| July 10, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The Wall Street Journal has a story titled "How to Leave Grandkids Your Retirement Savings-and Not a Huge Tax Bill" with the subheading "The new rules for inherited IRAs might warrant a rewrite of your estate plan."
What do you do if you have two-factor authentication set on your phone and your phone breaks? The Wall Street Journal has a story for you on the subject titled "Getting Locked Out of Your Digital Life Is Bad. Here's How to Avoid It" with a subheading of "Prevent lockouts by using multiple forms of verification."
It turns out lead pipes are not the only worry we have in the U.S. from utilities' use of lead. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that "AT&T, Verizon and other telecom giants have left behind a sprawling network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the U.S., under the water, in the soil and on poles overhead, a Wall Street Journal investigation found" in a story titled "AMERICA IS WRAPPED IN MILES OF TOXIC LEAD CABLES." The subheading of the story is "Telecom companies laid them decades ago and thousands were left behind, posing a hidden health hazard today, a WSJ investigation found."
The Wall Street Journal also has a story titled "Five Books to Make You Smarter About Money" with the subheading "Young Americans, in particular, don't know much about handling money. But they can fill the knowledge gap by reading these books." And if your interests are broader than just money, The Wall Street Journal has a story titled "12 Books We Read This Week" with the subheading "The romance of two Hollywood legends, the hidden achievement of James Garfield, why conspiracy theories appeal and more."
Elon Musk may have bought Twitter to silence Jack Sweeney, the creator of the @ElonMuskJet Twitter account. However, now that account has moved over to Meta's Thread social media offering and already has 21,000 followers, Reuters reports. According to Social Media Today, Threads has already reached 100 million accounts as of today, making it the fastest growing app of all time. What is amazing is that Threads beat out ChatGPT for the record. ChatGPT took two months to reach 100 million users.
Maybe the guys at FTX were on to something. A judge in Canada has ruled that a thumbs-up emoji can represent a legally binding contract, Insider reports.
Morgan Downey is starting a new position as managing director at Macquarie Group. Downey was most recently with Mizuho, but has also been with Societe Generale, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, among other firms.
John Tuohy is rejoining the financial markets industry after a sojourn into real estate sales. Tuohy is starting a new position as trader specialist at Charles Schwab. Welcome back, John!
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 yesterday on JLN Options were:
VIX ETFs Surge As Job Numbers Send Interest Rates Climbing
Walt Lukken Reflects on FIA IDX 2023 and the Good That FIA and Its Members Do
He's Warren Buffett's second-in-command, and these are 3 of his biggest stock holdings now - but they all posted losses in 2023. Can you guess what they are? ~JB
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Tom Hutchinson - Open Outcry Traders History Project - Part One
JohnLothianNews.com
Tom Hutchinson is the founder of Belvedere Trading. He is a former floor trader who sat for an interview with John Lothian News for the Open Outcry Traders History Project.
Watch the video »
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Rising Temperatures Threaten More Than Misery for Oldest Americans; A wave of extreme heat has posed particular perils for older people, who are uniquely susceptible to such conditions.
Shannon Sims and Rick Rojas - The New York Times
When the torrential rain stopped on Friday afternoon, Laura Lowry could see the steam rising off the wet pavement. She was on her front porch in the Fifth Ward neighborhood of Houston, desperate for relief from the relentless humidity and 91-degree heat. The air-conditioner in her house worked, but she and her husband, reliant on disability checks, couldn't afford to run it.
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***** We had too many 100-year floods in my town, so we built a new house with a backup generator and dual zone air conditioners. "Be prepared" is always good advice.~JJL
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With War as a Backdrop, a Russian Fencing Drama Plays Out in the U.S.; The departure of Russian fencers who object to their country's invasion of Ukraine has created a stir at home and left their sporting futures in question.
Jere Longman - The New York Times
Fencing is usually among the least visible Olympic events, but a year out from the Paris Games it is providing political, sporting and familial drama related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Three Russian fencers who renounced the 2022 invasion in written declarations and now live in the United States were granted eligibility to compete as neutral athletes, representing no country, in the American summer national championships that conclude Sunday in Phoenix.
/jlne.ws/3pG5buV
***** They will not be the only Russian athletes to depart, but this is just the first parry.~JJL
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Robots say they won't steal jobs, rebel against humans
Emma Farge - Reuters
Robots presented at an AI forum said on Friday they expected to increase in number and help solve global problems, and would not steal humans' jobs or rebel against us. But, in the world's first human-robot press conference, they gave mixed responses on whether they should submit to stricter regulation.
/jlne.ws/46Jjq2A
***** Robots can't lie because they can't cross their hearts and hope to die to make an oath.~JJL
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Mark Zuckerberg's Threads Poses a Conundrum for Regulators; Meta's new rival to Twitter has been hugely popular among consumers but raises awkward questions about how big tech companies expand.
Ephrat Livni, Ravi Mattu and Lauren Hirsch - The New York Times
The rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk went into overdrive this week after Meta rolled out Threads, a Twitter rival that on its first day became the most rapidly downloaded app ever. In an era of tighter antitrust scrutiny of Big Tech in the United States, in Europe and elsewhere, what questions does Meta's effort to extend its social media reach raise about the industry's ability to expand into new areas - even when players build new services themselves, rather than buy a smaller foe?
