| August 13, 2021 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Our friends at Optiver are stepping up and speaking out about U.S. options market structure and have issued four white papers about key aspects they want the leaders of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to address.
The four white papers are titled: The US Equity Options Market Is Overdue For An Update, The PFOF You Didn't Know Existed: Exchange Marketing & Response Fees, Improving The Price Improvement Model and Equity Options Specialists: Too Much Of A Good Thing? One of the startling facts they offer in the white paper, which was a surprise to me, is that 61% of payment for order flow payments in the last year were in options.
I mention these white papers in my comments in this week's edition of The Spread. Also, Suzanne Cosgrove reports below that the Cboe has issued a white paper about its recommendations for improved equity market structure.
Ed Tilly, chairman, president and CEO of Cboe Global Markets, has issued the following statement about the passing of Wayne Luthringshausen:
"On behalf of all of us at Cboe, we extend our condolences to the Luthringshausen family and express sincere gratitude for Wayne's leadership in establishing the listed options industry in the U.S. Beyond his contributions to OCC and clearing, Wayne championed educational efforts to help investors understand the utility and benefits of options, paving the way for today's vibrant options industry. We mourn the loss of such a pioneering figure whose impact on the world goes far beyond the financial markets and options clearing." Cboe will honor Luthringshausen with a moment of silence on its trading floor before the market open on Monday, August 16.
According to the New York Times, the number of new COVID-19 cases rose to 125,894 as of August 12, up 76% in the last 14 days, deaths were 616, up 92%. Total deaths reported in the U.S. from COVID-19 are now 619,723. Louisiana had the biggest jump in the number of cases per 100,000 people. The South is the region with the most cases per 100,000, followed by the West. -- NY Times
Euronext is renaming the PSI 20 to PSI in a move to improve liquidity and efficiency in the Portugal benchmark national index. In other words, they are taking some of the air out of the name. -- Euronext
I did not know that tomorrow is "National Financial Awareness Day." Yes, August 14, 2021 is Financial Awareness Day and a great time to review where you are now and where you're going financially. -- NationalToday.com
Mitch Pugh is the new top editor at the Chicago Tribune. He will take the job later this month after moving from a South Carolina paper he ran. Pugh says the Chicago Tribune "is worth fighting for." I hope he can reinvigorate the paper. -- Crain's Chicago Business
Bloomberg is reporting that home prices in the U.S. have soared 23%, the fastest rate on record. They wrote, "The median price of an existing single-family home jumped 23% from a year earlier to an all-time high of $357,900, the National Association of Realtors said in a report Thursday. About 94% of 183 metropolitan areas measured had double-digit gains, up from 89% in the first quarter." -- Bloomberg
I miss Thom Thompson already. I would have asked him to attend the trial going on this week in the case of Trading Technologies v. Interactive Brokers about the longstanding intellectual property case. I broke the story about TT's IP patents for the price ladder many years ago and this is one of the cases from that patent award. JLN needs a new court reporter.
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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Cboe Global Markets recently published a paper on its vision for "Targeted Equity Market Structure Improvement." A quick rundown of its recommendations shows it backs "modest" tick size reform; enhanced best execution; limit order protections; improved execution quality reports; and shortening the settlement cycle from T+2 to T+1. More details can be found here. ~SC
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Financial Resilience Steps By Policymakers Can Improve Lives Hit Hardest By Pandemic Says Study
Ted Knutson - Forbes
Financial resilience steps by policymakers could improve the lives of those hit hardest by Covid-19, a new report is asserting. The pandemic took the biggest financial toll on women, Blacks, Hispanics adults without a bachelor's degree and people 30 to 40, said a new report from the Stanford Center on Longevity and George Washington University's Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center.
/bit.ly/2VRQLJ5
***** Good story from veteran reporter Ted Knutson.~JJL
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Don't Lose Sight of the Fact That Covid Vaccines Are Working; Rising case counts and CDC bumbling shouldn't obscure that the shots are keeping most vaccinated people from getting very sick, even in cases of breakthrough infection.
Cynthia Koons - Bloomberg
My fellow Americans, get the damn shots. Covid-19 vaccines protect the overwhelming majority of recipients against severe illness from the coronavirus, even its supercontagious delta variant. Yes, some vaccinated people can still carry the disease and pass it on to others. Especially for parents of young children, that complicates what a return to something resembling normalcy can look like. But that's all the more reason for the people holding out due to uncertainty, fear, or stubbornness to roll up their sleeves and, most likely, turn a future trip to the hospital into a mere annoying cold.
