| December 20, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Opinion: Class-Action Lawsuit Against CME Group Holds Disruptive Potential to Membership Prices, Future Deals and CME Leadership
JohnLothianNews.com
A long-standing certified class-action lawsuit against CME Group, filed by members of the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange, poses a potential threat to the exchange group's membership market. A mediated settlement, encouraged by the judge, could reshape how trading rights are offered at the exchange and potentially benefit a class of shareholders, whose B-shares have declined while A-share values rose.
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Above you see a story we published last night I wrote about the long-standing class-action lawsuit against the CME Group by members of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This lawsuit could result in a whole new way of doing business for the CME if the plaintiffs win, which could increase costs for anyone who uses a membership to access the markets. The judge wants a mediated solution, but first CME is trying to decertify the class-action lawsuit and seeking a summary judgment at a hearing in January. Many longtime CME and CBOT members may not be aware of this lawsuit and its potential, or the members' heirs may not be aware, leading to potential missed opportunities. It could also lead to problems in the membership market as the case goes to mediation and no one wants to sell their memberships. It is a story you want to continue to watch. There is a website for the lawsuit that has regular updates of the court filings, https://cmelawsuit.com.
PBS's Frontline has a 90-minute documentary explaining a sweeping examination of critical moments leading up to this Israel-Hamas crisis and the pivotal role of a central player: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is well worth the watch when you have the time. The title of the piece is "Netanyahu, America & the Road to War in Gaza."
Back when the John Lothian Newsletter was just starting, there was a young public relations professional working for Ray Carmichael, the former CBOT head of corporate communications. This young man subscribed to the John Lothian Newsletter and it provided him with industry intelligence that he would regularly go and share with Carmichael. On the third day of his sharing information, Carmichael said, "How do you know this information? I have been in this industry forever and you have been in it for five minutes." That is when Drew Mauck shared that he subscribed to the John Lothian Newsletter. The newsletter kept him more informed than Carmichael was at the time despite his years in the industry and many connections. Needless to say, Carmichael subscribed and Mauck continued to be a longtime reader.
Mauck eventually left Strategics, Carmichael's firm, and started his own and named it 3PTS Communications. One of his big accounts was Trading Technologies, until it was sold. He hired Spencer Doar away from John Lothian News at one point. More recently Mauck has taken some time away from the financial markets as he moved to Miami to pursue business in the burgeoning digital asset scene there, as well as other growing industries. He was encouraged by Mayor Francis Suarez to bring his Midwestern work ethic to the Magic City. He was also ready for a life reset. The reset is done. He is still in Miami, but regularly is in Chicago for business and family reasons.
Drew Mauck is setting his sights on rebuilding 3PTS Communications in the Chicago markets community and his website, www.3ptscomm.com is open for business. He is rebuilding the firm with just a handful of key customers, who could benefit from his unique talents and now years of experience in the financial community serving clients' PR needs.
The Wall Street Journal has a profile story of an iPhone thief in prison who divulges how he stole the phones, the passcodes and locked out the owners from their Apple accounts. He also looted people's life savings. Apple recently announced Stolen Device Protection, a feature that likely will protect against these passcode-assisted crimes. The weak point is still the human owner.
Toward the end of the year, we start to get end-of-the-year lists. The New York Times today published a list of "Notable Deaths of 2023."
Congratulations to Lindsay Corby, Akash Goel, and Lukas Roots, who were named partners of Chicago Trading Company, the firm announced on LinkedIn.
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:
- Galaxy Digital targets more crypto bankruptcy asset sales after FTX deal from the Financial Times.
- Volatility Quant Soars 64% as Fear Goes Missing on Wall Street from Bloomberg.
- Surging Trading In VIX Options May Suggest A Market Sentiment Shift from Cboe. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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DTCC's Chris Childs on the Prospect of Trade Reporting 2.0
JohnLothianNews.com
In a recent interview, John Lothian of John Lothian News spoke with Chris Childs, managing director, repository & derivatives services at DTCC, about the evolution of trade reporting and the prospects of Trade Reporting 2.0. The discussion touched upon the history of trade reporting, the importance of data standardization, and the challenges of sharing data across jurisdictions.
Read more »
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Trump Is Disqualified From the 2024 Ballot, Colorado Supreme Court Rules; It's the first court to find that the disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment applies to Mr. Trump, in addition to affirming that he engaged in insurrection.
Maggie Astor - The New York Times
Former President Donald J. Trump is ineligible to hold office again, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, accepting the argument that the 14th Amendment disqualifies him in an explosive decision that could upend the 2024 election.
/jlne.ws/4851Y9c
***** There are two other states with similar cases, but this case heads to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Colorado Supreme Court had seven Democrats on it, which may have been the most favorable state to pursue this argument.~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our most read story yesterday was from CNN, OpenAI's technology is upending our everyday lives. It's overseen exclusively by wealthy, White men. Second was Bloomberg's, AI Robot Outmaneuvers Humans in Maze Run Breakthrough and third was also from Bloomberg, Nikki Haley Aims for Second Place With Koch Group's $70 Million.
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| Lead Stories | U.K. to Overhaul Stock-Listing Rules to Boost London Against New York
Josh Mitchell - The Wall Street Journal
The U.K. plans to remove a key obstacle for companies pursuing big deals, in the latest bid to halt a trend of corporations moving their listings to the U.S. The Financial Conduct Authority, the U.K.'s main financial regulator, proposed new rules that would no longer require companies to receive shareholder approval for "significant transactions" such as mergers and acquisitions, giving executives leeway to move fast on sizable deals.
/jlne.ws/3NwXJuT
The SEC pushed through Treasury clearing reform...so what now? Treasury clearing 201: the centralising
Alexandra Scaggs - Financial Times
US regulators are requiring more central clearing in Treasury markets. Sellsiders' opinions of the rule seem to be settling on "less burdensome than feared." The SEC voted last Wednesday to expand central clearing of Treasury and repo trades, as mainFT reported. That gives traders a couple of new deadlines: December 2025 for expanded clearing of cash Treasuries, and June 2026 for clearing of repo transactions.
