| January 17, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
US bank regulators have proposed rules that could significantly raise capital requirements for banks providing derivatives clearing services to clients, potentially by more than 80%. FIA said it strongly opposes these provisions. It argues that such rules could increase costs for banks offering clearing services for various financial instruments, potentially impeding access to derivatives for companies using them for risk management, such as agricultural businesses and insurers. Additionally, these rules could inadvertently heighten systemic risk by restricting the transfer of customer positions from a clearing firm in case of bankruptcy. FIA calls for a comprehensive analysis of these impacts before finalizing the rules.
Also, FIA, in collaboration with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), expressed concerns about proposed changes to US bank capital requirements, emphasizing that certain low-risk business activities could face unnecessarily high capital requirements. Lastly, FIA filed a comment letter opposing the GSIB Surcharge Proposal, highlighting the substantial increase in capital requirements for client derivatives clearing activities it would entail, specifically, more than a 58% increase in capital requirements. FIA also voiced its opposition to provisions in the Basel III Endgame Proposal, emphasizing that they could lead to a more than 22% increase in capital requirements for client clearing activities, potentially resulting in higher costs for end users.
From time to time, I make a big case out of the negative aspects of cryptocurrencies as I have a problem with the origin story of bitcoin. Money laundering, tax evasion, drug trafficking, and the purchase of illegal goods and services on the dark web are all concerns. Why was bitcoin created? I have a narrative that centers around money laundering. How big a problem is money laundering? Today there is a story from the Financial Times that is mind blowing. The headline is "JPMorgan suffers 45bn cyber attacks a day" with the subheadline "Bank spends $15bn a year on tech and employs 62,000 technologists, senior executive says at Davos."
Just think about those numbers for a little bit and you get an idea of the threat and magnitude of money laundering and the need for better ways to launder money. Enter crypto. Like I said, it is an alternative narrative, not fact, just like the Satoshi Nakamoto story is not fact, or proven. But if what Mary Erdoes said is right about 62 billion cyber attacks a day on JP Morgan, JUST WOW!
The SEC Historical Society and Howard University School of Law will host a special program on Wednesday, March 1, at the Howard University School of Law in Washington, DC, to mark the 10th anniversary of the SEC's Office of Women and Minority Inclusion (OMWI). The event will feature the director of OMWI and three former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairs who served during the first decade of OMWI's operations: W. Jay Clayton, Mary Jo White, Mary L. Schapiro, Pamela A. Gibbs, and Haima Marlier. The program will delve into OMWI's origin, mandate, challenges, and successes since its establishment in 2012, shedding light on its role in advancing diversity and inclusion within the commission for the next decade. Those interested can view the webcast live online without registration.
In AI news, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, has responded to allegations that the company is using copyrighted material without permission by stating that artificial intelligence (AI) doesn't require vast amounts of training data from publishers like The New York Times. Altman emphasized that they do not want to train on The New York Times' data. Meanwhile, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff criticized AI companies for using intellectual property without authorization, claiming that "all the training data has been stolen." These comments come amidst a lawsuit filed by The New York Times against OpenAI for alleged copyright infringement in its training data. Additionally, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expressed his desire for stability in the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI, as regulators in the UK and EU consider probes into their close ties. OpenAI is also working on cybersecurity tools in collaboration with the US Defense Department, despite the startup's previous ban on providing AI to militaries.
Bloomberg is reporting that Elon Musk is exerting pressure on Tesla's board to secure a substantial stock award, even after selling a significant portion of his Tesla shares to acquire Twitter. Musk, Tesla's largest shareholder with nearly 13% ownership, expressed his desire for approximately 25% voting control within the company. He hinted that without this level of influence he might focus on developing artificial intelligence and robotics products elsewhere. This move follows his sale of almost $40 billion in Tesla stock in 2022 to finance his Twitter acquisition. Reading between the lines this seems like blackmail. The Wall Street Journal version of the story is titled "A $60-Plus Billion Pay Package? Musk Gives Tesla's Board a Nightmare Task" with the subheadline "Corporate-governance tensions are unavoidable in owner-managed companies, but they needn't be inflamed on social media."
Thank you to everyone who gave to Anthony Payne's GoFundMe page yesterday on behalf of his plans to run a half marathon again with his son Ralph for Cancer Research UK, the London Landmarks Half Marathon 2024, on April 7, 2024. Here is a picture of Anthony running with Ralph in the previous marathon. His fundraising is up to 717 pounds of his 2000 pound goal. You can donate HERE.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Randstad's 2024 WorkMonitor Report, "Rethinking Ambition," found that half of global workers are more interested in balance and belonging than climbing the ladder. The 27,000 workers surveyed in 34 markets across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas said that work-life balance, flexibility, equity and skilling are now at the heart of their career decisions. While more than half (56%) of workers consider themselves to be ambitious - rising to 69% for Gen Z - they don't hold the traditional understanding of career aspiration. Half (47%) of workers surveyed are not focused on building a career at all; the same percentage said they would stay in a role that they like, even if there's no room to progress or develop. Meanwhile, a third (34%) of workers never want to take on any managerial roles. View the findings and download the Randstad WorkMonitor report here.~SAED
Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- ChatGPT May Rival Flash Boys in Transforming Markets from Bloomberg.
- ETFs Make Bitcoin's Problems Even Worse from The Wall Street Journal.
- Why Stocks Look Ready for a Big Drop from Barron's. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Options Discovery Episode 29: Understanding The Foundations To Become A Successful Options Trader; Mark Esposito, Options Mentor at McMillan Analysis Corps., Discusses This and More With JLN's Asma Awass
JohnLothianNews.com
In this episode of Options Discovery, Asma Awass discusses the different principles that traders should understand about options. This episode includes a breakdown of calls and puts, choosing the underlying asset, and volatility & the Greeks. Asma then sits down with Mark Esposito, an options mentor at McMillan Analysis Corp, who shares more insight on the foundations of options trading. You can check out the Options Mentoring Program here: https://www.optionstrategist.com
Watch the video »
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It's so cold, Teslas are struggling to charge in Chicago
Bill Chappell - NPR
The Arctic air gripping much of the U.S. put Tesla drivers in Chicago into a pickle on Monday. Many of the cars sat in long lines at Supercharger stations, their owners saying the cold sapped the electric vehicles' normal ability to charge - and keep a charge. In some cases, tow trucks were called to move the cars, in scenes that were relayed by local TV news. The Tesla owners' plight became an emblem of the misery extreme cold is inflicting on wide sections of the U.S. (more on that below).
