| August 09, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Neil Lustyk is retiring from the CME Group after almost 22 years at the exchange group and 45 years in the industry. Neil was my supervisor on the CBOT trading floor in 1981 when we worked for Shearson American Express. Neil is also a former floor broker at the CBOT. He worked in the CME's GCC for a long time, and more recently was put in charge of the CME's trading floor staff at 141 West Jackson, about 200 feet away from where he started. I thank Neil for his leadership, friendship, his contributions of interns to the World of Opportunity program, his support of our GoFundMe campaign and his perseverance in this dynamically changing industry.
Remember when oil traded below zero? Did you see the story we ran yesterday from The New York Times titled "This Texas Energy Is So Bountiful, They Pay You to Take It Away"? The story says: "Natural gas has traded below zero for much of the year in West Texas, home to the country's largest oil field, the Permian Basin. Companies operating in the region are drilling primarily for crude oil, but natural gas typically comes out of the ground with that oil - so much of it that on some days, drillers run out of places to store the gas or the pipeline capacity to send it to the Gulf Coast or California, where there is demand for it."
Did you know that the CME changed its management structure in 1953, creating the position of chairman and two vice chairmen and designating the president as the principal operating officer of the exchange? Previously, the executive vice president was the chief operating officer and the president the chairman of the board of governors. Also, under the new setup, the exchange had a paid president for the first time.
Alexa Koike's position has evolved to marketing and education manager at MIAX Exchange Group, she shared on LinkedIn.
I have not paid too much attention to trends in spirits sales, though I did notice the one in flavored vodka as my corner liquor store had cases upon cases of it stacked up by the front door. This is normally a sign the owner got a good deal as a wholesaler is trying to offload inventory that is not moving. Bloomberg has a story about Cognac sales versus tequila. Bloomberg reports US consumers are shifting from Cognac to tequila, according to Morgan Stanley analysts, leading the bank to advise selling shares of Remy Cointreau SA. Cognac has been the weakest performing spirit in the US over the past 12-18 months, particularly among lower-income consumers. The slowdown in economic growth and post-pandemic demand has further impacted sales. As a result, Remy Cointreau's shares have dropped 52% over the past year, underperforming other European beverage stocks.
This weekend is the Williams Bay Lions Club Corn & Brat Roast weekend in Williams Bay, Wisconsin and my whole family is coming to town for the event. It is their favorite weekend of the year, with the sweetcorn freshly picked from the fields that day, live music and fireworks on Saturday night.
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:
- Wall Street Engineers Invent a New Head-Spinning Options Trade from Bloomberg.
- Unrealized Insurance: The Futures Industry's Missed Opportunity for FDIC-Like Protection in 1973 from John Lothian News.
- Agricultural Futures: Navigating the Fields: Futures Discovery EP 12 from John Lothian News. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Unrealized Insurance: The Futures Industry's Missed Opportunity for FDIC-Like Protection in 1973
JohnLothianNews.com
Did you know the futures industry almost had insured customer accounts akin to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in banking when the CFTC was first proposed in 1973? I ran across this fact while working on MarketsWiki.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act of 1974 was a landmark piece of legislation that fundamentally reshaped the regulation of the U.S. futures markets. One of the most intriguing aspects of the original proposal was Title III, which aimed to establish a Federal Commodity Account Insurance Corporation (FCAIC). This entity would have functioned similarly to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), providing insurance for customer accounts in the futures industry. However, this proposal never came to fruition.
Read more »
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 Agricultural Futures: Navigating the Fields: Futures Discovery EP 12 JohnLothianNews.com Today, we're delving into the intricate world of Agricultural Futures-a realm shaped by the rhythm of nature and the pulse of global markets. In this episode, we'll explore the quantitative challenges that traders face in the real world. It's not just about numbers on a screen; it's about the unpredictable nature of weather, critical data in crop reports, and the global dance of trade policies. Watch the video »
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The risks of pooled investments; The interests of investors and asset managers are difficult to align
Satyajit Das - Financial Times
All investors are equal, but some, especially wealthy and large ones, are more equal. This derives, in part, from the pooling structures - mutual funds, units trusts limited partnerships or equivalents - through which investments are held. These structures facilitate access to specific assets, investor participation, scale economies and professional management. There is an economic trade-off between returns and additional expenses. But pooling creates several risks. First, the interests of investors and asset managers are difficult to align. Management fees are on assets under management, driving a focus on attracting inflows rather than returns or risk.
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***** The risk of pooled investments is that you will often find them underwater, near the bottom of the pool. Or if you are lucky enough to find yourself floating near the top of the pool, you will find it is not a Baby Ruth candy bar like you thought.~JJL
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Cboe's stock tops CME for first time ever on severe stock market swings
Mark Weinraub - Crain's Chicago Business
Cboe's stock price this week vaulted above its larger rival CME Group's for the first time, with wild swings in the stock market driving demand for the smaller exchange's flagship products. "When things go bad, it is good for the Cboe," said Kevin Heal, senior analyst of financial services at Argus Research. "When there is a lot of volatility in the markets, that's what they thrive on." Cboe's share price peaked at an all-time high of $202.67 on Aug. 5, briefly topping CME's as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.6%, notching its biggest decline in two years.
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****** This is the kind of correlation that would have been fun back in the pit trading days but is largely irrelevant for two firms with huge differences in capitalization. ~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top clicked item Thursday was the White House's page for Nominations and Withdrawals Sent to the Senate, which included President Biden's nomination of Julie Brinn Siegel to serve as a commissioner of the CFTC, replacing Christy Goldsmith Romero. Second was the list of professionals at Dentons, the global law firm that just hired Acting CFTC Chairman Mark Wetjen as a partner. Third was Bloomberg's Wall Street Engineers Invent a New Head-Spinning Options Trade, about Cboe's plans to launch options on VIX futures.
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| Lead Stories | Nasdaq Has Hundreds of Penny Stocks. Now It's Trying to Purge Them; Exchange comes under pressure for allowing risky companies to remain listed through reverse stock splits
Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
Nasdaq is taking steps to purge itself of dubious companies whose shares trade below $1 each, following criticism that the exchange has become home to hundreds of risky penny stocks. Proposed rule changes released by Nasdaq on Thursday could accelerate the delisting of such companies as Bit Brother, a tiny Chinese blockchain company that became an embarrassment to the exchange during the past year.Starting in 2020, Bit Brother carried out three reverse splits to keep its share price above $1, allowing it to maintain its Nasdaq listing, even as its share price sank more than 99% after adjusting for the splits. The stock drew attention in late December when it experienced a wild surge in trading volume, fueled by individual meme-stock investors and social-media buzz.
