| April 04, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The futures industry has long spoken out against the implementation of transaction taxes, articulating a range of concerns that align closely with the principles of efficiency and market functionality. Proponents of this stance argue that imposing such taxes would invariably lead to increased costs for end users. The reasoning is straightforward: as transaction taxes rise, brokers and traders typically pass these costs onto consumers, resulting in higher prices for goods and services.
Moreover, a transaction tax introduces friction into the trading process, complicating the execution of trades and potentially slowing down market activity. This friction can manifest in various ways, from increased time taken to complete transactions to the widening of bid-ask spreads. A wider spread means that the difference between buying and selling prices increases, making it more expensive for participants to enter or exit positions. Consequently, this inefficiency can deter trading altogether, stifling liquidity and ultimately harming the overall market.
In contrast to the futures industry's battle against transaction taxes, looking at a macroeconomic viewpoint, the Trump administration's approach has been characterized by the broad imposition of tariffs on a range of goods. Much like transaction taxes, tariffs elevate costs for the end users. Businesses facing higher import costs are often compelled to pass these expenses along the supply chain, leading to increased prices for consumers. This dynamic creates a similar friction in the marketplace, as companies navigate the complexities of higher costs and potential retaliatory measures from trading partners.
Furthermore, tariffs disrupt the global trade system, introducing inefficiencies akin to those feared by the futures industry with transaction taxes. The imposition of tariffs can lead to trade wars, resulting in reduced trade volumes, strained relationships between nations, and a more fragmented global economy. Just as transaction taxes can deter trading activity and widen spreads in the futures market, tariffs can hinder the free flow of goods and services across borders, ultimately making international trade less efficient.
In both cases, whether it be transaction taxes in the futures market or tariffs in global trade, the underlying principle remains the same: increased costs and friction lead to less efficient markets. The futures industry's fight against transaction taxes echoes the broader concerns raised by economists and market participants regarding tariffs. Both scenarios illustrate the delicate balance between regulation and market efficiency, highlighting the risks associated with imposing additional costs on transactions that can stifle economic growth and innovation.
The tariffs are hitting the European suds business. The Financial Times has a story titled "Brewers warn Trump's beer tariffs could cost 100,000 jobs in Europe" with the subheadline "Industry blindsided by 25% levy and confused whether it applies only to products imported in cans." The article says European brewers are warning that Trump's new 25% tariff on beer imports to the US could lead to 100,000 job losses and brewery closures across Europe. The tariff, part of Trump's "liberation day" measures implemented this week, has caught the industry by surprise and created confusion about whether it applies to all beer or only canned products. The Brewers of Europe trade group, representing major companies like AB InBev, Heineken, and Molson Coors, has urged the European Commission to take diplomatic action, stating: "We are calling on the commission to use all diplomatic channels and whether through negotiation or retaliation, find a way to de-escalate this tariff in which we have become a collateral victim." European brewers exported EUR870 million worth of beer to the US in 2024, and the industry questions why beer has been classified as an aluminum derivative product alongside items like cables and wires. While Mexican beer imports constitute about 85% of Constellation Brands' sales (Corona, Modelo), Heineken's exposure is lower at 3% of group sales. The British Chambers of Commerce suggests the tariffs were implemented after lobbying by US industry to limit foreign competition.
On a more serious note, the FT has an opinion piece by Ian Harnett titled "How 'weaponised trade' could lead to 'weaponised capital'" with the subheadline "As international structures that promoted free trade are unwound, there is a rising risk of a return to capital controls." In an analysis of Trump's recent "liberation day" tariffs, Harnett warns that "weaponised trade" could lead to "weaponised capital" with far-reaching consequences beyond stock portfolios. He identifies three key risks: capital being reallocated away from the US toward non-US markets (a trend already visible in investor surveys and ETF flows); reduced cross-border capital flows as trade imbalances fall (potentially impacting US non-bank financial institutions that account for 70% of US private sector financial assets); and the repatriation of funds as international investors reconsider US investments (with foreign ownership of US government debt already falling from 33% in 2015 to 24% in 2024). Harnett notes that America's vulnerability to capital repatriation may explain why the administration is rapidly developing a sovereign wealth fund through privatization and land sales. He concludes that a world of reduced global capital availability would create significant problems for the EU and UK, potentially necessitating greater official capital for funding investments in defense, infrastructure, and energy, with the ultimate risk being a return to the capital controls of the 1960s and 1970s as international structures promoting free trade since the 1980s are unwound.
Employees from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) recently participated in a weekend of community service in Atlanta's historic Westside, Chris Edmunds shared on LInkedIn. Led by Edmonds, the president of Fixed Income & Data Services at ICE, volunteers engaged in various projects in partnership with the Westside Future Fund. The initiative included gardening at Truly Living Well and beautification efforts at M. Agnes Jones Elementary School. Edmonds emphasized the importance of teamwork in ICE's corporate culture, noting that the volunteer event brought together colleagues and their families to make a lasting impact on the local community. The company's philanthropic efforts aimed to support students and residents in the Westside area.
Barry Ritholtz was back on IEX's Boxes and Lines. The Masters in Business host and Ritholtz Wealth Management founder discussed his new book, "How Not to Invest," with Ronan Ryan and John Ramsay. They dove into bad financial advice, the pitfalls of market forecasting, and why even experts stumble. Check out the episode HERE.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: Markets 'complacent' about tariff risk - Goldman Sachs, BIS targets regulators with AI project launch, Eurex volumes up 15% in March with growth across asset classes, European regulator calls for transparency feedback under MiFIR review, LCH clears first Malaysian interest rate swap, boosting Asian coverage and ANALYSIS: Regulators weigh OTC reporting reforms to tackle global risk.
Rafael Zanatta has started a new chapter as head of exchange traded derivatives liquidity management at Eurex, he shared on LinkedIn. Rafael was promoted from crypto, equity & index sales to his new position at Eurex. This is his second tour of duty with the exchange. He previously worked at Eurex from 2012 to 2017.
Congratulations to Laurie McAughtry, head of capital markets at Euromoney, for winning State Street's Journalist of the Year - Investor Services and Journalist of the Year - Regulation in this year's Press Awards for the second year in a row. She shared her joy on a post on LinkedIn. JLN interviewed McAughtry when she joined The Trade previously and you can see that video interview HERE.
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:
- 'I'm never going to buy options again': Retail traders online are despairing over the impact of Trump's tariffs from Business Insider.
- CME Starts Smaller, Longer Futures Contracts Targeting Retail Investors from Bloomberg.
- Cboe Data Vantage: Enhancing Market Access and Connectivity in 2025 from Cboe. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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AI Transforms Financial Sector, But Human Touch Still Crucial, Says Andrew Busch
JohnLothianNews.com
In an era where artificial intelligence is revolutionizing industries, the financial sector stands at a crossroads of opportunity and caution, with companies like JP Morgan spending a staggering $16 billion annually on technology.
"People worry that it's going to replace jobs. And I would say there are so many job openings right now still, and you're going to lose a lot of baby boomers shortly," notes financial expert Andrew Busch in a recent interview with John Lothian News. "Don't wait around for bad things happening. Take your people that are there now and enhance their capabilities and productivity."
Watch the video »
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FTSE Russell Expands Options Offerings, Eyes Digital Assets and Commodities JohnLothianNews.com BOCA RATON, Fla. (JLN) - April 4, 2025 - FTSE Russell is broadening its index offerings beyond equities, with a focus on options, digital assets, and commodities, company executives revealed in an interview at FIA Boca50. Tom Jenkins, head of index partnerships & listed derivatives, highlighted the growing popularity of options-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the company's efforts to educate investors about these products. Watch the Tom Jenkins Video » Justin Llewellyn-Jones and Alun Green - Trading Technologies Watch the Justin Llewellyn-Jones and Alun Green Video » Travis Schwab - Eventus Watch the Travis Schwab Video »
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A Market-Rattling Attempt to Make the American Economy Trump Always Wanted; The president dreams of factories reopened and towns revitalized by tariffs, but stocks plunged on fears economic growth will suffer
Brian Schwartz and Greg Ip - The Wall Street Journal
As investors and consumers fretted in recent weeks about the fallout if President Trump unleashed a massive trade war, Trump himself kept looking to the past. The rest of the world has been ripping off the U.S. for 40 years, he told advisers who asked him to articulate his economic vision. It was, he and his advisers would note, an argument he has been making on television since the 1980s. Before his second term ends, he said, he feels he has to right those wrongs. If people complained about the tariffs he was about to impose, Trump told his inner circle to remind the public of his view of how the U.S. once was and could be again: a place with thriving Main Streets and hometowns, where American workers made American products sold to the American public.
