| September 13, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
America, once the undisputed king of burgers, has shockingly lost its crown. The title of the world's best burger now belongs to Spain, of all places-a country known more for tapas and jamon than juicy patties, The Telegraph reports. Hundred Burgers in Valencia snagged the top spot in the 2024 World's Best Burgers rankings with its Singular burger, made from 120-day aged beef and "super crispy" bacon. Meanwhile, former heavyweights like Au Cheval in Chicago and New York slipped to third, while Pizza Loves Emily was knocked completely off its pedestal. Other contenders like Holy Burger in Sao Paulo and Funky Chicken Food Truck in Stockholm rounded out the top five. America's burger empire is clearly crumbling, and we're all left wondering what went wrong.
FINRA has announced the election of three governors to its board during the annual member meeting. John Vaccaro was elected as the Large Firm Governor. He is the chair and CEO of MML Investors Services and head of MassMutual Financial Advisors, with a background in financial services at firms such as The Hartford and Prudential Financial. James Crowley was re-elected as the Mid-Size Firm Governor. Crowley is the CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions and senior executive vice president at BNY Pershing, as well as a member of the BNY Executive Committee. He holds a degree from Florida State University. Jennifer Szaro was elected as the Small Firm Governor. She is the chief compliance officer and managing equity owner at XML Securities and XML Financial Group and has completed FINRA's Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional Program. FINRA's board of governors consists of 23 members, including representatives from large, mid-size, and small firms, with governors serving three-year terms.
On September 17, 2024, Chairman Rostin Behnam will speak at Georgetown University's Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy during the Financial Markets Quality 2024 event. The session will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET at the McDonough School of Business in Washington, DC. More details can be found on the Georgetown University website.
If you ever wanted to work in a beautiful office in Paris' 8th arrondissement, known for its iconic landmarks, upscale shopping, and cultural significance, Intercontinental Exchange has an opportunity for you. ICE has opened a new office in Paris' 8th arrondissement, offering a modern, collaborative workspace with rooftop views designed to inspire creativity. The company is also hiring for open positions. Paris' 8th arrondissement is home to the Champs-Elysees, one of the world's most famous avenues, leading to the Arc de Triomphe. The area also hosts the Elysee Palace, the official residence of the French president, and Place de la Concorde, a major public square. Sounds like a beautiful place to work. You can find out about the jobs HERE.
Geneva Trading is hiring a director of information technology in Chicago, Illinois. This on-site role offers comprehensive benefits, including medical, vision, dental, and 401(k). If you're interested or know someone who might be a great fit, apply today or share the opportunity HERE.
Craig Schachter is starting a new position as senior vice president at Seismic. He has taken a couple of stops since I interviewed him when he was the chief revenue officer at Exegy
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Cboe to Launch New Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures on Monday, September 23 from Cboe.
- The VIX is calm. But another volatility gauge is a red flag, says Societe Generale. from MarketWatch.
- SEC Settles With Trading App eToro on Unregistered Broker Charges As Exchange Ceases Most Crypto Trading from The Daily HODL. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 LODAS Markets CEO Brian King Talks About Creating Liquidity in a New Real Estate and Alternative Assets Marketplace JohnLothianNews.com Brian King, the CEO of LODAS Markets, talked with JLN's Sarah Rudolph over Zoom about the company, which he founded in 2021 to create a marketplace for trading private REITs and other alternative assets that are not listed on stock exchanges. LODAS stands for "Liquidity On Demand As a Service." Founded in 2020, it is registered as an alternative trading system (ATS). Watch the video »
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 LaSalle Street Racing to Move Scouts Forward Fundraiser www.tinyurl.com/LaSalle4Scouts On September 25, the Pathway to Adventure Council of the Boy Scouts of America is hosting the LaSalle Street Racing to Move Scouts Forward event at the Chicago Board of Trade Building. This annual tradition, dating back to 1971, brings together professionals from LaSalle Street to support Scouting in our community. The highlight of the evening will be a pinewood derby race. You'll have the opportunity to build your own car or lease one at the event. It's a fantastic way to tap into your competitive spirit while enjoying cocktails and delicious food with colleagues and friends. Your participation will directly benefit Scouting programs that help develop leadership skills and character in our youth. There are various sponsorship levels available to suit your preferences. The event will be held at Ceres, with plans to move outdoors if weather permits. It's a perfect opportunity to network, have fun, and make a difference. Click Here to Register »
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Retail Crowd Scoops Up CME's Micro Gold Contract as Precious Metal Soars
Yvonne Yue Li - Bloomberg
Retail investors are pouring into CME Group Inc.'s micro gold futures contract while the precious metal sets another record. The average daily volume - an important metric used to assess the liquidity and activity level of a derivative - stood at 99,527 contracts as of Sept. 11, surpassing the amount for all of 2020 when it reached an all-time high of 86,101 lots, according to data from the US's largest derivatives exchange.
/jlne.ws/4emiMLt
***** What a great way to trade gold!~JJL
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Latin America Is Rewriting the Rules and Spooking Investors; Legal and legislative changes in Mexico, Chile spark backlash; Brazil's ban of X seen as adding noise to battered markets
Vinicius Andrade, Leda Alvim, and Michael O'Boyle - Bloomberg
A recent flurry of judicial and economic rule changes has served as a reminder of just how unpredictable operating in Latin America can be, denting the region's appeal for foreign investors already weary after years of sub-par returns. Mexico's currency has gone from best to worst in the world amid a sweeping overhaul of the country's judicial system critics say risks eroding its democracy; In Brazil, the ban of Elon Musk's X sparked backlash from names including veteran Mark Mobius, who said the country "must tread carefully" to ensure it doesn't stifle offshore investment; In Chile, plans for a legislative change that are roiling the renewable energy sector could end up calling the country's whole regulatory framework into question.
/jlne.ws/4e1yuvU
****** Can October be too far in the future if we are already getting "spooking" headlines.~JJL
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How SEC mobile phones can signal an imminent stock price drop; Research tracking mobile data shows how some corporate insiders avoided losses by selling around the time regulatory staff visited
Brooke Masters - Financial Times
Mobile phone location data has linked site visits by US securities watchdogs to the headquarters of companies with measurable drops in their share prices - even when no enforcement action is taken. When insiders sold shares right around a non-public visit by staff from the Securities and Exchange Commission, they avoided average losses of 4.9 per cent in the three months after the visit, according to a study led by researchers at four Midwestern universities.
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****** Normally, it is the SEC who has us under surveillance. This is an interesting twist, with a potentially profitable opportunity.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top clicked story on Thursday was Cboe to Launch New Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures on Monday, September 23, from Cboe Global Markets. Second was Gary Stevenson claims to have been the best trader in the world. His old colleagues disagree, from the Financial Times. Third was Prometheum Capital Launches its Custody Platform for Digital Asset Securities, from Prometheum.
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| Lead Stories | Russian Hackers Hit Taiwan Bourse, Bank in Surprise Attack;Taipei says foreign agents launched a DDoS attack on Thursday; Operations are back to normal after a period of disruption
Betty Hou and Yian Lee - Bloomberg
Russian hacker groups briefly disrupted Taiwanese financial platforms including the stock exchange and lender Mega Financial Holding Co.'s website, exposing the vulnerability of the island to foreign cyberattacks. Two groups that go by the handles "NoName057" and "RipperSec" on Telegram swamped targeted websites with a so-called Distributed Denial of Service attack, which caused unstable connection issues for the platforms Thursday afternoon, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said Friday. During the incident, the Taiwan Stock Exchange detected web queries from overseas internet-protocol addresses at volumes several times bigger than usual, the bourse said in a separate text message to Bloomberg News. Government websites and trading functioned normally on Friday. DDoS attacks are intended to overload systems rather than steal valuable information, and the stock exchange restored normal operations within a half-hour on Thursday. But the incident exposes the potential vulnerability of computing platforms in Taiwan, the world's biggest producer of advanced semiconductors and a potential flashpoint in a US-China conflict.
