| January 24, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
I spoke yesterday with Daniel Coleman, who was featured in a recent Wall Street Journal story about the college of which he is president. Coleman, the former GETCO CEO and O'Connor & Associates alumnus, was one of the many industry executives who participated in the "Ice Bucket Challenge" nine years ago and he was one of those featured in a compilation JLN put together of people getting ice water showered on them by family, friends and/or colleagues. What made the Coleman ice bucket challenge unique was that he credited me with having challenged him, as he accepted the industry-wide challenge I issued when I was hit with the ice water at a Boy Scout meeting. Coleman said he then challenged the CEO of Jefferies.
Join the FIA for their "2023 Annual ETD Volume Review" webinar as they dive into the latest trends shaping the global exchange-traded derivatives markets. For the fifth consecutive year, trading volume is poised to reach record-breaking levels, and this session will explore the key factors driving this surge in volume and open interest across interest rate, equities, and commodity markets. Joseph Nehorai, the global co-head of futures at Goldman Sachs, is the guest speaker. Hosted by Will Acworth, senior vice president of publications, data, and research at FIA, this discussion is scheduled for Wednesday, January 31, 2024, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. EST. Register HERE.
MarketVector Indexes Chief Executive Officer Steven Schoenfeld's latest book, "Mastering Crypto Assets - Investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Beyond," has been published by Wiley Finance. He collaborated on the book with Martin Leinweber and Joerg Willig. Schoenfeld said his goal was to provide a comprehensive and sophisticated guide designed to assist institutional investors, financial advisors, and individuals in developing an optimal framework for seamlessly incorporating digital assets into conventional financial portfolios.
Barron's reports that Alexander Hamilton's personal pocket pistols, previously part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, were recently sold at Christie's Important Americana sale for a winning bid of $819,000. These pistols, originally estimated at around $500,000, were owned by the Founding Father but were not the ones he used in his fatal duel with Aaron Burr. The latter pair was sold to the Chase Manhattan Bank, now part of JP Morgan Chase, in 1930.
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:
- Options Traders Earn Quick 1,000% on ADM Stock Plunge from Bloombeg via Yahoo Finance.
- Why Aren't There Options on the New Bitcoin ETFs Yet? from The Wall Street Journal.
- The world's most accurate economist told us his forecasts for the US economy in 2024, the biggest risks he's watching, and a trade to take advantage of from Business Insider. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Vermiculus delivers Microservice-based VeriClear Solution to OCC
Vermiculus
Vermiculus Financial Technology, a global provider of clearing, trading and CSD technology, has delivered a microservice-based solution built upon on VeriClear, an elastically scalable, AI-powered, cloud-native, real-time risk system to The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization. As part of OCC's ongoing development of its forthcoming platform, Ovation, OCC chose Vermiculus' modern and flexible solution with its superior microservices architecture that allows for deployment of a selection of microservices and applying changes on the fly.
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***** Vermiculus continues to deliver one microservice at a time.~JJL
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Charles Osgood, veteran CBS newsman and longtime host of "Sunday Morning," dies at 91
CBC News
Award-winning journalist Charles Osgood, who anchored "CBS Sunday Morning" for 22 years and was host of the long-running radio program "The Osgood File," died Tuesday at home in New Jersey. He was 91. The cause of death was dementia, his family said. Osgood, a gifted news writer, poet and author, spent 45 years at CBS News before retiring in September 2016. Osgood began anchoring "CBS Sunday Morning" in 1994. During his run on the show it reached its highest ratings levels in three decades, and three times earned the Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Morning Program.
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***** Another of the great CBS journalists we have lost.~JJL
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Sports Illustrated's Strange Merger; Also Trump SPAC and selling the Bitcoin ETF news.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg Opinion
The Arena Group Holdings Inc. is a small publicly traded media company that owns titles including TheStreet, Parade and Men's Journal. Since 2019, it has also published Sports Illustrated, though it doesn't own it: The Sports Illustrated brand is owned by a thing called Authentic Brands Group, which acquired it in 2019 and then licensed it to Arena for 10 years.1 So Arena "owns" the magazine; it employs the people who write and publish it and runs its website. But Authentic owns the "Sports Illustrated" brand and its intellectual property, and Arena pays Authentic some rent for the rights to use the name. The rent is $15 million per year.2
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****** Matt Levine does a great job describing the mess Manoj Bhargava created with his deals with The Arena Group Holdings. Well worth the read. ~JJL
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How a 27-Year-Old Codebreaker Busted the Myth of Bitcoin's Anonymity; Once, drug dealers and money launderers saw cryptocurrency as perfectly untraceable. Then a grad student named Sarah Meiklejohn proved them all wrong-and set the stage for a decade-long crackdown.
Andy Greenberg - Wired
Just over a decade ago, Bitcoin appeared to many of its adherents to be the crypto-anarchist holy grail: truly private digital cash for the internet. Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency's mysterious and unidentifiable inventor, had stated in an email introducing Bitcoin that "participants can be anonymous." And the Silk Road dark-web drug market seemed like living proof of that potential, enabling the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal drugs and other contraband for bitcoin while flaunting its impunity from law enforcement. This is the story of the revelation in late 2013 that Bitcoin was, in fact, the opposite of untraceable-that its blockchain would actually allow researchers, tech companies, and law enforcement to trace and identify users with even more transparency than the existing financial system.
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***** This is a fascinating story of someone who grew up doing puzzles and studying cryptography and was the right person to break the code of bitcoin, and did. ~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our top story Tuesday was Billionaire Howard Lutnick Is Taking On Exchange Giant CME, from The Wall Street Journal. Second was BGC Group Announces CFTC Approval for FMX Futures Exchange, from BGC Group. And third was OCC Announces Updates to Board of Directors, from the OCC.
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| Lead Stories | SPAC Mania Is Dead. The SEC Wants to Keep It That Way; New rules aim to make special-purpose acquisition company deals more like traditional IPOs
Paul Kiernan - The Wall Street Journal
The speculative mania in special-purpose acquisition companies, better known as SPACs, appears to be dead. Gary Gensler wants to make sure it doesn't come back to life. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which Gensler chairs, is set to vote Wednesday to adopt rules that seek to make it clearer than before to SPAC investors if they are getting a raw bargain. Once the rules take effect in about five months, according to lawyers familiar with the deals, they will likely drive another nail into the coffin of a recent Wall Street fad fueled by market froth and regulatory arbitrage.
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Hong Kong Is Facing a Repeat of 1998 Asia Financial Crisis; China's unwillingness to tackle its debt crisis is forcing rapid stock selloffs. People are worried.
Shuli Ren - Bloomberg
A year ago, Hong Kong's finance industry was hoping that a China reopening would unleash pent-up consumer demand and bring deals and prosperity to the city. There is no such illusion left. As the Hang Seng Index selloff deepens, bankers and traders are preparing for the worst. This does not feel like 2008 when the Global Financial Crisis hit but 1998 - in the midst of the Asia Financial Crisis - a few people who have been around long enough lamented to me recently. The late 1990s crisis started with Thailand. But if another one erupts, China will be its root cause, and Hong Kong the epicenter.
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What's Behind a String of Scandals in Metals Trading?
Bloomberg News
A succession of scandals has shaken metals markets and reawakened concerns about the fragility of warehousing and shipping networks that play a critical role in the industrial economy. The latest incidents ensnared some of the world's most prestigious trading houses and revealed shortcomings in the oversight of warehouses connected to the London Metal Exchange - the world's benchmark futures market for base metals.
/jlne.ws/3YZBi60
Stuck in a Downturn, Startups Ghost Investors; A dearth of information can halt transactions on secondary markets.
