| January 22, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Today we published part two of our two-part interview with Amanda Cain in a John Lothian Profiles interview.
Former GETCO CEO Daniel Coleman is now the president of a private college in Alabama, Birmingham-Southern, that is the focus of a story by The Wall Street Journal. The story is about how the private college has been on its deathbed for 15 years and it seeks a lifeline to avoid closing its campus. It sounds like Coleman and his college could use some help from his financial services friends.
The lawyer who is leading the class action case against the CME Group on behalf of b-share members is the focus of a story on Lawdragon.com titled "Meet The Lawyer Still Fighting For The People Of Flint."
What does the collapse of Sports Illustrated have to do with the markets? Manoj Bhargava, who owns Simplify Inventions, which took an approximately 65% stake in the Arena Group, is also one of the biggest players in equity options. Arena Group was the firm that did not make a quarterly payment of about $3.75 million and had its license to publish Sports Illustrated revoked by Authentic Brands Group. SI Capital Group is a major player on Cboe Global Markets and is an OCC self-clearing member and owned by the family office of Manoj Bhargava, who developed 5-Hour Energy.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the GOP presidential race two days before the New Hampshire primary, the Financial Times reports.
The CFTC issued a notice on Friday that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Open Meeting scheduled for Monday, January 22, 2024 has been canceled. The matters under consideration are being resolved through the Commission's seriatim process.
David Sargent, who is a family friend and a lawyer, was acquitted of insider trading charges, "after his co-conspirator was found innocent of the same crime," Reuters reported.
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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Chicago places 83rd in a ranking of 85 cities whose weather patterns might be affected by climate change. The ranking by online room rental platform Nestpick found Chicago's climate shifting to a Temperate Humid Warm Summer from a Continental Humid Warm Summer in the official climate categories developed by The Koppen climate classification system. According to the World Atlas, a temperate climate has moderate to high rainfall and high variations in temperature over the four seasons and its summers range from warm/hot to mild/cool. Chicago's current continental climate has four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences with warm to hot summers and freezing cold winters. The index looks at three key areas: sea-level, climate and water shortage to develop its ranking. Bangkok ranks first on the scale and Marseille, France, ranks last at 85. View the Climate Change City Index and its methodology here. ~SAED
Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Miami International Holdings Appoints Kelly Brown as Senior Vice President Derivatives Products and Business Development for MIAX Futures from MIAX.
- FIA: Global Futures And Options Volume Hits Record 137 Billion Contracts In 2023, an FIA press release.
- Traders Bring Back 20-Year Old Options Playbook to Cash In on Higher Rate from Bloomberg. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Amanda Cain - John Lothian Profiles - Part Two
JohnLothianNews.com
In a part two of her interview with John Lothian News for the John Lothian Profiles series, Amanda Cain discussed her founding of Male Allies for Women within the Americas Women's Network. This initiative seeks to address gender diversity issues in corporate environments, particularly focusing on promoting women to director-level roles and above.
Watch the video »
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Citi Trader to Depart to Focus on Children's Books Charity
Jenny Surane and William Shaw - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc.'s Marcus Satha, who turned the firm's short-term interest rate trading desk into an industry leader, is planning to depart for a role in the children's book charity he founded. Satha, a 20-year veteran of Citigroup, first joined the Wall Street giant in Australia before moving to London in 2012, according to a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg. He was named head of the short-term interest rate trading division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2016 before being elevated to global head of the division one year later, the memo said.
/jlne.ws/42605H2
***** Once upon a time there was a banker who started a children's book charity... ~JJL
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Senate Republican demands answers from Treasury on push for banks to 'surveil' customer transactions in 2021
Brooke Singman - Fox News
EXCLUSIVE: The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee is demanding answers from the Treasury Department and its financial crimes enforcement division after revelations the agencies urged private financial institutions to "surveil" private transactions using "politically charged search terms" to flag customer profiles to federal law enforcement. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., penned a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki on Friday after Fox News Digital exclusively reported that the agency suggested in January 2021 that banks use specific search terms to query transactions, including "MAGA," "Trump," "Biden" and more, along with merchant codes from specific sporting goods stores.
/jlne.ws/48G0CC9
****** This was one subject that Rick Santelli discussed during his STAC speech last week.~JJL
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China Is Buying Up US Farmland, But How Much Isn't Clear
Kim Chipman - Bloomberg
America is seeing more and more of its most fertile land snapped up by China and other foreign buyers, yet problems with how the US tracks such data means it's difficult to know just how much, according to a report. Foreign ownership and investment in property such as farmland, pastures and forests jumped to about 40 million acres in 2021, up 40% from 2016, according to the US Department of Agriculture data. But an analysis conducted by the US Government Accountability Office - a non-partisan watchdog that reports to Congress - found mistakes in the data, including the largest land holding linked with China being counted twice. Other issues include the challenge of enforcing a US law that requires foreigners to self-report such purchases, the report said, citing USDA.
/jlne.ws/3SobbEb
******* Let me know when this becomes a problem.~JJL
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Environmental lawyer wins acquittal in US insider trading case
David Thomas - Reuters
A federal judge in Chicago has acquitted an environmental lawyer of insider trading charges after his co-conspirator was found innocent of the same crime. U.S. District Judge Manish Shah on Tuesday entered a judgment of acquittal, opens new tab for David Sargent, a former faculty member at Loyola University Chicago's School of Environmental Sustainability. "Mr. Sargent is very happy that the judge concurred with his argument that there was not enough evidence for a rational jury to conclude that he committed insider trading," his lawyer Christopher Grohman said in a statement.
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****** Justice is served.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story Friday was Options Discovery Episode 29: Understanding the Foundations to Become a Successful Options Trader; Mark Esposito, Options Mentor at McMillan Analysis Corp., Discusses This and More With JLN's Asma Awass, a video from John Lothian News. Second was Miami International Holdings Appoints Kelly Brown as Senior Vice President Derivatives Products and Business Development for MIAX Futures, from MIAX. Third was Bitcoin Instantly Topped Silver in ETF Market and Trails Only Gold Among Commodities, from CoinDesk.
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| Lead Stories | Meet the Investors Trying Quantitative Trading at Home; Ordinary investors are experimenting with complex, computer-driven strategies
Bob Henderson - The Wall Street Journal
Pietros Maneos trades stocks like many of Wall Street's most sophisticated operations: running dozens of computer-driven strategies in parallel to chase market-beating returns. But he isn't some tech-savvy math type. He is a published poet who doesn't know how to code. Maneos, 44 years old, uses online-trading platform Composer.trade to build, test and bet on quantitative trading algorithms that buy and sell stocks and exchange-traded funds out of his home office in Boca Raton, Fla. One algorithm, for example, holds a triple-leveraged exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq-100 index if the S&P 500 index has recently trended higher-and Treasury bills otherwise.