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CFTC Obtains $12.7 Billion Judgment Against FTX and Alameda; Restitution and Disgorgement Damages to Pay Fraud Victims
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order of permanent injunction and other equitable relief against FTX Trading Ltd. and Alameda Research LLC (together, FTX) and ordered FTX to pay $12.7 billion in monetary relief to FTX customers and victims of FTX's fraud. The order requires FTX to pay $8.7 billion in restitution and $4 billion in disgorgement, which will be used to further compensate victims for losses suffered as a result of the massive fraudulent scheme orchestrated by Samuel Bankman-Fried, his now-bankrupt FTX group of companies, and a core group of FTX insiders. [See CFTC Press Release Nos. 8638-22, 8644-22, 8669-23].
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Did summer holidays make this week's market turmoil worse? A global stock sell-off in the dog days of August disrupted getaways and left junior traders to deal with the crisis alone
George Steer - Financial Times
Market convulsions that briefly wiped more than $1tn from Japan's main stock index and sent shares in megacap tech groups plummeting have been blamed on a cocktail of factors, from the unwinding of the yen carry trade to fears of an impending US recession. But for those managing the rout, the crisis was shaped by a seasonal workplace quirk: summer holidays. Senior investors scrambled to respond to the global sell-off from their holiday homes, and junior traders struggled to keep up with the unfolding chaos as markets plunged then recovered this week. Those left at their desks said a lack of liquidity - the volume of money shifting around world financial markets, slowed by thin staffing over the holidays - made the market ructions worse.
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Trump's Plans Stir Fears for Fed Independence, Inflation; In Donald Trump's first term, Fed Chair Jerome Powell resisted his demands to lower rates, but if re-elected, Trump could replace him in 2026
Andrew Restuccia and Nick Timiraos - The Wall Street Journal
Donald Trump's assertion that as president he should have more say over how the Federal Reserve sets interest rates would, if carried out, reverse a longstanding custom by which the central bank enjoys political autonomy to fight inflation with often unpopular rate increases. Asked at a Thursday press conference if he should have a say over how the Fed makes interest rate decisions, Trump said, "I feel that the president should have at least [a] say in there, yeah, I feel that strongly." They were the former president's most direct acknowledgment of his longstanding desire to chip away at the central bank's independence.
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How to Cope When the Markets Panic; Take a deep breath and make sure you're well positioned for a potential storm, our columnist says. But stick it out for the long haul.
Jeff Sommer - The New York Times
Time can speed up radically in the markets. It accelerated to supersonic speed over the past week, and you could have gotten whiplash if you tried to keep up with it all. Global stock and bond markets rose and fell and rose again in cascading waves, moving across oceans and time zones. Fears of a recession in the United States mounted, and the Federal Reserve came under pressure to cut interest rates and spur growth. Panic can happen easily in market declines - and it can vanish just as quickly. Late in the week, it was almost as if the seemingly calamitous market whirlwind had never happened.
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Cargill's CEO Shakes Up Business After Profits Miss Goals; Trading giant streamlining to three units from five previously; Company sets new 2030 strategy to strengthen its portfolio
Michael Hirtzer and Isis Almeida - Bloomberg
Cargill Inc. is streamlining its operations after missing profit targets, the first big shakeup Chief Executive Officer Brian Sikes is implementing since taking the helm of the world's largest crop trader. The largest closely held company in the US will reduce the number of business units to three from five as a part of its 2030 strategy, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Less than a third of Cargill's businesses reached their earnings goal in fiscal 2024, the people said.
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Market gyrations reflect fears about the unwinding of QE; The yen carry trade is a symptom not a cause of investor anxiety
Gillian Tett - Financial Times
Last week, before the global market meltdown, three dozen luminaries of American finance gathered for a summer lunch, where they conducted informal polls about the outlook. The results were pretty dull. The majority at the table voted for a so-called "soft landing" for the US economy, with rates of 3-3.5 per cent in a year's time, and a swing of 10 per cent, or less, for stock prices (evenly split between up and down).
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Robinhood's push into futures may not be easy if not free, J.P. Morgan says
Niket Nishant and Manya Saini - Reuters
Robinhood's entry into futures trading this year could be met with some caution by retail traders if it charges a fee, J.P. Morgan analysts said on Thursday. nThe company has not yet disclosed its plans, but orders for futures and options are often costlier to execute than stocks, which could result in it charging a fee to cover additional costs. The product is a crucial step in Robinhood's effort to grow into a full-fledged financial services provider for retail investors looking to dabble in more complex products.
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Coinbase Takes Aim at CFTC's Definition of 'Gaming' in Proposed Prediction Market Rules; Coinbase argues the definition is vague, and urges the CFTC to make determinations on a contract-by-contract basis rather than broad categorization
Sam Reynolds - CoinDesk
Proposed rules by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding prediction markets should be withdrawn because they exceed the commission's statutory authority and ignore the positive impact of prediction markets on the economy, Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase wrote Thursday in a letter to Commissioners. "We firmly believe that this all-or-nothing approach to the treatment of event contracts is not consistent with the promotion of responsible innovation and growth in regulated, transparent markets with appropriate safeguards to protect market integrity and protect customers," Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, wrote in the letter.
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Jump Trading's wallets under scrutiny after nasty crypto selloff
Olga Kharif, Muyao Shen, Katherine Doherty and Ryan Weeks - Bloomberg via Crain's Chicago Business
As crypto investors nurse their wounds following a nasty selloff early in the week, many traders are scrutinizing the wallets of Jump Trading in search of answers. The value of cryptocurrencies held by digital wallets believed to belong to Jump dropped by around $247 million in total between August 4 and 8, according to data from wallet tracker Arkham. In recent weeks, Jump has sent hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Ether to the so-called hot wallets of exchanges such as Binance, OKX and Coinbase, according to the researcher. A move to a hot wallet often suggests an owner is planning to sell.
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Wall Street Bonus Watcher Says Some Payouts Will Jump Up to 35%; Debt underwriting may be big winner, Johnson Associates says; Rebounding demand for deals and rising stock prices get credit
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
After two lackluster years, Wall Street bonuses are poised to jump in virtually every sector of the industry, with debt underwriting likely to be the biggest winner. Bankers who help companies sell debt may see payouts swell as much as 35%, as deals pick up and capital markets rebound from multiyear lows, according to a report Thursday from compensation consultant Johnson Associates Inc. Equity underwriters are close behind, with gains of as much as 30% predicted.
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Japan Issued Its First 'Megaquake' Warning After Powerful Tremor; Government warns public after earthquake on Thursday; Prime Minister Kishida cancels planned trip to Central Asia
Shoko Oda - Bloomberg
An earthquake off the coast of Japan's southern island of Kyushu prompted the government to issue its first-ever warning for a megaquake from an undersea trough running along a swath of the country's coast. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called off a planned trip to Central Asia out of an abundance of caution following the warning. Bullet trains were running at reduced speeds, national broadcaster NHK is running cautionary graphics and some semiconductor-related factories temporarily halted production. Some beaches in the affected regions have been closed off for the time being, according to local reports.