Hema Parmar - Bloomberg
Startups typically depend on serial infusions of funding from backers to get through their early years, and a so-called down round-raising money at a lower implied valuation than before-is a big black eye. So lately, companies have gotten increasingly creative at trying to avoid being considered less valuable, particularly when investors seek to unload their stakes, either out of disenchantment or because they need the cash for something else. This has sparked a sort of tug of war between investors and founders over the information needed to decide how much a company is worth. At least one venture capital outfit says it has stopped buying startup stakes on the secondary market because lack of access to financials makes it too hard for auditors to determine the fair value of the firm's portfolio. "A lot of businesses are facing do-or-die time," says Sunaina Sinha Haldea, global head of private capital advisory at investment bank Raymond James Financial Inc. "The big issue is that investors don't know the true market value of a business."
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Ackman Ramps Up Israel Support With 5% Stake in Tel Aviv Bourse
Galit Altstein - Bloomberg
Bill Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman have bought a stake in the Tel Aviv bourse, one of the most prominent investments in Israel since its war with Hamas erupted. Ackman, 57, who has railed against a rise in antisemitism since the Hamas attacks and Israel's subsequent retaliation, and Oxman are buying 5% of Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd. The deal is part of a roughly 18.5% stake sale to foreign and local investors for 353 million shekels ($95 million), meaning the couple would have paid $25 million, according to calculations by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/3vX6KqU
Bill Ackman and wife Neri Oxman buy stake in Tel Aviv Stock Exchange; Deal marks high-profile investment in Israel, which has been at war with Hamas since October
Harriet Agnew, Costas Mourselas and Donato Paolo Mancini - Financial Times
Bill Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman have acquired a stake in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, in a transaction that marks one of the most significant investments in Israel since its war against Hamas began in October. The couple bought a 4.9 per cent stake, the exchange said on Wednesday, as part of a wider stake sale worth 353mn shekels ($95mn).
/jlne.ws/3Hw2m4V
South Korean retail investors hit as China equity derivatives tumble
Jihoon Lee and Cynthia Kim - Reuters
South Korean retail investors have been caught out by an 11% fall in a key Hong Kong stock market index this month, as losses begin to materialise from about 15.4 trillion won ($11.50 billion) of index-linked derivatives that mature this year. Of the 432.6 billion won of combined products sold by South Korea's major banks that have matured so far in January, there have been losses of 216.4 billion won as of Friday, according to the banks.
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Euro's Status Languishes as Dollar Still King After 25 Years; The common currency's promise remains unfulfilled.
Marcus Ashworth - Bloomberg
The euro celebrates 25 years of virtual existence this month, with its digital creation in 1999 followed by the introduction of physical notes and coins in 2002. It's embedded successfully as the domestic means of exchange within the 20-nation euro zone. While its survival is no longer threatened, the common currency has made little progress in its broader aim of challenging the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency - and has instead gone backward.
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Billionaire CEO plans to launch a new exchange to trade interest-rate futures
Aruni Sonja - Business Insider
Billionaire Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, is launching a new exchange to trade futures linked to US interest rates, The Wall Street Journal reported. FMX Futures Exchange, which plans to go up in mid-2024, will list futures linked to US bond yields and the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). Most interest-rate futures today - about 99% of the trading volume - are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, WSJ said, citing FIA data. The exchange is now the world's most valuable exchange operator, boasting a $73 billion market cap. That means Lutnick's venture would be up against the world's leading derivatives marketplace. FMX's contracts would have to compete with the trillions of dollars worth of interest-rate futures traded on the CME every day. But Lutnick believes the new exchange will have an edge over CME, offering perks like a lower cost of trading. Interest rate futures work like any other futures contract, allowing traders to bet on the direction of rates for everything from the US 10-year Treasury to lending benchmarks like SOFR to the federal funds rate.
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Probe inside crop giant ADM raises questions about nutrition bet; US agribusiness has sought to expand beyond bulk commodities trading and processing
Susannah Savage - Financial Times
Archer Daniels Midland aggressively expanded into nutrition and food ingredients in 2014, aiming to build a hedge against the volatility of the commodity trader's other businesses and shore up its income stream. A decade later, the nutrition business has plunged one of the world's largest agricultural trading houses into turmoil.
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Crypto Startup Figure Seeks SEC Approval to Issue Interest-Bearing Stablecoin; Company has filed S-1 form in hope to register the stablecoin; Figure's digital asset arm plans to raise $50 million round
Yueqi Yang and Hannah Miller - Bloomberg
Figure Technologies Inc., a blockchain and lending startup founded by former SoFi Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mike Cagney, is seeking approval from US regulators to issue an interest-bearing stablecoin. The move is a novel attempt at creating a new class of stablecoins with federal legitimacy, and if successful, Figure will be offering the first stablecoin regulated as a security in the US. Figure filed a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in October under the name of Figure Certificate Co., a subsidiary.
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Mt. Gox Moves Seemingly Closer to Bitcoin Repayments For 2014 Hack Victims; Some former customers of the crypto exchange have reported receiving an email asking for confirmation of identity and account details on the mtgoxinsolvency subreddit group.
Jamie Crawley - CoinDesk
Mt. Gox's repayment of customers who lost a combined 850,000 BTC - now valued at $33 billion - during its hack of 2014 appear to be progressing. Some former customers of the crypto exchange have reported receiving an email asking for confirmation of identity and account details on the mtgoxinsolvency subreddit group. The e-mails confirm the recipients will receive payment in bitcoin or bitcoin cash (BCH) to their account with the crypto exchange which they had previously nominated.
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US bank regulation needs to enter the digital age; The danger of destabilising runs on lenders is only going to increase as instant payment systems proliferate
Brooke Masters - Financial Times
Nearly a year after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, it is tempting to dismiss the US regional banking crisis as a very loud tempest in a relatively small teapot. After all, the damage was contained to a handful of failed lenders, the sector has stabilised and the KBW regional banks index has regained most of its losses. Such insouciance would be a mistake. The crisis should serve as a wake-up call about the unanticipated dangers linked to online banking. The industry and its watchdogs must start preparing now if they are to prevent a larger disaster in the future.
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China tightens access to offshore investment funds as domestic market founders; Curbs on funds that allow retail investors to bet on foreign securities come amid sell-off in Chinese equities
Cheng Leng, Sun Yu and Thomas Hale - Financial Times
Chinese authorities are tightening limits on capital outflows by restricting access to funds that invest in offshore securities as the country battles a brutal market rout. About a third of Chinese funds that invest in foreign securities under a scheme that bypasses strict capital controls have announced in stock exchange notices they have suspended or capped sales to retail investors "to maintain stable operations and protect investors' interests".
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China Funds Attempt to Cool Retail Frenzy Over US Stock ETFs
Bloomberg
China's mutual fund houses are trying to tamp down investors' enthusiasm for US stocks, putting new restrictions on buying into their products as demand soars. China Asset Management Co. halted subscriptions into a pair of mutual funds that invest in exchange-traded funds tracking the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500, according to its statement Wednesday. The firm warned of a rising premium on one of its ETFs, and said restrictions are meant to protect investors and ensure stable fund operations.
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China doubles down on support for Hong Kong's role as financial hub for wealth products, bonds and green finance
South China Morning Post
Beijing's financial authorities have doubled down on their support for Hong Kong as China's global financial hub, after the nation's bank regulator promised to open the doors for more wealth management products, bonds and green financing instruments to be issued and traded in the city. The People's Bank of China unveiled six policies, including the expansion of a transborder investment channel called Bond Connect between Hong Kong and the mainland's financial markets, starting on February 26.
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China Officials Step Up Rhetoric to Lift Market Confidence
Bloomberg
Chinese authorities boosted messages of policy support in a bid to stabilize market confidence, underscoring their heightened focus on stemming the rout in stocks. The nation's state-owned enterprise watchdog on Wednesday promised to improve the quality of listed SOEs and to include the management of market capitalization in the performance reviews of SOE executives. The China Securities Regulatory Commission held a meeting a day earlier and vowed to "make every effort" to maintain the stable operation of capital markets and to calm investor nerves.