/jlne.ws/48VsYb9
****** Science is a bitch.~JJL
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Trader of the Year: Millennium's Charlotte Nutting; Annabel Smith sits down with Millennium senior trader and winner of the 2023 Leaders in Trading, Trader of the Year Award, Charlotte Nutting, to explore her journey to the hedge fund's trading desk, her decision to trade multi-asset and spearheading better gender diversity in the industry.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Senior trader at Millennium, Charlotte Nutting, has been on a rapid ascension in the last few years. In 2019, Nutting was nominated by her industry peers as one of The TRADE's Rising Stars of Trading and Execution, and just four years later, she was shortlisted for The TRADE's coveted Buy-side Trader of the Year Award. Up against other individuals from Invesco, Liontrust Asset Management, Baillie Gifford and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), Nutting took home the award after an industry-wide vote.
/jlne.ws/3SmMdE7
****** Congratulations to Charlotte!~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our top story Tuesday was a repeat of our top story on Monday, Poland plans to set end date for coal power, from Reuters. Second was Is artificial intelligence the solution to cyber security threats? from the Financial Times. And third was Cboe Digital launches margined Bitcoin and Ether futures, from The Trade, also a repeat from Monday's top three.
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| Lead Stories | US bank capital proposals would increase capital requirements for client clearing by 80%; FIA estimates top six US clearing banks would need more than $7.2 billion in additional capital for derivatives clearing services
FIA
FIA strongly opposes provisions of two separate proposed rules put forward by US bank regulators that would dramatically increase capital requirements for derivatives clearing services that banks offer to their clients. Looking at just the six largest US banks that offer clearing, FIA estimates that these provisions would increase their capital requirements for client clearing by more than 80%. If enacted as proposed, these rules would make it far more expensive for banks to provide their clients with clearing services for futures, options, and OTC derivatives. In turn, this could impair access to these instruments by a wide range of companies that use derivatives to hedge their risks or manage their investments. These companies include agricultural businesses, energy producers and public utilities, manufacturing and transportation companies, mortgage lenders, insurance companies, and pension funds. The proposed rules also would have the unintended consequence of increasing systemic risk by reducing the capacity to move customer positions out of a clearing firm in case that firm goes bankrupt. FIA is troubled by the absence of any apparent cost-benefit analysis that considers these important negative impacts of the proposals on end users and on systemic stability. FIA urges the US bank regulators to fully consider and analyze these impacts before finalizing these rules.
/jlne.ws/3UkSjYf
JPMorgan suffers 45bn cyber attacks a day; Bank spends $15bn a year on tech and employs 62,000 technologists, senior executive says at Davos
Owen Walker - Financial Times
JPMorgan Chase is targeted by hackers trying to infiltrate its systems 45bn times a day - twice the rate at which it was attacked a year earlier - the bank's head of asset and wealth management has said. Speaking at Davos on Wednesday, Mary Erdoes said the bank spent $15bn on technology every year and employed 62,000 technologists, with many focused solely on combating the rise in cyber crime. "We have more engineers than Google or Amazon. Why? Because we have to," she said. "The fraudsters get smarter, savvier, quicker, more devious, more mischievous."
/jlne.ws/47yqkqM
EU approves new rules to shake up market price data for investors
Huw Jones - Reuters
European Union lawmakers gave the nod on Tuesday to giving investors better access to stock and bond prices and helping the bloc's capital market compete better with Wall Street in raising funds for companies to grow. The European Parliament voted in favour of revising the bloc's securities rules known as MiFID by mandating the creation of "consolidated tapes" or single real-time snapshots of bond prices by mid-2025, and for stocks and derivatives during 2026.
/jlne.ws/48GKBfm
Nasdaq's Friedman Says 85 Firms Waiting to IPO in Busier Year
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Nasdaq Inc. has more than 80 companies ready to go public in what is expected to be a busier year for initial public offerings, according to Chief Executive Officer Adena Friedman. "We have about 85 companies that have filed to go public on Nasdaq, so it means they are ready for the markets to be open," Friedman said in an interview with Bloomberg TV from Davos on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/47DJUli
FIA warns that US bank capital proposals could surge capital requirements for client clearing by 80%; The Association estimates that the top six US clearing banks would require over $7.2 billion in additional capital for derivatives clearing services.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Two separate proposed rules put forward by US regulators would dramatically increase capital requirements for derivatives clearing services that banks offer to their clients, according to the Futures Industry Association (FIA). The Association estimates that if you were to consider just the six largest US banks that offer clearing, these provisions would increase their capital requirements for client clearing by more than 80%.
/jlne.ws/3TX006C
FIA and SIFMA comment on operational risk elements of Basel III proposal
FIA
FIA joined with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in submitting a comment letter to US banking regulators regarding the operational risk elements of their proposed changes to US bank capital requirements. The letter notes that the proposed changes would require banking organizations to hold capital against fee-based business activities such as retail brokerage, investment advisory services, custody and client clearing of derivatives. These businesses are relatively low risk and the proposed changes would result in an "unnecessarily high calibration of required capital."
/jlne.ws/3S0oXeL
FIA files comment letter opposing GSIB Surcharge Proposal; Capital required to engage in client clearing activities would increase by more than 58%
FIA
FIA filed a comment letter today with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System expressing serious concerns with the significant increase in capital requirements for client derivatives clearing activities that the Board has proposed in its GSIB Surcharge Proposals. The GSIB Surcharge Proposal's changes to the treatment of client-cleared OTC derivatives transactions would, on their own, increase the capital required to engage in client clearing activities by more than 58%.
/jlne.ws/3HnW2fN
FIA strongly opposes Basel III Endgame Proposal; Proposals would dramatically increase capital requirements for banks offering derivatives clearing services
FIA
FIA has warned US banking regulators that it has "serious concerns" about provisions in the Basel III Endgame Proposal that change the capital treatment of derivatives clearing activities that US banks provide to their clients. In letters filed today with the three agencies that issued this proposal - the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - FIA said the proposed changes would increase the capital required to engage in client clearing activities by more than 22%, and therefore could lead to higher costs for end users such as agricultural businesses, insurance companies and pension funds.
/jlne.ws/47CzVg7
Women in Finance Criticize City of London's 'Tokenistic' Diversity Efforts; Testimonies from Parliament's sexism inquiry say misogyny remains even after #MeToo movement
Olivia Konotey-Ahulu - Bloomberg
Testimonies from 40 women across banking, insurance, and asset management in Britain describe diversity and inclusion initiatives as often "tokenistic," and lacking the "teeth" to make a change in an industry where misogynistic attitudes linger. The summary of a private roundtable held in November 2023 with lawmakers was released on Wednesday ahead of the final session of a Parliamentary inquiry into the extent of sexism in the City of London. Nikhil Rathi, head of the Financial Conduct Authority, and Sam Woods, who leads the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority, are due to speak.
/jlne.ws/3Hmcs8l
Asia Is Home to Most 2024 IPO Debuts With India Taking the Lead
Filipe Pacheco - Bloomberg
Most IPO debuts so far this year have been on exchanges in Asia Pacific, with India's equity market hosting more listings than other regional peers. Of 38 global listings in the past two weeks, 34 were in Asia Pacific, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Americas followed with three newcomers, while the Middle East saw one and Europe had none, the data show.
