| May 22, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
We were saddened to hear of the death of Kevin Smith, the younger brother of Qontigo's Sean Smith, late last week. Condolences to Sean and the whole Smith family.
I attended the Memorial Celebration for Fred Uhlmann on Friday afternoon. One of the problems with living until you are 93 is that most of your contemporaries have passed, or are in assisted living or living in Florida. There was a good turnout of family at the memorial, but I did not see any industry people beyond family during the two hours I was there.
Gary Flagler shared the news on LinkedIn of the death of Gloria Roa, formerly a trust manager and securities services director at BBVA Bancomer Derivados. Gloria was a great part of the Mexican derivatives industry history, Gary said, including being the founding president of Latam Women in Listed Derivatives (WILD). Condolences to the family and friends of Gloria.
The Jason Billups GoFundMe campaign fund is up to $82,400. Thank you to all who have given and all who have yet to give to support Jason and his family as he battles to overcome a traumatic brain injury and several broken bones, including his pelvis, from a fall from the roof of his rental home in Kelowna, BC.
We are a month away from the City against MND Network cricket day raising funds for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association on June 23 at the Honorary Artillery Club, in the City of London. The question is whether the London Metal Exchange can retain the David Setters Trophy. The competitors it faces are ICE, Euronext, Trading Technologies, KRM22 and StoneX Group Inc. If you would like to sponsor or donate to the event, you can do so HERE.
Miami International Holdings, Inc. has completed the acquisition of LedgerX from FTX debtors, MIAX said in a press release. MIH owned three equity options exchanges (MIAX, MIAX Pearl & MIAX Emerald), a stock exchange (The Bermuda Stock Exchange), a designated contract market (Minneapolis Grain Exchange) and a futures commission merchant (Dorman Trading LLC). Now it also owns another regulated exchange and clearinghouse that are registered as a Designated Contract Market (DCM), Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) with the CFTC, plus it is also registered as a Swap Execution Facility (SEF) with the commission. I think MIAX just needs an Introducing Broker and a Broker Dealer for the royal flush.
The Wall Street Journal has a story titled "The Pandemic-Era Tax Break Keeping the IRS Up at Night" about an expired pandemic-era tax break for small businesses. The IRS is wading through more than 800K tax returns and more are arriving amid a flood of claims for this employee retention tax credit. I have received calls, emails and letters personally telling me I am missing out on $26,000 per employee in tax credits. This has literally turned into the latest "We want to talk to you about your car warranty insurance you are missing out on." What these scammers are doing is clogging up the IRS for legitimate small businesses getting their tax returns processed.
The Bill Gates/Jeffrey Epstein connection has always seemed rather strange, but this weekend we found out that Epstein appeared to threaten Gates with blackmail over an affair the Microsoft co-founder had with a Russian bridge player. The Wall Street Journal has a story titled "Jeffrey Epstein Appeared to Threaten Bill Gates Over Microsoft Co-Founder's Affair With Russian Bridge Player."
Brendan Bradley happily announced on LinkedIn that he is starting a new position as non-executive chairman at Tokenovate. I did an interview with Richard Baker of Tokenovate at ISDA about the company and his career that we will be publishing this week.
Actor Rick Dalton has died at the age of 90. He was a star in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood." Tarantino announced Dalton's death "via tweet through The Video Archives, a podcast co-hosted by the director and his 'Pulp Fiction' co-writer Roger Avary, Variety reported. OK, Rick Dalton was actually a fictional character, but Tarantino announced his death anyway.
The Smarter Markets Podcasts presented by Abaxx Exchange are very popular. Smarter Markets decided to test its popularity by having me on as a guest to talk about the history of the futures markets, particularly from the perspective of some of the characters who built the markets into what they are today. It was an interesting experience to be on the other side of the microphone, as it were. You can hear the podcast, titled "Days of Futures Past" with David Greely, HERE.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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May 22 is the International Day for Biological Diversity. With the world's economies so intrinsically linked to the health of the environment, there are huge opportunities for financial investment to support projects designed to restore Earth's biodiversity, says the World Economic Forum. Its post, "The compelling reason why the financial sector must invest in boosting Earth's biodiversity," shares the views of five global leaders on how to consider the impact and dependencies on nature and biodiversity in investment decision-making. You can read their statements here. Follow the hashtag #worldbiodiversityday for related news. ~SAED
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SMALL CAPS TELL US MORE. The Russell 2000 Index provides live index tracking data, with historical performance dating back to January 1984. Academic and practitioner research confirms that large-cap stocks behave differently to small-cap stocks and performance is variable. There are sub-periods during which the Russell 1000 outperforms the Russell 2000 and vice versa. Quarterly performance assessments provide valuable datapoints for understanding market sentiment and US economic activity. Read now: Russell 2000 Index Quarterly Chartbook Q1 April 2023 (ftserussell.com)
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John Lothian, Founder & Publisher of John Lothian News
David Greely - Smarter Markets
In the second installment of our Days of Futures Past series, we welcome John Lothian into the SmarterMarkets studio. John is Executive Chairman at John J. Lothian & Company and Founder & Publisher of John Lothian News. SmarterMarkets host David Greely sits down with John to discuss the people and times that created the modern futures exchange in Chicago.
/jlne.ws/3OyPLCG
****** This was a harder interview to do than when Lamont Black at DePaul asked me to give the history of Chicago derivatives trading in three minutes to a group of students. Here I had to remember a lot more history. I start with the history of the Cashman family and how they came to the CBOT, as many immigrants had the opportunity to do after World War II.~JJL
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Why the wisdom of the market crowd beats AI; The collective judgment of investors provides the most accurate representation of the pricing of stocks and bonds
David Booth - Financial Times
Can artificial intelligence help pick stocks? More specifically, can investors use AI to determine the fair price of a stock or a bond? I bet a lot of people right now would say yes, given recent advances that allow for the processing of ever greater amounts of information. I think my AI is better than all the other ones out there. My AI is the market.
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******Always go for the real thing over the artificial one.~JJL
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Ratio of sheep to people drops below five to one for first time in 170 years
Monique Steele - RNZ News
The ratio of sheep to people in New Zealand has dropped below five to one - for the first time since the 1850s. Stats NZ's new Agricultural Production Census for 2022 reveals the national flock dropped two percent on the year before, to 25.3 million sheep in June 2022.
/jlne.ws/3q893Va
****** It will be fine. As the saying goes, all's wool that ends wool.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our most clicked item Friday was the obituary for Zoe Victoria Zurkowski, the daughter of KRM22's Dave Zurkowski. She died last week at the age of 21. Our condolences to family and friends on this terrible loss. Second was Global Carbon Market in Turmoil After Zimbabwe Grabs Offset Money, from Bloomberg. Third was Crypto Trading Takes a 'Few Steps Back' After Jane Street, Jump Retreat, also from Bloomberg.
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MarketsWiki Stats
27,325 pages; 244,854 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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| Lead Stories | Rigging of Libor was 'state-led'; Global push in 2008 saw benchmark lowered
Andy Verity and James Hurley - The Times
A co-ordinated drive by national central banks and governments pressed banks to manipulate the Libor and Euribor benchmark interest rates at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, an expose to be published next week alleges. This was at the same time as dozens of former traders were criminally prosecuted for much less serious rate "manipulation", it is claimed.