/jlne.ws/4bk0FW7
A Rewiring of the World's Biggest Bond Market Will Transform Trading; SEC is forcing Treasuries trading onto a central clearinghouse
Liz Capo McCormick and Lydia Beyoud - Bloomberg
After years of regulatory tinkering, Washington is now forcing through the most rigorous overhaul of the world's biggest bond market in decades. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who once oversaw federal debt management at the US Treasury, has championed a move to require the vast majority of Treasuries trading to migrate to a central counterparty clearinghouse - an intermediary between buyers and sellers that assumes ultimate responsibility for the transaction. The phased-in process culminates in mid-2026 with the inclusion of all repurchase agreement transactions - a key tool used by hedge funds in the popular so-called basis trade that's drawn scrutiny from Washington.
/jlne.ws/47IfzlW
Founder of Crypto Firm USI Tech Charged With Fraud; US prosecutors say investors lured by 140% guaranteed returns; Trading platform was 'facade' for scheme, FBI chief says
Patricia Hurtado - Bloomberg
The German founder of USI Tech, a crypto mining company and digital-asset trading platform, was charged by federal prosecutors in New York with defrauding investors of about $150 million in an illegal multilevel marketing scheme. Horst Jicha, 64, faces securities fraud, money laundering, wire fraud and other charges, authorities said Friday. After promising investors returns of as much as 140%, he shut down the USI online platform and transferred much of its Bitcoin and Ether assets to accounts he controlled, according to an indictment. He was arrested Dec. 23 while attempting to vacation in Miami, prosecutors said.
/jlne.ws/3SsROtJ
SEC chair warns centralized AI could lead to 'fragile' financial system
Rebecca Klar - The Hill
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said Wednesday that a centralized artificial intelligence (AI) market with just a handful of models that financial actors rely on could lead to a fragile financial system. Gensler, speaking in a virtual fireside chat hosted by Public Citizen, said he expects AI to tend toward centralization, likening it to the cloud provider and search engine markets. "Count up on the fingers of one hand how many cloud providers we have in the US, and in even fewer fingers on the hand how many platforms we have to do search, dominant search in this world," he said. "I believe it is likely inevitable that we will have, measured on the fingers of one hand, if not two or three, large base models, and separately the data aggregators," he added. That pattern would create a "monoculture," with hundreds or thousands of financial actors relying on a central data or central choice model, he said.
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Europe Moves Into a New World After a Crippling Energy Crisis; Gas prices are down to less than a tenth of their 2022 peak; High gas reserves mean market is relatively calm about risks
Priscila Azevedo Rocha and Elena Mazneva - Bloomberg
This month, a cold front swept across much of Europe and giant tankers that carry fuel through the Red Sea were rerouted to avoid escalating violence. That should have pushed gas prices higher. Instead, they just kept falling. Even if it's a step too far to give Europe the all-clear, it's a strong sign that the worst of the nightmare that sent energy bills soaring and pushed inflation to multi-year highs is in the past.
/jlne.ws/3S6JONA
The Farmers Had What the Billionaires Wanted
Conor Dougherty - The New York Times
When Jan Sramek walked into the American Legion post in Rio Vista, California, for a town hall meeting last month, everyone in the room knew that he was really just there to get yelled at. For six years a mysterious company called Flannery Associates, which Sramek controlled, had upended the town of 10,000 by spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to buy every farm in the area. Flannery made multimillionaires out of some owners and sparked feuds among others. It sued a group of holdouts who had refused its above-market offers, on the grounds that they were colluding for more.
/jlne.ws/3Hvbeb3
UK Financial Watchdog Manager Told She Can't WFH by Judge; Judge rules FCA was right to flag drawbacks in remote working; FCA said request would have a detrimental impact on her work
Katharine Gemmell - Bloomberg
A manager at the UK's financial watchdog who sued the regulator for not being allowed to work from home full-time has lost her case at a London court. Elizabeth Wilson, a £140,000-a-year senior manager, sued the Financial Conduct Authority at a UK employment tribunal after her request to work from home permanently was turned down due to her management responsibilities, according to the ruling.
/jlne.ws/3u22aam
Stock exchange regulation and the official price lists of the stock exchanges of Brussels and Antwerp
Johan Poukens, Frans Buelens - University of Antwerp, University of Groningen
To fully understand and exploit the contents of stock exchange official price lists, an in-depth knowledge of local stock exchange regulations and practices is required. This article offers a comparative perspective on price discovery and quotation on the two most important Belgian stock exchanges, Brussels and Antwerp, from their establishment in 1801 up to the reform of 1935.
/jlne.ws/3UpGvE7
Exxon Sues Two ESG Investors; The oil giant says Arjuna Capital and Follow This want Exxon's oil-and-gas business to shrink, putting them at odds with shareholders
Collin Eaton and Paul Kiernan - The Wall Street Journal
Exxon Mobil is suing two sustainable investment firms in a bid to block them from putting forward a shareholder proposal that would commit the oil company to further curb its greenhouse-gas emissions and target its customers' emissions. In a federal lawsuit filed in Texas on Sunday, the Houston-based oil giant said investment firms Arjuna Capital and Follow This became Exxon shareholders only to put forward proposals that would "diminish the company's existing business."
/jlne.ws/4b2RGs7
*****This story from Bloomberg, Financial Times and Reuters.
Outspoken Bank Analyst Bove Retires After Five-Decade Career; Odeon Capital analyst leaves industry at the age of 83; He's been outspoken on housing giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
Bre Bradham, Felice Maranz, and Rick Green - Bloomberg
Banking sector analyst Dick Bove is retiring at age 83, after a career that spanned more than five decades and several bouts of industry turmoil. The Wall Street veteran's departure from Odeon Capital was effective Friday, he said in a call from Lutz, Florida. The analyst - once dubbed a "maverick stock picker" and the "dean of banking analysts" - most recently covered major US banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc.
/jlne.ws/3HtwHRK
European Wheat Shipments Are Bypassing the Suez Canal; Shippers using alternative routes to Asia, Africa rise 42%; Number of cargoes transiting via the Suez Canal are down 40%
Gerson Freitas Jr - Bloomberg
European wheat vessels increasingly are being rerouted to avoid the Suez Canal amid rising security risks in the key trade lane. The share of shipments from the European Union, Ukraine and Russia using alternative routes on their way to Asia and Africa surged to 42% by mid-January from 8% last month, the World Trade Organization said in its wheat dashboard. The number of cargoes transiting via the Suez Canal is down by 40% from a year ago.
/jlne.ws/3O9h8SQ
Vanguard unfazed by boycott calls after it refuses to offer Bitcoin ETFs: 'They won't lose a single 401k plan over it'
Katherine Greifeld - Bloomberg via Fortune
In 2017, legendary investor Jack Bogle famously warned people to "avoid Bitcoin like the plague." More than six years later, Vanguard Group Inc. is still stoking the crypto world's ire by sticking to the conservative investing approach of its late founder. Amid the euphoria unleashed by the long-awaited debut of the first fully fledged Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the US, Vanguard sparked uproar last week with its pointed decision to refuse to offer the new ETFs on its gigantic trading platform.