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Global regulators make tackling non-bank leverage a priority for 2024
Huw Jones - Reuters
Tackling hidden leverage across the multi-trillion dollar "shadow banking" sector is next year's priority, global financial regulators said on Wednesday, but the challenge of accessing data could hamper the process. The G20's Financial Stability Board (FSB) and IOSCO, a global grouping of securities markets regulators, on Wednesday issued tougher liquidity management guidance for asset managers of open-ended investment funds, adding to existing guidance for money market funds, which FSB and IOSCO members commit to applying.
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Asset managers face tougher rules on investor cash calls
Huw Jones - Reuters
Global regulators published tougher rules on Wednesday for managers of open-ended investment funds to ensure they can meet investor cash calls in a crisis without the need for emergency liquidity from central banks.
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A Wunderkind Hedge Fund Strayed Beyond Value Investing. Here's What Happened Next; Spruce House, founded by two friends from Penn, expanded to bet on growth stocks. The strategy flopped last year, and the hedge fund is still making its way back.
Juliet Chung and Peter Rudegeair - The Wall Street Journal
In college, Benjamin Stein and Zachary Sternberg devoured Warren Buffett's annual letters, embracing his value-driven approach to investing. This guided the undergrads when they started a hedge fund, Spruce House Investment Management, in 2006. It would go on to mint profits and manage billions for clients like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Notre Dame and wealthy individuals like hotelier Barry Sternlicht.
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UK to Sign Deal Boosting City of London's Swiss Ties Post-Brexit; Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to visit Bern for signing ceremony; Switzerland, UK have been negotiating for several years
Tom Metcalf and Bastian Benrath - Bloomberg
The UK and Switzerland will sign an agreement around financial services on Thursday, a post-Brexit accord to deepen ties between their respective financial centers. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt will visit Bern to sign it, according to people familiar with the matter. The mutual recognition deal - which has been in the works since 2020 - is expected to ease cross-border market access for a wide range of financial services relating to insurance, banking, asset management and capital market infrastructure.
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EU and UK regulators reveal updated plans for bond tape frameworks; European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) does not expect to authorise a consolidated tape provider (CTP) for bonds until Q4 2025; Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has effectively met its commitment to have a regime for a UK CT in place by 2024.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
Both the FCA and ESMA have published updates to their respective consolidated tape framework plans, including expected timelines, with a continued focus on the procedures for the selection of a bond CTP. In the EU, ESMA has confirmed that the selection of the bond tape provider is set for two years from now. The expected timeline according to ESMA begins with the Mifir review entering into force in Q1 2024. The preparation of technical standards and procedures is expected to follow throughout the year. Following this will be the launch of the first selection for a bond CTP in Q4 2024.
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Leonteq acquires 10% stake in BX Swiss
Leonteq
Leonteq AG (SIX: LEON) acquires a 10% stake in the Swiss stock exchange BX Swiss. Leonteq thus becomes a shareholder of BX Swiss and expands its ecosystem with an important player in the Swiss financial market. With the acquisition of a 10% stake in BX Swiss for a single-digit million amount, Leonteq is creating the basis for a long-term strategic partnership. The shares were acquired from the Boerse Stuttgart Group. BX Swiss will benefit from Leonteq's ecosystem for investment solutions, which facilitates connectivity and collaboration with local and global players in the Swiss financial services sector. In return, Leonteq will gain access to the ecosystem of Boerse Stuttgart Group, the sixth largest exchange group in Europe, and will be able to participate directly in the growth of BX Swiss.
/jlne.ws/3vfWKJ1
FTX resolves dispute with Bahamian liquidators
Dietrich Knauth - Reuters
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX Trading on Tuesday announced a settlement with liquidators for FTX's Bahamas unit, resolving a long-simmering dispute over whether the company's U.S. bankruptcy proceedings should take precedence over the Bahamian liquidation. FTX and FTX Digital Markets have agreed to pool their assets and harmonize their approach to valuing customer claims to ensure equal treatment for customers in either country's insolvency process. The settlement will allow most customers of FTX.com's international crypto exchange to choose whether to seek repayment from either the U.S. bankruptcy or the Bahamian liquidation, according to FTX.
/jlne.ws/3RDyPuW
UK Regulator Sets Out Latest Plans to Encourage IPOs in London
William Shaw - Bloomberg
The UK's finance regulator set out its latest plans to simplify its listings regime and revive interest in London's stock markets. The Financial Conduct Authority confirmed on Tuesday it will replace the standard and premium listings rules with one set of "streamlined eligibility and ongoing requirements," in keeping with proposals announced in May.
/jlne.ws/4avn1mK
UK financial regulator says listing rules overhaul could lead to more failures; Financial Conduct Authority sets out proposals aimed at encouraging companies to float in London
Michael O'Dwyer - Financial Times
The UK's top financial regulator has set out plans to press ahead with an overhaul of its stock market listings rule book in the latest stage of a drive to encourage companies to float their shares in London. In comments echoing those of government ministers, the Financial Conduct Authority suggested the changes could lead to more UK-listed groups collapsing but argued that this was justified in pursuit of more economic activity.
/jlne.ws/3vapkvx
El-Erian Says Fed Has a 'Real Problem' With Communication
Carter Johnson and Jonathan Ferro - Bloomberg
There's a key piece of evidence in the bond-market surge that followed the latest US central-bank meeting, according to Mohamed El-Erian: The Federal Reserve has a communication problem. Nearly a week after policymakers left interest rates on hold and unveiled projections for more cuts than previously expected in 2024, traders and Fed officials are still at odds over the path for policy, said El-Erian, the president of Queens' College, Cambridge, and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.
