| September 16, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
There is big news from IEX this morning as it announced plans to launch an options exchange after stockpiling options industry talent in recent months. Bryan Harkins, John Palmer and Ivan Brown are among the executives IEX has added in recent months as it geared up for this announcement. The new exchange is pending regulatory approval.
Howard Lutnick appeared on Fox Business last Wednesday, 9/11, in a video he shared on LinkedIn discussing 9/11, Cantor Fitzgerald's response to the tragedy, and the results of their most recent fundraising efforts. On 9/11/2024, Cantor raised a record $12 million, bringing the total raised since 2001 to just under $370 million. Originally, the funds supported the families affected by the tragedy, but now they also benefit 150 charities worldwide, Lutnick said. He also expressed strong views about the need to eliminate "jihad" globally.
After acknowledging the groups supporting the fundraiser and the backing of clients, Lutnick reflected on the "worst day" and stated, "They need to get rid of jihad in (on) this earth. We can't ever have people suffer the way our families suffered."
While I deeply empathize with Lutnick's underlying motivation, eliminating jihad is not any easier than eliminating hate itself. Merriam-Webster defines jihad as "a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty" and also as "a personal struggle in devotion to Islam, especially involving spiritual discipline." A secondary meaning listed is "a crusade for a principle or belief." However, these definitions are superficial.
Lutnick continued, stating, "We want to make the point, and Liz, I greatly appreciate you having me on, we want to make the point, we have got to get rid of jihad."
He then jumped into a political analysis of the two presidential candidates, sharing his views on where they stand on jihad, and offered his thoughts on the recent debate and the related issues.
While I am no Islamic scholar, another source of information on jihad comes from interpretations of Islamic teachings in the Qur'an, the Hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad), and classical Islamic scholarship. Scholars across various schools of thought in Islam, including Sunni and Shia traditions, distinguish between two primary forms: the internal or "greater" jihad, and the external or "lesser" jihad.
"Greater Jihad" refers to a Muslim's personal, internal struggle to live a righteous life, resist sin, and strive for spiritual growth. It focuses on self-improvement and adhering to Islamic principles.
"Lesser Jihad" refers to the physical struggle or defense of the Muslim community, which may include warfare in specific contexts. However, Islamic teachings stress that it must be conducted ethically, under defined conditions, and only in defense.
Jihad is often misunderstood, as it is frequently associated solely with violence; however, in its broader sense, it encompasses a spiritual and moral struggle aimed at upholding justice and goodness. I can see how the nuance of that definition is hard to swallow for those who have been harmed by people wielding it as a weapon.
The Southern Poverty Law Center's Learning for Justice book, "What is the Truth about Muslims?", explains, "Much of the contemporary misuse of the term 'jihad' can be traced to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, when stateless actors began to claim the right to declare jihad. In Islamic tradition, there is no theological or political basis for this claim. Radical and extremist groups appropriate and misuse the term 'jihad' to give a religious veneer to their violent political movements and tactics."
Mr. Lutnick has done incredible work over the past 23 years, raising nearly $370 million to support the families Cantor Fitzgerald lost on 9/11 and benefiting 150 charities worldwide. That is remarkable work-it's an act of love. If there's one thing that can counter hate, it's spreading more love. However, calling for those in power to "get rid of jihad in (on) this earth," when jihad is a central tenet of the Islamic faith that has been misappropriated by extremists, does not contribute to the love side of the equation. It is understandable Mr. Lutnick's precision on the definition of jihad is numbed by the barbarism of 9/11/2001. What we all seek to eliminate is ignorance, which leads to hate and radicalism and extremism.
Mr. Lutnick and the Cantor Fitzgerald community will always have my empathy and love for the suffering they endured. Regardless of our faith background, let us work together to eliminate hate and ignorance, strive to better understand one another, and show a little more love to our neighbors each day.
Evidently Former President Donald Trump does not understand the SEC's limit up/limit down rule. Trump criticized Nasdaq for halting trading in shares of his social media company, Truth Social, twice in one day, CNN reported. Trump suggested Nasdaq was taking orders from the SEC, which he accused of delaying the merger of Trump Media & Technology Group for political reasons. The trading halts were triggered by a 25% spike in the company's stock after Trump announced he would not sell his shares, which led to automatic five-minute pauses as part of routine SEC regulations designed to prevent excessive market volatility. Trump threatened to move his company's listing to the New York Stock Exchange, though experts pointed out that both exchanges follow the same SEC rules, making such a move ineffective. He just needs to find an exchange to list DJT that is willing to not follow the rules.
In the September 14 edition of The New York Times DealBook, Sarah Kessler writing about "Should Betting on Elections Be Legal?" cited Angelo Lisboa, a managing director at JPMorgan Chase, who wrote to the CFTC in favor of Kalshi's filing to list political event contracts.
The example presented was a green energy start-up company using the Kalshi political event contracts to hedge a reversal of President Biden's climate policy if former President Trump were elected in November.
I understand the scenario, but here are my questions. The green energy start-up could be facing an existential threat based on the potential policies of a new Trump administration. Would a green start-up company really be able to hedge its exposure in the Kalshi market? Would this be the best use of its capital? And if it could, would it do so in a new market without a track record of liquidity and performance?
Now, let's assume Trump won and the firm had used all available capital to hedge. Even though it earned a return on that capital, the firm would likely go out of business due to the election outcome and new policy directions. Is that really a hedge, or just a gamble?
If I am a start-up founder, I am going to be more focused on innovation and zigging and zagging than digging in and defending an entrenched position. When I was a broker, I loved new contracts and I still do. But a company wagering its future on the outcome of an election is not the type of economic risk any clients or potential clients would be looking to hedge.
On September 20, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will lead a Financial Stability Oversight Council meeting focused on executive session topics. The agenda includes updates on Treasury Market Surveillance, the Climate-related Financial Risk Committee, a vote on new members for the Climate Risk Advisory Committee, the 2024 annual report, and the 2025 budget.
Here are excerpts from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: IEX Group is launching a US options market to capitalize on record trading volumes. The London Metal Exchange (LME) has appointed Robert Arbuthnott, former Credit Suisse chief accountant, as its chief financial and administrative officer. Eurex has extended direct market access to US introducing brokers following approval from US regulators. Moody's views the US Basel Endgame reproposal as positive for regional bank credit ratings.
Jamie Heller is joining Business Insider as editor-in-chief after more than 20 years at The Wall Street Journal. At the Journal, she led global business and tech coverage, overseeing reporting on inflation, labor shortages, and pressures on the white-collar workforce during the pandemic, as well as the rise of AI and tech giants.
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:
- LODAS Markets CEO Brian King talks about creating liquidity in a new real estate and alternative assets marketplace from John Lothian News.
- Hedge Funds Add Bets on Yen Rally as Currency Rises 1% Again from Bloomberg.
- The "Nickels and Dimes" Concept of Options: A Strategy for Building Steady Returns from LinkedIn. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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FIA Survey Reveals European Markets' Optimism and Challenges
JohnLothianNews.com
A new industry report reveals that market participants in Europe, including the UK, EU, and Nordic countries, are optimistic about growth potential and innovation in the region. The report, created in partnership with Acuiti and FIA, indicates resilience to shocks but highlights a growing sentiment that firms see more wealth potential outside Europe, with the U.S. and India emerging as key markets of interest. Regulatory hurdles remain a significant challenge, with firms calling for reduced barriers to unlock further growth.
Watch the video »
Brian King - LODAS Markets
Watch Video »
John Lothian - John Lothian News
Watch Video »
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A Powerful New Challenge to Exchange Enforcement Actions
Renato Mariotti and Maggie DePoy - Paul Hastings LLP via NIBA
Self-regulatory organizations, including futures exchanges, could face aggressive challenges in the wake of the SEC v. Jarkesy decision, which provides a new avenue to challenge regulatory enforcement matters. Its reach may extend beyond the SEC and other federal agencies to reach the NFA and even exchanges like CME and ICE that use administrative proceedings to police market participants.