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***** The powerful get more powerful, but competition is good. And you need a big bully to take down a big bully.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story on Friday was Bloomberg's Biggest Cocoa Trade in More Than a Decade Rattles London Market. Second was the MarketsWiki page for Steve Brodsky. Third was Bloomberg's UK Plans to Reverse MiFID Ban on Free Research for Clients.
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MarketsWiki Stats
27,365 pages; 245,604 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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| Lead Stories | One in six asset management groups to disappear by 2027, says PwC; Survey finds 16% of managers will go out of business or be bought up by bigger groups
Arjun Neil Alim - Financial Times
The asset management industry faces dramatic consolidation over the next four years as one in six companies could disappear because of a mix of market volatility, high interest rates and pressure on fees. Sixteen per cent of existing asset and wealth managers will go out of business or be bought up by bigger groups by 2027, according to a PwC survey of 500 asset managers and institutional investors.
/jlne.ws/3D4UBR9
London Is Falling Down and It's Because of Climate Change; Drier summers and wetter winters are causing historic buildings, some of which survived World War II, to crack and tilt. Subsidence-related insurance payouts have spiked too.
Priscila Azevedo Rocha - Bloomberg
Britain's increasingly extreme weather is shaking the very foundations of its centuries-old history. The nation has been experiencing prolonged periods of drought after wet winters since last year. That's causing the porous rock beneath vast parts of southeast of England, including London, to move more than usual, cracking or tilting many of the city's historical homes in the plushest neighborhoods. The damage has triggered the highest insurance payout in almost two decades, with experts warning that it could get worse.
/jlne.ws/3O4sic2
Nasdaq and B3 partner on new clearing platform for Brazilian stock exchange; The new system is set to be rolled-out in gradual phases to avoid negatively impacting the market according to the businesses.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
Brazilian stock exchange group B3 and Nasdaq are set to jointly develop a new clearing platform for the Brazilian stock exchange in a bid to innovate operations as the market continues to expand. The new system will be responsible for the clearing, settlement, and the management of counterparty risk.
/jlne.ws/3O5ZmAl
B3 and Nasdaq Announce Partnership to Develop New Clearing Platform
Nasdaq
Development of a new system for the Brazilian stock exchange is to take place in phases and is part of B3's strategy to provide the market with continuous technological innovation. B3 and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) have announced a partnership to develop a new clearing platform for the Brazilian stock exchange, responsible for the clearing, settlement, and management of counterparty risk associated with financial market transactions.
/jlne.ws/3XGj1dn
Crypto, Stablecoins May Pose 'Threat to Financial Stability' if Widely Used: BIS Survey
Sander Lutz - Decrypt
The number of central banks intent on debuting CBDCs in the immediate term has doubled since last year, despite the calamity that has since ensued in the crypto market. "If widely used for payments, cryptoassets including stablecoins may constitute a threat to financial stability," read a new survey from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). "To strengthen and coordinate regulatory approaches to contain their risks to the financial system, the CPMI, IOSCO, FSB and BCBS published updated or new guidance and standards for stablecoins or crypto activities and markets more broadly."
/jlne.ws/3NRMPiO
Earth is at its hottest in thousands of years. Here's how we know; Observations are enough to make scientists confident that the current period of warming is exceptional
Scott Dance - The Washington Post
Observations from both satellites and the Earth's surface are indisputable - the planet has warmed rapidly over the past 44 years. As far back as 1850, data from weather stations all over the globe make clear the Earth's average temperature has been rising. In recent days, as the Earth has reached its highest average temperatures in recorded history, scientists have made a bolder claim: It may well be warmer than any time in the last 125,000 years.
/jlne.ws/3pyDtQR
Global heat in 'uncharted territory' as scientists warn 2023 could be the hottest year on record
Laura Paddison - CNN
The world is blasting through climate records as scientists sound the alarm: The likelihood is growing that 2023 could be the hottest year on record, and the climate crisis could be altering our weather in ways they don't yet understand. And they are not holding back - "extraordinary," "terrifying" and "uncharted territory" are just a few of the ways they have described the recent spike in global temperature. This week, the planet's average daily temperature soared to highs unseen in modern records kept by two climate agencies in the US and Europe.
/jlne.ws/3PUxpwR
Capitalism Alone Won't Save the Planet; Green bonds need government support to finance fight against global warming.
Mark Gongloff - Bloomberg
With every record-smashing day, week, month and year of global warming that goes by, finding solutions to climate change becomes more urgent. Capitalism helped get us into this mess, and it will have to help us get out of it. But it isn't capable of doing the work alone.
/jlne.ws/43klw6n
Drilling for Oil on the Moon; Aerial view of an oil drilling site, rig and wells at the Kuparuk oil field, surrounded by frozen tundra on the North Slope of Alaska. The desolate scene is nearly monochrome.