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IRS Zaps Nearly $1 Billion in Penalties for Taxpayers; Americans who owe back taxes should expect to hear from the agency soon
Ashlea Ebeling - The Wall Street Journal
Americans who owe back taxes will be given an incentive to pay up after the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday it would waive nearly $1 billion in late-payment penalties. Roughly 4.6 million individual taxpayers who owe for tax years 2020 and 2021 will be eligible for the penalty relief. The IRS is extending the olive branch because it stopped sending out many collection letters during the pandemic. It hoped the letter halt would help struggling taxpayers and reduce its backlog.
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The TRADE predictions series 2024: Artificial intelligence; Participants across Groupama Asset Management, Horizon, and Tradeweb deep dive into the technology trends for 2024: namely, the growing use cases for artificial intelligence to improve transparency and efficiency.
Editors - The Trade
Eric Heliene, head of buy-side trading desk, Groupama Asset Management
In the buy-side trading world, technological innovation is a perpetual driver of transformation, and large language models (LLMs) are emerging as key players in this ongoing evolution. These models, with their ability to analyse vast volumes of unstructured data, are opening new perspectives for understanding market dynamics. The extraction of sentiment and trend indicators from diverse sources - financial news, expert analyses, discussion forums - could revolutionise how buy-side trading desks approach investment decisions.
/jlne.ws/48hvxnI
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Putin says Russia is ready to talk on Ukraine
Guy Faulconbridge - Reuters
President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would be prepared to talk to Ukraine, the United States and Europe about the future of Ukraine if they wanted to, but that Moscow would defend its national interests. Putin, who sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, has repeatedly said he would be prepared to talk about peace, though Western officials say he is waiting for the U.S. presidential election in November before making a genuine effort.
/jlne.ws/477hjVh
Ukrainian army chiefs seek to mobilise 500,000 more troops; President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says military wants more conscription to hold lines against Russia
Roman Olearchyk and Ben Hall - Financial Times
Ukrainian army chiefs have asked Volodymyr Zelenskyy to mobilise up to 500,000 people as the country gears up for a protracted war of attrition against Russia next year. Speaking at a year-end press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president said his top commanders had asked to mobilise 450,000 to 500,000 men and women, including through conscription.
/jlne.ws/41s7mRj
Russian Pranksters Trick Irish Premier Varadkar on Call
Olivia Fletcher and Jennifer Duggan - Bloomberg
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar became the latest world leader to fall victim to Russian pranksters, who tricked him into a call during which he said there isn't a prospect of Ukraine joining the European Union soon.
/jlne.ws/3RNkptc
Russian billionaire Abramovich loses legal challenge against EU sanctions
Reuters
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich on Wednesday lost a legal challenge aimed at overturning European Union sanctions imposed on him in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. After President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the EU sanctioned Russian officials and a host of Russian businessmen, such as Abramovich, while freezing hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets.
/jlne.ws/3GRt2N3
Time is of the essence in defending Ukraine; Western calls for peace talks ignore the Kremlin's determination to pursue its war of conquest
Gwendolyn Sasse - Financial Times
Time keeps ticking relentlessly. The challenge of crisis management and policymaking more generally is to get ahead of it rather than watching days, months or years go by. From the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia's war against Ukraine has been characterised by diverging time horizons and the expectations that go with them. To date, connecting the different time zones of this war has proved impossible, but the urgent necessity of doing so has increased steadily. Time zones that drift apart create room for manoeuvre - in this case, for Russia and for those in western countries who want to polarise and undermine democratic values along the way.
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Gaza Is Making Oil and Gas Markets Twitchier; Attacks on ships in Red Sea are a reminder that war between Israel and Hamas might yet have global repercussions for energy
Carol Ryan - The Wall Street Journal
The war in Ukraine made traffic on the Suez Canal busier. If conflict in Gaza bottles it up, energy cargoes will be forced to take an expensive, inflationary diversion. Oil giant BP said Monday that it would temporarily reroute tankers from their usual journey through the Red Sea because of attacks on ships by Houthi rebels from Yemen who are sympathetic to Palestinians. So far, it's the only major energy player to take this measure, but shipping companies including A.P. Moller-Maersk MAERSK.B -3.53%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Hapag-Lloyd have also diverted cargoes, sailing them around Africa instead.
/jlne.ws/3NvmUy0
Hamas Starts Planning for End of War With Israel; Discussions threaten to widen split between the group's political leaders in Doha and its militant wing at war with Israel
Benoit Faucon, Summer Said and Dov Lieber - The Wall Street Journal
DOHA, Qatar-Hamas's political leaders have been talking with their Palestinian rivals about how to govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war ends, a fraught negotiation that threatens to put them at odds with the militant wing fighting Israel. The talks are the clearest sign that Hamas's political faction is starting to plan for what follows the conflict.
/jlne.ws/488FSTo
Red Sea Attacks on Ships Are Alarming-but Markets Aren't Panicking; Natural-gas and crude markets rise but ample global supplies keep the advance in check
Joe Wallace - The Wall Street Journal
Oil-and-gas prices rose Wednesday after recent rebel attacks in the Red Sea scrambled the shipping industry and prompted the U.S. to send warships into the region to protect a vital trade lane. But thus far the response of energy markets to the disruption has been muted compared with dramatic moves in prices sparked by some other past outbreaks of violence in the Middle East.
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | SIX launches request for quote trading for ETFs; Named Quote-on-Demand Europe (QOD Europe), SIX's new function allows clients to trade ETFs listed on its exchange and other primary venues.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
SIX Swiss Exchange has become the first exchange operator to launch request for quote (RFQ) trading for exchange traded funds (ETF). Named Quote-on-Demand Europe (QOD Europe), the newly extended service comes as part of SIX's desire to become a one stop shop. It claims to achieve execution at the European Best Bid Offer (EBBO) for around 95% of trades.