/jlne.ws/3u27M4q
Why Satoshi Nakamoto is smiling at BlackRock's embrace of Bitcoin
Kathleen Breitman - Fortune
The SEC's recent decision to approve nearly a dozen bitcoin ETFs was hailed as a major win for crypto. But not by everyone. On X/Twitter, a disgruntled faction of the cryptocurrency community cried foul over the alleged heresy of a bitcoin product custodied and marketed by the likes of BlackRock. The most common objection seems to be that "bitcoin doesn't need an ETF" and that using intermediaries to purchase it-particularly ones from Wall Street- perverts the ideal of decentralization.
/jlne.ws/4806BAJ
Even Elon Musk Wants More Power; The billionaire's public demands for another payday are just the latest headache for his bosses
Tim Higgins - The Wall Street Journal
For Elon Musk's bosses at Tesla, the board of directors, it can be hard to know which man might show up for work. Is it the self-described workaholic with little patience for employee work-life balance, or the late-night party animal whose drug use reported this month worries some leaders? Is it the visionary who once said he wanted to be involved with the electric-car maker for "as long as I can be useful," or the CEO who is publicly threatening, as he did this past week, to take his ideas elsewhere unless he gets a giant new payday that gives him more control of Tesla?
/jlne.ws/3S6Bjlt
IRS Struggles to Sort Legitimate From Bogus Tax-Credit Claims; Some businesses are still waiting for lawful refunds under pandemic-era employee-retention tax break
Richard Rubin - The Wall Street Journal
The IRS in September froze processing of new claims for the employee-retention tax credit. The Internal Revenue Service says it is inundated with bogus claims for the pandemic-era employee-retention tax credit. The IRS also says it has valid claims from employers that need the money. The problem: They are all in the same pile. The agency is sifting through more than one million requests for tax refunds from employers around the country to get the money to the right people-and keep it from going to the wrong people. It has been slow going.
/jlne.ws/3U33sN4
The US plan to break Russia's grip on nuclear fuel; Demand for atomic energy is surging but Moscow dominates the world's supplies of enriched uranium
Jamie Smyth and Sarah White - Financial Times
Shortly after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the US banned all imports of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal. But not all energy supplies were included in the US sanctions, nor in those of its European allies. On the contrary, western powers have taken care not to interrupt the flow of raw materials and services from Russia's state-owned nuclear giant Rosatom and its subsidiary Tenex.
/jlne.ws/490jLyk
US regulator hits back at banks over criticism of tougher capital rules; Acting comptroller of the currency says lenders should explain how Basel III will affect buybacks and dividends
Stephen Gandel and Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
A top US regulator has pushed back at banks' claims that stricter capital rules will increase borrowing costs, saying the lenders could always cut dividends and buybacks instead. The comments from Michael Hsu, acting director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, are the latest shot across the bow to banks, which have complained for months about regulators' plans for stricter rules under the so-called Basel III endgame framework.
/jlne.ws/428h9ME
Commodity trader ADM probes accounts and puts finance chief on leave; Shares fall amid investigation into accounting practices at nutrition business
Susannah Savage - Financial Times
US agricultural commodities trader Archer Daniels Midland has placed its chief financial officer on leave and delayed its quarterly earnings release as the group investigates accounting practices in its nutrition business. Vikram Luthar, who has been finance chief since 2022, was put on administrative leave with immediate effect and has been replaced on an interim basis by Ismael Roig, Chicago-based ADM said late on Sunday. ADM, one of a handful of companies that dominate the international trading and processing of grain, said it had launched a probe into accounting practices and procedures in the nutrition business after a request for documents from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
/jlne.ws/3S2NfEW
Finance industry attacks Rome's late additions to markets reform plan; Banks and asset managers say late amendments to proposed overhaul of capital market rules could deter investors
Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli - Financial Times
Banks and asset managers have attacked a series of last-minute changes being proposed by Italy's government to a long-awaited overhaul of the country's capital markets, warning that they could put off foreign investors. Giorgia Meloni's government is about to approve a set of measures designed to improve the appeal of its capital markets, including simpler listing requirements and the option to issue shares with expanded multiple voting rights.
/jlne.ws/3HqTZHZ
Charles Schwab Just Survived a Year From Hell. The Trouble Isn't Over Yet; The stock fell 17% in 2023 and is down again to start the new year
Hannah Miao - The Wall Street Journal
Charles Schwab last year weathered a banking crisis, layoffs and a sharp drop in its stock price. Inside the company, employees are preparing for another uncertain year. The largest publicly traded U.S. brokerage on Wednesday reported a third consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue and profit declines, hit hard by higher interest rates. Net income in 2023 dropped to $5.1 billion, down 29%. Shares fell 17% last year and are down 7% year to date.
/jlne.ws/3vMApmT
The TRADE launches Diversity & Inclusion Survey for 2024; Respondents have until 1 March to provide insights and feedback.
Editors - The Trade
Following the success of the inaugural survey, The TRADE is back for a second year, with a view to understand and analyse the application and implications of industry-wide diversity policies. Diversity and inclusion are crucial to the success, as well as the integrity, of any organisation. Through this survey, we want to understand: How your desk is made up, how could it be improved? What works and what doesn't? How much progress have we made, and how far is there still to go?
/jlne.ws/47N6Rma
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Russia gas terminal burns in suspected drone attack
Andrew Osborn and Maxim Rodionov - Reuters
Russian energy company Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.n The giant Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, is used to ship oil and gas products to international markets. It processes stable gas condensate - a type of light oil - into light and heavy naphtha, kerosene and diesel to be shipped by sea.
/jlne.ws/3OaI4l8
Russia's Cash Inflow Plummeted During Second Year of War; 2023 current account surplus down from previous year's record; Bank of Russia has forecast end-of-year balance of $75 billion
Bloomberg News
Russia's current account surplus slumped in 2023, the first full year under sweeping sanctions imposed by the US and its allies over the invasion of Ukraine that have curbed the country's export revenues. The current account balance - the difference between cash flowing into the country and outflows - amounted to just $50.2 billion last year, dropping from a record $238 billion at the end of 2022, according to preliminary central bank data published on Friday. The decrease was even more than officials expected, and brought the annual surplus to its lowest level since the pandemic that started in 2020.
/jlne.ws/3vSYXuf
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | The Oil Market Is Making Plans for Red Sea Chaos to Last Weeks
Alex Longley, Sherry Su and Bill Lehane - Bloomberg
The oil market is bracing for a weeks-long disruption to shipping in the southern Red Sea, where Houthi militants have for months been attacking merchant vessels in response to Israel's war in Gaza. Airstrikes in Yemen on Jan. 12 by the US and UK have heightened a sense of chaos for ships in the area, especially after western navies subsequently warned vessels to stay away. With the Houthis pledging to strike back against both nations' commercial fleets, numerous owners elected to stay away from a route that normally handles about 12% of global seaborne trade.
/jlne.ws/3Oax9Ik
Hamas official says 'no chance' hostages will return to Israel after Netanyahu rejects deal; The prime minister said he rejected the terms of a deal which included Israel's complete withdrawal from Gaza
Guardian staff and agencies
The prospect of a deal to release the remaining hostages held by Hamas appeared to recede on Sunday after a Hamas official said Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of their conditions meant there was "no chance" of their return. Netanyahu had earlier dismissed the militant group's conditions to end the war, which he said included leaving Hamas in power and Israel's complete withdrawal from the territory.
