| September 25, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has updated its guidance on evaluating corporate compliance programs, emphasizing the importance of managing risks associated with emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). Compliance officers are now expected to assess AI's impact on their company's ability to adhere to criminal laws and ensure proper governance in its use.
The revised guidelines also stress the use of internal data and lessons from past misconduct to strengthen compliance efforts. Companies with robust, adaptive compliance programs could receive more lenient treatment during investigations.
Additionally, the DOJ has enhanced its focus on whistleblower protections, encouraging companies to foster a culture where employees feel safe reporting misconduct. This aligns with a new DOJ trial program offering monetary rewards to whistleblowers. The guidance prompts prosecutors to evaluate how companies handle whistleblowers and whether they promote a "speak-up" culture.
FMX Futures Exchange traded six contracts on its first day of trading, four in December 2024 3-Month SOFR futures, and two in September 2024 3-Month SOFR futures. Open interest was 2 and 1 respectively in the two months following the end of trading. You can find the daily trade report HERE.
Marex is the first non-bank futures commission merchant (FCM) to join the FMX Futures Exchange for trading SOFR futures. It also cleared the first trade on the exchange, as confirmed by LCH via an external PR source. This new membership enables Marex to expand its U.S. futures product offerings and provide clients with access to the FMX exchange, complementing its existing OTC rate swaps clearing initiative and opening up further opportunities with LCH, the PR source wrote.
Here are excerpts from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories:
Sucden Financial has appointed Rob Noyce, a former UBS director, as the head of its exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) division, where he will oversee the company's non-London Metal Exchange (LME) business. Meanwhile, India's Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2008, is gaining traction as a significant cross-border financial hub near Ahmedabad. In the global financial landscape, experts anticipate that a new cycle of interest rate cuts will positively impact emerging market assets, as investors look for higher yields. However, the effectiveness of recent European Union regulatory reporting reforms remains uncertain, with early feedback suggesting little change ahead of the UK's implementation. In response to these anticipated rate cuts, industry experts at FOW Singapore advise investors to diversify their portfolios to better capitalize on the potential benefits.
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:
- High-Speed Traders Made $7 Billion in Indian Options Market Boom from Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance.
- Here are the most volatile days for stocks before the election, according to the options market from MarketWatch.
- Traders Buy Bullish Chinese ETF Options Before PBOC Briefing from Bloomberg. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 LaSalle Street Racing to Move Scouts Forward Fundraiser www.tinyurl.com/LaSalle4Scouts On September 25, the Pathway to Adventure Council of the Boy Scouts of America is hosting the LaSalle Street Racing to Move Scouts Forward event at the Chicago Board of Trade Building. This annual tradition, dating back to 1971, brings together professionals from LaSalle Street to support Scouting in our community. The highlight of the evening will be a pinewood derby race. You'll have the opportunity to build your own car or lease one at the event. It's a fantastic way to tap into your competitive spirit while enjoying cocktails and delicious food with colleagues and friends. Your participation will directly benefit Scouting programs that help develop leadership skills and character in our youth. There are various sponsorship levels available to suit your preferences. The event will be held at Ceres, with plans to move outdoors if weather permits. It's a perfect opportunity to network, have fun, and make a difference. Click Here to Register »
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Diddy and Sam Bankman-Fried Are Jail Bunkmates
Adriane Quinlan - Curbed
After P. Diddy's lawyers lost their bid last week to keep him out of jail, he was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center, where sources tell NBC News that he's bunking with an unlikely roommate: the mop-headed, fallen king of crypto, Sam Bankman-Fried. P. Diddy was arrested on September 16 and indicted on charges of of racketeering and sex trafficking after a growing list of women accused him of sexual assault. While he awaits trial, he's stuck in a unit that houses around 20 people who prison officials think shouldn't mix with the rest of the population.