Liam Denning - Bloomberg
There's an ocean of oil and gas frozen in place beneath the Arctic. The cascading impact of climate change would argue for leaving it there. Yet the melting of the High North's icy barriers also feeds the ambitions of nations near and far to exploit it. Countless headlines herald a new scramble for the Arctic's hydrocarbon riches.
/jlne.ws/3rjGcOD
The Most Overlooked Oil Production Boom Is in China; The boost in the country's output, while auspicious for China, could cause collateral damage in the global oil market.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
Ask anyone about China and the oil market, and the conversation will invariably focus on voracious consumption - and, perhaps more recently, the surge in electric-vehicle sales. Consistently overlooked is the country's role as a major oil producer, but the latter matters now because after a years-long lull, Chinese petroleum output is again booming.
/jlne.ws/44jacZx
Sam Bankman-Fried's Friends and Family Were Along for FTX's Rise; The Spellcaster reporters talk about SBF's inner circle and the future of FTX in this round-table bonus episode of the podcast.
Hannah Miller, Annie Massa and Max Chafkin - Bloomberg
During the swift ascent of FTX and Alameda Research, Sam Bankman-Fried was surrounded by friendly faces - family members, romantic partners, friends from high school and college. When the fall came, many of them peeled away.
/jlne.ws/43hnm7Y
Heatwaves: Why this summer has been so hot
Justin Rowlatt - BBC News
It is hot. Very hot. And we are only a few weeks into summer. Texas and part of the south-west of the US are enduring a searing heatwave. At one point, more than 120 million Americans were under some form of heat advisory, the US National Weather Service said. That is more than one in three of the total population. In the UK, the June heat didn't just break all-time records, it smashed them. It was 0.9C hotter than the previous record, set back in 1940. That is a huge margin. There is a similar story of unprecedented hot weather in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
/jlne.ws/3PRjTtS
Hunt looks to City of London to bolster UK growth; Chancellor wants pension funds to invest more in start-ups and other fast-growing companies
George Parker, Chris Giles and Michael O'Dwyer - Financial Times
Jeremy Hunt badly needs some good news. After weeks of gloomy economic data, especially on inflation, on Monday the chancellor will turn to the City of London in the hope of channelling billions of pounds of the UK's pensions savings into boosting growth.
/jlne.ws/3O44FAi
Climate denialism has burnt to a crisp
Philip Bump - The Washington Post
The old debate about the existence of climate change is dead, immolated in 110-degree heat or asphyxiated on wildfire smoke or drowned in a flash flood. The idea that the world was getting warmer, the butt of both sincere and opportunistic mockery a decade ago, is harder to deny in this warmer world. It is not the case that everyone has accepted the reality of the warming climate, which we'll get to in a second. But it is the case that the arguments once lazily thrown out to deny that it was occurring have mostly vanished.
/jlne.ws/44AieN7
China's Ant Gives Trapped Investors an Opportunity to Cash Out; Fintech giant offers to buy back shares at a sharply lower valuation than what the company was worth in 2018
Rebecca Feng and Serena Ng - The Wall Street Journal
China's Ant Group told its shareholders it will buy back up to $6 billion in stock, offering its international and domestic investors a chance to cash out more than two years after its blockbuster initial public offerings were scuttled by Beijing.
/jlne.ws/44zqPzK
Commodities trader caught in DOJ probe ruined her own non-prosecution agreement by taunting the former colleagues she was helping to investigate
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert - Business Insider
A former commodities trader who admitted to wire fraud and price manipulation ruined a non-prosecution agreement she scored after it was revealed she was harassing the former colleagues she was helping to investigate. Charlotte Bamber, a former trader of oil products at Trafigura Group, entered into the non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ in 2020 in exchange for cooperating with a probe into her former employer.
/jlne.ws/3O8aHQy
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Putin held post-mutiny talks with Wagner leader Prigozhin and his fighters - Kremlin
Andrew Osborn and Mark Trevelyan - Reuters
President Vladimir Putin has held Kremlin talks with Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commanders to discuss the armed mutiny Wagner attempted to mount against the army's top brass, Putin's spokesman said on Monday.
/jlne.ws/3NCe0xC
Russia accuses Ukraine and Turkey of flouting prisoner exchange deal; Release of Azovstal commanders who defended Mariupol gives Kyiv symbolic victory
Christopher Miller - Financial Times
Moscow has accused Kyiv and Ankara of violating the terms of a high-profile prisoner exchange after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned home from a visit to Turkey with a group of Ukrainian commanders.
/jlne.ws/43jKqTq
Twitter Blue accounts fuel Ukraine War misinformation
Shayan Sardarizadeh - BBC
False and misleading posts about the Ukraine conflict continue to go viral on major social media platforms, as Russia's invasion of the country extends beyond 500 days. Some of the most widely shared examples can be found on Twitter, posted by subscribers with a blue tick, who pay for their content to be promoted to other users.
/jlne.ws/3pzYpqG
Europe Can't Supply Ukraine With Weapons Fast Enough, Here's Why; Defense contractors are under pressure to ramp up production but want long term government guarantees of sales
Natalia Drozdiak, Jonas Ekblom and Alexander Michael Pearson - Bloomberg
"Before, we had time, but no money," said Tommy Gustafsson-Rask, head of BAE Systems Hägglunds AB, reflecting a common theme across Europe's defense industry. "Today, we have money, but no time."