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***** Looking back while driving at 90 miles an hour will always get you smashed.~JJL
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Trump Says 'This Is a Great Time to Get Rich'
Gareth Vipers - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump said investors were pouring large amounts of money into the U.S., saying in a social-media post early Friday that this was a "great time to get rich." "To the many investors coming into the United States and investing massive amounts of money, my policies will never change," he said on his Truth Social platform. "This is a great time to get rich, richer than ever before!!!"
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****** There is something he says in this Truth Social post that dooms the U.S. economy and markets: "My policies will never change." No U.S. president abstained from listening to the market as a derivative of what the people were telling him about his policies. Trump is famous for not reading, now he is not listening.~JJL
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IRS to Return Thousands of Fired Workers to Their Jobs Just Before Tax Day
Anita Hamilton - Barron's
Remember all those workers at the Internal Revenue Service who got fired back in February? Now the agency says it is bringing them back to active duty just in time for tax day. That means more people will be available to answer calls and tackle the more than 140 million individual tax returns the agency is expecting this season.
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***** Just who I want to talk to, an angry IRS agent.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top clicked story on Thursday was CNN's This is the dubious way Trump calculated his 'reciprocal' tariffs. Second was Tariff That DESTROYED the American Economy in Just Weeks, a video on YouTube. And third was
FOW's OCC cleared volumes up 30% to new monthly record in March.
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| Lead Stories | Market Upheaval From Trump's Tariffs Could Be Just the Beginning; Investors who think the return to high tariffs will hammer the economy into recession should expect much bigger falls in stocks and bond yields
James Mackintosh - The Wall Street Journal
Is "recession" now spelled T-A-R-I-F-F? Markets were gripped by the recession trade after President Trump's tariffs on Wednesday threatened a global trade war. Treasury yields, stock futures and the dollar all plunged. This isn't mere market hyperbole. Thursday was only the sixth time in history that the S&P 500 had fallen more than 4% while the dollar also fell more than 1%-with investors shocked that the greenback had failed in its usual role as a safe haven. The carnage in the markets might be just the beginning: If the biggest U.S. tax rise since at least the 1950s causes the economy to shrink, stocks and Treasury yields still have a long way to go down.
/jlne.ws/42djTZy
SEC Nominee Atkins Advanced by Senate Banking Committee
Lydia Beyoud - Bloomberg
The Senate Banking Committee advanced the nomination of Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. If confirmed to the role by the US Senate, Atkins is expected to rein in SEC enforcement while playing a major role in shaping new regulations for the digital-asset industry. The timing of that vote hasn't been scheduled yet.
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Shares of Wall Street firms rocked by new US tariff regime; Financiers thought Trump would usher in a pro-business era but financial stocks have stumbled as tariff plans became clear
Amelia Pollard, Antoine Gara and Eric Platt - Financial Times
Donald Trump's tariff regime pummelled Wall Street's most powerful investment groups, many of which had expected just months ago that the president's policies would fuel a golden age of economic growth and dealmaking. Shares in some of the world's biggest private capital groups including Apollo Global Management and KKR dropped more than 12 per cent on Thursday, while Blackstone dropped nearly 10 per cent. Credit-focused companies, including Ares Management and Blue Owl, also suffered as investors marked down growth expectations and some dealmakers said the default rates on low-rated loans could continue to rise.
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Banks Don't Pay Tariffs, but Tariffs Will Cost Them; Trump's trade levies spell trouble for bank stocks though they aren't in the direct line of fire
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journal
Bankers don't import or export sneakers or cars. But that doesn't mean they are immune to tariffs. In fact, American lenders face a potential triple-whammy from the new trade regime announced by President Trump on Wednesday.mThe big threat is that a trade war leads to recession, or absent that, far slower economic growth. Bank revenues will tumble as customers, both consumers and companies, dial back on borrowing. They could also find it tougher to pay back their debts.
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Trump's New Protectionist Age; Blowing up the world trading system has consequences that the President isn't advertising.
The Editorial Board - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump unveiled his new "liberation day" tariffs on Wednesday, and they are another large step toward a new old era of trade protectionism. Assuming the policy sticks-and we hope it doesn't-the effort amounts to an attempt to remake the U.S. economy and the world trading system. All details aren't clear as we write this, but Mr. Trump's tariffs look "reciprocal" in name only. First he's hitting every nation in the world with a 10% "baseline" tariff to sell in the U.S. market. For those he calls "bad actors," he's adding up the country's tariff rate on U.S. goods, plus an arbitrary estimate of the cost of its "currency manipulation" and non-tariff barriers. He then takes that total number and applies half of that in tariffs on the country's exports to the U.S.
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Lots More on a Massive, Historical, Stagflationary Shock; Understanding Trump's big tariffs.
Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal - Bloomberg
On Wednesday, President Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs against almost every country in the world. The size and scope was far beyond what anyone was anticipating, causing markets to subsequently plunge. But what's next? Could it work out for the US? Will we see a spike in inflation? Will the global trading system continue to operate? On this episode, we speak with Tom Orlik, the chief economist for Bloomberg Economics, on the historical nature of this stagflationary shock, and what happens to the US and global economies if these numbers remain in place.
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'I Should Have Sold More': Wall Street Reels as Trump's Plan Sinks Markets; The president's sweeping tariffs proved far more severe than investors predicted
Gregory Zuckerman, Krystal Hur and Gunjan Banerji - The Wall Street Journal
Rob Citrone couldn't believe what he was seeing. The 60-year-old hedge-fund manager watched from his Orlando, Fla., home as President Trump walked into the White House's Rose Garden and announced his sweeping plan to impose tariffs on the rest of the world. Citrone knew more levies on imported goods were coming-the White House had stuck to this message for months-and so he'd placed a series of wagers against U.S., European and Chinese stocks, betting they would drop as investors fretted over the consequences for consumers and companies.
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US banks are 'dominant' in European derivatives, EBA says
Sinead Cruise and Stefania Spezzati - Reuters
Non-EU banks have carved out "dominant" roles in some of Europe's key financial markets, including derivatives where U.S. banks prevail, the European Banking Authority said on Thursday as concerns about the strategic autonomy of the European financial sector grow. Reviewing the dependence of the EU banking sector on foreign banks and foreign currencies, the EBA - which has a mandate to protect and support the EU financial system - said that U.S. banks had a nearly 28% share of the EU derivatives market at December 2023, a rising trend first seen in mid-2021.
/jlne.ws/3FUokkA
Analysis-ASX to face investor push back on dual-class listing plans - again
Scott Murdoch - Reuters
Australia's plan to introduce dual-class share trading to help revive its weak listing market faces resistance from investors concerned the structure would give too much power to some shareholders, including founders. The Australian Securities Exchange told Reuters in March it was considering allowing dual-class listings to bring it in line with most major rivals including New York and London. Dual-class structures typically have two or more types of shares with differing voting rights. Companies might favour such a listing to reward founders or executives however some argue the structure can diminish the rights of other shareholders.
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Oil and metals prices fall on concerns about the global economy.
Rebecca F. Elliott - The New York Times
Oil prices plunged Thursday on fears that President Trump's latest round of tariffs will slow economic growth around the world, curbing demand for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other forms of energy. The U.S. oil price fell about 7 percent on Thursday, settling at just below $67 a barrel, around mid-March levels. Prices for many metals, including copper, silver and gold, also fell sharply.