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Sanford Robertson, tech financier, 1931-2024; Silicon Valley banker sensed technology's potential early and underwrote companies that became household names
Sujeet Indap - Financial Times
Sanford "Sandy" Robertson, the pioneering Silicon Valley financier whose initial public offerings helped turn a sleepy Northern California peninsula into a global economic powerhouse, has died at age 93.Robertson was one of the earliest bankers to sense the potential of technological innovations emerging from the suburbs south of San Francisco in the 1970s and 1980s, at a time when major New York investment banks evinced little interest in the high-risk and little-known inventions that would come to dominate every aspect of modern life.
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Mozambique's former finance minister convicted in $2bn 'tuna bonds' case; Manuel Chang was accused of taking $7mn in bribes in scandal linked to loans from Credit Suisse and VTB Capital
Joe Miller - Financial Times
A former finance minister of Mozambique has been found guilty of accepting $7mn in bribes as part of what became known as the "tuna bonds" scandal, and underwriting a series of bogus investments that ultimately imploded and wrecked the country's economy.
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China names and shames buyers of its government bonds; Authorities are trying to push yields up from record lows after warning of sovereign debt bubble
Cheng Leng and Arjun Neil Alim - Financial Times
China has adopted an unusual tactic to discourage banks from buying government bonds, as authorities try to halt an uncomfortable decline in yields and prevent a bubble forming: naming and shaming the buyers. China's interbank regulatory body this week announced an investigation into four rural commercial banks for "manipulating sovereign bond prices in the secondary market".
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Fireside Friday with... Aviva Investors' Ash Sharma; The TRADE sits down with Ash Sharma, trading analytics manager at Aviva Investors, to unpack the importance of treading the line between specialism and standardisation when it comes to multi-asset data, the most impactful technologies in analytics currently, and how TCA is continuing to evolve.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
When it comes to multi-asset data, how are firms treading the line between specialism and standardisation with vendors? The majority of analytics vendors entered the market as specialists in a particular asset class. Over the years, this has gradually transformed to vendors supporting multiple asset classes at a granular level. As these firms have been enhancing their other offerings, I believe there has been more standardisation in the market where users are starting to consolidate some their analytics providers.
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukrainian drones strike Russian airfield as Kyiv pursues incursion; Offensive is largest on Russian territory since Vladimir Putin's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Christopher Miller - Financial Times
Ukrainian drones struck a military airfield in Russia's Lipetsk region and detonated large amounts of ammunition, while Moscow declared a state of emergency in two regions in the face of Kyiv's most ambitious counter-incursion. The offensive, which raged into a fourth day on Friday, is the largest attack by Kyiv's forces on Russian soil since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It aims to divert Russia's troops and expose its weaknesses, said an adviser to the government in Kyiv.
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Israeli Assets Lead Emerging-Market Peers on Cease-Fire Bets; Shekel extends gains for one of the strongest rallies globally; Dollar bonds advance as Israel plans delegation for talks
Srinivasan Sivabalan - Bloomberg
Israel's currency and dollar bonds posted some of the best gains in emerging markets after the nation said it will send a delegation to a new round of talks for a cease-fire deal with Hamas. The shekel rose 1.1% against the US dollar as of 11:41 a.m. in Tel Aviv, one of the strongest currency rallies globally on Friday and a fourth day of gains. The nation's sovereign dollar bond due in July 2030 rose 0.7 cent on the dollar, among the top performers in the Bloomberg EM Sovereign Total Return Index.
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US, Egypt and Qatar in urgent push to secure Israel-Hamas ceasefire; Leaders of three countries set out August 15 date for resumption of talks over Gaza war
Felicia Schwartz and Andrew England - Financial Times
The leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar are making an urgent push to conclude long-running talks on a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, saying "it is time to release the hostages, begin the ceasefire, and implement this agreement". In a statement on Thursday US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani called on the two sides "to resume urgent discussions in Doha or Cairo to close remaining gaps" and "commence implementation of the deal without further delay".
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Israel's reinforced air defences face biggest test from a synchronised Iran-led attack; Israeli officials expect huge test for multi-layered array that includes Iron Dome to come in days ahead
Neri Zilber and Ian Bott - Financial Times
Israel has strengthened its air defences in anticipation that the expected retaliation from Iran and its allies for the assassinations of two senior militant leaders will take the form of an airborne attack. Tehran and its regional proxies, notably the Lebanon-based militant movement Hizbollah, have spent decades amassing a huge rocket, missile and drone arsenal that has stretched Israel's much-vaunted defences to the limit over 10 months of war since Hamas's October 7 assault from Gaza.
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | SGX will represent broader views in MAS review group: CEO; It also includes other public and private sector representatives
Navene Elangovan - The Business Times
The review group set up by the regulator to improve Singapore's stock market will engage a wider group beyond its own members, said Loh Boon Chye, the chief executive officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) Group. Currently, the review group includes a representative from SGX, as well as other public and private sector representatives.
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SGX H2 profit up 10.5% to S$316.3 million; proposes Q4 dividend of S$0.09 per share
Navene Elangovan & Michelle Zhu - The Business Times
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) net profit for the second half ended June 2024 rose 10.5 per cent to S$316.3 million, from S$286.3 million a year prior. Earnings per share (EPS) for the half-year period stood at S$0.296, up from S$0.268 for H2 FY2023. Its board has proposed a final quarterly dividend of S$0.09 per share, up from S$0.085 per share in the same quarter a year ago.
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Review of Collateral Haircuts - Effective August 08, 2024
CME Group
In conjunction with the regular review of market volatility and to ensure adequate collateral coverage, please find below the current acceptable collateral and haircuts for CME Clearing.
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Performance Bond Requirements: Energy, Equity, FX, Interest Rate and Metal Margins - Effective August 09, 2024
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 August 09, 2024.
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Derivatives Market Closed for Holiday (August 12, 2024)
JPX
The derivatives market will be closed with no holiday trading on Monday, August 12, 2024 (Substitute Holiday of Mountain Day) due to derivatives system's (J-GATE) participation to the migration rehearsal test of arrowhead 4.0 from August 10 to August 12.
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LME and LME Clear Systems Data Centre Failover Test and Site Changeover Schedule
LME
This notice (the "Notice") advises members and other market participants of the planned Data Centre ("DC") Failover test and site changeover of LME and LME Clear production services, scheduled for 7 September 2024.