/jlne.ws/3vNbSxZ
Hamas Toll Thus Far Falls Short of Israel's War Aims, U.S. Says; First known U.S. estimate of Hamas's death toll shows the group's resilience after months of war
Nancy A. Youssef, Jared Malsin and Carrie Keller-Lynn - The Wall Street Journal
Israeli forces have killed 20% to 30% of Hamas's fighters, U.S. intelligence agencies estimate, a toll that falls short so far of Israel's goal of destroying the group and shows its resilience after months of war that have laid swaths of the Gaza Strip to ruin. The U.S. estimate of the group's casualties also found that Hamas still has enough munitions to continue striking Israel and Israeli forces in Gaza for months, and that the group is attempting to reconstitute its police force in parts of Gaza City, according to U.S. officials who confirmed a classified report.
/jlne.ws/3HrcJqE
Yes, Defend Ships in Red Sea, But Tax Them Too; Instead of flying flags of convenience, ship owners should be subject to minimum taxes like everyone else.
Chris Bryant - Bloomberg
Ship owners are diverting vessels thousands of miles round the southern tip of Africa in response to Houthi attacks in the Rea Sea, boosting freight rates from low levels and encouraging investors to bid up shipping stocks. The crisis should draw renewed attention to an industry that mostly operates outside global taxation norms and now expects governments to protect it.
/jlne.ws/3u46y8R
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Brazil's B3 begins operation of cloud-based foreign exchange clearing house; New development comes as part of Brazilian exchange group's aim to stimulate development within the country's interbank market.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Brazilian stock exchange group B3 has begun operating its foreign exchange clearing house with 100% cloud-based infrastructure - in what it claims to be an industry first. The modernisation of its platform comes as part of B3's aim to stimulate development within the country's interbank market through the creation of products and developing new business opportunities.
/jlne.ws/47Hpvfj
NSE is world's largest derivative exchange for 5th consecutive year; NSE Group (National Stock Exchange of India and NSE International Exchange) has once again emerged as the world's largest derivatives exchange group
GK News Service
NSE Group (National Stock Exchange of India and NSE International Exchange) has once again emerged as the world's largest derivatives exchange group in calendar year 2023 by number of contracts traded based on statistics published by Futures Industry Association (FIA), a derivatives trade body. A statement said that National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) is the world's largest derivatives exchange for the fifth consecutive year in 2023. NSE is ranked 3rd in the world in the equity segment by number of trades (electronic order book) in 2023, as per the statistics maintained by World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
/jlne.ws/4aYiKZz
February 2024 Delivery Date Memo - Effective January 19, 2024; Important dates and events through the month relevant to delivery and clearing procedures.
CME Group
Listed below are the relevant delivery dates for the February 2024 contracts for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. ("CME"), Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. ("CBOT"), New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. ("NYMEX"), Commodity Exchange Inc. ("COMEX") and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited ("DME"):
/jlne.ws/3U6UP3R
Australia Day Holiday Operating Hours
FEX Global
Introduction, FEX Global (FGL) operating hours for the market over the Australia Day period are as follows: Change to Normal Operations Thursday 25 January 2024: Night Session Closed (from 2030hrs) Friday 26 January 2024: Closed Monday 29 January 2024: Normal trading recommences at Day session Open (from 1000hrs).
/jlne.ws/428gR8w
Special Change in KOSDAQ 150, etc. for L&F
KRX
KRX will change the constituents of KOSDAQ 150 index and its subordinate indices since L&F(066970) will move from the KOSDAQ market to the KOSPI market. Applied indices : KOSDAQ 150 and other 2 indices. Deletion : L&F(066970) Addition : SERONICS(042600).
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | TRG Screen Announces Acquisition of Xpansion for Reference Data Usage Management; Investment Solidifies TRG Screen's Position as Global Market Leader in Market Data Commercial Management
TRG Screen
TRG Screen, the leading provider of enterprise subscription spend and usage management software, today announced it has acquired Xpansion, the leading provider of cloud-based solutions for reference data usage monitoring in the financial services industry. The acquisition of Xpansion will further solidify TRG Screen's position as a global market leader in market data management solutions.
/jlne.ws/3S89ysP
Tradeweb completes acquisition of algo-based execution technology provider, r8fin; The acquisition was announced last November; r8fin co-founder Assad Fehmy set to join Tradeweb following completion of deal.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
Tradeweb has completed its acquisition of algorithmic technology provider r8fin following the announcement of the deal back in November 2023. r8fin's offering includes a thin-client execution management system (EMS), alongside its suite of algorithmic-based tools. In addition, it has a trading application to facilitate futures and cash trades
/jlne.ws/3Ss1Qv7
Musk denies report his AI company secures $500 million toward $1 billion funding goal
Reuters
Elon Musk has said a report that his artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, has secured $500 million in commitments from investors toward a $1 billion goal is inaccurate. "This is simply not accurate," he said in a reply to a user post about the Bloomberg article on social media platform X.
/jlne.ws/47LlYgb
Altman Seeks to Raise Billions for Network of AI Chip Factories
Ed Ludlow, Dina Bass, Gillian Tan and Rachel Metz - Bloomberg
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, who has been working to raise billions of dollars from global investors for a chip venture, aims to use the funds to set up a network of factories to manufacture semiconductors, according to several people with knowledge of the plans.
/jlne.ws/4b5vpK1
AI Voice-Cloning Startup ElevenLabs Valued at $1.1 Billion; Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia and others invest $80 million in two-year-old startup.
Mark Bergen - Bloomberg
ElevenLabs, a startup that uses artificial intelligence software to replicate voices in more than two dozen languages, has raised a new round of funding that values the two-year-old company north of $1 billion. ElevenLabs said Monday that it raised $80 million in funding led by venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Smash Capital and SV Angel. The company has raised $101 million to date. Chief Executive Officer Mati Staniszewski said the latest financing gives his startup a $1.1 billion valuation.
/jlne.ws/48COJwG
Google DeepMind Scientists in Talks to Leave and Form AI Startup; Team discussing initial financing that may exceed Eur 200 million; Company known for now as Holistic may be focused on AI model
Mark Bergen, Benoit Berthelot, Lizette Chapman, and Sarah McBride - Bloomberg
A pair of scientists at Google DeepMind, the Alphabet Inc. artificial intelligence division, have been talking with investors about forming an AI startup in Paris, according to people familiar with the conversations. The team has held discussions with potential investors about a financing round that may exceed Eur 200 million ($220 million) - a large sum, even for the buzzy field of AI, the people said. Laurent Sifre, who has been working as a scientist at DeepMind, is in talks to form the company, known at the moment as Holistic, with fellow DeepMind scientist Karl Tuyls, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private information. They said the venture may be focused on building a new AI model.