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How to make sense of Donald Trump's tariffs; The new field of 'geoeconomics' offers a guide for the perplexed
Gillian Tett - Financial Times
How can investors parse Donald Trump's policymaking? That is a burning question right now, as markets tumble after the US president announced tariffs on Wednesday that exceed even those of the protectionist 1930s. Viewed through the lens of mainstream 20th-century economic thinking - be it that of John Maynard Keynes or free-marketeers like Milton Friedman - such tariffs seem strangely self-sabotaging. Indeed, the so-called liberation day declared by Trump smacks of such economic lunacy that it might seem better explained by psychologists than economists.
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Treasuries at Risk of Foreign Buyer Strike in Tariff Retaliation
Ruth Carson, Liz Capo McCormick, and Masaki Kondo - Bloomberg
As investors game out President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs and the risks of retaliation, one question traders are debating is whether foreigners might scale back Treasury purchases. The next round of holdings data from China and Japan will be particularly scrutinized as the two countries are the largest overseas owners of US sovereign debt, and also because Trump's massive trade duties are heavily focused on Asia. China has already trimmed its Treasury stockpile for three straight years, while Japan's has also dropped, based on the latest US government data.
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Truth Social falls after filing opens door to sale of Trump's $2.3bn stake; Shares in Trump Media and Technology Group drop after company outlines plans in filing
George Steer - Financial Times
Shares in Donald Trump's social media company fell after a regulatory filing opened the door to the president selling his entire $2.3bn stake, just as global investors were bracing themselves for his "liberation day" tariffs. Shares in Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, fell 7.4 per cent on Wednesday after it said in a regulatory filing that large shareholders, including a trust holding the president's shares, could offload them.
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| Trade War and Tariffs | | A roundup of today's trade war and tariff news and the global economic ripple effects shaping markets, industries, and investment strategies. | Grocery Shoppers Will Feel the Tariffs First in the Produce Aisle; Higher prices could also be coming soon for seafood, sugar and coffee. But it may be a while before importers and retailers can gauge the effects of the new fees.
Kim Severson - The New York Times
Grocery shoppers are likely to feel the impact of the Trump administration's sweeping new tariffs before April is over. And the first place they'll feel it is in parts of the store where the inventory has to move fast. In the produce aisle, food analysts said Thursday, expect small price increases on everyday purchases like bananas from Guatemala and grapes from Peru, countries whose exports to the United States will incur 10 percent tariffs when the new fees go into effect on Saturday. A separate round of reciprocal tariffs on 57 countries will follow on Wednesday.
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Trump Blocked America's Front Door to China. Now He's Closing Back Doors.; The U.S. tariffs on transshipment countries like Vietnam and Cambodia are so steep that they could force a major reassessment of global supply chains.
Keith Bradsher - The New York Times
With the tariffs that President Trump unveiled on Wednesday, he is not just closing America's front door to Chinese exports - he is slamming the back doors shut as well. He has now piled tariffs totaling 54 percent on goods coming straight from China, on top of tariffs of up to 25 percent that he imposed on many imports from China during his first term. More significantly, his latest actions attempt to cut off a series of alternative routes for Chinese goods to reach American store shelves and households.
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Trump's Threatened Tariff on Buyers of Venezuelan Oil Could Squeeze China; Venezuela owes China's banks about $10 billion, and its oil is about the only legal way it has to pay them back.
Keith Bradsher - The New York Times
President Trump's threatened tariffs on countries that buy oil from Venezuela are another example of how his trade moves could hit China the hardest even when China is not named as the target. Mr. Trump announced the 25 percent "secondary tariffs" last week, portraying them as aimed at the authoritarian government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and at the country's Tren de Aragua gang. The Venezuelan-related tariffs could still be imposed on top of the very steep tariffs that Mr. Trump declared on Wednesday, which bring his new tariffs on Chinese goods to 54 percent.
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China files complaint with WTO over new US tariffs
Reuters
China said it had opened a formal complaint against the new U.S. tariffs with the World Trade Organization on Friday, saying the measures violate WTO rules and requesting consultations. Earlier, China announced retaliatory additional tariffs of 34% on U.S. goods, the most serious escalation in a trade war with President Donald Trump that has fed fears of a recession and touched off a global stock market rout.
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Trump's Trade War Escalates as China Retaliates With 34% Tariffs; The Chinese government said it would match President Trump's tariff, and also barred a group of American companies from doing business in China.
Keith Bradsher and David Pierson - The New York TImes
China has struck back at President Trump. On Friday evening in Beijing, in a rapid-fire series of policy announcements including 34 percent across-the-board tariffs, China showed that it has no intention of backing down in the trade war that Mr. Trump began this week with his own steep tariffs on imports from around the world. China's Finance Ministry said it will match Mr. Trump's plan for 34 percent tariffs on goods from China with its own 34 percent tariff on imports from the United States.
/jlne.ws/4i1yBZx
How Tariffs Have Worked for Four Other Countries; Protectionist measures mostly led to industrial stagnation; in South Korea they helped to raise an economic tiger
Tripti Lahiri, Ryan Dubé and Peter Landers - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump's high tariffs would make the U.S. one of the world's most protectionist countries. There are precedents: Countries from India to Argentina have used tariffs-and a range of other trade restrictions-to protect nascent industries and freeze out imports. In a few rare instances, these measures led to results that pleased the architects of protectionist measures, such as spurring car production in Asia and boosting refrigerator manufacturing in South America.
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Analysts unanimously denounce Trump's liberation day tariffs: 'Worse than the worst case'
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez - Fortune
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Trump's Threats and Tariffs Are a Global 'Kill Switch'; Nervous European and Asian allies will reclaim the sovereignty they traded away for US protection.
Hal Brands - Bloomberg Opinion
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Dell, Apple Fall as Tariffs Threaten to Hit Hardware Hardest
Michael Shepard - Bloomberg
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
Europe, Canada Call on Putin to Respond to US Ceasefire Plan
Andrea Palasciano and Nick Wadhams - Bloomberg
Ukraine's European allies and Canada urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to respond immediately to a US proposal for a partial ceasefire that Kyiv has accepted without conditions. Speaking to reporters with his UK counterpart on Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot accused Russia of "flip-flopping" by continuing strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure despite an agreement reached last month to halt such attacks. "Today, Russia owes an answer to the US," Barrot said alongside UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy at a NATO gathering of foreign ministers in Brussels. "It has to be yes, it has to be no - it has to be a quick answer."
/jlne.ws/4iSiXkn
Witkoff Meets Putin Envoy in the US as Trump Grows Impatient
Kate Sullivan and Natalia Drozdiak - Bloomberg
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and a Russian negotiator met on Wednesday and Thursday in Washington, days after US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Vladimir Putin over the lack of momentum on negotiations toward a ceasefire in Russia's war on Ukraine. The US is now waiting for Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian negotiator, to report back to President Putin before the two sides move forward with any next steps, according to a person familiar with the talks.
/jlne.ws/42bSozv
Britain and France accuse Russia's Putin of delaying Ukraine ceasefire efforts
Lorne Cook and Illia Novikov - AP News
Britain and France on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in ceasefire talks aimed at halting his country's invasion of Ukraine and demanded a swift response from Moscow after weeks of U.S. efforts to secure a truce. A Russian drone attack late Thursday on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, killed five civilians and dramatized the diplomatic insistence on a ceasefire. Emergency crews carried black body bags from a burning apartment building as onlookers wept and hugged in the dark. Some of the 32 injured, bloodied and in shock, limped out into the street or were carried on stretchers as flames shot from the windows of their homes.
/jlne.ws/43E96Kr
Middle East Conflict
Anti-Hamas protests erupt in Gaza. Where are our pro-Palestine 'allies' now? (Opinion)
Hamza Howidy - USA Today
The anti-Hamas protests that erupted last week in the Gaza Strip are a testament to what many of us from Gaza have been saying for years: The people of this besieged enclave are exhausted by Hamas' rule and ready to break free from the terrorist group. Since Oct. 7, 2023, pundits, news outlets and social media accounts have been asking why Gazans have not protested Hamas during the ongoing war. The answer is painfully simple: How can people protest when they are being bombed, starved and displaced? When every act of defiance is met with brutal retaliation?