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SIX Becomes First Exchange Operator to Offer Pan-European On-Exchange RFQ Trading for ETFs
SIX
On December 4th 2023, SIX introduced a novel service extension to its Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) franchise, called Quote-on-Demand Europe (QOD Europe). In addition to over 1,700 tradable products listed at SIX Swiss Exchange, clients are now able to trade ETFs listed on other primary exchanges like the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse, Euronext, Nasdaq OMX and Wiener Boerse and more via ETF QOD Europe. This innovative trading service offers efficient straight-through processing using the interoperable Central Counterparty (CCP) model with settlement into domestic Central Security Depositories (CSDs). Complementary to the established multilateral open order-book, the range of tradable ETFs reaches to almost 6,000 products tradable at SIX Swiss Exchange.
/jlne.ws/3GOSrae
HKEX In 2023: Year In Review
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) has had a very busy and productive 2023, marked by the achievement of several significant milestones and the launch of new initiatives. This included the opening of new offices in New York and London, strategically positioning the business across all major global time zones to be closer to its clients. The focus on derivatives, fixed-income and currency products has also been instrumental in further diversifying HKEX's business and product ecosystem, giving investors and risk managers even greater choice. Throughout the year, HKEX introduced a range of notable new projects and initiatives, further enhancing the Group's offering and reinforcing Hong Kong's role as a leading international financial centre.
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ICE Reports Record Liquidity Across its Global Natural Gas Futures Markets with Record Open Interest in Henry Hub Futures
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, today announced record liquidity across its global natural gas futures markets, including record open interest in ICE's Henry Hub natural gas futures market. On December 18, 2023, ICE reached record open interest of 20.2 million across its global natural gas futures markets. This includes record open interest of 17.9 million across North American natural gas futures and record open interest of 7.6 million in ICE's Henry Hub natural gas futures market, surpassing the record last set in ICE Henry Hub on April 24, 2013.
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Nodal Exchange Announces Launch of Solar Peak Power Futures Contracts
Nodal Exchange
Nodal Exchange announces the launch of 23 new solar peak futures contracts. These contracts are available for trading today. The new products, created in response to customer feedback, enable more precise risk management as solar generation plays an increasingly significant role in the evolving energy landscape.
/jlne.ws/3NCkAFr
NSE inaugurates Investors Service Centre in Shillong with SEBI & BSE
National Stock Exchange of India
In order to cater to the needs of securities market investors in the state of Meghalaya, SEBI along with stock exchanges NSE and BSE has established an "Investor Service Centre" at Shillong. The Investor Service Centre managed by NSE was inaugurated by Shri Jeevan Sonparote, Chief General Manager, SEBI on December 20,2023 in the presence of Shri Krishnan Iyer, Senior Vice President of NSE, Shri Debankur Majumdar, Regional Regulatory Head (East) of NSE and other officials from SEBI, NSE and investors
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Performance Bond Requirements: Energy, Equity, Interest Rate and Metal Margins - Effective December 20, 2023
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.
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Trader Alert 23-62: Next MEMX Options symbol rollout date is Thursday, December 21, 2023
On Thursday, December 21, 2023, MEMX Options plans on adding the following underliers: NVDA, TSLA
/jlne.ws/4awEBqz
The Moscow Exchange launched a beta version of a product for algorithmic trading
MOEX
The Moscow Exchange has provided all users with access to the beta version of ALGOPAK . This is an innovative algorithmic trading product that makes it possible to use a wide range of publicly available historical and online data on all stocks traded on the Moscow Exchange to test and launch trading robots. ALGOPAK is the first product of the information and financial marketplace DATASHOP , which is planned to be launched in the second quarter of 2024.
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | ByteDance's Sales Break $110 Billion to Pass Tencent This Year
Zheping Huang and Manuel Baigorri - Bloomberg
ByteDance Ltd.'s sales surged in 2023 to more than $110 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially overtaking arch-foe Tencent Holdings Ltd. in a sign TikTok's fledgling e-commerce business is driving growth at a time of economic malaise. The world's most valuable startup's growth broadly matched the 30% pace it managed in 2022, when it reported sales in excess of $80 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn't public. That's despite economic turbulence in China and elevated scrutiny and restrictions in key markets from the US to India.
/jlne.ws/479sQUn
New tool enables certification of SEC Names Rule compliance; Fintech says its solution provides greater scrutiny of ESG claims.
Steve Randall - Investment News
The expansion of the SEC's Rule 35d-1, the "Names Rule," to include ESG terms has led to the launch of a new tool to help asset managers and financial advisors assess compliance. Technology firm Reflection Analytics' new Reflect platform provides an investor-focused rating using 250 data points across 18 ESG sub-themes and also helps asset managers to remain compliant with the Securities and Exchange Commission's requirements.
/jlne.ws/3tnpzCZ
Accenture chief says most companies not ready for AI rollout; Consultancy says lack of data capabilities or safety controls to hold back faster deployment
Stephen Foley - Financial Times
Most companies are not ready to deploy generative artificial intelligence at scale because they lack strong data infrastructure or the controls needed to make sure the technology is used safely, according to the chief executive of the consultancy Accenture. The most hyped technology of 2023 is in an experimental phase at most companies and macroeconomic uncertainty is holding back IT spending generally, Julie Sweet told the Financial Times in an interview ahead of the company publishing quarterly results on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/41z4Toi
Musk's AI Chatbot 'Grok' Is Weirdly Good After All; On this episode of Elon, Inc., we discover the new rival to ChatGPT might just succeed because it fails to advance Musk's right-wing agenda.
Max Chafkin - Bloomberg
When Elon Musk announced his new AI chatbot "Grok" last month, almost everything about it looked like a publicity stunt or a vanity project or both. The product was seemingly built over a matter of months, it was only available to a small group of X users and its chief selling point was Musk's promise it wouldn't be constrained by the "woke mind virus." He boasted that Grok's chatbot was "based"-a slang term meaning unapologetically right wing-and posted fratty memes meant to emphasize Grok's dominance over market-leading competitor ChatGPT.