/jlne.ws/3TqITsN
The Existential Risk Facing the UK Stock Market; Fund manager Mark Slater warns that while sentiment is improving, a deeper rot threatens UK equity markets.
John Stepek - Bloomberg
The sickness beneath the FTSE 100 Markets have been feeling a little nervous about the US economy, and the economic data hasn't been doing investors any favours. As we approach next week's Federal Reserve interest-rate decision, there's still a great deal of debate as to whether it'll be a quarter-point or a half-point cut. What's behind the market jitters? Merryn and I take a look in the latest Merryn Talks Money market roundup.
/jlne.ws/4enQoso
EToro Settles With the SEC: Industry Lawyers React
Ben Schiller - CoinDesk
Trading platform eToro agreed Thursday to settle charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it operated as an unregistered broker and clearing agency and that it facilitated trading in some crypto assets that are securities. The agreement sees eToro paying a $1.5 million fine and means the company will be limited to trading just three digital assets: bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH) and ether (ETH). Etoro, which is based in Israel, is not a big player in the U.S. crypto market. It has only 240,000 customer accounts compared to Coinbase's 100 million. But the SEC agreement is significant for the clues it offers about how the regulator views the key legal question of which digital assets are not securities, and therefore outside its supervision, lawyers contacted by CoinDesk said.
/jlne.ws/3XGXUsP
SEC signals Ethereum is not a security in settlement with eToro
Leo Schwartz - Fortune
On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its latest settlement with a crypto company, with the Israel-based eToro agreeing to pay $1.5 million in fines for operating as an unregistered trading platform. While these sort of actions have become commonplace as part of the SEC's broader campaign against the crypto sector, the eToro news included a significant detail that suggests the agency has made a key concession concerning the second most popular blockchain, Ethereum. Notably, the eToro settlement spells out that the agency will cease offering crypto except for three digital assets: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum.
/jlne.ws/3TrbTR4
eToro Reaches Settlement with SEC; eToro's response to the press release issued today by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing a settlement agreement with eToro USA LLC.
eToro
Yoni Assia, eToro's Co-founder and CEO, comments: "This settlement allows us to move forward and focus on providing innovative and relevant products across our diversified US business. US users can continue to trade and invest in stocks, ETFs, options and the three of the largest cryptoassets. "As a company serving over 38 million registered users from more than 75 countries, the terms of the settlement will have a minimal impact on our global business. Outside of the United States, eToro users will continue to enjoy access to over 100 cryptoassets. As a global, multi-asset trading and investing platform we continue to experience strong growth and remain committed to becoming a public company in the future.
/jlne.ws/4dSwSEF
SEC Just "Conceded" That ETH Is Not Security, Coinbase's Top Lawyer Says
Cryptonews.net
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has already conceded that Ethereum (ETH) is not a security, according to Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase. His observation came after the SEC reached a settlement with trading platform eToro. The settlement stipulates that eToro should stop offering all crypto tokens for trading apart from Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Ethereum (ETH).
/jlne.ws/3XGidqi
Trading Technologies named to Crain's Chicago Business' Best Places to Work in Chicago for second consecutive year
Trading Technologies
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology platform provider, was named yesterday to Crain's Chicago Business' Best Places to Work in Chicago for the second consecutive year, earning a place on the list for 2024. Crain's recognizes the Best Places to Work in Chicago that, according to their employees, go above and beyond in putting a focus on quality workplace culture, which Crain's calls "a critical step toward creating and nurturing an engaged workforce." The 2024 companies selected were honored at a cocktail reception last night hosted by Crain's. The full feature on the companies selected will appear in the Sept. 16 issue of the magazine.
/jlne.ws/3MIl1wP
BGC new futures exchange to launch later this month; FMX Futures Exchange (FMX) will go live on 23 September with SOFR futures and will add US Treasury futures in the first quarter of 2025.
Editors
BGC Group has set the date for the launch of its new futures exchange, FMX Futures Exchange. Backed by the likes of Bank of America, Barclays, Citadel Securities, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Jump Trading Group, Morgan Stanley, Tower Research Capital, and Wells Fargo the new venue is set to go live on 23 September.
/jlne.ws/4d9tCU6
StoneX to acquire fixed income broker Octo Finances; Move will expand StoneX's capabilities in fixed income and grow its presence in Europe.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
StoneX has moved to increase its remit and geographical reach through the acquisition of fixed income broker Octo Finances SA. The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and closing conditions. StoneX will acquire 100% of Octo Finances SA shares once complete. The move is designed to expand StoneX's capabilities in fixed income and grow its presence in Europe, with a particular focus on France.
/jlne.ws/3MH5sWi
Fireside Friday with... TT International's Jean-Charles Sambor; The TRADE catches up with Jean-Charles Sambor, head of emerging market debt at TT International, to discuss emerging markets' significant potential, where the industry should be focusing their attention and maximising opportunities, and what the future holds for EM bonds going forward.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
Is the emerging markets fixed income sphere rebounding?
The emerging markets fixed income sphere is recovering and we expect inflows back to the asset class after years of investor exodus. The combination of Fed tightening, China uncertainties and the war in Ukraine has been a perfect storm for emerging market debt and we anticipate a rebound across all sub-asset classes: FX; rates; EM sovereigns and corporates.
/jlne.ws/4d9tLqC
How Central Banks Won the Battle But Lost the War; In this Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary, we explain why managing inflation in the future may be more of a team sport.
Tom Orlik - Bloomberg (video)
As US inflation subsides and the Federal Reserve readies its first interest rate cut since the pandemic, central bankers must confront a new reality: in the fight against rising prices, they are no longer the only show in town. For the last 40 years, central banks wielded interest rates to keep inflation under control-and they often looked like maestros doing it. But then the coronavirus struck, and with it came lockdowns and a sudden recession. Governments prescribed massive cash expenditures to keep economies afloat, but that medicine came with a side effect: inflation. At first, Fed Chair Jerome Powell called rising prices "transitory." He was wrong, and Americans saw their cost of living rise more than 9% in a year. In the Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary How Central Banks Won the Battle But Lost the War, we explain why the Fed's delayed reaction may have diminished its power.
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Russia's central bank warns Western banks not to discriminate against Russian clients
Reuters
Russia's central bank has sent a stark warning to subsidiaries of Western banks remaining in Russia not to discriminate against their Russian clients by denying them services such as transferring money abroad, as the banks come under pressure from Western regulators. Austria's Raiffeisen and Italy's UniCredit are the biggest foreign banks still present in Russia despite pressure from Western regulators to pull out. Both are on the central bank's list of systematically important banks. Hungary's OTP also has operations in Russia. A Russian court froze Raiffeisen Bank International's shares in a local arm earlier this month, blocking the biggest Western bank in Russia from leaving. The Austrian bank stopped money transfers abroad for Russian clients from Sept. 1.