/bloom.bg/3yFqOe2
***** I like direct statements. This one is great! "My fellow Americans, get the damn shots."~JJL
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The crypto 'wild west' needs a good sheriff; Investors can take their own risks but should receive what they were promised
The editorial board - FT
Gary Gensler, the top US securities watchdog, pulled no punches in a recent speech about cryptocurrencies. Complaining that the sector had become "the Wild West", he asked Congress for new regulatory powers. This week, news of a daring heist underscored his point. Poly Network, a decentralised financial network, said that hackers had exploited vulnerabilities in its systems to abscond with about $600m in digital currencies.
/on.ft.com/3AI2pF9
*****The FT joins Bloomberg's editorial board in supporting a "sheriff" for crypto.~JJL
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What Climate Change Might Do to Your Favorite Wine; Many oenophiles take particular pleasure in teasing out the nuances of terroir, the specific combination of soil, topography and climate that makes a wine unique. But what happens when extreme weather events and rising temperatures hit a wine region?
Lettie Teague - WSJ
THE FRENCH TERM terroir has been defined in various ways—and called undefinable, too—but it's generally understood to denote a combination of soil, topography and climate that gives a wine its particular character. With so many wine regions flooded or on fire in recent months and years, I've wondered: Does this change their terroir?
/on.wsj.com/3ASXwcP
*****My only question is whether climate change will take the ripple out of Ripple.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top story Thursday was JLN's Remembrances of Wayne Luthringshausen from a number of people in the industry who knew him. Second was The Wall Street Journal's High-Speed Trading Firm Jump to Execute Retail Investors' Stock Trades. Jump Trading was also our MarketsWiki Page of the Day yesterday. And third was Bloomberg's Robinhood Is Not About the Democratization of Markets.
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MarketsWiki Stats
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| Lead Stories | Funds Run by College Students Are Shaping the Investors of Tomorrow
Eric Krebs - Bloomberg
Undergrads at Appalachian State, Yale learn asset management; Harvard Black Diamond alums end up at Bridgewater, Goldman
For two fleeting minutes this February, as Bitcoin began its surge to $60,000, 21-year-old Alan George and his investing friends flirted with the idea of buying some. But he and the rest of the Yale Student Investment Group, a fund overseeing more than $500,000 in assets, just couldn't do it. "The very fast decision was: 'We don't know what's going on here, let's stay out of it,'" said George, president of the independent fund founded in 1982 that counts Citadel as its official sponsor and cites AQR Capital Management and Susquehanna International Group as among the recent landing spots of its members.
/bloom.bg/3m0njLN
C.E.O.s Play Follow the Leader; On vaccine mandates, there is safety in numbers
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jason Karaian, Sarah Kessler, Stephen Gandel, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni and Anna Schaverien - NY Times
As they approach the limits of persuasion and incentives, the biggest question facing companies is whether to make coronavirus vaccines mandatory for workers. This is legally allowed, but many companies are still worried about political implications, employee pushback and other issues.
/nyti.ms/3yK07Fh
Cheese Gets Caught Up in Unlikely Fallout From Lumber's Surge
Elizabeth Elkin - Bloomberg
The unintended consequences of a hot U.S. real estate market have cascaded into an unlikely place: cheese. Soaring lumber prices earlier this year brought on by fierce homebuilding in North America has resulted in a dearth of wooden boxes that hold 640-pound blocks of cheese, which usually end up as shredded cheeses or cubes on party platters. To compensate, the industry has produced more 500-pound barrels of cheese, a vehicle for more processed varieties like Kraft Singles and Velveeta.
/bloom.bg/3xDyNXO
Half of Lumber Dealers Now Sit on Excess Inventory in the U.S.
Marcy Nicholson and Alexandre Tanzi - Bloomberg
Almost half of U.S. lumber dealers and manufacturers reported excess inventories last month, a sharp turnaround from a few months ago, when supplies ran so low they sparked price surges.
/bloom.bg/37DRFv9
Palladium Rally Threatened by Automakers' Pivot to Platinum
Ranjeetha Pakiam - Bloomberg
Platinum substitution in gasoline engines forecast to increase; Increasing sales of electric vehicles a longer-term headwind
A rally in palladium that's seen it more than triple in value since mid-2018 looks to be nearing its end as demand headwinds build. Around 85% of global supply of the silvery-white metal is used in pollution-reducing catalytic converters in gasoline engines. The surge in prices coupled with advances in technology, however, are making it more attractive for automakers to use the much cheaper platinum. Further out, palladium faces an existential threat as electric vehicles gradually replace those using gasoline, meaning the current rally could well be its last.
/bloom.bg/3yLeF7w
Embedded finance won't make every firm into a fintech company
Eyal Lifshitz - Techcrunch
A short decade after software started eating the world, along came headlines about every company becoming a fintech thanks to innovation and growth in embedded finance business models.