/jlne.ws/3RNVQMT
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Government operation wounds big-time ransomware gang
Tim Starks - The Washington Post
International government agencies on Tuesday announced a multipronged offensive against a prominent ransomware gang, complete with the seizure of digital extortion websites, development of a decryption tool to save tens of millions of dollars worth of victim payments and an advisory about the group's modus operandi.
/jlne.ws/3tivIjV
A quiet cybersecurity revolution is touching every corner of the economy as U.S., allies 'pull all the levers' to face new threats
Eric Noonan - Fortune
On Dec. 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) expanded cybersecurity rules came into effect, requiring public companies to disclose incidents within four business days. That means headline-grabbing breaches-such as the one that affected all Okta customer support system users or the 23andMe hack that included the information of nearly 7 million customers-will have even greater consequences than whatever data was compromised. And the SEC rules are only the tip of the iceberg of changes to regulatory compliance.
/jlne.ws/3NCKSap
NSA Publishes 2023 Cybersecurity Year in Review
NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) published its 2023 Cybersecurity Year in Review today to share its recent cybersecurity successes and how it is working with partners to deliver on cybersecurity advances that enhance national security. This year's report highlights NSA's work with U.S government partners, foreign partners, and the Defense Industrial Base.
/jlne.ws/477VS6s
New-business building: Six cybersecurity and digital beliefs that can create risk
Justin Greis, Ari Libarikian, Patrick Rinski, Joy Smith, and Marc Sorel - McKinsey's Cybersecurity Practice and McKinsey Digital
In the race to build new businesses, decision makers often overlook risk management and cybersecurity. We have identified six misconceptions that executives often bring to the table.
If it's a great idea, just do it. In boardrooms around the world, entrepreneurial leaders understand that successful business building is about putting words into action. Nobody ever created a unicorn by having another meeting. Still, while business leaders are renowned for their ability to get things done, there is a flip side to the value creation gene. In the rush to market, it is easy to forget that the world's most successful companies have often withstood early threats to their viability. Indeed, our experience shows that business leaders who build resilience into their strategies are most likely to create winning propositions.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Coinbase CEO reacts to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's suggested crypto ban
Brian Sozzi - Yahoo Finance
There is a country mile between JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and Coinbase (COIN) co-founder Brian Armstrong's views on digital assets. Perhaps that shouldn't be such a shock given their places of employment.Dimon famously told lawmakers earlier this month that he would put an end to crypto if he had the power to do so.
/jlne.ws/41vbhg2
Bitcoin Fees Spike to 2-Year High as Ordinals Bonanza Gives Windfall Profit to BTC Miners; Share prices of publicly listed bitcoin mining companies are "on fire" thanks to high transaction fees, one analyst said.
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
Bitcoin (BTC) miners enjoy windfall profits as transaction fees spiked to the highest since April 2021 due to rising Ordinals inscriptions. The average price of transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain surged over $37 Sunday, a level last seen in April 2021, at the height of the bull market peak, data by BitInfoCharts shows, up from an average of $1-$2 in September and early October.
/jlne.ws/3GOX2Jp
Crypto-Market Bonanza Helps Drive Rally in FTX Claim Prices
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
Prices of claims on bankrupt crypto exchange FTX Group have soared as it moves closer to returning billions of dollars to customers and creditors, buoyed by a rally in digital assets. FTX claims now trade at 57 cents to 73 cents on the dollar, depending on their size, according to data from Cherokee Acquisition, which brokers bankruptcy claims. That's up from 50 cents to 53 cents in late October.
/jlne.ws/3Ro7kFe
Crypto Wallet-Maker Ledger to Reimburse Hack Victims; Victims of last week's software hack lost around $600,000; Ledger is making other security changes to its devices
Hannah Miller - Bloomberg
Following a high-profile hack last week, crypto wallet-maker Ledger said it will cover the roughly $600,000 worth of assets lost by victims. The Paris-based startup's Ledger Connect Kit software became compromised following a phishing attack on a former employee. The hacker published malicious code that redirected user funds to their own wallet during transactions with decentralized applications, or dapps, that used the affected software. The exploit was widespread, impacting both hardware and software wallets from other providers, as well as popular dapps like decentralized exchange Sushi.
/jlne.ws/3Rwh28H
The Hot New Market in Crypto? Trading FTX's Carcass; Investors are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on FTX bankruptcy claims, betting that the firm's new leaders will recover the money that Sam Bankman-Fried misappropriated.
David Yaffe-Bellany and Matthew Goldstein - The New York Times
After the FTX cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy last year, Thomas Braziel, an investor who specializes in collapsed businesses, started brokering an unusual kind of transaction: a market to profit from FTX's downfall. Mr. Braziel put one of his clients in touch with a large financial firm that had lost nearly $100 million when FTX went under. Last December, the firm agreed to sell its claim in the FTX bankruptcy - essentially an i.o.u. from the collapsed exchange - for 6 cents on the dollar, betting that it was better to collect some fast cash than wait years for the husk of FTX to start paying creditors back.
/jlne.ws/3RsZRVD
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | New US rule targeting real estate money laundering reaches White House review
Reuters
A long-awaited U.S. rule aimed at curbing money laundering in real estate has reached a key White House office for review, the final hurdle for it to clear before it can be formally proposed next year. The rule, put forth by the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Monday, government records show. After a review by the office, the rule would open up for a two-month public comment period in February 2024, the records show.
/jlne.ws/3thFbId
White House warns against Republican efforts to gut 'tremendous' IRA; Planned US cleantech manufacturing investment under Biden has reached $628bn, administration says
Myles McCormick - Financial Times
The White House on Tuesday warned against Republican efforts to derail a manufacturing boom triggered by Joe Biden's signature climate legislation that has already brought "tremendous" benefits to the US economy. Investors have pledged $628bn of investments into clean energy and manufacturing since the president entered the White House in 2021, most driven by the Inflation Reduction Act, senior officials said on Tuesday. More than 200,000 jobs had been added since the IRA was enacted last year.