/jlne.ws/3Wp7ONv
America's Biggest Bank Is Everywhere-and It Isn't Done Growing; The deposit crisis that toppled First Republic and two other banks has only made JPMorgan stronger
David Benoit - The Wall Street Journal
Thousands of banks call the U.S. home. Among them, JPMorgan Chase stands alone. The bank has opened branches in 25 new states, plus Washington, D.C., since 2018. Its nearly 4,800 locations are in every state in the Lower 48, an achievement it alone has unlocked. It added another 93 earlier this month when it bought First Republic Bank in a government-backed fire sale.
/jlne.ws/45ncRSF
Stock Prices of Office Landlords Plummet as Short Sellers Pile In; Vacancies climb and rents sink amid a stalled return-to-office rate
Peter Grant - The Wall Street Journal
Share prices for some of the largest office landlords have dropped to near historic lows, reflecting a sluggish return-to-office rate and a rise in the number of investors betting that these stocks will keep falling. SL Green's share price closed at $22.54 on Friday. That is barely above the New York office firm's 1997 initial-public-offering price and a fraction of its post-global-financial-crisis peak of more than $140 in 2015. Vornado Realty Trust, which owns marquee office buildings in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, closed at $13.13 a share on Friday. Vornado's share price topped $67 as recently as 2020.
/jlne.ws/3MLiTWa
Biden's Billion-Dollar Oil Trade Faces a Big Test; Washington awaits bids to refill crude reserves with modified price proposal
David Uberti - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. government's attempt to refill the skyscraper-sized caverns that hold the country's emergency oil reserves is coming with a crash course in energy markets: How to think more like a trader. President Biden last year authorized an emergency sale of more than 180 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease gasoline prices that skyrocketed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Energy Department sold high, averaging roughly $95 a barrel.
/jlne.ws/3Mr3FUX
Credit Suisse privately challenged Finma's AT1 writedown; Swiss bank contested regulator's justification for wiping out $17bn of bonds
Robert Smith, Owen Walker and Stephen Morris - Financial Times
Credit Suisse directly disputed the Swiss financial regulator's basis for writing down $17bn of its additional tier 1 bonds, in a private letter aimed at sparing staff bonuses that were tied to the debt. Investors representing at least $4.5bn of wiped-out Credit Suisse AT1 bonds filed a lawsuit against Finma last month, seeking to overturn the Swiss regulator's cancellation of their holdings that was imposed as part of the bank's shotgun marriage to UBS two months ago.
/jlne.ws/3BJH3dk
Credit Suisse staff prepare to sue Swiss regulator over lost AT1 bonuses-FT
Reuters
Credit Suisse AG staff are preparing to sue the Swiss financial regulator over $400 million of bonuses that were canceled after the troubled lender's rescue by UBS Group AG, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Quinn Emanuel and Pallas, law firms which are already suing Swiss regulator Finma on behalf of investors who owned AT1 bonds, have received multiple requests from senior managers at Credit Suisse to take legal action on their behalf, the report said.
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Even Flirting With U.S. Default Takes Economic Toll; Financial markets are still betting that Congress and the White House will strike a deal. But the uncertainty alone is having consequences.
Lydia DePillis and Ben Casselman - The New York Times
As negotiations over the debt limit continue in Washington and the date on which the U.S. government could be forced to stop paying some bills draws closer, everyone involved has warned that such a default would have catastrophic consequences. But it might not take a default to damage the U.S. economy.
/jlne.ws/3Izhu2u
Debt-Ceiling Standoff Could Start a Recession, but Default Would Be Worse
Sarah Chaney Cambon - The Wall Street Journal
Prolonged debt-ceiling squabbling could push the U.S. economy into recession, while a government default on its obligations might touch off a severe financial crisis. U.S. lawmakers are negotiating over raising the federal government's borrowing limit and may have just days to act before the standoff reverberates through the economy.
/jlne.ws/41WmkOa
Nobel Laureate Robert E. Lucas Jr., Who Transformed Macroeconomics, Dies at 85
Inti Pacheco - The Wall Street Journal
Robert E. Lucas Jr., a Nobel Prize-winning economist, peered into global and national economic forces and saw the actions of individual consumers and workers. Regarded as the architect of modern macroeconomics, Lucas spent four decades at the University of Chicago, where he pioneered the concept that accurately predicting the effects of economic-policy changes required incorporating individual expectations-an idea that became known as the Lucas critique.
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Who Is James Gorman? Morgan Stanley CEO, Taylor Swift Booster; Australia native moved to New York for business school, and later joined the bank
Justin Baer and Gregory Zuckerman - The Wall Street Journal
James Gorman presided over a historic transformation at Morgan Stanley. He also played a small part in pop-music history. Two decades ago, Gorman was scrambling to find a last-minute entertainer to perform at a Merrill Lynch event in California. He turned to the young daughter of one of his brokers, Scott Swift.
/jlne.ws/3IvXUnN
JPMorgan, ex-executive spar in court over responsibility for Epstein
Luc Cohen - Reuters
A judge said on Friday he would decide by the end of the month whether a JPMorgan Chase & Co lawsuit should proceed against a former executive who it accuses of entangling the bank with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan spoke after a one-hour hearing over whether to let the largest U.S. bank sue Jes Staley, its former private banking head.
/jlne.ws/43h29LH
Judge Backs Plaintiffs in Currenex Case, With a "But"
Colin Lambert - The FullFX
A judicial opinion published by the Southern District Court of New York, which is hearing the class action brought against Currenex, Goldman Sachs, HC Tech, State Street and others for alleged malpractice on the Currenex platform, finds largely for the Plaintiffs in that their arguments the platform failed to disclose its move away from the FIFO (first-in-first-out) rule, provided special access to trades for other defendants and granted special access to the order book, are "plausible", meaning the case can proceed.
/jlne.ws/3BKK4dp
Young Investors in College Clubs Embrace Wild Market Ride; This is not a test: Clubs are managing thousands, sometimes even millions, of dollars
Hannah Miao - The Wall Street Journal
Sam Eckert oversees an equity fund that is beating the S&P 500 this year. But he isn't a professional portfolio manager, and neither are his colleagues. Eckert is a rising senior and the investment committee chair of the University of Chicago's undergraduate investment club, the Blue Chips. It is one of many college clubs where teenagers and 20-somethings are learning about investing by managing tens or hundreds of thousands-even millions-of dollars in assets. In other words, there is more at stake than an econ test.
/jlne.ws/3pWyrxb
Economist Daniel Chandler: 'Shareholders have all the power. It doesn't have to be that way.'; The author of 'Free and Equal' makes the case for workplace democracy
Henry Mance - Financial Times
Who runs companies? After trying in vain to get employees back to the office since the pandemic eased, many executives feel the answer is: not them. Today's bosses grumble they have to bend to staff demands to embrace flexible working, to stand up for liberal values, to make allowances for mental health and personal circumstances. Millennials and Gen Z expect nothing less.
/jlne.ws/3IUqjEj
London's Allen & Overy to Merge With Shearman & Sterling to Create $3.4 Billion Global Law Firm
Erin Mulvaney - The Wall Street Journal
London-based Allen & Overy and New York firm Shearman & Sterling said Sunday they plan to merge, representing one of the largest tie-ups in recent history with a projected $3.4 billion in annual revenue. The proposed merger, pending approval by partners, would create Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, or A&O Shearman, with 3,900 total lawyers and 800 partners in 49 offices in 29 countries.
/jlne.ws/3IyyOoe
Marc Wyatt: How to meet growing multi-asset demands; Head of global trading at T. Rowe Price, Marc Wyatt, speaks to The TRADE about the push for multi-asset trading capabilities, the benefits of operating an agile multi-asset business and the challenges associated with building the trading desk of the future.