/jlne.ws/48L2l9o
Credit Agricole Takes Stake in Worldline to Bolster Payments; French bank buys 7% stake to stabilize payments partner; Credit Agricole to remain 'long-term minority shareholder'
Francois De Beaupuy - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4aZUfLz
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Without clear guidance, SEC's new rule on incident reporting may be detrimental
Daniel Trauner - Help Net Security
The SEC has instituted a set of guidelines "requiring registrants to disclose material cybersecurity incidents they experience and to disclose on an annual basis material information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance." These new guidelines went into effect on December 18, 2023, which means 2024 will be an important year for enterprises and how they adhere to current security regulations.
/jlne.ws/3vKRFsz
Cybersecurity Attack Attempts More Than Doubled, Increasing 104% in 2023
Business Wire
Armis, the asset intelligence cybersecurity company, today announced The Anatomy of Cybersecurity: A Dissection of 2023's Attack Landscape. The 2023 analysis of Armis' proprietary data offers critical insight into the multifaceted challenges global organizations face when it comes to protecting the entire attack surface. Report findings serve as a blueprint to help security teams worldwide prioritize efforts to reduce cyber risk exposure in 2024.
/jlne.ws/3O92lHV
Zero trust, top key exploited vulnerabilities part of 5th annual cyber cup challenge
Jason Miller - Federal News Network
Whether you are a chief information security officer, a cybersecurity analyst or have nothing to do with securing networks or systems in your day job, if you want to test your mettle against other federal experts, the 5th annual President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition is your opportunity. The federal employee-only contest pits teams of federal employees and individuals from across the civilian, defense and intelligence communities against not just each other, but against the smart folks at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute, which helps CISA develop the contest.
/jlne.ws/3S6WwvQ
Microsoft Says Russia-Linked Group Hacked Employee Emails; Nation-state spies previously conducted cyber-espionage on US; Targeted breaches hit Microsoft executives, cyber team
Dina Bass and Katrina Manson - Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. said a Russian-linked hacking group attacked its corporate systems, getting into a "small number" of email accounts, including those of senior leadership and employees who work in cybersecurity and legal. The company said it's acting immediately to fix older systems, which will probably cause some disruption.
/jlne.ws/4b8Nc2Y
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Owning cryptocurrency is like buying a Beanie Baby, Coinbase lawyer argues
Julia Gomez - USA TODAY
Cryptocurrency is just another version of Beanie Babies, a Coinbase lawyer said in court to argue against classifying the currency as securities. The attorney said crypto is more like collectibles than actual stakes in a company. "It's the difference between buying Beanie Babies Inc. and buying Beanie Babies," said Coinbase attorney William Savitt, according to Bloomberg.
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You can invest in crypto for fun or gold 'out of superstition,' but both lack intrinsic value, says billionaire Howard Marks
Filip De Mott - Business Insider
Investors may have their reasons for choosing between bitcoin and gold, but both assets ultimately lack intrinsic value, billionaire investor Howard Marks said. Speaking on Bloomberg's "Merryn Talks Money" podcast on Thursday, the Oaktree Capital founder discussed a range of topics, including stocks, bonds, monetary policy, and private equity. Then he host last pressed him to opine on crypto and gold.
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Do you have to pay taxes on crypto? What to know about bitcoin, digital assets when filing
Russ Wiles - Arizona Republic
The first cryptocurrencies were launched 15 years ago, and over that short time frame these digital assets have attracted more than $1 trillion in investments, according to some estimates. "Virtual currency is now so mainstream it cannot be ignored," said the National Association of Tax Professionals in a recent commentary. The Internal Revenue Service certainly isn't turning a blind eye and in recent years has required taxpayers to certify whether they have engaged in cryptocurrency trading.
/jlne.ws/3u1Yx4k
Bankman-Fried's FTX to get bankruptcy examiner to probe collapse - US appeals court
Jonathan Stempel - Reuters
A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the appointment of an independent bankruptcy examiner to investigate the Nov. 2022 collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange once led by the convicted Sam Bankman-Fried. Reversing a lower ruling, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia agreed with a government watchdog that appointing an examiner was mandatory under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code because of the large size of FTX's case, including the alleged misappropriation of $10 billion of customer assets.
/jlne.ws/3U6pCy0
Crypto's Terraform Files for Bankruptcy as Do Kwon Awaits Fate; Singapore-based Terraform files for bankruptcy in Delaware; Kwon's lawyer has said he may soon be extradited to the US
Suvashree Ghosh - Bloomberg
The Terraform Labs Pte. digital-asset business co-founded by Do Kwon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. The company's estimated assets and liabilities are both in the range of $100 million to $500 million, while the number of creditors is between 100 and 199, according to court documents filed in Delaware on Sunday.
/jlne.ws/48XDwXa
Crypto Diehards Say #BoycottVanguard on Bogle-Inspired ETF Snub; Asset management giant eschews Bitcoin exchange-traded funds; Digital currency enthusiasts on social media are up in arms
Katie Greifeld - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3HuY1z4
How to Choose Which Bitcoin ETF to Buy; The funds that started trading recently are all designed to track the price of the largest cryptocurrency, but experts say investors should consider a few factors before picking one.
Claire Ballentine - Bloomberg
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Limitarianism: why we need to put a cap on the super-rich; In this extract from her new book, Dutch political philosopher Ingrid Robeyns proposes a three-pronged plan of action to tackle extreme wealth concentration and reduce inequality
Ingrid Robeyns - The Guardian
In 2022, Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, was ranked first in the billionaires list published by the US business magazine Forbes. Suppose you worked 50 hours a week between the ages of 20 and 65 - week in week out, year in year out - how much would your hourly wage need to be so that by the end you had amassed Musk's wealth? The answer is: $1,871,794 per hour. Almost two million dollars per hour. Every working hour for 45 years.
/jlne.ws/3Stw80C
Substack's Nazi Problem Exposes a Business-Model Problem
Joshua Brustein - Bloomberg
Every company that allows people to post things on the internet, it seems, will have its Nazi moment. It usually starts when someone calls attention to extremist content on the platform. This quickly leads to demands that it remove the worst stuff in the name of decency and public safety - and that it leave it up in the defense of free speech. Substack Inc., the online newsletter startup, has been in its Nazi moment since late November, when the Atlantic ran an article about White nationalist newsletters the service publishes. Writers and readers complained, and some high-profile Substackers promised to leave.
/jlne.ws/42anLtL
Trump's 2016 Win Shook Markets. Traders Won't Get Fooled Again.
Bloomberg
Donald Trump's surprise victory in the 2016 presidential election delivered a shock to financial markets. If he manages to secure a second one, traders will - if anything - be far more prepared. Trump seems to be on a quicker path to the nomination than eight years ago, when he didn't lock it down until May. And polls show it would likely be a close contest between him and President Joe Biden, a shift from his long-shot status in 2016.
/jlne.ws/47HMLd9
A Trump Win Could Be Great for Crypto. Or Not.
Joe Light - Barron's
Donald Trump this week said he'd never allow the government to release its own digital currency. But what the crypto industry really might like is for the former president to halt the current White House's aggressive enforcement actions. There are reasons to doubt whether that would happen, even in a second Trump administration.