/yhoo.it/3yQy7Qo
What a $600m heist tells us about the future of crypto; Industry intervention over hacking raises questions for digital asset enthusiasts
Adam Samson - FT
Crypto land has been transfixed this week by a brazen and deeply strange heist of about $600m. It has been a cinematic experience, the new-age version of a bank robbery flick, replete with a colourful thief, a squad of digital vigilantes and any number of armchair detectives watching it all play out in real time.
/on.ft.com/3m12ks4
He predicted the dark side of the Internet 30 years ago. Why did no one listen? Philip Agre, a computer scientist turned humanities professor, was prescient about many of the ways technology would impact the world
Reed Albergotti - Washington Post
In 1994 — before most Americans had an email address or Internet access or even a personal computer — Philip Agre foresaw that computers would one day facilitate the mass collection of data on everything in society.
/wapo.st/2VK1UvM
Innovation Wave in US Equity Market Structure
Shanny Basar - MarketsMedia
Nasdaq acquiring a stake in LeveL ATS indicates that a new wave of innovation in the US equity market structure is occurring according to Brad Bailey, research director in the capital markets division of consultancy Celent. At the start of August Nasdaq announced it was buying a significant minority stake in LeveL ATS, an independent US equity dark pool trading venue which launched in 2006. Nasdaq joins Bank of America, Citi, and Fidelity as owners.
/bit.ly/3ACq4Hk
Cannabis CEOs signal confidence on marijuana banking law passing
Zack Guzman - Yahoo Finance
Marijuana advocates have been stacking victories over the last few years at the state level with nearly 20 U.S. states having now approved adult recreational marijuana use. But even as momentous as those changes have been, reform at the federal level has proved elusive — until now, if you trust the confidence coming from the leaders of America's largest cannabis companies.
/yhoo.it/3sf7YrZ
Credit Suisse brings in former UBS executive to head risk committee; New chair António Horta-Osório looks to bolster risk management after Archegos and Greensill crises
Owen Walker - FT
Credit Suisse is drafting in UBS's former chief operating officer to lead the board's risk committee, as new chair António Horta-Osório reinforces the bank's defences following a spate of scandals.
/on.ft.com/3CHsrdE
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | A majority of Americans in highly vaccinated counties now live in covid hot spots, Post analysis finds
Fenit Nirappil, Dan Keating, Maria Aguilar, Naema Ahmed and Aaron Steckelberg - Washington Post
Two-thirds of Americans in highly vaccinated counties now live in coronavirus hot spots, according to an analysis by The Washington Post, as outbreaks of the highly transmissible delta variant — once concentrated in poorly vaccinated pockets — ignite in more populated and immunized areas still short of herd immunity.
/wapo.st/3ggYiZh
Americans With Weak Immune Systems Will Get Three Covid-19 Shots
Fiona Rutherford and Elaine Chen - Bloomberg
FDA clears third shot based on study in transplant patients; Other vaccinated Americans don't need booster shots, FDA Says
Americans with weakened immune systems will be allowed to get three shots of a Covid-19 vaccine after U.S. regulators authorized giving an extra dose to the most vulnerable people.
/bloom.bg/3xInsG2
US agency authorises Covid booster for vulnerable people; FDA says additional dose of Pfizer or Moderna can be given to those who are immunocompromised
Lauren Fedor - FT
US health officials have authorised a third dose of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines for immunocompromised adults to protect them from a wave of cases driven by the contagious Delta variant.
/on.ft.com/3jPnnLz
EU leads vaccine marathon after losing sprint; Slow to start, the bloc is now vaccinating at twice the rate of US or UK
The editorial board - FT
After a slow start, the EU campaign to vaccinate its population against Covid-19 has turned into a success. The bloc as a whole has overtaken the US in terms of first and second doses per 100 people. It should surpass the UK within a few weeks. Spain, Portugal and Denmark are already ahead. The EU met its target of administering one jab to 70 per cent of adults by July and should hit its next one of fully vaccinating 70 per cent in the coming seven weeks.
/on.ft.com/3jUMn44
First to vaccinate and first to party, Israel now mulls lockdowns; One of the most vaccinated nations in the world is a test case for how Delta will play out. So far, it's not pretty
Mehul Srivastava - FT
This June, as I packed for a trip to London, I realised I couldn't find a single mask in my house, nor in any of the stores by my house in Tel Aviv. It had been months since anyone had needed one in Israel, one of the fastest- and most-vaccinated nations in the world. By mid-March, Israelis were partying as lockdowns ended and by April, masks had more or less vanished, turning the tiny country into a tantalising glimpse of a post-pandemic future.