Editors - The Trade
What is driving the push for multi-asset trading capabilities?
There are a number of macro trends driving multi-asset trading. Markets are increasingly interlinked and signals in one asset class often have implications across assets. It is mission critical that trading has line of sight on these correlations and how they change over time. It is harder to do this with siloed trading teams.
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Bowing to pressure, Biden relents on F-16s to Ukraine
Karen DeYoung, David L. Stern and John Hudson - The Washington Post
After months of U.S. insistence that Ukraine did not need F-16s to fight its war with Russia, Washington finally relented to pressure, agreeing not to stop allied nations from sending Kyiv the advanced Western fighter jets it has long desired. Ukraine now hopes to have U.S.-made F-16s flying as early as this fall, following U.S. agreement to allow third countries to transfer the aircraft, according to an adviser to Kyiv's Ministry of Defense.
/jlne.ws/3Wtdrum
Providing F-16 Fighters to Ukraine Is Worth the Risk; The "Fighting Falcon" is the Swiss Army knife of the air. Russia has nothing to compete with it, and Putin has run out of ways to escalate in response.
James Stavridis - Bloomberg Opinion
Yielding to mounting bipartisan pressure domestically and considerable advocacy by European allies, President Joe Biden's administration decided Friday to provide a path to full training and operation of US-made F-16 "Fighting Falcon" fighter aircraft. Coming on the heels of providing Patriot air-defense systems and Abrams M1A1 tanks, the F-16 announcement shows that the Biden team is willing to take a reasonable level of risk to provide the Ukrainians a full suite of tools to defend themselves from Russian aggression.
/jlne.ws/3MMIAW5
Volkswagen Sells Its Russia Operations, Including an Assembly Plant
Melissa Eddy - The New York Times
Volkswagen has sold its assembly plant and other operations in Russia to a local auto dealership, more than a year after the German carmaker ceased production in the country following the invasion of Ukraine, the company said on Friday. Under the deal, which required approval from the Russian government, a Moscow-based dealership called Avilon acquired the assets of Volkswagen Group Rus, the carmaker said.
/jlne.ws/45ydol4
Russia's Oil Flows Stay High Even as Moscow Insists Cuts Made; Shipments from Russian ports are 1.2 million barrels a day higher than at the end of 2022
Julian Lee - Bloomberg
Russian crude oil flows to international markets still show no sign of the output cuts the country insists it is making.
/jlne.ws/3MqZ6tN
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | SGX Group and SSE deepen partnership with ETF Link connecting Singapore and China
SGX Group
Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) and Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) are deepening their relationship significantly by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to launch an SSE-SGX exchange-traded fund (ETF) link, further strengthening the connectivity between Singapore and China. Under this agreement, SGX Group and SSE will jointly develop and promote the ETF markets in both countries through a master-feeder fund model.
/jlne.ws/42XB7JE
LCH SwapClear completes Libor to Sofr transition; LSEG's post-trade division, LCH SwapClear, successfully completed the second and the final conversion last week, following the first USD Libor conversion event last month.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
LCH SwapClear completed its final conversion from Libor to Sofr on 20 May in a significant milestone for the transition of the global interest rate benchmark. According to the business the conversion involved $45 trillion of aggregate notional, with the second tranche by far the largest conversion undertaken to-date with a value of $43 trillion.
/jlne.ws/45pHdnR
Hong Kong to introduce yuan share trading on June 19, 'cementing its role as the world's leading offshore yuan hub', HKEX's Aguzin says
Enoch Yiu - South China Morning Post
Hong Kong will introduce yuan share trading from June 19 in a breakthrough that brokers expect will boost the city's status as an offshore centre for the Chinese currency. Bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), which operates the third-largest stock market in Asia, said financial firms can over the next few weeks start applying to become market makers for dual-currency trading counters that will allow investors to freely trade stocks in Hong Kong dollars or the yuan.
/jlne.ws/41UpBgJ
MIAX Completes Acquisition of LedgerX from FTX Debtors
MIAX
Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), owner of Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC (MIAX), MIAX PEARL, LLC (MIAX Pearl), MIAX Emerald, LLC (MIAX Emerald), Minneapolis Grain Exchange, LLC (MGEXTM), The Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), and Dorman Trading LLC, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of LedgerX LLC (LedgerX) from Ledger Holdings Inc. in connection with the bankruptcy proceedings of FTX Trading Ltd. and its affiliated debtors.
/jlne.ws/43hIqM4
HKEX appoints new head of digital assets; Incoming hire brings over two decades' worth of experience serving at major banks and financial institutions; previously served at BC Technology Group.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has appointed Andrew Loong as managing director and head of digital assets. As part of the role, Loong will oversee the development of the digital assets ecosystem in HKEX's markets, including digital product offerings and building digital infrastructure.
/jlne.ws/43cqmCM
Transparency for Hydrogen Market with HYDRIX: EEX publishes first market-based hydrogen index
European Energy Exchange
European Energy Exchange (EEX) is launching the world's first marketbased hydrogen index, HYDRIX, and presenting it at the E-world trade fair in Essen. HYDRIX provides information on actually traded prices for green hydrogen, which is determined from supply and demand prices of hydrogen together with renowned partners from industrial and energy sectors to ensure the necessary price transparency crucial for the growing market.
/jlne.ws/3Wx0hfS
Launch of TOPIX Net Total Return HKD Hedged Index and TOPIX Net Total Return SGD Hedged Index
Japan Exchange Group
JPX Market Innovation & Research, Inc. hereby announces the launch of the TOPIX Net Total Return HKD Hedged Index and the TOPIX Net Total Return SGD Hedged Index.
/jlne.ws/3OzAtxx
Thomson Reuters Announces Latest Sale of LSEG Shares
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters (TSX/NYSE: TRI) announced today that it and certain investment funds affiliated with Blackstone collectively sold 33 million London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSEG) shares that they co-own at a price of £80.50 per share. The sale was conducted through a placement to institutional investors and an offer to retail investors.
/jlne.ws/3OBf0EF
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Nasdaq's Chai Discusses The Tech That Manages Risk And Volatility
Sean McMahon - SmartBrief
The digital transformation of financial markets has spawned incredible connectivity and efficiency, but it has also created plenty of challenges. Roland Chai, executive vice president for market technology at Nasdaq, joins the show to outline how new technologies are enhancing market resiliency - even in the face of extreme volatility events like interest rate moves, wars, bank failures, the GameStop frenzy and the pandemic.
/jlne.ws/45jwZVV
Why Web3 and the AI-Internet Belong Together
Michael J. Casey - CoinDesk
A tweet this week from Chris Frantz, the founder of email platform Loops, irked me. Frantz said "90% of the people I know in web3 have pivoted their company to AI." What got to me was not that founders are so obsessed with securing venture capital that they'll glob onto the next "in" thing. (Let's save that problem of Silicon Valley fickleness for another time.)
/jlne.ws/3MKAQUK
DeFi protocol in $3m scam was 'Certik audited'
Ekin Genç - DL News
Developers behind Swaprum, a decentralised exchange on the buzzy Arbitrum blockchain, made off with millions of investor funds last night. The protocol was audited by CertiK, the smart contract auditing firm that has recently come under fire for its failure to pinpoint potential rug-pull risks. Damicale Shilling, a DeFi investor, raised concerns about Swaprum yesterday morning after analysing on-chain activity related to the protocol's marketing efforts.