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Miami International Holdings Receives 2025 TabbFORUM NOVA Award
MIAX
Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), a technology-driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes, today announced that it was selected as a 2025 TabbFORUM NOVA Award honoree. The awards highlight the financial industry's ongoing commitment to technology-driven innovation by recognizing organizations for their outstanding recent and sustained achievements. MIH was previously selected as an honoree in 2023.
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MIAX Options And MIAX Emerald Options - Reminder: Effective For Trade Date April 4, 2025, 2X OPENING And INTRADAY Valid And Priority Quote Spread Relief In All Symbols
MIAX via Mondovisione
Please be advised, effective for trade date April 4, 2025, the MIAX Regulatory Department has granted 2 times OPENING and INTRADAY quote parameter relief for all symbols on MIAX Options and MIAX Emerald Options. Please note, standard quote width is $5 wide, two (2) times width is $10. The quote width listed in the following will be two (2) times the listed width.
/jlne.ws/3FUxa1P
Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for March 2025
Cboe Global Markets
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), the world's leading derivatives and securities exchange network, today reported March trading volume statistics across its global business lines and provided guidance for selected revenue per contract/net revenue capture metrics for the first quarter of 2025. The data sheet "Cboe Global Markets Monthly Volume & RPC/Net Revenue Capture Report" contains an overview of certain March trading statistics and market share by business segment, volume in select index products, and RPC/net capture, which is reported on a one-month lag, across business lines.
/jlne.ws/42vfIJR
CBOE 2024 Annual Report
CBOE via Mondovisione
Dear Shareholders,
As Chair of Cboe's Board of Directors, I am committed to helping to ensure that the Board is acting in your best interest to help drive continued success for Cboe. The company has evolved greatly since I joined the Board in 2016 but each year, I gain a new reminder of the value of this business and the talent of the team running it. 2024 was a strong year for Cboe. As you will read in CEO Fred Tomczyk's letter, the Cboe team spent most of 2024 sharpening its strategy and creating alignment across the company. That work paid off and Cboe achieved record net revenue and earnings in 2024. Cboe is well-positioned to have another great year in 2025.
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ASX Group Monthly Activity Report - March 2025
ASX
Attached is a copy of the ASX Group Monthly Activity Report for March 2025.
/jlne.ws/4jCVS5t
March 2025 figures at Eurex
Eurex
Eurex, Europe's leading derivatives exchange and - along with Eurex Clearing - one of the leading central counterparties globally, recorded a 21 percent surge in total trading volume for March, reaching 248.2 million contracts, up from 205 million in the same month last year. This growth was primarily driven by a 40 percent jump in equity derivatives, which increased from 28.3 million to 39.5 million contracts. Interest rate derivatives also saw a notable rise of 24 percent, reaching 117.6 million contracts. Additionally, index derivatives grew by 9 percent, climbing from 81.5 million to 89 million contracts.
/jlne.ws/3FW23mm
MTS launches innovative Dealer-to-Client Ticket protocol streamlining workflows for both buy-and sell-side
Euronext
Euronext today announced that MTS, a leading European electronic fixed-income trading platform, launched its new BondVision Dealer-to-Client Ticket (DCT) protocol. BondVision is a multi-dealer-to-client trading platform for rates, credit, and repo. The DCT protocol was developed within the BondVision Partnership, which includes top BondVision Dealers contributing to the platform's product roadmap. The BondVision DCT protocol addresses key operational challenges and enhances efficiencies in processed trade workflow through automation. The new functionality enables Dealers to send processed trades to their Clients via Application Programming Interface (API), enhancing automation and reducing operational bottlenecks.
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Performance Bond Requirements - Energy Margin - Effective April 04, 2025
CME Group
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below. The rates will be effective after the close of business on April 04, 2025.
/jlne.ws/3E56Pxn
Performance Bond Requirements: Agriculture, FX and Metal Margins - Effective April 04, 2025
CME Group
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below.
/jlne.ws/4i0jcZm
NYSE American to Commence Delisting Proceedings Against 1847 Holdings LLC (EFSH)
ICE
NYSE American LLC ("NYSE American" or the "Exchange") announced today that the staff of NYSE Regulation has determined to commence proceedings to delist the common shares of 1847 Holdings LLC (the "Company") - ticker symbol EFSH - from NYSE American. Trading in the Company's common shares will be suspended immediately. NYSE Regulation has determined that the Company is no longer suitable for listing pursuant to Section 1003(f)(v) of the NYSE American Company Guide due to the low selling price of the common shares.
/jlne.ws/4lvLH4m
MarketAxess Announces Trading Volume Statistics For March And First Quarter 2025
Mondovisione
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, today announced trading volume and preliminary variable transaction fees per million ("FPM") for March 2025 and the first quarter ended March 31, 2025.
/jlne.ws/3XGDArl
TMX Group Limited to announce Q1 2025 financial results on Monday, May 5, 2025
TMX Group
Analyst conference call and Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholdersto be held Tuesday, May 6, 2025. TMX Group Limited will announce its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025 in the evening of Monday, May 5, 2025. An analyst conference call to review the results will be held at 8:00 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
/jlne.ws/4iS1BE9
Tradeweb Reports Record March 2025 Total Trading Volume of $59.6 Trillion and Record Average Daily Volume of $2.71 Trillion
Tradeweb Markets
Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today reported record total trading volume for the month of March 2025 of $59.6 trillion (tn)[1]. Average daily volume (ADV) for the month was a record $2.71tn, an increase of 49.9 percent (%) year-over-year (YoY). For the first quarter of 2025, total trading volume was a record $164.5tn and ADV was a record $2.55tn, an increase of 33.7% YoY, with preliminary average variable fees per million dollars of volume traded of $2.31 and total preliminary fixed fees for rates, credit, equities and money markets of $85.1 million (mm)[2]. Excluding the impact of the ICD acquisition, which closed on August 1, 2024, total ADV for the month of March was up 34.8% YoY and total ADV for the first quarter of 2025 was up 19.1% YoY.
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Bloomberg unveils real-time events data solution for front-office; The offering focuses on the option to subscribe to real-time, push-based updates which "only cover events of interest", as opposed to "a firehose of information".
Claudia Preece - The Trade
Bloomberg has enhanced its front-office solution with the inclusion of a unified pipeline for real-time events, news insights, market data, pricing, and analytics. The Real-Time Events Data offering focuses on the option to subscribe to real-time, push-based updates which "only cover events of interest", as opposed to "a firehose of information" - aiming to automate the full spectrum of workflows.
/jlne.ws/4i2PK50
Google, Amazon Work to Dethrone Microsoft on Federal Contracts
Emily Birnbaum and Jamie Tarabay - Bloomberg
Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Amazon.com Inc. have found an avenue to profit from Elon Musk's chaotic Department of Government Efficiency. The companies' lobbyists in Washington see their best opportunity yet to achieve one of their most elusive goals: prying loose Microsoft Corp.'s decades-long grip on the multi-billion-dollar government software business.
/jlne.ws/4j6ncZC
GlobalData Wins Data Solution Of The Year For Sales At The Data Breakthrough Awards
Mondovisione
GlobalData's Sales Intelligence solution has been selected for its success in revolutionizing B2B sales workflows across the world's largest industries. GlobalData, the trusted intelligence partner to the world's most successful organizations, has won "Data Solution of the Year for Sales" at the Data Breakthrough Awards, for its Sales Intelligence solution.
/jlne.ws/4liDyA4
Why Does Everyone Want to Be a Bank Now? Fintechs and other consumer companies are eager to take advantage of the changing regulatory mood.