/on.ft.com/3jUNO2s
Pfizer chief Albert Bourla: 'We are the most efficient vaccine machine'; The pharma boss on the Covid jab, his exchanges with Trump — and why suspending patents is no way to inoculate the world's poor
David Crow - FT
Chief executives rarely consume alcohol at lunch these days, especially pharmaceutical ones. But Albert Bourla has never really fitted the mould of the typical corporate boss. As we take our seats, the Pfizer supremo asks whether I drink. "A white wine," he suggests. "Something dry." When the waiter starts running us through the options by the glass, he interrupts him. "No, give us a bottle, please: we are going to drink a lot."
/on.ft.com/3g0tD1T
Job Postings Requiring Covid-19 Vaccination Jump in Past Month; Vaccination requirement for new hires nearly doubles, report shows; McDonald's, Walmart among companies requiring shots
Eric Morath - WSJ
Vaccination is increasingly a requirement to be hired, as employers ranging from accounting and software firms to schools and restaurants are asking applicants to be inoculated against Covid-19.
/on.wsj.com/3m20Gqi
China issues new guidelines for face mask wearing amid Delta outbreak
Nectar Gan, - CNN
Chinese health authorities have issued new guidelines upping the requirement of mask wearing for the public -- including in outdoor areas, as the country grapples with its worst resurgence of Covid-19 in more than a year.
/cnn.it/3yXy1qd
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | TMX Group Completes Acquisition of AST Trust Company (Canada)
TMX
TMX Group today announced it has completed the acquisition of AST Investor Services Inc. (Canada) and its subsidiary AST Trust Company (Canada), a leading provider of transfer agency, corporate trust, and related services (the "Acquisition"). The total consideration of the Acquisition was $165 million which includes $30 million of cash. The transaction was first announced in September 2020.
/bit.ly/37U5CW9
CODA Markets bolsters business development team with industry veteran
CODA Markets
Following significant growth in trading volume and with several key initiatives slated for launch this year, CODA Markets, the leader in on-demand equity auctions, today announced the appointment of industry veteran Tony Barral to its team.
/bit.ly/3xHmWI7
PSI 20 becomes the PSI; New designation and rules to improve the efficiency of Portugal's benchmark national index
Euronext
Euronext today announced that the name of the Portuguese benchmark national index will change from the PSI 20® to the PSI®. The index methodology will also be adjusted in order to improve the liquidity and efficiency of the index and to better meet index users' needs.
/bit.ly/3AAyKxM
HKEX to roll out new options on futures contracts; Physically settled options on futures contracts based on Hang Seng index futures and Hang Seng China Enterprises index futures will launch this month at HKEX.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has confirmed plans to expand its derivatives suite with the launch of new options on futures later this month. Due to go live on 23 August, the physically settled options on futures contracts based on Hang Seng index futures and Hang Seng China Enterprises index futures will allow investors to take futures positions on HKEX's market prior to the settlement of the underlying futures contract.
/bit.ly/3iJZRAA
SIX Digital Exchange hires top trading exec from State Street as new CEO; SDX has received a draft financial market infrastructure licence from FINMA, and it expects to receive formalisation of its licences soon.
Joe Parsons - The Trade
SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) has appointed a former top trading and execution executive from State Street as its new CEO, as it looks to take its digital assets platform to the next stage of rollout.
/bit.ly/3sfj0xp
Proof of Concept Project to Provide a Learning Environment for Trading Utilizing IT and Data Analysis - Awards Ceremony Held for Data Analysis Competition -
JPX
Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) launched "J-Quants", a Proof of Concept (PoC)* Project in January 2021 to provide a learning environment for trading utilizing IT and data analysis. An awards ceremony was held online for the competitions we have held so far - the fundamentals analysis competition and the news data analysis competition (hereinafter "both competitions").
/bit.ly/3yNIGn5
HKEX's INR/USD Futures Approved by Taiwan Futures Exchange
MondoVisione
Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited ("HKFE") is pleased to announce Taiwan Futures Exchange has approved the inclusion of INR/USD Futures in its list of offshore exchanges and contracts for which Taiwan Futures Commission Merchants ("FCMs") have trading authorization.
/bit.ly/3iIpIJ9
- Performance Bond Requirements - Energy Margin - Effective August 13, 2021 -- CME
- Performance Bond Requirements: Agriculture, Energy, Equity, FX, and Interest Rate Margins - Effective August 13, 2021 -- CME
- Amendments to CME, CBOT, NYMEX/COMEX Rule 853 - Transfers of Trades and Customer Accounts - Effective August 26, 2021 -- CME
- Amendments to CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX Rule 853. ("Transfers of Trades and Customer Accounts") -- CME
- Amendments to CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX Bylaws and Various Rules to Delete Obsolete References to the Term "President" -- CME
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | More than 60% of fixed income investors do not use an EMS, Barclays survey reveals; Global fixed income market structure research from Barclays showed that less than 25% of investors plan to implement an EMS this year.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Over 60% of fixed income institutional investors do not currently use an execution management system (EMS), a survey from Barclays has revealed, suggesting firms still heavily rely on their bilateral banking relationships. The investment bank's global fixed income market structure research, which surveyed 130 institutions including central banks, asset managers, insurance companies and hedge funds, also found that less than half are looking to implement an EMS by the end of this year.