/jlne.ws/438jFBU
Five Steps that Traditional Financial Institutions should take to Save Blockchain Technology in Financial Services
James P. Dowd - LinkedIn
Grifters have scandalized the crypto industry and destroyed the short-term prospects for digital asset securities in the United States. For market professionals who have been drawn to blockchain technology as a platform to develop open, scalable infrastructure for certain types of securities, a new approach is required.
/jlne.ws/3Iw8yL2
Demand for Tokenized Treasury Bonds Soars as Crypto Investors Chase TradFi Yield
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
Demand for tokenized versions of U.S. Treasury bonds is soaring as rising yields in traditional financial markets attract fresh capital from crypto investors. The combined market capitalization of tokenized money market funds nears $500 million, and has quadrupled in size this year, according to data compiled by CoinDesk.
/jlne.ws/3Iyw5Lw
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Man Charged for Alleged Participation in $45M CoinDeal Investment Fraud Scheme Involving Over 10,000 Victims
U.S. Department of Justice
A Nevada man has been charged for his alleged participation in CoinDeal, an investment fraud scheme that defrauded more than 10,000 victims of over $45 million. Bryan Lee, 57, of Las Vegas, will make his initial appearance in federal court today in Las Vegas. According to court documents, Lee allegedly conspired with Neil Chandran and others to defraud investors in companies that Chandran controlled.
/jlne.ws/43dNmS4
Users will decide if they can still trust Ledger with their seed phrases
J.W. Verret - CoinTelegraph
Self-custody is important in crypto, and security is essential to self-custody. Ledger, a notable hardware wallet manufacturer, has built its reputation on the secure storage of users' private keys. Hardware wallets create a secure offline environment for storing keys and using keys to execute transactions. The user's private keys are generated and stored within the device and are supposed to never leave it.
/jlne.ws/3MMx3q1
'Lots of inaccuracies': Ledger pushes back on security fears over its crypto wallet update
Ekin Genç - DL News
Ledger, the manufacturer of hardware crypto wallets, faces criticism for an update that lets its devices send coded parts of users' seed phrases to others. The company says it will help users recover their seed phrases, which function like passwords, but some critics say the update may open up security vulnerabilities.
/jlne.ws/3ogZfIe
'Deepfake' scam in China fans worries over AI-driven fraud
Reuters
A fraud in northern China that used sophisticated "deepfake" technology to convince a man to transfer money to a supposed friend has sparked concern about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to aid financial crimes.
/jlne.ws/3MNpa3t
Cybersecurity firms' earnings set to benefit from growing threat of hacks
Samrhitha A and Vansh Agarwal - Reuters
Top U.S. cybersecurity companies are expected to report another quarter of strong growth as high-profile hacks and a shift in client preference for bigger players with better integrated offerings help support their businesses in a turbulent economy. Palo Alto Networks, the largest player in the space by market share and valuation, will kick off sector earnings on Tuesday with what analysts polled by Refinitiv estimate to be a near 24% increase in quarterly revenue.
/jlne.ws/3onh20k
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Are deposit tokens the new stablecoins - or a wolf in sheep's clothing?
Bernhard Blaha - Formats
Stablecoins are the wheels that keep the crypto world turning, simplifying trading in and out of fiat currencies. The stablecoin market, valued at US$128 billion, has generated institutional interest in digital assets. In April, Societe Generale announced it would be introducing a stablecoin pegged to the euro, followed by Visa's announcement to develop a public blockchain network and stablecoin payments service.
/jlne.ws/3BK9Ez4
Gemini Says DCG Missed $630M Genesis Loan Payment
Andrew Asmakov - Decrypt
Crypto exchange Gemini said Digital Currency Group (DCG) of missing out on a $630 million payment that was due last week. The payment relates to a loan Gemini made to the now-bankrupt crypto lender Genesis, which is the subsidiary of DCG.
/jlne.ws/3BNeg7v
How Gamers Can Earn Crypto Cash Hunting for Broken Manholes; A Pokemon Go-like game rewards users with cryptocurrency for collecting information that helps cities maintain aging infrastructure.
Isabella Steger - Bloomberg
On a recent sweltering Saturday afternoon, a dozen people met up in Valenzuela, a city just outside Manila, to search for manholes and utility poles and snap photos of them.
/jlne.ws/3pYJ0zU
ChatGPT Founder Sam Altman Is Launching a New Crypto. What Does It Mean for Bitcoin?
Dominic Basulto - The Motley Fool
Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI (the creator of ChatGPT), is introducing a cryptocurrency called Worldcoin. He has reportedly lined up $100 million from high-profile venture-capital investors, and he has already released a World App crypto wallet that can be downloaded to your mobile phone. Altman has big plans for Worldcoin as the first-ever cryptocurrency to be held by every person on the planet.
/jlne.ws/3BQWPms
Coinbase Praises Canada's Crypto Approach as U.S. Regulatory Pressure Intensifies
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
Crypto exchange giant Coinbase (COIN) says it loves Canada, where the rules have been set out and companies are able to engage with the regulators, compared with the U.S.'s lack of clarity and regulation by enforcement for the industry. It's no secret that Coinbase is currently at loggerheads with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has warned the exchange that its going to be targeted with an enforcement action for violating securities laws.
/jlne.ws/3OBaJkB
Bitcoin Believers Tone Down the Miami Party
Caitlin Ostroff - The Wall Street Journal
The crypto crash has left firms considerably less flush, but the most enthusiastic crypto enthusiasts still headed to the Bitcoin Conference.
/jlne.ws/3onvZiU
How Gamers Can Earn Crypto Cash Hunting for Broken Manholes; A Pokemon Go-like game rewards users with cryptocurrency for collecting information that helps cities maintain aging infrastructure.
Isabella Steger - Bloomberg
On a recent sweltering Saturday afternoon, a dozen people met up in Valenzuela, a city just outside Manila, to search for manholes and utility poles and snap photos of them. The infrastructure hunters were there because they found each other on the Discord channel for Tekkon, a Pokemon Go-like app that uses crowdsourcing to collect information that public utilities need to keep power lines and water networks operating smoothly.
/jlne.ws/3Wm40g9
No Talk of Moon Shots at This Year's Bitcoin Bash in Miami; Attendance drops off as crypto winter hangs over marquee event; There's consensus crypto is here to stay: Miami Beach mayor
Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
It turns out that the Bitcoin faithful still like to party even after the annus horribilis that shook the digital-asset world in 2022. They're just a little more subdued this year. Devotees of the largest digital token gathered in Miami Beach this week for the Bitcoin 2023 conference - to commiserate, but also to celebrate getting past last year's string of calamities, including the blowup of the FTX exchange.
/jlne.ws/42dioc1
Memecoin Mania and NFTs Bring a 'Seismic Shift' for Bitcoin Mining; Transaction fees make up an increasing share of miner revenue; Industry is assessing whether the change is structural
Sidhartha Shukla and David Pan - Bloomberg
An eruption of memecoins and nonfungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain has reshaped the revenue profile of miners and stirred questions about how lasting the upheaval will prove to be. New software known as Ordinals paved the way for the NFTs and meme tokens to come to the network this year. Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. says the Bitcoin NFT ecosystem could be worth $4.5 billion by 2025, while about 25,000 memecoins have been tallied on the blockchain since they first emerged in March.
/jlne.ws/3MpMQJY
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | G-7 Leaders Agree to Set Up 'Hiroshima Process' to Govern AI; World leaders to present results of discussions by year-end; G-7 joins industry leaders in calling for more AI regulation
Marika Katanuma - Bloomberg
Leaders of the Group of Seven countries agreed on the need for governance in accordance with G-7 values in the field of generative AI, expressing concern about the disruptive potential of rapidly expanding technologies. In what they are calling the "Hiroshima Process," the governments are set to hold cabinet-level discussions on the issue and present the results by the end of the year, the leaders said in a statement at the G-7 summit on Friday.
