| November 04, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
I did it. I drove the 14 hours (it took me 15) from Valdosta, GA to Elmhurst from Friday to early Saturday morning, arriving at 3:30 a.m. safe and sound. It is nice to be back home, though I will return to Florida to complete work there in early December.
Later today JLN will publish an interview I did last week with Zeke Faux, a Bloomberg reporter and author of the book "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall." It is an amazing book I listened to on the way down to Florida. I highly recommend the book and will have more to say on it later.
According to YouTube, October was the busiest month JLN's YouTube channel has ever had. I largely attribute this to the hard work of Sally Duros, who has been diligently releasing videos and learning the YouTube rules to improve our reach. We only need a few more people to subscribe to the JLN YouTube channel to reach 1000 subscribers, which opens up even more functionality for us. Will you subscribe to our YouTube channel and help us break the 1000 level?
Douglas Peterson has become a special advisor at S&P Global and Martina Cheung has replaced him as president and CEO.
The IRS last week announced that the 2025 contribution limit for 401(k) plans has increased to $23,500, up from $23,000 in 2024. Additionally, the IRS released guidance on cost-of-living adjustments for pension plans and other retirement-related items in Notice 2024-80, available on IRS.gov.
Nvidia Corp. will replace Intel Corp. in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, marking a significant shift in the index, Bloomberg reported. The change, driven by Nvidia's role in the AI boom, takes effect before trading starts on Nov. 8. Additionally, Sherwin-Williams Co. will replace Dow Inc., according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Deadly fungal outbreaks are rising globally, fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. Fungi like Candida auris, which thrives on medical equipment and in patients with weakened immune systems, have expanded to new regions and developed heat resistance, adapting to warmer temperatures, Bloomberg reported. The spread is alarming as cases are harder to treat due to increasing drug resistance. The pandemic's strain on healthcare systems and climate-driven mutations are accelerating fungal growth and spread, with researchers warning that these fungi, surviving at human body temperatures, could pose severe health risks. Experts call for urgent focus on developing antifungal treatments as the fungi evolve faster than current medical responses.
The insurance broker Marsh is selling insurance for fake carbon credits, Bloomberg reported. Let me be the first one to call them "Carbon Credit Integrity Swaps."
A new phishing email scam uses alarming tactics, such as showing a photo of your house and making personal threats, to trick people into sending money, BuzzFeed reports. The scam exploits data from past breaches and uses publicly available images, like Google Maps street views, to appear credible. Experts advise confirming the image source, verifying the sender's email domain, and using security checks like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to assess legitimacy. Avoid clicking unfamiliar links, especially those requesting payments. This scam relies on scare tactics rather than actual hacking, aiming to pressure victims into sending money or Bitcoin.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: CME volume down in October compared to year-over-year record, ICE hit UK rates trading record around last week's budget, LCH hires former BBVA manager to run repo clearing, HKEX launches first weekly options among 176 new listings - FOW Data, ANALYSIS: Crypto regulation will help Europe challenge US dominance - One Trading and ANALYSIS: Traders look to VIX options to hedge US election risk.
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:
- Thomas Peterffy on ForecastEx: Building a Buy-Only Market to Transform Event Trading and Crowd-Based Insights from John Lothian News.
- SEC Charges Philadelphia-Area Resident with Insider Trading from the SEC.
- Investors step up bets that US election will trigger market volatility from the Financial Times. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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| Sponsored Content |
"FIA Forum - Tokyo 2024" held at JPX
Together with FIA and FIA Japan, OSE successfully hosted the FIA Tokyo Forum on October 10, 2024, at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The event welcomed over 220 attendees representing more than 100 companies.
The program opened with remarks from Mr. Nakaso, Chairman of FinCity.Tokyo, and Mr. Yokoyama, President and CEO of OSE. These introductions were followed by two engaging panel discussions and an insightful address by Mr. Ito, Commissioner of the Financial Services Agency.
During the panel discussions, industry leaders from global exchanges and brokerages shared their perspectives on the Japanese market and their development plans. They also explored practical applications of OSE's recent innovations in the interest rates market, including the newly launched 3-Month TONA Futures.
Mr. Kazuhisa Kakizaki, Executive Officer of OSE/TOCOM, joined a panel to discuss JPX's product advancements. He highlighted developments such as the 3-Month TONA Futures, TOCOM Electricity Futures, and the revival of the Single Stock Options market.
For further details , please refer to the following link: https://www.fiajapan.org/post/fia-forum-tokyo-2024-co-organized-with-fia-japan.
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Thomas Peterffy on ForecastEx: Building a Buy-Only Market to Transform Event Trading and Crowd-Based Insights
JohnLothianNews.com
Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers, shares insights into his latest venture, ForecastEx, an innovative platform designed to create a new market for event-based contracts in an interview with John Lothian News. ForecastEX provides traders a unique "buy-only" model where participants take yes or no positions on the probability of future events, challenging traditional speculation while aiming to yield broader societal insights.
Watch the video »
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Says Trump Will Seek to Remove Fluoride From Drinking Water; Donald J. Trump has said he would give Mr. Kennedy, a former rival who has long promoted unproven medical theories, a prominent health role if he wins.
Rebecca Davis O'Brien and Sheryl Gay Stolberg - The New York Times
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday that among the first acts of a second Trump administration would be to "advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water," a stunning potential reversal of what is widely considered one of the most important public health interventions of the past century. The statement, posted on social media, is among the more concrete pledges made by Mr. Kennedy - a former independent presidential candidate who is now backing Mr. Trump - in his capacity as a top adviser on Mr. Trump's transition team. It also raises the specter of an all-out assault on public-health expertise should Mr. Trump win next week's election, a prospect that has already caused significant alarm among experts across the medical and environmental fields.
/jlne.ws/48vxC0H
****** I believe radical ideas like this highlighted late in the election season will change votes. We have seen tipping points with voters and attacking fluoride in drinking water just might be another one.~JJL
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Meta's plan for nuclear-powered AI data centre thwarted by rare bees; Mark Zuckerberg is continuing to explore energy deals amid a Big Tech arms race over artificial intelligence
Hannah Murphy and Cristina Criddle - Financial Times
Plans by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta to build an AI data centre in the US that runs on nuclear power were thwarted in part because a rare species of bee was discovered on land earmarked for the project, according to people familiar with the matter. Zuckerberg had planned to strike a deal with an existing nuclear power plant operator to provide emissions-free electricity for a new data centre supporting his artificial intelligence ambitions. However, the potential deal faced multiple complications including environmental and regulatory challenges, these people said. The discovery of the rare bee species on a location next to the plant where the data centre was to be built would have complicated the project, Zuckerberg told a Meta all-hands meeting last week, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
/jlne.ws/3UEKR9E
****** I can't wait for the Saturday Night Live take on this story.~JJL
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Some Final Personal-Finance Advice From Jonathan Clements; The former Wall Street Journal columnist faces a terminal cancer diagnosis the only way he knows how-with practical suggestions about family finances
Jonathan Clements - The Wall Street Journal
I started writing a personal-finance column, Getting Going, for The Wall Street Journal in 1994, and soon earned a reputation as a relentless proponent of indexing. In 2024, at age 61, it seems I'm becoming renowned all over again-for dying. Yeah, this is a little weird. Ever since I learned I had cancer and might have just a year to live, I've been working like crazy to make sure I bequeath a well-organized estate and leave my family in good financial shape. I'm determined to have as good a death as possible, not least from a financial point of view.