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China and Hong Kong Broaden Investment and Financing Links; Measures to expand repo market and HKMA's liquidity facility; Policies will support HK's role as an offshore yuan center
Kiuyan Wong, Denise Wee, and Felix Tam - Bloomberg
Hong Kong announced several measures to deepen financial links with China - including facilitating real estate purchases and expanding the Wealth Connect program - to further integrate the city with the mainland. Financial Secretary Paul Chan and other Hong Kong officials outlined six new measures on Wednesday, including opening China's onshore repo market and allowing bonds issued by the Chinese state as well as its policy banks as qualified collateral for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Renminbi Liquidity Facility. Regulators also agreed to allow greater sharing of creditor information to facilitate cross border financing and to deepen the program for the digital yuan, according to joint statements.
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Oil Trader Sues UAE Claiming Smear Campaign Bankrupted His Firm; Hazim Nada is seeking $2.8 billion in damages in a US lawsuit; He claims Swiss firm Alp was hired to spread misinformation
Jack Farchy - Bloomberg
An oil trader sued the United Arab Emirates for $2.8 billion over allegations the state directed a smear campaign that pushed his company into bankruptcy. The Washington complaint, based on more than 8,000 hacked documents, shines a spotlight on the shadowy world of private intelligence agencies for hire. Oil trader Hazim Nada alleges that his company Lord Energy SA was targeted by a campaign of misinformation orchestrated by Swiss firm Alp Services SA, and ultimately directed by the UAE and its president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.
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Swiss financial regulator appoints outgoing ECB director as chief; Finma's previous head left because of stress following collapse of Credit Suisse
Owen Walker - Financial Times
Switzerland's financial regulator has appointed outgoing European Central Bank director Stefan Walter as its new chief executive, after its previous head left due to stress following the rescue of Credit Suisse. Walter, a German national who oversees risk supervision at the ECB, will join Finma from the start of April.
/jlne.ws/4295VHO
Velocity Clearing and Raymond James Announce Prime Brokerage Services Referral Agreement
Velocity Clearing LLC
Velocity Clearing LLC, a global financial services technology company, today announced it has entered into a Prime Brokerage services referral agreement with Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF), a leading diversified financial services company.
/jlne.ws/3vHyz6y
The T+1 train will soon hit markets; The US takes a big step to a shorter settlement cycle for securities trade this year and Europe needs to catch up
Jim McCaughan - Financial Times
A big change is coming early this year in the way US markets operate, with a shift to a shorter settlement cycle for trades in stocks, bonds and exchange traded funds. Most US settlements will move from T+2, or two business days after the trade is agreed, to T+1.
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities kill 18, Zelenskiy says
Yurii Kovalenko and Sergiy Karazy - Reuters
Russian missiles hit Ukraine's two largest cities, killing 18 people, injuring more than 130 and damaging homes and infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as Moscow's war approaches its third year. The eastern city of Kharkiv suffered three waves of attacks. There were strikes on Kyiv and in central Ukraine and the southern region of Kherson, subject to constant shelling.
/jlne.ws/3u7k63C
Australia publicly names and sanctions Russian hacker over Medibank data leak
Jessie Yeung and Hilary Whiteman - CNN
Australia has publicly named and imposed cyber sanctions on a Russian hacker for his alleged role in a 2022 ransomware attack, in the country's first use of the penalty. The attack stole sensitive personal data from 9.7 million customers of Medibank, one of Australia's largest private health insurers: including names, dates of births, medical information and Medicare numbers. Some of these records were published on the dark web, according to Australian authorities.
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Russia is struggling to breach Ukraine's defenses because its troops keep getting blown up by drones when they gather in groups: ISW
Tom Porter - Business Insider
Russia is struggling to break through Ukraine's defensive lines because when its troops gather to attack, they're targeted by Ukrainian drones, a think tank said. An influential Russian milliblogger noted that Russian forces were struggling to work out how to break out of the current stalemate, according to US think tank, The Institute for the Study of War. The ISW, citing the source, said that "Russian forces are unable to concentrate in numbers sufficient to break through Ukrainian lines because Ukrainian forces strike all force concentrations larger than a battalion."
/jlne.ws/3vX5unG
Russia's War Fuels a Wage Spiral That Threatens Army Recruitment
Bloomberg
Russia's war in Ukraine is intensifying an acute deficit of workers that's hitting businesses from metal refineries to posh Moscow restaurants and igniting a race to increase salaries that threatens the Kremlin's ability to replenish the armed forces. The competition for employees has pushed wages up at a double-digit pace and made once-relatively lucrative military service less appealing, even after a 10.5% increase in monthly pay to fight in the war last year. Specialists such as engineers, mechanics, machine operators, welders, drivers and couriers can now find jobs with salaries comparable to or greater than in roles with the army after compensation for such work rose by 8%-20% last year, according to data from local recruitment service Superjob seen by Bloomberg.
/jlne.ws/492qjMX
Russia's 'meat wave' assaults leave frozen corpses uncollected as Russian soldiers 'just go and die,' Ukrainian sniper says
Sinead Baker - Business Insider
Russia's "meat assault" tactics on a key battlefield are leaving frozen bodies that Russia isn't collecting, a Ukrainian sniper said. The sniper, a special forces officer with the call sign "Bess," told CNN that the dead soldiers "just lie there frozen." "Nobody evacuates them, nobody takes them away," he said. "It feels like people don't have a specific task, they just go and die."
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Ukraine appears to have developed an exploding drone with a jet engine that could strike deep into Russia
Tom Porter - Business Insider
/jlne.ws/48HGeAH
Norwegian factory gears up to supply ammunition to Ukraine
Pierre-Henry DESHAYES - AFP
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Russia Says Ukraine Downed Plane Carrying 65 Prisoners for Swap; Ukrainian captives were being flown for exchange, Russia says; Russia alleges Ukrainian missiles downed plane, killing 74
Bloomberg News
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Hamas Open to Releasing Some Israeli Hostages for Pause in Fighting, Mediators Say; Group previously pushed back against any proposal that didn't involve a permanent cease-fire
Summer Said - The Wall Street Journal
Officials of Palestinian militant group Hamas have told international mediators that they are open to discussing a deal to release some of the kidnapped Israelis they are holding hostage in exchange for a significant pause in fighting, Egyptian officials said Tuesday. The overture marks a significant shift by Hamas, which for weeks has insisted it would only negotiate on hostages as part of a comprehensive agreement that would lead to a permanent end to the war that has engulfed Gaza since Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel says 1,200 people were killed in the attacks and over 240 taken hostage.
/jlne.ws/3OeX15G
Cost of Shipping Fuel to Asia Jumps 182% Since Yemen Airstrikes
Alex Longley - Bloomberg
A surge in oil tanker earnings extended, with one route jumping the most in a day since 2022, as the disruption to traffic through the Red Sea lifts the cost of hauling some barrels. Rates for vessels carrying fuel from the Middle East to Asia have almost tripled since the US and UK launched airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi rebels - climbing to $83,000 a day from about $30,000, an increase of 182% since Jan. 12. Those ships mostly haul naphtha, a product used to make gasoline and plastics.
/jlne.ws/48XknFa
Israel Says Hamas Gets Online Donations Via Groups Posing as Gaza Charities; Israeli and US intelligence officials are tracking the money; Donations to Hamas come on top of money received from Iran
Galit Altstein - Bloomberg
Israeli officials estimate Hamas is getting $8 million to $12 million a month through online donations, much of it through organizations posing as charities to help civilians in Gaza. That would equate to a multi-fold increase for online funding compared to what the group was receiving before its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, according to several Israeli financial-intelligence officials. They all spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of their work.
