| April 10, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Julie Ros is joining the John Lothian News team as a freelancer and will represent JLN in London at FIA's International Derivatives Week. During IDX Julie will be joined by Robby Lothian and Nichole Price from JLN to conduct the JLN Industry Leader video series we regularly shoot at FIA and other industry conferences.
Julie is a veteran journalist who was the founder and editor-in-chief of Profit and Loss Magazine, which ran from 1999 to 2020. Today she is the Principal at JAM Media LLC. JLN and Julie are exploring ways to work together, including the creation of special reports that she would help produce for JLN. We hope our first joint effort at IDX opens doors for both Julie and JLN to accomplish this goal.
The Columbia Journalism School is holding an event on April 12 from 4 to 6 pm EDT titled "Free Evan: An event in support of Evan Gershkovich" at which journalists from the FT, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal will discuss the detention of Evan Gershkovich in Russia. The location of the event is Pulitzer Hall 2950 Broadway New York, NY 10027.
Did you know that your Apple Mac operating system may have a copy of Satoshi Nakamoto's bitcoin white paper hidden in it? Every Mac with the macOS since Mojave in 2018 has included a PDF copy of Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin whitepaper, technologist Andy Baio revealed in a blog post, Markets Insider reported. This has fueled some speculation that Steve Jobs was Satoshi Nakamoto since Satoshi disappeared in 2010 and Jobs died in 2011. However, Jobs was not much of a programmer and the whitepaper appeared in the macOS in 2018.
It turns out that Rupert Murdoch has had a change of heart and has called off his summer wedding, just barely two weeks after he announced he was to marry Ann Lesley Smith. The Guardian speculates it was either for religious or succession issues.
Are you worried about ChatGPT taking your job? Business Insider has a story about the 10 roles AI is most likely to replace, and journalists, research analysts and traders are on the list. And The New York Times says "AI Is Coming for Lawyers, Again."
A story today in CoinDesk tells of the conflict between former FTX.US President Brett Harrison and Sam Bankman-Fried over the way FTX.US was being run. When Harrison complained, his bonus was cut and he was told by an FTX lawyer to apologize to SBF. When he refused, SBF said he would destroy Harrison's professional reputation. This plays right into a story by Bloomberg that FTX's collapse was caused by "hubris" and "greed." It is SBF's professional reputation that is destroyed, not Harrison's, and it is all by SBF's own hand, it appears.
Nahiomy Alvarez is leaving the Financial Markets Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago after five years and joining Cboe Global Markets as senior manager, markets policy.
CME Group's SOFR futures had an average daily volume of 8.1 million contracts traded in March, which was higher than any ADV Eurodollars ever had, CME reported on LinkedIn. Brian Gierke, senior director, head of rates marketing at CME Group, added that "A month shy of its 5th birthday, SOFR just bested four decades of Eurodollar trading."
NYSE President Lynn Martin was named to the Barron's 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance. The list includes many investment bank senior executives, as well as SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
Gonçalo Ribeiro is joining Qontigo as director, STOXX index review.
The spring edition of the Exchange Analytics newsletter is out.
George Wang of Peterson Technology Partners is offering a ChatGPT cheat sheet to help beginners navigate "the features and capabilities of the powerful AI language model."
The State of Illinois is missing out on a huge tax windfall, though it may be short a few sheiks to make it pay off. In Dubai, an auction for a vanity license plate with P 7 on it went for a world-record 55 million dirhams or about $15 million, Bloomberg reports. However, the proceeds went to charity, not the state coffers.
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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The SGX Group set multiple volume records in foreign exchange futures and commodity derivatives in March. SGX USD/CNH futures traded volume climbed to 2.2 million contracts, a record high. Trading in SGX commodities hit an all time high in March of 4.2 million contracts. Iron ore derivatives volume climbed to a record 3.7 million contracts. Similarly, screen volume set new highs. View the press release here.~SAED
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'How to Blow Up a Pipeline' Turns Fossil Fuels Into a Movie Villain; Inspired by Andreas Malm's climate-activism manifesto, the film adaptation brings a motley crew together to sabotage a Texas oil pipeline.
Kira Bindrim and Akshat Rathi - Bloomberg
Andreas Malm is not a household name, except in certain circles. A professor of human ecology at Lund University in Sweden, he is also the author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a slim manifesto in which Malm lays out a radical case for climate action: In his book, Malm makes clear that any attack should be on "luxury" emissions and not "subsistence" emissions: Aston Martins are fair game; ambulances are not.
/jlne.ws/3UutDdO
****** Pipelines have been villains in parts of the media for a long time; finally Hollywood is catching up.~JJL
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Chicago Gets What It Voted For; Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson blames businesses for crime.
The Editorial Board - The Wall Street Journal
Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is off to a running start. The hyper-progressive is fulfilling every expectation that he'll drive even more people and businesses out of the Windy City. Two days after narrowly winning the election, Mr. Johnson thought it a good moment to blame the city's crime wave on business. "Seventy percent of large corporations in the state of Illinois did not pay a corporate tax," Mr. Johnson told CBS.
/jlne.ws/3nW0Brc
****** The wonder of an election is that the electorate does get what it wants. The WSJ may want to point to things it does not like about the rhetoric of Mayor-Elect Johnson, but the truth is we can all do a lot better to help solve society's problems. Sometimes that involves changes to the tax code. The end goal, to make the city a better place to live and to do business, is not just dependent on what one's taxes are.~JJL
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The Money-Saving Power of Your Library Card; Your membership gets you free streaming movies, audiobooks, language lessons and more
Shara Tibken - The Wall Street Journal
Taylor Swift's new album. Colleen Hoover's latest novel. Prince Harry's audiobook. Your Ancestry family history. Rosetta Stone language classes. Classic films from the Criterion Collection. All free...with a library card. Inflation has made everything from butter to medical care more expensive. At the same time, streaming video and music services have been raising prices after getting us hooked on their content.