/bit.ly/3yQjYCo
Trillium's Surveyor Onboards New Director of Product
Trillium Labs
Trillium Labs is pleased to welcome Melissa Watras as the new Product Director for the Surveyor Trade Surveillance Solution. Ms. Watras joins the Trillium team from a leading investment bank where she was the head of Institutional Securities Trade Surveillance Governance responsible for helping design and implement the bank's ever-evolving trade surveillance program. In joining Trillium, Ms. Watras will continue the success of Surveyor, focusing on strategically expanding the suite of trade surveillance monitoring offerings in line with client demand and emerging regulatory trends while continuing to foster and expand the team's renowned client relationships.
/bit.ly/2VHpadT
Overbond unveils AI tool for sell-side to triple RFQ responses; Margin optimisation tool at Overbond aims to help sell-side trading desks respond to three times more RFQs without negative margin on trades.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Trade analytics provider Overbond has released a margin optimisation tool that uses AI technology for sell-side fixed income desks to increase their amount of request for quotes (RFQ) responses.
/bit.ly/3iFvNFY
SoftBank-backed Argentine fintech valued at almost $2.5bn
Ignacio Portes - Financial Times
Argentine fintech Ualá has established its place in the ranks of Latin America's unicorns despite the country's troubled economy, as groups including SoftBank and Tencent tap into a regional shift from cash towards digital services.
The start-up secured $350m in private funding during its latest investment round — the biggest of the kind secured by an Argentine company — helping it reach a $2.45bn valuation, it said on Friday. The group was valued at $900m last year.
/on.ft.com/3iIrEkT
Ex-director seeks to stall $2 billion Paytm IPO, company calls it harassment
Aditya Kalra and Abhirup Roy - Reuters
Paytm's $2.2 billion IPO is facing an unusual hurdle - a 71-year-old former director has urged India's markets regulator to stall the offering, alleging he is a co-founder who invested $27,500 two decades ago but never got shares.
/yhoo.it/2UcSBU6
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Enterprises in Germany Turn to Cybersecurity Providers to Help with Pandemic Challenges
Business Wire
Enterprises in Germany digitize their operations and deal with the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are looking to cybersecurity service providers to help them better protect their IT systems
/bwnews.pr/3jUIf42
What a $600m heist tells us about the future of crypto
Adam Samson - FT
Crypto land has been transfixed this week by a brazen and deeply strange heist of about $600m. It has been a cinematic experience, the new-age version of a bank robbery flick, replete with a colourful thief, a squad of digital vigilantes and any number of armchair detectives watching it all play out in real time.
/on.ft.com/3m1q4N4
Schools Brace for More Cyberattacks After Record in 2020
Nic Querolo and Shruti Singh - Bloomberg
Cyber criminals are targeting U.S. schools at an increasing rate after remote learning during the pandemic left them more vulnerable to hacks, and the risk shows no sign of abating as students and teachers head back to the classroom this month. The number of publicly disclosed computer attacks on schools has exploded since 2016 to a record 408 in 2020
/bloom.bg/3g2lmdX
EQT Sells Cybersecurity Firm Utimaco to SGT in $500 Million Deal
Myriam Balezou - Bloomberg
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals, SGT Capital said in a statement. It didn't disclose financial details. The deal is valued at about $500 million, a person with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
/bloom.bg/3jRg3iB
Discord malware is a persistent and growing threat warns Sophos
Katie Wickens - PC Gamer
A few weeks back, leading cybersecurity company Sophos issued a warning that Discord is becoming an increasingly common target for hackers. The vicious few pushing out malware tend to target users of successful online services, and considering Discord's 140 million plus active users—with over 300 million registered to date—that makes the chat software a pretty juicy target.
/bit.ly/37Fw2uE
Millions of seniors hit by major data breach
Mayank Sharma - Tech Radar
Cybersecurity researchers have found a misconfigured Amazon S3 bucket that exposed personally identifiable information (PII) of over three million US senior citizens. Discovered by researchers at WizCase, the cloud storage bucket belonged to SeniorAdvisor, which describes itself as the largest ratings and reviews website for senior care and services across the US and Canada. The misconfigured bucket contained over over 180GB of data, exposing the names and contact details of over three million individuals.