/jlne.ws/3tVngHv
Morgan Stanley Leaked Some Block Trades; Also Elon Musk's motivation, Adebayo Ogunlesi's job satisfaction and Grayscale's ETF conversion
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
Here's a simple model of a block trade. There's a public company, its stock trades on the exchange, its current price is $100. A big shareholder wants to sell a block of a million shares. This will drive down the price: supply and demand, more sellers than buyers, etc. Let's say that fully selling all of the shares will drive the price down by $3.
/jlne.ws/3TY3B4k
Chinese Frenzy for Japanese Stocks Triggers ETF Trading Halt
Bloomberg News
Chinese investors chasing gains in Japan stocks have caused a spike in the premium on an onshore exchange-traded fund tracking the market, triggering a warning from the fund's manager and a temporary trading halt. The premium on China AMC Nomura Nikkei 225 ETF's shares over their underlying net assets surged to as much as 23% before settling at 9.5% on Tuesday. The ETF closed 4.3% lower. Trading in the fund will be suspended until 10:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, the issuer said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/3vFivT3
Sam Altman, Bill Gates Weigh AI Risks in Big Election Year; AI and democracy are the talk of Davos.
Brad Stone - Bloomberg
With almost half of the world's population heading to the polls in a national election in 2024, leaders at the World Economic Forum are grappling with how the arrival of ChatGPT will affect these democracies - and how governments will in turn regulate AI. Leaders in artificial intelligence including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates weighed in this week at Davos, the gilded annual conference where billionaires hold forth on global problems. While all said they took the threat of artificial intelligence on elections seriously, there was a split in whether they thought major disruption was likely.
/jlne.ws/3U3o3kr
Sam Bankman-Fried's Parents Ask Court to Dismiss FTX's Lawsuit Seeking to Recover Funds
Amitoj Singh - CoinDesk
Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried, have asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit by the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX seeking to recover funds it alleges were fraudulently transferred. FTX sought to "recover millions of dollars" from Bankman and Fried in Sept. 2023. Less than two months later, their son, Bankman-Fried, was found guilty on all seven charges of defrauding customers and the United States. His sentencing is expected in March.
/jlne.ws/48UkFw9
Sumitomo Clarifies Buffett Comments After Trading House Stocks Jump
Shoko Oda and Stephen Stapczynski - Bloomberg
Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. sought to clarify that comments by its chief executive officer on new investments by Warren Buffett were referring to previous statements from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Shares in the trading houses - known as sogo shosha - advanced Wednesday after Barron's quoted Sumitomo's Masayuki Hyodo as saying Berkshire's stake "is increasing - not only Sumitomo, but all five trading companies."
/jlne.ws/3U9tfTX
A Pandemic-Era Tax Break Is Unraveling, and the Lawsuits Are Flying; IRS crackdown has sparked disputes between one big adviser on the employee-retention credit and many of its small-business clients
Ruth Simon - The Wall Street Journal
A small Florida wholesaler thought it was getting a $3 million tax windfall. Now, it wants to return the money, but faces a $431,000 bill. The Internal Revenue Service isn't the problem. The issue is with the company that helped the wholesaler claim a popular pandemic-era tax break. The dispute represents the leading edge of what is likely to be a wave of lawsuits tied to the employee-retention credit, or ERC, which was created by Congress to reward employers for keeping workers on payrolls during the pandemic. In December, the IRS rolled out a program that would allow employers to return 80% of the credit and avoid most penalties if they provided details about the ERC firm they used, part of an agency effort to crack down on what it says are fraudulent and ineligible claims. Now, the reckoning has begun.
/jlne.ws/4bdMulp
The Bill Is Coming Due on a Record Amount of Commercial Real Estate Debt; More than $2.2 trillion in debt is maturing before 2028, and much of that will have to be refinanced at higher rates
Peter Grant - The Wall Street Journal
The troubled commercial real estate market is bracing for a record amount of maturing loans, boosting the prospect of a surge in defaults as property owners are forced to refinance at higher rates. In 2023, $541 billion in debt backed by office buildings, hotels, apartments and other types of commercial real estate came due, the highest amount ever for a single year, according to the data firm Trepp. Commercial-debt maturities are expected to continue rising, with more than $2.2 trillion coming due between now and the end of 2027, Trepp said.
/jlne.ws/4b3iubx
E-trading platforms experienced increased share of US equity trading volume in 2023; Over a third (37%) of total 2023 volumes were executed through algorithms and/or smart order routers, with this figure expected to reach 40% in the next three years, a Coalition Greenwich report has found.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Trading volumes executed electronically by equity investors increased last year, accelerating the evolution of the US stock trading business into an increasingly complex, technologically driven market structure. New data from Coalition Greenwich found that electronic trading platforms captured 44% of buy-side US equities order flow in 2023, up from 42% in 2022.
/jlne.ws/4220me2
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Russia got components worth $2.9 bln from West despite sanctions, Kyiv says
Reuters
Western companies supplied Russia with $2.9 billion worth of components that can be used for military production in the first 10 months of 2023 despite sanctions on Moscow, the Ukrainian president's office said on Wednesday. Kyiv has been pressing its allies to tighten sanctions on Russia and close export control loopholes, saying that Moscow is still able to import military goods for its war in Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3U5Do40
War in Ukraine Drains Nearly Half of Accessible Russian Reserves
Bloomberg
Russia's government has tapped almost half of the national wealth fund's available reserves to shield the economy against the fallout from its almost two-year war in Ukraine, leaving it vulnerable to future shocks.
/jlne.ws/3Jvap0X
Putin Is Making His Plans Brutally Clear
Nataliya Gumenyuk - The New York Times
New Year's Eve is an important holiday in Ukraine. At the end of December, I asked my sister how she would be celebrating this year. "In the bomb shelter," she said, matter-of-factly. She planned to cook sandwiches, which would be easier to carry down to the safe room from the 10th floor if there was an air-raid siren.
/jlne.ws/42490sr
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Qatar, France broker deal to get aid, medication to civilians, hostages in Gaza
Reuters
Qatar and France have brokered a deal with Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to deliver urgent medication to some 45 Israeli hostages held by the group in Gaza in return for humanitarian and medical aid for the most vulnerable civilians. The two countries said the aid would leave Qatar for Egypt on Wednesday before being taken across the Rafah border crossing.
/jlne.ws/3HkkYoe
U.S. to Put Houthis Back on Terrorist List; Decision reverses Biden administration's earlier delisting of the Yemeni rebel group
Vivian Salama and Daniel Nasaw - The Wall Street Journal
The Biden administration plans to put the Houthi rebel group back on one of its lists of terrorist organizations, days after the U.S. launched strikes on its facilities in Yemen in retaliation for months of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, officials said.