/jlne.ws/3GwWh8i
****** Libraries are under siege by the right for having books and other media they don't like, and some libraries are being defunded. Hard to save money when your library has been shuttered.~JJL
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Banks Are Closing Customer Accounts, With Little Explanation
Tara Siegel Bernard and Ron Lieber - The New York Times
Naafeh Dhillon had just left the holiday light show at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York when he learned that all of his bank accounts had mysteriously gone dark. After the show, Mr. Dhillon, his girlfriend and some friends escaped the cold and had dinner at a French bistro - but when it came time to pay the check, his credit card was declined.
/jlne.ws/3KJ1hbl
***** Libraries are not the only thing getting closed, bank accounts are too. If you have activity that banks don't like, they will close an account without even asking questions. The solution is an old one: have two bank accounts. Have two brokerage accounts. Have a backup.~JJL
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Digging Into a $344 Billion Investing Mystery; Preposterous claims in private investment offerings illustrate an important point about red-hot 'Reg D' securities: No one is checking to see if the details in these filings are even remotely true
Jason Zweig - The Wall Street Journal
For the cost of notarizing a single document-probably $10 or less-you can declare yourself one of the biggest financiers in history. That's about all it takes to file private investment offerings at the Securities and Exchange Commission under what's called Regulation D. Judging by Form D filings purportedly made by a man named Stephon Patton, the SEC won't stop you.
/jlne.ws/43i7289
***** Jason Zweig with a whopper of a story you don't want to miss.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our most read story on Friday was 7 ways your iPhone could literally save your life, from Macworld. Second was Baseball Home Runs Are Increasing Thanks to Climate Change, Study Says, from Bloomberg. Third was Tornado deaths in 2023 are already more than double last year's total, from The Washington Post. According to the Post, "April is the deadliest month" for tornadoes.
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MarketsWiki Stats
27,283 pages; 244,115 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
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| Lead Stories | The making of Binance's CZ: An exclusive look at the forces that shaped crypto's most powerful founder
Jeff John Roberts, Yvonne Lau - Fortune
Changpeng Zhao is perched in front of a bookshelf at his apartment in Dubai, a place that-along with Paris-he currently calls home. Speaking over video, he is affable and mild-mannered, even self-deprecating. It's a persona that clashes with the Zhao that his rivals know best: a sharp-elbowed executive who built Binance into the biggest and most influential cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
/jlne.ws/3Gv4o53
China's financial sector rocked by expansion of anti-corruption drive; Executive pay, commodity exchanges and venture funds targeted in Beijing's latest campaign
Edward White and Cheng Leng - Financial Times
China's financial sector is reeling from a series of new corruption probes and a surge in surprise audits of venture funds, as President Xi Jinping sharpens his focus on an industry he sees as failing to serve the broader economy. With Beijing's graft-busting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection warning against "hedonism" and "high-end lifestyles", banks have also been making deep cuts to executive pay and bonuses as former high-ranking officials come under investigation.
/jlne.ws/3mjFAGq
FTX Failure Rooted in 'Hubris,' 'Greed,' Debtors Report Says; Report says firm lacked fundamental controls, stifled dissent; Employees joked about losing track of assets, report alleges
Victoria Cavaliere - Bloomberg
Failed crypto exchange FTX Trading Ltd. lacked fundamental financial and accounting controls, stifled dissent within the company and joked internally about their tendency to lose track of millions of dollars in assets, according to a report by the company's debtors. The report is the first released by FTX debtors since Sam Bankman-Fried's digital-asset empire rapidly collapsed into bankruptcy in November, with billions of dollars in customer funds lost.
/jlne.ws/40arLYZ
A $1.5 Trillion Wall of Debt Is Looming for US Commercial Properties; Morgan Stanley sees refinancing risks front and center; Office, retail property valuations could fall as much as 40%
Neil Callanan - Bloomberg
Almost $1.5 trillion of US commercial real estate debt comes due for repayment before the end of 2025. The big question facing those borrowers is who's going to lend to them? "Refinancing risks are front and center" for owners of properties from office buildings to stores and warehouses, Morgan Stanley analysts including James Egan wrote in a note this past week. "The maturity wall here is front-loaded. So are the associated risks."
/jlne.ws/3mjulxE
Wall St struggles to meet Mifid rules as waiver comes to an end; SEC shrugs off calls for longer exemption on changes governing investment research
Jennifer Hughes - Financial Times
Big Wall Street banks are struggling to respond to EU regulations governing investment research after the main US watchdog said it would not extend a temporary waiver to the way the rules are applied. After July 3, US broker-dealers are set to lose the protection of a five-year "no action" letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission that covered them against having to register as investment advisers.
/jlne.ws/3KJvcRN
Paul Singer, the Man Who Saw the Economic Crises Coming
James Freeman - The Wall Street Journal
"Men and nations behave wisely," the Israeli statesman Abba Eban observed, "when they have exhausted all other resources." Imagine if our economic policy makers listened to Paul Singer instead. Mr. Singer, 78, is founder of Elliott Management and one of the world's most successful hedge-fund proprietors. Before the financial crisis of 2008, he tried to alert investors and public officials about the dangers of subprime mortgages.