/jlne.ws/3XDit8r
***** A PR firm offered me James Koutoulas, attorney, crypto trader, and founder of Typhon Capital as someone to interview for this story. They said "As a legal expert and one of the most active voices in the crypto space" and I spit out my green beans. Koutoulas is an attorney, but has never practiced law other than showing up in court opportunistically to represent MF Global customers. I would hardly call him a legal expert. Now, the crypto thing he has some cred, he did start the "Let's Go Brandon" coin that was a sign of disrespect for President Biden. ~JJL
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The Glenlivet Releases its Oldest-Ever Single Malt Scotch
Pete O'Connell - VinePair
On Tuesday, The Glenlivet unveiled the oldest whisky to be released in its 200-year history. According to a brand press release, only 100 bottles of the 55-year-old single malt will make it to market at a lofty $55,000. This release marks the first installment in the Speyside distillery's Eternal Collection, a new annual series. This particular expression was finished in a seasoned sherry cask, and all future releases in the collection will be drawn from a single cask and aged for one additional year. Each expression will also be accompanied by an original artform crafted by a new artist.
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****** I could share a dram of a dram of a dram with you, assuming I could come up with the $55K in the first place.~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our most-clicked story Tuesday was from The Wall Street Journal, Robinhood Touts Rock-Bottom Fees for Options Trading. Then Come the Hidden Costs. Stories about EU raids related to a derivatives cartel placed second and third: second, with the Bloomberg story Deutsche Boerse and Nasdaq Raided in EU Cartel Probe and third, with reporting from the Financial Times Nasdaq and Deutsche Boerse raided in EU antitrust investigation
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| Lead Stories | US Fintech Firm Seeks Membership of Iconic LME Trading Floor; Clear Street seeks regulatory approval to join the LME Ring; Metals industry is preparing to gather in London for LME Week
Mark Burton and Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Financial services firm Clear Street is looking to join the London Metal Exchange's open-outcry trading floor, in a move that would bolster the prospects of the iconic "Ring" after a decline in volumes and a slew of departures in recent years. New York-based Clear Street is seeking regulatory approval ahead of a planned application to join the LME, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
/jlne.ws/3XZ9tvW
Justice Department Pushes Companies to Consider AI Risks; Changes to how prosecutors evaluate corporate compliance programs put a focus on risks posed by emerging technologies
Dylan Tokar - The Wall Street Journal
Compliance officers should now add artificial intelligence to the list of things they need to worry about, the Justice Department says. The department this week announced changes to guidance prosecutors use to assess a company's compliance program when it comes under investigation for bribery, fraud or other criminal offenses. The guidance, known as the DOJ's Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, is an important document for lawyers and compliance officers. Officials say companies with good compliance programs-along the lines described in the guidelines-are eligible for more lenient treatment even if a compliance breakdown occurs.
/jlne.ws/3BgYZil
Top India Bourse Is Said to Have Doubled In Value Amid IPO Hopes; National Stock Exchange is owned by CPPIB, LIC, ChrysCapital; SEBI cleared NSE of wrongdoing in unfair market access case
Baiju Kalesh, Preeti Singh and Saikat Das - Bloomberg
National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.'s valuation in the private markets has doubled to $36 billion in the last four months, backed by investor expectation that an initial public offering could materialize as early as the first quarter of next year, according to people familiar with the matter. Unlisted shares in the world's largest derivative exchange by contracts are in high demand with wealth managers whose rich clients want to own a piece of the company, said the people, asking not to be identified citing private information. While the demand for them far outstrips the supply, the shares have sold in the range of 5,700 rupees to 6,500 rupees ($68 to $78) recently, the people said.
/jlne.ws/3zm1yzj
BGC Group launches FMX Futures Exchange; Exchange launches with SOFR futures
BGC Group
BGC Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: BGC) and ten of the world's leading investment banks and market-making firms today announced the successful launch of the highly anticipated FMX Futures Exchange. The exchange is now open for trading SOFR futures, the largest notional futures contract in the world, and will add U.S. treasury futures in the first quarter of 2025. "We are excited to introduce real competition to the U.S. SOFR futures market and provide clients with much-needed innovation, superior pricing, and dramatically improved capital efficiency," said Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of BGC Group and Chairman of FMX Holdings, LLC. "This is the first U.S. interest rate futures exchange to launch with a fully operational, globally connected, state-of-the-art trading system, along with enormous capital savings driven by the LCH's cross-margin capabilities. Together with our strategic partners, FMX is well-positioned to capitalize on this tremendous opportunity."