/jlne.ws/4d0gDEp
SEC to Vote Next Week on Part of US Stock-Trading Revamp Package
Lydia Beyoud and Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
The US Securities and Exchange Commission will vote next week on some of the biggest revisions to stock-market rules in almost two decades, including how trades are priced and processed. The SEC's commissioners are scheduled to decide Wednesday whether to finalize measures that would alter the way brokers, market makers and exchange businesses operate. One would change the way stock exchanges negotiate rebates with brokers to attract more volume to their exchanges. Another would tweak minimum pricing increments for stock trades, according to the agency's agenda.
/jlne.ws/4e1kOkm
UBS Chair Kelleher Wants Better Bank Liquidity to Lift Stability
Chanyaporn Chanjaroen and Catherine Bosley - Bloomberg
UBS Group AG Chairman Colm Kelleher said better access to liquidity and stronger paths to recovery are vital to improve regulations for banks in the wake of the Credit Suisse collapse. As major global lenders already have high capital requirements, "we must make sure that we have proper and robust recovery and resolution programs across the system," he said Friday at a forum organized by the Bretton Woods Committee at the UBS Singapore office.
/jlne.ws/3ZpTI2c
PwC banned for 6 months in China for 'concealing fraud' at Evergrande; Big Four firm pays $62mn fine and fires 11 staff over audit of collapsed developer
Cheng Leng and Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong, Stephen Foley in New York and Simon Foy in London - Financial Times
Chinese authorities have banned PwC China for six months and fined it Rmb441mn ($62mn) after saying staff had "concealed or even condoned" fraud in audit failures related to the collapsed property developer Evergrande. The move, Beijing's toughest action yet against a Big Four firm, follows a March announcement by China's securities regulator that PwC China had approved Evergrande's accounts even though the developer had inflated mainland revenues by nearly $80bn in the two years before its default in 2021.
/jlne.ws/3XsRn3I
Nasdaq CEO: U.S. economic growth would be 0.5% higher if it weren't for fraud
Adena Friedman - Fortune
Adena Friedman is the Chair and CEO of Nasdaq.
If financial crime were a sector of the U.S. economy, it would be on par with the lodging and food services sector-with money laundering activity accounting for 3.1% of the national GDP in 2023.
/jlne.ws/3ZtAkBr
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Russia will be 'at war' with NATO if Ukraine long-range missile restrictions lifted, Putin warns
Avery Schmitz and Michael Conte - CNN
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned NATO alliance leaders that a move to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of longer-range Western missiles to strike deep inside his country would be considered an act of war. "This will mean that NATO countries - the United States and European countries - are at war with Russia. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us," Putin told reporters on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4ejjklm
Russia produces new kamikaze drone with Chinese engine, say European intel sources
Reuters
Russia started producing a new long-range attack drone called the Garpiya-A1 last year using Chinese engines and parts, which it has deployed in the war in Ukraine, according to two sources from a European intelligence agency and documents seen by Reuters. The intelligence - which included a production contract for the new drone, company correspondence on the manufacturing process and financial documents - indicated that IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned weapons maker Almaz-Antey, produced more than 2,500 Garpiyas from July 2023 to July 2024.
/jlne.ws/3MKPPNw
Russia stands to lose $6.5 billion a year if Ukraine doesn't renew a gas pipeline deal at the end of the year, report says
Jennifer Sor - Business Insider
Russia could end up losing billions if Ukraine turns its back on a deal to keep gas flowing from the country. Ukraine's state-run energy giant, Naftogaz, is up to renew its gas pipeline deal with Russia's Gazprom by the end of the year. The two nations are in talks, but an agreement is unlikely before the deal expires in December - potentially hitting Russia with losses as high as $6.5 billion a year, according to calculations from Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3Zuwuro
Russia 'unlikely to recapture' much of land seized by Ukraine in Kursk
Kieran Kelly - The Telegraph
Russia is unlikely to reclaim much of the land that Ukraine has seized in its cross-border raid into Kursk, Western officials have said. Kyiv's forces in the area have now gone on the defensive, the source added, as both Ukraine and Russia said that Moscow's first major counter-offensive in the southern frontier region had begun.
/jlne.ws/3Zp1Hw9
US, UK Discuss Use of Pentagon Missile Guidance Data for Ukraine; Discussions entail UK cruise missiles backed by US data; Ukraine has made more urgent pleas to lift restrictions
Alex Wickham and Natalia Drozdiak - Bloomberg
The US and UK governments are discussing allowing Ukraine to deploy British cruise missiles backed by US navigational data to conduct long-range strikes inside Russian territory, according to people familiar with the matter. The issue is part of conversations that have taken place over the past few days as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks in London and Kyiv, the people said. The US and UK this week signaled that they're open to a request from Ukraine to bolster its ability to carry out deep strikes in Russia, and President Joe Biden is expected to discuss the possibility when Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits the White House Friday.
/jlne.ws/3B0aGKd
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | The Latest "Poison Pill" in the Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Negotiations; What is the Philadelphi Corridor, and why is Netanyahu at odds with his own security establishment over whether I.D.F. troops should remain there?
Isaac Chotiner - The New Yorker
The war in Gaza has been going on for almost an entire year. The Palestinian death toll has climbed to more than forty-two thousand people. More than thirteen hundred Israelis have died in the October 7th attack and the subsequent fighting. The U.S. has been pushing for a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages in Gaza and some number of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, but neither Israel nor Hamas has managed to entirely agree to the proposed terms. Last week, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, said that the Israel Defense Forces would not depart the Philadelphi Corridor, an approximately nine-mile-long strip of land near the border with Egypt. For Hamas, this is almost certain to be a non-starter for any deal.
/jlne.ws/4dZsWBX
Hamas chief Sinwar thanks Hezbollah in letter to Nasrallah
Reuters
Hamas chief Yehya Sinwar thanked the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for his group's support in the conflict with Israel, Hezbollah said on Friday, in the first reported message since Sinwar became Hamas leader in August.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has been waging attacks on Israel for nearly a year in a conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border that has been taking place in parallel to the Gaza war. Hezbollah says its attacks aim to support the Palestinians.
/jlne.ws/47sQnRF
UN says Israeli strike on Gaza school killed six of its staff; Unrwa said this was the fifth time al-Jaouni school had been hit since the start of the war
David Gritten - BBC News
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) says six of its employees have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school it runs in central Gaza. Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said a total of 18 people were killed in Wednesday's strike on al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat refugee camp, which is being used as a shelter by thousands of displaced Palestinians.
/jlne.ws/3Tqeo64
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Podcast: The Need for a Credit-Sensitive Reference Rate
AFX
AFX CEO John Shay was recently featured on the "At the Forefront: Fintech Conversations" podcast, where he was joined by Marco Macchiavelli, Assistant Professor of Finance at University of Massachusetts, Amherst for a discussion on benchmark interest rates in the overnight lending market. In the episode, Shay and Macchiavelli unpack the value of credit-sensitive rates in the post-LIBOR era and why they're so important for commercial and regional banks today. They also explore how AMERIBOR, AFX's benchmark interest rate is calculated.
/jlne.ws/4e3jfCw
ICE's EURSTR Futures Open Interest Exceeds 500,000 Contracts
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider technology and data, today announced that ICE's EURuro Short Term Rate (EURSTR) futures hit open interest of over 500,000 contracts on September 11, 2024. ICE's EURSTR futures and options clear alongside 16.2 million lots of open interest in Euribor, the benchmark for managing short term euro-related interest rate risk. Open interest across ICE's interest rate complex is up 14% year-over-year (y/y) at over 25 million contracts. Meanwhile average daily volume (ADV) across the interest rate portfolio was up 55% y/y, as at the end of August 2024, including Euribor ADV up 50%, SONIA ADV up 56% and Gilts ADV up 48%.