/jlne.ws/3UbNeBm
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | SIX Launches New Climate Data Offering
SIX
Today, SIX, the global financial information provider, is announcing the launch of its new climate data offering to support the reporting and monitoring of climate factors, as well as climate-related investment and risk decision making. SIX now offers access to a variety of climate data sets - providing clients with modelled and reported emissions data, covering a universe of over 33,000 companies globally from various providers in a wide range of industries. The new climate-specific data sets expand the existing coverage of fundamental environmental, social and governance (ESG) data as well as regulatory risk data by SIX. At the same time, they support market participants in fulfilling climate-related regulatory requirements and making more informed investment decisions.
/jlne.ws/3S8hiuZ
Performance Bond Requirements: Energy and Cryptocurrency Margins - Effective January 24, 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 January 24, 2024.
/jlne.ws/3OdKFLf
ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: December Delinquencies Rise on Calendar Effects; Foreclosures Approach Two-year Lows
Intercontinental Exchange
In large part due to December ending on a Sunday, delaying the processing of payments made on the last day of the month, the national delinquency rate hit 3.57%, up 19 bps from November; Though the rise (+5.6%) was larger than an average December (+1.4%), it was milder than past Sunday-month-end Decembers, which have seen delinquencies jump +9.9% on average; Delinquencies were up moderately across the board, as inflows and rolls to later stages of delinquency rose, while cures from both early- and late-stage delinquency improved; Serious delinquencies (90+ days past due) rose to 475K, but were still 19% (-108K) below where they were they ended December 2022; December's 24K foreclosure starts marked an 18-month low in new activity, with total active foreclosures the lowest since March 2022 (212K), still 25% below (-71K) pre-pandemic levels; Likewise, the 5.4K foreclosure sales (completions) in December were down -17.2% from November and the fewest since February 2022 - shortly after the end of COVID-era moratoria; Prepayment activity rose +4.9% to a single month mortality rate of 0.39% on improving interest rates, but prepays remain constrained by both seasonal and affordability pressures.
/jlne.ws/47VEVNm
Results of the English Disclosure Implementation Status Survey as of the End of December 2023
Japan Exchange Group
Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. (TSE) has promoted English disclosure by listed companies in order to enhance convenience for overseas investors and enable them to make appropriate investment decisions based on the disclosed information. As part of this effort, since 2019, TSE has been conducting surveys on the English disclosure implementation status of listed companies and providing a list of the results on its website to a wide range of people including overseas investors.
/jlne.ws/48Jsqpj
Notice regarding Launch of Scheduled Dates of Earnings Releases Information Service
Japan Exchange Group
JPX Market Innovation & Research, Inc. (JPXI) will launch a service that provides information in CSV files regarding scheduled dates of earnings releases that are periodically reported to Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) by listed companies, REITs, and infrastructure funds listed on TSE (hereinafter referred to collectively as "TSE-listed companies") on May 20, 2024.
/jlne.ws/4baAGjK
Future Policies and Status of Proof-of-Concept Testing for HTML Disclosure of Earnings Reports (Kessan Tanshin)
Japan Exchange Group
JPX Market Innovation & Research, Inc.（JPXI）hereby announces the status of Proof-of-Concept testing for HTML disclosure of earnings reports* (hereinafter referred to as "the PoC testing") promoted by JPXI as of the end of November 2023, and future policies for the PoC testing In light of the revision of the quarterly disclosure system.
/jlne.ws/3SwiqKr
Regular Constituents Change in S&P/KRX ESG Dividend Opportunities index
Korea Exchange
The Constituents of S&P/KRX ESG Dividend Opportunities index will be changed. Effective date: February 1, 2024 (Thu) For more details, please refer to the Index data product file.
/jlne.ws/48Kpust
Changes in Nifty Fixed Income indices
National Stock Exchange of India
The Index Maintenance Sub-Committee (Debt) of NSE Indices Limited has decided to make changes as listed hereunder. These changes shall become effective from January 31, 2024.
/jlne.ws/3SFc2k9
Closing remarks by June Sim, Managing Director, Head Listing Compliance, SGX RegCo, at the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) Forum
SGX Group
1. Good morning all and thank you for joining us today. 2. As we all saw from Prof Loh's presentation earlier, Singapore entities as a whole have seen their total score improving steadily since the first ACGS review conducted back in 2012. More significantly, the score distribution of Singapore entities has consistently shifted rightwards and all companies reviewed scored least 80 points in this round of review.
/jlne.ws/4b8g5fI
The Moscow Exchange has confirmed the compliance of its compliance management system with the international standard ISO 37301:2021
MOEX
The Moscow Exchange Group has confirmed the compliance of its compliance management system with the international standard ISO 37301:2021 International standard compliance management systems [1] .
/jlne.ws/3vQiWtJ
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Amazon Hopes to Dominate the World of Streaming Ads. It Faces Some Challenges Along the Way; The e-commerce giant must provide more high-quality content and court advertisers that don't sell products on its platform, experts say
Patrick Coffee - The Wall Street Journal
The arrival of ads on Amazon Prime Video this month is expected to upend the already crowded streaming television market in the U.S. But it also won't be an entirely smooth transition for Amazon. The e-commerce giant is now the world's third-largest digital ad seller, behind tech companies Alphabet and Meta Platforms, with ad revenue surpassing $12 billion in the third quarter, up 26% from the period a year earlier. Its data and insights on millions of customers give Prime Video a long-term advantage by allowing marketers to target ads based on variables from shopping history to location.
/jlne.ws/3SuAHYo
WhatsApp's AirDrop feature might be its most exciting upgrade in years
Chris Smith - BGR.com
AirDrop is one of the neat iPhone features that Android has had a tough time competing with. It's also one of the features that users often take for granted if they own multiple Apple devices. That's how I transfer files between my iPhone and Mac, and I use AirDrop all the time. It's also the best way to share photos and videos with friends, as long as they're on an iPhone or another Apple device.
/jlne.ws/3Oek1lf
AI Craze Mints Another Billionaire With Super Micro Computer's Stock Surging; Charles Liang founded Super Micro in 1993 with wife Sara Liu; Company's shares gained more than 430% since the start of 2023
Vernal Galpotthawela - Bloomberg
After watching the disaster film The Day After Tomorrow, Charles Liang resolved that his server company, Super Micro Computer Inc., should focus on high-efficiency power systems and components. That decision 20 years ago has helped make him a billionaire today.
/jlne.ws/490I2UQ
Deutsche Bank-Backed Swiss Fintech Firm Receives Approval To Offer Tokenized Securities to Retail Clients
Davier M - CoinMarketCap
Taurus, a Swiss cryptocurrency custody and trading firm, has obtained regulatory approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to offer tokenized shares to retail investors, according to an announcement made on January 23. This move marks a significant step towards democratizing access to retail customers, in addition to professional and institutional investors. Taurus' TDX marketplace allows transactions using cryptocurrencies as well as traditional fiat currencies such as Swiss franc, Euro, and U.S. dollar.
/jlne.ws/47IV1tj
Crypto Custody Specialist Taurus Brings Tokenized Securities to Retail Customers in Switzerland
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
Swiss cryptocurrency custody and trading firm Taurus has been given the green light by Swiss financial regulator FINMA to offer blockchain-based shares in unlisted companies to retail investors, bringing tokenized securities to the masses. Deutsche Bank (DBK)-backed Taurus' TDX marketplace allows transactions using crypto as well as Swiss franc (CHF), Euro (EUR), and U.S. dollar (USD). A clutch of Swiss firms have chosen TDX to issue shares, including Investis, la Mobilière, Qoqa, Structured Commodity & Corporate Finance (SCCF), Swissroc, and Teylor - a fintech lending firm already working with Taurus issuing tokenized shares for professional investors.
/jlne.ws/3U83DGX
Apple boosts plans to bring generative AI to iPhones; Acquisitions, job postings and academic papers suggest tech company is preparing to run AI through its devices
Michael Acton - Financial Times
Apple is quietly increasing its capabilities in artificial intelligence, making a series of acquisitions, staff hires and hardware updates that are designed to bring AI to its next generation of iPhones. Industry data and academic papers, as well as insights from tech sector insiders, suggest the Californian company has focused most attention on tackling the technological problem of running AI through mobile devices.