/jlne.ws/3ZpyMZ1
****** Self regulation and non-judicial enforcement have a long history of court challenges dating back to the earliest years of the Chicago Board of Trade. Let's see what cases prevail and how they are applied.~JJL
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U.S. says Russian state media outlet runs intelligence operations; The State Department accuses RT, the Russian media outlet, of running intelligence operations and procuring weapons for the war in Ukraine.
Catherine Belton - The Washington Post
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russian state media company RT is being deployed by the Kremlin to conduct cyberintelligence and covert influence operations across the globe as well as to help procure weapons for Russia's war against Ukraine. State Department officials warned Friday that the newly exposed covert Russian disinformation operation to influence public opinion in the United States represents only a small fraction of Moscow's efforts to undermine democracies globally through its state propaganda arm RT.
/jlne.ws/3MNQVrY
****** I am not sure what the R is for, but I get the impression the T is for turd.~JJL
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Opinion: Sports betting is bad for America's financial health. New data shows it; Lower credit scores, more bankruptcies come from our online betting obsession.
The Editorial Board - The Washington Post
The new National Football League season will see plenty of records set on the field - and it's expected to hit new heights off the field, too: specifically, the American Gaming Association projects that legal wagers on games will reach $35 billion, a 30 percent increase over last season. Most of that betting will involve online betting apps. In part, the growth reflects the fact that three new states - Maine, North Carolina and Vermont - have legalized legal sports betting, raising the total to 38 states and the District. And partly the projected growth reflects new incentives sportsbooks are offering gamblers: in-app live-streaming of games, platform upgrades to allow faster in-play betting, digital wallets and the ability to make multiple bets simultaneously. X is awash with sites offering tips and techniques for increasing the odds.
/jlne.ws/3MLW4Rh
***** The mainstreaming of sports betting, with its constant media presence, is ruining sports for me. I guess it is ruining more than my enjoyment: America's financial health.~JJL
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Protecting a billionaire CEO costs millions. Here's how the world's biggest companies measure up
Marco Quiroz-Guiterrez - Fortune
The biggest tech companies in the world are shelling out millions of dollars every year to protect their CEOs-but some pay more than others, and for good reason. Among the generous perks awarded to top executives, security costs can be among the priciest, especially when it comes to high-profile business leaders. These security costs include everything from home monitoring to personal bodyguards and security consulting which come at a big cost to companies, depending on the executive.
/jlne.ws/3Zq4oh7
****** JJLCO protects its CEO with two black dogs that sit outside my office, guarding it from mailmen, Amazon delivery men and children walking to school.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story on Friday was America loses its crown as 'home of the world's best burger', from The Telegraph. Second was Chairman Behnam to Speak at Georgetown University's Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy Financial Markets Quality 2024, from the SEC. Third was FINRA Announces Results of Board of Governors Elections, from FINRA.
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| Lead Stories | IEX Enters Options Market with Top Talent and Innovative Solutions; IEX Group Takes Next Step in Growth Journey with the Announcement of Its First Options Exchange
IEX Group, Inc.
IEX Group, Inc. (IEX), today announced that it will launch a U.S. options exchange to partner with liquidity providers to uniquely tackle risk management challenges experienced in the options markets, pending regulatory approvals. This new options exchange will bring IEX's suite of order protection innovations to better address the needs of market makers. IEX President, Bryan Harkins, commented on the planned launch, "We are focused on understanding the challenges of our Members and having discussions with market participants to guide our entry into the options market. IEX's experience and expertise in understanding the needs of liquidity providers provides a great foundation as we begin to offer options market makers a set of tools designed to drive performance."
/jlne.ws/4e53ECH
Should Betting on Elections Be Legal? Election wagers have long been banned in the United States. But for a brief period on Thursday, a regulated prediction market was permitted to offer them to Americans.
Sarah Kessler - The New York Times
As pundits were sharing sometimes wildly different takes on how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump performed in Tuesday's presidential debate, traders were putting money on which candidate would win the election. Those bets also told a story about the debate: On both PredictIt and Polymarket, two so-called prediction markets, the odds were swinging toward Harris. Screenshots of the markets were seemingly everywhere - across social media, embedded in news articles, and cited by television anchors.
/jlne.ws/3MNinGi
Singapore Ready to Make 'Bold Changes' to Revive Stock Market; Task force to target removing outdated rules, Chee says; Group considers ways to encourage pipeline of quality listings
John Cheng - Bloomberg
Singapore is prepared to make "bold changes" to regulatory structures in an attempt to revive its languishing stock market, according to its Second Minister for Finance. Chee Hong Tat, who is chairing a task force looking at ways to strengthen the equities market, said the group aims to remove outdated rules, encourage a pipeline of quality listings, and boost liquidity. Measures - which may include cutting listing costs and expanding the pool of equity derivatives - will be implemented in phases before the end of a 12-month review period, he said.
/jlne.ws/3ZqGhz1
Sam Bankman-Fried targets Sullivan & Cromwell in appeal against conviction; Crypto exchange founder says its former lawyers' 'work for the prosecution' denied him a fair trial
Joe Miller - Financial Times
Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal conviction over the collapse of FTX should be vacated in part because the cryptocurrency exchange's former lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell "did an enormous amount of investigative work for the prosecution", attorneys for the former billionaire have argued. In a brief filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday, Bankman-Fried's counsel claimed he was denied a fair trial by "federal prosecutors eager for quick headlines" who co-opted former colleagues at the elite New York firm into gathering evidence for the government.
/jlne.ws/3XuuInw
Sam Bankman-Fried Seeks New Trial, Blaming Federal Judge for Ridiculing Him
Chris Dolmetsch and Ava Benny-Morrison - Bloomberg
Jailed FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is asking for a new trial, blaming a federal judge for preventing him from mounting a proper defense. Lawyers for the former chief executive officer argued "everyone rushed to judgment" after FTX's collapse and that fair-trial principles were swept away in a "sentence first-verdict afterwards tsunami," according to a brief Friday in the 2nd Circuit US Court of Appeals in New York.
/jlne.ws/3ZsaQ7u
OpenAI acknowledges new models increase risk of misuse to create bioweapons; Company unveils o1 models that it claims have new reasoning and problem-solving abilities
Cristina Criddle and Madhumita Murgia - Financial Times
OpenAI's latest models have "meaningfully" increased the risk that artificial intelligence will be misused to create biological weapons, the company has acknowledged. The San Francisco-based group announced its new models, known as o1, on Thursday, touting their new abilities to reason, solve hard maths problems and answer scientific research questions. These advances are seen as a crucial breakthrough in the effort to create artificial general intelligence - machines with human-level cognition.
/jlne.ws/3z9t56Z
It's the Epicenter of U.S. Gas Exports, and a Hurricane Magnet; Francine slammed southern Louisiana, the latest storm to hit near an area that has become the epicenter of U.S. LNG exports
Benoit Morenne - The Wall Street Journal
As hurricane after hurricane has battered this marshy patch of Louisiana, businesses and residents have all but deserted it, with one big exception: multibillion-dollar plants that export natural gas. Since 2005, four major hurricanes and a handful of smaller ones have hit Cameron Parish, halving its population to fewer than 5,000 people. On Wednesday, Hurricane Francine made landfall nearby, initially prompting an evacuation order before it tracked further east.
/jlne.ws/4e2V7jH
HSBC's New CEO Is Looking to Shake Up Europe's Largest Lender; Analysts say Georges Elhedery will have to find a way to shave $2 billion in expenses in the coming years.
Harry Wilson, Ambereen Choudhury, and Denise Wee - Bloomberg
With just two weeks under his belt as the new chief executive officer of HSBC Holdings Plc, Georges Elhedery has made it clear he's looking to make his mark on the bank. Since he took over, Elhedery has weighed kicking off what could amount to HSBC's most significant restructuring in more than a decade. He's also considered disposing of a couple of non-core businesses and he's been pleading with staffers to keep costs in check.