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Nodal Exchange environmental markets grew 231% in July setting a new monthly trading record
EEX Group
Nodal Exchange today announced a new monthly volume record for environmental markets with 64,562 lots traded of futures and options, surpassing the prior record by 25% set in May 2024 of 51,747 lots on Nodal Exchange. The traded volume in July 2024 was up 231% from July 2023. The product suite also posted an all-time high in open interest of 376,548 lots during July. With more than 41,000 lots physically delivered, open interest ended the month at 339,261 lots, up 40% from 242,344 lots from a year earlier. Broken down further, open Interest in environmental options, including California Carbon Allowance (CCA) options and California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) options reached a new record of 35,155 lots at month-end. Total futures and options open interest in LCFS products ended the month with a new open interest record of 61,049 lots.
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List of Deliverable Canadian Government Bond Issues for the LGB, CGB, CGF and CGZ Futures Contracts
TMX
For your information, please find enclosed the list of deliverable Canadian Government Bond issues with respect to the LGB, CGB, CGF and CGZ futures contracts delivery months. This list is produced in accordance with the Rules of Bourse de Montréal Inc. and Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation (CDCC) relating to delivery standards. This list replaces the one that was distributed on July 5, 2024 (circular no. 078-24).
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | ClearBank Wins License Allowing Fintech to Expand Across Europe
Aisha S Gani - Bloomberg
ClearBank Ltd. said it received a banking license allowing the fintech to offer real-time clearing and settlement services to clients across Europe, marking the UK company's first step toward global expansion. The European Central Bank authorized the permit, under the supervision of De Nederlandsche Bank, ClearBank said in a statement Friday. The license allows the financial-technology firm to offer European clients with euro accounts, foreign-exchange services, embedded banking and access to major European payment rails, and funds will be protected by the central bank's deposit-guarantee rules.
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AI Stock Rout Has Investors in Asia Mapping Out Next Catalyst; Analysts boosted earnings estimates despite recent selloff; Share gauge's recent 20% drop is small by historical standards
Jeanny Yu - Bloomberg
Debate is raging on whether the AI rally has run its course but for some investors, another drawdown may be a chance to buy. Money managers in Asia are on the hunt for their next purchase even after the region's tech stocks recorded their steepest ever two-day drop this week, reflecting an unwavering confidence in a trade that has underpinned the upturn in global equities. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. are still attractive bets given the long-term prospects for AI remain undimmed, they say.
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Nvidia Value Takes $900 Billion Hit Even as AI Spending Ramps Up; Shares have slumped 25% since record high in mid-June; Nvidia lacks catalysts before earnings report at end of August
Carmen Reinicke - Bloomberg
On the surface, Nvidia Corp.'s $900 billion selloff since its June record would suggest the artificial intelligence spending boom that propelled it there is cooling. But the undercurrents tell a far less dire story. Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. - together accounting for more than 40% of Nvidia's revenue - have all said they will keep investing billions into AI infrastructure. Meanwhile, Super Micro Computer Inc. - which makes data center servers used in AI - told investors it expects to generate up to $30 billion in sales over the next year, blowing away analyst expectations. And yet, Nvidia - the prime beneficiary of AI spending - has seen its shares tumble 25% in less than two months.
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How Microsoft spread its bets beyond OpenAI; The tech giant has worked to execute an AI strategy independent of Sam Altman's start-up following a leadership crisis last year
Madhumita Murgia and Stephen Morris - Financial Times
In late November last year, as India faced Australia in the final of the Cricket World Cup, mega-fan Satya Nadella was distracted. He was dealing with a work crisis. Nadella, who runs $3tn software giant Microsoft, had learned just days earlier that Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, the start-up in which Microsoft has invested $13bn, had been fired by his board in a surprise coup for not being "consistently candid".
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Perplexity's popularity surges as AI search start-up takes on Google; Artificial intelligence app boosts usage and sales despite controversy over its data-gathering techniques
Madhumita Murgia and Cristina Criddle - Financial Times
Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence search start-up, has increased its monthly revenues and usage seven-fold since the start of the year, after closing a new $250mn round of funding. The AI-powered search engine answered roughly 250mn questions in the last month, compared with 500mn queries for the whole of 2023, Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity's chief business officer, told the Financial Times.
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OpenAI Names Computer Scientist Zico Kolter as New Board Member; The AI startup overhauled its board following the brief ouster of CEO Sam Altman.
Rachel Metz - Bloomberg
OpenAI is adding a new director to its board: Zico Kolter, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a researcher who has studied artificial intelligence safety. The San Francisco-based startup announced Kolter's appointment in a blog post Thursday, making him the first computer scientist on the company's recently reconfigured board. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Kolter said he hopes to share his technical expertise with the startup.
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Gmail experiencing worldwide outage in latest Google concern: report
Ronny Reyes - NY Post
A Gmail outage has left thousands of users unable to send emails or messages on the popular Google app. The outage appeared to hit users around 3 p.m. Thursday, with DownDetector, a site that tracks online issues, citing nearly 5,000 reports within the hour. About 82% of the problems reported appear to be related to sending emails, according to DownDetector, with only 15% citing direct server connectivity issues.
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Startup CEO Says VC Firm Punished Her for Reporting Sex Assault; Lawsuit tests #MeToo-era law aimed at protecting entrepreneurs
Sarah McBride - Bloomberg
Everyone involved agrees on the basic facts about March 8, 2022 - a venture capitalist and a startup co-founder spent a big night on the sidelines of a Miami conference. There, agreement ends. Cailin Hardell says the middle-aged VC investor and another CEO backed by his firm got her drunk and sexually assaulted her. They maintain the encounter was consensual.
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Iranians ramp up cyber attacks linked to US election, warns Microsoft; 'Covert news sites' and phishing emails among tactics employed by Tehran-backed actors, says tech group
Camilla Hodgson - Financial Times
Iranian state-backed actors have sought to access senior US political figures' email accounts and launched "covert news sites" aimed at American readers as part of an increase in disinformation and cyber attacks ahead of the country's elections, Microsoft has said. A group run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in June sent a spear-phishing email, or personalised hacking attempt, to a "high-ranking official of a presidential campaign" from the compromised email account of a former senior adviser, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center said on Friday.
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Justice Department Disrupts North Korean Remote IT Worker Fraud Schemes Through Charges and Arrest of Nashville Facilitator; Defendant Used a "Laptop Farm" to Deceive Companies Into Thinking They Had Hired a U.S.-Located Worker
Department of Justice
Matthew Isaac Knoot, 38, of Nashville, Tennessee, was arrested today for his efforts to generate revenue for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK or North Korea) illicit weapons program, which includes weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The FBI, along with the Departments of State and Treasury, issued a May 2022 advisory to alert the international community, private sector, and public about the North Korea IT worker threat. Updated guidance was issued in October 2023 by the United States and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and in May 2024 by the FBI, which include indicators to watch for that are consistent with the North Korea IT worker fraud and the use of U.S.-based laptop farms.