/jlne.ws/43hLpU7
Erdogan Says Turkey Wants Three-Month Extension of Grain Deal
Baris Balci and Olesia Safronova - Bloomberg
Turkey wants the safe-transit deal for Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports extended for three months instead of two, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I'm hopeful for an extension," Erdogan said in Istanbul early Saturday in a joint appearance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The pair discussed the grain deal and other matters late Friday after Ukraine's leader arrived from Slovakia.
/jlne.ws/3JS8F4e
What could happen if Russia blows up the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant? With its six reactors in cold shutdown, much of the danger has been mitigated.
Nadine El-Bawab - ABC News
/jlne.ws/44Bch2v
'We need Russia's complete defeat': Ukrainian forces upbeat on the frontline; As the counteroffensive slowly advances, those doing the fighting call for more arms from the west
Luke Harding in Velyka Novosilka/Pictures by Alessio Mamo - The Guardian
/jlne.ws/3NGq5lH
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | BME and BBF Fintech consolidate their alliance to promote Bilbao as a center for innovation and entrepreneurship; III Fintech Meeting - Hack&Disrupt!
BME
The meeting coincides with Spain's rotating presidency of the Council of the EU
2,000 euros will be awarded in prizes for the resolution of challenges; The event is supported by the City Council, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, the BBK Foundation, Bilbao Plaza Financiera and the Basque Government; Following the success of the two previous editions, BME together with the University of Mondragon through the BBF Fintech incubator are organizing the III Fintech Hack&Disrupt! Meeting in Bilbao on July 12 and 13, the most important Fintech - Insurtech event in the Basque Country, coinciding with Spain's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. The meeting will bring together companies, students, entrepreneurs and startups with the aim of promoting Bilbao as a center for innovation and entrepreneurship in the financial environment.
/jlne.ws/3NLqJyd
Changes to Daily Price Limits for Certain Base Metal Contracts
London Metal Exchange
This Notice confirms the introduction of a new calibration methodology for the daily upper and lower price limits for base metals (the "Daily Price Limits")1. This Notice also updates (following the application of the new methodology) the Daily Price Limits for outright Contracts in Aluminium and Copper on all Execution Venues, decreasing them from 15% to 12% with effect from 24 July 2023. For completeness, this Notice also restates the Daily Price Limits for all other base metal Contracts. This Notice should be read in conjunction with Notice 22/0672 , which describes more fully how Daily Price Limits operate on the LME's Execution Venues.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa
The first issue of green bonds of Moscow for the population was sold ahead of schedule at Financial Services
MOEX
The issue of green bonds of Moscow for the population in the amount of 2 billion rubles, the placement of which began on May 30, was completely sold out in five weeks instead of the planned placement period of six months. Two-year bonds with a quarterly coupon of 8.5% per annum and a face value of 1,000 rubles were exclusively placed on the financial platform of the Moscow Exchange Finuslugi.
/jlne.ws/3rnYTkc
List Of Deliverable Canadian Government Bond Issues For The LGB, CGB, CGF and CGZ Futures Contracts
Montreal Exchange
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 Montreal Inc. and Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation (CDCC) relating to delivery standards. This list replaces the one that was distributed on May 26, 2023 (circular no. 075-23).
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Miami International Holdings Reports June 2023 Trading Results; MIAX Exchange Group Reports Multiple Volume and Market Share; Records on Options and Equity Exchanges
Miami International Exchange
Miami International Holdings, Inc. today reported June 2023 trading results for its U.S. exchange subsidiaries - MIAX, MIAX Pearl and MIAX Emerald (together, the MIAX ExchangeGroup), and Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX). June 2023 and Year-to-Date Trading Volume Highlights: Total multi-listed monthly options volume for the MIAX Exchange Group reached 142.1 million contracts, a 39.5% increase year-over-year (YoY) and representing a monthly market share of 16.24%, an 18.2% increase YoY. Total year-to-date (YTD) volume reached a record 829.9 million contracts, a 25.2% increase YoY.
/jlne.ws/3XZoWdP
Nodal Exchange achieves record performance in power and environmental futures in the first half of 2023
Nodal Exchange
Nodal Exchange today announced strong performance in both power and environmental futures as of the end of June 2023. Nodal achieved its best half year power volume for the first half of 2023 with 1.54 billion MWh traded, up 3.5% from first half 2022 which was the previous record. The majority of U.S. power futures open interest is on Nodal Exchange with 1.275 billion MWh representing $112 billion of notional value based on both sides as of the end of June 2023. U.S. power futures open interest on Nodal Exchange grew 7.8% year over year as of the end of June.
/jlne.ws/3NJgRoO
Companies with highest number of complaints pending
National Stock Exchange of India
Out of the companies whose securities are traded on NSE, there are two companies with the number of complaints greater than or equal to 10, pending for more than 2 months OR the aggregate value of the complaints pending for more than 2 months is equal to or greater than Rs.5 lakhs for 5 or more complaints as on June 30, 2023.