/jlne.ws/3nYhul8
Traders Traumatized by Volatile Treasuries Consider China Bonds; Volatility in 10-year Chinese yield is near lowest since 2018; Investors have shrugged off cut in reserve requirement ratio
Bloomberg News
For bond investors rocked by the outsized swings in Treasuries in recent weeks, Chinese government debt must look like an oasis of stability. On average, China's 10-year yield has moved by less than one basis point daily since the start of the year, compared with seven basis points for its US counterpart, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its 30-day volatility is hovering near the lowest since 2018.
/jlne.ws/43hZxhv
A Little-Known Stablecoin Gets Big Help From World's Largest Crypto Exchange; TrueUSD's market value surged after Binance removed spot bitcoin trading fees for the token
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
The market value of a little-known digital token doubled in a month after the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, started to heavily promote the coin on the platform. Binance removed spot bitcoin trading fees for TrueUSD in March, and the coin's market value soared to $2.1 billion, an increase of about $1 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. TrueUSD is currently the only stablecoin-a cryptocurrency pegged to the dollar-that Binance users can trade for bitcoin free.
/jlne.ws/3ZVSSXe
The Ruling That Threatens the Future of Libraries; Knowledge is too precious to be abandoned to the whims of the profit motive.
Adam Serwer - The Atlantic
If civilization ever falls to a zombie apocalypse or nuclear Armageddon, we will need to have preserved centuries of accumulated practical knowledge to rise again. And if humanity should go extinct, leaving nothing but our legacy, the alien explorers who discover the ruins of our society would struggle to interpret human history without some great store of information to guide them.
/jlne.ws/3nYhSQC
Investors Turn to Options to Minimize Risk
Suzanne McGee - The Wall Street Journal
Global pandemics. Geopolitical tensions. Whipsawing energy markets and the soaring cost of gold. Inflation, interest rates, bank failures... The world today feels as if it's awash in risks that have the potential to wreak havoc on your portfolio. Little wonder that many investors began 2023 by asking themselves a version of Dirty Harry's question: "Do I feel lucky?"
/jlne.ws/3ZZ1zQG
Options trading surges as investors brace themselves for US regional bank volatility; Fresh turmoil expected when results reveal just how badly midsized lenders' earnings have been hit
Stephen Gandel and Nicholas Megaw and Colby Smith - Financial Times
Investors are loading up on protection against a fresh round of financial turmoil in US regional bank stocks as lenders prepare to reveal how badly their earnings have been squeezed by the troubles that took down Silicon Valley Bank.
/jlne.ws/41haJck
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Pentagon Investigates More Social-Media Posts Purporting to Include Secret U.S. Documents; Documents include details on Ukrainian forces, U.S. arms provided to Ukraine
Yaroslav Trofimov and Nancy A. Youssef - The Wall Street Journal
The Pentagon is investigating social-media posts that purport to reveal highly classified U.S. government documents on the war in Ukraine and other key international topics, in what could be one of the most dangerous intelligence breaches in decades. Well over 100 images, marked with "Top Secret" and other classifications indicating they represent highly sensitive U.S.-produced intelligence, were posted in the Discord message board of fans of the Minecraft computer game around March 1.
/jlne.ws/3GuUXmu
Soldiers Make Secret Pact to 'Destroy' Putin's Empire From Within
Tom Mutch - The Daily Beast
The horrors of Ukraine are an eerily familiar sight for Maga, a 30-year-old Chechen fighter who spoke with The Daily Beast using his codename. "The same torture, the same mass graves... the things the Russians are doing in Ukraine, they were doing back in Chechnya," Maga told The Daily Beast from his unit's hideout in eastern Ukraine last month. "They just come and destroy everyone who could be against their power."
/jlne.ws/3ZP6Mux
Keeping watch on the Russian oil price cap; The policy should be made to work better despite its design flaws
The editorial board - Financial Times
For four months Ukraine's friends have implemented the sanctions many thought would have the biggest impact on Vladimir Putin's ability to wage war: a price cap on seaborne Russian oil sales serviced by western shippers, insurers and legal providers. A similar cap on refined products has been added. But now that they have bedded in, the verdict on their effect is mixed at best.
/jlne.ws/3mezNCd
'A whole appeasement psychology': How America let Putin off the hook after Crimea
Nahal Toosi - Politico
Jack Hanick spent years openly helping a Russian mogul who had been under U.S. sanctions since 2014 set up a pro-Kremlin TV empire, raising suspicions about whether the American was violating U.S. law. And yet, for most of the past decade, the Justice Department didn't appear to consider the ex-Fox News staffer too important a target, at least not enough to indict him.
/jlne.ws/3ZPIgcE
Ukraine Says Russia Is Using 'Scorched Earth' Tactics in Bakhmut; Ukrainian commander says swaths of eastern city have been reduced to rubble
Matthew Luxmoore - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/40aT9WN
Italy races to review deal to sell Russia-owned refinery in Sicily; US had privately raised concerns about the sale of the site to a little-known fund in Cyprus
Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli, Tom Wilson, James Fontanella-Khan and James Politi - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3zNcdj4
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | First batch of IPOs under new China listings rules surge on debut; Near triple-digit gains point to need for more reforms in country's equity fundraising system, say experts; The new rules aim to streamline IPOs by allowing Chinese companies to debut on the main boards of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges without first gaining regulatory approval
Hudson Lockett and Cheng Leng - Financial Times
Shares in 10 Chinese companies soared almost 100 per cent on average on Monday, as the first batch of initial public offerings under a new streamlined listings regime debuted in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
/jlne.ws/3MqS8qc
Moscow Exchange launches service for concluding OTC transactions with shares without listing
Moscow Exchange
On April 10, 2023, the Moscow Exchange ( MOEX ) provided a service for professional market participants and their clients to conclude OTC transactions with shares of Russian companies that are not listed on the Moscow Exchange, with settlements through a central counterparty (CC).