/jlne.ws/426l1O5
Donald Trump Is the Latest Republican to Use CBDCs as a Dog Whistle
Ben Schiller - CoinDesk
With Donald Trump romping to victory in Iowa's caucus on Monday and taking the stump in New Hampshire, the next primary battleground, "45" made a strong statement about digital currency: he's against it. At least the government-issued kind, in the form of a central bank digital currency (CBDC):
/jlne.ws/3UpdIj1
Wall Street Donors Plan Haley Fundraiser After New Hampshire; Druckenmiller, Kravis, and Langone listed as NYC event hosts; Haley plans fundraising swing through Florida, California
Stephanie Lai and Amanda L Gordon - Bloomberg
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China's Premier Calls for Better Measures to Arrest Stock Rout
Evelyn Yu - Bloomberg
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Modi's Grand Hindu Temple Plan Creates Winners in Stock Market; Shares of hotels, tech infra providers to Ayodhya have jumped; Temple city's state set for infra-driven growth, Franklin says
Ashutosh Joshi and Alex Gabriel Simon - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | CEO Sentenced for Transnational "Cherry-Picking" Scheme Involving Foreign Exchange and Cryptocurrency Futures Contracts
Department of Justice
A chief executive officer of an investment firm was sentenced today to two years in prison followed by one year and six months of home confinement and ordered to forfeit approximately $1.6 million for a "cherry-picking" scheme, in which he fraudulently misappropriated profitable trades to himself and saddled his investors with losses. According to court documents, Peter Kambolin, 48, a U.S.-Russian national of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, was the owner and chief executive officer of Systematic Alpha Management LLC (SAM), an investment firm that Kambolin marketed as offering algorithmic trading strategies involving futures contracts. Established in 2007, by 2011, SAM had more than $720 million in assets under management. Between January 2019 and November 2021, Kambolin, who at the time was a commodity trading advisor and a commodity pool operator, engaged in a cherry-picking scheme in which he fraudulently allocated profits and losses from futures trades in a manner designed to benefit his own accounts unfairly at the expense of his clients.
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New CFTC Enforcement Policy Increases Penalties to Deter Recidivists
Brittany Harwood, Brian Howard II, Karina Pereira, Ephraim Wernick - Vinson & Elkins LLP
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC" or "Commission") - the federal agency tasked with regulating the U.S. derivatives markets, which includes futures, swaps and certain kinds of options - has recently taken significant steps to address a persistent issue of recidivist behavior in the financial industry. Over recent years, the agency has observed a pattern where various entities, ranging from individual offenders to large institutions, repeatedly violate the same regulations. This behavior persists because the penalties for such violations are perceived as insufficient to deter it effectively.
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CFTC Charges Bogus Digital Asset Platform with Fraud and Misappropriation in an Online Romance Scam; Five Victims Lost $2.3 Million to Con Targeting Asian Americans
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona against Debiex. The complaint alleges Debiex used popular romance scam tactics to fraudulently misappropriate $2.3 million in customer funds intended for digital asset commodity trading. The CFTC's complaint alleges Debiex's unidentified officers and/or managers cultivated friendly or romantic relationships with potential customers by communicating falsehoods to gain trust, and then solicited them to open and fund trading accounts with Debiex. From approximately March 2022 through the present, it's alleged Debiex accepted and misappropriated approximately $2.3 million from approximately five customers as part of this scheme.
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Commissioner Mersinger to Participate on a Panel at the ABA Business Law Section's Derivatives and Futures Law Committee Winter Meeting
CFTC
Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger will participate on a panel, Digital Assets: What's in Store for the Future, at the ABA Business Law Section's Derivatives and Futures Law Committee Winter Meeting.
/jlne.ws/3Ho0DyH
Staff Statement on Rule 6c-11(c)(1)(i)(C) Regarding Description of Foreign Currency Holdings
SEC
With this statement, the Division of Investment Management ("Division" or "Staff") provides its views regarding exchange-traded funds' ("ETFs") disclosure of foreign currency holdings on their website as needed to comply with the daily portfolio holdings disclosure requirements of Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 ("Act").
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SFC regulatory symposium to debut in late February
Securities and Futures Commission
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is pleased to announce it will host the inaugural SFC Regional Securities Regulatory Leadership Symposium in Hong Kong on 28 February 2024.
/jlne.ws/3HzJHoF
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | The inventor of the market's most famous recession indicator is confident the inverted yield curve is accurately calling a slowdown in 2024
Phil Rosen - Business Insider
Wall Street has ramped up its soft-landing calls for 2024, but a renowned economic expert who popularized the most famous recession indicator in markets says to expect a downturn this year.nCampbell Harvey is a Canadian economist and researcher at Duke University whose work showed that, for decades, an inverted yield curve - that is, when short-term Treasury yields exceed the yield on longer-term government bonds - has preceded as US recession.
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How to Trade Futures; Futures allow market participants to hedge bets or speculate on potential price moves. Here, we look at how to trade futures and why you might want to.
Will Ashworth - Kiplingers
You have to learn to walk before you can run. The same applies to investors wanting to know how to trade futures. Before trading these derivatives securities, eager beginners should understand what futures are, how they work and why both professional and experienced retail investors use them.
/jlne.ws/3HqXiP4
They Thought Their Money Was in High-Interest Accounts-They Got Paid Peanuts; Capital One says its savings account pays 4.35%, but not all customers are getting that
Rachel Louise Ensign - The Wall Street Journal
David Fucillo built up his emergency fund over the years with direct deposits into a savings account at Capital One Financial with above-average interest rates. Last fall, he realized the account was no longer paying him much of anything, even though broader rates were up dramatically. The 44-year-old editorial-content manager's five-figure balance was earning just 0.3%. "I probably missed out on over $1,000 a year," he says.
/jlne.ws/3S6PDL0
Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom; Deeper Hong Kong selloff shows global pessimism about China; Disappointing growth recovery and measured stimulus sour mood
Bloomberg News
A rout in Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong intensified Monday, pushing their discount to mainland peers to the deepest in fifteen years in the latest sign of growing pessimism among international investors. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 2.4%, inching closer to a level last seen almost two decades ago, while the onshore benchmark CSI 300 Index finished 1.6% lower. As a result, a gauge tracking mainland stocks' price gaps versus their dual listings in Hong Kong reached the widest since 2009 - implying a 36% discount for the offshore market.
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Keeping a Midlife Crisis From Wrecking Your Retirement Plan; Entering your 40s can throw you into an emotional tailspin - one that may lead you to spend more and jeopardize your nest egg.
Juli Fraga - The New York Times
The midlife crisis is easy to poke fun at - especially if it's someone else's. The stereotype, as portrayed in movies and on TV, is familiar: A middle-aged man has a meltdown upon turning 40 and ditches his wife for a younger woman and a sports car. Or maybe just the car.
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The Market Has Had a Fabulous Run, but This Peak Doesn't Really Matter; Compound returns that grow as stocks rise over the decades are far more important than the latest high, our columnist says.