/jlne.ws/48FYlXw
AI to drastically cut time to develop new battery materials, say executives; Computing power could halve discovery time for substances used in batteries and accelerate innovation, believe industry leaders
Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
Artificial intelligence can halve the time it takes to develop new battery materials, helping accelerate innovation to combat climate change, battery industry executives believe. Mathias Miedreich, chief executive of Belgium's Umicore, which is working with Microsoft, said that AI would have an "immense impact" on discovering and commercialising new battery materials.
/jlne.ws/3S7B61D
Algorithmic trading: Smarter than ever? With growing client expectations and a constantly developing market landscape, Wesley Bray explores the evolution of algorithmic trading, delving into its use cases, the importance of data and trader intuition and how algo strategies are utilised during periods of high volatility.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
In the dynamic realm of the financial markets, the introduction of technology has proven to be a catalyst for transformative change, overhauling existing trading strategies. Among the wide range of advancements, algorithmic trading has revolutionised how financial instruments are bought and sold. As markets become increasingly complex and interconnected, the need for speed, precision, and automation has become paramount. From the early days when algorithms were basic rule-based systems executing predefined strategies, to the present era of machine learning and artificial intelligence-driven models, the evolution of algorithmic trading is central to the adaptability of financial markets.
/jlne.ws/3Ob103q
Elwood Technologies gains service company authorisation from FCA; The platform - which is backed by Goldman Sachs and Dawn Capital - has become one of the first digital asset tech providers to receive the authorisation.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Software-as-a-service platform Elwood Technologies has been authorised as a service company by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA's authorisation specifically applies to Elwood's execution management system (EMS) in connection to security tokens and derivatives.
/jlne.ws/3S7D5mB
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | New hacking details are a bad look for the SEC-and also for Elon Musk's X
Jeff John Roberts - Fortune
The Securities and Exchange Commission released new information about its colossal screw-up earlier this month that saw a hacker take over its social media account and briefly scramble the crypto markets by preempting news of an Bitcoin ETF decision. The details confirmed suspicions that the SEC, which has been going around fining firms with sloppy cybersecurity, failed to practice what it preaches. But the news also served as a reminder of how Elon Musk, since he bought Twitter and rebranded it as X, has undermined the security of the platform.
/jlne.ws/4b6s9y9
AI will make scam emails look genuine, UK cybersecurity agency warns
Dan Milmo - The Guardian
Artificial intelligence will make it difficult to spot whether emails are genuine or sent by scammers and malicious actors, including messages that ask computer users to reset their passwords, the UK's cybersecurity agency has warned. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said people would struggle to identify phishing messages - where users are tricked into handing over passwords or personal details - due to the sophistication of AI tools.
/jlne.ws/3vNvpOK
Cybersecurity In 2024: Challenges And Innovations In A Volatile Era
Oren Koren - Forbes
As we advance into 2024, the cybersecurity landscape is contending with a unique and challenging confluence of forces. On one side, we are witnessing a relentless surge in cyber threats, particularly in the form of sophisticated ransomware attacks. On the other, an economic environment marked by rising interest rates is exerting unprecedented pressure on corporate budgets, especially in the cybersecurity domain. This combination of a heightened threat landscape and financial stringency is compelling organizations to rethink their cybersecurity strategies fundamentally.
/jlne.ws/3SuAvbB
10 USA cybersecurity conferences you should visit in 2024
Help Net Security
/jlne.ws/48HAKWo
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Pastor accused of $3M crypto scam says he may have 'misheard God'
Leo Sands - The Washington Post
An online pastor was charged with civil fraud for selling a cryptocurrency that regulators described as "practically worthless." His explanation: God told him to do it - although it's possible he "misheard." Colorado's securities commissioner filed a legal complaint against Eligio Regalado, who goes by Eli, and his wife, Kaitlyn Regalado, last week. The couple raised nearly $3.2 million by targeting Denver's Christian community with the cryptocurrency, marketed as INDXcoin, the complaint said.
/jlne.ws/3Oe5V3s
'The Lord told us to': US pastor says he stole $1m from Christians to remodel home; Couple are charged with creating and selling their cryptocurrency, known as 'INDXcoin', to Christian community in Denver, Colorado
Gloria Oladipo - The Guardian
A Colorado pastor who is charged with stealing more than $1m from his Christian community in a cryptocurrency scheme has admitted to the fraud but argued that God instructed him to carry it out. Eli Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn, are charged with creating and selling their cryptocurrency, known as "INDXcoin", to Christians based in their home town of Denver, Colorado, allegedly telling would-be investors that the Lord had told him people would become rich if they invested, the state's division of securities announced in a press release on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3OeWnp4
Is Grayscale Takeover Bait Amid Bitcoin ETF Battle?
Helene Braun - CoinDesk
The battle to scoop up investors' money for newly approved bitcoin ETFs is shaping up to be a fierce one among BlackRock, Fidelity and other financial firms. If the newcomers want to take a giant leap forward, experts say they could consider buying the incumbent in bitcoin investing: Grayscale. The crypto asset manager earlier this month got permission to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an ETF. At the same time, nine other companies won the ability to create their own bitcoin ETFs.
/jlne.ws/3OfiBau
Singapore AXS Users Can Make Payments in Digital Currencies, Report Says; AXS partners with cryptocurrency payment firm Triple-A; Users can choose to pay in Bitcoin, Ether, Tether or USD Coin
Jackie Cai - Bloomberg
Singapore payment platform AXS is allowing users to make payments including bills, fines, taxes and student fees in digital currencies, The Straits Times reported on Tuesday. Following a tie-up with cryptocurrency payment firm Triple-A, four digital currencies can be used for 550 of the 600 AXS payment services, the newspaper reported citing a joint statement. Users may choose to pay in either Bitcoin, Ether, Tether or USD Coin, it added.
/jlne.ws/3u6pbZS
FTT Bucks Market Turmoil as FTX Estate Revealed to Be Behind GBTC Sales; FTT was up 11% in the past 24 hours as the broader market tracked by CoinDesk 20 slumped 4%.
Shaurya Malwa - CoinDesk
Hopes of creditor repayments led to FTT, the tokens of the now-defunct FTX exchange, rising by 11%, with claims rising to 80 cents on the dollar. FTT trading volumes jumped to $90 million from Sunday's $22 million, CoinGecko data shows. The tokens allowed holders to access certain benefits on the Sam Bankman-Fried-owned FTX exchange before it collapsed in late 2022.
/jlne.ws/4938IEH
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Why Does Maxine Waters Care About Meta's Crypto Trademarks? The California Democrat wants to know what the Silicon Valley tech giant has planned for digital assets, raising the question whether the battered firm is taking another look at blockchain.
Daniel Kuhn - CoinDesk
In early 2022, Arun Sundararajan wrote a Harvard Business Review case study about how established brands could utilize non-fungible tokens, aka NFTs, right before the crypto market tanked. In the piece, the Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship at New York University's Stern School of Business tried to make sense of the then-crypto craze, mentioning that tech firms like Twitter and Facebook (now X and Meta, respectively) were allowing more user customization through NFT avatars.
/jlne.ws/48Bu38l
Meta abandoned crypto in 2022. Maxine Waters wants to know why the company is still filing patents for it
María Soledad Davila Calero - Fortune
A week after the Patent and Trademark Office paved the way for one of Meta's digital currency software proposals, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) sent a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Javier Olivan questioning the firm's intentions. "With its initial filings on March 18, 2022, Meta's application submissions as of January 22 appear to represent a continued intention to expand the company's involvement in the digital assets ecosystem," reads the letter sent on Jan. 22.