/jlne.ws/3rku93q
Taiwan Bourse Expects IPO Applications to Reach Most in Decade; Exchange looking at ways to diversify its equity markets; Taiex index is up nearly 18%, among best performers in Asia
Jennifer Creery and Miaojung Lin - Bloomberg
Taiwan's stock exchange is expecting applications for new share listing to increase by more than 50% this year as it seeks to diversify its reliance from the technology sector.
/jlne.ws/44CSUWV
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Explainer: What's next for Ant after its nearly $1 bln fine?
Reuters
The announcement of a nearly $1 billion fine by Chinese regulators on Ant Group has drawn a line under the fintech giant's woes and given hope to investors that a regulatory crackdown on China's broader technology sector is over. Ant's story so far has been one of a dramatic reversal in fortunes: while its shelved $37 billion IPO in 2020 had valued the company at $315 billion, a share buyback announced on Saturday valued it 75% less at $78.5 billion.
/jlne.ws/43cSdT6
Finfare Acquires Network B, Expanding Its Fintech Offerings
AccessWire
Finfare announced today that it has acquired Network B, a technology company that provides a comprehensive solution for card-linked offers, affiliate offers, and gift cards. The acquisition will enable Finfare to expand its product portfolio, supercharge its merchant network, and provide its business customers with a broader range of financial services to help grow revenues and increase loyalty.
/jlne.ws/3O6Kkdy
FinTech Funding Drops from Pandemic Highs to $27.3b
Damian Chmiel - Finance Magnates
Amid the global economic slowdown and uncertainties, the FinTech sector continues to attract significant capital, showcasing its resilience. In the first six months of 2023, global investment in FinTech reached $27.3bn across 1,711 deals. Although the value is impressive, it represents a decrease of 14% from the second half of 2022.
/jlne.ws/3JQMf3D
BMO Electronic Trading Has "Transformational Year"
Shanny Basar - MarketsMedia
Joe Wald, co-head of electronic trading at BMO Capital Markets, said the business had a transformational year following its launch of algorithmic trading in European equities in May 2022. Last year BMO Capital Markets introduced algorithmic trading in European equities as the Canadian bank believed it could gain market share due to its systematic approach to trading, market structure proficiency and modern technology.
/jlne.ws/44hXERU
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Massive cybersecurity breach hits biggest US law firms
Isabel Vincent - New York Post
The personal data of thousands of clients of three of the country's biggest law firms may be compromised following a massive global data theft, according to reports. Kirkland & Ellis, K&L Gates and Proskauer Rose were targeted, along with 50 other multinational corporations last month, according to the ransomware group Clop, which took responsibility for the hack.
/jlne.ws/3XHU40Y
ECB Cyber Stress Test Won't Deliver Direct Capital Hit to Banks; Officials tell bankers stress test will be learning experience; Test could still have an indirect impact, people familiar say
Steven Arons and Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
The European Central Bank's cybersecurity stress test next year won't have a direct impact on capital requirements, limiting the exercise's potential repercussions for investor payouts.
/jlne.ws/46B79NX
A simple cyberattack is becoming more destructive and commonplace
Sam Sabin - Axios
Less-sophisticated website takedowns are proving to be hackers' tool of choice this summer - alarming government officials and putting major companies on the defensive. Driving the news: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released an advisory right before the holiday weekend warning about reports of several distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting "multiple organizations in multiple sectors."
/jlne.ws/3rj8Z5U
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | How Spot Bitcoin ETFs Will Change Crypto Trading
Sean Stein Smith - Fortune
Even as bitcoin holds around $30,000, and other cryptoassets seem to be trading in cautiously optimistic ranges, the real change is still on the horizon. In late June there were multiple applications filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch spot bitcoin exchange traded funds; this is not the big news in and of itself. With similar applications having been filed (and rejected) previously, the real difference is which institutions have submitted these applications. These include some of the largest financial firms in the world, with Blackrock and Fidelity serving as the headliners of this current crop of application.
/jlne.ws/3POmEvG
Gibraltar political elite are among creditors of Globix; High-profile figures who have lost money in collapsed crypto trader include former chief minister Peter Caruana
Scott Chipolina - Financial Times
Members of Gibraltar's political and legal elite are among investors to have lost money in crypto trading group Globix, whose collapse has triggered an international hunt for a missing $43mn.
/jlne.ws/43hKymn
Taylor Swift Approved Sponsorship Deal With FTX, Despite Previous Reports: NYT; Swift signed the sponsorship agreement worth as much as $100 million following more than six months of discussions.
Jamie Crawley - CoinDesk
Music megastar Taylor Swift approved a sponsorship deal with the now bankrupt crypto exchange FTX last year, despite previous reports that she had walked away after conducting her own due diligence on the firm, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
In the spring of 2022, the pop star discussed a deal with FTX worth as much as $100 million that potentially included sponsorship of a tour.