Georgia Hall and Paige Smith - Bloomberg
In March, a financial-technology firm did something no US company had done in more than four years: It became a bank. SmartBiz Loans, a San Francisco-based lender specializing in small businesses, won the requisite regulatory approval - the first company since President Donald Trump's initial term to get the coveted nod. The move suggests the Trump administration is inclined to lower the barriers for non-bank companies eager to enter the world of banking. A change in approach would be welcome to burgeoning fintech businesses and other companies that covet a banking arm in order to have access to a stable, inexpensive source of financing.
/jlne.ws/42vnzqP
Stop chasing AI benchmarks-create your own
Francois Candelon, Theodoros Evgeniou, Max Struever and David Zuluaga Martinez - Fortune
Every few months, a new large language model (LLM) is anointed AI champion, with record-breaking benchmark scores. But these celebrated metrics of LLM performance-such as testing graduate-level reasoning and abstract math-rarely reflect real business needs or represent truly novel AI frontiers. For companies in the market for enterprise AI models, basing the decision of which models to use on these leaderboards alone can lead to costly mistakes-from wasted budgets to misaligned capabilities and potentially harmful, domain-specific errors that benchmark scores rarely capture.
/jlne.ws/3FVoEzC
BNY launches new blockchain accounting tool with BlackRock as first client
Leo Schwartz - Fortune
On Thursday, the financial giant Bitcoin, traditional financial institutions like BNY have been hesitant to enter the space, largely because of regulatory uncertainty. Still, BNY has shown an interest in the technology, including Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, with the bank. The plan, however, clashed with the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Biden Administration, which issued guidance surrounding balance sheet requirements for companies holding crypto assets for clients.
/jlne.ws/4lhAV1e
Blackstone Is Said to Mull Sale of Two AirTrunk Data Centers
Gillian Tan and Vinicy Chan - Bloomberg
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | US Satellites Risk Attack in a War With China, Space Chief Says
Tony Capaccio and Roxana Tiron (BGOV) - Bloomberg
Beijing's ambitions in space pose "an incredible threat," targeting satellites as first to be shot down in any conflict between the US and China, the head of the US Space Force warned Thursday. "Because of space's global nature and its integration into almost every aspect of modern life, the consequences will be immediate and significant," General Chance Saltzman said in prepared testimony for the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
/jlne.ws/3R2J0ZV
Cyber Attackers Steal Thousands From Australian Pension Funds
Amy Bainbridge - Bloomberg
Some members of AustralianSuper, the country's top pension fund, have lost substantial amounts of retirement savings in industry-wide cyber attacks that potentially compromised the personal data of thousands. AustralianSuper confirmed on Friday that cyber criminals may have used up to 600 members' stolen passwords over the past week in their attempts to commit fraud. The A$365 billion ($228 billion) fund sought to reassure members their savings were safe, even if their accounts currently showed a zero balance.
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Check Point CEO Vows Calculated Risks to Take on Cyber Rivals
Marissa Newman - Bloomberg
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.'s new chief executive officer said the cybersecurity firm will take "calculated risks" that could include acquisitions and a hiring spree to accelerate growth and narrow the gap with its rivals. "The obvious elephant in the room is that we need to grow faster, and in order to grow faster, we will need to take more risks than we were accustomed to in terms of how do we accelerate our product offering, how much we invest in marketing," Nadav Zafrir, a former commander of the Israeli army's elite Unit 8200, said in an interview on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3G5CJdC
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Crypto exchange Kraken registers as restricted dealer in Canada
Anand Sinha - TheStreet
Kraken has officially registered as a restricted dealer in Canada, the U.S.-based crypto exchange announced on Apr. 2. The exchange said it has secured the registration after a rigorous process of enhancing its governance, security, and compliance protocols to meet the expectations of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). The OSC is a regulatory body that oversees securities legislation in the Canadian province of Ontario.
/jlne.ws/4hZodBC
Tariffs Disrupt Bitcoin Mining Supply Chain Rooted in Asia
Ryan Weeks - Bloomberg
Lauren Lin is in a hurry. She has less than 48 hours to ship about 5,600 Bitcoin mining machines from Thailand to the US before tariffs imposed on the Southeast Asian country by President Donald Trump kick in. "Today we're just scrambling," said Lin, head of hardware at Luxor Technology, a Bitcoin mining software and services company. "Ideally we can charter a flight and get machines over - just trying to be as creative as possible to get these machines out."
/jlne.ws/3R3dE5A
Jack Dorsey warns Bitcoin's survival hinges on one thing
Mehab Qureshi - TheStreet
Jack Dorsey believes Bitcoin's biggest risk isn't regulation - it's irrelevance. In a conversation with Haley Berkoe on the Presidio Bitcoin podcast, the former Twitter CEO and Block founder said Bitcoin could fail if it doesn't find a real, everyday use case beyond just being a "store of value."
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Brazil's Largest Bank Itaú Unibanco Mulls Its Own Stablecoin
Francisco Rodriguez - CoinDesk
Itaú Unibanco, Brazil's largest bank by assets, is exploring whether to issue its own stablecoin as regulatory discussions evolve and U.S. financial institutions slowly move into the sector. The decision could hinge on how American institutions fare with their stablecoin rollouts, said Guto Antunes, head of digital assets at Itaú. At an industry event in São Paulo, Antunes cited the growing momentum behind blockchain-based settlement systems.
/jlne.ws/3Rxwi5x
Coinbase Institutional Is Close to Offering XRP Futures
Shaurya Malwa - CoinDesk
U.S. crypto giant Coinbase Institutional said on Friday it had submitted a filing to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to roll out futures contracts tied to Ripple's closely related XRP token. "We're excited to announce that Coinbase Derivatives has filed with the CFTC to self-certify $XRP futures - bringing a regulated, capital-efficient way to gain exposure to one of the most liquid digital assets," it said in an X post. "We anticipate the contract going live on April 21, 2025."
/jlne.ws/4ci2XFX
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump tariffs open rift among top Republicans in Washington; US president's trade war draws criticism from some senators and big donors
Alex Rogers and Myles McCormick - Financial Times
A group of Republican lawmakers and conservative donors has hit out at Donald Trump's sweeping new tariffs on US trading partners, signalling some unease within the party at the president's economic strategy. Trump broke with Republican free-market orthodoxy again on Wednesday, launching a new trade war that sparked a sharp sell-off in equity markets amid fears for the global economy.
/jlne.ws/3Y8JVMz
Trump chaos is alienating Republicans; Outside of the Maga ecosystem, bad economic news is starting to cut through
John Burn-Murdoch - Financial Times
Donald Trump's decisive electoral victory last November was won on the back of a diverse group of voters, united in discontent with rising prices. Just weeks into his new administration, however, this coalition is rapidly unravelling as reality proves rather different to expectations.
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Donald Trump's Tariff Blitz Is Political Suicide
Ross Barkan - Intelligencer (commentary)
Give Donald Trump some credit: He is following through, absolutely, on a campaign promise. While few Americans imagined that electing Trump again would make Elon Musk a de facto president, tasked with eviscerating the federal bureaucracy, it was no secret that tariffs would be on the menu if Trump returned to the White House. Tariffs and trade deficits have been a Trump obsession for decades. He could be heard talking them up in the 1980s and 1990s, and he has long romanticized a protectionist economy.
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Republicans weigh using the power of Congress to rein in Trump on tariffs; After GOP senators helped pass a measure to revoke Trump's Canada tariffs, talks are underway to force a House vote. Senators also unveiled a bipartisan bill to limit his authority.
Sahil Kapur and Scott Wong - NBC News
The fallout from President Donald Trump's aggressive new tariffs has spurred Congress into action, with a growing number of Republicans joining Democrats to express interest in using their power to restrain him. After the GOP-led Senate delivered a rare rebuke to Trump on Wednesday by voting to undo his tariffs on Canada, lawmakers in both chambers are weighing additional steps to rein him in. Senators are eyeing other mechanisms to rescind Trump's existing tariffs while limiting his ability to impose new ones. And Democrats in the House are exploring ways to force a vote to revoke Canadian tariffs, putting out feelers to attract support from Republicans.