/jlne.ws/3vNUDwg
Israel's War in Gaza Enters Its Most Perilous Phase Yet; Military aims to take control of vast maze of tunnels under Khan Younis as refugees crowd into the south and international outcry grows over death toll
Marcus Walker, Anat Peled and Abeer Ayyoub - The Wall Street Journal
In a dark tunnel lined with concrete, 60 feet below ground, the Israeli general held one hand above the other to illustrate his soldiers' mission: to destroy Hamas in this sprawling city, and in the intricate warrens beneath it. It's laborious. "Underground, the defender has the edge. We're working to cut it down," said Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, who commands the 98th Paratroopers Division of the Israeli military. He's tasked with taking Khan Younis, the biggest city in the southern Gaza Strip and the army's most complex challenge so far.
/jlne.ws/3Sl9Ca1
DHL Chief Warns Over Shipping Shortages From Red Sea Attacks
Sam Dagher - Bloomberg
DHL Group sees potential for a container ship shortage in the near future if vessels continue to undertake lengthy journeys around Africa to avoid attacks in the Red Sea, Chief Executive Officer Tobias Meyer said. Shortages might begin occurring in about two weeks, hitting Asia in particular, if Houthi militants' attacks continue to force merchant ships to steer clear of the waterway, Meyer said at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
/jlne.ws/3U6exwK
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Cboe's Data and Access Solutions Targets Global Expansion
Shanny Basar - MarketsMedia
Last October Adam Inzirillo was promoted to global head of data and access solutions at Cboe Global Markets as part of the derivatives and securities exchange network's changes in its senior leadership to support the company's global growth strategy. He was previously head of North American equities at Cboe for almost four years, and replaced Catherine Clay, who was appointed to the newly created role of global head of derivatives.
/jlne.ws/47DkMez
BME to settle the first NextGenerationEU bond auction for up to 1.5 billion euros
BME
The European Commission has announced the first NextGenerationEU bond auction for today; Iberclear is launching its NextGenerationEU cross-border securities settlement and custody services through the latest link with its Belgian counterpart. BME will settle the first NextGenerationEU bond auction held today. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the NextGenerationEU ("NGEU") programme was approved to finance recovery initiatives while facilitating the green and digital transition of the European Union economy. Under the programme, the European Commission has announced that the first auction of NextGeneration bonds will take place today with a volume of up to EUR1.5 billion.
/jlne.ws/48XkfoV
Euronext Brussels celebrates Belgian financial excellence at its 2024 Awards Ceremony
Euronext
Euronext Brussels today presented its 2024 Awards during its annual New Year Event held in Brussels. The prestigious event, organised in collaboration with Guberna, was attended by over 500 representatives from the Belgian and international financial community. Highlights of the New Year Event were the keynote speech delivered by Vincent Van Peteghem, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Belgium, and the video address by Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-president of the Club of Rome. The event also featured two panel discussions with a specific focus on sustainable finance: "Transitioning towards high impact."
/jlne.ws/3tW1gMF
Honorary Membership - Mr Ashok Singhania
London Metal Exchange
Summary. 1. This notice confirms that Mr Ashok Singhania has been made an Honorary Member of the LME, in recognition of his service to the metals industry. Background. 2. Ashok entered the metals industry in 1986, predominately trading primary non-ferrous metals and along with his firm, Simportex Ltd, became a significant supplier of nonferrous metals around the globe.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa
Request For Proposal: Market Making Of Options On Three-Month Corra Futures
Montreal Exchange
Bourse de Montreal Inc. (the "Bourse") is issuing a Request for Proposal ("RFP") for the market making of the Options on Three-Month CORRA Futures (OCR). This RFP is intended for approved participants and foreign approved participants, as well as their eligible clients, interested in submitting proposals outlining their abilities and commitment towards market making activities for the designated contracts. The market making requirements and the conditions of the program are indicated in the attached RFP. At the end of the RFP submission period, the Bourse may proceed with the selection of up to two (2) market
/jlne.ws/3Sl0mCF
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | OpenAI CEO, Time Owner Benioff Disagree on AI's Use of Copyrighted Content; OpenAI is negotiating with news companies to license content; The New York Times sued OpenAI in November over training data
Brody Ford and Brad Stone - Bloomberg
Marc Benioff, the Salesforce Inc. chief executive officer who also owns Time magazine, said artificial intelligence companies ripped off intellectual property to build their technology. "All the training data has been stolen," Benioff said Tuesday in an interview at Bloomberg House at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Content from media outlets including Time and the New York Times Co. surfaces in results from AI companies, he said.
/jlne.ws/490gfUR
OpenAI Doesn't Want to Train on New York Times Data After Lawsuit, Altman Says; Sam Altman says AI needs small amounts of high quality data; New York Times is suing OpenAI for copyright infringement
Brad Stone and Jake Rudnitsky - Bloomberg
Artificial intelligence doesn't need vast quantities of training data from publishers like The New York Times Co., according to OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, in a response to allegations his startup is poaching copyrighted material. "There is this belief held by some people that you need all my training data and my training data is so valuable," Altman said Tuesday at Bloomberg House at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos. "Actually, that is generally not the case. We do not want to train on the New York Times data, for example."
/jlne.ws/3U4z9pk
Alphabet CFO Cites Cancer Experience to Explain AI Optimism
Thomas Seal - Bloomberg
Alphabet Inc. Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said her own experience of breast cancer helped her understand the "extraordinary" potential of AI in healthcare. Porat said after learning about progress Google made in early metastatic breast cancer detection with AI, she called her own oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and asked: "Is this really as important as I hope?"
/jlne.ws/3tY2uqQ
Australia Weighs Mandatory Restrictions on High-Risk AI Use; Government aims to reduce dangers while letting tech flourish; AI, automation could lift economic output up to A$600b by 2030
Ben Westcott - Bloomberg
Australia will consider introducing mandatory "guardrails" on the development of artificial intelligence as the government attempts to balance the productivity benefits of the new technology with potential fallout including the dissemination of disinformation. Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic announced Wednesday plans to create a panel of experts to weigh options for restrictions on AI use and research. Among other regulations being considered are a voluntary safety standard for low-risk applications and watermarks for AI-created content.
/jlne.ws/3vAXvNg
Microsoft's Nadella Wants Stability at OpenAI, Not Control; Nadella is 'comfortable' with OpenAI relationship, structure; UK, EU watchdogs weighing probes of Microsoft-OpenAI ties
Brad Stone and Dina Bass - Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said he doesn't want greater control over OpenAI as European and UK regulators consider probes of the deep ties between the two companies. "What we just want is good stability," he said in an interview at Bloomberg House at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "We invested, we partnered when they were whatever they were and whatever they are today - a capped-profit, nonprofit, what have you. So I'm comfortable. I have no issues with any structure."
/jlne.ws/3O8gNQu
Beware, ChatGPT Is Going After the Attention Economy; OpenAI will pay developers based on how engaging they can make their chatbots. That incentive model has proved harmful in the past.