/jlne.ws/4hzbRRB
****** Thank you Jonathan Clements for all your good advice.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story Friday was Thomas Peterffy on ForecastEx: Building a Buy-Only Market to Transform Event Trading and Crowd-Based Insights, a John Lothian video interview on JLN. Second was Crypto.com Announces Acquisition of SEC Registered Broker-Dealer Watchdog Capital, LLC, from Crypto.com. Third was Meet the Wall Street Bigwig Who Has Become Trump's Headhunter in Chief, about Howard Lutnick, from The Wall Street Journal.
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| Lead Stories | Fears of Civil Unrest Stalk the Markets; Wall Street advisers say investors are increasingly anxious about the possibility of election-related violence.
Bernhard Warner - The New York Times
Wall Street strategists say their meetings with portfolio managers have taken a dark turn lately. All but gone are investors' fears of a hard landing, replaced by a deeper anxiety that things could go very badly around Election Day. Investors are not just concerned about their investment portfolios or retirement funds. They're worried about democracy. As in ... will it hold up if the result of the election between Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is contested? "The general consensus is that, one, it will take time to find the winner - so we might have to wait for weeks until the many contests and court challenges have played out," Joachim Klement, the head of investment strategy at the investment bank Liberum, told DealBook. "And two, no matter who wins, there will be civil unrest."
/jlne.ws/3YuseGl
On Telegram, a Violent Preview of What May Unfold on Election Day and After; Right-wing groups, which use Telegram to organize real-world actions, are urging followers to watch the polls and stand up for their rights, in a harbinger of potential chaos.
Paul MozurAdam SatarianoAaron Krolik and Steven Lee Myers - The New York Times
Groups backing former President Donald J. Trump recently sent messages to organize poll watchers to be ready to dispute votes in Democratic areas. Some posted images of armed men standing up for their rights to recruit for their cause. Others spread conspiracy theories that anything less than a Trump victory on Tuesday would be a miscarriage of justice worthy of revolt. "The day is fast approaching when fence sitting will no longer be possible," read one post from an Ohio chapter of the Proud Boys, the far-right organization that was instrumental in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. "You will either stand with the resistance or take a knee and willingly accept the yoke of tyranny and oppression."
/jlne.ws/48Hkeqo
Traders Prepare for a Long, Volatile Election Night; As the results trickle in, some highly caffeinated investors will be watching margins and tweaking their wagers until sunrise.
Katherine Burton and Liz Capo McCormick - Bloomberg
For the big money on Wall Street, there's the prep that's bound to come with a coin-toss election that could dramatically swing policy. Trading desks staffed through the night, with teams in Hong Kong and Singapore enlisted to help. Tracking popular "Trump trades" - long the dollar, short bonds - ready to pile in or quickly unwind. And then there are the steps taken for an election season like no other. One London-based hedge fund primed its "shock" computer model especially for this moment. Banks are preparing for the risks, however remote, of civic violence - a prospect that would shake the US, the world and global financial markets.
/jlne.ws/40rWNiE
Ken Griffin's money machine: market maker Citadel Securities; The trading firm is pushing frontiers in markets once dominated by banks - but is not yet regulated like one
Costas Mourselas, Jennifer Hughes, Joshua Franklin and Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
In July, Ken Griffin paid a record $45mn for a near-immaculate 11-foot tall stegosaurus skeleton called "Apex" - a fitting purchase for a billionaire that many consider to be at the apex of finance. In a Sotheby's press release announcing the sale, Griffin said: "Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America". It was a heavy hint of Republican-supporting Griffin's thinly-veiled political ambitions, which are being bankrolled by his estimated $43bn fortune. The two companies to which he owes that wealth have similarly gargantuan aspirations - but no such geographical sensitivities.
/jlne.ws/4hvGgjL
Why $11 Trillion in Assets Isn't Enough for BlackRock's Larry Fink; Fink wants to push the world's largest asset manager into the more lucrative world of private markets
Jack Pitcher - The Wall Street Journal
BlackRock's clients are pouring money into its core stock and bond offerings. To keep the momentum going, chief Larry Fink wants to push the world's largest asset manager into the more lucrative world of private markets. Managing more assets such as private equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure would allow BlackRock to compete with the biggest alternative asset managers. It could also make BlackRock more valuable.
/jlne.ws/48xSUuo
How One of the Tiniest Oil Markets Cost Trafigura Over $1 Billion
Jack Farchy, Alfred Cang, Archie Hunter, Terrence Edwards and Priscila Azevedo Rocha - Bloomberg
Trafigura Group is a giant of commodity trading. On any given day, it handles enough oil to supply the entire needs of France three times over. Its global reach stretches from US crude oil export infrastructure to fuel stations in more than 20 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Yet in a distant corner of its empire, far from the attention of top executives in Geneva and Singapore, a crisis has been brewing for some time. Last week, the company admitted it faces a loss in Mongolia of up to $1.1 billion, linked in part to suspected fraud by its own employees. Trafigura alleges that staff manipulated payments while concealing a mountain of overdue debts, allowing the exposure to run out of control for years without raising any red flags.
/jlne.ws/3YxG6zB
The west must outdo rival efforts to build an alternative financial system; Technological and geopolitical competition between democracies and autocracies are two sides of the same coin
Martin Sandbu - Financial Times (opinion)
Besides the spectacle of a UN secretary-general obsequiously paying respect to a Russian president indicted for abducting children, last month's Brics summit in Kazan featured the more technical, but geopolitically more consequential, push "to make the international financial architecture more inclusive and just". Brics finance ministers specified three aspirations. One: a cross-border payment system, separate from that comprising Belgian-based Swift, western correspondent banks, and the Federal Reserve and allied central banks. Two: securities settlement and depositary services. Three (which the UK as a global insurance centre should heed): an alternative reinsurance system. All three reflect urgent Russian priorities.
/jlne.ws/4edRXZB
Gulf IPOs See Soaring Demand as Economies Diversify From Oil; Lulu and United International's IPOs have drawn strong demand; The rush of deals is expected to continue in the final quarter
Laura Gardner Cuesta - Bloomberg
Investors flocked to initial public offerings in the Middle East, where a variety of businesses from retail to beauty and health care are preparing to list, as local economies diversify away from oil. On Monday, Lulu Retail Holdings Plc increased the number of shares on offer in its Abu Dhabi IPO amid high demand, and now targets raising as much as $1.72 billion in the United Arab Emirates' biggest listing of the year.
/jlne.ws/4fxh6iV
Opec+ members delay planned rise in oil production; Cartel to leave output curbs in place an extra month in effort to boost anaemic crude prices
Rachel Millard - Financial Times
Saudi Arabia and other members of Opec+ have delayed a plan to begin raising oil production until the end of the year, as the group tries to revive crude prices that have continued to flag despite turmoil in the Middle East. The world's largest oil exporter and seven others, including Russia, Iraq, the UAE and Algeria, would leave all output cuts in place until the end of December, Opec said in a statement. The eight countries had been due to start unwinding voluntary cuts, but have postponed the plan for at least another month amid persistent weakness in the oil price.
/jlne.ws/3NUSYec
Commerzbank CEO Looks to Free Up Capital to Fend Off UniCredit
Arno Schutze and Eyk Henning - Bloomberg
Commerzbank AG Chief Executive Officer Bettina Orlopp is seeking to unlock more capital to pay out or invest, as she makes the case for an independent bank in the face of a potential takeover by rival UniCredit SpA. Orlopp's is working on a plan to keep the expected growth in risk-weighted assets several billion euros below the current 2027 goal, people familiar with the matter said. She wants to achieve that partly by using more significant risk transfers and potentially backing away from some low-yielding clients, the people said, asking not to be named discussing the internal deliberations. The move, which hasn't been previously reported, would reduce the additional amount of regulatory capital tied up by anticipated RWA expansion, creating more room for shareholder distributions or investments including acquisitions, the people said.