/jlne.ws/4asebGq
US Steel Deal With Nippon Riles Biden Allies in States Hit by Factory Losses
Josh Wingrove and Joe Deaux - Bloomberg
A Japanese company's agreement to purchase United States Steel Corp has thrust a political dilemma into President Joe Biden's lap during a reelection bid that runs through America's manufacturing heartland. Pittsburgh-based US Steel announced Monday that it would be taken over by Nippon Steel Corp. after an offer of $14.1 billion that exceeded analysts' expectations. The company had not been considered a frontrunner for the sale.
/jlne.ws/47Ww4eZ
Banks, Tech, Crypto: The Biggest Winners and Losers in Congress; The crypto industry and marijuana advocates will try again next year.
Steven T. Dennis - Bloomberg
Any Washington lobbyist worth their salt knows defeat or delay of new legislation is often the most lucrative outcome for corporate clients. By that measure, 2023 was a success, as Congress passed few new laws amid months-long battles over raising the US debt limit and avoiding a government shutdown. All that inaction translated into wins for Wall Street banks, tech giants, and pharmaceutical companies, whose profits were spared the pinch of additional regulation.
/jlne.ws/3GRhZnb
UK to sign post-Brexit financial services deal with Switzerland
George Parker and Ian Smith and Sam Jones - Financial Times
UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt will on Thursday sign a financial services deal with Switzerland, claiming it will make it easier for financial firms and wealthy individuals in the two markets to do business with each other. The UK-Swiss deal is based on the mutual recognition of each other's regulatory regimes and is intended to bolster the City of London in a post-Brexit era.
/jlne.ws/48bMqRe
German banker's diaries add to Olaf Scholz's political woes; Chancellor is facing questions over his term as Hamburg mayor, when city wrote off bank's tax bill
Olaf Storbeck - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3RPl90V
The legal case for seizing Russia's assets; G7 allies are debating whether to spend Moscow's frozen funds to support Ukraine
Laura Dubois and Sam Fleming - Financial Times
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Odey Asset Management says FCA 'will not be taking any action' after closing probe; Crispin Odey remains under investigation by the UK's financial watchdog
Harriet Agnew and Antonia Cundy - Financial Times
The Financial Conduct Authority has closed its investigation into Odey Asset Management and "will not be taking any action," said the firm on Tuesday. Odey Asset Management announced in October it was shutting down, five months after allegations of sexual assault and harassment against its founder, Crispin Odey, plunged one of London's oldest hedge fund groups into crisis.
/jlne.ws/48nBgIH
U.S. Bank Fined $36 Million After Unemployment Benefit Delays
Gina Heeb - The Wall Street Journal
Regulators hit U.S. Bank with $36 million in fines, saying it left tens of thousands of Americans locked out of unemployment benefits during the pandemic for weeks at a time. Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank had contracts with a number of states to deliver unemployment benefits in 2020 but froze customer accounts without a "reliable and quick" way back in, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a statement.
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Statement of Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero on Strengthening Swap Dealer Reporting Requirements for Commodity-Based Swaps to Promote Financial Stability
CFTC
The CFTC proposes to strengthen swap dealer reporting requirements for commodity-based swaps-reporting that the CFTC uses for surveillance, oversight, and to avoid systemic risk. Swaps markets contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, and were previously opaque, leaving regulators blind to emerging risks.[1] Dodd Frank Act reforms required swap dealers to report transaction-level data to swap data repositories and the CFTC.
/jlne.ws/3RpXRNQ
Concurring Statement of Commissioner Caroline D. Pham Regarding Proposed Amendments to Clearing Member Funds Requirements
CFTC
I concur on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Protection of Clearing Member Funds Held by Derivatives Clearing Organizations (DCOs) (Proposed Amendments to Clearing Member Funds Requirements or Proposal) because it seeks to protect the proprietary funds of futures commission merchants (FCMs), and I understand that it essentially codifies the existing good practices most of the CFTC's registered DCOs already follow. However, with respect to retail participants, I believe that the Commission should consider whether there should be a new registration category for direct clearing retail DCOs. I also renew my call for an Office of the Retail Advocate. Both of these steps would better ensure customer protection in our regulated markets.
/jlne.ws/3v3nGeZ
SEC Charges Former CEO of Medical Device Startup Stimwave with $41 Million Fraud
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Laura Tyler Perryman, the former CEO and co-founder of Florida-based medical device startup Stimwave Technologies Inc., with defrauding investors out of approximately $41 million by making false and misleading statements about one of the company's key medical device products. According to the SEC's complaint, the medical device comprised several components, one of which was a fake, non-functional component that was implanted into patients' bodies.
/jlne.ws/3RSEkXX
SEC Charges Tingo Mobile Founder, Three Companies with Massive Fraud and Obtains Emergency Relief
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it obtained a temporary asset freeze, restraining order, and other emergency relief against Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye a/k/a Dozy Mmobuosi and three affiliated U.S. based entities of which he is the CEO in connection with an alleged multi-year scheme to inflate the financial performance metrics of his companies and key operating subsidiaries to defraud investors worldwide.
/jlne.ws/477cqLV
ASIC's annual corporate insolvency statistics shows COVID-19 impact on small business
ASIC
ASIC's latest annual statistics of reports lodged by registered liquidators about Australian corporate insolvency, released today, has highlighted the lag of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small business. For the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, small to medium size corporate insolvencies continued to dominate external administrators' reports. Of the reports lodged, 83% had assets of $100,000 or less, 82% had fewer than 20 employees, 32% had liabilities of less than $250,000 and 68% had liabilities of less than $1 million. In this group of creditors, 96% received between 0-11 cents in the dollar, reflecting the asset/liability profile of small to medium size corporate insolvencies.
/jlne.ws/3TyAB2T
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Crop Trader ADM Slumps After Deal to Grow Nutrition Business
Isis Almeida - Bloomberg
Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. fell the most since April after it announced a deal to grow its nutrition business. The Chicago-based company, one of the world's largest agricultural commodity traders, said it agreed to buy food-ingredients maker Revela Foods LLC for an undisclosed value. The announcement sent ADM stock down as much as 4.7%.