/jlne.ws/3pWtBA1
G7 issues strongest condemnation of China as it intensifies response to Beijing; Concerns raised over 'economic coercion' and militarisation of South China Sea
Henry Foy, Kana Inagaki, Demetri Sevastopulo, Jim Pickard and Christopher Miller - Financial Times
The G7 has issued its strongest condemnation of China as the world's most advanced economies stepped up their response to what they called rising military and economic security threats posed by Beijing. Criticising China over everything from its militarisation of the South China Sea to its use of "economic coercion", the G7 urged Beijing to push Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/41SgVaM
Biden Slams Wealthy Crypto Traders as U.S. Budget Talks Resume
Ryan Ozawa - Decrypt
Wrapping up his participation in the Group of Seven (G7) forum in Japan, U.S. President Joe Biden took a swipe at "wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders" as undeserving beneficiaries of Republican lawmakers with whom his administration is negotiating a new budget-without which the American government could potentially default on its debt payments on June 1.
/jlne.ws/3Or3v2p
Presidential Candidate Kennedy Vows to Defend Bitcoin Against 'Invasive Surveillance'
Jason Nelson - Decrypt
Speaking to a packed audience on the final day of the 2023 Bitcoin Conference in Miami, Fla., Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decisively built Bitcoin into his campaign platform, saying the cryptocurrency must be defended against what he called "invasive surveillance."
/jlne.ws/3Oq4ika
These Five Debt-Ceiling Negotiators Have Just Days to Reach a Deal; President Biden and Kevin McCarthy tap close advisers to hash out spending cuts as default looms
Andrew Restuccia and Lindsay Wise - The Wall Street Journal
With less than two weeks to go before the U.S. could run out of money to pay all of its bills, House Republicans and the White House are putting their faith in a small group of negotiators to hammer out a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling. After a recent Oval Office meeting, President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said they would narrow the number of people involved directly in the talks from roughly a dozen to just five of the men's most trusted advisers.
/jlne.ws/43hMpIw
Yellen told bank CEOs more mergers may be necessary, CNN reports
Doina Chiacu and David Lawder - Reuters
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told bank CEOs on Thursday that more mergers may be necessary after a series of bank failures, CNN reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the matter. A Treasury spokesperson declined to comment on the meeting with CEOs of the largest U.S. banks beyond a statement issued afterwards that reaffirmed the strength and soundness of the U.S. banking system.
/jlne.ws/3Os9qEr
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy bets big on Bitcoin in 2024
Olivia Rinaldi - CBS News
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is betting big on digital currency Bitcoin for campaign donations, and he's also unveiling a new proposal to roll back tax restrictions on mining the currency in the U.S. "The thriving Bitcoin universe should actually better empower me to do what I want to do as the U.S. president, which is to stabilize the U.S. dollar as a unit of measurement and put the Federal Reserve back in its place with that as its single mandate," Ramaswamy said in an exclusive interview with CBS News.
/jlne.ws/3WqVY5t
What the 14th Amendment Really Says; Biden must pay interest on the debt or violate the U.S. Constitution.
The Wall Street Journal
The debt talks are stalled and President Biden is again threatening to invoke the Constitution's 14th Amendment to pay interest on America's debt without Congress raising the debt ceiling. The truth is that the Treasury has more than ample revenue coming in each month to avoid defaulting on the debt, and Mr. Biden doesn't need to distort the meaning of the 14th Amendment to do it.
/jlne.ws/3OvWwFd
EU muddies regulatory clarity on crypto with new tax reporting bill
Inbar Preiss - DL News
No sooner had the European Union ushered in its MiCA regulatory regime than a new tax bill now threatens to muddy the picture by letting the bloc's member states define staking. Both policymakers and industry representatives raised this concern after the European Council published its final version of the crypto tax reporting bill on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3OrIZPf
US Imposes Sanctions on Some of Russia's Biggest Gold Miners; The US has sanctioned Polyus and Russian unit of Polymetal; CFO of Russian miner Norilsk Nickel also included to SDN list
Bloomberg
The US has sanctioned some of Russia's biggest gold miners, as it imposes fresh penalties on the country's metals and mining sector. Polyus PJSC, the country's No. 1 gold miner, and Polymetal JSC, the Russian unit of Polymetal International Plc, were targeted, according to a statement Friday from the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Share and debt holders of Polyus, along with the company's counterparties, have until Aug. 17 to sell their assets and wind down their operations.
/jlne.ws/3MKKsyS
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Meta fined record $1.3 billion and ordered to stop sending European user data to US
Kelvin Chan - Associated Press
The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday and ordered it to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears.
/jlne.ws/3BNqSvC
Commissioner Goldsmith Romero to Participate in Fireside Chat at the New York City Bar's White Collar Crime Institute
CFTC
Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero will participate in the Women in White Collar Fireside Chat at the New York City Bar's White Collar Crime Institute.
/jlne.ws/42Vaghl
Mellissa Campbell Duru Named Division of Corporation Finance's Deputy Director for Legal and Regulatory Policy
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Mellissa Campbell Duru has been named Deputy Director for Legal and Regulatory Policy in the Division of Corporation Finance. Ms. Duru most recently was a Special Counsel at Covington & Burling LLP and previously spent more than 15 years in various SEC roles. "I'm pleased to welcome Mellissa back to the SEC in this important new role," said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
/jlne.ws/42Y3K9p
"Honest and Unbiased Investment Management": Remarks before the Inaugural Conference on Emerging Trends in Asset Management
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Thank you for that introduction, William. I am pleased to welcome everyone to the Division of Investment Management's inaugural Conference on Emerging Trends in Asset Management. As is customary, I'd like to note that my views are my own as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and I am not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the staff. Later this month marks 90 years since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the first of the federal securities laws, the Securities Act of 1933. Roosevelt and Congress knew, however, that their work wasn't done.
/jlne.ws/3WnA6Ir
Division of Investment Management: Conference on Emerging Trends in Asset Management Introduction
William Birdthistle - SEC
Thank you very much for your warm welcome of our guests to the SEC, Brent, and for your kind introduction. I'm delighted to add my voice to yours to greet all of our Commission coworkers here sitting directly in front of us as well as all our industry colleagues and even broader audience viewing online. Before we begin, I must remind you all that my remarks today are provided in my official capacity as the Commission's Director of the Division of Investment Management but they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, the Commissioners, or members of the staff.
/jlne.ws/3BO6BGa
SEC Charges Texas Resident with Acting as an Unregistered Broker
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against Daniel E. Levin, from Dallas-Fort Worth, with acting as an unregistered broker-dealer.
/jlne.ws/3pYUSSu
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Individual Who Defrauded New Jersey Investors
SEC
On May 17, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final consent judgment against Sam A. Antar, who the SEC previously charged with defrauding investors, many of whom were his friends and acquaintances in a Syrian Jewish community in New Jersey.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Here's What It Looks Like When Americans Retire Overseas; Six retirees open up about the financial and personal challenges of relocating abroad in retirement
Anne Tergesen and Veronica Dagher - The Wall Street Journal
Whether seeking adventure, self-reinvention, or just a lower cost of living, international retirees face a unique set of money and life challenges. And paperwork. It is unclear how many Americans actually retire abroad, but where people collect their Social Security checks provides a ballpark figure. Nearly 450,000 people received their benefits outside the U.S. at the end of 2021, up from 307,000 in 2008, according to the Social Security Administration, which says nearly half are U.S. citizens.