/jlne.ws/3MGvqtb
Performance Bond Requirements: Energy and Metal Margins - Effective September 13, 2024
CME Group
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below. The rates will be effective after the close of business on September 13, 2024.
/jlne.ws/4d5CUjW
Performance Bond Requirements: Agriculture and Energy - Effective September 13, 2024
CME Group
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below.
/jlne.ws/4gl1eRR
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Nasdaq's tech pivot targets cloud and tokenisation; The US stock exchange's head of capital markets technology sits down with Liz Lumley to talk about the 'generational shift' in banks' capital-raising activities
Liz Lumley - The Banker
Last year, Nasdaq, the second-largest stock exchange in the US, acquired capital markets software provider Adenza for $10.5bn as part of a strategy, led by CEO Adena Friedman, to diversify and expand its technology offerings. Arriving on the day of the acquisition this November, Gil Guillaumey, now Nasdaq's head of capital markets technology, feels banks' capital-raising activities are "on the cusp of a generational shift", which will bring in a "new wave of industry modernisation" that is driven by "regulatory change, operational complexity, and innovative technology". At the heart of this modernisation will be the adoption of cloud-enabled platforms, as well as an increasing embrace of digital assets and tokenised assets.
/jlne.ws/3Zp7AK6
Strands Technologies, Ltd., a Global Fintech, Releases Second Derivatives Trading Strategy: Covered Put on CME Group (CME) Ethereum Futures; Independent software vendor (ISV) Strands is a commercial solution that strands together on-chain and traditional markets enabling unique execution capabilities
Ethan Lee - Techbullion.com
Strands is a global Fintech company using a proprietary ecosystem of novel smart contracts and transactional gateways to develop the most advanced traditional and decentralized institutional transactional platform ever brought to market. Strands is the first Independent Software Vendor (ISV) to tokenize US exchange traded futures and futures options contracts giving its customers unique advantages in the white-hot real-world asset tokenization space.
/jlne.ws/4eiu8QG
OpenAI Releases New Model With Reasoning Capabilities; The new model, known internally as Strawberry, can handle complicated math and coding problems.
Rachel Metz - Bloomberg
OpenAI is releasing a new artificial intelligence model known internally as "Strawberry" that can perform some human-like reasoning tasks, as it looks to stay at the top of a crowded market of rivals. The new model, called o1, is designed to spend more time computing the answer before responding to user queries, the company said in a blog post Thursday. With the model, OpenAI's tools should be able to solve multi-step problems, including complicated math and coding questions.
/jlne.ws/3zkDVHc
***** Here is the Financial Times version of this story.~JJL
Janus to follow BlackRock and Fidelity into tokenisation; Fund group's move to manage Anemoy means it is joining a trend that observers believe will disrupt the industry
Steve Johnson - Financial Times
Janus Henderson is to become the latest large asset manager to experiment with securities tokenisation, joining a trend that industry observers believe will eliminate many costs, disrupting the industry. The $360bn US asset manager plans to take over the management of the $11mn Anemoy Liquid Treasury Fund, which invests in short-term US Treasury bills. Tokenisation describes the process of converting units in a fund into unique digital tokens on a blockchain.
/jlne.ws/3XHizgB
Chats with AI bots found to damp conspiracy theory beliefs; Research runs counter to idea that it is nigh impossible to change some minds over popular but unevidenced ideas
Michael Peel - Financial Times
Conspiracy theorists who debated with an artificial intelligence chatbot became more willing to admit doubts about their beliefs, according to research that offers insights into dealing with misinformation. The greater open-mindedness extended even to the most stubborn devotees and persisted long after the dialogue with the machine ended, scientists found.
/jlne.ws/47srHbX
Sequoia Sees Bigger Money in AI-Linked Software Than Models; The firm is investing more in makers of AI software than creators of foundational models like OpenAI.
Sarah McBride - Bloomberg
Venture capital giant Sequoia Capital believes the bulk of billion-dollar companies created in artificial intelligence will come from making applications rather than building models, although it is investing in both, partner Pat Grady said at a conference Wednesday. Speaking at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. event in San Francisco, Grady said the firm had put about $150 million into companies building foundation models, such as Sam Altman's OpenAI, Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence Inc. and Elon Musk's xAI. These models, which serve as the building blocks for products offered by many of the latest AI companies, are extremely expensive to build.
/jlne.ws/3MOEyf3
AI Pioneer Fei-Fei Li Raises $230 Million for New Startup World Labs; Andreessen Horowitz, Ashton Kutcher and Nvidia are among the investors.
Rachel Metz - Bloomberg
Artificial intelligence pioneer Fei-Fei Li has raised $230 million from a star-studded list of investors for a new AI startup called World Labs, which officially launches Friday. The company aims to build software that can use images and other data to make decisions about the three-dimensional world, building what it calls "large world models." The funding is a sign of investors' continued appetite for technology that pushes the boundaries of AI, as well as the draw of the field's biggest names. The new funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, NEA and Radical Ventures, a Canadian VC firm where Li is also a scientific partner. World Labs declined to disclose its valuation.
/jlne.ws/4eoTE6L
The Dangerous Race for AI 'Superintelligence'; On the new season of The Future with Hannah Fry, she discovers how profit is likely coming before safety, and how little we know about what will happen.
David Rovella - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3AYK38m
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Microsoft, Cyber Firms Pursue Changes After CrowdStrike Outage; Microsoft's statement comes less than two months after CrowdStrike pushed out an update that crashed millions of Windows computers.
Jake Bleiberg - Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. said it's building an alternative for cybersecurity companies that now utilize the deepest layer of its operating system after a flawed update from CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. triggered a global IT meltdown. The Redmond, Washington-based technology giant announced Thursday that it would "continue to design and develop" a "new platform capability" in response to what it said was customer and partner demand to enable security vendors to operate outside of kernel mode, the base layer of the operating system. Such a shift would require major retooling by Microsoft and by some outside cybersecurity companies that use kernel access to monitor potential threats. The goal, Microsoft said, was "enhanced reliability without sacrificing security."
/jlne.ws/4go0jjy
Mastercard to Buy Cyber-Defense Firm for $2.65 Billion; Recorded Future was valued at $780 million in 2019 stake sale; Acquisition is seen bolstering Mastercard's AI capabilities
Paige Smith and Jordan Robertson - Bloomberg
Mastercard Inc. agreed to buy cyber-defense firm Recorded Future for $2.65 billion to boost its ability to protect the card company's massive global-payments system. The purchase from private equity firm Insight Partners will expand Mastercard's ability to use artificial intelligence in protecting customers from cyber threats and fraud, according to a statement Thursday. Insight Partners took a controlling interest in Recorded Future in 2019 in an all-cash deal that valued the company at more than $780 million.
/jlne.ws/47GTrKp
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Behind the Trump Crypto Project Is a Self-Described 'Dirtbag of the Internet'; 'If you do this right, who f---ing cares if it goes to zero,' Chase Herro once said of crypto.
Zeke Faux and Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
Chase Herro has sold a lot of things in his career. Weed. Weight-loss "colon cleanses." A $149-a-month get-rich-quick class. Now he's adding another line to his resume: the Trump family's crypto guru. Herro is the dealmaker behind World Liberty Financial, the crypto project that Donald Trump and his two older sons have been promoting on social media in recent weeks, according to two people involved with the project. Herro's long-time business partner Zachary Folkman is also playing a key role. While few details about World Liberty have been released, Eric Trump said that the startup will promote "financial independence" and Donald Trump Jr. said it will "make finance great again." Former President Trump himself posted a video saying he'd announce the details on Sept. 16. "We're embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and outdated big banks behind," Trump said.