/jlne.ws/3mo6iO4
Companies with highest number of complaints pending.
NSE
Out of the companies whose securities are traded on NSE, there is one company with the number of complaints greater than or equal to 10, pending for more than 2 months OR the aggregate value of the complaints pending for more than 2 months is equal to or greater than Rs.5 lakhs for 5 or more complaints as on March 31, 2023
/jlne.ws/3Ms6iHF
Notice on Investigation and Penalties for Violations of Relevant Rules and Regulations in March 2023
Shanghai Futures Exchange
Shanghai Futures Exchange (hereinafter referred to as "The Exchange") has been on continuous efforts in investigating and penalizing violations of relevant rules and regulations, so as to strengthen the risk management of the futures market, regulate the futures trading activities and protect the legitimate rights and interests of futures market participants. The enforcement against such violations in March 2023 are listed as follows: In the aspect of administration of abnormal trading behaviors, the Exchange has dealt with a total of 24 cases, among which 19 cases were self-trades,5 cases were exceeding the limit of placing and cancellation of large-amount orders.
/jlne.ws/3mlNJu6
SGX Group reports market statistics for March 2023; FX, commodity derivatives set records as investor optimism drives trading activity; Securities turnover grows, outperforming markets across ASEAN
Singapore Exchange
Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) today released its market statistics for March 2023. Optimism over China's recovery, alongside easing expectations for global interest rates to stay elevated, drove trading activity, with multiple volume records in foreign exchange (FX) futures and commodity derivatives.
/jlne.ws/41eQZGp
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Why Elon Musk Contends Twitter Can Disrupt the Media Business; Skeptics say he risks alienating a main constituency of the social-media platform
Tim Higgins - The Wall Street Journal
As Elon Musk sees it, he is now in competition with the news business. In recent days, Mr. Musk jabbed on Twitter at the New York Times and National Public Radio and weighed in on the accuracy of certain news outlets. And Twitter began limiting how Substack Inc. integrates with the social-media company after the digital-newsletter platform announced it was preparing a social-media rival.
/jlne.ws/3ZR59wd
Blockchain Startup Huddle01 Bags Funding To Build Decentralised Real-Time Communication Network
Team Inc42
India and US-based video conferencing platform Huddle01, which is building a decentralised real-time communication (dRTC) network has raised $2.8 Mn in a seed funding round from blockchain investment firm Hivemind. Other investors such as Temasek's Web3 arm Superscrypt, M31 Capital, Protocol Labs, East Ventures, Longhash Ventures, Good News Ventures, and some angel investors also participated in the round.
/jlne.ws/3Mq0O01
Blockchain-based logistics looks increasingly Chinese after exit of Maersk, but Hong Kong's GSBN has global ambitions
South China Morning Post
When the November collapse of FTX, once the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, led to a plunge in virtual asset prices and shook the industry through a series of cascading business failures, some Web3 evangelists promised this was just growing pains for a blockchain-based future internet that extends far beyond digital currencies.
/jlne.ws/3GugStM
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Company boards are bracing for new SEC cybersecurity regulations
Sam Sabin - Axios Codebook
Growing cooperation between corporate boards and chief information security officers has strengthened cyber defense as looming regulations could demand greater accountability, experts tell Axios. Publicly traded companies have spent the last year bracing for a proposed Securities and Exchange Commission rule that would require private companies to publicly report cyber incidents within four business days and detail companies' policies for responding.
/jlne.ws/3KJt5gS
US weighs action against Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab -WSJ
Reuters
The U.S. Department of Commerce is weighing an enforcement action against Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter. President Joe Biden's administration is looking at an enforcement action against the company under its online security rules, the report said.
/jlne.ws/41g6cqy
Microsoft wins court order to crack down on ransomware tool
CBS News
A federal court granted Microsoft and a group of cybersecurity firms a court order to crack down on a notorious hacking tool used in ransomware attacks against hospitals and health care systems. CBS News homeland security and justice reporter Nicole Sganga joins Errol Barnett and Vladimir Duthiers to discuss.
/jlne.ws/3ZXFVwh
What Is Personal Cyber Insurance-and Should You Buy It?; Before you do, make sure you know the answers to these common questions
Cheryl Winokur Munk - The Wall Street Journal
With cybercrime spreading, insurers are offering a new kind of product to meet the threat: policies that protect individuals, as opposed to businesses. Here are answers to questions consumers may have about personal cyber insurance. Everyone should consider it, says Lee W. McKnight, an associate professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, given the rise in data breaches, cyber threats and other internet security risks in recent years.
/jlne.ws/43m8syk
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Navigating the crypto tax landscape: Impact of crypto taxation on the investors
Shashi Mathews - The Times of India
India is one of the fastest growing markets for digital assets and was ranked fourth in the Crypto Adoption Index for 2022. Given the huge market size and its potential, from an economic, innovation and employment perspective, there was an expectation that there would be a support ecosystem in terms of laws and regulation. However, the real story is different. While the initial resistance shown by RBI, through a ban on cryptocurrency, was overturned by a Supreme Court ruling in 2020, nothing positive has moved since then.