/bit.ly/3sgsBUl
Ransomware Group Demanding $50M In Accenture Security Breach: Cyber Firm
Kyle Alspach - CRN
The hacker group behind a ransomware attack on global solution provider giant Accenture has made a ransom demand for $50 million, according to a cybersecurity firm that reports seeing the demand. The threat actor is demanding the $50 million in exchange for more than 6 TB of data, according to a tweet from Cyble, a dark web and cybercrime monitoring firm.
/bit.ly/3sgsBUl
Why Is There A Surge In Ransomware Attacks?
The Hacker News
The U.S. is presently combating two pandemics--coronavirus and ransomware attacks. Both have partially shut down parts of the economy. However, in the case of cybersecurity, lax security measures allow hackers to have an easy way to rake in millions.
/bit.ly/3iKCOoU
Ransomware Has Struck One-Third Of All Organizations: IDC
Kyle Alspach - CRN
In the past 12 months alone, more than one third of all organizations globally have faced some variety of ransomware incidents—with it "not uncommon" for multiple ransomware events to strike an organization, according to a survey by IDC.
/bit.ly/3iIvuuf
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | PNC Bank Planning Crypto Offering With Coinbase; A source said PNC, the fifth-largest bank in the U.S., plans to offer crypto investment services to clients.
Danny Nelson - Coindesk
Crypto exchange Coinbase said Tuesday it's working with PNC Bank, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the U.S. by assets, on a crypto project.
/bit.ly/3CTlcQ2
Opinion: What is decentralized finance? An expert on bitcoins and blockchains explains the risks and rewards of DeFi; DeFi could be cheaper, more inclusive and more innovative than traditional banking, but it comes with a host of risks that developers and regulators will need to address before it can go mainstream.
Kevin Werbach - MarketWatch
Fervent proponents of cryptocurrencies and the blockchains they run on have promised a lot. To them, these technologies represent salvation from corporate power over the internet, government intrusions on liberty, poverty and virtually everything else that ails society.
/on.mktw.net/3yMxkQd
Black, Latino, LGBTQ investors see cryptocurrencies as 'a new path' to wealth and equity
Charisse Jones and Jessica Menton - USA TODAY
When Hector Martinez learned about cryptocurrencies, the son of Salvadoran immigrants quickly saw its appeal: Marginalized communities could finally build wealth outside institutions that often excluded or exploited them.
/yhoo.it/3g2ghCx
Crypto Software Firm's Value Tops $1.3 Billion With New Funding
Eric Krebs - Bloomberg
TaxBit $130 million round backed by IVP, Insight, Tiger Global; Crypto exchange platform FTX US will also partner with TaxBit
TaxBit Inc., a maker of cryptocurrency tax and accounting software, raised fresh funding that pushed its valuation to more than $1.3 billion. The company raised $130 million in a Series B round led by venture firms IVP and Insight Partners. Tiger Global Management, Paradigm and 9Yards were also among the investors, TaxBit said in a statement Thursday.
/bloom.bg/3AJhmqP
Citi veteran and global futures, clearing and FX prime brokerage co-head departs for crypto fund; Christopher Perkins departs Citi after almost 13 years to join CoinFund as president and managing partner.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Citi's global co-head of futures, clearing and FX prime brokerage has departed after almost 13 years to join a New York-based crypto investment fund. Christopher Perkins has been named president and managing partner at CoinFund where he will work with institutional investors to bring enterprise scale to the business, the crypto investment firm confirmed.
/bit.ly/3xISJbN
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Wall Street Frets Over Its Clout as 'Champion' Cuomo Exits
Mary Biekert, Natalie Wong, and Maria Heeter - Bloomberg
Industry is trying to imagine life under Governor Kathy Hochul; It's 'a more uncertain situation than has existed in a while'
For a decade, Wall Street learned to get along with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as he picked regulators and pumped money into projects backed by the industry. Now that his successor is preparing to clean house, executives are worrying: Will she end the status quo?
/bloom.bg/3g0rByN
SEC Regulation of Crypto Will 'Hurt American Innovation' Says Congressman
Matthew De Saro - BeInCrypto
In an official statement, US Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) says that the SEC seeking jurisdiction of exchanges is problematic. U.S. Congressman Patrick McHenry has published a press release stating his concerns over the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking for jurisdiction over all cryptocurrency exchanges. McHenry, from North Carolina, says that the request by the SEC is "a blatant power grab that will hurt American innovation." McHenry adds that "We don't need another backroom deal between Gensler and Elizabeth Warren."
/yhoo.it/3xIYWED
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | Weak Oversight Plagues Audits of Billions in Private Assets; Self-regulatory audit system fails to safeguard charities, pension funds and private companies, a WSJ analysis finds
Jean Eaglesham and Coulter Jones - WSJ
Six months before Los Angeles-based Shepherd University collapsed into bankruptcy in 2017, accounting firm BW CPA Group Inc. gave the school's finances a clean bill of health. State regulators called the audit "grossly deficient," saying it missed red flags for potential fraud and left numerous errors in the financial statements uncorrected. The year before, BW CPA Group failed its second every-three-year peer review in a row, state regulators said.