/jlne.ws/48uATfz
Red Sea Chaos Risks Driving Up Price of Goods for Global Economy
Bloomberg News
Attacks in the Red Sea linked to the Israel-Hamas war will cause shipping delays and drive up the price of goods, bringing a new inflation risk to the economy. Shipping companies are diverting cargoes after Iran-backed Houthi militants attacked commercial vessels plying the Red Sea. The vessels will have to sail around Africa instead of taking the shorter route through the Suez Canal.
/jlne.ws/48umCPX
Supply squeeze helps copper prices buck tough year for base metals; Red metal known as a leading indicator on the global economy is set to be 2023's top-performing industrial mineral
Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
Copper is set to finish the year as the top-performing industrial metal, as a series of production disruptions squeezes the supply of a commodity used in power lines, cars and household appliances. A recent price spurt following mine supply problems in Latin America, coupled with signs of improvement in the Chinese economy, have put the red metal up 2.5 per cent so far this year at $8,600 per tonne.
/jlne.ws/3tq6Bvk
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | COP28 Is Over. But Climate Pledges Are Still Emerging in the Final Days of 2023
Kristoffer Tigue - Inside Climate News
On the day before the United Nations' flagship climate summit was scheduled to end, a top official for the global body that runs the annual conference urged nations to stay focused and bring their "highest ambition" to the table. "In this final quarter, it's all eyes on the prize," Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, told the room of delegates gathered in Dubai. "That means highest ambition outcomes must stay front and center." But when a deal finally emerged two days later, as COP28 ran into overtime amid heated disagreement over whether to "phase out" fossil fuels, many climate advocates were disappointed with the outcome, saying this year's agreement fell short of the aspirations called for in Stiell's speech. Others saw the deal, which compelled nations for the first time to "transition away" from fossil fuels, as a pivotal moment in history, signaling to the global market that the era of fossil fuels was coming to an end.
/jlne.ws/4atOiWH
Coal Financing Is Still Booming-Led by China; There continues to be a lot of money going into digging up the dirtiest fossil fuel of them all.
Tim Quinson - Bloomberg
The amount of bank financing going to mining coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel of them all, remains at surprisingly high levels. Most of it is coming from China. A new report from researchers at BloombergNEF shows that all funding for coal projects and coal-exposed companies needs to drop precipitously to limit the chances of global temperatures rising more than 1.5C by midcentury.
/jlne.ws/3NBtUtf
Congo's Next President Will Be a Key Voice in Green Energy Talks
Michael J Kavanagh - Bloomberg
The Democratic Republic of Congo votes on Wednesday to elect a president who will play a crucial role in the world's fight against climate change over the next five years. The central African nation's forests, rivers and minerals are key to the future of green development globally and Congo's next leader will have urgent decisions to make about how they're used.President Felix Tshisekedi, who is up for reelection, likes to call Congo the "'solution country' for the climate crisis." But he's only just begun to make headway on key environmental and energy issues.
/jlne.ws/41uo96i
Seven European countries pledge CO2-free power systems by 2035
Kate Abnett - Reuters
Seven countries including Germany, the Netherlands and France pledged on Monday to eliminate CO2-emitting power plants from their electricity systems by 2035. Taken together, the countries account for nearly half of EU power production - largely thanks to the contributions from Germany and France, Europe's two biggest power producers. The aim was set by EU members Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and non-EU Switzerland, which aligns itself with some EU climate policies.
/jlne.ws/3NCgSeZ
Canada will require all new cars to be zero emissions vehicles by 2035
Marco Chown Oved - Toronto Star
All new cars in Canada will have to be zero emissions by 2035, the government will announce next week when it unveils new vehicle regulations, the Star has learned. But rather than being a way to force new technology on consumers, it's being sold as a way to guarantee that people who want EVs will be able to get them more quickly. The new regulations, called the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard, will shorten the lengthy wait times for EVs that have been dampening consumer demand, said a senior government official whom the Star agreed not to name because they were discussing policy that hadn't been made public yet.
/jlne.ws/3RNRXaK
ClientEarth issues stark warning to UK pension funds over climate risk; Non-profit group raises questions over fiduciary duty
Kenza Bryan - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3v9XFef
EU launches anti-dumping investigation into Chinese biodiesel
Andy Bounds - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3NBuXsO
Microsoft inks carbon removal deal with offsets startup Chestnut
David French - Reuters
/jlne.ws/41vJb4i
ING Plans to Phase Out of Oil and Gas Financing After COP28
April Roach - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/48pN0dx
A Multi-Trillion Dollar Showdown Over Energy's Future; If rich nations don't step in to help fund the energy transition, oil producers and their allies are more than willing to.
David Fickling - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41xHMdt
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Goldman Sachs boosts bonuses for traders despite fall in revenues; Lower pay in the trading business was blamed for a number of high-profile departures last year
Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
Goldman Sachs is planning to increase bonuses in its trading business despite revenues in the division falling this year, according to people familiar with the matter, after a mis-step on pay last year sparked unrest among staff. The trading business bonus pool was likely to climb by a small amount from a year earlier, the people said.
/jlne.ws/3RQwA8P
The Hedge Fund Traders Dominating a Massive Bet on Bonds
Nishant Kumar, Donal Griffin and William Shaw - Bloomberg
Jonathan Hoffman, John Bonello and Jonathan Tipermas share more than just similar first names. They're the driving force behind a gigantic wager on government debt that's been giving regulators sleepless nights.
/jlne.ws/3TBjBcf
Citi Poised to Be Dropped From Mega Muni Deal After Unit Axed
Amanda Albright and Skylar Woodhouse - Bloomberg
Jefferson County, Alabama, took a step toward removing Citigroup Inc. from an upcoming $2.5 billion municipal-bond transaction after the bank announced it was shuttering its public finance division.