Jeff Sommer - The New York Times
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Investors Pull Billions From Sustainable Funds Amid Political Heat; A new report showed that $13 billion was withdrawn last year from funds that invest in companies with environmental, social and governance principles.
Bernhard Warner - The New York Times
The money flowing out of funds that invest in companies with environmental, social and governance principles has gone from a trickle to a torrent as investors sour on a sector hit by green-washing concerns, red-state boycotts and boardroom debates. The investing strategy has become increasingly politicized after being used by companies to address E.S.G. issues among their employees, customers and other stakeholders. In a sign of the times, the phrase has been scrubbed from the World Economic Forum's official program in Davos, Switzerland, after being on the agenda in previous years.
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US Supreme Court ruling on agency powers may impact Biden ESG investing rule
Daniel Wiessner - Reuters
An impending U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could curb the regulatory powers of federal agencies may play a critical role in a challenge by Republican-led states to a rule issued by President Joe Biden's administration allowing socially conscious investing by employee retirement plans, according to a new court filing. The 26 states, led by Utah and Texas, asked a U.S. appeals court late on Thursday to wait to decide whether to block the U.S. Department of Labor rule until the Supreme Court issues its decision on agency powers, expected by the end of June.
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Fightback Against Anti-ESG Agenda and Investment Bans in US
Kate Birch - Sustainability
Weaponising of the Term ESG and the Anti-ESG Movement is Damaging the US Economy
Kyle Herrig, Spokesperson for Unlocking America's Future, on Fighting Back Against the Anti-ESG Agenda That Sees US States Banning Responsible Investing. As counter-intuitive as it may sound, 2023 saw a sharp spike of ESG pushback in the US. Not just gentle pushback or difference of opinion, but in some instances banks and financial institutions were 'banned' for taking a stance against fossil fuels and other social impact initiatives. These were giants of the financial industry, including BackRock, which saw several states shun them as managers of their state retirement assets because of the firm's association with using ESG considerations in its investing.
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To Cut Food Waste, Supermarkets Turn to AI to Sell Near-Expired Goods; Too Good To Go, an app that offers consumers cheap "surprise bags" of unsold food, is launching a new tool to help supermarkets discount expiring items.
Sanne Wass - Bloomberg
Supermarkets are missing out on untapped revenue from selling food that's about to expire, as store workers waste hours searching for short-dated products and discounting them by hand. At least that's the pitch from Too Good To Go, an eight-year-old Danish company that cut its teeth addressing restaurant food waste and is now turning to grocery stores' soon-to-expire goods.
/jlne.ws/47EXncV
Another Hot, Dry Summer May Push Parts of Texas to the Brink; Some areas are starting the year with low water reserves, and forecasters don't expect substantial relief from the weather.
Dylan Baddour - Inside Climate News
Two consecutive summers of brutal heat and drought have left some parts of Texas with notably low water supplies going into 2024. A rainy year or a well-placed hurricane could quickly pull these regions back from the brink. But as big winter storms fail to materialize, prospects of relief are fading. Increasingly, forecasters expect another scorcher here this year.
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Iceland's Erupting Volcano Is a Disaster Warning to Others; The climate crisis means preparing for what Mother Earth throws at us is all the more important.
Lara Williams - Bloomberg
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Freezing Weather Is Knocking Out Millions of Barrels of US Oil Output; Extreme cold disrupts natural gas systems linked to wells; North Dakota sees 'long, slow recovery' from frigid weather
Robert Tuttle and Lucia Kassai - Bloomberg
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Scotland's Salmon Farms Navigate Troubled Waters for Global Industry; Despite booming demand, mass fish die-offs have made the business almost impossible to scale sustainably.
Dasha Afanasieva and Stephen Treloar - Bloomberg
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Japan Inc.'s plans to cut emissions fall short of 2030 national target; Companies to reduce greenhouse gases 40%, coming in under government's 46% goal
Shunsuke Ushigome - Nikkei
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UK watchdog confirms scrapping of tougher company internal controls
Huw Jones - Reuters
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An insult': Mayors, scientists, and economists join last ditch call to halt North Sea oil legislation
Cecilia Keating - Business Green
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Warren Buffett Tells Citi CEO to Continue Overhaul, Reuters Says
Yi Wei Wong - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser said billionaire investor Warren Buffett had urged her to continue with the bank's reorganization efforts during a recent lunch meeting, Reuters reported. Fraser told managing directors on Thursday about her conversation with Buffett, according to the report. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., one of Citigroup's largest shareholders, confirmed the lunch took place but declined to provide details about the conversation, Reuters said.
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Wall Street Banks Want to Lure Back Loan Deals Lost to Private Credit; Bankers are drawing up deal wish lists, people familiar said; Direct lenders and banks seen competing on refinancing rates
Eleanor Duncan, Kat Hidalgo, and Silas Brown - Bloomberg
Investment banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Plc are seeking to poach back leveraged finance deals that were snapped up by direct lenders when markets were more volatile, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
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This Neat UBS Trick Could Kickstart European Bank Deals; More flexibility in assaying assets could remove an impediment to industry consolidation.
Paul J. Davies - Bloomberg
Everyone agrees that Deutsche Bank AG has little chance of executing a big bank takeover in anything like the near term. There are lots of hurdles: The lack of a single European banking market makes it hard to generate efficiencies from cross-border deals; the profits in German finance remain uninspiring no matter how big you are; and Deutsche Bank's own weak valuation makes its shares a poor acquisition currency. Then there's another hurdle that's bigger than all of these. But it has a clear solution - one that helped UBS Group AG's takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG las year.
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Morgan Stanley Pays Gorman $37 Million for Final Year as CEO; Former CEO handed the reins to Ted Pick earlier this month; The increase follows a 10% pay reduction the previous year
Daniel Taub - Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley increased James Gorman's compensation 17% for his final year as chief executive officer, boosting his pay to $37 million. Three-fourths of Gorman's bonus will be paid in deferred stock over three years, the New York-based firm said in a regulatory filing Friday. On top of his $1.5 million base salary, he received a cash bonus of just under $9 million.
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ING Chief to Sell On More Loans to Cut Dependence on Rates
Cagan Koc and Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
ING Groep NV Chief Executive Officer Steven van Rijswijk plans to sell on more of the corporate loans the lender underwrites to boost fee revenue and reduce its dependence on traditional savings and loan businesses.
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Citadel Joins Hedge Fund Peers Cutting Back Trading on Index Changes
Nishant Kumar - Bloomberg
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Fund Pros Burned in AI Surge Are Giving Up on Active Management; Active-share ratio drops to lowest in a decade, BofA data show; Smallest pool of winning stocks in decades poses big challenge
Lu Wang - Bloomberg
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Hedge Funds Rake in Huge Profits Betting on Catastrophe Risk; Insurance-linked securities behind 2023's best hedge fund play; Weather, inflation delivered the perfect cocktail last year
Sheryl Tian Tong Lee and Gautam Naik - Bloomberg
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Chris Hohn's TCI Tops Hedge-Fund Rankings With $12.9 Billion Haul for 2023
Caitlin McCabe - The Wall Street Journal
The hedge-fund industry had a solid 2023. For a few, it was a standout year. TCI Fund Management, the London-based activist hedge-fund manager helmed by billionaire Chris Hohn, made $12.9 billion for investors last year, according to LCH Investments.