/on.wsj.com/3g0z3tL
Hong Kong's securities watchdog and ICAC arrest five people for alleged corruption; Among the arrested is a current executive director and a former executive director of the listed company
Cheryl Heng - South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's securities regulator in a joint operation with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), has arrested five individuals from a listed company for alleged corruption under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, it announced on Friday.
/bit.ly/37EK1kf
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Brent Donnelly on What It Takes To Be a Winning Trader
Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway - Bloomberg
The last 18 months has seen an incredible explosion in the public's interest in trading. Whether we're talking about WallStreetBets, Robinhood, crypto, or anything else, trading has become a huge cultural phenomenon. But it's easy to win and stay interested during a bull market. But what does it take to keep winning, on a sustained basis? And what do pro traders have that retail traders lack? On this episode we speak with Brent Donnelly, a trader for over 20 years, and the author of the new book Alpha Trader: The Mindset, Methodology and Mathematics of Professional Trading. He spoke with us about what he's learned in his career, and the wisdom found in his book. The transcript is lightly edited for clarity.
/bloom.bg/3AGt05y
Traders Pile Into Tail-Risk Bets That Fed Won't Hike at All
Stephen Spratt and Edward Bolingbroke - Bloomberg
Open interest on tail-risk hedge has jumped 700% in past week; Traders also purchasing options that target negative Libor
Treasury yields are rising amid optimism over the global recovery but there has been a run on Eurodollar options betting the Federal Reserve will opt not to raise interest rates at all. Traders this week have been busy snapping up Eurodollar call options on underlying March 2025 futures that target three-month Libor to fix below 0.5%. These pay off if markets price the Fed keeping its benchmark at its lower bound until then. Futures markets are currently anticipating Libor will rise to about 1.47% by the first quarter of 2025.
/bloom.bg/3fXgVRO
Wall Street predicts that equity bull run will continue; But some investors worry that market already reflects high levels of optimism
Michael Mackenzie and Adrienne Klasa - FT
A robust corporate profits recovery is igniting optimism on Wall Street that US equities will extend their bull run even as investors question whether companies can eclipse a high bar for earnings growth and margins.
/on.ft.com/3lZTY3X
Quitting QE may be harder than the Bank of England believes; It is rash to pretend that withdrawal of support for bond markets will be straightforward
Tommy Stubbington - FT
After more than a decade of quantitative easing, the Bank of England will soon have almost £900bn of government bonds on its hands. The central bank last week offered the first detailed plan of how it aims to get rid of them, as it gradually tightens monetary policy following the Covid-19 pandemic.
/on.ft.com/3fWtUD6
Olam picks London for food ingredients IPO; Trading house seeks premium LSE listing of multibillion-pound division and secondary sale in Singapore
Neil Hume - FT
Olam International has picked London for the initial public offering of its multibillion-pound food ingredients business, as the Singapore-based agricultural trading house looks to tap growing investor interest in healthy eating and nutrition.
/bit.ly/2XkG16t
Home Prices in the U.S. Soar 23%, the Fastest Rate on Record
Maria Heeter - Bloomberg
U.S. home prices rose the most on record in the second quarter as buyers battled for a scarcity of listings. The median price of an existing single-family home jumped 23% from a year earlier to an all-time high of $357,900, the National Association of Realtors said in a report Thursday. About 94% of 183 metropolitan areas measured had double-digit gains, up from 89% in the first quarter.
/yhoo.it/3iH6XFK
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Extreme Weather Makes Everything Harder, Except Climate-Risk Analysis; Financial analysts, policymakers and economists can't begin to capture the full scale of a warming planet.
Kate Mackenzie - Bloomberg
It's been a momentous week for our understanding of the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's sixth report on the physical science of global warming on Monday brought home the connection between burning fossil fuels and the floods, heatwaves and wildfires we've seen this summer.
/bloom.bg/3sbOkwV
Economic Reality Is Dragging Russia Toward Climate Acceptance; Europe's border tax and China's carbon-neutral ambitions might just force a fossil fuel giant to face climate facts.
Clara Ferreira Marques - Bloomberg
Could climate alarm bells be ringing in the Kremlin? Official pronouncements and a newfound urgency suggest the reality of greener global demand may finally force a fossil fuel behemoth to accept the inevitable.
/bloom.bg/3iFka1M
Extreme weather blows out catastrophe insurance losses to $40bn; Worst start to the year for natural disaster claims in a decade
Ian Smith - FT
Wildfires, US winter storms and tornadoes in Europe helped deal an estimated $40bn blow to global insurers in the first half of 2021, marking the worst start to a year for natural catastrophe insurance in a decade.