/jlne.ws/43jwU2v
How Your Personality Can Affect Your Portfolio; Neuroticism and openness, in particular, are closely linked to investors' willingness to buy stocks
Lisa Ward - The Wall Street Journal
Can certain personality traits explain investors' risk tolerance and investment decisions? A forthcoming paper suggests it might. Specifically, the authors found that two personality traits-neuroticism and openness-significantly affect how investors perceive the economy, financial markets and their likelihood to buy stocks or stock funds, with those who are less neurotic and more open tending to have a higher allocation to equities.
/jlne.ws/43jtUTN
Why You Keep Chasing the Wrong Stock Market; Trying to make up for stock market losses can be costly, impulsive and misguided, and the Dow isn't necessarily your best metric
Jason Zweig - The Wall Street Journal
If you're like most investors, you can probably guess roughly where the Dow Jones Industrial Average is at a given moment, but that doesn't mean you know how well the stock market is doing. That can obscure your view of your own performance and distort your decisions. This year's stock market is split in two. One consists of a few big technology companies, and it's booming. The other is everything else, and it's been stinking up the joint.
/jlne.ws/4301ONO
Icahn Is No Saint, but Illumina Can Still Use a Flawed Savior
David Wainer - The Wall Street Journal
As Carl Icahn's activist campaign against Illumina's board comes to a head, the battle has taken a surprising plot twist: The activist investor himself has come under attack by short seller Hindenburg, which argues his own listed company is "Ponzi-like." Icahn's proposal to Illumina shareholders is that he can help breathe new life into the gene-sequencing machine maker's battered stock price, so a precipitous drop in his own company's shares-along with a federal investigation-isn't a good look ahead of Illumina's shareholder meeting on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4265iNG
Investors Seek Protection in Case of Debt-Ceiling Debacle; Many are pulling cash from stock funds and seeking safety in Treasurys that don't mature for several years
Eric Wallerstein - The Wall Street Journal
Some investors are betting the debt-ceiling stalemate could inject a new dose of volatility into markets. As the U.S. government lurches closer to possibly missing debt payments-which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this past week would "crack open the foundations upon which our financial system is built"-the S&P 500 is up 9.2% this year at its highest levels since August, and stock-market volatility has subsided to lows not seen since 2021.
/jlne.ws/3MMYj7F
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Biodiversity protection should be a priority for all businesses; World Biodiversity Day should be a wake-up call for businesses to embrace nature protection - for their own self interest
Eva Zabey - Context
Eva Zabey is the CEO of Business for Nature, a global coalition driving credible business action and policy ambition to achieve a nature-positive economy for all by 2030. As we mark World Biodiversity Day, it is essential to remember that all businesses depend on nature, and the services and resources it provides. While some sectors are particularly dependent on nature - such as agribusinesses relying on healthy soils, pollination, and natural pest control - all companies rely on a healthy planet.
/jlne.ws/3WsiY4n
G7 welcomes ISSB's work to deliver global baseline of sustainability disclosures
IFRS
The G7 welcomes the inauguration of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and its progress of work on the global baseline of sustainability reporting standards.
/jlne.ws/3MoPQGl
Big polluters' share prices fall after climate lawsuits, study finds; Exclusive: Fossil fuel companies register drop in value after litigation or unfavourable judgments
Isabella Kaminski - The Guardian
Climate litigation poses a financial risk to fossil fuel companies because it lowers the share price of big polluters, research has found. A study to be published on Tuesday by LSE's Grantham Research Institute examines how the stock market reacts to news that a fresh climate lawsuit has been filed or a corporation has lost its case.
/jlne.ws/3Ox9JOf
Corporate Diversity Programs Get Religion; Companies sponsor chaplains, faith-based groups to promote inclusion
Francis X. Rocca - The Wall Street Journal
U.S. companies are paying increasing attention to the religious affiliation of their employees, and a growing number are including religion in policies aimed at promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The focus comes as the Supreme Court is poised to rule on the case of Gerald Groff, a postal carrier who alleged he was the victim of discrimination when required to work on Sunday.
/jlne.ws/422gJ8S
'Offset' is not a dirty word! Making the case for voluntary carbon markets
Maria Nazarova-Doyle - Responsible Investor
Lately I've begun to wonder something: when did "offset" turn into a swear word? Should I be spelling it as off***? The extent to which offsets have become vilified in much of the discourse around decarbonisation not only concerns me - it simply baffles me. Offsets form part and parcel of any sensible net-zero strategy. Without offsets, there cannot feasibly be a net reduction to zero emissions.
/jlne.ws/45lg0lY
Exxon Joins Hunt for Lithium in Bet on EV Boom; Oil giant quietly laid plans this year for producing mineral in Arkansas
Benoit Morenne and Collin Eaton - The Wall Street Journal
Exxon Mobil is bracing for a future far less dependent on gasoline by drilling for something other than oil: lithium. The Texas oil giant recently purchased drilling rights to a sizable chunk of Arkansas land from which it aims to produce the mineral, a key ingredient in batteries for electric cars, cellphones and laptops, according to people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/42XBKmy
'Fascinating creatures': how an army of volunteers fights to save Britain's bumblebees; Between March and October, BeeWalk community counts the declining species facing a 'perfect storm' of threats
Esther Addley - The Guardian
"If you want to look at bees, go to a city rather than the countryside," says Sarah Hudson, and on a bright spring day in central London, it's not hard to see what she means. Hudson, a retired accountant, is carefully picking a path through the overgrown gravestones of the historic Bunhill Fields cemetery, pointing out the bees buzzing through an abundance of wild and cultivated spring flowers.
/jlne.ws/3MNwr3e
A Crowd-Funded Startup Is Making a Coffee Cup That Can Be Eaten; Australia's Good-Edi is betting on an edible container to combat all the polyethylene-lined disposables that end up in landfills.
Aaron Clark and Keira Wright - Bloomberg
A trash can overflowing with disposable drink cups is an all-too-familiar sight outside any high-traffic cafe or fast-food joint. It was during a lunch-time walk in Melbourne that colleagues Aniyo Rahebi and Catherine Hutchins passed by several such eyesores and decided to combat the piles of waste. A few months later they arrived at an idea: a to-go cup that can be eaten.
/jlne.ws/45jdoFp
Bioacoustics Helps Investors Measure Biodiversity Impact
Aaran Fronda - ESG Investor
A new bioacoustics study, sponsored by investment managers Cardano, Fidelity International and Nomura Asset Management, has outlined its potential use for measuring biodiversity and its impact on investments.
/jlne.ws/3MyaPXA
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Don't let a failure of imagination render bank stress tests useless
Kathy Perrotte - American Banker
Despite assurances from regulators and senior bankers, it seems a contagion is spreading quickly across the country's regional banks. Three regional banks have failed in the last three months, and with others on the brink, the Federal Reserve needs to act. The collapse of First Republic and its implications for banks like PacWest, Western Alliance and First Horizon makes for grim reading for regulators. While no one knows the future, this crisis could spell the end for regional and specialized banks in the United States, for better or worse.