/jlne.ws/4fuDucP
Slaying some of the biggest passive investing bogeymen; Goldman goes to battle
Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
Index funds are a favourite bogeyman of many fund managers and analysts, as the great whooooosh of money flowing from active to passive strategies has accelerated and broadened in recent years. Goldman Sachs' chief US equity strategist David Kostin and his team have taken a look at a few of the more common scary arguments on how this is wrecking markets, and came away...unconvinced.
/jlne.ws/40zhRDQ
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukraine facing 'one of the most powerful' Russian offensives of the war, commander warns, as Moscow claims gains in east
Kostyantyn Hak, Darya Tarasova and Sophie Tanno - CNN
Ukraine's army chief has warned that his forces are facing "one of the most powerful Russian offensives" since the start of the war as Russia claimed it captured more settlements on the eastern frontline. Russia has steadily been making gains in the eastern Donbas region, which Russia's President Vladimir Putin aims to capture in full. Reuters, citing open source data, reported that Russia has been advancing at its fastest pace in at least a year.
/jlne.ws/48ykMP8
Ukraine 'holding back' powerful Russian offensive, Kyiv top commander says
Reuters
Ukrainian forces are restraining one of Russia's most powerful offensives since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion on its smaller neighbour, the top commander of Kyiv's forces said on Saturday. Russian troops advanced in September at their fastest rate since March 2022, the month after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, according to open-source data. Ukraine in August took part of Russia's Kursk region.
/jlne.ws/3NPchWu
Russian Tycoon Usmanov Pays EUR4 Million to Settle German Criminal Probe; Frankfurt prosecutors end money-laundering investigation; Usmanov makes no admission of guilt as part of settlement
Karin Matussek - Bloomberg
Sanctioned Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov paid EUR4 million ($4.4 million) to settle a money laundering investigation by German prosecutors. The criminal probe will be dropped after Usmanov pays EUR2.5 million to the government and EUR1.5 million to charities, Frankfurt prosecutors said in a statement on Monday. The alleged acts didn't cause financial harm to anyone in Germany and occurred a long time ago, they said.
/jlne.ws/3YNANNY
Belarus President Proposes Cutting Potash Production With Russia
Bloomberg News
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko proposed approaching Russian fertilizer producers to coordinate a 10% potash output cut to increase its price on the market, according to the state-run Belta news service. "Maybe we should talk to the Russians, consult and reduce the production of potash fertilizers by 10%, maybe 11%," Lukashenko said Monday at a meeting with Andrey Rybakov, the new chief executive officer of the country's biggest potash fertilizer company, Belaruskali.
/jlne.ws/48A2L2S
The Nerdy Gamers Who Became Ukraine's Deadliest Drone Pilots; Tech-savvy soldiers target Russian tanks and infantry, holding back advance; a few pounds of explosives make inexpensive aerial devices lethal
James Marson - The Wall Street Journal
The Ukrainian drone pilot spotted two Russian soldiers seeking cover from his explosive machine in an outhouse. He sent his aerial craft, the size of a dinner plate with four rotors, swooping toward the narrow open door and performed what is known as fokus-a magic trick. The Russians' bodies disappeared in a puff of smoke, blown apart by a couple of pounds of explosives strapped to the drone. As the dust settled, body parts appeared to be sticking out from the toilet.
/jlne.ws/3Yr1qXC
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Iran threatens 'crushing response' to Israel's October air strikes; Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insists Islamic republic will not back down
Bita Ghaffari - Financial Times
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened Israel and the US with a "crushing response" to last month's air strikes against Iran and Iranian-backed militant groups in the Middle East "I assure you that the Iranian nation and the country's officials will not back down," the Islamic republic's supreme leader said in a speech on Saturday on the anniversary of the US embassy seizure in 1979 when more than 50 American diplomats were taken hostage.
/jlne.ws/40v4V1P
Israel Sees an Unprecedented Surge in Citizens Spying for Iran; Over 20 suspects, mostly from Jewish majority, are indicted; Missions included finding targets for shelling, assassinations
Dan Williams - Bloomberg
As its war with Iranian proxies drags into a second year, Israel's top officials are alarmed about a new threat to the home front: their fellow citizens helping Tehran locate targets for missile salvos and potential assassinations. Since July, the Shin Bet counter-intelligence service has gone public with nine cases that produced indictments against 23 suspected spies - most of them, unusually, from Israel's Jewish majority. Around half face charges that could in theory carry the death penalty but usually stop at life behind bars if found guilty. In a small country used to closing ranks during crises, the sense of trust and security has frayed.
/jlne.ws/40wBsEJ
Netanyahu's Office Accused of Leaks to Foil Gaza Cease-Fire; Top-level probe says the leaks compromised national security; Many details remain under a court gag order due to sensitivity
Galit Altstein and Ethan Bronner - Bloomberg
Two months ago, when a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas seemed close, a new obstacle arose: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his troops must hold the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent Hamas from rearming and smuggling out Israeli hostages. Many in Israel's security establishment dismissed the demand and accused Netanyahu of avoiding a deal to keep the war going.
/jlne.ws/3Av9O0f
These Maps Show How the Middle East Conflict Is Spiraling; In the past year the fighting has sprawled from Israel and Gaza to draw in militaries and militias from across the region
Daniel Kiss and Joanna Sugden - The Wall Street Journal
When Hamas-led militants sprang from Gaza last year, leaving 1,200 people dead in southern Israel and 250 more held hostage in the enclave, it set off a chain of events that has moved the Middle East into a dangerous spiral of conflict and perilously close to all-out war. From the air and ground operation that Israel launched in a strip of land the size of Philadelphia, killing tens of thousands, the fighting in the past year has sprawled to draw in militaries, such as from the U.S. and Iran, and militias from across the region, including Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Lebanon. These maps show the extent of the conflict as it has expanded.
/jlne.ws/4frCB4w
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Mercuria and HNK Alpha Execute First Carbon Futures Block Trades on Abaxx Commodity Futures Exchange and Clearinghouse
Abaxx
Abaxx Technologies Inc. (CBOE CA:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) ("Abaxx" or the "Company"), a financial software and market infrastructure company, majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd. ("Abaxx Singapore"), the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, "Abaxx Exchange" and "Abaxx Clearing"), and producer of the SmarterMarketsâ„¢ Podcast, today announced the execution of the first two carbon futures block trades, traded between Mercuria and HNK Alpha on October 30, 2024.
/jlne.ws/4hBi8fx
SIX Exchanges Figures: October 2024
SIX
SIX publishes the monthly key figures for SIX Swiss Exchange and BME Exchange about the trading and listing activity in Switzerland and Spain
/jlne.ws/4hxPiNa
CME Group Reports October 2024 ADV of 24.3 Million Contracts
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today reported its October 2024 market statistics, with average daily volume (ADV) reaching 24.3 million contracts, the second-highest October volume ever. Market statistics are available in greater detail at https://cmegroupinc.gcs-web.com/monthly-volume.
/jlne.ws/48x9P0l
Modifications to Collateral Limits - Effective November 01, 2024
CME Group
Pursuant to CME's review of its collateral limits and updates to its overall funding arrangements, effective with end of day cycle on November 04, 2024, CME will be making updates to its collateral limits.