/jlne.ws/3BaNYiw
Caroline Ellison Sentenced to Two Years in Prison in FTX Case; Ellison also ordered to forfeit $11 billion by judge Tuesday; Prosecutors told judge that Ellison 'deserves leniency'
Chris Dolmetsch, Bob Van Voris, and Teresa Xie - Bloomberg
Caroline Ellison was sentenced to 24 months in prison by a federal judge for her role in the FTX collapse, despite helping prosecutors in the conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried, her former boss and boyfriend. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Tuesday imposed the two-year sentence on the 29-year-old, calling Ellison's cooperation "remarkable" and praising her testimony during the fraud trial. But Kaplan noted that the case was one of the "most serious" financial frauds ever committed and that her cooperation can't be a "get out of jail free card."
/jlne.ws/3XTKkCF
*****Here is this story from The Wall Street Journal and from CNN.
The High-Stakes Spat Over How Much Oil the World Really Needs; OPEC is sticking with its estimate that the world will need an extra 2 million barrels a day this year, despite signs this is unrealistic
Carol Ryan - The Wall Street Journal
What's 1.1 million barrels between adversaries? The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency don't see eye to eye on much. The latter was basically founded as an anti-OPEC 50 years ago to represent energy consumers a year after that cartel's oil embargo quadrupled global crude prices. But now the gulf between their forecasts of how much oil the world will need in 2024 is oddly wide, especially for this late in the year. The IEA thinks an additional 900,000 barrels of oil a day will be needed by consumers in 2024. OPEC is far more bullish and expects two million extra barrels will be required.
/jlne.ws/4edt9BV
SEC Hits 11 Firms With $88 Million in Penalties for Off-Channel Communications
Kenneth Corbin - Barron's
The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced another big batch of fines against multiple registered investment advisory firms and broker-dealers involving employees conducting official business using unapproved communications channels that weren't recorded through those firms' record-keeping programs. The commission on Tuesday said it had fined 11 firms more than $88 million to resolve the allegations of so-called off-channel communications. A 12th firm settled similar allegations but evaded a monetary penalty due to mitigating circumstances including its decision to self-report its misconduct to the SEC and substantial efforts to improve its compliance operation.
/jlne.ws/3Zz6qM5
SEC Hits Pause on Ethereum ETF Options Following Bitcoin Nod; While the SEC ponders its decision on Ethereum options, the ETH ETF market on Monday saw its largest net outflows since July.
Vismaya V - Decrypt
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has postponed its decision on a proposed rule change by Nasdaq's International Securities Exchange to allow the listing and trading of options on BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA). Initially expected by Sept. 26, the decision has now been delayed until Nov. 10, giving the SEC additional time to evaluate the proposal's potential impact on market stability.
/jlne.ws/3zwhhf3
A Chatbot Is Now Cleared to Give Buy, Sell Investment Advice; Other governments have raised alarms that artificial intelligence might destabilize financial markets.
Saritha Rai - Bloomberg
An Israeli regulator has cleared an artificial intelligence startup to launch a chatbot that offers stock-picking advice in partnership with a large bank, even as other governments have raised alarms that AI might destabilize financial markets if used widely in investing. Tel Aviv-based Bridgewise has been given the green light by the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) to release a chatbot called Bridget later this month that can offer recommendations for which stocks to buy and sell in response to user queries. The startup is working with one of the country's largest banks, Israel Discount Bank, to roll out the product. It plans to expand to a second Israeli bank's investment platform in the coming months.
/jlne.ws/3XBR07c
Europe's intense rainfall in September twice as likely thanks to climate change
Alejandra Borunda - NPR Morning Edition
Massive rainfall inundated parts of Central and Eastern Europe in mid-September, dumping as much as two-thirds of some cities' annual rain in just a few days. The rainfall from the weather system, called Storm Boris, drove floods that claimed 24 lives. But early warnings from weather forecasters gave many cities time to prepare, and infrastructure improvements in others helped protect residents from the deluges, says Maja Vahlberg, a climate risk consultant with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. It's a sign, she says, that some parts of Europe, at least, are beginning to adapt to the more extreme weather brought on by human-caused climate change.
/jlne.ws/3TGCLwL
Energy-hungry tech groups express interest in US-led carbon credits scheme; Programme spearheaded by John Kerry among key themes at New York climate week
Aime Williams - Financial Times
Tech groups including Meta and Netflix have joined the list of companies expressing interest in backing a carbon credits scheme spearheaded by former US climate envoy John Kerry, as they grapple with a surge in emissions from power-hungry data centres and artificial intelligence. But Kerry warned, at the same time, that the businesses must cut their emissions directly, even as a growing number prepare to pour money into offsets.
