and said work was underway to get services back up and running. A spokesman for telecoms operator SFR said vandals had made cuts to its long-distance network in five different parts of France in the early hours of Monday. The impact on clients was minimal because the network was designed to reroute traffic, he said.
/jlne.ws/3Yq2L2q
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