/jlne.ws/3RnKr4Y
European active mutual funds lose out on EUR8bn in revenues; European mutual funds have never before suffered two consecutive years of negative flows
Ed Moisson - Financial Times
Active asset managers are facing an EUR8.3bn hit to their revenues this year after fund outflows and challenging markets kept industry assets under management depressed for a second year in a row. The findings bear out senior European fund executives' warnings of "unprecedented" pressure on active managers' margins.
/jlne.ws/3tq6RdM
Deutsche Bank Cuts Notice Period for Some Traders to One Month; German lender reduces paid notice periods from three months; Bank says it sometimes alters exit dates in line with policy
William Shaw - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG cut the gardening leave for a limited number of senior traders after they announced they were departing in recent months. Germany's biggest bank reduced the paid notice from three months to as short as one month for some traders who were exiting voluntarily, according to people familiar with the matter. Traders in the fixed-income, currencies and commodities division were among those affected, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing personnel information.
/jlne.ws/41tYlac
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | This bank doesn't believe in bonuses: 'Human nature is what drives people'
Peter Vanham, Nicholas Gordon - Fortune
No bonuses, no risk, no frills, and no emissions. Could that be the recipe to get the European economy on a stable footing again? One indomitable Swedish bank certainly thinks so. As other large European banks gave in to a short-term profit mentality in the early 2000s, Handelsbanken held out-with great results. Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, and Credit Suisse fell victim to financial crises, but Handelsbanken maintained a high credit rating and continued to grow. The Swedish bank's year-over-year profits soared by over a third this year.
/jlne.ws/3GRcAfO
An Anticipated Wave of AI Specialist Jobs Has Yet to Arrive; Many marketers believe artificial intelligence will change their jobs forever. But most big brands haven't created roles to oversee that process, with some exceptions including Coca-Cola.
Patrick Coffee - The Wall Street Journal
Generative artificial intelligence has sparked predictions that the technology will change marketing on a fundamental level, spawned countless entrepreneurs and startups selling some form of AI marketing services, and even led to AI marketing certifications from businesses and universities.
/jlne.ws/41vNjRW
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Hemp Gummies Are Sending Hundreds of Kids to Hospitals; Surge of THC products, vapes has states struggling to regulate the booming market
Liz Essley Whyte - The Wall Street Journal
Jessica Harris's 15-year-old daughter was walking to her school bus in London, Ky., last month when a classmate offered her a piece of red candy. The square-shaped sweet seemed harmless at the time to Harris's daughter. But it turned out it contained a form of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the intoxicating ingredient in cannabis plants, and it sent her to the hospital.
/jlne.ws/3RPs8XE
One State Wanted to Understand Youth Opioid Use. So It Tested High-School Wastewater; New Mexico appears to be the first to do wastewater drug testing at all public high schools; results will guide drug-prevention and addiction treatment programs
Sara Randazzo - The Wall Street Journal
To get a better handle on its youth drug use, New Mexico health officials are looking in school sewers. Using a technique that became popular nationally to spot Covid-19 outbreaks, New Mexico appears to be the first state to test wastewater at public high schools for a range of opioids and stimulants. Initial data released since last week from more than three dozen high schools mostly in and around Albuquerque included what school leaders and state officials called a surprise: cocaine use in nearly 82% of the campus communities.
/jlne.ws/3GSD9l2
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | De Beers chief Al Cook seeks to restore allure of diamonds; Mining boss faces battle as lab-grown alternatives proliferate
Anjli Raval and Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
When a hulking container ship was 23 minutes away from crashing into the Cleeton natural gas platform in the North Sea, it was Al Cook's first night as a manager of the offshore installation operated by BP. Lifeboats were ready to launch, RAF rescue helicopters called and flares sent over the vessel. A voice finally crackled over the radio: the captain saying he had set his course on the light of Cleeton and fallen asleep at the wheel.
/jlne.ws/3RQzHO4
A Huge Wager on Office Buildings Is Going From Bad to Worse
Bloomberg
Banks and asset managers are expecting a wave of bad loans to hit South Korea in the coming months, as the country counts the cost of an ill-starred splurge on overseas office blocks and local infrastructure. Fund managers in Seoul were among the biggest investors in European and US commercial buildings in recent years, and the property crisis has left them with swaths of assets whose values have plunged, many due for refinancing. Others piled into domestic infrastructure projects, where defaults have already soared.
/jlne.ws/48nB0JJ
Singapore SPAC Optimism Sapped by 17LIVE, Pegasus Setbacks
Filipe Pacheco and Ishika Mookerjee - Bloomberg
Optimism that special purpose acquisition companies will help boost Singapore's ailing equity capital market is being ground even lower. Pegasus Asia, a so-called blank-check company backed by European asset manager Tikehau Capital and a group of prominent financiers in that region, said Wednesday its board had decided not to conclude a planned merger with Kacific Broadband Satellites Ltd. due to unfavorable market conditions.
/jlne.ws/3TxnTS4
Saudi Arabia Is the New China for Investors Hunting Down Growth
Farah Elbahrawy, Julia Fioretti and Matthew Martin - Bloomberg
Throngs of consultants wearing Western attire have become a common sight in the lobbies of Riyadh's plushest hotels as Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman embarks on a multi-trillion dollar plan to wean Saudi Arabia off oil. In recent months they've been joined by another cohort of besuited individuals: fund managers, keen to get an early foothold in the next big emerging-market growth story.
/jlne.ws/3v25Qci
That's Two for Two: The World's Other Big Canal Is in Trouble; While the Panama Canal has been running dry, Gaza-related attacks have created a crisis in the Red Sea
Megha Mandavia - The Wall Street Journal
Global trade is under threat again. This time from missile attacks linked to the Israel-Hamas war targeting commercial ships passing through the Red Sea, near the Suez Canal. That may force many vessels to take the longer but safer route around Africa and is boosting oil prices.
/jlne.ws/3GRIiK4
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