/jlne.ws/3WrgqTL
G7 issues strongest condemnation of China as it intensifies response to Beijing; Concerns raised over 'economic coercion' and militarisation of South China Sea
Henry Foy, Kana Inagaki, Demetri Sevastopulo, Jim Pickard and Christopher Miller - Financial Times
The G7 has issued its strongest condemnation of China as the world's most advanced economies stepped up their response to what they called rising military and economic security threats posed by Beijing. Criticising China over everything from its militarisation of the South China Sea to its use of "economic coercion", the G7 urged Beijing to push Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/41SgVaM
Disinflation milestones
Benoit Mojon, Gabriela Nodari and Stefano Siviero - Bank for International Settlements
While inflation remains high, most forecasts see inflation falling rapidly in 2023 and 2024 in the euro area and the United States, as well as in most other advanced economies. For instance, CPI and PCE inflation in the euro area and the United States - which stood at 7-9.5% in the last quarter of 2022 - is expected to decline to 3-5% by the end of this year and to fall further, to around 2.5% in both economies, by the end of 2024 (see Table 1).
/jlne.ws/422eWka
Fed's Michelle Bowman Warns Against Broad Overhaul of Banking Rules
Andrew Ackerman - The Wall Street Journal
A Federal Reserve official cautioned policy makers against undertaking a broad revamp of the regulatory framework facing small and regional banks, saying complex new rules could hasten the consolidation of the banking industry and potentially push more activities outside of the regulated banking system. Instead, Fed governor Michelle Bowman said policy makers should focus on "remediating known, identified issues with bank supervision," as well as addressing targeted issues that emerge from public reviews of recent banking failures.
/jlne.ws/3Or0TBC
Hot Credit Suisse CDS Trade Risks Being Wrecked by Hedge Funds
Laura Benitez - Bloomberg
Hedge funds looking to trigger payouts on derivatives tied to Credit Suisse Group AG are clashing with investors that piled into a different hot trade. The hedge funds have piled into a longshot wager that a derivatives industry panel will determine that the shotgun takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS Group AG was effectively the equivalent of a default event.
/jlne.ws/43hYVrn
Don't let a failure of imagination render bank stress tests useless
Kathy Perrotte - American Banker
Despite assurances from regulators and senior bankers, it seems a contagion is spreading quickly across the country's regional banks. Three regional banks have failed in the last three months, and with others on the brink, the Federal Reserve needs to act. The collapse of First Republic and its implications for banks like PacWest, Western Alliance and First Horizon makes for grim reading for regulators. While no one knows the future, this crisis could spell the end for regional and specialized banks in the United States, for better or worse.
/jlne.ws/45onx3o
Gorman's Tenure at Morgan Stanley a Tough Act to Follow; Morgan Stanley outperformed under Gorman, and its shares are now priced at a premium
Aaron Back - The Wall Street Journal
Succeeding a star chief executive can always be tough. In the case of Morgan Stanley, it could be doubly so. In the wake of his announcement Friday that he will retire as chief executive within the year, James Gorman has rightly received plaudits for his highly successful tenure at the Wall Street institution. As has been widely noted, his emphasis on growing wealth management stabilized the firm's results, making them less prone to risks from market fluctuations.
/jlne.ws/41W3Kpd
Rigging of Libor During 2008 Crisis Was 'State-Led,' Times Says
Tim Smith - Bloomberg
Central banks and governments co-ordinated to press banks to manipulate the Libor and Euribor benchmark interest rates at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, the Times reported. In October 2008, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, along with three European national central banks and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, intervened in the setting of Libor and Euribor, according to a book by BBC Economics Correspondent Andy Verity that is being serialized in the newspaper.
/jlne.ws/3BN1AxG
Goldman Says Treasury Will Drop Under Its Cash Minimum June 8-9
Chris Anstey - Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists estimated that the Treasury Department will by June 8 or 9 see its cash levels drop below the $30 billion it's signaled as a bare minimum for meeting federal obligations falling due. "The estimate is subject to substantial uncertainty so there is certainly a chance that receipts could slow more than expected and leave the Treasury short of cash by June 1 or 2," Goldman economists Alec Phillips and Tim Krupa wrote in a May 19 note to clients.
/jlne.ws/41SMBg1
Morgan Stanley Succession Race Heats Up
Bloomberg Daybreak: Australia
It's official. A big battle is underway to determine who will succeed James Gorman as Morgan Stanley CEO, after he announced his plans to step down in the next 12 months. Su Keenan reports on Bloomberg Television.
/jlne.ws/3oqnO5p
Worries may be growing about a global financial crisis, but not at the Bank of England
Jamie Thompson - The Times
There's one easy way to gauge how concerned the Bank of England is over recent bank failures - count the words. The central bank's latest assessment of economic prospects was published this month, alongside its decision to implement a further rise in interest rates. The report included more than 26,000 words. Yet within it you have more chance of finding the word "budget" than "banking"; the phrase "bank failures" merits only five mentions; and "banking crisis" is nowhere to be seen.
/jlne.ws/45jws6q
FTSE Russell begins 35th annual Russell US Indexes Reconstitution
FTSE Russell
Today, FTSE Russell, a leading global index provider, posted its preliminary lists of companies set to enter or leave the US broad market Russell 3000 Index and the Russell Microcap Index, marking the start of its 35th annual Russell US Indexes Reconstitution. This year's changes will take place after US equity markets close on Friday, June 23. The lists of projected additions and deletions for the Russell US Indexes and other information regarding the annual rebalancing process is available on the FTSE Russell website.
/jlne.ws/3q2ggX5
ISS ESG and Qontigo Launch ISS STOXX Biodiversity Index Suite
Qontigo
ISS ESG, the sustainable investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), and Qontigo, a leading global provider of innovative index, analytics and risk solutions, today announced the release of the ISS STOXX Biodiversity Index Suite to mark the U.N.'s International Day for Biological Diversity.
/jlne.ws/3MugrC3
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | For Truckers, It's Like the Great Financial Crisis, Only Still Getting Worse; An ultra-cyclical market turns down.
Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway - Bloomberg
For truck drivers and larger carriers, the current business environment may be headed to a worse place than the one reached during the depths of the Great Financial Crisis. Per-mile rates have been plunging since the Covid-era goods boom brought a surge of new supply onto the market. Combine that with higher maintenance prices, an increase in the cost of capital and other difficulties in operating, and the result is a brutal mix for a notoriously cyclical industry - one that has the potential to be worse than famous trucking downturns experienced in 2019 and in 2008-09.
/jlne.ws/3BMWT6X
The Optimist's Guide to Artificial Intelligence and Work; The focus of much discussion is on how it will replace jobs, but nothing is inevitable.
Sarah Kessler and Ephrat Livni - The New York Times
It's easy to fear that the machines are taking over: Companies like IBM and the British telecommunications company BT have cited artificial intelligence as a reason for reducing head count, and new tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E make it possible for anyone to understand the extraordinary abilities of artificial intelligence for themselves.
/jlne.ws/3pWoyzD
Returning to the Office Is Killing My Budget; As my expenses have taken off, I've had to take a hard look at my spending
Jessica Chou - The Wall Street Journal
As a childless adult living alone in an apartment with three distinct rooms, I found the post-vaccination, work-from-home period to be a financial Godsend. True, I spent a decent amount of money making my three rooms as comfortably productive as possible. I purchased an electric water kettle to get the perfect brew on my morning coffee. I splurged on a new couch to lounge on while editing and drinking said coffee.
/jlne.ws/42XowpS
Would You Take Financial Advice From A.I.?
Paulette Perhach - The New York Times
Paul Weiner, an artist, has been experimenting with artificial intelligence for the past year, generating A.I.-created visual disinformation and seeing whether he can get the images to spread. But recently, he turned to ChatGPT, a chatbot that has the ability to respond to complex questions, for a much different reason: With his 30th birthday looming, he decided to ask it for advice about retirement planning.