/jlne.ws/3YhpaxX
Law Firm Kirkland & Ellis in Talks With White House to Avoid Executive Order; The largest U.S. law firm by revenue tries to avoid being the next Trump target
Erin Mulvaney, Josh Dawsey and C. Ryan Barber - The Wall Street Journal
Kirkland & Ellis, the largest U.S. law firm by revenue, is in talks with the White House to avoid an executive order similar to those levied against several of its rivals, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm, which has some 4,000 lawyers and brought in about $9 billion last year, is one of the White House's next targets for sanctions, some of the people said. If President Trump moves forward with an executive order, it would mark an escalation of the administration's battle against giants in the legal industry.
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Propaganda expert: Here's more proof MAGA, GOP is a cult
Lauren Sforza - NJ.com
A liberal activist explained how MAGA loyalists could be turning into a cult under the leadership of President Donald Trump. Garry Kasparov, a Russian political critic and founder of the Renew Democracy Initiative, explained on Thursday that public opinion follows the "propaganda line" that is pushed by some members of the media. Kasparov is a frequent critic of Trump, saying in a separate post that the president has "been emboldened by the sycophantic GOP this time around."
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Foreign college students are now losing their visas and being ordered to leave over misdemeanor crimes or traffic infractions
Collin Binkley, Annie Ma, Makiya Seminera and the Associated Press - Fortune
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U.K. court orders Donald Trump to pay $741,000 for suing a British spy over salacious U.S.-Russia dossier
AFP
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Denmark Sheds Quiet Diplomacy in Pushback to US Over Greenland
Sanne Wass - Bloomberg
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Romania's Redo Election Is a Global Matter Now
Alan Crawford - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Illinois to Drop Staking Lawsuit Against Coinbase
Cheyenne Ligon - CoinDesk
Illinois will soon drop its staking lawsuit against Coinbase, joining three other U.S. states that have recently backed down from litigation against the exchange. A spokesperson for Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias told CoinDesk on Thursday that the office "intends to drop the Coinbase lawsuit." The spokesperson did not reply when asked when the case may be dropped.
/jlne.ws/42nlNHd
DOJ Weighs Getting Rid of a Punishment That Companies Despise
Sabrina Willmer and Chris Strohm - Bloomberg
The Justice Department is weighing whether to release companies from obligations to hire outside monitors as part of settlements with prosecutors - a form of oversight that has long frustrated executives. US officials have paused compliance monitorships and are weighing whether to permanently disband at least some of them, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. Senior leaders at the department have privately discussed the possible changes with certain companies under monitorships, some of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing internal deliberations.
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OKX Fined by Malta for Breaching Anti-Money Laundering Rules
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
Crypto exchange OKX was fined by Maltese authorities for breaching the island nation's anti-money laundering rules, the latest in a string of regulatory setbacks for the platform. Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit imposed a fine of EUR1.1 million ($1.2 million) on OKX's local subsidiary this month after an onsite compliance examination in April 2023 uncovered several failures, "some of which were deemed to be serious and systematic," it said in a notice on Thursday.
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E.U. Prepares Major Penalties Against Elon Musk's X; European regulators are considering fining X more than $1 billion, after weighing the risks of further antagonizing Mr. Musk and President Trump.
Adam Satariano - The New York Times
European Union regulators are preparing major penalties against Elon Musk's social media platform, X, for breaking a landmark law to combat illicit content and disinformation, said four people with knowledge of the plans, a move that is likely to ratchet up tensions with the United States by targeting one of President Trump's closest advisers. The penalties are set to include a fine and demands for product changes, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing an ongoing investigation. These are expected to be announced this summer and would be the first issued under a new E.U. law intended to force social media companies to police their services, they said.
/jlne.ws/4iWl0UM
ASIC releases March 2025 financial adviser exam results
ASIC
ASIC today released the exam results from the 28th Financial Advisers Exam cycle, held in March 2025. The exam, conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), follows a rigorous process to ensure all candidates in each cycle are tested to the same standards.
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Leveraging data for consumer protection and to support Australian businesses
ASIC
Keynote address by ASIC Commissioner Kate O'Rourke at the 11th Annual Australian Government Data Governance Summit, 2 April 2025.
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FMA files civil proceedings against IAG for fair dealing breaches
FMA
The Financial Markets Authority - Te Mana Tatai Hokohoko - has filed a civil proceeding against insurer IAG New Zealand Limited (IAG) for fair dealing breaches in relation to its insurance products. The proceeding has eight causes of action relating to 11 alleged breaches of section 22, under Part 2 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMCA) - false or misleading representations. The breaches arise from IAG's failures to correctly price the premiums charged to customers, and its failures to correctly advertise and apply important discounts to its insurance products sold via its business divisions and distribution partners.
/jlne.ws/3E3Spxy
Fair conduct programme insights report
FMA
Te Mana Tatai Hokohoko (FMA) was established with the overarching statutory objective of promoting fair, efficient, and transparent financial markets. The Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Act 2022 (CoFI) expands the FMA's mandate as a conduct regulator and strengthens consumer protection by requiring financial institutions to prioritise the fair treatment of consumers. CoFI requires financial institutions to be licensed by the FMA, and to establish, implement, maintain and comply with an effective fair conduct programme (FCP). An FCP means policies, processes, systems and controls that are designed to ensure the financial institution's compliance with the fair conduct principle, which is that financial institutions must treat consumers fairly.
/jlne.ws/4llvKxC
Joint Advisory on Impersonation Scams Involving Chinese Messaging and Payment Platforms
MAS
The Singapore Police Force and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) would like to remind members of the public to remain vigilant against impersonation scams involving Chinese messaging and payment platforms such as WeChat, UnionPay or Alipay. Since January 2025, at least 678 cases were reported, with total losses amounting to at least S$17.4 million.
/jlne.ws/4cmx3Iz
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Boomers face a 'devastating' blow to their life savings as more tariff pain looms, finance guru warns
Theron Mohamed - Business Insider
Many people could be left disappointed when they open their IRA statements in the coming days - and President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs threaten to make things even worse. The S&P 500 fell 5% in the first three months of 2025, marking its worst quarter since 2022, while the Nasdaq Composite slumped 10% as stocks like Tesla plunged 36%.
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Trump's tariffs are largest US tax hike since 1968, JPM warns
Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump's cumulative tariff hikes amount to about 22%, which would be equivalent to the biggest U.S. tax increase since 1968, according to a note from JPMorgan. The bank has raised its risk of global recession to 60%, up from 40% previously, and said the tariff impact could be "magnified by retaliation, supply chain disruptions, and a sentiment shock." The note cautions that "sustained restrictive trade policies and reduced immigration flows may impose lasting supply costs that will lower U.S. growth over the long run."
/jlne.ws/3R2RKzh
How to Protect Your Retirement Savings Now as Markets Plunge; If you're within five years of retiring, either before or after, you're at your most vulnerable financially. Here are steps to weather the volatility.
Diane Harris - The New York Times
"Stay the course." "Tune out the noise." "Focus on the long term." That's the advice that experts typically play on repeat at times like these, when stock prices are volatile or falling - as they did Thursday, when the S&P 500 dropped nearly 5 percent, its worst decline since the pandemic in 2020. It is wise counsel for most people, since no one knows for sure which way the market or the economy will end up this year, and missing out on stock gains, even briefly, can put a big dent in your retirement savings. What's more, over periods of 10 to 20 years or more, stocks have always bounced back handily after downturns, leaving investors who remained steadfast with far bigger balances than they had before the turmoil. But what if you don't have a decade or more to wait out a recovery?
/jlne.ws/41WuHwm
Options Traders Crowd Into Fear Trade
Krystal Hur and Gunjan Banerji - The Wall Street Journal
Options traders are betting that market volatility is here to stay. The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, known as Wall Street's "fear gauge," rose to 28.25 Thursday afternoon. Traders are betting it has more room to run. In recent days, some of the most actively-traded VIX contracts were tied to the index jumping to 40 and 45, according to Cboe Global Markets Data.