Parmy Olson - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4aX2rvZ
Sam Altman, Bill Gates Weigh AI Risks in Big Election Year; AI and democracy are the talk of Davos.
Brad Stone - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/429ujcf
OpenAI Is Working With US Military on Cybersecurity Tools; ChatGPT maker sees merit in working with defense department
Brad Stone and Mark Bergen - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/48Cp1Iz
AI Certification Program Verifies Systems Are 'Fairly Trained'; New system seeks to create a sort of 'organic' or 'fair trade' label for AI.
Ellen Huet - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3HnfVn9
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | How Blockchain Revolutionizes Data Integrity And Cybersecurity
Danny Pehar - Forbes
In the current digital landscape, data integrity and security have taken center stage, especially as businesses and institutions continue to depend on digital data. This reliance, however, brings its own set of challenges, as the ever-growing volume of digital data is accompanied by a rise in sophisticated cyber threats. These threats pose significant risks to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, which are the cornerstones of information security.
/jlne.ws/3O5JQnK
Fashion Giant Faces New IPO Hitch: China's Cybersecurity Police; Beijing is scrutinizing Shein's data handling for potential national security risks, a move that might delay its planned share sale
Liza Lin - The Wall Street Journal
China's powerful internet regulator is conducting a cybersecurity review of Shein's data handling and sharing practices as the fast-fashion company seeks Beijing's blessing for its planned initial public offering. The Cyberspace Administration of China is looking into the ways Shein handles information on its staff, suppliers and partners in China, as well as whether the company can effectively protect such data from leaking to overseas parties, people familiar with the matter said.
Quantum Computing to Spark 'Cybersecurity Armageddon,' IBM Says; IBM's general manager of EMEA sees quantum era by 2030; Quantum computers to make existing encryption systems obsolete
Isabella Ward and Brad Stone - Bloomberg
Governments and businesses are not prepared for the havoc quantum computers will sow in cybersecurity by the end of the decade, according to an International Business Machines Corp. executive. "Is quantum going to really create a cybersecurity Armageddon?" Ana Paula Assis, IBM's general manager of Europe, Middle East and Africa, said on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. "It's going to."
/jlne.ws/3U3qjrC
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Can Crypto Dethrone U.S. Dollar Dominance? Here Is Morgan Stanley's Take; U.S. monetary policy, combined with the use of economic sanctions, have forced some countries to look for alternatives to the dollar, while growth of stablecoins may have emphasized the need of the fiat currency, the bank said.
Will Canny - CoinDesk
The dominance of the U.S. dollar as the linchpin of the international financial system is being increasingly questioned due to shifting geopolitical currents and the country's growing twin deficits, Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley (MS) said in a report last week.
/jlne.ws/48SEJz9
Crypto Miner Core Scientific to Exit Bankruptcy; Firm's approved restructuring plan cuts $400 million in debt; Core Scientific said it plans to re-list on Nasdaq this month
Jonathan Randles - Bloomberg
Crypto mining firm Core Scientific Inc. won court approval to exit bankruptcy and implement a restructuring plan that trims about $400 million in debt from its balance sheet and fully repays company creditors thanks largely to a turnaround in Bitcoin prices over the last year. Judge Christopher Lopez said Tuesday he'd confirm Core Scientific's Chapter 11 exit plan, a decision that clears the firm to emerge from bankruptcy later this month. Core Scientific said during a court hearing the company anticipates its shares will be re-listed on the Nasdaq on Jan. 24.
/jlne.ws/3UaqeCu
Hong Kong Crypto Exchange HashKey Becomes Crypto Unicorn After $100M Raise
Sam Reynolds - CoinDesk
HashKey Group, which operates the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange, has "nearly" met its $100 million fundraising target, the firm said on Tuesday. HashKey announced the fundraising round in August, shortly after it won a license from Hong Kong's security regulator to offer retail crypto trading. The firm did not disclose the investors in the round and now has a valuation of $1.2 billion post-raise, giving it a "unicorn" status.
/jlne.ws/3tWY833
Binance Thailand Crypto Exchange Open for Trading
Sam Reynolds - CoinDesk
Binance and Gulf Innova, a subsidiary of Gulf Energy Development, said that their joint venture crypto exchange Binance Thailand is now open for trading. "We are deeply humbled to finally announce the launch of our local platform to the general public in Thailand. Over the past year, we have been working closely with Thai regulators, putting substantial effort into detailed planning," Nirun Fuwattananukul, CEO of Gulf Binance, said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/47EtPfs
Here's How Much Sam Bankman-Fried's Solana Would Be Worth If FTX Didn't Collapse
Caden Pok - Benzinga
During the 2021 bull market, Solana saw incredible price gains. Going from $2 to an all-time high of $260 made many investors wealthy. When looking back at this run and attempting to pinpoint some of the causes, Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) name pops up. SBF was an advocate for Solana, creating projects, investing in the token and speaking about it publicly. Many believe that SBF's praise and use of Solana was a major contributor to its huge spike in 2021. Specifically, SBF created a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Solana blockchain called Serum. This project allowed users to trade and convert Solana and other tokens on a peer-to-peer exchange. SBF's success with centralized exchange FTX also contributed to Serum's success.
/jlne.ws/3Hotxyy
SEC Approval Was Huge for Bitcoin ETFs. But the World's Biggest Just Got a Far More Important Win.
Dan Caplinger - The Motley Fool
/jlne.ws/3U1YIHm
Traders Pull $579 Million Out of Grayscale Bitcoin ETF
Emily Graffeo - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/48Xmetc
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | How Donald Trump's Candidacy Tests the US Constitution
Gregory Korte - Bloomberg
Like no one before him, Donald Trump is at once a former president, a leading candidate to be nominated for the presidency again, and a criminal defendant. He faces 91 felony charges in four separate cases for conduct before, during and after his presidency, including conspiring to defraud the US in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, mishandling classified documents and falsifying business records to cover up hush money to an adult film actress. This unprecedented situation raises questions that previously would have been implausible law school hypotheticals. These are some of them.
/jlne.ws/3Sw7Sel
Ripple CEO calls U.S. SEC Chair Gary Gensler a 'political liability'
Ryan Browne - CNBC
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse fired off criticism at U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler on Tuesday, calling the SEC chief a "political liability." The comment from Garlinghouse was directed at Gensler over the SEC chief's track record on regulating the crypto industry, lengthy delays to approving spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and high-profile lawsuits against companies like his.
/jlne.ws/4905XE9
Susquehanna Founder Gives Record $6 Million to Greg Abbott
Shelly Hagan - Bloomberg
Jeff Yass, the founder of market-making firm Susquehanna International Group, donated $6 million to Greg Abbott's campaign as the Texas governor's national profile grows following his aggressive approach to the border, migrants and education.