/jlne.ws/3YOGtHp
Cash market trading volumes in October 2024
Deutsche Boerse
Deutsche Boerse's cash markets generated a turnover of EUR108.00 billion in October (previous year: 95.58 billion / previous month: EUR103.83 billion). EUR104.28 billion were attributable to Xetra (previous year: EUR92.79 billion / previous month: EUR100.95 billion), bringing the average daily Xetra trading volume to EUR4.53 billion (previous year: EUR4,22 billion / previous month: EUR4.81 billion). Trading volumes on Boerse Frankfurt were EUR3.72 billion (previous year: EUR2.80 billion / previous month: EUR2.88 billion). By type of asset class, equities accounted for EUR84.08 billion in the entire cash market. Trading in ETFs/ETCs/ETNs generated a turnover of EUR21.90 billion. Turnover in bonds was EUR1.10 billion, in certificates EUR0.87 billion and in funds EUR0.05 billion.
/jlne.ws/4eeblWb
ICE Mortgage Monitor: Record Levels of Tappable Equity, Fed Rate Cuts Could Spur Resurgence in Home Equity Withdrawals
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today released its November 2024 ICE Mortgage Monitor Report, based on the company's robust mortgage, real estate and public records data sets. This month's Mortgage Monitor dives deep into ICE's latest Q3 2024 homeowner equity data, reporting on both quarterly and annual growth in mortgage holders' housing wealth. Though 30-year interest rates remain volatile, recent and anticipated short-term rate cuts by the Federal Reserve have the potential to positively impact equity-based lending. As Andy Walden, ICE Vice President of Research and Analysis explains, though the cost to borrow against a homeowner's equity is notably higher than prior to the Fed's most recent tightening cycle, this dynamic is poised to change in the year ahead.
/jlne.ws/3AzVUKb
Information Barriers Between Warehouse Companies and Trading Companies
LME
This Notice informs the market that the LME has carried out a review (the "Review") of the third-party assurance reports (the "Reports") of information barriers between Warehouse Companies and Trading Companies for the period 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 (the "Relevant Period"). The Review did not identify any issues of general concern for the market.
/jlne.ws/4hrArUB
Michel Semaan joins LCH as Global Head of RepoClear; Michel will focus on the next phase of growth for RepoClear, overseeing clearing for both the euro and sterling repo market
LSEG
LCH today announces that Michel Semaan has joined as the new Global Head of RepoClear. Michel will lead RepoClear in the next phase of growth across Europe and the UK, focusing on the expansion of its clearing membership and the development of RepoClear's Sponsored and Guaranteed Sponsored Clearing models. Michel will report to Corentine Poilvet-Clédière, CEO, LCH SA, and Isabelle Girolami, CEO, LCH Ltd. and he will join their respective leadership teams.
/jlne.ws/3YRv21G
Moscow Exchange Trading Volumes in October 2024
MOEX
In October 2024, total trading volumes across Moscow Exchange's markets grew by 3.4% to RUB 140.1 trln (RUB 135.5 in October 2023). Unless stated otherwise, all figures below refer to performance for September 2024 and all comparisons are with the same period last year.
Trading volume in shares, DRs and investment fund units was RUB 2.8 trln (October 2023: RUB 2.2 trln). ADTV was RUB 122.8 bln (October 2023: RUB 101.9 bln).
/jlne.ws/3NRF0tB
OCC October 2024 Monthly Volume Data
OCC
/jlne.ws/4fnXXA8
B1G Numbers October 2024: Key Figures from SIX Swiss Exchange
SIX
In October 2024, trading turnover on SIX Swiss Exchange was slightly lower than in the previous month at -4.2% and totalled CHF 94.6 bn. Trading activity looked better: with over 4 million trades, 2.6% more transactions were carried out than in the previous month. All trading segments recorded an increase. Per month end, the SMI slipped below the 12,000-point mark, with a year-to-date gain of 5.9% remaining.
/jlne.ws/40zjgKC
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Eventus wins two best-in-class awards for Validus trade surveillance solution in Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2024
Eventus
Eventus, a leading provider of comprehensive, at-scale trade surveillance and financial risk solutions, has just won two awards in the Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2024 in Singapore. The firm's Validus platform was named Best Market & Trade Surveillance Solution in the Markets & Infrastructure category, as well as Best Digital Asset Surveillance Solution in the Digital Assets category. Eventus received the honors amid continued client growth in the region, resulting in the recent appointment of Naveen Wahi to lead sales for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region as Senior Director of Sales, APAC.
/jlne.ws/3C9Rv1h
AI demand drives growth and higher spending at Amazon's cloud business; Ecommerce company's shares rise as it also gives an upbeat forecast for the holiday quarter
George Hammond - Financial Times
Amazon reported a double-digit rise in quarterly revenues as it began to see gains from the "once in a lifetime opportunity" of generative artificial intelligence and strong advertising demand, sending shares higher. As companies scramble to develop and implement generative AI tools, they are demanding more and more cloud capacity to store their data. That has presented "an unusually large, maybe once in a lifetime opportunity" for Amazon's cloud business, chief executive Andy Jassy said on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3YPiJTv
Wall Street frenzy creates $11bn debt market for AI groups buying Nvidia chips; Huge loans for 'neocloud' groups raise concern over chipmaker's dominance of artificial intelligence market
Tabby Kinder - Financial Times
Wall Street's largest financial institutions have loaned more than $11bn to a niche group of tech companies based on their possession of the world's hottest commodity: Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips. Blackstone, Pimco, Carlyle and BlackRock are among those that have created a lucrative new debt market over the past year by lending to "neocloud" companies, which provide cloud computing to tech groups building AI products.
/jlne.ws/4hvaPGn
Google Maps, Waze Get AI Upgrade to Take On Apple; Users will be able to ask questions about places on maps; Ultimately, mapping may be subsumed into generative AI agents
Julia Love and Curtis Heinzl - Bloomberg
Alphabet Inc.'s Google announced new features for its two mapping apps, part of the search giant's ongoing effort to revamp products with its Gemini artificial intelligence models. Users of Google Maps will be able to ask natural-language questions about places on the map and see AI-generated summaries of human-written reviews, the company said in an announcement Thursday. Waze users will be able to verbally report traffic issues on the go, without having to type or use specific commands.
/jlne.ws/3NQ3EuR
U.S. Chip Toolmakers Move to Cut China From Supply Chains; Applied Materials, Lam Research tell vendors to follow new restrictions, spurred by U.S. government pressure
Liza Lin and Asa Fitch - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. semiconductor industry is uprooting Chinese companies from supply chains, spurred by directives from Washington seeking to suppress China's involvement in sensitive next-generation technology. Chip toolmakers are telling suppliers that they need to find alternatives to certain components obtained from China or risk losing their vendor status. Companies relaying this message include Applied Materials and Lam Research, according to people familiar with the matter. The two Silicon Valley companies make equipment used in the production of microprocessors and are among the world's biggest manufacturers of these tools.
/jlne.ws/4fbh0hg
US Regulator Rejects Amazon-Talen Nuclear Power Agreement
Naureen S Malik and Mark Chediak - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3YPAjGY
Fintech firm FIS' profit rises on strong demand for banking solutions
Reuters
/jlne.ws/4fudU7z
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | The Presidential Election Could Be a 'Super Bowl' for Hackers; Cybercriminals, some colluding with nation states, attempt to hack election networks and websites for notoriety and fortune. But they can't touch voting machines or paper ballots.
Belle Lin - The Wall Street Journal
Cybercriminals see the presidential election as a prime opportunity to gain infamy and reap profits by deploying ransomware, taking down websites and exploiting software vulnerabilities, security experts said. Those tactics have already been attempted in this election cycle, and will probably continue after Election Day on Nov. 5, authorities and cyber researchers said. Mike Kosak, senior principal intelligence analyst at cyber vendor LastPass and a former Defense Department intelligence analyst, dubbed the presidential election a cybercriminals' "Super Bowl" because of its high profile.