/jlne.ws/3WYeUL4
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Bitcoin Miner Reserves Drop to 3-Year Low in Wake of Halving; Miner revenue was slashed by software upgrade in April; Pressure on miners to sell crypto reserves has accelerated
Benjamin Taubman - Bloomberg
The amount of Bitcoin held in reserve by the companies who earn a profit by validating transactions on the blockchain has dropped to a three-year low in the wake of the April software code adjustment that slashed revenue. The total amount Bitcoin held by miners has dropped to around 1,510,300 tokens as of Aug. 3, according to report from crypto researcher Kaiko. That's down about 2.4% from the record amount held in December 2020. At recent prices, the amount is worth around $86 billion, or around 8% of all the Bitcoin in circulation.
/jlne.ws/46DX2s2
Crypto Fans Want a Bitcoin Reserve. Politicians Want Their Votes; Trump has said he wants to create a 'strategic national bitcoin stockpile'
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
Crypto fans have an idea to burnish the stature of digital tokens: Establish a U.S. bitcoin reserve, similar to the country's gold reserve. It might sound out of the blue, but former President Donald Trump and other politicians eager to win over crypto voters are promising to create just such a stockpile. The idea is gaining traction in crypto circles, where investors, speculators and entrepreneurs are clamoring for government policies that help legitimize bitcoin, which in turn could boost its value and ease its wild price swings.
/jlne.ws/4dCIhYM
Former SEC Official Urges 15,000 Morgan Stanley Advisors to 'Say No' to Bitcoin ETFs, Citing 'Mammoth Risk'
Kevin Helms - Bitcoin.com
Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official John Reed Stark expressed his concerns on social media platform X on Wednesday regarding the potential risks Morgan Stanley's financial advisors face by promoting cryptocurrency investments. Stark is currently president of cybersecurity firm John Reed Stark Consulting. He founded and served as chief of the SEC Office of Internet Enforcement for 11 years. He was also an SEC enforcement attorney for 15 years.
/jlne.ws/3LXISZa
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | What the History-Making Elections of 2024 Could Mean for Energy; A new government in the UK, gridlock in France and the dramatic face-off in the US will have consequences for investment and the transition to clean fuels.
Bloomberg News
Energy and climate change have been on the ballot around the world this year. Here's a scorecard of what to expect on infrastructure, power and renewables in five countries. Keir Starmer's Labour Party in July ended 14 years of Conservative rule. With the greatest majority since Prime Minister Tony Blair's 1997 triumph, the new government wants to move quickly.
/jlne.ws/3SHx80M
Climate Groups Aren't Going to Stop Talking About Project 2025; Advocates say they'll continue to cite the Heritage Foundation's conservative playbook, which Trump has denounced, as reason to fear his reelection.
Leslie Kaufman and Matthew Griffin - Bloomberg
On July 31, the Sierra Club posted a video to social media. It observes all the conventions of a political attack ad: haunting piano music, stern warnings about the influence of extremists, even the prospect of a "death sentence" for treasured protections. But the video doesn't go after a particular candidate. Its target is the 920-page white paper known as Project 2025, meant by conservative organizations to serve as a blueprint for former President Donald Trump's second term if he wins the election this November.
/jlne.ws/4fCX7jA
Crypto Executives Voice Concern to White House Advisers on Conference Call; Adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris was on the zoom call; Executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken and Uniswap attended
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
Advisers to the Biden administration stopped short of making any promises to crypto industry executives who voiced policy concerns, according to a participant on a Zoom call held Thursday. The White House advisers didn't discuss any policy changes with the group, which included Coinbase Global Inc., Kraken and Ripple Lab officials. An earlier discussion was held in July. A White House spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
/jlne.ws/4ck6P7P
Foreign TikTok Networks Are Pushing Political Lies to Americans; A flood of anti-Trump videos, generated with the help of AI, traced back to a web of overseas accounts
The Wall Street Journal
Intelligence officials have warned that the 2024 presidential contest could face an unprecedented flood of fake news, fueled by AI, from foreign actors. A Journal analysis of videos on TikTok has found it's already happening. Amid all the general political news and lighthearted election memes on TikTok, the Journal found thousands of videos with political lies and hyperbole. Further analysis led the Journal to identify 91 accounts that pushed these videos from China, Nigeria, Iran and Vietnam-and were tied together in complex ways.
/jlne.ws/3WY4knh
Coinbase's Paul Grewal Says Crypto Should Remain Non-Partisan; Technology should transcend the political divide, Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer says
Sam Reynolds - CoinDesk
At the Bitcoin Nashville Conference, the loudest and most thunderous applause came from Republican candidate Donald Trump's promise to fire Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler. Republicans have taken on crypto on as a pet issue, but Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, doesn't want this to become a partisan issue.
/jlne.ws/3YD7hLh
Climate Groups Aren't Going to Stop Talking About Project 2025; Advocates say they'll continue to cite the Heritage Foundation's conservative playbook, which Trump has denounced, as reason to fear his reelection.
Leslie Kaufman and Matthew Griffin - Bloomberg
On July 31, the Sierra Club posted a video to social media. It observes all the conventions of a political attack ad: haunting piano music, stern warnings about the influence of extremists, even the prospect of a "death sentence" for treasured protections. But the video doesn't go after a particular candidate. Its target is the 920-page white paper known as Project 2025, meant by conservative organizations to serve as a blueprint for former President Donald Trump's second term if he wins the election this November.
/jlne.ws/4cmBAJf
Trump calls for presidential influence over interest rates, Fed policy
Josh Wingrove, Nancy Cook and Bloomberg via Fortune
Republican nominee Donald Trump said that the president should have some say over interest rates and monetary policy, a move that would go against the longstanding practice of the US Federal Reserve being independent of political actors.
/jlne.ws/3WXaCU4
Remember Trump Trades? They're So Three Weeks Ago; Markets seem to rise and fall with his chances, but perhaps that's based more on certainty than affinity for policies.
John Authers - Bloomberg Opinion
Public opinion is a fickle thing. Less than a month ago, a would-be assassin shot at Donald Trump, he responded decisively, and victory in the presidential election suddenly looked all but guaranteed. All the talk on financial markets was about the "Trump Trade" - ways to profit from and hedge against the coming Trump 2.0 administration. Famous financial figures from Elon Musk to Bill Ackman took the moment to announce that they were officially endorsing him.