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Helene rapidly organizing, remains on track to become major hurricane on approach to Florida; Tropical Storm Helene is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane before making landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast or Big Bend region later this week. Storm Surge and Hurricane Warnings are in place for Florida's Gulf Coast.
Steven Yablonski, Emilee Speck and Scott Sistek - FOX Weather
Tropical Storm Helene is rapidly organizing Wednesday and is expected to become a major hurricane as it approaches Florida while residents rush to finish preparing for a potentially deadly storm surge, destructive hurricane-force winds and flooding rain. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said there is danger of a life-threatening storm surge along the entire west coast of the Florida Peninsula and Big Bend.
/jlne.ws/4gGqHpc
Marex clears first trade on FMX US treasury futures market
Luke Jeffs - FOW
Marex has cleared the first trade on FMX Futures Exchange, the much-awaited US treasury futures platform that launched on Monday to challenge CME Group's dominance in the world's biggest debt market. London-based and New York-listed Marex said on Tuesday it cleared the first trade on FMX Futures Exchange, which is backed by BGC Group, the US financial group, and a consortium of banks and market-makers. FMX Futures launched on Monday with a three-month Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) futures contract, pitching the new venue in direct competition with CME Group, the Chicago-based group that dominates US treasury futures trading.
/jlne.ws/4dj486W
BGC's FMX Futures Exchange launches in direct challenge to CME
Jessica Kuruthukulangara - Seeking Alpha
The new FMX Futures Exchange, created by BGC (NASDAQ:BGC) and backed by top investment banks and market-making firms, launched late on Monday to challenge CME's (NASDAQ:CME) dominance in interest rate futures trading. The platform initially launched with Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) futures, and U.S. Treasury futures will be added in the first quarter of 2025. The exchange is a part of FMX Holdings, which also operates FMX UST and FX platforms. The company is backed by Wall Street giants including Bank of America (BAC), Citadel Securities, and JPMorgan (JPM). FMX will clear its futures at LCH, the clearing house controlled by the London Stock Exchange.
/jlne.ws/4gArPum
BNY Plans Crypto ETF Custody as Wall St Eyes Digital Revenue
Olga Kharif and Lydia Beyoud - Bloomberg News
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is moving closer to rolling out custody services for the Bitcoin and Ether held by exchange-traded product clients after a review enabled the company to avoid treating the assets as a balance-sheet liability. The review, conducted earlier this year by the Office of the Chief Accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission, didn't object to BNY's determination that the safeguarding of cryptoassets for its regulated exchange-traded product clients shouldn't be recognized on BNY's balance sheet, the bank said in a statement to Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/4edi5of
When a Former Top Goldman Sachs Banker Met Bernie Madoff, the Biggest Fraudster in Human History
Jordan French - GritDaily
In the summer of 2008, as the global financial markets teetered on the brink of collapse, Nicolas Sarkis, a former top banker from Goldman Sachs and founder of asset management firm AlphaOne Partners, received an intriguing proposal. The opportunity presented was to invest in a fund of funds connected to Bernard Madoff, a figure renowned for his consistent returns and prestigious clientele. Sarkis's subsequent meeting with Madoff would become an unforgettable episode, revealing the unsettling truths behind one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history.
/jlne.ws/3XHGvPA
Shippers scramble for workarounds ahead of looming US East Coast port strike
Lisa Baertlein and Timothy Aeppel - Reuters
U.S. companies that rely on East and Gulf Coast seaports have been importing early, shifting goods to the West Coast, and even putting cargo on pricey flights to hedge against a threatened Oct. 1 strike that could jam supply chains and reignite inflation ahead of the U.S. presidential election. "This is just another headache after everything else we've been dealing with," said Kenneth Sanchez, CEO of Chesapeake Specialty Products, which sends goods like metallic abrasives and foundry sand additives used to make engine blocks and transmissions to customers around the world.
/jlne.ws/3ZIoJi1
Spurned by Social Media, Publishers Chase Readers on WhatsApp; News outlets are experimenting with a feature in the world's most popular messaging app that allows them to send links and headlines directly to followers.