/jlne.ws/4fa0nCl
A New Email Scam Is Shockingly Realistic, Here's Everything You Need To Know About Protecting Yourself
Pooja Shah - BuzzFeed
An email hits your inbox from an unknown sender that includes a picture of your house and address, followed by a threat: "Don't even try to hide from this. You have no idea what I'm capable of....I've got footage of you doing embarrassing things in your house (nice setup, by the way)." Sounds like a scene out of a horror film, right? Instead, it's one of the latest phishing scams. Like many other email and text scams, this particular extortion scheme uses specific personal information to deceive people into sending money. The email convinces people the hacker knows more about them and that they must exchange payment or Bitcoin in order to keep their information safe.
/jlne.ws/3AztLmw
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Bitfinex hack launderer 'Razzlekhan' wants time served as sentencing looms; Heather Morgan has argued for no more jail time for her role in laundering some of the 120,000 Bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex by her husband Ilya Lichtenstein.
Jesse Coghlan - Cointelegraph
Heather Morgan, also known as the rapper "Razzlekhan," asked to receive no more prison time ahead of sentencing for her role in laundering Bitcoin her husband stole from the crypto exchange Bitfinex. "Ms. Morgan has proven herself worthy of a second chance, and we respectfully ask this Court to give her that chance by imposing a sentence of time served," Morgan's lawyers asked a Washington, DC, federal court in an Oct. 31 filing. They added she was subject to "difficult conditions" in her week-long pretrial incarceration - having to recover from surgery and getting COVID-19 - and, since her release in mid-February 2022, had "complied fully with the restrictive terms of pretrial release."
/jlne.ws/3YRf1cf
'Satoshi Nakamoto' says he also designed the Twitter logo; An FTAV frontline dispatch from 'a historic event in the cryptocurrency landscape'
George Steer - Financial Times
Stephen Mollah is "around 58" years old and claims to have invented or designed at least three things: Twitter's bird logo, the eurobond, and bitcoin - the idea for the last of which came to him some 20 years ago during a walk in the Himalayas. If you're somewhat sceptical, you're not alone.
/jlne.ws/4fsNdQP
In the Kentucky Mountains, a Bitcoin Mining Dream Turned Into a Nightmare; When bitcoin was on a hot streak, owners of small industrial facilities in Kentucky struck up crypto mining partnerships with Chinese companies. Then things fell apart.
Joel Khalili - Wired
ON A DEAD-END road that climbs out of the tiny city of Jenkins, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern Kentucky, there stands a large warehouse with a mint green roof. It shares the road with a few other businesses, but is otherwise surrounded by an expanse of open fields and tree-lined slopes. Inside, the warehouse is stacked high with racks on racks of computers-thousands of them. But none have ever been switched on. The warehouse is owned by Mohawk Energy, a company cofounded by Kentucky state senator Brandon Smith in 2005, originally to resculpt landscapes disfigured by coal mining. After lying dormant for a period, Mohawk was reincarnated in 2022 when Smith struck a deal with HBTPower, a company then owned by Chinese crypto exchange Huobi, which wanted to use the warehouse for a bitcoin mining operation.
/jlne.ws/3CmjTwV
$Pepe Whale Sell-Off And Fund Transfers Stir Volatility In Meme Coin Market
Will Izuchukwu - The Merkle
Recently, major $PEPE holder Flow Traders transferred 520 billion $PEPE tokens-worth approximately $4.73 million-from address 0x01c...1980e after a five-month hold. This receiving address has shown frequent $PEPE trading activity over the past seven months, with its latest transaction occurring two weeks ago during a peak in $PEPE's price. Currently, the transferred tokens remain unmoved and have not been sent to any exchange, leaving their future movement uncertain.
/jlne.ws/3UAWsX2
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Rumors, Lies and Disinformation: 'A Lot of Crazy' in US Election; Musk, Trump helping amplify falsehoods about integrity of vote; Foreign actors also blamed by US officials for sowing chaos
Jeff Stone - Bloomberg
Disinformation is permeating the 2024 US presidential election on an unprecedented scale, with online instigators escalating doubts about the integrity of the electoral process as millions of Americans cast their ballots. Heading into Election Day, conspiracy theorists and foreign actors are amplifying unverified allegations of fraud that echo Donald Trump's claims that the result can't be trusted if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris. They're using Elon Musk's X and other social media platforms to sow skepticism among voters by circulating fake images of destroyed ballots and bogus reports about blocked polling places.
/jlne.ws/4hwf5W0
Why banks are (probably) rooting for Donald Trump
David Hollerith - Yahoo Finance
US banks have a lot riding on the outcome of Election Day even if they're not 100% sure how either candidate might treat their industry. The "knee-jerk reaction," according to KBW analyst Chris McGratty, is that a Donald Trump victory will mean a return to looser regulation of banks and more leniency in approving the sort of corporate mergers that produce big profits for Wall Street giants. A Kamala Harris win, on the other hand, may mean that a more aggressive period of overseeing the nation's largest financial institutions under President Joe Biden will continue.
/jlne.ws/3UAOMnV
Republicans' Closing Argument: We Will Wreck the Economy; The former president's allies have used the final days of the campaign to argue for sharp spending cuts that would harm millions of Americans.
Matthew Yglesias - Bloomberg Opinion
In the closing days of the presidential campaign, Donald Trump's allies suddenly have a new message: The US needs sharp, immediate and ill-defined spending cuts. Elon Musk, who's been talking about immigration for more than a year, now says he's going to oversee $2 trillion in reductions. That's a third of the federal budget, so you'd think there might be some kind of plan for what this involves, but all Musk would say last week is that "temporary hardship" will be involved. What kind of hardship? Well, House Speaker Michael Johnson let it be known last week that "health care reform's going to be a big part of the agenda" if Trump wins, including a "very aggressive" attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson, a Trump supporter, also weighed in last week about the need for steep cuts.
/jlne.ws/4f9o0v6
Polymarket favors Trump to win the election. Can the site-and its 26-year-old founder-really offer reliable predictions?
Jeff John Roberts and Niamh Rowe - Fortune
Presidential elections elevate new faces to the national stage. That includes the candidates, of course, but also figures like CNN's John King or stats guru Nate Silver who have taken on a special oracle status each election. In 2024, the latest to join their ranks is Shayne Coplan, a shaggy-haired 26-year-old whose site Polymarket has become a fixture of political news and whose boosters claim it offers the most accurate signal of the election's outcome.
/jlne.ws/4hAA6ic
Judy Dimon, Wife of JPMorgan CEO, Knocks on Doors for Kamala Harris
Justin Sink - Bloomberg
Judy Dimon, the prominent political donor and wife of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s top executive, canvassed voters in Michigan over the weekend in support of Kamala Harris' presidential bid. The chief executive officer of the biggest US bank has declined to publicly endorse either party's candidate, pledging that he would work with whoever is elected.