/jlne.ws/3KoMHWf
Bitcoin Miners Will Have Same Rights as Data Centers, Says New Arkansas Bill
Andrew Asmakov - Decrypt
A new bill aimed at regulating Bitcoin mining in Arkansas has been approved by both the House of Representatives and Senate and is now awaiting Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' signature. The Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023 seeks to establish guidelines for Bitcoin miners and protect them from discriminatory regulations and taxes, guaranteeing that firms have the same rights as data centers.
/jlne.ws/3MuUxQw
Former FTX US President Reportedly Quit After 'Protracted Disagreement' With Bankman-Fried
Cheyenne Ligon - CoinDesk
A new report from the failed crypto exchange FTX's current leadership says that former FTX US President Brett Harrison resigned last September partly because of a "protracted disagreement" with CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and members of his inner circle.
/jlne.ws/3KN2yzh
Sushi DEX Approval Contract Exploited For $3.3M
Shaurya Malwa - CoinDesk
A smart contract on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Sushi's exchange services was exploited early Sunday, developers said in a tweet. The exploit specifically involves the 'RouterProcessor2' contract, which is used to conduct trade routing on the SushiSwap exchange.
/jlne.ws/419FTSQ
Binance.US Struggles to Find Bank to Take Its Customers' Cash; As a stopgap, the exchange is using at least one middleman to store user funds on its behalf
Caitlin Ostroff, Rachel Louise Ensign and Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. affiliate of global crypto exchange Binance has struggled to find a bank for its customers' cash after the failure of Signature Bank left it without a key banking partner, people familiar with the matter said. Users' dollar deposits were previously sent to either Signature Bank or Silvergate Capital Corp., according to Binance.US's website. The failures of Signature and Silvergate, both seen as friendly to crypto companies, left many crypto firms rushing to find new banking partners.
/jlne.ws/3KMKOnw
Virtual Metaverse Real Estate Is Completely in the Toilet
Victor Tangermann - Futurism
Virtual real estate platform Decentraland, once valued at $1 billion, is now in free fall. Revenues have absolutely cratered over the last year, The Block reports, with only a handful of users actually trading virtual real estate, or the slices of land inside Decentraland's virtual world that can be transacted in the form of NFTs.
/jlne.ws/41cmTn0
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Waning support for Ukraine in Ohio points to US election flashpoint; Backing for continued aid to Kyiv in its war against Russia is declining among Republicans
Felicia Schwartz - Financial Times
At a wood-panelled diner down the road from one of the US Air Force's largest bases, retired police officer Jeremy Snyder said he was initially "all for" US military and humanitarian support for Ukraine. But the war had dragged on, he said, and the domestic economic situation was tough.
/jlne.ws/3UlK7Vw
Warren, Ocasio-Cortez Write Letters to Major SVB Depositors; The Democrats demanded answers over SVB's close relationships with its customers.
Hannah Miller - Bloomberg
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York sent letters Sunday to 14 of the largest depositors with Silicon Valley Bank that raised concerns over the failed bank's relationship with some of the venture capitalists and tech founders who made up much of its customer base.
/jlne.ws/3MwemqP
Fox News Settles Venezuelan's Defamation Suit Over 2020 Election; Confidential accord with Majed Khalil revealed in brief letter; Conspiracy theory over 2020 election widely debunked
Erik Larson - Bloomberg
Fox News and former on-air host Lou Dobbs settled defamation claims by a Venezuelan businessman falsely accused on-air of being a central player in an effort to rig the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump. Fox's confidential accord with Majed Khalil was revealed in a brief letter Saturday to US District Judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan, who last year denied the network's request to dismiss the lawsuit. Fox and Khalil will file a joint stipulation of dismissal early next week, according to the letter.
/jlne.ws/3ZTOc4b
While America burns, Xi Jinping's plot to dominate the world is quietly succeeding
Douglas Murray - The Telegraph
It is sometimes not possible to notice great tectonic shifts. At other times it is eminently possible, and anybody with their feet on the ground can feel that ground move. So it is at the moment with the rise of China and the fall of America. Consider the events of recent weeks. The United States has been single-mindedly focused on one story: the arraignment of a former president on charges cooked up by an ambitious Left-wing district attorney who wants to make his name by getting Donald Trump to jail.
/jlne.ws/3UmXlRI
As AI weaponry enters the arms race, America is feeling very, very afraid
John Naughton - The Guardian
The Bible maintains that "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong", but, as Damon Runyon used to say, "that is the way to bet". As a species, we take the same view, which is why we are obsessed with "races". Political journalism, for example, is mostly horserace coverage - runners and riders, favourites, outsiders, each-way bets, etc. And when we get into geopolitics and international relations we find a field obsessed with arms "races".
/jlne.ws/3mfQCg3
Russia Says It Cut Oil Output by 700,000 Barrels a Day in March; Government's pledge was for reduction of 500,000 barrels; Energy ministry data doesn't match sea exports, refinery runs
Bloomberg
Russia's Energy Ministry said the nation reduced its oil output by about 700,000 barrels a day last month, according to a person familiar with the figures. Yet that figure is inconsistent with data on the nation's March seaborne exports and supplies to domestic refineries - adding to the uncertainty over how much oil Russia actually pumps.