/jlne.ws/44cuKp7
Optiver to convert to a systematic internaliser; Move will amend how Optiver reports and will see the market maker expand the number of stocks it is able to offer up liquidity in.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Optiver has moved to convert into a systematic internaliser (SI) as a "natural next step" in the businesses' growth and progression plan, The TRADE can reveal. The decision is imminent. Optiver confirmed that it will begin rolling out gradually once set-up is complete. The move comes as part of the natural progression of the business, Optiver's head of European equity market structure, Anish Puaar, told The TRADE.
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Credit Fear Gauges Soar Most Since Banking Meltdown in 2023
Abhinav Ramnarayan, Eleanor Duncan, Giulia Morpurgo, and Caleb Mutua - Bloomberg
Gauges for credit risk are signaling just how nervous investors are getting about what Bank of America Corp. analysts described as the "the biggest shock to global trade in modern times." US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs sent indexes that track credit-default swaps surging by the most since March 2023 in both the US and Europe. The CDS contracts are used to hedge against the risk of default. The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade Index, the most active CDS contract in the world, jumped as much as 8.5 basis points to 75.7 basis points, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/42nuUrp
How does it affect me if share prices fall?
Kevin Peachey - BBC News
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Why Cutting Corners on Your Taxes This Year Is a Bad Idea; Yes, the IRS is shrinking. But it is far from toothless-and the cost of getting caught has gotten higher.
Laura Saunders - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/4liGJru
Hershey Strikes $750 Million Deal for LesserEvil Popcorn Brand; The chocolate company has been expanding its snack offerings
Lauren Thomas - The Wall Street Journal
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Finance Needs to Be Prepared for the Unexpected; Excessive leverage puts everyone at risk. Here's what to do about it.
The Editorial Board - Bloomberg
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | BP chair Helge Lund bows out as oil giant ditches renewable strategy to focus on fossil fuels
AFP via Fortune
BP in February launched a major pivot back to its more profitable oil and gas business, shelving its once industry-leading targets on reducing carbon emissions and slashing clean energy investment. BP on Friday said chairman Helge Lund will step down after a major reset at the British energy giant that saw it recently shelve carbon-reduction targets to focus on fossil fuel output.
/jlne.ws/41ZUVhx
BP chair Helge Lund to step down; Exit follows a bruising period for UK oil major that faces pressure from activist Elliott
Tom Wilson and Emma Dunkley - Financial Times
BP chair Helge Lund will step down in an "inevitable" move after a bruising tenure in which the oil major tried to pivot away from fossil fuels only to reverse course this year amid pressure from activist investor Elliott Management. The FTSE 100 company said on Friday that Lund had notified the board of his plan to step down, "most likely during 2026". The search for a successor will be led by Dame Amanda Blanc, the board's senior independent director, BP added.
/jlne.ws/42lnxk9
How Trump's Tariffs Could Hobble the Fastest-Growing Energy Technology; Across the country, companies have been installing giant batteries that help them use more wind and solar power. That's about to get much harder.
Brad Plumer - The New York Times
The sweeping tariffs that President Trump announced on Wednesday could hobble the use of giant batteries that energy companies are increasingly installing to help them tap more wind and solar power and make the broader electric grid more reliable. Over the past five years, grid batteries have become one of the biggest growth industries in the U.S. energy sector. In states like Texas and Arizona, companies have been installing stacks of lithium-ion cells the size of shipping containers. They can soak up excess wind and solar energy and save it for when it's needed. In California, the use of batteries to store solar power for the evening hours has helped utilities reduce the amount of natural gas that is burned.
/jlne.ws/3DWj8fw
Brookfield Buys Oil-Pipeline Firm Colonial Enterprises for $9 Billion; Colonial provides oil products transportation services from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the U.S. Atlantic Seaboard
Adam Whittaker - The Wall Street Journal
Brookfield Asset Management through its infrastructure business will buy Colonial Enterprises in a deal that gives the refined-oil products pipeline firm a roughly $9 billion enterprise value. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners' equity investment will be around $500 million and represents nearly 15% of the total equity investment, the company said. The agreement includes buying Shell's 16.125% stake in the business, which the oil major said in a separate release it was selling for $1.45 billion.
/jlne.ws/41VYZPM
Wall Street Will Regret Helping the World Burn; For an industry in the business of money, it sure has a funny way of ensuring its destruction.
Mark Gongloff - Bloomberg Opinion
If a financial adviser advises you to cash in some of your 401(k) to cover living expenses, fire said financial adviser immediately and leave them the harshest possible Google review. Yet in its panicky retreat from the climate fight, Wall Street is doing just that, stealing from its own future wealth in exchange for short-term cash and comfort. By deciding en masse to abandon climate ambition and embrace the fossil fuels destroying the environment, financial firms will make it more difficult to limit that destruction and the economic and financial reckoning it will bring.
/jlne.ws/42tr2pU
The New 'Black Gold' Needs More Bulls; The world needs to be more bullish on biochar and its benefits to the atmosphere.
Lara Williams - Bloomberg Opinion
To most people, black gold means oil, the substance that helped build the modern world while causing the climate crisis. But a new treasure on the market is getting prospectors excited, not least for the role it could play in fixing the problem fossil fuels created.
/jlne.ws/4jjrE7f
Most Canadians Support Building an Oil Pipeline to Sidestep US Market
Robert Tuttle - Bloomberg
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | RBC Capital Markets becomes first Canadian bank to join SPIRE multi-dealer platform; To date, there are 18 dealers on the platform working to support the development of the repackaging markets.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
RBC Capital Markets has joined the multi-dealer programme SPIRE (Single Platform Investment Repackaging Entity). The SPIRE platform - established back in May 2017 by BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan - now has 18 dealers on the platform. Others include Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Crédit Agricole CIB, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities Europe, HSBC, Societe Generale SA, and NatWest Markets, Santander, UBS and Credit Suisse.
/jlne.ws/42huD9s
Scotia Hires Eilers to Co-Lead Corporate and Investment Bank
Christine Dobby - Bloomberg
Bank of Nova Scotia hired former UBS Group AG executive Matt Eilers as global co-head of corporate and investment-banking as the Canadian lender continues its push into US capital markets. New York-based Eilers will join the bank on April 9 and report to Travis Machen, who took over as group head of Scotiabank's capital-markets division last year. Machen announced the change Friday morning in a memo to staff, the contents of which were confirmed by a representative for the bank.
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Citi's $52 Million Banker Award Sparks Glass Lewis Vote Flip
Todd Gillespie and Sridhar Natarajan - Bloomberg
Last year, Citigroup Inc. hired Vis Raghavan, a rainmaker from rival JPMorgan Chase & Co., to lift its banking fortunes. Now, Citigroup is being forced to spell out the details of Raghavan's own fortune to avoid the ire of a prominent shareholder advisory firm. Earlier this week, Glass Lewis & Co. recommended that shareholders vote against Citigroup's executive compensation proposal at its April 29 shareholder meeting. The firm questioned whether the bank was disclosing enough about a $52 million make-whole award to be paid in coming years to its new banking head Raghavan, according to a person with access to the report.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | More People Are Bringing Lunch to Work. That's a Bad Economic Indicator.; Offices are full again but restaurants are selling fewer lunches than they did in 2020, the depths of the pandemic
Ray A. Smith - The Wall Street Journal
Inside the office fridge, maybe behind a "Don't Touch!" Post-it Note, is a telling economic indicator: More employees are eating lunches brought from home than they have in years. Millions of people have been called back to work in offices, but that's not the massive windfall that restaurants, salad bars and sandwich spots had hoped for after the Covid-19 pandemic decimated their midday business. Many workers are finding picking up lunch is too pricey, and more are schlepping in tupperware and brown bags than they did a year ago.
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Big Law Firms Struck a Truce With Trump-and Set Off a Clash With Recruits; Law students at top schools reconsider offers at Skadden and other firms while associates cancel interviews in protest
Lindsay Ellis - The Wall Street Journal
Campus recruiting is the newest front in the Trump-induced turmoil at some of the country's most prominent law firms. In the days since Paul Weiss, Skadden Arps and other elite firms cut deals with the president to fend off punitive orders, their actions have set off protests and recruiting boycotts among the next wave of top young legal talent. Georgetown Law students canceled a recruiting event this week with Skadden Arps. A group of students and lawyers is circulating a missive on social media and over email, urging students at top schools to refrain from applying to the firms.