Katie Robertson and Mike Isaac - The New York Times
Many digital news publishers have been desperately searching for a life raft. Traffic to news sites has fallen sharply, along with the ad revenue those clicks generate, partly because Google and Facebook decided to make news less prominent on their platforms. Now, some publications have found a glimmer of hope elsewhere: WhatsApp, the world's most popular messaging app.
/jlne.ws/47L2Twg
Google Files EU Antitrust Complaint Against Microsoft; Search giant argues Microsoft is abusing market power in enterprise software to push customers to use its cloud-computing service
Sam Schechner - The Wall Street Journal
Google said it has filed a formal complaint against Microsoft with the European Union's top antitrust regulator, escalating a long-running dispute over the cloud-computing business. In the complaint, the search giant accuses Microsoft of abusing its market power in enterprise software to push businesses to use its Azure cloud platform-and keep them locked in there.
/jlne.ws/4gBW04k
FBI probes whether Silicon Valley venture firm passed secrets to China; Hone Capital became one of the most prolific early investors in US tech start-ups
Tabby Kinder - Financial Times
The FBI is investigating whether a US venture capital fund that used Chinese money to become one of Silicon Valley's most prolific early investors allowed Beijing to obtain the trade secrets of tech start-ups. California-based Hone Capital, which launched in 2015 with $115mn of initial capital from a Chinese private equity group, invested in 360 US tech start-ups in less than three years. This included acquiring stakes in driverless-car maker Cruise, payments group Stripe and aerospace engineer Boom.
/jlne.ws/3MXcXsf
Will China's $100bn war chest for shares lift the real economy? Investors welcome 'unprecedented' central bank loans to try to boost markets but analysts say fiscal stimulus is needed
Arjun Neil Alim and Joe Leahy - Financial Times
Chinese markets have given a short-term welcome to an "unprecedented" toolbox promised by Beijing to stabilise capital markets and revive animal spirits, but the bigger concern is whether the measures will be enough to stimulate the faltering real economy. The People's Bank of China on Tuesday unveiled an Rmb800bn ($114bn) war chest to boost the stock market by lending to asset managers, insurers and brokers to buy equities, and to listed companies to buy back their stock.
/jlne.ws/3N05Wao
Trafigura signals new era as gas and power boss ascends to chief executive; Trading house appoints 39-year-old former British soldier who has risen rapidly within the business
Leslie Hook and Tom Wilson - Financial Times
An ex-soldier who has not yet turned 40 is about to run one of the world's largest trading houses. Insiders say Richard Holtum's rapid rise to become chief executive of Trafigura signals a new era for the company as it moves beyond its roots in oil and metals trading, and expands in gas and power.
/jlne.ws/3XVWvyH
The Spac trap has been reset, not eliminated; If new rules for 'blank-cheque' vehicles lead to a revival investors should tread carefully
David Crook - Financial Times
In 2022 an astonishing three out of four companies going public in the US did so by means of a special purpose acquisition company, or "Spac". While the boom was several years in the making, when the crash came it was swift and severe. For more than a year, the US Spac scene was dominated by bankruptcies, restructurings, shelved offerings and muted activity.
/jlne.ws/4eteKkQ
UK settlement taskforce pencils in October 2027 for T+1 switch; Alignment with the EU 'not a prerequisite' for the UK's move to a shortened settlement cycle, chair of the taskforce's technical group says.
Chris Lemmon - The Trade
The UK T+1 Taskforce technical group has earmarked October or November 2027 as the date for a switch to an accelerated settlement cycle in the UK. Speaking at the InvestOps Europe conference in London, Andrew Douglas, chair of the technical group, said that the dates were narrowed down via the process of elimination - excluding key public holiday, dividends and rebalancing dates.
/jlne.ws/4eEPEzt
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Putin to speak on nuclear deterrence as Ukraine tensions rise
Dmitry Antonov, Guy Faulconbridge - Reuters
President Vladimir Putin will chair a meeting of Russia's Security Council on nuclear deterrence on Wednesday as Moscow weighs a response to Ukraine's requests that the U.S. allow it to strike deep into Russia with long-range Western missiles. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting of the Security Council, a type of modern-day politburo of Putin's most powerful officials including influential hawks, was an important event.