/jlne.ws/48ylzPl
Trump Seeks to Revive Tough-on-China Image With Markets Remark
Christian Hall - Bloomberg
Donald Trump signaled he would again make his stance on China a key part of his US presidential campaign strategy, drawing an unsubstantiated correlation between turbulence in the nation's equity markets and his runaway Iowa Republican caucus victory. While a gauge of US-listed Chinese stocks retreated Tuesday, shares traded in mainland China rose. Recent weakness in the country's markets has more to do with domestic concerns than Trump, according to Willer Chen, an analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia Ltd.
/jlne.ws/3vKTtBI
Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has 'Changed Dramatically'
Hannah Levitt - Bloomberg
China has been "very consistent" in opening up to financial-services companies, but calculating the potential upside for US firms has become more complicated, according to Jamie Dimon. Investors considering making a move into the world's second-largest economy have to be "a little worried" because "the risk-reward has changed dramatically," the longtime JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer said Wednesday in a CNBC interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos.
/jlne.ws/48EbIre
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | JPMorgan Broke Whistleblower Protection Rule, SEC Alleges; The bank used settlements that broke SEC rules, regulator says; Firm pays $18 million penalty to settle probe into practice
Austin Weinstein - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. broke a federal whistleblower protection rule through agreements with customers that barred them from proactively reaching out to the Securities and Exchange Commission when they accepted a settlement or a credit from the bank, the regulator alleged Tuesday. The bank agreed to pay a $18 million fine to settle the probe without admitting or denying the SEC's findings. From March 2020 to July 2023, JPMorgan used legal language that made customers promise "not to sue or solicit others to institute any action or proceeding against" the firm when a customer accepted a settlement or credit from the bank worth more than $1,000, according to the SEC order. At least 362 JPMorgan customers signed such agreements, and the bank has since revised the language, the regulator said.
/jlne.ws/47TiQyZ
U.S. unveils plan to limit overdraft fees amid banking industry opposition; The new rules could cap some overdraft charges as low as $3, though industry lobbyists are expected to vigorously oppose the proposal
Tony Romm - The Washington Post
The U.S. government on Wednesday proposed to limit bank overdraft fees, which companies can charge customers who spend more money than they have available in their accounts, touching off a fierce fight with financial giants eager to preserve their profits from federal regulation. The new draft rules, unveiled by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, could cap some of the charges as low as $3, part of a suite of potential changes meant to aid low-income Americans that are most at risk of racking up substantial debts.
/jlne.ws/48Rroa8
Case brought to Supreme Court by herring fishermen may gut federal rulemaking power
Carrie Johnson - NPR
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case Wednesday that could eviscerate the way the federal government regulates, well, everything. A system in place for decades has governed how judges review curbs on air and water pollution, gun safety measures and workplace protections. But all of it could be upended by a conservative supermajority on the court at the request of an unlikely set of plaintiffs: a group of herring fishermen based in Cape May, N.J.
/jlne.ws/3vFsvvu
New Report from Vinson & Elkins Provides Insightful Predictions for FERC's 2024 Electricity Agenda
Vinson & Elkins
Vinson & Elkins today has released a comprehensive report that forecasts four areas of focus for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) 2024 electricity agenda: (1) transmission siting; (2) a new return on equity ("ROE") methodology; (3) significant changes to the interconnection framework set forth in Order No. 2023; and (4) a final rule on regional transmission planning and cost allocation.
/jlne.ws/48WZ06y
CFTC Charges a Trader for Engaging in a Fictitious Sales Scheme
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Yueyu Bao, a Chinese citizen, for engaging in a fictitious sales scheme. In its complaint, the CFTC seeks restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, as charged.
/jlne.ws/4aYyvQ8
SEC Charges Three Individuals in Microcap Fraud Scheme Targeting Retail Investors
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Jonathan Farber of New York, Aarif Jamani of British Columbia, Canada, and Brian Keasberry of Nevada, with running a microcap fraud scheme targeting retail investors. The defendants were each involved in different parts of an alleged fraudulent scheme involving a publicly-traded company that generated approximately $5 million in illicit stock sale proceeds.
/jlne.ws/48O7VaI
SEC Obtains Default Judgment Against Technology Company in Multi-Million Dollar Securities Offering Fraud
SEC
On January 3, 2024, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered a final judgment against start-up technology company Medsis International, Inc., ordering it to pay approximately $15,871,200 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty in a securities offering fraud action previously filed by the SEC in August 2021.
/jlne.ws/3HknTNQ
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | The wealth transfer from baby boomers mostly benefits women; Financial advisers pivot to a new, growing customer base
Brittany Shammas - The Washington Post
Two dozen women gathered in a California living room one night in 2018, ready to talk money. Britt Williams Baker, a Harvard Business School graduate and former consultant, had been offering friends how-to sessions on investing when she realized that many needed to start with the basics of budgeting. So, teaching alongside her that night was best friend Laurie-Anne King, a women's empowerment coach who had been on a personal finance journey of her own: paying off $40,000 of debt. The name Baker gave the circle? Dow Janes.
/jlne.ws/3tOcRNV
Trading firm tries to halt $60mn shipment of seized pigeon peas; ETG accuses Mozambican authorities of helping local firm Royal Group take foodstuffs in long-running dispute
Joseph Cotterill and Susannah Savage - Financial Times
African commodities house ETG is racing to halt the shipment of up to $60mn in pigeon peas and other foods from Mozambique, after accusing authorities of helping a local trader illegally seize its assets. The Mauritius-headquartered group is trying to stop the export of goods seized by Mozambican food trading firm Royal Group, as a long-running dispute between the two companies escalates, people familiar with ETG's plans said.
/jlne.ws/3Sou1uZ
US energy security role in question as gas exports receive new scrutiny; Some Biden administration officials push review of approval process for LNG terminals
Myles McCormick and Jamie Smyth - Financial Times
The US natural gas industry is on high alert as the Biden administration reconsiders the way it licences massive new export terminals for the fuel, under pressure from climate campaigners escalating a fight against fossil energy infrastructure. Construction of liquefied natural gas terminals along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts have vaulted the US above Qatar as the top global LNG exporter, enabling it to replace critical European supplies after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/4907MB1
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | World's Best ESG Fund Trounces Peers With a Huge Bet on Crypto; Fund model built by Ark managers delivered 68% in 2023; Traditional ESG strategies like wind, solar slumped last year
Sheryl Tian Tong Lee - Bloomberg
The world's best-performing ESG fund of 2023 was built by Ark Investment Management LLC and powered by a huge bet on crypto. The $2.4 billion Nikko AM Ark Positive Change Innovation Fund (ticker NIPCIPJ LX) returned 68% last year, more than double the gains delivered by the S&P 500. Its biggest holding was Coinbase Global Inc., which makes up almost a tenth of the fund, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Nikko-Ark fund is registered as "promoting" ESG under European rules.
/jlne.ws/47DKcbS
The Virtue Economy Is Over; The DEI and ESG movements are well-intentioned, but executing on the vision has always been a problem.