/jlne.ws/3XpgzIn
Mining New Bitcoin Is More Difficult Than Ever. Here's How it Could Impact BTC Prices
Shaurya Malwa - CoinDesk
The computational power required to bring new bitcoin {{BTC}} into existence has surged to a fresh lifetime high in a move that could spell trouble for miners and impact prices. Mining difficulty hit 92.6 terahashes late on Wednesday, Coinwarz data shows, rising by four units in a month and more than 10% since early July.
/jlne.ws/4emYd1z
XRP Rises as Grayscale Offers Trust for 7th Biggest Token; XRP's price jumped by almost 10% on the Grayscale news XRP has a market cap of around $32 billion, per CoinMarketCap
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments said it has begun to offer the Grayscale XRP Trust, helping to send the price of the seventh-largest digital asset up by almost 10%. The trust aims to provide investors the opportunity to gain exposure to the token that powers the XRP Ledger, a distributed, peer-to-peer network created to facilitate cross-border financial transactions, Grayscale said in a statement Thursday. The investment product is available to eligible individual and institutional accredited investors. Trusts are closed-end investments, meaning that there is a fixed number of shares available. The number of shares can vary in exchange traded funds, usually making those investment products more tradable.
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MicroStrategy Buys About $1.11 Billion More in Bitcoin; Purchases took place between Aug. 6 and Sept. 12, filing says; Software firm say it holds approximately 244,800 Bitcoin
Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
MicroStrategy Inc. bought another 18,300 Bitcoin for around $1.11 billion. The purchases, which took place between Aug. 6 and Sept. 12, were made using proceeds from the issuance and sale of common shares, the company said in a filing Friday. The enterprise software firm now holds around 244,800 Bitcoin. The tokens were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of about $9.45 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $38,585, MicroStrategy said in the filing.
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Trading Platform eToro Settles With SEC, Limits US Crypto Activity Unregistered broker, clearing agency allegations settled US users will be limited to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ether
Teresa Xie - Bloomberg
EToro USA LLC agreed to pay $1.5 million and allow American customers to only trade only a handful of cryptocurrencies on its platform to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it operated as an unregistered broker and clearing agency. The social trading and investment platform entered into a cease-and-desist order without admitting or denying the allegations, the agency said in a statement Thursday. Since at least 2020, eToro operated as a unregistered broker and clearing agency by allowing US customers the ability to trade crypto assets as securities, according to a complain.
/jlne.ws/3Zjjhlp
Crypto Firms Launch $6 Million Legal Defense Fund for NFT Creators
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
Stand With Crypto, a nonprofit spun off from Coinbase, said Friday it has set up a $6 million fund to help non-fungible token creators and artists cover potential legal costs. NFTs are digital tokens stored on a blockchain that can represent ownership of a piece of art or music, or may be traded as a digital collectible. The Securities and Exchange Commission has taken been scrutinizing the industry, and whether some of these tokens should be defined as securities.
/jlne.ws/3Xnlhqg
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | America has an innovation and incumbency problem; Politicians should be taking questions of R&D and corporate power much more seriously
Gillian Tett - Financial Times
How do you boost economic growth? That is a question haunting the new(ish) British government of Sir Keir Starmer, along with its European counterparts. So, too, in America ahead of its presidential election. Until now, economists have focused on an obvious answer: growth rises when productivity increases, and this is usually boosted by unleashing research and development. Hence why politicians love to be photographed in telegenic factories and science parks, calling for more crowd-pleasing R&D.
/jlne.ws/4gl6x3J
Trump Allies Are Working on Plans to Privatize Fannie and Freddie; A deal would call for the government to try to sell a chunk of its holdings in the mortgage giants to investors, including sovereign-wealth funds
AnnaMaria Andriotis and Gina Heeb - The Wall Street Journal
Donald Trump's allies want once again to try to untie the Gordian knot of the mortgage market: what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Former Trump administration figures and bankers have been discussing plans on ending U.S. government control of the mortgage-finance giants should Trump win the presidential election, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks have been under way since at least this past spring and include reaching out to investment managers for advice on how to get the deal done.
/jlne.ws/3TtMLZU
US Oil Boom Turns Kamala Harris Into an Unlikely Fracking Supporter; The candidate touts the benefits of energy independence even as she pledges to continue Biden's decarbonization push.
Kevin Crowley - Bloomberg
Kamala Harris has a claim to serving in one of the greatest presidential administrations for the US fossil fuel industry in history. Domestic oil and gas output, refining margins and company profits have all hit record highs during her tenure as Joe Biden's vice president. America is currently the world's top oil producer, pumping almost 50% more crude each day than Saudi Arabia.
/jlne.ws/4ejOSHS
Trump Is Right About World War III, Wrong About the Analysis; A Third World War would actually be four or more wars being fought simultaneously. How can the US prepare for that?
Andreas Kluth - Bloomberg Opinion
Because much of what Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it's tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. And yet the former and perhaps future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist - for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. "We're a failing nation," Trump ranted during his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). "And what, what's going on here, you're going to end up in World War III, just to go into another subject." He brought it up twice more. "We're going to end up in a Third World War," he closed. "And it will be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons."
/jlne.ws/3XsPOTo
Green tech leaders sound alarm over Donald Trump threat to US industry; Renewables companies fear the former president could roll back Biden-era support measures
Jamie Smyth and Amanda Chu - Financial Times
Green tech leaders have warned a Donald Trump presidency could decimate the US offshore wind industry, slow the roll out of electric vehicles and imperil the country's efforts to become a renewable energy superpower that can compete with China. With polls showing the former president running neck and neck with Kamala Harris in the race for the White House, industry and climate groups are stepping up their efforts to boost the vice-president's prospects by hosting donor events, financing advertising campaigns and speaking out about political risks to the sector.
/jlne.ws/3ZnxYUD
Russia Expels 6 U.K. Diplomats as Tensions Mount Over Missiles; The move came as Vladimir Putin warned the West that allowing Ukraine to use long-range weapons would mean NATO countries were "at war with Russia."
Ivan Nechepurenko - The New York Times
Russia announced on Friday that it had decided to expel six British diplomats from the country, accusing them of engaging in espionage and sabotage work, in a move that highlighted the deepening tensions between Moscow and London. The Russian Federal Security Service, or F.SB., said that the decision had been made in response to "the numerous unfriendly steps taken by London," a possible reference to signals from Britain that it was willing to allow Ukraine to use its "Storm Shadow" long-range missiles against targets deep inside Russia.
/jlne.ws/47pMVat
Russia's moral bankruptcy means capitalism won't take root
Philip Cross - Financial Post
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China and Russia chide West at security forum in Beijing
Laurie Chen - Reuters
/jlne.ws/4dSrJfP
China wants academic exchange but historians say increased censorship makes research hard
Laurie Chen - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3MK4cBK
How North Korea Is Building a Nuclear Attack Arsenal
Jon Herskovitz - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | FirstEnergy to Pay $100 Million Penalty to Settle SEC Charges in Ohio Bribery Scheme; The electric utility company previously disclosed that it took a $100 million second-quarter reserve in anticipation of the agreement
Josh Beckerman - The Wall Street Journal
FirstEnergy settled a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and will pay a $100 million civil penalty. The agency said the electric utility company participated in a "multi-year political corruption scheme," made misrepresentations to investors and failed to disclose material related-party transactions.