/jlne.ws/3Zz23AF
NATO plans for large-scale transport of wounded troops in case of Russia war
Sabine Siebold - Reuters
NATO plans to coordinate the transport of a large number of wounded troops away from front lines in case of a war with Russia, potentially via hospital trains as air evacuations may not be feasible, according to a senior general. The future scenario for medical evacuations will differ from allies' experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lieutenant-General Alexander Sollfrank, the head of NATO's logistics command, told Reuters in an interview.
/jlne.ws/4eCTwAM
Russia captures more Ukrainian territory as Volodymyr Zelenskyy goes to US; Ukraine's president to present a Victory Plan to Joe Biden on Thursday
Isobel Koshiw - Financial Times
Russia has made fresh gains in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to the US to discuss plans to end the war. Moscow's forces captured the town of Ukrainsk near the logistical hub of Pokrovsk, the Russian-installed Donetsk governor Denis Pushilin said on Tuesday. A map compiled by Ukrainian group DeepState, which has ties to Ukraine's defence ministry and monitors the battlefield, on Wednesday confirmed the advance as well as further territorial gains in the region.
/jlne.ws/3MZUrzs
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Israel intercepts Hezbollah ballistic missile near Tel Aviv in first such attack
Irene Nasser, Dana Karni, Helen Regan and Sophie Tanno - CNN
Israel intercepted a missile fired by Hezbollah near Tel Aviv on Wednesday, an unprecedented attack by the militant group that reached deep into the country's commercial heartlands and marked a new escalatory step in the conflict between the two sides. People in Tel Aviv and the central city of Netanya woke up to sirens on Wednesday as Israel said its air defenses intercepted a surface-to-surface missile - the first time ever a missile fired by Hezbollah has reached close to the city, the Israeli military said.
/jlne.ws/47W5KCJ
Israel Widens Air Strikes After Hezbollah Fires at Tel Aviv; Two sides continue cross-border attacks in week of conflict; Israel has killed hundreds of people with strikes on Lebanon
Henry Meyer - Bloomberg
Israel stepped up its heaviest air attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since 2006 after shooting down the first missile ever fired by the militant group at Tel Aviv. Air sirens were activated in Israel's commercial capital early on Wednesday as the projectile flew over central parts of the country, the military said. Hezbollah, an organization backed by Iran, said it was aiming for the headquarters of Mossad, Israel's external-intelligence agency, in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
/jlne.ws/47DExo4
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Press release of Corporate Actions Committee - Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX)
ATHEX Group
The Athens Stock Exchange, following today's session of its Corporate Actions Committee, announces that the following will be implemented:
/jlne.ws/3ZCxqdv
Press Release Listings and Market Operation Committee - Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX)
ATHEX Group
The Listings and Market Operation Committee of Athens Stock Exchange, during today's session, approved the listing of bilateral stock lending and lending or/and borrowing agreements via method 4 product, on "Bank Of Cyprus Holdings Plc".
/jlne.ws/3P5pLgX
Asset managers embrace the STOXX Europe 600 ecosystem as they seek more diversified hedges
Eurex
The STOXX Europe 600 Index Futures can be traced back to 1998. However, trading volumes, open interest and investor engagement in the index and its wider ecosystem have soared in 2024 as investors seek a diversified, broad-based index to hedge and trade exposures to Europe.
/jlne.ws/4eFapLr
ICE Clear Credit Is First CDS Clearing House to Process More Than $1 Trillion USD Notional Amount in One Day
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today announced that ICE Clear Credit processed a record of more than $1.1 trillion USD equivalent notional amount of credit default swap (CDS) instruments on Friday, September 20 - the most ever cleared in a single day by any CDS clearinghouse. As part of that, a record daily notional amount of $900 billion from client-related CDS transactions was cleared. "The crossing of the $1 trillion USD equivalent notional amount milestone during one clearing day is a great testimony of our ability to support the ever-evolving CDS marketplace," said Stan Ivanov, President of ICE Clear Credit. "The client-related notional amount of more than $900 billion unequivocally demonstrates the depth of our cleared CDS instrument liquidity pool and the choice by clients to use our CDS services."