/jlne.ws/3tZnJbL
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Fancy a job in AI, DEI or ESG? Two-thirds of America's fastest growing professions didn't exist 20 years ago - here are the 15 most booming careers, according to LinkedIn; New list ranks the fastest-growing professions in the US over the last five years. Many of the new jobs revolve around AI, diversity, equity, and inclusion and ESG.
Neirin Gray Desai - Dailymail.Com
More than two-thirds of the fastest-growing professions didn't exist at all twenty years ago. Vice president of diversity and inclusion, artificial intelligence consultant and sustainability analyst are jobs that have become increasingly common in recent years, according to new data from LinkedIn. The social media platform this week released its 'Jobs on the Rise' list - a ranking of the 25 fastest-growing job titles in the US over the past five years.
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Crying at Work and Other Experiments in Emotion; A member of a laboratory team wants her colleagues to share their feelings on the job.
Roxane Gay - The New York Times
Full Selves or Intact Boundaries? I am a young, female professor in a male-dominated field, and I lead a lab group of graduate and undergraduate students (with an approximately 50-50 gender mix). Recently, one of my younger lab members confronted me about how she feels she can't be her full self at work, in part because she doesn't feel comfortable crying publicly in our lab space. She also said she thinks we should talk about our feelings and share more about our personal lives. I believe people should be able to bring their full selves to the office. I also place a lot of value on having a positive, healthy lab group dynamic. However, personal-professional boundaries exist for a reason, and as a young woman, I am especially mindful of the importance of establishing these boundaries for myself and my students.
/jlne.ws/4b5gqQi
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | A Promising Turn in the Quest to Treat Long Covid; A new study on people with lingering viral symptoms contains clues scientists can use to develop new tests and treatments.
Lisa Jarvis - Bloomberg
A new study published this week in Science makes a compelling case that people with long Covid have a chronic imbalance in their immune response. The findings don't explain why that immune response is out of whack, and needs confirming in larger studies. Still, this is important new piece to the vexing puzzle that is long Covid.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China's population time bomb is about to explode
Matthew Henderson - The New York Times
In his 2024 New Year message, Xi Jinping stated that the post-Covid Chinese economy had "sustained the momentum of recovery" and that all Chinese people, including in Taiwan, should share in the "glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation". Both these leaden phrases are fantasy. However confident Xi may feel in his autocratic grip on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), he seemingly lacks both the vision and means to reverse China's slide into a classic middle-income trap. The CCP's expected economic bounce-back after the pandemic has not materialised; IMF forecasts are bleak. For 60 years, the Chinese population grew; we now learn it is beginning to contract. The death rate last year was the highest since 1974, when China was wracked by the chaos of Mao's Cultural Revolution. But even more alarming, the 2023 birth rate fell by 5.7%, the lowest recorded in CCP history
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Nickel Price Crash Seen Extending Indonesia's Grip on Supply; BHP reviews Australia assets as First Quantum halts mine; Metal used in stainless steel and batteries extends losses
Annie Lee - Bloomberg
A prolonged slump in nickel prices is stress-testing producers worldwide, raising the prospect of sweeping mine closures that will deepen Indonesia's dominance of global supply. The metal used in stainless steel and electric-vehicle batteries is down more than 40% from a year ago amid a growing global glut. That's piling pressure on higher-cost operations and could pose the greatest risk to new projects outside Indonesia.
/jlne.ws/3ObX3LO
Russian Oil Processing Falls Further After Norsi Refinery Mishap; Volumes dropped to 5.5 million barrels a day from Jan. 11-17; Norsi significantly cut gasoline output after unit was damaged
Bloomberg News
Russia's oil-processing volumes declined further, led by a loss in output from Lukoil PJSC's Norsi refinery. The nation processed 5.5 million barrels of crude a day from Jan. 11 to Jan. 17, down about 11,000 barrels a day from the average during the first 10 days of the month, according to a person with knowledge of industry data. That's also almost 38,000 barrels a day lower than volumes through most of December, Bloomberg calculations show.
/jlne.ws/47M8gd1
Russia Becomes Top China Oil Supplier for First Time Since 2018; Chinese imports of the crude up by almost a quarter last year; Figures show ineffectiveness of Western-imposed price cap
Bloomberg News
Russia blew past Saudi Arabia to become the biggest source of Chinese oil imports last year, highlighting the ineffectiveness of Western efforts to deprive the Kremlin of funds for its war in Ukraine. The world's biggest oil importer bought a record 107 million tons of crude from Russia in 2023, almost a quarter more than the year before, according to customs data released Monday. That compared with just under 86 million tons from Saudi Arabia. It's the first time Russia has been China's No. 1 supplier since 2018, and translates to around 2.15 million barrels a day.
/jlne.ws/48F2UkX
Investment Bankers Are Starting to See Mexico as a Money Spinner; BofA, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs issue upbeat forecasts; But Mexico has a history of squandering economic opportunities
Cristiane Lucchesi and Michael O'Boyle - Bloomberg
For years, Mexico was an afterthought among investment bankers, a perennial underperformer overshadowed by Brazil. Not anymore. Suddenly there's growing conviction on Wall Street that the country is on the cusp of a breakout, if it can avoid squandering the opportunity. Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. all predict investment banking revenue from Mexico will jump this year. Banco Santander SA, the top local bond underwriter last year, will invest $1.5 billion to beef up technology for retail clients. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said his bank has "doubled or tripled" capital in the country over the past six years and sees a "great" outlook for growth.
/jlne.ws/3UccK9s
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Sports Illustrated's Entire Staff Told Their Jobs Have Been Eliminated After Authentic Brands Revokes License To Publish; Union Vows To "Fight For Every One Of Our Colleagues"
Dade Hayes and Ted Johnson - Deadline
Following through on a warning earlier this month, Authentic Brands Group has revoked Sports Illustrated's license to publish due to a missed payment. As a result of the move, the entire staff of the 70-year-old print and online publication was notified on Friday that their jobs were being eliminated. "We appreciate the work and efforts of everyone who has contributed to the SI brand and business," SI operator The Arena Group wrote in a memo to employees that set off outrage on social media. In a statement, Sports Illustrated Union and The NewsGuild of New York vowed to "fight for every one of our colleagues." The Arena Group, which has operated the venerable brand under a license agreement since 2019, said in an SEC filing earlier this month that it did not make a quarterly payment of about $3.75 million.
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This Private College Has Been on Its Deathbed-for 15 Years; Birmingham-Southern seeks new Alabama lifeline as city pushes to avoid closing of campus
Melissa Korn - The Wall Street Journal
When Alabama's legislative session opens next month, Daniel Coleman has one goal: persuade lawmakers to keep his college alive. Again. Coleman is president of Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal arts school in Birmingham, Ala. It had 731 students in the fall-less than half its peak enrollment-and expects even fewer for the spring semester.
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