/jlne.ws/4doySnf
UK Targets London Outpost of Iran Oil Kingpin 'Hector'; British officials raise concern on ownership disclosure breach; London-based Nest Wise Trading was incorporated in June 2023
Ben Bartenstein - Bloomberg
The UK government is cracking down on an oil trading empire led by Hossein Shamkhani, whose web of firms have drawn scrutiny for helping move Iranian and Russian crude around the world, people familiar with the matter said. Companies House, the country's corporate register, gave notice on Sept. 3 that London-based Nest Wise Trading Ltd. is to be struck off and dissolved within months if it doesn't take requisite steps, a filing in its Gazette shows. The threatened action is due to the entity's failure to provide sufficient information to regulators, who've concluded its ultimate beneficial owner is Shamkhani, according to people familiar with the UK's deliberations.
/jlne.ws/4d6Y95c
Firms jostle to sell alternative assets to wealthy investors; Critics warn of risks in selling illiquid and hard-to-value products to less experienced retail buyers
Brooke Masters - Financial Times
The race is on to sell unlisted assets to wealthy individual investors. BNY, the giant custody bank, on Monday announced plans for a platform that makes it easy for financial advisers to buy and manage investments for their clients in a swath of products from well-known private equity, private debt and infrastructure firms.
/jlne.ws/3B4XFPL
South Korea's stock exchange chief defends slow start to corporate reform drive; Only 1% of 2,600 listed companies have signed up to new initiative aimed at boosting valuations
Christian Davies and Song Jung-a - Financial Times
The head of South Korea's stock exchange, Jeong Eun-bo, has defended his country's stalling corporate reform drive amid disappointment among local and foreign investors that Seoul is failing to replicate Tokyo's success in boosting historically low valuations. South Korean regulators and political leaders have spent much of this year promoting their "Corporate Value-up" initiative, which includes a new index highlighting companies that have improved capital efficiency, as well as tax incentives for businesses that prioritise shareholder returns.
/jlne.ws/3MNesJr
Renewables, and Good Luck, Prop Up Power Grid Through Extreme Heat; The grid has avoided rolling blackouts so far this summer. Regions that added renewables and batteries quickly have fared better.
Katherine Blunt and Jennifer Hiller - The Wall Street Journal
Extreme heat shattered temperature records and pushed electricity demand to new highs this summer. The U.S. power grid has held up, but in many places the margin for error is shrinking. Across the U.S., a combination of new power sources and luck has helped grid operators avoid calling for rolling blackouts. States such as California and Texas that in recent years have bet big on renewable energy and battery storage easily met electricity demand, even as residents cranked their air conditioning to stay cool during punishing heat waves.
/jlne.ws/3XJx5El
The Suave Italian Banker Who Wants to Be the Jamie Dimon of Europe; Andrea Orcel has teed up UniCredit for a potential takeover of rival Commerzbank. He wants to build something Europe lacks-a banking champion.
Margot Patrick, Patricia Kowsmann and Joe Wallace - The Wall Street Journal
Andrea Orcel made his name helping banks choose the moment to pounce on a rival. Last week, the CEO of Italy's deal-hungry UniCredit made his own move on Germany's Commerzbank. Teeing up a possible takeover, UniCredit bought 9% of Commerzbank's shares, half of them from the German government. His vision: build a European champion, capable of financing people and companies across the region seamlessly and profitably-and take back business lost to American rivals as Europe's banking industry emerges from a dire decade.
/jlne.ws/3XvrG2q
Big Energy Issue in Pennsylvania Is Low Natural Gas Prices. Not Fracking; Energy businesses and farmers in western Pennsylvania are struggling because of prices, an issue that has not figured prominently in the campaigns of Donald J. Trump and Kamala Harris.
Rebecca F. Elliott - The New York Times
For much of the American shale boom of the last two decades, natural gas producers found that the more they pumped, the more demand grew, as cheaper gas displaced coal. But here in Pennsylvania - home to one of the largest U.S. gas deposits and a critical prize in the presidential election - that is no longer the case.
/jlne.ws/4e47VpN
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | How Russia Profits From Ukraine Invasion by Selling Stolen Grain on a Global Black Market
Benoit Faucon - The Wall Street Journal
Beyond the bombs and gunfire of Russia's war in Ukraine, a parallel economic war is raging. Its front line is on occupied Ukrainian farmlands, from which Russia and its partners have sold almost $1 billion in stolen grain on a burgeoning black market. Moscow's forces in Ukraine since 2022 have occupied some of Europe's most fertile farmland. The occupiers have either seized harvests or bought them cheaply, often forcibly. The business involves a wide network of clients who benefit from Moscow's wartime patronage system, including a Russian shipyard equipping the invasion, a company affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard and a Crimean businessman who trades with Syria and Israel. Another company sells through the United Arab Emirates.
/jlne.ws/4eafETy
Kremlin says it disagrees with Turkey's Erdogan that Crimea should return to Kyiv's control
Reuters
Russia completely disagrees with comments from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that Crimea should return to Ukrainian control, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. Erdogan said this week that Turkish support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence was unwavering, and that the return of Crimea - which Russia seized from Ukraine and annexed in 2014 - was a requirement of international law.
/jlne.ws/4gkiwhT
Polish minister, visiting Kyiv, calls for end to benefits for Ukrainian men in Europe
Olena Harmash - Reuters
European governments should halt welfare benefits to Ukrainian men of military age who are living in their countries, Poland's foreign minister said, a measure he said would help Ukraine call up more troops to fight Russian forces. Following a meeting in Kyiv with his Ukrainian counterpart, Poland's Radoslaw Sikorski said ending social benefits for Ukrainian male refugees would also benefit state finances in host countries in Western Europe.
/jlne.ws/3MOjkxW
Putin's options for Ukraine missiles response include nuclear test, experts say
Andrew Osborn and Mark Trevelyan - Reuters
Vladimir Putin's options to retaliate if the West lets Ukraine use its long-range missiles to strike Russia could include striking British military assets near Russia or, in extremis, conducting a nuclear test to show intent, three analysts said. As East-West tensions over Ukraine enter a new and dangerous phase, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Joe Biden are holding talks in Washington on Friday on whether to allow Kyiv to use long-range U.S. ATACMS or British Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Russia.
/jlne.ws/3MNQbmG
Storm Shadow missiles: what are they and why are they important for Ukraine? Lifting of western restrictions on use of long-range missiles inside Russia would mark a pivotal moment in the war
Archie Bland and Dan Sabbagh - The Guardian
When Keir Starmer meets Joe Biden at the White House on Friday, the war in Ukraine - and an expected move to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range Storm Shadow missiles - will be at the top of the agenda. The meeting follows a week of diplomatic choreography between the British and Americans, culminating in the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, travelling to Kyiv on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/4gofOIh
Ignore the Defeatists. America's Strategy Is Working in Ukraine; Kyiv remains far from victory, but the U.S. is achieving its primary goal: containing the spread of Russian power
Michael Kimmage - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/4eonKr9
Ukraine would have military reason for striking deeper into Russia - NATO committee chief
Reuters
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Under the missiles: U.N. force caught between Israel and Hezbollah; When Israel and Hezbollah attack each other, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force takes cover.
Kareem Fahim - The Washington Post
The peacekeepers passed scorched fields and bombed houses and hollowed-out towns, the landscape of southern Lebanon's stop-and-start war. On the road, in white armored vehicles waving the blue flag of the United Nations, they encountered people who could not leave the conflict zone, who refused to go or were paid to stay: Lebanese soldiers, Syrian farmhands, a cafe owner thrilled to see them and other residents who barely seemed to notice them.