/jlne.ws/3HxlU94
Trump Win Would Pose Threat to European Stocks, Goldman Says; Germany's DAX, MDAX, some Europe cyclicals could be vulnerable; Trump edges closer to Republican presidential nomination
Farah Elbahrawy - Bloomberg
A scenario in which Donald Trump is elected US President would heighten risks across large parts of Europe's stock market, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists said. Germany's benchmark DAX Index, its mid-cap MDAX Index and economically-sensitive cyclical sectors in the region- like industrials, chemicals and autos - would be the most exposed in the event of victory for the Republican candidate, a team led by Sharon Bell wrote in a note. "We would expect higher risks around both an increase in tariffs on Europe and a reduction in US funding/support for Ukraine," she wrote.
/jlne.ws/4bcdDov
Trump Fuels Meme-Like Rallies in Stocks Tied to 2024 Bid
Bailey Lipschultz - Bloomberg
Donald Trump's charge toward the Republican presidential nomination is fueling a speculative frenzy in a corner of the US equity market, setting off rallies in obscure stocks seen as tied to his candidacy. The gains have echoes of the pandemic's meme-stock mania, when legions of day traders piled into a handful of money-losing companies, seeking to pocket quick gains when their share prices surged.
/jlne.ws/3u7F0zC
Ramaswamy Praises Trump for Opposing Central Bank Digital Dollar
Kailey Leinz, Joe Mathieu and Gregory Korte - Bloomberg
Vivek Ramaswamy praised Donald Trump for joining him in opposing a central bank-issued digital dollar, after the Ohio businessman exited the race for the Republican nomination and endorsed the former president. "A central bank digital currency, I believe, is a threat to liberty in this country," Ramaswamy said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Manchester, New Hampshire on Tuesday. "It creates a mechanism for government to be able to wipe out your bank account or wipe out your dollars if you do or say something the government disapproves of."
/jlne.ws/48HEzLl
Trump and his toadies are trying to rewrite history so that he's not an insurrectionist
Sidney Blumenthal - The Guardian
/jlne.ws/3U8XUAv
Donald Trump Sold $2.4 Million Ethereum: Smart Move Or Big Mistake?
Caden Pok - Benzinga
/jlne.ws/4bklGzU
Options Traders Bet Trump-Tied SPAC Can Double Again in Days
Carly Wanna - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3ScGiRL
The CIA is posting videos to persuade Russians to betray their leaders - and says it's working
Mia Jankowicz - Business Insider
/jlne.ws/3SxkbXL
Wikimedia Russia Shuts Down, Putting Local Site in Peril; A campaign to replace the country's Wikipedia with a more pliant alternative seems near completion.
Noam Cohen - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3vPsMvZ
North Korea tears down monument symbolizing union with South -report
Reuters
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Kim Jong Un Fires Missiles, Removes Monument to Press Seoul
Sam Kim and Jon Herskovitz - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Fifth Circuit Vacates U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's $6.5 Million Jury Verdict for Lack of Fair Notice
Sidley Austin LLP
On January 8, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a $6.5 million jury verdict, holding that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) failed to provide fair notice of its interpretation of a decades-old rule preventing commodities traders from "taking the other side of orders" without clients' consent.1 The Fifth Circuit noted that this was a case of first impression and agreed with EOX Holdings LLC (EOX) and its commodities broker, Andrew Gizienski, that the CFTC rule at issue regarding "taking the other side of customer orders" was ambiguous; that for 39 years the CFTC did not issue any guidance to indicate that the defendants' conduct was prohibited; and the CFTC did not take "steps to advise the public that it believed the practice was questionable." Therefore, the Fifth Circuit held that EOX and Gizienski did not have fair notice of the potential violation.
/jlne.ws/3Svc5i7
FINRA Publishes Crypto Asset Communications Sweep Update; Findings Show Potential Violations in 70% of Materials Reviewed
FINRA
FINRA has identified potential violations of FINRA Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public) in 70 percent of crypto asset communications it reviewed, according to a report published today on the results of a targeted exam. In November 2022, FINRA launched a targeted exam to review the practices of certain member firms that actively communicate with retail customers concerning crypto assets and crypto asset-related services. FINRA reviewed retail communications received from these firms for compliance with FINRA Rule 2210, which requires, among other things, that broker-dealer communications with the public be fair and balanced, and that they provide a sound basis for evaluating the facts regarding any product or service discussed. FINRA Rule 2210 prohibits claims that are false, exaggerated, promissory, unwarranted or misleading. The rule also prohibits the omission of any material fact if the omission, in light of the context of the material presented, would cause a communication to be misleading.
/jlne.ws/48LntMv
Swiss Banking Regulator Names ECB's Stefan Walter as Chief; Stefan Walter to take over as chief executive on April 1; Previous CEO Angehrn quit after Credit Suisse collapse
Hugo Miller, Bastian Benrath, and Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
Switzerland's banking regulator appointed Stefan Walter to be its new chief executive, as the body seeks greater powers to prevent another banking collapse like last year's crisis at Credit Suisse. Walter, 59, will join the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or Finma, on April 1, according to a statement on Wednesday. The German national played a key role in building out the European Central Bank's joint bank supervision from 2014 and also led the unit that oversaw the region's biggest banks, including Deutsche Bank AG.
/jlne.ws/3vOEEyg
Japan Regulator Will Probe Risks to Banks From Higher Rates
Taiga Uranaka - Bloomberg
Japan's financial regulator will examine banks' vulnerability to potential risks stemming from rising interest rates, including exposure to highly-leveraged borrowers and real estate as the country's central bank looks set to switch course. The Bank of Japan is widely expected to make its first rate hike since 2007 within a few months. This raises the possibility that some borrowers will struggle to make higher interest payments.
/jlne.ws/3ufqR38
West Australian man Cameron Waugh pleads guilty to insider trading
ASIC
Former corporate adviser Cameron Waugh has pleaded guilty at the Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court to insider trading in relation to the gold exploration and mine development company Genesis Minerals Limited. ASIC alleged that over a seven day period from 14 - 21 September 2021, Mr Waugh applied to acquire, and did subsequently acquire, 747,626 shares in Genesis while in possession of inside information.
/jlne.ws/499olul
Issuers Ordered to Disgorge More Than $19.6 Million Raised in Unregistered and Fraudulent Crypto Asset Securities Offering and Pay $1.2 Million in Civil Penalties
SEC
On January 17, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued an amended final judgment[1] ordering defendants Crowd Machine, Inc. and Metavine, Inc. to disgorge $19,676,401.27 raised from investors in an unregistered and fraudulent offering of crypto asset securities, plus $3,358,147.75 in prejudgment interest. The Court held relief defendant and affiliate Metavine Pty. Ltd. liable, jointly and severally with the defendants, for disgorgement of $5 million. The Court also ordered defendants to pay civil penalties of $600,000, each.
/jlne.ws/3Ucb4g4
SEC Charges Convertible Note Dealer for Failure to Register; Defendants Agree to Pay $1.25 Million to Settle
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the filing of an enforcement action against Aryeh Goldstein, a resident of Florida and New York, and two entities he controls, Adar Bays, LLC, located in Florida, and Adar Alef, LLC, doing business in Florida and New York, for failing to register as securities dealers in connection with their convertible note financing business that involved obtaining and selling securities of over 100 microcap companies. The parties have agreed to settle the charges. Among other relief, Goldstein and his entities agreed to pay $1.25 million in monetary relief and to surrender or cancel all remaining shares of public companies allegedly obtained from their unregistered dealer activity.
/jlne.ws/3HtYbq6
Leaning in on making consumer tech a force for good
FCA
Speech by Nikhil Rathi delivered at the Imperial College London Business School. How can consumer-facing technology help keep consumer markets honest?
/jlne.ws/47NvCi4
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Investor group turns up heat on mining tailings dam laggards
Clara Denina and Simon Jessop - Reuters
A group of investors managing more than $25 trillion said they plan to challenge mining companies that have not yet committed to a tailings dam best-practice standard and may vote against management at upcoming annual meetings. The Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative was launched in August 2020 in response to the Brumadinho disaster in Brazil where 270 people were killed when a tailings dam collapsed.