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Deloitte to Lay Off U.S. Consultants After Government Cost Crackdown; Federal government continues to challenge firms' contracts, forcing them to justify prices, sources say
Mark Maurer - The Wall Street Journal
Deloitte is cutting U.S. workers in its consulting business after the federal government demanded it find ways to shrink the cost of government projects it is working on. The Big Four accounting firm didn't specify how many employees would be targeted. "Modest personnel actions" would be taken in the coming weeks based on government clients' evolving needs, the company said.
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Refusing to drink the corporate Kool-Aid, half of Gen Zers would turn down a job that doesn't align with their beliefs
Chloe Berger - Fortune
Like many generations before them, the current cohort of young adults isn't necessarily looking to work for the Man. The search for a stable salary and benefits, however, often poses a threat to this resolve. Gen Z is holding fast, though, trying to take hold of late-stage capitalism's reins.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Trump Administration Lays Out Demands to Harvard to Keep Federal Funding; The White House list includes changes to governance, leadership and classroom teachings; government also freezes money for Brown University
Douglas Belkin, Natalie Andrews and Liz Essley Whyte - The Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration escalated its campaign against American universities by preparing to pull $510 million in federal grants from Brown University, while also laying out demands Harvard must meet to avoid losing billions in government dollars. The administration is freezing National Institutes of Health grants to Brown while it investigates the Ivy League school's handling of antisemitism and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies, according to two people familiar with the matter.
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'Decapitated': More top vaccine regulators out at FDA, threatening new approvals; Following Dr. Peter Marks' ouster, other top officials have left or have been pushed out of the FDA division that approves certain drugs, gene therapies and vaccines.
Berkeley Lovelace Jr. - NBC News
More top vaccine regulators at the Food and Drug Administration have either left or been forced out following the resignation last week of Dr. Peter Marks, the agency's top vaccine official, according to four former and current government officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Experts say the exodus of top talent at the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research could hobble the agency's ability to approve new vaccines and a wide range of other drugs - especially in the wake of the mass layoffs by the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday.
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RFK Jr. Is Out for Revenge; The health secretary's indiscriminate layoffs will undermine his own priorities.
Nicholas Florko - The Atlantic
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is finally getting his wish of sucker-punching the federal health agencies. This week, Kennedy began the process of firing some 10,000 employees working under the Health and Human Services umbrella. Even before he took office, Kennedy warned health officials that they should pack their bags, and on Tuesday, he defended the cuts: "What we've been doing isn't working," Kennedy posted on X. He is focused on "realigning HHS with its core mission: to stop the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again." But instead of improving how the federal health bureaucracy works, RFK Jr. is throwing his agencies into chaos.
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The Wellness Industry Has Come for Your Luxury Car; Massage and meditation programs as well as aromatherapy are now being offered in some high-end vehicles, but does anybody actually want them?
Brett Berk - Bloomberg
The Lincoln Nautilus sports the same constellation grille, rounded box styling, turbine wheels and linear taillights as the other three luxury SUVs in the 108-year-old brand's lineup. Where it sets itself apart is on the inside, with a cabin that not only includes a panoramic color display that wraps from one end of the dash to the other but also now features the automaker's "Rejuvenate" program. This "multisensory stress-reduction initiative," as Lincoln calls it, combines a dizzying array of elements: There's a stereo, 30-way adjustable heated/cooling/massaging front seats, an air filtration system, multicolored door/dash/footwell ambient lighting, high-definition screens and integrated scent atomizers to offer three "immersive relaxation" or "invigoration" sequences, each lasting from five and 10 minutes. One of the sequences even offers a guided meditation produced in partnership with the sleep and wellness app Calm.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Why This Is China's Year in Markets; On this episode of Merryn Talks Money, Man Group's Ed Cole says the US will give investors "pretty much nothing" in 2025.
Merryn Somerset Webb - Bloomberg
It wasn't long ago that China was considered "uninvestable" and that the "exceptional" US market was the only game in town. That's not the case anymore. According to Edward Cole, Man Group's head of multi-strategy equities, nothing is permanently exceptional or uninvestable. Once you accept that premise, the great rotation currently underway makes a lot more sense. Cole, who oversees equity allocations at the world's largest hedge fund, joins this week's episode of Merryn Talks Money to explain why Chinese stocks are currently a top conviction play for him, and that particularly for the medium-term, investors should be thinking about diversifying their holdings.
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Pakistanis hit by 30% jump in sugar price during Ramadan; Mill owners prioritize exports, squeezing local supplies, experts say
Adnan Aamir - Nikkei Asia
Sugar prices in Pakistan jumped nearly 30% to their highest level in a year during Ramadan, with experts blaming mills for intentionally squeezing domestic supplies. One kilogram of sugar costs around 180 rupees (65 cents) now, compared with 140 rupees a year ago, hitting the pockets of Pakistanis, who each consume more than 25 kilograms of sugar annually. The price rise was particularly painful during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ended March 30.
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How Indian bank IndusInd's push for profits and lax controls drove it to a crisis
Siddhi Nayak and Swati Bhat - Reuters
IndusInd Bank ignored established Indian derivative accounting practices for years as it chased profit growth, resulting in a $175 million balance-sheet hole and the biggest crisis for the lender in its three-decade history, multiple sources said. Still, the 2.35% shortfall in the net worth of India's fifth-biggest private sector lender may not have come to light last month had the rupee not sharply slumped recently, said the sources.
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India's Subprime Bubble Grew 2,100%. Now a Bust Looms; Multiple lenders are chasing the same borrowers amid stagnant incomes at the bottom of the pyramid.
Andy Mukherjee - Bloomberg Opinion
Subprime loans in India are teetering on the edge of a fresh crisis, with surveys showing signs of distress among 68% of borrowers. Those who have provided the capital for a multiyear 2,100% expansion will have to stomach losses. The $45 billion industry will probably muddle through its latest difficulties, though analysts want the central bank to come up with more robust supervision.
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'The price of everything is sky high - even fish and chips'
Adam Laver - BBC News, Yorkshire
Fish and chips is renowned as one of the nation's favourite dishes but in recent years spiralling costs have pushed up the price of the traditional fare. A chip shop in Bradford sold portions of the dish at 1970s prices this week to celebrate updates to its shop. BBC News went along to ask people whether a full- price portion is still value for money amid a cost-of-living squeeze. Hundreds of people lined Leeds Road in Bradford on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. The street has a myriad of shops and hot food options but the queue which snaked along the pavement was only interested in one - fish and chips.
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Europe Utilities Hit 17-Year High as Tariffs Spark Haven Search
Allegra Catelli and Eamon Farhat - Bloomberg
While Donald Trump's tariffs are battering stocks across the globe, investors are finding a haven in European utilities. The Stoxx 600 Utilities Index rose 3.1% on Thursday - bucking the broader gauge's 2.6% slide. It pared some of those gains on Friday but still hovered near the highest level since November 2008. Among the sector's main winners was Spain's Iberdrola SA, with its market value surging beyond EUR100 billion for the first time.
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Spotify royalty payouts to Nigerian, South African artists boom in 2024
Reuters
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Women in UK Finance Still Earn a Fifth Less Than Men; The gender pay gap in the financial sector is almost double the average across the rest of the workforce.
Irina Anghel - Bloomberg
The average woman working in the UK financial sector earns about a fifth less than their male colleagues, a reflection of how the gender pay gap has stubbornly persisted even during a period when businesses pledged to address workplace inequity through diversity, equity and inclusion schemes. Female employees in financial and insurance services earned around 78 pence for every pound that men do in 2024, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of government data. The pay gap shrunk shrunk by 1.2 percentage points since last year and is almost twice as high as the average across the whole UK workforce. The picture is particularly dire in investment banking, one of the top-paying corners of the industry.
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