/jlne.ws/3MLkqdT
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Hong Kong-focused ETFs set to list on Saudi exchange; Planned listings follow 2023 launch of Hong Kong's first Saudi equities ETF, which has attracted $1.25bn in assets
Madeleine Taylor - Financial Times
Saudi Arabia's first exchange traded funds investing in Hong Kong's equities market will be listed on the local stock exchange before the end of the year, as authorities try to strengthen financial ties between the two markets. In a speech at the Bund Summit in Shanghai, Paul Chan, Hong Kong's financial secretary, confirmed that the government is expecting "some reciprocal moves" to take place this year, which will include the listing of a pair of Hong Kong-focused ETFs on the Saudi Exchange.
/jlne.ws/3XKsn9t
Eurex opens its markets to a broader U.S. client base
Deutsche Boerse
Eurex will open its markets to further member groups in the U.S. As of 16 September 2024, the leading European derivatives exchange will allow U.S. Introducing Brokers (IB) to become direct exchange members. The European-based exchange is thus once again living up to its claim of making its markets easily accessible to a broad global trading community. The U.S. regulatory authority CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) announced in July that it has approved final rules amending Part 48 of its regulations. This change allows CFTC-registered foreign boards of trade (FBOTs) to give U.S. IBs registered with the CFTC direct access to their electronic trading systems.
/jlne.ws/3MMBOPC
Euronext and MTS launch a new European Government Bond Index Family
Back
Euronext
Euronext, the leading pan-European market infrastructure, today announces the launch of the Euronext MTS European Government Bond (EGB) Broad Index Family, developed in partnership with MTS, Europe's leading electronic fixed income trading platform and part of the Euronext Group. The new index family comprises 26 indices that measure the total return of Euro-denominated government bonds from ten Eurozone countries, deriving from the mother index Euronext MTS EGB Broad GR.
/jlne.ws/3XuIiHO
LME appoints Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
LME
The London Metal Exchange (LME) and LME Clear are pleased today to announce the appointment of Robert Arbuthnott as Group Chief Financial and Administrative Officer (CFAO), effective 16 September 2024. An accomplished finance leader, Robert most recently served as Head of Group Finance and Chief Accountant for Credit Suisse Group for seven years, prior to which he was the UK CFO. With more than 30 years in the financial services industry, Robert has held senior finance positions at a number of leading global banks across Asia, the UK and Switzerland.
/jlne.ws/3MTrqW1
IBEX ESG reaches 49 components in its first review
BME-X
The Technical Advisory Committee has decided to add seven new companies to the IBEX ESG index, as well as the exit of four, as they are no longer part of the selection universe (IBEX 35 or IBEX Medium Cap), so the index has increased from 46 to 49 components. Aena, Elecnor, IAG, Lar Espana, Neinor Homes, Puig and Tubacex are added, and Alba, Catalana Occidente, Grenergy and Prosegur are removed. The changes will be effective from 23 September.
/jlne.ws/3ZssOXs
JSE Celebrates growth and evolution of its SME Solution, SME Rise
JSE
The event highlighted SME Rise, the JSE's comprehensive development solution designed to fuel growth in the sector. The programme offers a range of initiatives, including growth solutions, funding readiness, international expansion and capital access. The event also acknowledged key collaborations, such as those with provincial government departments including the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) and the Western Cape Government Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT)which play a crucial role in making these initiatives possible.
/jlne.ws/3ZnhLPf
Derivatives Market Closed for Holiday (September 16, 2024)
JPX
The derivatives market will be closed with no holiday trading on Monday, September 16, 2024 (Respect for the Aged Day) due to derivatives system's (J-GATE) participation to the migration rehearsal test of arrowhead 4.0 from September 14 to September 16.
/jlne.ws/4emZaac
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Meta to start using public posts on Facebook, Instagram in UK to train AI
Reuters
Meta Platforms (META) will begin training its AI models using public content shared by adults on Facebook and Instagram in the UK over the coming months, the company said, after it had paused the training in the region following a regulatory backlash. The company will use public posts including photos, captions and comments to train its generative artificial intelligence models, it said on Friday, adding that the training content will not include private messages or information from accounts of users under the age of 18.
/jlne.ws/3TrYFUn
Exclusive: OpenAI's huge valuation hinges on upending corporate structure
Krystal Hu and Kenrick Cai - Reuters
OpenAI's new financing round is expected to come in the form of convertible notes, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter, who said its $150 billion valuation will be contingent on whether the ChatGPT-maker can upend its corporate structure and remove a profit cap for investors. The details of the conditions of the $6.5 billion funding, which have not been previously reported, show how far OpenAI, the most valuable AI startup in the world, has come from a research-based non-profit, and the structural changes it's willing to make to attract ever more investment to fund its expensive pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI that surpasses human intelligence.
/jlne.ws/3ZoUCM6
AI Can Debunk Conspiracy Theories Better Than Humans; Believers often invest huge amounts of time in researching their theories online. Maybe only LLMs can keep up.
F.D. Flam - Bloomberg
Scientists surprised themselves when they found they could instruct a version of ChatGPT to gently dissuade people of their beliefs in conspiracy theories - such as notions that Covid-19 was a deliberate attempt at population control or that 9/11 was an inside job. The most important revelation wasn't about the power of AI, but about the workings of the human mind. The experiment punctured the popular myth that we're in a post-truth era where evidence no longer matters, and it flew in the face of a prevailing view in psychology that people cling to conspiracy theories for emotional reasons and that no amount of evidence can ever disabuse them.
/jlne.ws/4e0oKC0
China touts home-grown chip lithography machines amid semiconductor self-sufficiency drive
South China Morning Post
The Chinese government is promoting two domestically made chip-making machines that it says have achieved significant advances, as the country strives towards technology self-sufficiency amid US sanctions. The lithography machines, which print highly complex circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, "have achieved significant technological breakthroughs, own intellectual property rights but have yet to perform on the market", according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which did not name the companies behind the two machines.
/jlne.ws/3ZqH7M1
Women in tech groups 'can't run on inspiration alone'
Zoe Kleinman - BBC
Groups supporting women in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) fields are struggling to survive as corporations' shrinking budgets, and cultural changes, see diversity strategies take a back seat. Ada Lovelace Day - a global annual celebration of women working in Stem - is on borrowed time. Named after a 19th century female mathematician, the day came into being in 2009 when it was created by Suw Charman-Anderson. She had graduated with a science degree, but felt "fundamentally unwelcome" as one of just three women in her class. And she later grew tired of going to tech conferences and not seeing any women on stage. Ms Charman-Anderson says that the initiative is now running out of funds again, as almost happened two years ago.
/jlne.ws/3zjhpyu
As Chinese AI and GPU demand heats up, a Hong Kong data centre turns to liquid cooling
South China Morning Post
/jlne.ws/3B6QzKo
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Governments should not be the cyber insurers of last resort; As things stand, there is limited evidence that a broadly based backstop is needed
Lex Opinion - Financial Times
Insurers are in the business of risk. But some perils make them nervous. Attacks on computer networks are a prime example. Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett compares them to rat poison because of the spiralling impact on policies of a single event. The escalating global cost of such crime - expected by US officials to exceed $23tn in 2027 - far outstrips the cyber insurance market, at roughly 800 times smaller. Insurers argue that such a vast gap can only be bridged by governments. The case is not clear cut.
/jlne.ws/3zm7IPK
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Guarding Crypto Is a Lucrative Business and Wall Street Wants In; Coinbase, BitGo have been among the dominant service providers; SEC rule seen making it impractical for banks to do custody
Olga Kharif and Paige Smith - Bloomberg
In the traditional investment world, providing custody of assets is a pretty boring, albeit crucial, business: Keeping clients' holdings of stocks and bonds safe is a fairly straightforward job. Yet in the roughly $2 trillion cryptocurrency market, a favorite playground for hackers and fraudsters, custody is anything but boring. As a result, the service costs up to 10 times more than safeguarding traditional assets like securities and cash, according to Hadley Stern, chief commercial officer for Solana custody tool Marinade, who previously headed digital asset custody at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. That makes it a potentially attractive growth area for startups as well as Wall Street banks and other firms looking for ways to expand into digital assets.