/jlne.ws/3OeuaP9
Oil prices settle down slightly on more supply in US and abroad
Laila Kearney - Reuters
Oil prices settled lower on Tuesday as traders focused on rebounding crude output in parts of the U.S., along with rising supply in Libya and Norway, rather than risks to supply posed by conflict in Europe and the Middle East.
Brent crude settled at $79.55 a barrel, losing 51 cents, or 0.6%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $74.37 a barrel, shedding 39 cents, or 0.5%.
In North Dakota, the third-largest oil-producing U.S. state, some oil output came back online after shutting because of extreme cold, the state's pipeline authority said. However, output was still down as much as 300,000 bpd.
/jlne.ws/3OeWqkK
IRS Warns That Crypto Income And Gains Must Be Reported On Tax Returns
Robert W. Wood - Forbes
The IRS has issued a reminder that taxpayers must answer a digital asset question on 2023 tax returns, as well as report all digital asset related income when they file their 2023 federal income tax return. The question appears at the top of Forms 1040, Individual Income Tax Return; 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors; and 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return, and was revised this year to update wording. The question was also added to these additional forms: Forms 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts; 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income; 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return; and 1120S, U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation.
/jlne.ws/48Lrhxd
Bond Sales Top Eur 293 Billion in Europe's Busiest January Ever
Hannah Benjamin-Cook and Ronan Martin - Bloomberg
Bond sales in Europe have set a new record for January. Offerings from the European Union and United Kingdom on Tuesday pushed the month's deal tally to the equivalent of at least Eur 293.7 billion ($319 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That beats a previous record of Eur 292.7 billion set last January, with the final total likely to rise after KommuneKredit Denmark and Canada's Province of Ontario joined the list of borrowers lining up new deals for the coming days.
/jlne.ws/4991Zcr
From Man Group to Oaktree, Firms Are Buying Bank Bonds That Cut Risk
Laura Benitez and Carmen Arroyo - Bloomberg
Private equity and hedge fund firms are preparing to snap up a wave of synthetic securitizations issued by US banks seeking to offload their exposure to everything from auto loans to mortgage-backed bonds. Lenders are looking to shed risk after interest rate increases left them with unrealized losses of $683.9 billion on securities in the third quarter. Smaller lenders also face a significant hit from commercial real estate, with almost $1.5 trillion of bank credit linked to those buildings due to mature through 2028.
/jlne.ws/3SvOcGf
Private Equity Firm GTCR to Launch Capital Solutions Business With New Hire
Carmen Arroyo - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/47RM2Gi
Interest in Credit Suisse-Pioneered Debt Swaps Is Soaring
Natasha White - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/47RMl3U
AT1 Bonds Are Now Seen as High-Reward Bet on Interest Rate Cuts
Tasos Vossos - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3SvjpKG
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Banks Are Asking Investors to Look Past a Dreaded ESG Metric; Green Asset Ratio set to be reported by banks in early 2024; Banking group says metric doesn't tell the whole story
Frances Schwartzkopff - Bloomberg
Europe's banks are asking investors not to pay too much attention to a new green metric due to be published in in the coming weeks, as early estimates show the industry woefully behind where it needs to be. The Green Asset Ratio, launched by the European Banking Authority in 2021 with a deadline for 2024, measures the percentage of assets that aligns with the bloc's list of sustainable business activities. The EBA in 2021 initially estimated the figure was about 7.9% on average.
/jlne.ws/48JrtgJ
How unions are fighting a boardroom battle at Starbucks; An SEC rule change giving shareholders more power to exert influence threatens to shake up corporate governance in the US
Ortenca Aliaj and Patrick Temple-West - Financial Times
There is a famous story about Starbucks that is often cited during discussions of governance: at board meetings, there is an empty chair to represent the interests of the coffee giant's employees. The idea was proposed by its former chief executive Howard Schultz to show that the company's baristas have a symbolic seat at the table.
/jlne.ws/3vNWsto
Exxon shareholder lawsuit marks end of ESG era
Liz Hoffman - Semafor
It was only three years ago that Exxon's shareholders, dismayed by its seeming indifference to climate change, voted out a quarter of its board. The victory of a tiny hedge fund against the world's most powerful symbol of the fossil-fuel era captured the rise of progressivism in corporate America and seemed to portend more to come. Fast forward to Sunday, when Exxon sued two of its investors that are pushing a climate agenda at the energy giant.
/jlne.ws/3OCX7EH
Natural Shots at Davos; Delegates grasp the practicalities of protecting and valuing nature.
Vibeka Mair - ESG Investor
Minds were focused at Davos last week by the uncomfortable reality that investing in the destruction of nature is more popular and economical than investing in its protection. A ramping up in attention on the topic - the subject of just three sessions at the same meeting in 2023 - was evident throughout the latest annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. According to United Nation Environment Programme, the world invests 35 times more into nature-negative activities, where spending is estimated at US$7 trillion annually, than nature-based solutions, where the estimated investment is a mere US$200 billion each year.
/jlne.ws/496tH9z
Bankers Are Pushing to Unlock Secret Data for Climate Loans; The Global Emerging Markets Risk Database, or GEMs, includes three decades of loan performance and default information about emerging markets.
Natasha White - Bloomberg
As the finance industry faces mounting pressure to play its part in fighting the climate crisis in the developing world, bankers point to a significant hurdle-one the World Bank and other public sector financiers have yet to remove. The problem, they say, is data. Executives from banks, including Citigroup Inc., say they could offer better rates and access to some of the world's most debt-stressed countries if the World Bank Group's International Finance Corp., the European Investment Bank and a group of multilateral development banks grant them access to their data on $1.5 trillion in emerging market debt.
/jlne.ws/3u4yQQz
Just How Climate-Friendly Are Timber Buildings? It's Complicated; Building with wood instead of concrete or steel is touted as a way to cut carbon emissions. But determining how it stacks up, climate-wise, isn't easy.
Eric Roston - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3OCWpr1
Britain's ageing railways struggle to deal with impact of climate change; Record tenth winter storm on its way as workers clean up damage caused by high winds and rain brought by Isha
Philip Georgiadis - Financial Times
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Shawn Fain Takes On Musk, Trump Over Labor's Green Future; The UAW's newish president won Big Three autoworkers their best deals in decades. Now he's after Tesla, EVs and the rest of the industry.
Josh Eidelson and Gabrielle Coppola - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/494iaYu
FEMA Overhauled a Disaster Aid Program. Environmental Justice Communities Could Benefit Most
Kristoffer Tigue - Inside Climate News
/jlne.ws/4b3jjBr
EU lawmakers back delay to sector-specific ESG corporate disclosures to 2026
Huw Jones - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3UilZVT
Corporates failing to uphold plastic reduction commitments; New research has revealed that companies that pledged global commitments to reduce plastic consumption are currently using more plastic than they were five years ago, in a bid to generate more revenue.
Sidhi Mittal - edie
/jlne.ws/3HwohZS
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Trump SPAC has tripled since the Iowa caucuses
Matt Egan - CNN
The latest meme stock is one closely associated with the 45th president of the United States. Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank-check firm that's been trying for years to merge with Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group, has emerged as a way for investors to make bets on the political fortunes of former President Donald Trump.
/jlne.ws/42al6QR
Coinbase downgraded at JPMorgan as crypto enthusiasm cools
Seana Smith and Brad Smith - Bloomberg
JPMorgan has downgraded Coinbase (COIN) from "Neutral" to "Underweight" citing "overestimated" expected growth following recent US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) spot bitcoin ETF approval. Yahoo Finance's Seana Smith and Brad Smith deep dive into the various downside risks and the cooling crypto enthusiasm compared to 2023.