/jlne.ws/4hryasx
Crypto Super PAC Amasses $78 Million... for 2026 Midterm Elections
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
On the eve of the presidential election, the crypto industry is thinking ahead. Fairshake, a pro-crypto super political action committee, said Monday it had amassed more than $78 million to elect politicians it sees as allies and defeat those who are critical in the 2026 midterm elections. The $78 million includes $30 million of cash in the bank and more than $48 million in new funds raised from crypto exchange Coinbase Global and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
/jlne.ws/4fr5BtX
UK Calls Bluff of Ultra-Rich Foreigners Threatening to Leave; New Labour government's budget is raising an extra £40 billion; Private equity tax rise was smaller than industry's worst case
Katherine Griffiths - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3UybKfj
Angry Crowd Chases Spanish Prime Minister Out of Flooded Town; Premier Sanchez flees scene in devastated locale; king stays; Disaster response throws spotlight on political dysfunction
Rodrigo Orihuela and Clara Hernanz Lizarraga - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/48ysFnQ
Sweden Rejects 13 Baltic Sea Wind Projects on Risks to Security Against Russia Threats; Rejected projects could have produced some 140 terawatt-hours; Armed Forces have also vetoed land-based wind power parks
Lars Paulsson and Niclas Rolander - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3CgwqCo
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | State Street Asks SEC for Blessing to Fit ETFs into 401(k) Plans; Firm is looking to create mutual fund share classes of ETFs; US retirement structure is currently built around mutual funds
Katie Greifeld - Blomberg
State Street Global Advisors is taking a page from Vanguard Group Inc.'s blueprint for multi-share classes to further its bid to insert exchange-traded funds into the American retirement system. The firm on Friday filed for permission to create mutual funds as a share class of its ETFs, which would be "specifically designed for, and only available to, investors purchasing through a retirement plan." It's essentially the inverse of the Vanguard-pioneered structure of issuing ETF share classes of its existing mutual funds - a process that more than 30 issuers have sought to replicate since Vanguard's patent expired in May 2023.
/jlne.ws/4f942Ar
Chinese Hedge Fund Manager Indicted by US in Trade Secrets Case
Bloomberg
A co-founder of high-flying Chinese quantitative hedge fund Pinestone Asset Management Co. has been indicted in the US for alleged theft of trade secrets, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Xiao Zhang, a 33-year-old Chinese citizen from Shanghai, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly stealing secrets from an unidentified global investment management firm while he was working for it in 2021, according to a statement dated Oct. 31 from the US Attorney's Office in Massachusetts. The statement didn't provide any further details about Zhang's identity.
/jlne.ws/3NUR11m
Elizabeth Warren: TD Bank Execs Should Have Been Prosecuted
PYMNTS
Last month, the Justice Department settled an anti-money laundering probe into TD Bank. But according to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the $3 billion the government received from the Canadian lender was not enough. As The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported last week, Warren said the Department of Justice (DOJ) erred by choosing not to prosecute TD's leading executives. "These charging decisions represent absurd legal gymnastics by the DOJ that ultimately have allowed the bank and its top executives to avoid full responsibility for their actions. This is not an acceptable outcome," Warren wrote in a letter to the department.
/jlne.ws/3CdC344
Republican SEC may focus on fixed income - Peirce; Commissioner also wants a revival of finders' exemption, more guidance for UST clearing
Janice Kirkel - Risk.net
Republican commissioner Hester Peirce has found plenty to disagree with in the agenda of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Democratic chair Gary Gensler, but she remains reasonably happy about the way the agency is functioning overall. "I wear my regulatory philosophy on my sleeve, but I can go down the hall and talk with one of my fellow commissioners who has a different regulatory philosophy," Peirce tells Risk.net.
/jlne.ws/3NRxXB9
FCA welcomes Project Guardian's first industry report on tokenisation
FCA
Project Guardian is an international collaboration of industry and regulators, led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, that explores the use of fund and asset tokenisation.
We welcome the first industry-led Project Guardian report on tokenisation in the asset management sector, delivered through Project Guardian's asset and wealth management workstream.
/jlne.ws/4f9nKvT
"Driving Asia's Growth - The Role of Reinsurance in Sustainable Development" - Keynote Address by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the 20th Singapore International Reinsurance Conference on 4 November 2024
Mr Marc Haushofer, Chair of the 20th SIRC Organising Committee - MAS
/jlne.ws/4evyunv
Singapore FinTech Festival 2024 Kicks Off With AI and Quantum Technology in Focus
MAS
The ninth edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) will kick off next week from 6 to 8 November 2024. This year, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum technology will take centre stage, underscoring their transformative potential for the financial sector.
/jlne.ws/3NUQWuA
"Tokenisation in Financial Services: Pathways to Scale" - Opening Keynote Address by Mr Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director (Markets & Development), Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Layer One Summit on 4 November 2024
MAS
/jlne.ws/3YTZUxB
MAS Announces Plans to Support Commercialisation of Asset Tokenisation
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today announced plans to advance tokenisation in financial services.
/jlne.ws/4fnRzsE
Bank Indonesia and Monetary Authority of Singapore Further Extend Bilateral Financial Arrangement to 1 November 2027
MAS
Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today announced a further extension of their bilateral financial arrangement to 1 November 2027. The longer extension period of three years, compared to one year previously, reflects the good financial cooperation between the two central banks in preserving monetary and financial stability in both countries amid global macroeconomic uncertainties.
/jlne.ws/3YxMUNN
New speech by Julia Leung: Opening remarks at SFC AML/CFT Regtech Forum 2024
SFC
A speech titled "Regtech as Key Enabler of Market Integrity in Future of Finance" delivered by Ms Julia Leung at the SFC Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism Regtech Forum 2024 was posted on the SFC website today.
/jlne.ws/3YMy733
SFC unveils first batch of brokers joining Wealth Management Connect Pilot Scheme
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today announced 14 licensed corporations (LCs) are eligible to participate in the Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Pilot Scheme (WMC) in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) (Note 1). The 14 LCs are China Galaxy International Securities (Hong Kong) Co., Limited, China Industrial Securities International Brokerage Limited, China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited, China Merchants Securities (HK) Co., Limited, China PA Securities (Hong Kong) Company Limited, China Securities (International) Brokerage Company Limited, CITIC Securities Brokerage (HK) Limited, GF Securities (Hong Kong) Brokerage Limited, Guosen Securities (HK) Brokerage Company, Limited, Guotai Junan Securities (Hong Kong) Limited, Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited, SDICS International Securities (Hong Kong) Limited, Shenwan Hongyuan Securities (H.K.) Limited and Zhongtai International Securities Limited.
/jlne.ws/4ecJQMI
SFC hosts forum to encourage responsible Regtech adoption for anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) concluded its forum to encourage the financial services sector to embrace regulatory technology, Regtech, in combatting money laundering and terrorist financing. More than 300 participants - including government officials, industry representatives and experts - attended today's "SFC AML/CFT Regtech Forum 2024". They engaged in dynamic, interactive and in-depth discussions over the latest developments and adoption trends in Regtech, encompassing its practical application in legal and regulatory compliance for anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism as well as risk management.
/jlne.ws/4edFTrm
Sebi's new rules for Securitisation explained: What Investors need to know; Sebi has proposed several measures to strengthen the securitization framework in India.
Sunainaa Chadha - Business Standard
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed new regulations that include a minimum investment threshold of Rs 1 crore for participants engaged in securitisation activities. This initiative, targeting both RBI-regulated originators and unregulated entities, seeks to streamline investment processes and protect investor interests. SDIs are financial products created by pooling together various types of debt -- such as loans, mortgages, or receivables -- and then selling them as securities to investors. This process, known as securitisation, allows the originator (such as a bank) to convert illiquid assets into liquid ones, providing an alternative source of funding.
/jlne.ws/4hvGh7k
Advisory on unauthorized virtual trading/gaming platforms
SEBI
It has come to the notice of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)that some apps / web applications/platformsare offering virtual trading servicesor paper tradingor fantasy games to the public based on stock price dataof listed companies.
/jlne.ws/3UCv9ff
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Berkshire Hathaway's Cash Pile Reaches Record $325.2 Billion; Buffett continued to cut Apple holdings, slashing stake by 25%; Conglomerate has struggled to find ways to spend its cash pile
Alexandre Rajbhandari - Bloomberg
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s cash pile reached $325.2 billion in the third quarter, a record for the conglomerate, as Warren Buffett continued to refrain from major acquisitions while trimming some of his most significant equity stakes. Berkshire once again cut its holdings in Apple Inc., the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said Saturday in a statement. Its stake in the iPhone maker was valued at $69.9 billion at the end of the quarter, down from $84.2 billion in the second quarter, indicating that Berkshire cut its stake by about 25%.