/jlne.ws/3zlUFOa
Crypto firm Circle to move headquarters to New York City ahead of planned IPO
Hannah Lang - Reuters
Circle Internet Financial, the company behind stablecoin USDC, is moving its global corporate headquarters from Boston to New York City, after filing confidentially earlier this year for a U.S. initial public offering. Circle plans to open its new headquarters in One World Trade Center in early 2025, the company said Friday.
/jlne.ws/3Bc3ISi
BHP warns AI growth will worsen copper shortfall; World's largest miner expects global demand for red metal will rise by more than 70% by 2050
Leslie Hook - Financial Times
The growth of artificial intelligence will exacerbate a looming shortage of copper, a metal vital for the clean energy transition, miner BHP has warned. The rise of data centres and AI, which requires more energy-intensive computing, could boost global copper demand by 3.4mn tonnes a year by 2050, BHP's chief financial officer Vandita Pant told the Financial Times. "Today, data centres are less than 1 per cent of copper demand, but that is expected to be 6 to 7 per cent by 2050," she said. "There is a lot of copper in data centres."
/jlne.ws/4d8e17r
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump wants Elon Musk focused on government 'efficiency.' Critics say key services, perhaps Social Security, could be in his sights.
Ben Werschkul - Yahoo Finance
When Donald Trump recently endorsed Tesla CEO Elon Musk's idea for a government efficiency commission, he claimed that an audit of the federal government would turn up trillions in savings "for the same service that you have right now." It's an idea that Trump has continued to tout including as recently as yesterday. But critics have been quick to point out that the math likely doesn't add up. There's simply little evidence of that level of fraud in the federal government.
/jlne.ws/3z5Phik
The Star-Making Machine That Created 'Donald Trump'; The inside story of how the producers of "The Apprentice" crafted a TV version of Mr. Trump - measured, thoughtful and endlessly wealthy - that ultimately fueled his path to the White House.
Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig - The New York Times
Late in the summer of 2003, a team of television producers stepped off the elevator on the 26th floor of Trump Tower eager to survey the set of their next reality show. After years filming "Survivor" in jungles around the world, training cameras on exotic spiders and deadly snakes to evoke danger, they came looking for a different set of sensory clues, the tiny details that would convey wealth and power. Right away, they knew they had a problem.
/jlne.ws/3ZvUZ7X
The 'feral 25-year-olds' making Kamala Harris go viral on TikTok; Harris's "digital rapid response" operation and all-Gen-Z TikTok team are tapping the trends and rhythms of internet culture to create an online presence that's unique in presidential politics.
Drew Harwell - The Washington Post
After Tuesday night's debate, as former president Donald Trump worked the reporters in the spin room in Philadelphia, Vice President Kamala Harris's TikTok team was busy appealing to a different crowd. In the digital "war room" at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., they hit the button on their pièce de résistance shortly after midnight: A six-second video that mocked Trump's performance by showing his lectern inhabited by a laughably dramatic "Dance Moms" star. "I thought I was ready to be back. I thought I was stronger than this but obviously I'm not," she lamented. "I wanna go home."
/jlne.ws/4e1PjqE
FBI probes second apparent Donald Trump assassination attempt; Republican ex-president is safe after potential gunman apprehended in Florida
Stefania Palma and James Politi - Financial Times
The FBI is investigating a potential second assassination attempt against Donald Trump in as many months after the Secret Service opened fire on a suspect at the former president's golf club. Ric Bradshaw, Palm Beach County sheriff, told reporters that a Secret Service agent targeted a man hiding in nearby bushes after spotting a rifle through the fence of the Trump International Golf Club on Sunday afternoon.
/jlne.ws/4daIVfc
A Controversial AI Bill Could Destroy the Industry - or Save Us All; SB 1047 has the potential to radically reshape the future of the technology's development not just in the state, but globally.
Sarah Holder and Adriana Tapia Zafra - Bloomberg
A controversial AI safety bill was just passed by California's legislature. It's been spurned by OpenAI and Nancy Pelosi, championed by Elon Musk - and could radically reshape the future of the technology's development not just in the state, but globally. On today's podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks with California State Senator Scott Wiener, the author of SB 1047, about why he thinks California needs to take a lead in regulating AI. And Bloomberg tech reporter Shirin Ghaffary explains why even if the bill is vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom, the questions it has raised about AI regulation could be long-lasting.
/jlne.ws/3TpvwZF
China, America and a global struggle for power and influence; The whole world risks losing from the rivalry between Washington and Beijing
Gideon Rachman - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3MISXJY
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Twelve Defendants Sentenced for Violent Home Invasion Robberies to Steal Cryptocurrency
Friday, September 13, 2024
U.S. Department of Justice
A Florida man was sentenced to 47 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in a scheme involving a series of home invasion robberies targeting cryptocurrency. Between Sept. 5 and Sept. 12, a total of 12 men have been sentenced for their role in the scheme. According to court documents and evidence presented at the trial, Remy Ra St Felix, 25, of West Palm Beach, and his co-conspirators stole over $3.5 million from victims through SIM swapping and violent home invasions in which they held victims at gunpoint, assaulted them, and bound them with plastic cable ties. St Felix was convicted on June 25 by a federal jury in Greensboro, North Carolina, after a six-day trial. In addition to his sentence of incarceration, St Felix was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $524,153.39 in restitution.
/jlne.ws/47ri11E
United States Files Suit For Unpaid Duties and Penalties For Alleged Transshipment of Chinese Aluminum Wire
U.S. Department of Justice
The United States has filed a civil lawsuit against Repwire LLC, a Florida Corporation that imports wire and cables. The lawsuit alleges that Repwire made false statements to customs officials in importing aluminum wire into the United States. The lawsuit also names as defendants Repwire's manager, Jose Pigna, and insurer, American Alternative Insurance Corporation. The United States' complaint contends that Repwire, through gross negligence or negligence, misrepresented to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the imported wire's classification code and country of origin. Repwire allegedly falsely classified the imported wire from China as aluminum wire with connectors instead of wire without connectors, and after import duties on the former were subsequently raised, Repwire allegedly then falsely identified the country of origin for various entries of its merchandise as Singapore or Korea. Both of these alleged misrepresentations resulted in Repwire failing to pay the appropriate amount of duties owed on its merchandise.
/jlne.ws/3XHLwZQ
Ex-Jefferies Fund Manager Faces Criminal Probe of Alleged Fraud; Federal prosecutors in NY issued subpoena to Jordan Chirico; Chirico's lawyers previously denied fraud claims in lawsuit
Jonathan Randles, Ava Benny-Morrison, and Carmen Arroyo - Bloomberg
A former Jefferies Financial Group hedge fund manager who was sued for allegedly defrauding the fund out of more than $100 million is also facing a federal criminal probe. Manhattan federal prosecutors are investigating Jordan Chirico and allegations by the fund, 352 Capital, that he knowingly invested its money in a Ponzi-like scam, said a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the probe. Chirico has received a grand jury subpoena as part of an investigation, according to court papers filed in August in a separate civil matter involving him and 352.
/jlne.ws/3B6VsTR
PwC Probe Spotlight Shifts to Hong Kong After Record China Fine
Kiuyan Wong - Bloomberg
The focus of a lengthy probe into PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's China business now shifts to Hong Kong after the accounting firm was hit with a record fine in the mainland over its audit of failed developer China Evergrande Group. Hong Kong's Accounting and Financial Reporting Council said its review of PwC's local practice, which is separate from China's probe, is still "in progress," according to a statement Friday. An AFRC spokesperson said the watchdog had no further comment.