/on.ft.com/3CHPwwN
China puts growth ahead of climate with surge in coal-powered steel mills; Study finds Beijing could struggle to honour pledge to reach peak CO2 emissions by 2030
Christian Shepherd - FT
China's expansion of coal-powered steel mills accelerated sharply in the first half of 2021, exposing the government's reluctance to sacrifice industry-fuelled growth to achieve its climate goals.
/on.ft.com/3lXHAl1
Renewables leader Orsted hit by low wind speeds; World's biggest offshore developer says 'extraordinarily poor' weather conditions will eat into profits
Richard Milne - FT
Orsted blamed low wind speeds across Europe as the world's largest offshore wind developer warned that its profits for 2021 were likely to come in at the low end of its guidance.
/on.ft.com/3jQEb4U
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Mystery Hedge Fund Bolsters 500% Return on Curious Nasdaq Stock; From faraway Kazakhstan, an obscure brokerage says it scores hot U.S. IPOs.
Nariman Gizitdinov and Donal Griffin - Bloomberg
Six thousand miles from Wall Street, in the ancient Silk Road city of Almaty, lies the private redoubt of a little-known financial empire. Inside the members-only T-Club, two cockatoos, Grisha and Silvia, keep watch. Above a bronze samovar, a flat screen television shows the proprietor's corporate crest: a green "F" on a green shield.
/bloom.bg/2UdrTuC
Credit Suisse Adds Risk Veterans to Board With UBS, Lloyds Alums
Marion Halftermeyer - Bloomberg
Axel Lehmann, Juan Colombas proposed for EGM on Oct. 1; Credit Suisse is rebuilding risk team in wake of heavy losses
Credit Suisse Group AG nominated former UBS AG executive Axel Lehmann to head the board of directors' risk committee and the ex-chief risk officer at Lloyd's Banking Group Juan Colombas for a seat on the board, in the latest effort to reinforce the bank's management team.
/bloom.bg/3sfSNyM
Hedge Fund Winners and Losers of China's Sudden Crackdown
Bei Hu and Nishant Kumar - Bloomberg
A meltdown in Chinese stocks last month caught at least half a dozen Asia-based hedge fund managers flat-footed, leaving them nursing losses and pondering Xi Jinping's next move.
/yhoo.it/3g0cW73
Credit Suisse Calls on Bank Risk Experts to Join Board; Swiss banking giant is stamping out risks and improving oversight after losing $5.5 billion from the collapse of family office Archegos
Margot Patrick - WSJ
Credit Suisse Group AG CS -0.48% enlisted two heavyweights of European banking to join its board and help supervise risks after losing $5.5 billion from failed family office Archegos Capital Management.
/on.wsj.com/3lWOtDn
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China's Port Shutdown Raises Fears of Closures Worldwide
Joe Deaux and Ann Koh - Bloomberg
Port of Los Angeles anticipates disruptions from China's move; Some shipping companies are diverting vessels from China port
A Covid outbreak that has partially shut one of the world's busiest container ports is heightening concerns that the rapid spread of the delta variant will lead to a repeat of last year's shipping nightmares.
/bloom.bg/2VRVg6k
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Workers increasingly steal company data during 'turnover tsunami'; Rise in insider threats comes as disgruntled employees quit in record numbers as lockdowns ease
Hannah Murphy - FT
Employees are taking sensitive computer code from their own companies at three times the rate they were a year ago, according to new research into so-called insider threats, as record numbers of disgruntled workers quit their jobs with pandemic restrictions easing.
/on.ft.com/2Xennx1
Boosting brain health is key to a thriving economy; The jobs of the future will value different skills than those of the past
Megan Greene - FT
Fuelled by fiscal and monetary stimulus, the US economy has bounced back. Output in the second quarter of 2021 exceeded its pre-pandemic level for the first time since Covid-19 struck. The labour market, however, has been slower to recover.
/on.ft.com/3fZu6Si
Will That College Degree Pay Off? A new report measures the "return on investment" offered by various higher education programs.
Ann Carrns - NY Times
Most four-year degrees pay off by paving the way for graduates to recoup the cost of their education relatively quickly, a new analysis finds. But that's particularly true for some programs, while others may offer little economic advantage over a high school diploma.
/nyti.ms/37Cxfm7
How Freelancing Is Changing Work; "When you talk to workers, they don't want to sign up for a 9-to-5 job," said Hayden Brown, who runs UpWork, a site that matches freelancers with employers.
David Gelles - NY Times
Hayden Brown grew up with parents who were out to change the world. Her mother worked on women's empowerment issues, and her father helped develop a national park in the Himalayas. For a time, the family lived in Nepal.
/nyti.ms/37FQyLq
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