/jlne.ws/46DLswD
Struggling Bitcoin Miners Wary of Token's Big 'Halving' Event; Bitcoin miners brace for 50% cut to token rewards next year; Miners also battling rising electricity costs, debt payments
David Pan - Bloomberg
Crypto enthusiasts are hopeful that a once-in-four-years event which rewrites the underlying code of the world's biggest cryptocurrency will extend the current market rally. But the milestone also risks sounding the death knell for certain Bitcoin miners.
/jlne.ws/3PSb6aS
The Real Use Case for CBDCs: Dethroning the Dollar; Central bank digital currencies will revolutionize how companies settle international trade and reduce the need for greenbacks in the world economy, says Michael Casey.
Michael J. Casey - CoinDesk
Much like the cruel joke Charles de Gaulle reportedly cracked about Brazil - that it's "the country of the future and always will be" - predictions of an end to the dollar-based international monetary system seem to belong to a future that will never arrive.
/jlne.ws/44zniBw
Twenty-four central banks will have digital currencies by 2030 - BIS survey
Karin Strohecker - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3D5SJrp
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Republicans question BlackRock fund governance, revisiting old concerns
Ross Kerber - Reuters
A group of 15 Republican state attorneys general have questioned whether directors of BlackRock mutual funds are sufficiently independent of the world's largest asset manager. In a letter dated July 6 and provided to Reuters on Friday by a representative of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, the group reviewed longstanding concerns about mutual fund governance in the context of the officials' more recent efforts to limit the growing consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors by companies and investors.
/jlne.ws/44hVFNs
Janet Yellen urges China to boost funding to tackle climate crisis; US Treasury secretary says Beijing could have greater global impact if it worked with global climate institutions
The Guardian
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has pressed China to do more to support international climate institutions that are helping finance green initiatives around the world, urging deeper cooperation in addressing the "existential threat" of global heating.
/jlne.ws/43dmph3
Labour's plan will not transform Britain's poor economic prospects; The green energy blueprint is unlikely to be a Holy Grail that enables the UK to escape this long, painful period of stagnation
Martin Wolf - Financial Times
Labour has a huge lead in the opinion polls and seems likely to win the next general election. A big part of the reason is that the economic record of the UK under the Conservatives has been dismal. But can Labour turn this round? Some improvement is no doubt possible. But it is essential to recognise the huge challenges any incoming government would confront. One might be tempted to argue that things have gone so badly they can only get better. Alas, that shows a lack of imagination.
/jlne.ws/3D5PVup
"Try everything to prevent the construction of this insane facility"
Ulrich Exner - Welt
With the decision to amend the LNG Acceleration Act, the Bundestag creates the conditions for the construction of an LNG terminal on the holiday island of Ruegen. It should be operational at the beginning of winter. But local resistance is now really picking up speed. It is at least a small success for the traffic light coalition, which was plucked so badly recently: on Friday in the Bundestag, its parliamentary groups passed the "Act to Amend the LNG Acceleration Act and the Energy Industry Act". The Federal Council will not object either.
/jlne.ws/3D93Xvn
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Ant Group launches $6bn buyback after regulatory crackdown ends; Fintech giant offers to repurchase shares at greatly reduced $78bn valuation following 'rectification'
Ryan McMorrow and Cheng Leng and Qianer Liu - Financial Times
Jack Ma's Ant Group has launched a share buyback plan that values the fintech giant at nearly 70 per cent below its proposed initial public offering price in 2020. The company offered to repurchase up to $6bn in shares at a valuation of $78.5bn, a day after Chinese financial regulators fined the company nearly $1bn to conclude a years-long campaign of scrutiny.
/jlne.ws/3O5x0WK
FINRA Expels Monmouth Capital Management; Firm Violated Reg BI, Excessively Traded, and Churned Numerous Customer Accounts, Including Those of Gold Star Families
FINRA
FINRA announced today that it has expelled Monmouth Capital Management for churning and excessively trading customer accounts in violation of Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), failing to supervise its representatives, and providing false and misleading disclosures to retail customers on its client relationship summary (Form CRS). This is the second firm expulsion that has included violations of Reg BI, to date.
/jlne.ws/3NJporM
SEC Obtains Final Judgments Against Former Public Company Chairman and Two Others in Fraudulent Filings and Pump-And-Dump Scheme
SEC
On July 5, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment on consent against Andrew DeFrancesco, the former Chairman of Cool Holdings, Inc., for his role in a scheme involving false statements and omissions of material information in filings with the Commission, as well as a fraudulent pump-and-dump of Cool Holdings' stock. On June 16, 2023, the Court entered final judgments on consent against two other defendants in the case, Nikola Faukovic and Catherine DeFrancesco.
/jlne.ws/3OgNcox
SEC Charges Former Army Financial Counselor Who Defrauded Gold Star Family Members
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged former U.S. Army financial counselor Caz L. Craffy for defrauding Gold Star family members and others by engaging in unauthorized trading-including of life insurance and family survivor benefits they received following the death of an active duty service member-and for recommending excessive trades and higher risk strategies that did not match customers' investment profiles.