/jlne.ws/4e6inNu
UK Should Review Stamp Duty on Share Purchases, Barclays Says; Bank also wants reforms to help AIM firms move to main market; Finance industry is lobbying ahead of Labour's October budget
Leonard Kehnscherper and Joe Easton - Bloomberg
The UK government should review a tax on share purchases to boost the country's ailing stock market, according to Barclays Plc. The stamp duty reserve tax, or SDRT, is a 0.5% transaction levy that applies to share dealings on the main London Stock Exchange, but was abolished for the junior Alternative Investment Market in 2014.
/jlne.ws/3Txrezx
CFTC to Hold a Commission Open Meeting September 20
CFTC
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam today announced the Commission will hold an open meeting on Friday, September 20 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) at the CFTC's Washington, D.C. headquarters. Members of the public can attend the meeting in person, listen by phone, or view a live stream at CFTC.gov.
/jlne.ws/3Xr4imS
SEC Charges Former Financial Consultant for Providing Father and Friends Inside Information Regarding Firm's Client; Consultant's father and two friends charged with making more than $1 million in illicit insider trading profits
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Federico Nannini, his father, and two of his friends for insider trading in advance of the pending acquisition of Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Inc. (IEA) by MasTec Inc., a client of the financial consulting firm where Nannini worked as an associate.
/jlne.ws/3zbSXiy
SEC Charges Zymergen Inc. With Misleading IPO Investors About Company's Market Potential and Sales Prospects
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Zymergen Inc., an Emeryville, California-based biotechnology company, for misleading IPO investors about its overall market potential, revenue prospects, and customer pipeline for its only commercially available product, an electronics film named Hyaline. Zymergen raised approximately $530 million through its IPO in April 2021 and filed for bankruptcy in 2023. Zymergen agreed to pay a $30 million civil penalty to resolve the SEC's charges.
/jlne.ws/4eq83jb
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Imposing Over $600,000 in Monetary Relief Against Alleged Unregistered Broker
SEC
On September 10, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final consent judgment against Frank M. Vecchio, enjoining him from violating certain provisions of the federal securities laws and ordering disgorgement and civil monetary penalties.
/jlne.ws/3TtIDJz
Former financial services director Mark McCabe pleads guilty to three counts of fraud
ASIC
Mark Francis McCabe, of Roseville, NSW, has pleaded guilty in the Downing Centre District Court at Sydney to three offences of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception contrary to s192E(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) (Crimes Act), with a further four offences to be taken into account on sentencing.
/jlne.ws/3MR2QVK
Two interim stop orders placed on Candy Club
ASIC
ASIC has issued two interim stop orders on Candy Club Holdings Limited (Candy Club):
/jlne.ws/3zbThOi
Consultation: Regulatory returns for financial institution licensees
FMA
Registered banks, licensed insurers and licensed non-bank deposit takers who hold a financial institution licence will be required to provide us with regulatory return information, as set out in the standard conditions for financial institutions.
/jlne.ws/4gopliB
"Building a Stronger Tomorrow: Family Offices in our Flourishing Wealth Management Landscape" - Speech by Mr Chee Hong Tat, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance, and Deputy Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Global-Asia Family Office Summit on 16 September 2024
Ms Foo Mee Har - CEO of the Wealth Management Institute (MAS)
/jlne.ws/3B4RJWZ
Keynote Speech by Mr Chee Hong Tat, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance, and Deputy Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS) 25th Anniversary Corporate Governance Conference 2024 on 16 September 2024
Mr David Gerald, Founder, President, and CEO of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) (MAS)
/jlne.ws/47uzUN1
SFC secures first-of-its-kind settlement to compensate public shareholders of Combest Holdings Limited
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reached a settlement for three respondents to pay compensation of about $192 million to the Combest Holdings Limited (Combest) for distribution to independent public shareholders of the delisted company to resolve the court proceedings against them in the High Court of Hong Kong by way of a summary procedure (Notes 1 to 3). The three respondents are Mr Ng Kwok Fai, Mr Liu Tin Lap and Mr Lee Man To. The proposed settlement is subject to the approval of the Court, which has fixed the hearing of the parties' proposals for the settlement on 2 April 2025. If approved, this will set a record compensation amount in the form of special dividends to independent minority shareholders of a delisted company.
/jlne.ws/4guyAxU
Press Release
SEBI
SEBI believes that its employees have played a critical role over the past thirty-six years in shaping the Indiansecurities market into one of the most dynamic and well-regulated markets globally.SEBI addresses employee-related matters through appropriate internal mechanisms. Following constructive discussions with representatives of all grades of officers, SEBI and its employees have reaffirmed that such issues are strictly internal and will be managed in accordance with the organization's high standards of governance and within a time-bound framework.
/jlne.ws/4engZWt
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Why orange juice has never been more expensive; Pity those who rely on the breakfast staple
The Economist
Mimosas have a simple recipe: one part champagne, one part orange juice. Soon, though, the tipple may be even less affordable-and not because sparkling wine is ever more expensive. Concentrate orange-juice futures in New York, which soft-drink producers use to hedge against price swings, have quadrupled since late 2021. They hit an intraday high of $5.80 a pound on September 9th, their fifth record in a week.
/jlne.ws/3B47mOp
20 Million Cards: A Sports Memorabilia Gold Mine Uncovered in Virginia; Three years ago, a businessman bought a collection of roughly 20 million sports cards from its reclusive owner. Now he wants to show it to the world.
Zach Schonbrun - The Wall Street Journal
In a former antique shop off a four-lane highway in rural Virginia, Tim Banazek knelt before a white banker's box labeled "Autographed Baseballs" that was stashed at the bottom of a steel bookcase. He pulled the first ball out and examined the signature in the fluorescent light. It was Willie Mays's. "Look at this!" Mr. Banazek shouted. "Look at this!" He pulled out another ball. "Stan Musial!" Another. "Bob Feller!"
/jlne.ws/47urSnf
Opinion: Sports betting is bad for America's financial health. New data shows it; Lower credit scores, more bankruptcies come from our online betting obsession.
The Editorial Board - The Washington Post
The new National Football League season will see plenty of records set on the field - and it's expected to hit new heights off the field, too: specifically, the American Gaming Association projects that legal wagers on games will reach $35 billion, a 30 percent increase over last season. Most of that betting will involve online betting apps. In part, the growth reflects the fact that three new states - Maine, North Carolina and Vermont - have legalized legal sports betting, raising the total to 38 states and the District. And partly the projected growth reflects new incentives sportsbooks are offering gamblers: in-app live-streaming of games, platform upgrades to allow faster in-play betting, digital wallets and the ability to make multiple bets simultaneously. X is awash with sites offering tips and techniques for increasing the odds.
/jlne.ws/3MLW4Rh
Miner Unearths 1,094-Carat Diamond Weeks After Finding Another Major Stone; Lucara says 1,094 carat stone discoverd at Karowe in Botswana; CEO says discovery helps validate move to expand underground
Paul-Alain Hunt - Bloomberg
Lucara Diamond Corp. has recovered another mammoth diamond from a mine in Botswana, its second major find in a month. The latest gem weighed 1,094 carats and was found at the Karowe mine, the company said it a statement. While it's smaller than the 2,942 carat stone discovered at the same site in August, it is still roughly a third the size of the biggest ever found, the famous Cullinan Diamond of South Africa.
/jlne.ws/4gkYkg1
Markets Risk Similar Volatility to Carry Trade Unwind, BIS Warns; Report follows rapid unwinding of yen funded carry trades; Says lack of FX data clarity makes tracking strategy difficult
Alice Atkins - Bloomberg
The Bank for International Settlements is warning the financial system is prone to repeat episodes of volatility like the one that rippled across markets this summer when a popular hedge fund strategy collapsed. As central banks across the world withdraw liquidity, investors will be forced to reduce leverage and review risk strategies, the BIS said in a report published on Monday. The unwinding of so-called carry trades is the most recent example of the potential consequences of that transition.