/jlne.ws/3Mx9fa0
China Applicants Make Up 95% of Hong Kong Talent Visa Approvals
Jennifer Creery - Bloomberg
About 95% of applicants approved in Hong Kong's program to attract top talent to the city were from mainland China, according to government statistics. There were a total of 14,240 applications for the Top Talent Pass Scheme in first two months after Chief Executive John Lee launched the program in December, 8,797 of which had been approved so far, the Immigration Department said in a reply to lawmakers' questions.
/jlne.ws/40M1H7r
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Commissioner Johnson to Deliver Keynote Address at the New York City Bar Event Cryptocurrency & Digital Assets: Regulatory Trends and Customer Protections
CFTC
Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson will deliver a keynote address and participate in a fireside chat with Christian A. Johnson at a program presented by the New York City Bar Futures & Derivatives Regulation Committee.
/jlne.ws/3Uk05Q1
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SEC
The SEC invites comments on Proposed Rules, Concept Releases, Self-Regulatory Organization filings, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Rulemaking, Rulemaking Petitions, and Other Releases. Less frequently, comments are invited for Final Rules, Interpretive Releases, and Policy Statements.
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Why the startup sector should keep its eye on the SEC
Anthony Cimino and Holli Heiles Pandol - TechCrunch
With the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the U.S. startup ecosystem lost an important business partner. But the greater fallout could be what's coming next: a spate of tighter regulations directed not just at midsize banks like SVB - but also at private companies and funds. Although SVB's failure can't be blamed on the venture ecosystem, some policymakers have joined the general public in maligning the bank's depositors - in large part venture-backed startups. This negative narrative has immense implications for the venture community.
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Three individuals convicted and sentenced to a combined 24 and a half years for 'all-or-nothing' investment fraud
FCA
Three people have been convicted for investment fraud and sentenced to a total of 24 and a half years for their roles, in a prosecution brought by the FCA.
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EY given more time to resolve issues from exam cheating scandal; SEC ordered review of why accounting firm failed to disclose staff sharing answers on professional tests
Stephen Foley - Financial Times
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Bank Regulator Drops Case Against Ex-Rabobank U.S. Compliance Chief; Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to 'reluctantly' end a case allegedly involving a coverup
Richard Vanderford - The Wall Street Journal
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Flows and Fundamentals Make Man Group Suspicious of Stock Rally; Deputy CEO cites earnings risk, alternatives in fixed income; 'Risk-reward in equities is very, very tough at the moment'
Vildana Hajric and Michael P. Regan - Bloomberg
It's not just the prospect of deteriorating fundamentals that has Man Group Plc's Mark Jones skeptical about stocks these days. It's also the risk of money flowing into fixed-income investments now that they sport attractive yields. Jones, the deputy chief executive officer of the world's largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager, joined the What Goes Up podcast to give his outlook on markets and explain what strategies have been working well at his firm.
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Why Stock-Market Investors Can No Longer Count on the 'Index Effect'; A new study finds that the effect of adding or deleting a stock from the S&P 500 index has disappeared over the past decade
Daisy Maxey - The Wall Street Journal
A new study concludes that-at least in the case of the S&P 500-the small rise in share value that once accompanied a stock's addition to the index has disappeared on average over the past decade. This disappearance of the well-known "index effect" has occurred despite an increase in the amount of money tracking the S&P 500 over the period, says Robin Greenwood, professor of finance and banking at Harvard Business School.
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Stock Funds Rise 5.6% So Far in 2023; February wasn't kind to stocks, but fund investors are still sitting on strong gains on average for the year to date
William Power - The Wall Street Journal
Stocks had their own version of March Madness. In a first quarter full of unexpected twists, fund investors somehow were able to be winners on average. The challenges included the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the capitulation of Credit Suisse and still-high inflation. But many investors looked on the bright side overall, making bets that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates after its relentless rate-increase campaign to stem inflation.
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Boom time for boardroom raiders as activism hits record highs; Depressed share prices created fertile ground for proxy battles in the first quarter
Ortenca Aliaj - Financial Times
Activist investors had their busiest quarter on record in the first three months of the year, emboldened by depressed share prices that have provided a fertile environment in which to find targets. There were 83 new campaigns launched globally during the first quarter, according to data collected by Barclays, with Europe and Asia accounting for more than 50 per cent of activity collectively for the first time.
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In Wake of SVB Collapse, Venture Lending Faces Uncertainty; Among the questions: Will funding get a lot more difficult for startups?
Lori Ioannou - The Wall Street Journal
The demise of Silicon Valley Bank was a shock for the $32 billion venture-debt industry, a critical source of alternative financing for startup companies. Since its inception, SVB had been a pioneer in the venture-debt field, and a linchpin for venture-backed startups looking for capital to expand their businesses. Last year, SVB had $6.7 billion outstanding in venture loans, according to PitchBook-NVCA Monitor.
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Teck Resources chief declares Glencore bid a 'non-starter'; Shareholders urged to vote for separation plan for Canadian mining group
Ortenca Aliaj and James Fontanella-Khan, and Harry Dempsey
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Banking tremors leave a legacy of credit contraction; Change in deposit flows plus increases in regulation, supervision and caution will force adjustments
Mohamed El-Erian - Financial Times
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Stock Pickers Failed to Take Part in First-Quarter Rally; Bearish positioning, less exposure to big tech stocks hurt active fund managers
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Meta, Bank of America and BCG join collective for sustainable aviation biofuels; Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance snaps up certificates for nearly 850,000 gallons of SAF in joint procurement process.