/jlne.ws/44yDZwY
CFTC Announces Trade Execution Requirement for Certain SOFR and SONIA OIS; TW SEF LLC's Made-Available-to-Trade Determination Approved
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the approval of a made-available-to-trade (MAT) determination submitted by TW SEF LLC for certain U.S. Dollar (USD) Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) overnight index swaps (OIS) and Pound Sterling (GBP) Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) OIS.
/jlne.ws/3rcNROs
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Glencore boss considers the unthinkable: spinning off coal; Gary Nagle faces growing shareholder concern over mining company's climate plans
Leslie Hook - Financial Times
When Gary Nagle became chief executive of Glencore two years ago, the world was still gripped by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Swiss mining company had just signed a deal to expand its ownership of a giant thermal coal mine in Colombia, Cerrejón.
/jlne.ws/3O5AkBd
Swaps Predict Inflation When All Else Comes Up Short; Derivatives tied to the bond market have proved prescient in determining the path of consumer prices in contrast to the apocalyptic scenarios pushed by economists.
Matthew A. Winkler - Bloomberg
A year ago this week, the US government told us that inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index soared to 9.06% in June 2022 from a year earlier, the highest reading since 1981. The report sparked a crescendo of commentary around the idea that inflation was so hot, nothing less than a recession that throws millions of Americans out of a job would get it under control. Comparisons with the runaway wage-price spiral of the 1970s were ubiquitous.
/jlne.ws/3NCD4EU
Morgan Stanley's Secker Says UK Assets Are World's Cheapest; UK equities lag major European, developed-market stocks in '23; UK small caps seen attractive if inflation starts subsiding
Ksenia Galouchko - Bloomberg
Sentiment around the UK economy has been so poor that the nation's stocks and credit are now the cheapest globally, which could create investment opportunities if inflation begins to slow down, according to Morgan Stanley strategists.
/jlne.ws/3NIOOWo
How the Food System Is Changing and What It Means for Investors; Food represents 10% of GDP, 40% of labor force: PGIM's Hyat; Supply chains, ironically, are going to get more complicated
Vildana Hajric and Michael P. Regan - Bloomberg
Global shifts in incomes and populations, geopolitics and climate change are combining to drastically alter the outlook for the world's food supply. Taimur Hyat, the chief operating officer at PGIM, joined the What Goes Up podcast to talk about his research paper: "Food for Thought: Investment Opportunities Across a Changing Food System."
/jlne.ws/44zlOav
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | An Age-Old Wool Recycling Tradition Offers Lessons for Fast Fashion; Demand for clothing made from repurposed fabrics is rising as awareness builds about textile waste.
Aaron Clark and Flavia Rotondi - Bloomberg
Mario Melani sits on a pile of folded blankets on the floor of a warehouse in Prato, Italy, surrounded by heaps of discarded wool sweaters and scarves. He deftly snips away buttons, zippers, embroidery and labels to strip the garments down to the cloth. It's a critical step in the transformation of used wool into new fabrics, a tradition of textile makers in the Tuscan city that dates to the middle of the 19th century. "The alternative for all this would be the bin," Melani says.
/jlne.ws/3XHfMCs
Automated Weather Insurance Could Offer Help in an Increasingly Hot World; A startup wants to help the insurance industry be more responsive to volatile weather and the widespread damage it can cause.
Michelle Ma - Bloomberg
Carlos Jose Baez experienced the full brunt of Hurricane Maria when it made landfall in Puerto Rico as a catastrophic storm in 2017.
/jlne.ws/43hUHj2
As Texas Cranks Up the AC, Congested Transmission Lines Cause Renewable Power to Go to Waste; Solar and wind input is setting records, but the state's inefficient grid is unable to handle the full load it could deliver in the ongoing heat wave. Consumers are paying the price.
Keaton Peters - Inside Climate News
As a massive heat dome engulfed much of Texas in 100-degree-plus weather throughout the second half of June, breaking temperature records throughout South and West Texas, renewable energy output also set new records. Renewable's contribution to the Texas grid reached an all-time high on June 28, when 41.6 percent of the electricity on the grid was coming from wind and solar power during peak hours.
/jlne.ws/3JUuxMr
Alabama Black Belt Becomes Environmental Justice Test Case: Is Sanitation a Civil Right? The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that Alabama had agreed to remediate a sewage crisis in majority-Black Lowndes County.
Dennis Pillion - Inside Climate News
The new front in America's civil rights struggle is forming on familiar battlegrounds in Alabama's Black Belt, and this time the legal fight is not over the right to vote, to attend desegregated classrooms or to survive in overcrowded prisons.
/jlne.ws/3D3KfRC
ASIC greenwashing antidote
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Ultimately, only meaningful, responsible and transparent disclosure will effectively combat greenwashing practices, writes ASIC deputy chair Karen Chester. Greenwashing erodes investor confidence in the market for sustainability-related financial products and corporate strategies. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has taken 35 regulatory interventions against greenwashing activity in the nine months to March 2023.
/jlne.ws/3NIXr3e
In Oregon Timber Country, a Town Buys the Surrounding Forests to Confront Climate-Driven Wildfires; A logger, forester and former mayor joined forces to help Butte Falls manage its forests to protect the town and build an economy supported by tourism rather than logging.