Allison Schrager - Bloomberg
The virtue bubble has not only peaked; it is starting to deflate. For the last few years, the ESG movement has affected both how people invest and what they buy. Now the acronym (it stands for environmental, social and governance) is becoming a "dirty word." Companies are scrubbing it from their websites, and CEOs are no longer mentioning it in their speeches. And if there is an acronym that that sparks even stronger feelings than ESG, it is DEI (which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, and is part of the S and G in ESG). Depending on your view, DEI is either a cure for America's structural racism or proof that the fight against it has gone too far. In either case, its power is also fading; firms facing narrowing profit margins are cutting jobs in DEI departments.
/jlne.ws/4b0TNfV
60th Session of the IPCC (IPCC-60)
IISD Knowledge Hub
The 60th session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-60) will convene from 16-19 January 2024. The meeting will be the second meeting of the seventh assessment cycle. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will discuss lessons learned from its sixth assessment cycle, consider the new Chair's vision for its seventh cycle, and discuss options for the programme of work.
/jlne.ws/3tYCDz2
Correcting Climate Imbalance
Emmy Hawker - ESG Investor
With a new taskforce working towards developing global climate taxes, possibilities and challenges ahead are seemingly endless. As COP28 drew to a close in Dubai, many were buoyed by the official final text, which explicitly highlighted the importance of transitioning away from fossil fuels for the first time. Several new funding pledges were also made to boost existing levels of investment to ensure alignment with the 1.5°C by 2050 commitment. However, the climate finance gap still yawns wide.
/jlne.ws/490RKa5
Three Reasons Why ESG And COP Meetings Are Not Working
Rajeev Peshawaria - Forbes (contributor)
Another year has come and gone, as has another COP meeting. What Did COP28 Really Accomplish was the title of an article that appeared in the New Yorker on Dec 13, 2023. Author Elizabeth Kolbert aptly states: 'Three decades after agreeing to avoid "dangerous" warming, the nations of the world today acknowledged that this would involve "transitioning away from fossil fuels." This can be found on page 5 of the final document that emerged from the latest round of climate negotiations-COP28-which just ended, in Dubai. Depending on how you look at things, the statement represents either a genuine breakthrough that will allow the globe to avert catastrophe or a point so obvious that what it really reveals is how far off track things have veered.'
/jlne.ws/3O5yzDM
Anti-ESG Politics Affects Names More Than Strategies; While campaigns may have succeeded in shifting ESG naming conventions, their impact on actual investing strategies has been far more muted.
Paul Mulholland - Chief Investment Officer
/jlne.ws/3HkSfzV
Millennials and Gen Zers ditch 'woke capitalism': Support plummets for socially-conscious ESG funds as TikTokers bash 'scam' diversity targets and 'greenwashing'
James Reinl - Dailymail.Com
/jlne.ws/3HpQXDL
How Global Reporting Initiative standards meet the EU's ESG reporting requirements
Natalie Runyon - Thomson Reuters Institute
/jlne.ws/3U44Vm9
Mining's top 10 ESG trends for 2024
Rachel Dekker and Elizabeth Freele - The Northern Miner
/jlne.ws/3S04jLH
London and other UK cities unprepared for effects of climate change; Inadequate investment in flood defences leaves capital and other areas at risk, warn two reports
Attracta Mooney and Gill Plimmer - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3HnapAX
This $20 Trillion Climate Theme Is Trouncing Other Strategies; While investments in wind and solar mostly resulted in losses in 2023, fund managers who piled into this sector enjoyed double-digit returns.
Tim Quinson - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3HpRzt3
A New Study Suggests the Insect Repellent DEET Might Affect Reproductive Systems; Researchers made the findings after examining the effects of the chemical on worms. They say more studies are needed about the potential impact on people.
Victoria St. Martin - Inside Climate News
/jlne.ws/3tN6pqt
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | The World's Biggest Wealth Fund Is Suing Over Silicon Valley Bank's Failure
Eliot Brown and Alex Frangos - The Wall Street Journal
The world's largest sovereign wealth fund is going after the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank, its management and advisers. Norges Bank, which manages Norway's oil wealth, attacked SVB in a legal filing late Tuesday. The filing accused the failed bank and its executives of concealing the lender's ailing health from public view, while also ignoring warnings about risks from rising interest rates.
/jlne.ws/41Z6y6F
Charles Schwab Stock Slips After Brokerage Reports Revenue Decline
Hannah Miao - The Wall Street Journal
Shares of Charles Schwab slipped in premarket trading after the brokerage giant reported fourth-quarter earnings. Net income fell 47% from a year earlier to $1.045 billion in the quarter.
/jlne.ws/47EAHcJ
Schwab's New Assets Declined as Brokerage Closed Out Tough Year
Paige Smith - Bloomberg
Charles Schwab Corp. reported a decline in net new assets in the fourth quarter, as the brokerage navigated a tumultuous year where interest rate hikes dented the firm's balance sheet. Schwab said net new assets were $66.3 billion, a 48% drop on the year which also missed analyst estimates. The firm also said bank deposits in the period fell 21% to $290 billion, though that surpassed predictions. Schwab's total retail brokerage accounts hit 34.8 million, falling just shy of estimates.
/jlne.ws/424bqHx
Billionaire Ryan Cohen's Meme-Stock Mystique Fizzles After Alibaba's Bad Year
Bailey Lipschultz and Abhishek Vishnoi - Bloomberg
Ryan Cohen was like a Warren Buffett of the meme-stock frenzy, inspiring a small army of day traders seeking to pocket big gains by piggybacking on his bets on struggling retailers. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s stock has fallen some 40% since the billionaire's stake in the Chinese Internet giant was reported last January as the nation's stock market slumped and the company lost ground to rivals. The slide is another black eye for the billionaire, who gained a following after GameStop Corp.'s shares surged in 2021 while he made a push to revive the video-game retailer. But that company's stock price has since tumbled over 80% from its peak even as Cohen has taken over as chief executive officer and moved to make stock-market bets with the company's cash - an unusual step, since companies typically invest in their own businesses instead.
/jlne.ws/3U0Eqhu
It's a Great Time to Be a Credit Hedge Fund; Banking crisis, interest rate volatility created opportunities; Sona, Arini also among winners posting double-digit returns
Nishant Kumar and Laura Benitez - Bloomberg
Volatility across the banking sector and a dizzying rise in interest rates: what a time to be a credit fund. On average, credit hedge funds tracked by Bloomberg returned about 8% last year. Steve Tananbaum's GoldenTree Asset Management, Jack Land's Axebrook Capital, John Aylward's Sona Asset Management and Hamza Lemssouguer's Arini all enjoyed double-digit gains, each taking advantage of market turmoil that threw more borrowers into financial difficulty.