Cecilia Keating - GreenBiz
Leading consultancies, banks and businesses have teamed up to broker a major deal for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) certificates, in a move designed to galvanize the nascent market for alternative, lower carbon jet fuel. Announced following a competitive procurement process, the deal crowds in Bank of America, Boom Supersonic, Boston Consulting Group, JPMorgan & Chase, Meta and clean energy non-profit RMI, who claim to have collectively purchased certificates encompassing almost 850,000 gallons of "high-integrity" SAF.
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Exxon's new 'advanced recycling' plant raises environmental concerns; Advocates warn plants like the latest addition to the Texas complex generate hazardous pollutants and provide cover for oil giants to produce new plastic products
Maddie Stone - The Guardian
ExxonMobil just launched one of the largest chemical recycling plants in North America - but environmental advocates say the technology is a dangerous distraction from the need to reduce plastic production.On the surface, the latest addition to ExxonMobil's giant petrochemical refinery complex in Baytown, Texas, sounds like it could be a good thing: An "advanced recycling" facility capable of breaking down 36,000 metric tons of hard-to-recycle plastic each year. But plastic waste advocates warn that plants like it do little actual recycling, and instead generate hazardous pollutants while providing cover for oil giants to keep producing millions of tons of new plastic products each year.
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How Dairy Farmers Are Turning Manure Into Money; These New Englanders have found a way to help the planet and convert more than 9,000 tons of cow waste annually into electricity
Rachael Moeller Gorman - Smithsonian Magazine
The Connecticut River cuts between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hampshire and rushes into the heart of Massachusetts, where Denise Barstow Manz stands in the wind, surveying the land her family has farmed for 217 years. "We have some of the best soil in the entire world," says Barstow Manz. "It's called Hadley silt loam."
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India to Get Below-Average Monsoon This Year in Risk to Economy; Lack of rain could reduce crop yields and drive up food prices; Skymet says the weaker monsoon is linked to shift to El Nino
Atul Prakash - Bloomberg
India will likely see below-normal monsoon rain this year, according to a private forecaster, a prospect that could hurt its vast agriculture sector and stoke inflation in Asia's third-biggest economy. The coming season may bring only 94% of the rain India usually gets from June to September, Skymet Weather Services Pvt said Monday. A lack of rain spells trouble for the economy as it might cut yields of summer-sown crops like rice and sugar cane, driving up food prices.
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VC Eclipse Raises $1.2 Billion to Back Startups Changing the Physical World; The Silicon Valley firm thinks real-world industries will define the next decade of tech.
Edward Ludlow - Bloomberg
Silicon Valley investment firm Eclipse Ventures has raised $1.2 billion for two new funds, both dedicated to backing startups trying to modernize physical industries. The funds bring the Palo Alto, California-based firm's total assets under management to $4 billion, Eclipse plans to announce Monday. One fund, worth $720 million, will focus on young companies with an emphasis on manufacturing, supply chain, transportation and electrification businesses. The remainder of the money will go to Early Growth Fund II, which will back more mature companies.
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Climate Change and Poverty Pose Challenge to World Bank; As organization overhauls lending, a question of how to divvy up limited resources
Yuka Hayashi and Andrew Duehren - The Wall Street Journal
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Meet the Americans who live in their vans, buses and cars in pursuit of a simpler life using less energy.
Leslie Kaufman - Bloomberg
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At least two dozen activists in Indigenous and rural areas murdered, disappeared and jailed in wave of attacks
Nina Lakhani and Analy Nuño - The Guardian
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Nuns urge Citigroup to rethink financing of fossil fuel projects; Sisters of St Joseph of Peace accuse bank of trying to 'minimise its role' in providing cash to oil pipeline company
Attracta Mooney and Aime Williams - Financial Times
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In Scotland's oil and gas capital, uncertainty clouds the green transition; Aberdeen's energy industry warns that vows of a low-carbon future are undermined by poor planning and slow decision-making
Lukanyo Mnyanda and Mure Dickie - Financial Times
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | KPMG, Goldman Sachs Faulted in Investor Suit Over SVB Failure; First complaint to name auditor and underwriters as defendants; KPMG approved annual report weeks before disclosure, suit says
Joel Rosenblatt and Robert Burnson - Bloomberg
KPMG LLP was sued as Silicon Valley Bank's auditor, along with underwriters including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley & Co. in an investor lawsuit based on alleged misstatements leading to the bank's collapse.
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A New Roster of Top Stock-Fund Managers; Winners' Circle: In a rough market, different names emerge among winning stock-pickers. But only 27 of 1,257 funds had 12-month gains.
Suzanne McGee - The Wall Street Journal
Can't anybody here play this game? That quote from baseball legend Casey Stengel would apply to the job of stock-fund manager these days. Under the pressure of an uncertain stock market and banking system-and the Federal Reserve's relentless interest-rate increases to try to tame inflation-it has been harder than ever for stock-picking fund managers to grind out gains.
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World Bank to Advocate for Changes to Speed Debt Restructuring
Eric Martin - Bloomberg
The World Bank will push to resolve the mounting debt problems of poor countries and along with the International Monetary Fund will present concrete proposals to address some of the biggest restructuring roadblocks at this week's Spring Meetings. The ideas will be introduced at the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, a meeting led by the Bretton Woods institutions and Group of 20 chair India in Washington, D.C., President David Malpass said in a blog post on Sunday.