/jlne.ws/3zkZ6J8
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | SEC dissolves ESG Task Force but scrutiny continues
Responsible us
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has quietly abolished the climate enforcement division and ESG task force, which will begin in 2021 to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) violations. This move follows increasing pressure on ESG initiatives from some companies, lenders and public officials. Despite the cancellation, however, the SEC's focus on ESG is far from over. The ESG Task Force handled several serious enforcement cases in a short period of time. In fact, in May 2022, BNY Mellon Investment Adviser, Inc. misrepresenting its incorporation of ESG factors into its investment decisions for certain mutual funds; The company falsely claimed that the ESG quality assessment was part of the process. In another major case, the union settled a $55.9 million settlement with Brazilian mining company Vale S.A. Validated in March 2023.
/jlne.ws/3MR30fO
****Here is Bloomberg Law's version of the story, and an editorial on the subject from Mintz.
Brazil wants to be a climate champion and an oil giant. Can it be both? Lula has staked his international reputation on the environment, but he must also find the money to alleviate poverty at home
Michael Pooler - Financial Times
Standing in front of the modernist architecture of Brasília's presidential palace, a triumphant Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva contemplated the complex balancing act that lay before him. "The world expects Brazil to once again be a leader in tackling the climate crisis," he told crowds gathered for his inauguration in January last year. "And an example of a socially and environmentally responsible country, capable of promoting economic growth."
/jlne.ws/4gpfqJA
Oil-rich nations 'pushback' against fossil fuel phaseout; EU bloc among countries putting pressure on COP29 hosts Azerbaijan to prioritise end to use of polluting fuels
Attracta Mooney in London, Alice Hancock in Brussels and Aime Williams in Washington - Financial Times
Oil-rich nations are making a concerted effort to slow progress on a landmark UN climate agreement to end the use of fossil fuels, according to western nations taking part in global climate change talks. Negotiators from five western countries told the Financial Times that they were applying pressure to Azerbaijan as the host country for the upcoming UN COP29 summit to prioritise fossil fuel phaseout discussions, in an attempt to counter a "pushback" from the petrostates and their allies.
/jlne.ws/3XJjoFB
Why Washington and Big Oil Are Investing Billions in Ammonia; Capturing carbon makes the chemical cleaner, boosting its popularity for fertilizer and fuel
Scott Patterson and Amrith Ramkumar - The Wall Street Journal
Most people think of ammonia as a household cleaner. To big oil companies, climate investors and the U.S. government, it is a hot commodity that is attracting billions of dollars for its use in fertilizer and low-carbon energy. The latest bet is a $1.56 billion Energy Department loan commitment for an ammonia project in Indiana. The agreement comes on top of a recent $2.35 billion deal for a Gulf Coast project by an Australia-based energy company, a big investment from Abu Dhabi's national oil company in an Exxon Mobil project in Texas and a large effort in Mississippi from ammonia giant CF Industries.
/jlne.ws/4gCwXya
'Serious energy deflation' is coming whether Trump or Harris wins, says analyst
Ines Ferre - Yahoo Finance
In their bids to win the 2024 election, former President Donald Trump has promised to "drill, baby, drill" to lower energy prices, while Vice President Kamala Harris has assured she won't ban fracking. Those promises may not matter much in the near term. Energy prices are poised to drop, regardless of who wins, says one industry watcher.
/jlne.ws/3zhl2oD
AI Boom Is Driving a Surprise Resurgence of US Gas-Fired Power
Josh Saul, Naureen S Malik and Mark Chediak - Bloomberg
Energy companies in the US are planning new natural gas-fired power generation at the fastest pace in years, one of the clearest signals yet that fossil fuels are likely to have a longer runway than previously thought. From Florida to Oregon, utilities are racing to meet a surge in demand from power-hungry AI data centers, manufacturing facilities and electric vehicles. The staying power of gas, which in 2016 overtook coal as the No. 1 US source of electricity, has surprised some experts who not so long ago had projected the era of frenzied domestic demand growth for the fuel might soon come to an end.
/jlne.ws/3MLwz2n
China Harnesses a Technology That Vexed the West, Unlocking a Treasure Chest; Chinese companies achieve dominance by accessing a new source of minerals the world needs for EV batteries
Jon Emont - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3TtTQd4
South America surpasses record for fires
Jake Spring and Stefanie Eschenbacher - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3XKcz6Q
Hundreds of thousands in Cuba without water
Reuters
/jlne.ws/3Becy1U
HKICPA seeks emission and climate projections for Hong Kong companies
GlobalData
/jlne.ws/4gkEm57
BP to Launch Sale of US Onshore Wind Power Business
Will Mathis - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4e2AbsR
Jamie Dimon Is Among Fortune 500 CEOs Still Committed to Diversity
Clara Hudson - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3zsb9Es
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | G.H. Financials becomes Singapore Exchange's first direct clearing member
Luke Jeffs - FOW
G.H. Financials has boosted its Asian presence by becoming the first remote derivatives clearing member of the Singapore Exchange less than two weeks after appointing a managing director to run the broker's Asian business.
/jlne.ws/3XJng9v
Bank of America is making it harder for junior bankers to lie about their work hours
Sasha Rogelberg - Fortune
Bank of America is introducing a new tool to more closely monitor the amount of hours its junior investment bankers work, part of a larger pattern of banks capping work time for young employees a few months after the sudden death of a junior associate. BofA's new monitoring tool, which will reportedly go into effect next week, will require U.S.-based junior investment bankers to log hours daily, rather than weekly, in the company's timekeeping software, the Wall Street Journal reported. They will also input information about the deals they are working on, which senior bankers are supervising them, and their ability to take on more work, using a scale from 1 to 4.
/jlne.ws/3XLcCzm
Citigroup sells trust services unit to JTC for $80 million
Reuters
Professional services provider JTC said on Monday it has agreed to buy Citigroup's global fiduciary and trust administration services business for $80 million. The unit 'Citi Trust' serves over 2,000 ultra-high net worth clients across seven jurisdictions, including New York, Delaware, Singapore and Switzerland, managing more than $70 billion in assets.
/jlne.ws/3ZqJbDL
Citigroup strips COO of responsibility after $136mn fine; Former PwC partner Tim Ryan will take over data overhaul team from Anand Selva
Stephen Gandel - Financial Times
Citigroup is stripping chief operating officer Anand Selva of his responsibility for a key piece of its compliance work, after the bank was fined $136mn by regulators this summer for reporting failures. According to four people familiar with the changes, Selva will no longer head the data overhaul team working to satisfy regulators that the bank's compliance systems are up to scratch.
/jlne.ws/3XJwfYe
UniCredit Starts Buyback Days After Move on Commerzbank; Lender has said its Commerzbank stake won't derail payouts; Firm is on track to return EUR10 billion this year to investors
Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
UniCredit SpA said it will start buying as much as EUR1.7 billion ($1.89 billion) of its own stock, underlining Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel's commitment to an ambitious payout pledge even as he considers a potential acquisition of rival Commerzbank AG. The buyback comes days after UniCredit unveiled a 9% stake in Commerzbank, with Orcel saying a full takeover is one option he's considering. The Italian bank paid about EUR700 million for a 4.5% Commerzbank stake it bought from the German government, with the rest acquired on the market.
/jlne.ws/4gqAmzM
****Here is a similar story from the Financial Times.
BNP Manager Alleged to Have Cut Women's Bonuses to Give to Men; New discrimination allegations emerge in London lawsuit; BNP says it fully investigated and no wrongdoing was found
Katharine Gemmell and Jonathan Browning - Bloomberg
A BNP Paribas SA manager faces allegations he ordered staff to cut female employees bonuses to boost the pay of male colleagues in London, according to fresh claims by a broker who previously won a landmark case against the French bank. Stacey Macken, a prime brokerage product manager, won a historic £2 million ($2.6 million) equal pay case in 2019 after she proved she was paid significantly less than her male colleagues and targeted by sexist behavior - including finding a witch's hat left on her desk.