/jlne.ws/3Yx8qCf
The Vote Is In: Stock Funds Are Up 14.9% in 2024; Investors await the end of election uncertainty. Plus: A Financial Flashback to 25 years ago, when four 'New Economy' stocks joined the Dow.
William Power - The Wall Street Journal
One of the oldest investing maxims is that investors hate uncertainty. And there could be just a little of that ahead of Election Day. But no matter what happens at the ballot box, the stock market is holding on to solid gains so far in 2024. And history has shown that just getting past the election is helpful for the market, no matter who wins. "Election-driven volatility has historically been short-lived-even if the results of the election were not immediately known, as in 2000," says Saira Malik, chief investment officer at Nuveen.
/jlne.ws/3Au2emD
Nvidia Set to Replace Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Jeran Wittenstein and Jessica Menton - Bloomberg
Nvidia Corp., the chipmaker at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom, is joining the oldest of Wall Street's three main equity benchmarks. The company will replace rival Intel Corp. in the 128-year-old Dow Jones Industrial Average prior to the start of trading on Nov. 8, S&P Dow Jones Indices said in a statement late Friday. Sherwin-Williams Co. is also joining, replacing Dow Inc.
/jlne.ws/48xNU97
Investors step up bets that US election will trigger market volatility; Jitters sweep through bond and currency markets before presidential vote
Will Schmitt and Nicholas Megaw - Financial Times
Investors have been raising their bets that next week's US presidential election will trigger sharp price swings in bond and currency markets. The Ice BofA Move index, a closely watched gauge for future moves in the Treasury market, is up almost 40 per cent in October and hit its highest level in more than a year earlier this week. "The most realistic near-term risk is the outcome of the election," said Steven Oh, global head of credit and fixed income for PineBridge Investments.
/jlne.ws/3NTOzZa
401(k) limit increases to $23,500 for 2025, IRA limit remains $7,000
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service announced today that the amount individuals can contribute to their 401(k) plans in 2025 has increased to $23,500, up from $23,000 for 2024. The IRS today also issued technical guidance regarding all cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2025 in Notice 2024-80, posted today on IRS.gov.
/jlne.ws/3CkGBFK
Schneider Electric Ousts CEO After Disagreements Over Strategy; Blum replaces Herweck, who was ousted after 18 months in job; Blum has been with the company for more than 30 years
Vidya N Root and Francois De Beaupuy - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4faNwjy
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Climate Skeptics Are Hatching Big Plans for a Second Trump Term; Activists would push a new Republican administration to boost coal-fired power, block EPA science and challenge models of global warming.
Ari Natter - Bloomberg
Activists who dispute the severity of human-caused climate change are quietly preparing to seize their moment should Donald Trump win a second term. Pushed to the political fringes during Joe Biden's presidency, they are now laying the groundwork to bring back coal-fired power plants, gut science at the Environmental Protection Agency and neuter the modeling used in the federal government's national climate assessment and other reports.
/jlne.ws/3UzMplb
Broker Marsh Offers Insurance to Target Fake Carbon Credits
Leonard Kehnscherper - Bloomberg
Insurance broker Marsh will start offering contracts to protect companies against fraud in the market for carbon credits, after the instruments became the subject of recurring allegations of greenwashing. The insurance contracts will allow companies in the US, Europe and the UK to gain financial protection in the event that credits purchased in order to offset their carbon footprint prove worthless, the broker, which is a unit of New York-based Marsh & Mclennan Cos., said on Monday.
/jlne.ws/40v2pZq
UN summit agrees deal on genetic data but fails on wider finance to protect nature; Pharma and agritech groups among those expected to make payments for information drawn from the living world
Simon Mundy - Financial Times
Pharmaceutical and a host of other companies will be expected to voluntarily pay into a new fund covering their use of genetic data, the UN COP16 biodiversity summit agreed, but countries failed to reach a wider agreement on global finance for nature after talks ran overtime and were suspended. The two-week long meeting in Cali, Colombia, of about 190 countries, sister to the UN's climate summit, was expected to advance goals to halt the decline of nature by 2030 agreed two years ago in Montreal when they last met.
/jlne.ws/48ymfF8
TotalEnergies chief warns Donald Trump against cutting climate rules; Patrick Pouyanne says a return to 'wild west' would provoke backlash for oil and gas companies
Jamie Smyth and Myles McCormick - Financial Times
TotalEnergies' chief executive has urged Donald Trump not to axe climate rules if he wins the election, warning that taking a "wild west" approach to regulating fossil fuels would provoke a backlash against the oil industry. Patrick Pouyanne told the Financial Times that if the former US president pressed ahead with pledges to tear up rules governing methane and other emissions it would torpedo the sector's reputation and fuel opposition.
/jlne.ws/4evAxId
Global Summit on Nature Adopts a Novel Way to Pay for Conservation; Delegates at the U.N. talks created a system that would compensate countries for the use of genetic information but failed to make headway on a broader funding commitment.
Catrin Einhorn - The New York Times
Diplomats from roughly 180 countries ended two weeks of environmental talks on Saturday after agreeing on a new fund that would shift some of the profits from nature's DNA to global conservation efforts. The agreement calls for companies that make money from genetic information stored in databases, known as digital sequence information, to pay into a fund as a sort of fee for the use of biodiversity.
/jlne.ws/3YARB9G
How a Trump Win Would Upend Major Climate Court Fights; A second Trump administration could stop defending the E.P.A. against lawsuits attacking its climate policies. Other effects might be more far-reaching.
Karen Zraick - The New York Times
A second Trump presidency would lead to a sea change for climate-related lawsuits in the nation's courts. In recent years the courts have become a major battleground over climate and environmental regulations, as everyone from powerful corporations to groups of teenagers has sued to fight for or against efforts to slow global warming.
/jlne.ws/3UCPJvU
Trump donor fined for pollution leads a fight to end methane emission penalties; Detailed plans from 30 oil and gas producers come amid historic levels of potent planet-heating emissions
Oliver Milman - The Guardian
A powerful US oil and gas industry lobby group has drawn up detailed plans to kill off penalties for emitting methane, a potent planet-heating gas that's increasing at the fastest rate in decades, with this effort led by a major donor to Donald Trump whose company has just been fined for methane pollution. Leaked internal documents from the American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC), a group of 30 oil and gas producers, outline a push to repeal a fee levied on methane emissions should the former US president win this week's election and Republicans gain control of Congress.
/jlne.ws/4fdWH2E
The World Promised to Tame Methane. Emissions Are Still Rising; About 160 countries and 140 companies pledged to combat the potent greenhouse gas, yet releases from the fossil fuels sector remain near record highs.
Aaron Clark and Zachary R Mider - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3Yw3wFz
The environmental campaigners fighting against data centres
Emma Woollacott - BBC
/jlne.ws/40wdCJ6
Canada wants energy sector to cut emissions by up to 35% below 2019 levels
Reuters
/jlne.ws/3YyG1f5
Finland Records First Hurricane-Force Winds Off West Coast; Storm Lyly left about 67,000 people without electricity; Extreme weather follows deadly storm in Spain last week
Leo Laikola - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4edTzCD
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | German Banks Start to Cut US Office Loan Exposure That Caused Bond Turmoil: Credit Weekly; Value of all but the best offices has dropped by more than 75%; Credit provisions rose 237% at bank formerly known as NYCB
Bloomberg News
German banks are cutting legacy US office loan exposure after concerns about commercial real estate losses led to a plunge in bond and equity prices in February. Deutsche Bank AG is close to selling about $1 billion of loans linked to CRE there and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG is cutting back on office and American loans after it set aside hundreds of millions of euros as a buffer against potential property losses. The lender recently agreed a potential advisory role for a Starwood Property Trust Inc. subsidary on some of its US CRE book.