/jlne.ws/4e3oLoI
India market regulator chief says she complied with all required disclosures
Jayshree P Upadhyay - Reuters
The head of India's market regulator said on Friday she had complied with all disclosure guidelines issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), rejecting allegations levelled by the country's main opposition party and a U.S. short seller about a conflict of interest. "Madhabi has complied with all the disclosure and recusal guidelines of SEBI, and in fact, maintained a proactive continuing recusal list with SEBI over and above the requirements under the guidelines," Madhabi Puri Buch said in what she called a personal statement.
/jlne.ws/3ZjiTDt
The CFTC Approves Part 40 Final Rule to Simplify and Enhance Rule and Product Submission Processes
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a final rule to amend Part 40 of the CFTC's regulations. The regulations in Part 40 implement Section 5c(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act and govern how registered entities submit self-certifications, and requests for approval, of their rules, rule amendments, and new products for trading and clearing, as well as the CFTC's review and processing of such submissions.
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CFTC Charges Unregistered Florida Commodity Pool Operator and Its Chief Executive Officer with Futures Fraud
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Aureus Revenue Group LLC (Aureus), a Florida entity, and its owner and chief executive officer, Emir Jesus Matos Camargo (Matos) of Orlando, Florida. The complaint alleges they operated a fraudulent scheme in which they solicited at least $1.5 million from pool participants to invest in a commodity pool. They also misappropriated pool participant funds by paying Matos personal expenses and paying some pool participants using funds from other pool participants, in the manner of a Ponzi scheme.
/jlne.ws/4gm3c4q
CFTC Approves Final Rule Regarding Exemptions from Certain Compliance Requirements for Commodity Pool Operators, Commodity Trading Advisors, and Commodity Pools
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today published a final rule that amends CFTC Regulation 4.7, a provision that provides exemptions from certain compliance requirements for commodity pool operators (CPOs) regarding commodity pool offerings to qualified eligible persons (QEPs) and for commodity trading advisors (CTAs) regarding trading programs advising QEPs. The final rule amends various provisions of the regulation that have not been updated since the rule's original adoption in 1992. Specifically, the final rule:
/jlne.ws/4ek4f30
FINRA Announces Results of Board of Governors Elections; Firms Elect John Vaccaro as Large Firm Governor and Jennifer Szaro as Small Firm Governor; James Crowley Re-Elected as Mid-Size Firm Governor
FINRA
FINRA announced today the results of its election of three Governors to its Board of Governors during the annual meeting of FINRA member firms on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3XhoIyA
SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Discuss Investment Advice and Key Topics from Securities Litigation at Sept. 19 Meeting
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Investor Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting on Sept. 19, 2024, at 10 a.m. ET at the SEC Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The meeting will also be webcast on the SEC website.
/jlne.ws/4e0v0K9
SEC Charges Three Former Executives of Pharmacy Startup Medly Health Inc. with Defrauding Investors; Now-defunct digital pharmacy raised over $170 million based on fake prescriptions and fraudulently inflated revenue
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged now-defunct digital pharmacy startup Medly Health Inc's. co-founder and former CEO, Marg Patel, former CFO, Robert Horowitz, and former Head of Rx Operations, Chintankumar Bhatt, with defrauding investors in connection with capital raising efforts that netted the company over $170 million.
/jlne.ws/3MJshc4
eToro Reaches Settlement with SEC and Will Cease Trading Activity in Nearly All Crypto Assets; Firm charged with operating unregistered broker, clearing agency in connection with its crypto asset trading platform
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that eToro USA LLC has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges that it operated an unregistered broker and unregistered clearing agency in connection with its trading platform that facilitated buying and selling certain crypto assets as securities. eToro has agreed to cease and desist from violating the applicable federal securities laws and will make only a limited set of crypto assets available for trading.
/jlne.ws/3z73lbn
SEC Files Settled Charges Against Three StraightPath Sales Agents for Unregistered Broker Activity
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against three sales agents from StraightPath Venture Partners-Anthony Guarino, Robert Seropian, and Frank Vecchio-for unregistered broker activity, including selling membership interests in LLCs that purported to invest in shares of pre-IPO companies. Vecchio also settled the SEC's previously announced fraud charges against him.
/jlne.ws/3MIkWt1
SEC Charges FirstEnergy Corp.'s Former CEO with Fraud in Connection with Political Corruption Scheme
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against Charles E. Jones, former CEO of FirstEnergy Corp. ("FirstEnergy"), in connection with a years-long corruption scheme in which FirstEnergy made payments to former Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Larry Householder, in exchange for official action benefitting FirstEnergy's business interests. In a separate proceeding instituted today, the SEC also charged FirstEnergy with fraud in connection with the scheme. FirstEnergy agreed to settle the charges, paying a civil penalty of $100 million.
/jlne.ws/3Xmp86R
SEC Charges Three Former Medly Health Inc. Executives with Defrauding Series Investors
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged now-defunct digital pharmacy startup Medly Health Inc's. co-founder and former CEO, Marg Patel, former CFO, Robert Horowitz, and former Head of Rx Operations, Chintankumar Bhatt, with defrauding investors in connection with capital raising efforts that netted the company over $170 million.
/jlne.ws/3TrGM8b
ASIC updates superannuation forecasts relief instrument
ASIC
ASIC has updated the default rate of nominal wage inflation (default rate) in ASIC (Superannuation Calculators and Retirement Estimates) Instrument 2022/603 (ASIC Instrument 2022/603), and Regulatory Guide 276 Superannuation forecasts: Calculators and retirement estimates (RG 276). The default rate has been adjusted from 4% p.a. to 3.7% p.a. to align with the revised long-term wage growth forecast in the 2023 Intergenerational Report (IGR).
/jlne.ws/3B4AdlB
City & Merchant Limited enters liquidation
FCA
On 11 September 2024, City & Merchant Limited entered liquidation with Dermot Coakley and Shaun Walker of WSM Marks Bloom LLP appointed as joint liquidators. City & Merchant Limited is an FCA authorised firm that provided corporate finance advice, fund management and trading services.
/jlne.ws/3XnM1qs
Publication of the summary from "The JFSA Strategic Priorities July 2024-June 2025"
FSA
The FSA published the summary from "The JFSA Strategic Priorities July 2024-June 2025", which describes what strategy the FSA will take to tackle its priorities, and how, during the period from July 2024 to June 2025.
/jlne.ws/3XGm8U1
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Single-Stock ETF Boom Intensifies With 18 Bets on Overseas Firms; Precidian aims to introduce 18 ETFs, each linked to an ADR; ETFs would track firms such as Toyota, HSBC and hedge FX risk
Isabelle Lee - Bloomberg
The single-stock ETF frenzy is going global, with a new bid to launch products that give US traders a way to bet directly on overseas companies - without fretting about currency risk. Precidian Funds last week filed to introduce 18 exchange-traded funds, each of which will hold American depositary receipts for one company based outside the US, including Toyota Motor Corp., AstraZeneca Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc and Novo Nordisk A/S. The ETFs, if greenlit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, will use currency swaps to try to protect against the exchange-rate fluctuations that come with traditional ADR investing, and also offer performance that generally corresponds to the total return of the underlying stock in its local market. ADRs give US investors exposure to companies abroad, and also help those firms gain access to American capital markets.
/jlne.ws/4d4GvyL
Grifols Seeks Adviser to Help Deal With Minority Shareholders; Board is seeking consultancy firm for investor outreach; Grifols family, Brookfield working on bid to buy drugmaker
Clara Hernanz Lizarraga and Jorge Zuloaga - Bloomberg
Spanish drugmaker Grifols SA, the target of a short-seller attack earlier in the year, is seeking to hire an external consultancy firm to help deal with minority investors as it faces a takeover approach. Grifols's board has asked several Spanish firms to draft proposals, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private matters. The firm would be responsible for outreach to shareholders and managing certain communications, the people said.