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Creditor-on-Creditor Clashes Driven by FOMO, Fidelity Says; No one wants a deal 'done around them,' says Van Duzer; Bondholders starting to form groups earlier for best position
Amelia Pollard - Bloomberg
The rise of controversial debt deals that pit creditors of struggling companies against other lenders is being driven in part by a fear of getting left on the sidelines as rivals profit, according to Fidelity Investment's Nathan Van Duzer. "No one wants to find out a deal has been done around them - particularly if it's an aggressive up-tier exchange," Van Duzer, the firm's managing director of special situations, said on the April 6 episode of Bloomberg Intelligence's FICC Focus State of Distressed Debt podcast. "FOMO is alive and well in the creditor community."
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US Bank Lending Slumps by Most on Record in Final Weeks of March; Loans by commercial banks declined by nearly $105 billion; Deposits at US banks decreased for a 10th-straight week
Alexandre Tanzi - Bloomberg
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A New Roster of Top Stock-Fund Managers; Winners' Circle: In a rough market, different names emerge among winning stock-pickers. But only 27 of 1,257 funds had 12-month gains.
Suzanne McGee - The Wall Street Journal
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | A Chernobyl for AI May Be Imminent, Scientist Says; Crafting a powerful algorithm is a lot like building a nuclear power plant.
Tim Newcomb - Popular Mechanics
Stuart Russell knows AI. And he's concerned about its unchecked growth. In fact, he's so concerned that, in an interview with Business Today, he says an unbridled artificial intelligence carries with it the possibility of "a Chernobyl for AI." That has the potential to be life-altering beyond our current understanding. Russell, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has spent decades as a leader in the AI field.
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As Tech Jobs Disappear, Silicon Valley Veterans Reset Their Careers; Laid-off workers from companies such as Meta and Amazon choose stability over status
Katherine Bindley - The Wall Street Journal
For engineers and other tech workers, landing a job with one of the industry's best-known companies was long the ultimate professional achievement. Now, many Silicon Valley veterans are being driven to new paths far from the tech giants, prizing stability and personal values over prestige. Laid-off tech workers are finding jobs with smaller and midsize firms, landing tech roles at nontech companies and becoming freelance consultants.
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The Aliens Have Landed, and We Created Them; The Cassandras are out in force claiming artificial intelligence will be the end of mankind. They have a very good point.
Niall Ferguson - Bloomberg
It is not every day that I read a prediction of doom as arresting as Eliezer Yudkowsky's in Time magazine last week. "The most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI, under anything remotely like the current circumstances," he wrote, "is that literally everyone on Earth will die. Not as in 'maybe possibly some remote chance,' but as in 'that is the obvious thing that would happen.' ... If somebody builds a too-powerful AI, under present conditions, I expect that every single member of the human species and all biological life on Earth dies shortly thereafter."
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | 'Groundbreaking' cancer and heart disease vaccine 'could save millions of lives'; Experts hope new vaccines will be ready by end of decade
Matt Mathers - Independent
Groundbreaking new vaccines to treat a range of diseases including cancer could be ready by 2030 and save millions of lives, experts have said. Moderna, a leading pharmaceutical firm that made a Covid jab, said the new cancer vaccines are showing "tremendous promise" and have condensed nearly two decades of progress into 12 to 18 months.
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Do We Understand Covid Yet?; Inevitably, politics took charge, making it harder to adapt to a virus that wouldn't be stopped.
Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. - The Wall Street Journal Opinion
Here is one way Covid is not like the flu. In its first year, the new virus infected an estimated 100 million Americans, five times as many as are infected by the flu in an average year. Our countermeasures don't seem to have slowed Covid at all but they did slow the flu. A medium-severe flu season came to a screeching halt, with cases dropping dramatically after March 2020 apparently due to social-distancing measures adopted for Covid.
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Eli Lilly warns EU will miss out on key drugs under planned change to patent rules; Chief executive says draft plan to cut market exclusivity protection could make pursuing some treatments unviable
Hannah Kuchler and Donato Paolo Mancini, Jamie Smyth and Andy Bounds - Financial Times
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | First batch of IPOs under new China listings rules surge on debut; Near triple-digit gains point to need for more reforms in country's equity fundraising system, say experts
Hudson Lockett and Cheng Leng - Financial Times
Shares in 10 Chinese companies soared almost 100 per cent on average on Monday, as the first batch of initial public offerings under a new streamlined listings regime debuted in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
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Japan Inc. Sells Record Short Bonds Amid BOJ Tightening Bets
Kanoko Matsuyama - Bloomberg
Japanese companies are selling record amounts of short-term bonds, a sign they're bracing for the likelihood that the central bank will dismantle its ultra-low interest rate policy. Issuance of yen corporate notes due in five years or less reached an unprecedented 7.4 trillion yen ($56 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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Saudi Arabia-Led Oil Cuts Run Into Gusher of Alternative Supplies; The wild card lies in countries where production has jumped but remains at risk
Joe Wallace and Anna Hirtenstein - The Wall Street Journal
A burst of supply from a grab bag of smaller oil-producing countries threatens to undermine efforts by Saudi Arabia and its allies to keep prices high. Iran, Guyana, Norway, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Nigeria have pumped more oil since the fall, boosting the world's supplies even as some of the biggest producers throttled back. Nigeria in particular has seen output bounce, with help from armed guards protecting barges in the vast creeks and waterways of the oil-rich Niger Delta.
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Sweden's Jacob Wallenberg hits out at ISS over dual-class share attack; Proxy adviser accused of misusing law to take on unequal voting rights
Richard Milne - Financial Times
One of Europe's leading industrialists has lambasted proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services for attacking a central plank of Swedish capitalism, accusing it of misusing a law to take aim at unequal voting rights.
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