/jlne.ws/4ediHKz
Nasdaq Announces Mid-Month Open Short Interest Positions in Nasdaq Stocks as of Settlement Date September 13, 2024
Nasdaq
At the end of the settlement date of September 13, 2024, short interest in 3,057 Nasdaq Global MarketSM securities totaled 12,241,625,467 shares compared with 12,296,040,928 shares in 3,037 Global Market issues reported for the prior settlement date of August 30, 2024. The mid-September short interest represents 3.06 days compared with 3.38 days for the prior reporting period. Short interest in 1,670 securities on The Nasdaq Capital MarketSM totaled 2,107,947,669 shares at the end of the settlement date of September 13, 2024, compared with 2,103,446,709 shares in 1,668 securities for the previous reporting period. This represents a 1.34 day average daily volume; the previous reporting period's figure was 1.27.
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | It's Time To Rethink The Culture Of Entrepreneurial Ambition
Yuliya Snihur - Forbes (Contributor)
In recent years, the downfall of once-celebrated startup founders has become a familiar story in Silicon Valley and beyond. Yet, the culture of swaggering ambition persists, tempting entrepreneurs to blur the line between vision and deception. Entrepreneurs, as well as their investors, partners, and employees risk becoming complicit in deceit when reality does not meet expectations. Founders-and those who back them-would do well to remember that "fake it till you make it" can lead to more faking than making.
/jlne.ws/3Zz2Gdv
Reddit Sets Its Sights on Turning a Profit, Boosted by Targeted Ads, Data Licensing; CFO Drew Vollero says the social-media platform is on its way to becoming 'very profitable, very quickly'
Kristin Broughton - The Wall Street Journal
Reddit is getting closer to turning a profit, driven in part by more targeted advertising, after the social-media platform made its public market debut earlier this year. San Francisco-based Reddit set a goal to turn a profit once it was public-first on an adjusted basis, excluding certain nonrecurring and other charges, and then as calculated under generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. On the first goal, Reddit has met its mark. On the second, the math is coming together, Chief Financial Officer Drew Vollero said. "What's happening is the financials are inflecting and becoming very profitable, very quickly," he said.
/jlne.ws/47HhsRj
Ediphy-led consortium enters the race for UK consolidated tape provider; In addition, Ediphy has confirmed its intention to bid for the European tape as well.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
A new group, named fairCT, consisting of Google Cloud, UBS, TP ICAP, Cboe Global Markets, FactSet, and Norges Bank Investment Management, co-ordinated by Ediphy, has entered the tender process to become the UK's consolidated tape provider for fixed income. The CTP will focus on enhancing transparency, liquidity and participation in UK fixed income markets, set to operate as an industry utility, built with an 'at reasonable cost' philosophy.
/jlne.ws/4gF58VW
Google Paid $2.7 Billion to Bring Back an AI Genius Who Quit in Frustration; Amid debate on whether tech companies are overspending on AI, Google's pricey reunion with Noam Shazeer draws attention
Miles Kruppa and Lauren Thomas - The Wall Street Journal
At a time when tech companies are paying eye-popping sums to hire the best minds in artificial intelligence, Google's deal to rehire Noam Shazeer has left others in the dust. A co-author of a seminal research paper that kicked off the AI boom, Shazeer quit Google in 2021 to start his own company after the search giant refused to release a chatbot he developed. When that startup, Character.AI, began to flounder, his old employer swooped in.
/jlne.ws/3TDRacU
OpenAI Pitched White House on Unprecedented Data Center Buildout; Startup says US should build 5 gigawatt data centers; CEO met with White House officials earlier this month
Shirin Ghaffary - Bloomberg
OpenAI has pitched the Biden administration on the need for massive data centers that could each use as much power as entire cities, framing the unprecedented expansion as necessary to develop more advanced artificial intelligence models and compete with China. Following a recent meeting at the White House, which was attended by OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and other tech leaders, the startup shared a document with government officials outlining the economic and national security benefits of building 5 gigawatt data centers in various US states, based on an analysis the company engaged with outside experts on. To put that in context, 5 GW is roughly the equivalent of five nuclear reactors, or enough to power almost 3 million homes.
/jlne.ws/3TCyM4f
Sam Altman Is Spreading Himself Too Thin; Even for a tech billionaire in Silicon Valley, the chief executive of OpenAI seems to be taking on too much.