/jlne.ws/3HCwI5D
A Top-Rated Brokerages Analyst in Japan Leaves Her Company
Takashi Nakamichi and Nao Sano - Bloomberg
Natsumu Tsujino, a highly-ranked senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s securities subsidiary, has left the unit, according to people familiar with the matter, amid an overhaul in the firm's research team. Tsujino, who covered brokerages, recently quit Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., one of the two Tokyo-based joint ventures between Japan's largest lender and the US investment bank, the people said, asking not to be identified as the departure isn't public.
/jlne.ws/429rA2m
UBS unveils big branding push after Credit Suisse takeover
Reuters
UBS on Tuesday unveiled its biggest branding campaign since 2016 to drive growth, spending tens of millions of dollars to freshen its image after the takeover of Credit Suisse. Switzerland's biggest lender will use the slogan "Banking is our craft" as it seeks to attract new customers to its wealth management, asset management, and investment banking franchises.
/jlne.ws/48KzOAI
Switzerland's UBS makes changes to executive board
Reuters
UBS announced changes to its executive board on Wednesday as the Swiss bank presses ahead with its integration of fallen rival Credit Suisse. Switzerland's biggest lender appointed Aleksandar Ivanovic to lead its $1.6 trillion asset management business, replacing Suni Harford who is retiring. Beatriz Martin Jimenez will become the Lead for Sustainability and Impact on the global executive board in addition to her existing responsibilities, UBS added. Both changes will take effect from March 1. The changes come as UBS continues its integration of Credit Suisse, which UBS bought for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.46 billion) in an emergency rescue last year. Integrating the two arch rivals is a huge, multi-year task that will mean thousands of job losses in Switzerland and elsewhere and create a single financial institution with a balance sheet around double the size of the Swiss economy.
/jlne.ws/3Huuy87
Goldman, Lazard Look to Ex-Spies to Gain an Edge in Volatile World; Financial firms are deploying security pros to help navigate wars and a year packed with elections.
William Shaw, Silla Brush, and Sonali Basak - Bloomberg
In the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 7, Jami Miscik awoke in her California home and flipped open her iPad to the shocking news of the Hamas attack on Israel. The Central Intelligence Agency veteran quickly rang up a pair of associates-a former leader of US Central Command and a former US Navy admiral-and crafted a response to the growing crisis, gaming various scenarios about a potential Israeli response and the broader effects it was likely to have.
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World's largest hedge funds record bumper year of profits, research shows
Karen Gilchrist - CNBC
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Hedge Fund Stars Who Got China Wrong Are Paying a Big Price
Bloomberg
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Hedge Fund Asia Genesis Shuts After 'Big Mistake' on China
Bloomberg
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Hedge Fund Qube Built a $1 Billion Short Bet Against Top German Companies; Qube added to positions against German firms this year; Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank among those being wagered against
Neil Callanan and Nishant Kumar - Bloomberg
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Unhappy Workers Cost US Firms $1.9 Trillion; Employees are checking out post-pandemic in a massive hit to productivity, according to research by Gallup.
Charlotte Hampton - Bloomberg
Disgruntled employees cost US companies an estimated $1.9 trillion in lost productivity last year, according to research from Gallup that puts a price tag on workplace unhappiness. That eye-popping figure stems from more Americans feeling detached from their employers in the aftermath of the pandemic. A measure of engagement from Gallup's surveys had been steadily rising for a decade, but peaked in 2020. The disruption of the past few years reduced satisfaction in the workplace, with more employees saying they don't clearly know what's expected of them - a symptom that reduces engagement.
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Bank of America warns return-to-office laggards with 'letters of education'; Banks take tougher stances as financial job market weakens almost four years after start of pandemic
Stephen Gandel and Madison Darbyshire - Financial Times
Bank of America has sent "letters of education" to employees who have not been showing up at the office, warning them of disciplinary action, in the latest move from a large company to push staff back to the workplace. One of the messages said its recipient had failed to meet the bank's "Workplace Excellence Guidelines" for work location "despite requests and reminders to do so".
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Brits Suffering 'Grim' Victorian Diseases Due To Poverty, Says Public Health Expert; Rishi Sunak insists his "plan is working".
Ned Simons - Huffington Post
Britain is becoming a "grim" place to live with people suffering Victorian-era diseases, one of the country's leading public health experts has said. Sir Michael Marmot warned that poverty was "guaranteeing" sickness among the poorest in society as people could not afford essentials including food. "It's deeply deeply depressing. It's grim in the extreme," the professor of epidemiology and public health at UCL told LBC. "Essentially Britain has become a poor country with a few rich people."
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Untold: The Retreat - an investigative podcast into the perils of meditation; Can an intensive form of the practice cause psychological distress?
Madison Marriage - Financial Times
Introducing Untold, a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. In the first series, The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. In January 2023, Madison received an email from a desperate father named Stephen. He said his twin daughters had changed drastically. They were once promising young women with exciting plans for their futures but then spiralled into despair and were struggling to lead normal lives. Stephen believed the root of his daughters' problems was a particular network of meditation retreats.
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Getting More Education Can Help You Live Longer
Alice Park - Time
Eating healthier foods, getting more sleep, and reducing stress can all help you live longer. But researchers reporting in the Lancet Public Health say that there's another healthy habit that we shouldn't forget: getting an education. Analyzing data from hundreds of studies of people in 59 countries, the scientists studied the relationship between how many years of education people received and mortality. They found that people with more schooling tended to die later than those who had less. Every additional year of education reduced mortality by 2%.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China Boosts Stimulus by Allowing Banks to Keep Smaller Reserves
Bloomberg News
hina said it will cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks within two weeks and hinted at more support measures to come, an unusually early disclosure that shows mounting urgency across President Xi Jinping's government to shore up the economy and halt a $6 trillion stock-market rout. The RRR - which determines the amount of cash banks have to keep in reserve - will be lowered by 0.5 percentage points on Feb. 5 to provide 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) in long-term liquidity to the market, the People's Bank of China's Governor Pan Gongsheng told reporters at a briefing.
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China tries to halt stock market rout by boosting lending and wooing foreign investors
Laura He - CNN
China has vowed to pump more money into the economy and further open its $64 trillion financial industry to international investors, as Beijing scrambles to restore confidence following a massive stock market rout. The promises from top officials come after a sell-off in Chinese stocks intensified this week. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index has fallen by 6.7% so far this year, while the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component indexes are down 5% and 7.7% respectively.
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China Stock Rout Sends Local Funds Scurrying to Safety of Bonds
Bloomberg
China's domestic investors are abandoning the nation's equities for the safety of bonds as concerns mount about the deteriorating economic outlook. Yields on 30-year government securities dropped to the lowest in almost two decades this week, and futures on the notes recorded one of the biggest daily jumps since April 2023. The moves came after the benchmark CSI 300 Index of shares plummeted to a five-year low amid signs of a wider exodus from the world's second-biggest economy.
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Australia Lithium Miners Start Cost-Cutting Drive on Price Rout
Annie Lee - Bloomberg
Australia lithium miners are cutting jobs, trimming exploration budgets and reviewing dividend payments following a slump in prices of the key component in electric-vehicle batteries. Core Lithium Ltd. will cut "a number of roles" across the organization during the March quarter due to the current market conditions, the company said in its quarterly report released Wednesday. The producer announced a suspension at its mining operation near Darwin in the country's north earlier this month.
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High risk offshore funds have seven months to liquidate India holdings - sources
Jayshree P Upadhyay - Reuters
India's markets regulator has given high risk offshore funds 7 months time to liquidate holdings if they fail to disclose data about their investors by Jan. 29, two sources said on Wednesday, allaying fears of an impending sell-off in the market. "There is no immediate deadline or cliff for offshore funds to liquidate any holdings," said the first of the two sources, both of who have knowledge of the matter.
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Qatar Delays LNG Shipments to Europe Amid Red Sea Crisis
Stephen Stapczynski and Ruth Liao - Bloomberg
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Financier Entrusted With Middle East Billions Attempts Comeback
Anto Antony, Dinesh Nair and Adveith Nair - Bloomberg
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