/jlne.ws/3MKu2Xc
When Naming a Trustee for Your Estate, Ask Yourself These Four Questions
Cheryl Winokur Munk - The Wall Street Journal
Estate planning can be complicated, and naming a trustee is one of the trickiest parts. If you choose a friend or family member, the person must be trustworthy and up to the task. If you choose a professional, there can be cost and other considerations. Trusts often are used for estates that have significant assets, a complicated financial situation, or when there are minor children, or children or grandchildren with special needs involved.
/jlne.ws/3q4wjDw
5 Ways Your Office Location can Boost Employee Satisfaction
Peak6
It's the hidden hack for increasing employee satisfaction: A convenient office location with a blend of building and community amenities. In today's post-covid, multi-gen workplace, employee satisfaction has become an increasingly important key-performance-indicator (KPI) for attracting and retaining top employees. And if employees are looking to zone in on a better work-life balance - and be productive - then your office location could be the best place to start. In two parts, this article series will explore how both office location and building amenities can improve your workplace satisfaction game.
/jlne.ws/42VaMvD
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Doctors Find Heart Risk Dips After a Year on Diet Drug Wegovy; People on weekly injections saw heart-disease risk drop by 18%; As many as 5% of the Wegovy patients had serious side effects
Naomi Kresge - Bloomberg
Patients who took the diet drug Wegovy for a year had a reduced risk of heart disease in an early hint that Novo Nordisk A/S's best-selling obesity medicine may also have a positive impact on cardiovascular health. People followed in a study saw their 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease decline by 18%, said Andres Acosta, an associate professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic.
/jlne.ws/3IxXv4d
The Healthcare Plan Most People Should Buy-and Why They Don't; Many people choose the wrong plan simply because it all seems too complicated to understand
Amitabh Chandra - The Wall Street Journal
Every fall, during open-enrollment period, over 100 million families can choose a health plan. Anyone who receives health insurance through their employer, Medicare, Veterans Affairs, the exchanges-including members of Congress, CEOs, teachers-is invited to participate in this national ritual. The decision, which has enormous implications for our health and finances, is horrendously complex. And we are universally terrible at it.
/jlne.ws/43jcoiy
Ireland to label alcoholic drinks with detailed health warnings; Move sets up a clash at WTO meeting next month after complaints from drinks exporters
Jude Webber and Amy Kazmin - The Financial Times
Ireland says it will become the world's first country to label alcoholic drinks with comprehensive health warnings, linking them to a slew of fatal illnesses and stating their calorie count in a move that has incensed some of its trading partners and set up a clash at the World Trade Organization.
/jlne.ws/3BNwaHp
Singapore's PM Lee Feeling OK After Testing Positive for Covid
Low De Wei - Bloomberg
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has tested positive for Covid-19 for the first time, he said in a Facebook post Monday. "I am generally feeling ok but my doctors have advised me to self-isolate until I am asymptomatic," Lee, 71, said. Doctors have also prescribed him Paxlovid, an antiviral medication, because of his age. Lee said he took his most recent booster vaccine for the virus last November.
/jlne.ws/43ihI60
WHO's Top Covid Expert Warns of Gaping Holes in Virus Fight
Jason Gale - Bloomberg
Don't look away from Covid
Thanks largely to vaccines and better treatments, Covid-19 isn't the global health emergency it was in January 2020. Still, the coronavirus continues to evolve, and ICU admissions are increasing in three regions of the world, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, the epidemiologist who's been World Health Organization's technical lead on Covid since the start of the pandemic. More than three years later, she says she's working at a less frenetic pace, but with the same focus. That's because "gaping holes" remain in both our ability to detect new variants of concern and protect vulnerable people from severe disease and death. SARS-CoV-2 is still circulating intensely in every country on Earth, infecting millions of people and killing thousands each week, Van Kerkhove told the International Nidovirus Symposium.
/jlne.ws/3IBivXF
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China's $23 Trillion Local Debt Mess Is About to Get Worse; What happened in cash-strapped Hegang points to a long economic slog for the rest of the country.
Bloomberg
In 2021, a remote coal town in northeastern China was forced to undergo an unprecedented financial restructuring. Its struggles since are an ominous sign for President Xi Jinping as other heavily indebted municipalities look set to follow suit. Hegang, a city with nearly a million people near the Russian border, had debt of more than double its fiscal income when it hit the headlines almost 18 months ago.
/jlne.ws/45jjHJ5
Crippling Heat Deepens Asia's Reliance on Russian Energy; Soaring temperatures putting strain on region's power grids; Weather-driven demand to increase use of coal, gas, fuel oil
Yongchang Chin - Bloomberg
The extreme heat that's been scorching Asia in recent weeks has produced one clear beneficiary - Russia. As countries across the region scramble to make sure they have enough coal, gas and fuel oil to keep the lights on and air conditioners running, Russian energy being shunned by the West is looking increasingly attractive.
/jlne.ws/45lf9Si
China's Missing Recovery Leaves Metals Bears in Charge; Public optimism contrasts with private caution in Hong Kong; Longer-term demand seen strong, driven by green economy
Bloomberg
The first gathering of the Asian metals community since the pandemic should have been a celebration, fueled by state stimulus and a long-awaited post-Covid rebound for the world's top commodities consumer. But the resurgence never came. Merchants, bankers, brokers and fund managers assembled in Hong Kong for the London Metal Exchange's flagship annual Asian event showed little trace of the ebullience of late 2022, or even of the optimism of early 2023.
/jlne.ws/45yhdGW
El Nino May Bring Smog and a Chance of Redemption for Palm Oil; Planters should prove they're not causing haze and fires: RSPO; Haze is routine problem in Southeast Asia, where palm is grown
Anuradha Raghu - Bloomberg
The arrival of El Nino and its potential to bring hotter, drier weather to Southeast Asia will be a crucial test for the global palm oil industry to prove it's no longer at fault for causing forest fires and choking haze. Haze is a recurring problem in the region, disrupting tourism and costing local economies billions of dollars. It originates from natural or man-made fires in Indonesia and Malaysia, such as when land is cleared for agriculture, and is often linked to palm oil as both countries are the world's biggest producers.
/jlne.ws/3orLFBB
OPEC+ Is Trapped in an Inflation Storm of Its Making; A barrel of oil just doesn't buy as much as it used to.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
To understand the predicament OPEC+ is facing, start with a visit to an Ikea store. A decade ago, if the Swedish furniture giant had accepted crude as payment, the oil cartel could have outfitted a good portion of the conference room where its ministers will be gathering on June 4 in Vienna - their first face-to-face meeting since the pandemic started - with a single barrel. Today, it wouldn't even buy a humble bookcase.
/jlne.ws/3BRwHI8
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | A Super-Villain Meme Takes Center Stage in the Chess Cheating Lawsuit
Andrew Beaton and Joshua Robinson - The Wall Street Journal
It was stunning enough when explosive allegations over cheating in the world of elite chess turned into a $100 million lawsuit. But now that lawsuit involves an even stranger dispute: how to interpret a meme from a superhero movie. The lawsuit, which was filed by 19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann last year, now includes extensive briefs on a character that first appeared in a comic book a half-century ago.
/jlne.ws/42V8dcZ
Secret crypto holdings are becoming an increasingly common conflict in divorces, attorneys say
Aaron McDade - Business Insider
Conflict over ownership of cryptocurrency - especially crypto that has been kept secret by a spouse from their partner - is reportedly becoming an increasingly common trend divorce attorneys are spotting in their cases.
/jlne.ws/43eUCgv
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