/jlne.ws/3yvyG7c
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | FTX ordered to pay $12.7B to customers after Sam Bankman-Fried's massive fraud
Reuters
A US court has ordered bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX to pay $12.7 billion in relief to its customers, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Thursday. FTX drew customers in with "an illusion that it was a safe and secure place to access crypto markets," then misappropriated their customer deposits to make its own risky investments, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam said in a statement. The repayment order implements a settlement between the CFTC and the bankrupt crypto exchange, which has committed to a bankruptcy liquidation that will repay customers whose deposits were locked during its late 2022 collapse.
/jlne.ws/3YExglp
CFTC Approves a Joint Rule Proposal to Establish Technical Data Reporting Standards
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today voted to jointly propose and request public comment on the establishment of technical data reporting standards with other financial regulatory agencies. The proposal would establish uniform data standards for the collections of information reported to the CFTC, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Department of the Treasury. The proposal would also establish uniform data standards for data collected from these financial regulatory agencies on behalf of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.
/jlne.ws/3AjNV3G
Concurring Statement of Commissioner Caroline D. Pham on Joint Data Standards Proposal
CFTC
I respectfully concur from the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) Joint Data Standards to require each respective agency to implement certain data standards ("Joint Data Standards Proposal") for its regulated entities because there is insufficient discussion of the impact and costs associated with the adoption of these new data standards that will apply across the banking and financial services sector (including small entities as set forth under the Regulatory Flexibility Act). While I support the FDTA's mandate, I believe the Joint Data Standards Proposal would be improved by addressing head-on the elephant in the room-the very real costs that will be imposed on potentially tens of thousands of firms of all sizes that will eventually have to update their systems and records to adhere to the new data standards. I encourage all commenters to address the costs and benefits of the Joint Data Standards Proposal, including the necessary future agency rulemakings that will subsequently follow. I thank Ted Kaouk, Tom Guerin, Jeffrey Burns, and the staff of the CFTC, and all the other agencies for their efforts on this proposal.
/jlne.ws/4dfw6kH
Restitution and Disgorgement Damages to Pay Fraud Victims
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order of permanent injunction and other equitable relief against FTX Trading Ltd. and Alameda Research LLC (together, FTX) and ordered FTX to pay $12.7 billion in monetary relief to FTX customers and victims of FTX's fraud. The order requires FTX to pay $8.7 billion in restitution and $4 billion in disgorgement, which will be used to further compensate victims for losses suffered as a result of the massive fraudulent scheme orchestrated by Samuel Bankman-Fried, his now-bankrupt FTX group of companies, and a core group of FTX insiders.
/jlne.ws/3SJDzQN
CFTC Awards Over $1 Million to Whistleblower Who Aided a Digital Assets-Related Investigation
CFTCThe Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced a whistleblower award of over $1 million to a whistleblower who provided significant information and assistance that led the CFTC to bring an enforcement action connected to digital asset markets.
/jlne.ws/3yocDPQ
SEC Charges Massachusetts Residents with Insider Trading
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed insider trading charges today against Massachusetts residents Steven D. Targum, Elliot P. Targum, and Nicholas J. Rosenberg, who collectively avoided losses of about $110,000 from trading in advance of the February 13, 2023 announcement of negative clinical drug trial news by biotechnology company Frequency Therapeutics, Inc. Each has offered to settle the SEC's action. Among other things, they have agreed to pay a total of over $230,000 in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.
/jlne.ws/3SJYe7n
SEC Charges Multiple Individuals and Entities for Fraudulent Schemes That Victimized Elderly Investors
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Thompson Hunt and Associates, Ltd. ("THA"), Carl Arnal a/k/a Michael J. Cohen ("Arnal"), Christopher Vaughan ("Vaughan"), Brookdale Consultants LLC ("Brookdale"), Growth Point Consultants, Inc. ("GPC"), Damon Artis ("Artis"), and Richard Gavzie ("Gavzie") for their respective roles in connection with two fraudulent schemes: an offering fraud involving interests in THA between May 2021 and April 2023, and the fraudulent sale of microcap securities between June 2016 and September 2023. Both schemes victimized elderly investors.
/jlne.ws/3YKq3QC
Financial advice update
ASIC
The Financial advice update is a round-up of regulatory developments and issues affecting financial advice. It covers all areas of financial advice regulation and includes a broad range of content relevant to Australian financial services (AFS) licensees who are advice licensees and financial advisers.
/jlne.ws/3WDQrJt
FSA Weekly Review No.598
FSA
What's New on the FSA Website; Week of July 26, 2024 - August 2, 2024
/jlne.ws/4dBc0RJ
SEBI Annual Report 2023-24
SEBI
Securities and Exchange Board of India has released its Annual Report for 2023-24, the statutory report submitted to the Government of India and tabled in Parliament as mandated under the SEBI Act, 1992. The Report is prepared as per the format laid down in SEBI (Annual Report) Rules, 2021 and covers the policies, programmes and activities of SEBI and market trends for the period April 2023 -March 2024.
/jlne.ws/3WXsI8A
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Yen Unwind to Take Many Months to Hit Fair Value, BNY Says; Japanese currency may advance to 100 per dollar over time: BNY; Carry positions dumped amid fears of US recession, BOJ hikes
Matthew Burgess - Bloomberg
Unwinding of yen-funded carry trades has further room to run and the Japanese currency may strengthen toward 100 per dollar over time, according to BNY. Investors are still too bearish on the yen and short positions will continue to be slashed, said Bob Savage, the firm's head of markets strategy and insights. An analysis shows the yen is too cheap at its current level of 147 and its fair value over time should be more toward 100, he wrote in a note.
/jlne.ws/4dhWCtI
What ordinary investors can learn from this week's market meltdown; Why I won't even leave the beach for a one-day decline of 12 per cent
Stuart Kirk - Financial Times
Others may be working from home in early August - of course they are. But I have to admit it remains full-on holiday mode in my house and to be honest this week's tumble turn in markets passed me by at first. Not unlike the British coverage of the Olympic Games in fact, where record-breaking events occur unseen in the background while television pundits drone on about nothing - emulating my family and friends after a long summer lunch.
/jlne.ws/3WWxvH5
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Green parties need to decide who and what they are for; Electoral success across Europe is exposing contradictions and hypocrisy
John Burn-Murdoch - Financial Times
Europe's green movement is in a strange place. The effects of global warming are becoming more apparent with each passing year, the number of people concerned about climate change is rising, and climate protests are the backdrop to daily life. Yet two months ago in the European elections, the Greens went sharply backwards, losing a quarter of their seats in the European parliament and dropping from fourth to sixth place.