Grant Stringer - Inside Climate News
/jlne.ws/3rhbtS5
Midwest States, Often Billed as Climate Havens, Suffer Summer of Smoke, Drought, Heat
Madeline Heim and Chloe Johnson - Inside Climate News
/jlne.ws/3pEhjMU
Aluminium companies complain about EU carbon border tax loophole; Levy encourages non-EU producers to generate scrap to be remelted and sold to bloc
Alice Hancock and Harry Dempsey - Financial Times.
/jlne.ws/43jKqTq
Q&A: What to Do About Pollution From a Vast New Shell Plastics Plant in Pennsylvania; The state has already levied a $10 million fine for air quality violations, and environmental groups are suing Shell.
Inside Climate News
/jlne.ws/46Dipcp
Climate change: China sets stage for more of its transport to run on solar energy; Shanghai becomes first local government to issue a specific plan for the application of solar energy in transport; Different transport methods require different solutions for solar power integration, Longi Green Energy Technology's Chen Pengfei says
Yujie Xue - South China Morning Post
/jlne.ws/46IQuYu
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | SVB Financial sues US banking regulator to recover $1.9bn; Parent company of Silicon Valley Bank says FDIC's retention of cash violates bankruptcy law
Sujeet Indap - Financial Times
SVB Financial Group has sued the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in a bid to recover $1.9bn in cash that the regulator has kept since it took over the group's banking subsidiary in March.
/jlne.ws/3O5Tnvn
Saudi National Bank Wanted 40% Stake in Credit Suisse: Blick; Saudi National Bank offered to invest more ahead of collapse; Swiss regulator Finma, government did not approve the option
Marion Halftermeyer - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse's largest shareholder, the Saudi National Bank, wanted to raise its stake to 40% ahead of the Swiss bank's collapse in March, Swiss newspaper Blick reported.
/jlne.ws/44hTQA6
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Young Population Gives Philippines Edge on Global Workers Supply
Ditas B Lopez - Blooomberg
Unlike its wealthier neighbors like Japan and South Korea, an aging society is likely to be the least of the Philippines' problems in the next decades, making it capable of supplying the world with needed manpower.
/jlne.ws/3NKow67
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Toronto Doctor Shortage Leaves Millions Without Primary Care; Years-long waits to find a primary care doctor are becoming a "full-blown health-care crisis" for Ontario.
Saritha Rai - Bloomberg
Zunera Hashmi, a Toronto resident, has been anxiously waiting in line for three years to be assigned a family doctor. When she gets stressed, the 28-year-old marketing professional calls the provincial help line but hears the same message: "Wait just a bit longer." She emails them occasionally but gets no reply.
/jlne.ws/43f8eYF
One Country's Covid Restrictions Are Turning Into a Moneyspinner; Azeri government finances benefit as land borders stay shut; The last remaining safety measure helps stem dollar outflows
Zulfugar Agayev - Bloomberg
Most countries couldn't wait to dismantle travel curbs that were used to contain the coronavirus. Azerbaijan is gaining a boost to government finances by clinging to them months after the global pandemic was declared over.
/jlne.ws/3NIQQG0
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Singapore Hedge Fund Files Wind-Up Case Versus China's Kaisa; Request against builder filed in HK by Broad Peak Investment;= Unlike most such cases there, Kaisa's involves yuan debt
Dorothy Ma - Bloomberg
Singapore-based hedge fund has filed a winding-up petition in Hong Kong against Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd., potentially complicating the Chinese builder's debt-restructuring effort.
/jlne.ws/44UW095
A $7.5 Billion Futures Trade Has a Tepid Start Post India Shift
Ashutosh Joshi and Chiranjivi Chakraborty - Bloomberg
The trading of India stock futures that shifted to Gujarat from Singapore last week met with lukewarm reception, suggesting apprehension among some equity investors about the success of the switch.
/jlne.ws/43kjy63
Peak Power Demand in India Hits Record in June on Extreme Heat; Maximum demand rose to high of 223.3 gigawatts on June 9; Record coal production helped contain electricity blackouts
Rajesh Kumar Singh - Bloomberg
India's peak electricity demand climbed to a record last month, driven mainly by the increased use of cooling appliances to beat the sweltering heat.
/jlne.ws/3Q6VCjF
China Regulator Pushes Mutual Funds to Lower Fees
Bloomberg News
The China Securities Regulatory Commission plans to reform the mutual fund industry's fee mechanisms, and push fund firms and other institutions in the industry to "reasonably" lower fees, the regulator said in a statement Saturday on its website.
/jlne.ws/3O5XiIB
Kuwait's $700 Billion Wealth Fund Is Being Eclipsed by Ambitious Neighbors; Researchers point to dearth of major deals at Kuwait fund; Gulf sovereign funds control more than $3 trillion of assets
Fiona MacDonald, Archana Narayanan and Nicolas Parasie - Bloomberg
As Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds emerge as the go-to investors for some of the biggest deals, the world's oldest and one of its largest is being eclipsed by its more ambitious, flashier neighbors.
/jlne.ws/44993DH
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