/jlne.ws/3ABoKtH
Two Funds Locked in a Dead Heat for a Questionable Crown; Leverage levels are playing an increasingly important role in attracting investors
Katie Greifeld - Bloomberg
The two-fund race to create the US market's most volatile ETF rages on. Defiance announced this week that it's bumped up the leverage level on its Defiance Daily Target 2X Long MSTR ETF (ticker MSTX) to 2x from 1.75x, matching that of rival T-Rex 2X Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (MSTU). Both funds seek to track the amplified performance of MicroStrategy Inc., which is already a juiced-up bet on Bitcoin. With the latest leverage increase, both MSTX and MSTU effectively offer 4x exposure to the cryptocurrency, according to Bloomberg Intelligence's Eric Balchunas.
/jlne.ws/4f6H6lB
Blackstone targets new European markets in global wealth push
Iain Withers - Reuters
Blackstone's private wealth business plans to enter at least two new European markets next year to tap growing demand among the well-off, two executives at the company told Reuters. New York-based Blackstone has made attracting funds from wealthy individuals a key priority amid choppy market conditions and as private equity firms look to diversify their client base away from institutional clients.
/jlne.ws/4e9iNly
King Street Loses a Top Investor at Its Credit Hedge Fund; Paul Goldschmid was one of the firm's longest-tenured partners; He helped run King Street's hedge and drawdown funds
Sridhar Natarajan and Katherine Burton - Bloomberg
Paul Goldschmid, one of the longest-tenured partners at King Street Capital Management, is leaving the $26 billion hedge fund firm. Goldschmid helped run King Street's hedge fund and drawdown vehicles, which focus on credit, and plans to start his own firm, according to people with knowledge of the matter. He had been a partner at King Street since 2011 and was also a member of its management committee.
/jlne.ws/4hJjhlw
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Musk Loses Bid to Dismiss Ex-Twitter CEO's Severance Claim
Malathi Nayak - Bloomberg
Elon Musk was dealt a significant setback in a court fight over compensation sought by the top Twitter Inc. executives he fired when he took over the company in 2022. A judge ruled late Friday that former chief executive officer Parag Agrawal and other high-ranking officers can proceed with claims that Musk terminated them right as he was closing the deal to cheat them out of severance pay before they could submit resignation letters.
/jlne.ws/3Yr4yCE
The dos and don'ts of the email introduction; Sending a clunker to save yourself time does no one any favours
Pilita Clark - Financial Times
Out of the blue earlier this year, a man I have known for years sent me an email introduction to one of his work contacts that was such a striking example of the genre that it has stuck in my mind ever since. In the space of a few charming words, he conveyed the brilliance of the contact, who was copied into the mail, and larded his description of me so lavishly that I barely recognised myself. He promised both of us we would have much to gossip about and would undoubtedly hit it off, all of which proved to be true when we duly caught up in person.
/jlne.ws/4hveiVn
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Novo's New Obesity Drug Is Targeting the Most Dramatic Weight Loss Yet; The drugmaker hopes to show CagriSema leads to at least 25% weight loss, without increased side effects. Its lead in a red-hot market hinges on it.
Naomi Kresge - Bloomberg
Novo Nordisk A/S's appetite-blocking shot semaglutide, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, will probably become the world's top-selling drug franchise next year. It broke open a market that could reach $130 billion by 2030 and has a cultural reach broader than any new drug since Viagra. Yet to keep its lead in the red-hot field of obesity, Novo must prove by December that it has something even better.
/jlne.ws/3UDMzId
Deadly Fungal Outbreaks Are on the Rise Since Covid; New data shows wider geographic spread since pandemic; Some fungi can adapt to warmer temperatures, research shows
Jinshan Hong and Bhuma Shrivastava - Bloomberg
A largely unnoticed surge of rare but deadly fungi is accelerating around the world, helped by the Covid-19 pandemic and a warming planet that appears to be training them to survive at higher and higher temperatures. While the pandemic's grisly scenes of packed intensive care units and rows of patients on intubators have largely faded from public view, its legacy in the form of driving fungal spread is only now being understood by doctors and scientists.
/jlne.ws/48ADgi0
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Australian Mining Billionaire Ellison to Step Down After Probe Into Undeclared Payments
Paul-Alain Hunt - Bloomberg
Mineral Resources Ltd. founder Chris Ellison will step down as managing director after an internal probe into undeclared payments found he had engaged in "profoundly disappointing" conduct, with the news wiping as much as A$800 million ($528 million) off the company's market value. Ellison did not act with integrity when he financially benefited from Mineral Resources' payments made to companies owned by him, the miner said in a filing Monday. He was fined A$8.8 million by the company and will forfeit his salary and other incentives worth as much as A$9.6 million.
/jlne.ws/40wieiE
Investors warn of lasting 'risk premium' in gilts following UK Budget; Traders play down parallels with 2022 market crisis but say rise in borrowing costs will linger
Ian Smith and George Steer in London and Harriet Clarfelt in New York - Financial Times
Investors are warning of a lingering "risk premium" in UK government borrowing costs after Rachel Reeves' Budget sent gilt yields close to their highest levels since the 2008 global financial crisis. The chancellor's plans to significantly scale up borrowing sparked two days of choppy trading, and by Thursday afternoon sterling was also falling - echoing the reaction to then prime minister Liz Truss's ill-fated "mini" Budget two years ago, which sparked a pension fund fire sale and full-blown gilts crisis. The 10-year gilt yield, which moves inversely to prices, climbed as high as 4.53 per cent on Thursday, close to the 4.63 reached in 2022. It steadied at 4.45 per cent on Friday.
/jlne.ws/3YO3TNd
How demographics can distort economic narratives; Japan and Italy aren't quite as stagnant as you think
Valentina Romei - Financial Times
The recent flurry of economic data has consistently showed that some economies are doing better - notably the US, Canada and Spain - while the likes of Germany, Italy and Japan are struggling. However, the reality is that starkly differing demographic pressures can make headline growth rates a poor measure of the underlying economic performance. Let's take Spain, for example. The eurozone's fourth-largest economy grew by 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to September, the fastest of any major eurozone economy, according to official figures published this week.
/jlne.ws/3UBbLPG
Korea Stocks Rise as Plan to Tax Retail Investors Dropped
Shinhye Kang and Sangmi Cha - Bloomberg
South Korean stocks rose after the main opposition party agreed to back the government's decision to drop a plan that would have imposed a capital gains tax on retail investors. The Democratic Party, which controls the National Assembly, dropped its months-long opposition to the controversial move saying it cannot ignore the plight of retail investors. "The current Korean stock market is in a too difficult situation, and we cannot ignore the position of the 15 million stock investors who are investing and relying on it," the main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said on Monday, calling the move "regrettable."
/jlne.ws/4hr4CLH
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Davos entourages will face 10-fold price increase next year; World Economic Forum plans to charge more for second-tier guests at its gathering in Switzerland
Stephen Foley - Financial Times
The World Economic Forum has increased the price of admission 10-fold for some guests at its annual meeting in Davos as it tries to grab a greater share of the corporate activity on the sidelines of the elite gathering. The organisation is also expanding the number of passes available and revamping the access they provide. The shake-up, planned for the 2025 meeting in January, was discussed with sponsors at a meeting in Geneva this week, according to people who were there.
/jlne.ws/3C9Wj6F
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