/jlne.ws/3MH1bCe
US Steel Deal 'Doomed,' Says Union 'Steadfast' in Opposition
James Attwood and Josh Wingrove - Bloomberg
The United Steelworkers union says it will not be bullied into accepting Nippon Steel Corp.'s last-ditch efforts to win over workers for its takeover of United States Steel Corp., calling the $14.1 billion acquisition a "doomed deal" and pledging to fight any foreign ownership of the company. The memo, sent to "interested parties" including the White House on Thursday, is the latest in a public struggle to win hearts and minds as the fate of the deal hangs in the air, with President Joe Biden's threat to block it looming large.
/jlne.ws/3B0ax9N
Hedge Fund Arb Trade Surfs $140 Billion Wave of Debt Coming Due; About 40% of convertible dollar bonds are approaching maturity; Traders target double windfall from repayment and new issues
Yiqin Shen - Bloomberg
In a niche corner of the bond market, an almost $140 billion wave of maturing debt is poised to lend momentum to what is already one of Wall Street's hottest hedge fund trades. About 40% of all dollar-denominated convertible bonds in the world come due by the end of 2026, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, throwing up all manner of opportunity for an arbitrage strategy beloved by fast-money players like AQR Capital Management and Man Group.
/jlne.ws/3XJ43Vm
HSBC tops Nestle as world's best dividend payer while China Mobile leads Hong Kong peers
South China Morning Post
HSBC Holdings emerged as the world's largest dividend payer during the second quarter of this year, while growth in the Asia-Pacific region lagged behind the rest of the world during the period, according to asset manager Janus Henderson Investors' latest global dividend index. The largest bank in Europe and Hong Kong topped the dividend-payout list with a total disbursement of US$11.7 billion for the June quarter, aided by a US$4 billion special dividend with proceeds from the sale of its Canadian operations. That was the single largest special dividend in the world during the quarter, accounting for nearly a third of the global tally.
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Your 529 College-Savings Plan Can Now Fund a Roth IRA; Parents with leftover money in college funds can now move them to retirement accounts-maybe even their own. But should they?
Laura Saunders - The Wall Street Journal
It happens more than you think, given the spiraling costs of college: People who save money for a child's education expenses in tax-favored 529 plans wind up with leftover dollars in them. Perhaps the student got a scholarship or chose a lower-cost school-or even took a different path in life. Now there's a new way to tackle this problem. A law that took effect this year allows unused 529 funds to be transferred to Roth IRAs tax-free, up to certain limits. Often this move will cost less than simply withdrawing extra funds, which could bring taxes and a penalty.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Wall Street Quietly Turns Tail on Its Sustainability Commitments; Morgan Stanley shelved a commitment to finance the cleanup and prevention of plastic pollution. It's not retreating alone.
Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
News emerged last week that Morgan Stanley had quietly shelved a central pillar of its sustainability strategy: a commitment to finance the cleanup and prevention of plastic pollution. Instead of opening up to investors and clients about the challenges in tackling such a pernicious problem, or revealing the lessons learned in five years of trying, the investment bank simply went silent. The news that the Wall Street giant no longer has an explicit financing goal to tackle plastic only came to light after Bloomberg Green asked the bank why-in contrast with previous versions-there was no mention of its Plastic Waste Resolution in its latest ESG report.
/jlne.ws/4epYP6J
XTCC Partners with Carbonmark to Democratise and Scale Carbon Credit Market
XTCC
XTCC, a firm specialising in creating tradable financial instruments tied to high-integrity carbon credits announces a strategic partnership with Carbonmark, a global climate platform for buying, selling and retiring carbon credits. This industry collaboration aims to transform the integrity and efficiency of the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), making carbon credits more transparent, accessible and scalable for a broad and deep range of participants, including corporates, carbon brokers, commodity traders and individuals.
/jlne.ws/4gmzZGw
China's Recovery Likely Dealt Another Blow From Extreme Weather
Bloomberg
China's economy likely failed to reverse a monthslong slowdown rooted in depressed demand, especially after the disruption caused by extreme weather this summer. As pressure builds on policymakers to roll out more stimulus, data due Saturday will show growth in industrial production slipped in August for a fourth straight month, in what would be its longest deceleration in almost three years. A slower expansion in activity also extended to retail sales and investment, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3ZnyUbh
Green tech leaders sound alarm over Donald Trump threat to US industry; Renewables companies fear the former president could roll back Biden-era support measures
Jamie Smyth and Amanda Chu - Financial Times
Green tech leaders have warned a Donald Trump presidency could decimate the US offshore wind industry, slow the roll out of electric vehicles and imperil the country's efforts to become a renewable energy superpower that can compete with China. With polls showing the former president running neck and neck with Kamala Harris in the race for the White House, industry and climate groups are stepping up their efforts to boost the vice-president's prospects by hosting donor events, financing advertising campaigns and speaking out about political risks to the sector.
/jlne.ws/3ZnxYUD
Climate Lawsuits Are Exploding. Are Homicide Charges Next?; The courts have become one of the most important battlegrounds in the fight over planet-warming emissions. Here are prominent cases to watch.
Karen Zraick - The New York Times
Lawsuits against fossil fuel companies over climate change are piling up. Legislators and activists are pushing prosecutors to pursue criminal charges. Children are suing governments, arguing that their right to a healthy environment is being trampled on. Welcome to the new universe of climate litigation, where the courts have become one of the most important battlegrounds in the fight over the greenhouse gas emissions warming the planet.
/jlne.ws/47oGftg
'Democrats are losing': a battle on EVs could cost Kamala Harris votes in Michigan; Trump promises to end electric vehicle mandate. Harris has been silent, risking swing state autoworkers' critical votes
Tom Perkins - The Guardian
As the critical swing state of Michigan hangs in the balance, experts warn that Democrats' poor messaging over the shift to electric vehicles could lose them the state in November's election. "I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now," Donald Trump told the Republican national convention in a speech this summer that would reach tens of millions of people.
/jlne.ws/4eheyp7
One of Russia's Last Big EU Gas Consumers Turns Off the Tap; Wien Energie fully diversifies from Russian fuel from 2025; Vienna utility has sourced 10TWh from alternative suppliers
Jonathan Tirone - Bloomberg
The top utility in Vienna - the world's most-livable city - finally kicked its Russian natural gas habit. Wien Energie GmbH, which provides energy to two million people in and around the Austrian capital, said it won't need Russian fuel as of next year for the first time in decades. It's sourced 10 terawatt-hours of alternatives, equivalent to about 12% of national consumption, from North Africa, the North Sea and other global liquefied natural gas suppliers.
/jlne.ws/3B6bw8j
Metals-rich Kazakhstan seeks niche in battery supply chain
Olzhas Auyezov and Eric Onstad - Reuters
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Pharma groups to tackle greenhouse gases from asthma inhalers; GSK and AstraZeneca plan final trials to upgrade propellants that cause much of the sector's carbon footprint
Michael Peel and Ian Johnston - Financial Times
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Youth Group Asks Supreme Court to Revive a Landmark Climate Lawsuit; The case argues the government violated young people's constitutional rights by failing to curb the use of fossil fuels. A lower court had thrown it out.