/jlne.ws/3LVYUCZ
'Cash is king': Why Glencore kept faith with coal; Chief Gary Nagle is accused of using shift in investor attitudes on ESG as smokescreen for dropping plans to ditch coal business
Harry Dempsey and Emma Dunkley - Financial Times
At the peak of the environmental, social, and governance frenzy in 2021 as investors piled into green assets, Anglo American demerged its South African thermal coal mines with then chief executive Mark Cutifani citing the need to "act responsibly". In the next two years, Glencore - the world's biggest publicly listed coal producer - made core earnings of $51bn and returned a record $17.4bn to shareholders thanks to skyrocketing coal prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine roiled energy markets.
/jlne.ws/3SJk6zQ
Where (and How) Americans Are Taking Advantage of Clean Energy Tax Credits
Nadja Popovich - The New York Times
Americans claimed more than $8 billion in climate-friendly tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act last year, according to new data released by the Treasury Department, a "significant" number that is higher than initially expected, officials said. The bulk of the money, more than $6 billion, helped households install rooftop solar panels, small wind turbines and other renewable energy systems. These credits were most popular in sunny states, including much of the Southwest and Florida, the data shows.
/jlne.ws/3WXaC6u
High Carbon Emissions Making Debt More Expensive for Companies; Spread between big and small polluters wider since 2020: DNB; Polluters investing in clean tech also reap bond benefits
Cagan Koc and Frances Schwartzkopff - Bloomberg
Europe's biggest carbon polluters are paying increasingly higher interest rates on their bonds, according to a report by the Dutch central bank. Since 2020, when the European Union started rolling out plans to green its economy, the spread between the borrowing costs of big and small emitters has widened to more than 40 basis points, said De Nederlandsche Bank, or DNB.
/jlne.ws/3WHm052
A Lot Was Riding on This Wind Farm. Then Giant Shards Washed Up in Nantucket; Industry was dealt setback after a turbine blade broke at one of the nation's largest planned offshore wind farms
Jennifer Hiller - The Wall Street Journal
This summer was supposed to be a breakout season for the faltering offshore wind business in the U.S. Instead it may be defined by an ill-timed break. A large project off the coast of Massachusetts, called Vineyard Wind, remains at a standstill following an accident that dropped a massive turbine blade into the ocean last month and washed chunks of debris onto Nantucket beaches.
/jlne.ws/3WYcufs
What the History-Making Elections of 2024 Could Mean for Energy; A new government in the UK, gridlock in France and the dramatic face-off in the US will have consequences for investment and the transition to clean fuels.
Bloomberg News
Energy and climate change have been on the ballot around the world this year. Here's a scorecard of what to expect on infrastructure, power and renewables in five countries. United Kingdom Keir Starmer's Labour Party in July ended 14 years of Conservative rule. With the greatest majority since Prime Minister Tony Blair's 1997 triumph, the new government wants to move quickly. What could change: Labour aims to have a carbon-free power grid by 2030, a goal the industry says will be difficult to reach. The target requires a huge build-out of renewables, more than doubling wind and solar capacity. Labour has already taken action to unblock onshore wind development. Another flagship project: setting up a publicly owned energy company, Great British Energy, which would act as an investment body for renewables.
/jlne.ws/4ddrhs8
Here's how this climate fund smashed the market
Joanne Tran - AFR
We believe there's been a realisation that there is a significant power crunch coming in the US.
After 20 years of no electricity growth and years of underinvestment, there is now more awareness that demand is going to pick up based on the building out of data centres because of a reshoring of major manufacturing facilities to the US, and the electrification of transportation and buildings.
/jlne.ws/4dA1zxY
Federal Appeals Court Reverses Approval of Massive LNG Export Plants in South Texas
Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News and Berenice Garcia - Inside Climate News
/jlne.ws/3YWyBV1
ESG ratings agencies to be regulated in UK, new Government confirms
Sarah George - edie
/jlne.ws/3WXTo92
Report: Global wind capacity to double by 2030, but fall short of 1.5C climate goal
Sidhi Mittal - edie
/jlne.ws/3AdPpMC
France Widens Warning for Nuclear Power Cuts as Europe Sizzles
Eamon Farhat - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3WWf3hL
Malaysia's CO2 Storage Bill Gets Tested by Rainforest States; Sabah and Sarawak want to be excluded from the regulation; Both states pushing for more economic autonomy from Malaysia
Ram Anand - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4dhYVgm
Top Women Bankers in Malaysia Reveal Their Path to the C-Suite; Malaysia has highest female representation on boards in Asia; Bankers discuss careers, government policy, work-life balance
Elffie Chew and Manuel Baigorri - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4ck6dix
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Hargreaves Lansdown agrees £5.4bn takeover; Consortium of private equity groups offers £11.40 a share for UK's largest retail investment site
Emma Dunkley - Financial Times
Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK investment platform that pioneered selling stocks and funds directly to retail investors, has agreed to a £5.4bn takeover by a group of private equity firms. The consortium, which is made up of CVC Capital Partners, Nordic Capital and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, has agreed to pay £11.40 in cash for each Hargreaves Lansdown share.
/jlne.ws/4ceekgs
Deustche Bank-Backed Harvest Fund Chairman Resigns Amid Probe; Harvest says business remains normal with new acting chairman; Henry Zhao Xuejun cooperating with probe on personal matter
Bloomberg News
Harvest Fund Management Co., one of the largest mutual fund firms in China, said its long-term chairman Henry Zhao Xuejun has resigned amid an investigation by Chinese authorities. Zhao is cooperating with the probe related to personal matters, the company said in a statement on its website Friday. Co-Chairman An Guoyong has assumed Zhao's responsibilities and operations remain normal, the company said, without providing more details.
/jlne.ws/4cAeSxz
Goldman's Top Engineer on What the Bank Is Really Doing With AI; Marco Argenti explains how the bank is already using the new technology.
Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway - Bloomberg (podcast)
There's a lot of hype around generative AI and many people have interfaced with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini at this point. It's fun to ask these large language models to come up with a song parody or to write a story, but most casual users of the technology probably aren't worried about things like copyrights, the sensitivity of what they're inputting into the platform, or even the accuracy of the answers being spit out. It's just fun to play around with the technology. For large companies, however, there's a lot at stake. And concerns over data privacy and output errors are even more pressing if you're a big regulated bank. In this episode we speak with Goldman Sachs Chief Information Officer, Marco Argenti, about how the bank is balancing risks and opportunities in AI.
/jlne.ws/4dCYIEg
Leveraged-Loan Funds See $3.07 Billion of Outflows Amid Tumult
Emma Sanchez - Bloomberg
Funds that invest in US leveraged loans had one of their biggest weekly outflows in years as prices briefly plunged the most since March 2023's regional banking crisis. Outflows were $3.07 billion in the week ended Aug. 7, according to data from LSEG Lipper, building on prior-week outflows of $59 million that were just the second withdrawal this year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had estimated leveraged-loan funds lost around $2.3 billion from Aug. 1-6, which it said was poised to be the largest weekly outflow since January 2019.