/jlne.ws/3zb5bYL
What's Left to Be ETF'd? There's an ETF for nearly everything, but good ones are rare
Jason Zweig - Bloomberg
Now that there's an exchange-traded fund for just about everything, is there any backwater of the market that hasn't been overfished? As of this week, there's even an ETF for stocks that get kicked out of ETFs. While that newest fund might not be all bad, it's a reminder that you need to be on guard against the proliferation of funds that have no business existing in the first place.
/jlne.ws/4grEu2z
Citigroup to Hire Talent in Hong Kong in Wealth Push
Denise Wee - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3TyLMrE
China's Stealthy Yuan Support Ebbs, Denting Hedge Fund Trade
Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3MJE7mx
Ten Money Managers Exit Eisler as Hedge Fund's Gains Stall
Nishant Kumar and Donal Griffin - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3zwyIMp
BNY Is Latest to Expand Access to Hedge Funds, Private Credit
Silla Brush - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4gngFZH
Apollo pushes into high-grade debt business long dominated by banks; Led by a onetime dealer in death benefit settlements, the leveraged buyout pioneer evolves into a bulge-bracket lender
Sujeet Indap and Eric Platt - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3Tvwbcq
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Your Company Is Watching You. And Probably Doing It All Wrong.; Employers often feel like they have to keep an eye on their workers, especially those working remotely. There are bad ways to do it and not-as-bad ways.
Andrew Brodsky - The Wall Street Journal
When it comes to companies monitoring employees, there is a fundamental mismatch: Companies want to do it and employees generally don't like it. After all, who wants somebody looking over their shoulder? So the question for many companies is this: How do we monitor employees in a way that minimizes the resentment? Many companies believe they have no choice but to monitor their employees, especially in an era of remote work. Bosses say they want to make sure workers are being as productive as possible and aren't slacking off, absent in-person supervision. According to Gartner, about 71% of employees are now digitally monitored in some way, up from 30% before the pandemic.
/jlne.ws/3B381PP
Companies Like to Pit Internal Teams Against Each Other. Bad Idea. Research suggests that when employees compete, they become less innovative, because they don't want to share ideas with their rivals
Tom Taiyi Yan and Vijaya Venkataramani - The Wall Street Journal
Many organizations encourage competition between internal teams, believing it will spark innovation and drive performance. The trouble is, what actually happens is the opposite: Internal competition often stifles innovation. That is what we found in a study of companies that pushed internal teams to compete with each other-whether for formal financial rewards like bonuses, or for informal ones like greater prestige, access to executives and influence.
/jlne.ws/47AUGdR
Young British men are NEETs-not in employment, education, or training-more than women
Irina Anghel and Bloomberg - Fortune
Almost 460,000 18- to 24-year-old men in the UK were NEET on average in the first half of the year, a rate of more than 16%. The number of young British men who are neither in work nor preparing for the world of work is at its highest in over 10 years, posing a major challenge to the economic ambitions of the new Labour government.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Here's the right way to start running
Ani Freedman - Fortune Well
Running is having quite the moment right now. Between clubs being considered the new dating apps and thousands of singles gathering in New York City for a summer run-club/dating event, the sport is being further popularized on social media, where the hashtag "running" has over 96 million posts on Instagram alone.
/jlne.ws/4d5NSWU
7 patterns of long-lasting relationships, according to a couples therapist
Ani Freedman - Fortune Well
From financial challenges to work stressors, there are countless pressures on modern marriages. But there are plenty of couples who manage to have healthy, happy, lasting relationships despite these common strains. Nicole LePera-a renowned couples therapist with over 10 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, and X-identified seven behavioral patterns of longstanding couples. Here's how they make it work-and you can, too.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China's Masses No Longer a Money-Spinner as Grain Hunger Fades
Hallie Gu, Tarso Veloso and Keira Wright - Bloomberg
Warehouses across China are bulging with grain as a deepening economic crisis takes hold, leaving the world's farmers to grapple with the prospect of a long-lasting slowdown gripping one of their largest customers. The strain across global markets is already showing. French barley exports to China have been tumbling and the US has yet to sell a full corn cargo for the new season. Wheat farmers in Australia are likely to be nervous as they prepare to start harvesting their new crop over the coming weeks.
/jlne.ws/3Xr4N03
China's Grip on Rare Earths Undercuts Projects From US to Japan; Lynas facility near Houston shows challenges facing industry; Beijing controls about 70% of production of the key minerals
Bloomberg News
A couple hours outside Houston, in a remote field near a Dow Chemical Co. plant, America's bid to undercut China's grip on the global supply of rare earth minerals critical to high technology has yet to break ground. Even when it does, China's dominance of the market - it controls about 70% of output and more than 90% of refining - means that goal will likely remain out of reach.
/jlne.ws/47s6bV0
India Scraps Floor Price for Basmati Rice Exports to Boost Appeal; It also cuts minimum export price for onion shipments to zero; The government lowers wheat stockpile limits to stop hoarding
Pratik Parija - Bloomberg
India, the world's biggest exporter of rice, removed the floor price for basmati shipments to boost the premium variety's competitiveness in the global market. The current minimum export price of $950 a ton for issuing registration-cum-allocation certificates for the grain has been scrapped, the country's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in a post on X on Friday. The decision will help increase basmati rice exports and farmers' income, he said.
/jlne.ws/3ZrjbIr
Zimbabwe to Tackle Gold Smuggling by Boosting Mine Surveillance; Government will deploy monitoring teams, mines minister says; Country aims to produce 35 tons of the metal this year
Godfrey Marawanyika - Bloomberg
Zimbabwe plans to tackle rampant gold smuggling by increasing surveillance at mining sites, Mines Minister Winston Chitando said Monday. The country loses $1.5 billion of gold a year to smugglers, depriving it of vital export revenue, according to the International Crisis Group. Most of its gold is produced by small-scale miners, who at times get paid late by the state's sole authorized buyer, Fidelity Gold Refinery, forcing some to use other channels.
/jlne.ws/4e2VKK5
US Soy Is So Cheap That Even Rival Argentina Is Buying It
Jonathan Gilbert and Michael Hirtzer - Bloomberg
Argentina, the world's biggest exporter of processed soybean meal and oil, is set to bring in whole beans from the US for the first since 2019 as declining American prices make them the cheapest in the world. The South American nation has purchased 88,400 metric tons of beans to be shipped during the current season, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The move comes as the harvest of a record US crop was getting underway.
/jlne.ws/4eltkdQ
Floods claim more lives as torrential rain pounds central Europe
David W Cerny, Radovan Stoklasa and Marek Strzelecki - Reuters
The death toll from flooding in central Europe rose to eight on Sunday as thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in the Czech Republic following days of torrential rain that caused rivers to burst their banks in several parts of the region. A low-pressure system named Boris has triggered downpours from Austria to Romania, leading to some of the worst flooding in nearly three decades in hard-hit areas in the Czech Republic and Poland.
/jlne.ws/4e7l8hG
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Odd Lots: How Josh Brown Created A Financial Media Empire
Bloomberg
15 years ago was a pivotal moment for financial media. On the one hand, we were in the midst of a huge financial crisis, which shook everything up and exposed how little we knew about our own world. In addition to that, we were in the early moments of a revolution, which saw the rise of blogs, podcasts, "Finance Twitter" and other new platforms for disseminating information about markets and business. One of the winners from that era was Josh Brown, a former stockbroker who rose to fame in part on the back of his must-read blog The Reformed Broker. Now he's the CEO of a large investment advisory firm, Ritholtz Wealth Management. He's got a popular podcast. He's got a new book. He's a fixture on CNBC. And he even has a conference business. We talk about his career path, what he's learned, some funny stories from the good old days, and how he became a media giant.
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