Karen Zraick - The New York Times
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | StoneX to acquire fixed income broker Octo Finances; Move will expand StoneX's capabilities in fixed income and grow its presence in Europe.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
StoneX has moved to increase its remit and geographical reach through the acquisition of fixed income broker Octo Finances SA. The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and closing conditions. StoneX will acquire 100% of Octo Finances SA shares once complete. The move is designed to expand StoneX's capabilities in fixed income and grow its presence in Europe, with a particular focus on France.
/jlne.ws/3MH5sWi
The Bank of London readied wind-down plans; Group was preparing for solvent exit had it not secured funding this summer
Emma Dunkley, Ortenca Aliaj, Akila Quinio and Martin Arnold - Financial Times
The Bank of London was readying plans this summer for a solvent wind-down in case it was not able to raise enough money in time to boost its capital buffers, according to two people familiar with the matter. The company, which offers payment and settlement services to other institutions, was working on a contingency plan as recently as July to wind down the bank in an orderly fashion, the sources said. This type of regulator-approved process involves returning money to creditors and depositors.
/jlne.ws/4d9rX0O
The Big Question: should US banks have higher capital requirements? This week's Big Question asks readers: what level of capital requirements should be mandatory for the largest banks?
FT reporters - Financial Times
The Federal Reserve has this week announced it will scale back plans to increase the level of capital the largest US banks are required to have to cover potential losses, following criticism from the industry. Michael Barr, the US central bank's top regulator, said it planned to impose a 9 per cent rise in capital requirements on the biggest lenders, down from the 19 per cent proposed last summer. This brings it closer to the proposed increase for banks in the EU, forecast to be 9.9%.
/jlne.ws/47qmW2G
New Boss at Two-Century-Old Bank Shakes Up Brazilian Finance; The country's banking business has long been dominated by wealthy White men. Tarciana Medeiros has a plan to change that.
Martha Viotti Beck - Bloomberg
Tarciana Medeiros has had a good run since being appointed president of Latin America's second-largest bank in January 2023. She led Banco do Brasil SA to a record profit of 35.6 billion reais ($6.3 billion) last year, up more than 11% from 2022. Its stock jumped 76%, the best-performing bank on the benchmark Ibovespa index for 2023. And Medeiros, the first woman to head the two-century-old institution, implemented a diversity plan that led to thousands of promotions for women and people of color. That in turn helped fuel a 20% increase in loans for companies led by women.
/jlne.ws/4dSt1HH
Millennium to Raise Up to $10 Billion of More-Permanent Cash
Katherine Burton and Nishant Kumar - Bloomberg
Izzy Englander's Millennium Management is looking to raise between $7 billion and $10 billion of new capital in a structure aimed at giving the hedge fund firm a more permanent source of capital. Millennium has, like many of its peers, been moving to lock up client cash for longer. The firm, which now manages about $69 billion, has more recently taken a page from private equity firms and started raising money that's callable - rather than taking it in all at once like most hedge funds.
/jlne.ws/4d6CDxt
JPMorgan, Bank of America to crack down on long hours after death of Leo Lukenas - who worked 100 hours per week
Ariel Zilber - NY Post
Two of Wall Street's largest banks are reportedly planning to clamp down on the number of hours that junior bankers work per week in the wake of outrage over the tragic death of a 35-year-old Bank of America associate who logged 100-hour work weeks. Bank of America - which came under scrutiny after staffer and former Green Beret Leo Lukenas III suffered a fatal a heart attack in May - is putting in place a new timekeeping tool that requires junior bankers to specify how their time is spent, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. JPMorgan will cap junior bankers' work hours at 80 per week - the first limits enacted by the nation's largest lender - with exceptions to be made in certain cases such as a live deal, according to The Journal. The moves come after The Journal published a wide-ranging exposé detailing how Bank of America managers told direct reports to lie about their extensive hours even when they exceeded an 80-hour limit put in place more than a decade ago following the death of an overworked intern.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | CEOs Fired for Office Affairs Are Rarer Than You Think; Seven US company CEOs have been fired since 2017 for affairs; A majority of workers are or have been in an office romance
Jeff Green - Bloomberg
It might seem like CEOs are always getting in trouble for dating subordinates. But it's actually pretty rare for a company to explicitly fire them for it. Thursday's ouster of Alan Shaw as Chief Executive Officer of Norfolk Southern Corp. is just the seventh time since 2017 that a large US company has said it pushed out its top boss for an office affair, according to data from exechange.com, which tracks CEO departures for businesses in the Russell 3000.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | What We Know About Covid's Impact on Your Brain; Scientists are worried that persisting cognitive issues may signal a coming surge of dementia and other mental conditions
Jason Gale - Bloomberg
Many of Covid's earliest and most alarming effects involve the brain, including a lost sense of smell, sluggish thinking, headaches, delirium and strokes. More than four years after the pandemic began, researchers are recognizing the profound impacts Covid can have on brain health, as millions of survivors suffer from persistent issues such as brain fog, depression and cognitive slowing, all of which hinder their ability to work and otherwise function. Scientists now worry that these symptoms may be early indicators of a coming surge in dementia and other mental conditions, prolonging the pandemic's societal, economic and health burden.
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Mpox Variant Spreading in Congo Affects 10 in Neighboring Uganda; Number is likely an undercount as testing remains low; Uganda's activated emergency response systems used in the past
Fred Ojambo - Bloomberg
The virulent mpox strain spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo is responsible for 10 infections in neighboring Uganda, weeks after the disease was first detected in the East African country. Uganda has increased efforts to curb contagion including more public messaging, early detection and treatment and isolation of patients, Henry Kyobe, the head of Uganda's mpox outbreak unit, said by phone from the capital, Kampala.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Nickel Flowing to Europe Shows Indonesia's Grip on Global Supply
Eddie Spence - Bloomberg
European makers of stainless steel are turning to Indonesia for nickel as the country's booming output forces plants in other countries to shutter. Exports to Europe of Indonesian nickel pig iron - an ingredient for stainless steel used primarily by Chinese producers - to Europe have surged to 87,485 tons this year from just 1,006 tons in 2023, according to Indonesian government data. The Netherlands, Italy and the UK have taken the shipments, the data show.
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Singapore Rejects Bid for Business District Over Low Price
Low De Wei - Bloomberg
Singapore rejected a bid by a group of top property firms to develop a new business district in the island's west, after judging the price offered by it to be unattractive. The Urban Redevelopment Authority rebuffed the S$6,889 ($5,309) a-square-meter gross-floor-area price offered by the consortium to develop a 6.5 hectare site in the Jurong Lake District as it was "assessed to be too low," according to a statement on Friday. The offer was shortlisted from two proposals submitted by the same group of developers.
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World's Biggest Millionaire Boom Draws Wealth Managers to Taiwan; JPMorgan, AllianzGI and rivals are racing to get some of the cash generated by a surging tech sector.
Betty Hou and Lisa Du - Bloomberg
Taiwan's position at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom-it makes some 90% of the advanced semiconductors crucial to the technology-is generating a dramatic increase in wealth. With the population's financial and property assets reaching $6 trillion in 2023, up a third from 2019, at least a half-dozen global financial shops are beefing up their presence on the island.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | The Hague Is World's First City to Ban Oil and Air Travel Ads; The city bans advertisement of fossil fuel, cruise, air travel; The law comes after UN calls to ban fossil fuel advertising
Cagan Koc - Bloomberg
The Hague became the first city in the world to ban advertisements promoting fossil fuel products and carbon-intensive services including cruise ships and air travel. The Dutch city's local council passed legislation early Friday that takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025. The decision follows a call from United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres for governments to abolish such ads, similar to actions against tobacco that began in the 1960s.
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