/jlne.ws/3WYe7d5
BlackRock Plans New ETFs to Ride - Or Dodge - Biggest Tech Firms; Concentration risk has been a hot topic among market watchers; Similar exchange-traded products already exist, including MAGS
Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
BlackRock Inc. plans to put out a trio of exchange-traded funds that would allow investors to either go all-in on the biggest tech firms driving markets - or avoid them altogether. The world's largest asset manager on Wednesday filed for the iShares Nasdaq Top 30 Stocks ETF as well as the iShares Top 20 U.S. Stocks ETF, which, if launched, would offer exposure to the biggest stocks within the tech gauge and the S&P 500, respectively.
/jlne.ws/3Abc5x1
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | 'Ill-ish' and the new rules of working when sick; A summer Covid outbreak has left staff wondering if they should skip work, come in, or do something in between
Daniel Thomas - Financial Times
"Being truly sick has gone the way of being truly on vacation for many workers," says Ann Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, reflecting on how the combination of Covid-19 and regular working from home has led to fresh uncertainty over rules around when and how to do our jobs. "It's the new age of ambiguity: are you well enough to work? Are you ill enough to take time off? Who decides?"
/jlne.ws/3yJuXTo
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | More People Are Overdosing on Ozempic Alternatives; Some patients say it's easy to get the do-it-yourself doses of compounded semaglutide wrong.
Dani Blum - The New York Times
Three hours after Becky Cheairs injected herself with the first dose of compounded semaglutide, she started to vomit. Crouched over the toilet, reeling from nausea, she thought there was no way she would make it on the R.V. trip from Arkansas to San Antonio she had planned that weekend. She was right: She spent the next day throwing up at least once an hour.
/jlne.ws/46HOeRG
About 400 Million People Worldwide Have Had Long Covid, Researchers Say; The condition has put significant strain on patients and society - at a global economic cost of about $1 trillion a year, a new report estimates.
Pam Belluck - The New York Times
About 400 million people worldwide have been afflicted with long Covid, according to a new report by scientists and other researchers who have studied the condition. The team estimated that the economic cost - from factors like health care services and patients unable to return to work - is about $1 trillion worldwide each year, or about 1 percent of the global economy. The report, published Friday in the journal Nature Medicine, is an effort to summarize the knowledge about and effects of long Covid across the globe four years after it first emerged.
/jlne.ws/4dm1vlB
Can Stress Really Give You a Round 'Cortisol Face'? Online influencers claim the hormone can change the shape of your face. But experts say that misconstrues how cortisol works.
Elle Hunt - The New York Times
"You're not ugly. You just have cortisol face," Mandana Zarghami told viewers at the start of a recent TikTok video, one of many on the social platform blaming a rounded, puffy face on high levels of the hormone. Hundreds of lifestyle and beauty influencers have claimed online that they've transformed their appearance by tackling stress. Many are sharing before and after photos that contrast their once fuller faces with new, lean jawlines, attributing the difference to lower levels of cortisol, the hormone produced in response to physical and mental stress. Some are even selling products and programs they claim will reduce cortisol and lead to a slimmed-down appearance.
/jlne.ws/46CBGv7
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China Asked State Banks to Keep Record of Government Bond Buyers; Banks told to log buyers of bond sales on a daily basis; Authorities are seeking to cool massive bond market rally
Bloomberg News
Chinese regulators asked some of the nation's biggest banks to note down a record of the buyers of the sovereign debt that they have sold, a subtle sign that authorities are trying to rein in speculators to cool an unprecedented bond rally. Financial regulators this week told state-run banks to log the details of the counterparties that purchase long-dated government bonds on a daily basis, said people familiar with the matter, requesting not to be named discussing a private matter. It's the first time such a request has been made to the lenders involved, the people said.
/jlne.ws/3YEvd0x
PBOC Studies Plan to Narrow Rate Corridor, Warns on Bond Risks; China's central bank is expanding its toolkit to guide markets; Policymakers caution over high rate risk in bond investments
Bloomberg News
China's central bank said it's studying a plan to narrow the range within which market interest rates can fluctuate, with policymakers on alert for risks building in the bond market. The People's Bank of China is considering how to "reasonably" narrow the rate corridor, according to a quarterly monetary policy report published Friday. In June, Governor Pan Gongsheng said a tighter band would signal a clearer policy target.
/jlne.ws/3WVdrVK
Europe's Auto Chipmakers Have a Deepening China Habit; Latest earnings show China's EV growth as a rare bright spot; Beijing's push for tech independence threatens foreign sales
Alan Crawford - Bloomberg
As advanced semiconductor companies in the US and allied countries pull back from China, a less glamorous sector of the chip market is turning even more to the world's second-biggest economy. This season's earnings show just how important China is to the largest players in automotive chipmaking at a moment when sales are suffering due to inventory gluts and slowing adoption in the West for electric vehicles, a key driver of demand.
/jlne.ws/4dgpCSO
Wingate Group on the sales block as investors circle private credit
Aaron Weinman - AFR
Wingate Group, a Melbourne-based provider of private capital, is on the market with a cashed-up investor closing in on a deal for the firm. The fund manager is in advanced talks with a Singaporean company over a significant investment in the business or a takeover, three people familiar with the negotiations told AFR Weekend.
/jlne.ws/46DqBtM
Abu Dhabi Will Acquire a Minority Stake in Sotheby's Auction House; The country's sovereign wealth fund will invest the better part of $1 billion into the company.
James Tarmy - Bloomberg
ADQ, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a minority interest in Sotheby's, the auction house announced. Its owner, the telecom billionaire Patrick Drahi, will also invest additional capital into the business. Together, both investments amount to $1 billion. The bulk of the investment will come from ADQ, a Sotheby's spokesperson confirmed. The spokesperson added that ADQ's investment is in shares of the company that are newly issued, and that Drahi remains a majority shareholder.
/jlne.ws/4fBee5r
Musk's Riot Tweets Spur UK to Seek Tougher Online Rules; Starmer has few existing levers to curb incendiary content; Officials consider revisiting key parts of Online Safety Act
Ellen Milligan and Mark Bergen - Bloomberg
Keir Starmer called for a "mature conversation" with social media companies to limit malicious content that's stoked days of rioting in the UK. Instead, he found himself in an escalating online confrontation with Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X. Now, the UK is mulling steps to tighten the regulation of platforms like Musk's - and finding it has few levers, especially when the owner is a major amplifier of misinformation. One step would be to revive a key provision in the Online Safety Act, set to be implemented later this year, giving authorities more power to force social media companies to curb harmful content, according to people familiar with the situation.
/jlne.ws/4djnppC
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