/jlne.ws/3Hl1oIv
Rokos' Hedge Fund Paid Members £445 Million After 2022 Gains
Liza Tetley - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4aXfFJb
Ex-Millennium Trader Cowley's Sandbar Shuts Down Hedge Fund
Nishant Kumar - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/48CZwqz
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | The 5 skills workers value the most in 2024, according to new research; The CEO of Randstad says it's increasingly important for employers to help workers learn in-demand skills.
AJ Hess - Fast Company
According to a new survey, how workers define career growth is changing. For Randstad's 2024 Workmonitor report, the Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm surveyed 27,000 workers from 34 countries and found what Randstad CEO Sander van 't Noordende describes as a "split workforce." Roughly half of workers worldwide tell Randstad they identify as ambitious, and roughly the same amount say they do not. However, while many workers are not interested in continually climbing the career ladder, the majority of workers (72%) still value learning new skills.
/jlne.ws/3O1B9dR
There's a Toxic Employee-and the CEO Is Ignoring the Issue; How to deal with that kind of co-worker.
Anna Holmes - Bloomberg
Q: Our organization has a toxic employee in senior management, causing turnover, but the CEO seems to ignore it. What should I do? -Gideon, Washington, DC A: Good question. Big question. And one that is incredibly difficult to answer in that it's both general (it speaks to a problem that lots of us can identify with) and vague (it's hard to address specifics when the specifics aren't known). But I and "Laurel," a longtime human resources professional who requested anonymity to speak freely, are going to try.
/jlne.ws/3HoJS6u
The Reason the Office Isn't Fun Anymore; RIP eavesdropping. Employees are now hiding out in privacy booths or empty conference rooms, turning workplaces into quiet zones. 'It's weird.'
Ray A. Smith and John Keilman - The Wall Street Journal
When David Witting prepared digital-marketing agency Dept@'s Boston-area offices for employees' return in 2022, he ordered trendy couches, chairs and high tables, envisioning lively collaboration and banter. Yet when his co-workers arrived, many skipped the furniture and gravitated toward the private booths scattered in the office. Since then he's jettisoned some of the furniture, and added more booths.
/jlne.ws/3S5z6qD
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | We Are in a Big Covid Wave. But Just How Big?; Wastewater data has become perhaps the best metric to track the spread of the virus in the U.S., but it's an imperfect tool.
Francesca Paris - The New York Times
The curves on some Covid graphs are looking quite steep, again. Reported levels of the virus in U.S. wastewater are higher than they have been since the first Omicron wave, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though severe outcomes still remain rarer than in earlier pandemic winters.
/jlne.ws/3O5l478
Improving wellness for tax and accounting professionals
Reuters
Tax and accounting professionals are known for working hard, especially during tax season. But this can take a toll on their well-being and lead to burnout. Many talented junior staff quit their jobs and shift careers because they can't cope with the stress and the lack of work-life balance. That's why firms need to pay attention to wellness and support their employees in achieving it.
/jlne.ws/4b0PJMB
Volunteering Benefits the Health and Wellness of Kids and Teens
Dan Mager - Psychology Today
Volunteering-being of service to others via unpaid work-is a value promoted in a wide range of social, cultural, and spiritual circles. Importantly, besides being beneficial for those on the receiving end of volunteer services, there are also positive effects on the health and well-being of those doing the volunteering.
/jlne.ws/4aWXXFF
What "Wellness" Is and Isn't
Slate (Audio)
We all want to be "well"-but what does that mean exactly?
/jlne.ws/4222lPC
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Japan's Market Roars Back to Life-With Old-Timers Leading the Way; After decades of setting its benchmark rate near zero, the BOJ is poised to tighten, spurring new opportunities for veteran traders.
Ruth Carson, Takashi Nakamichi, and Hidenori Yamanaka - Bloomberg
Suddenly, it's exciting to be a trader in Japan again. The Japanese central bank is widely expected to put an end to the world's last negative interest rate in the next few months. And after decades of humdrum predictability, the world's third-largest government bond market is buzzing, the benchmark stock index has hit a 34-year high, and brokerages across Tokyo are staffing up-often seeking out older traders who remember when Japan last had positive rates. The broader economic and societal impact of the shift is still some time away for most of Japan. But on its trading floors, the new era-with its echoes of the past-is already here. "I was getting close to what the financial industry sees as the retirement age," says rate-swap broker Tadashi Masumoto, who'd expected to downshift to a slower professional gear ahead of the birth of his fourth child a couple of years ago.
/jlne.ws/420Gg3S
China's Population Decline Accelerates as Women Resist Pressure to Have Babies; China ended 2023 with 1.410 billion people, a drop of 2.08 million, as births continue to plummet
Liyan Qi - The Wall Street Journal
Births in China dropped by more than 500,000 last year to just over 9 million in total, accelerating the decline in the country's population as women shrugged off the government's exhortations to reproduce. The number of newborns has gone into free fall over the past several years. Official figures released Wednesday showed that China had fewer than half the number of births in 2023 than the country did in 2016, after China abolished the one-child policy. The latest number points to a fertility rate-the number of children a woman has over her lifetime-that is close to 1.0, a level considered by demographers as "ultralow."
/jlne.ws/4b035Zt
Coffee Hoarding Set to Squeeze Vietnamese Exports Even Further
Mai Ngoc Chau - Bloomberg
Coffee exports from Vietnam are set to tighten as some growers hoard their beans and Red Sea risks mount following a smaller crop from the world's biggest producer of the robusta variety. Some farmers are waiting for even higher domestic prices before selling, and are instead relying on income from fruit sales including durians to cover costs in the meantime, according to Trinh Duc Minh, head of the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association in Dak Lak province, a key grower. The local price of robusta - used for instant drinks and espressos - has already rallied to a record.
/jlne.ws/3TZadiZ
India to keep diversifying oil supply, accelerate energy transition -Oil Minister
Una Galani - Reuters
Supply cuts by OPEC+, costly shipments from some traditional Middle East suppliers and geopolitical tension is driving India, the world's third biggest oil importer, to diversify its crude sources and accelerate its energy transition, its Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. "Whenever there is vulnerability and uncertainty in the market, the transition gets accelerated. No-one is looking at that", Puri told Reuters in an interview at this week's World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, referring to attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea.
/jlne.ws/3Hnonmh
Norway Grants 62 Oil, Gas Production Permits in Mature Areas
Kari Lundgren - Bloomberg
Norway awarded 62 licenses for exploration acreage in the seas off its coast as Europe's biggest supplier of natural gas strives to maintain production.nLicenses were offered to 24 different companies, with 16 firms presented with operatorships for the permits, the Energy Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. 29 permits are located in the North Sea, 25 in the Norwegian Sea, and 8 in the Barents.
/jlne.ws/3Hlb8CD
Nubank's 176% Surge Backs CEO's Drive to Poach Clients From Rivals
Cristiane Lucchesi, Vinícius Andrade, Leda Alvim and Daniel Cancel - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/48zkXc5
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