Parmy Olson - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3XTtHHg
Google complains to EU over Microsoft cloud practices
Philip Blenkinsop - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3MZpjQL
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Top 10: Biggest Cyber Threats; As global cyber threats like phishing surge, AI-driven attacks and supply chain vulnerabilities pose new challenges for businesses and governments
Kitty Wheeler - Cyber Magazine
Cybersecurity has evolved dramatically since the 1970s, when the first antivirus software emerged to combat early computer worms. Today, the industry faces unprecedented challenges as cyber threats grow in sophistication and scale.
/jlne.ws/3TH0Pzy
Fortinet Announces Progress Toward its Mission to Tackle the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage
Fortinet, Inc.
At the halfway mark of its 5-year pledge to train 1 million individuals in cybersecurity by the end of 2026, Fortinet is on track to reach this milestone, having trained more than half a million people to address the skills gap.
/jlne.ws/47HUIAz
Cybersecurity Researchers Warn of New Rust-Based Splinter Post-Exploitation Tool
Ravie Lakshmanan - The Hacker News
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged the discovery of a new post-exploitation red team tool called Splinter in the wild. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 shared its findings after it discovered the program on several customers' systems.
/jlne.ws/3XCpNRS
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | How institutional interest is driving higher crypto adoption in the UAE; Stablecoins and altcoins gain market share over Bitcoin and Ether across the Mena region, Chainalysis report finds
Deepthi Nair - The National
The value of cryptocurrency assets received by services in the UAE, particularly centralised exchanges and decentralised exchanges, between July 2023 and June 2024 reached $34 billion, representing a 42 per cent year-on-year growth, driven by increased institutional participation, regulatory innovation and expanding market activity, according to a new report. Crypto activity in the Emirates, which is the Middle East and North Africa region's third-largest crypto economy, is growing across all transaction size brackets, signalling a more balanced adoption landscape, blockchain company Chainalysis said in a report on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/47Hd4BP
The Growing Trend of Athletes Getting Paid in Bitcoin: A Look at the Future of Sports Contracts
Ashley Brown - HBCUBuzz
In recent years, the world of professional sports has seen a fascinating trend: more and more athlete are now paid in Bitcoin and even opting to have their endorsement money in cryptocurrency. Such a change is observed in other areas associated with using cryptocurrency assets in various industries, as athletes strive to find new forms for financial management and business development in the conditions of the digital world economy. However, the following arises, what is fueling this trend and what are its implications for future contracts of sports? So, let's look into the world of athletes and Bitcoin to better comprehend how the collaboration has an impact on sports.
/jlne.ws/4doqZhk
3 Ways Bitcoin Could Impact The U.S. Economy
Marie Poteriaieva - Forbes (Contributor)
The narrative around bitcoin, once dominated by speculation and controversy, is gradually evolving. There is a growing interest in exploring its potential to positively impact the U.S. economy, championed by several pro-crypto politicians. Most recently, this perspective has also been actively promoted by the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, prompting broader public debate. This momentum offers a good opportunity to assess whether this idea holds real economic merit. A closer examination reveals that bitcoin holds potential to reduce the U.S. national debt, diversify the country's reserves, and help its oil industry.
/jlne.ws/3zzXBqB
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Kamala Harris Turns Biden's $493 Billion Climate Legacy Into a Footnote
Jennifer A Dlouhy and Ari Natter - Bloomberg
Wind turbines nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower are rising off the Massachusetts coast. A $2 billion electric truck factory is taking shape in South Carolina. And in Colorado, a three-square-mile field of ink-black solar panels is powering a steel mill. The US is mobilizing so much investment into clean energy that it now tops even the peak of America's fracking revolution in the 2010s. The wave of spending triggered by Joe Biden's signature climate law is set to be the president's biggest and most-enduring domestic achievement - yet it barely registers in Kamala Harris' campaign.
/jlne.ws/4eF6ONn
Trump Says Plan Will Convince Foreign Companies to Shift Jobs to U.S.; GOP nominee uses tax breaks, tariff threats in a bid to persuade foreign manufacturers to shift production
Richard Rubin and Chao Deng - The Wall Street Journal
Donald Trump is pitching himself as a national economic development recruiter, wooing foreign manufacturers with tax breaks and federal land while using tariffs to punish companies that don't move production to the U.S. "Foreign nations will be worried about losing their jobs to America," he said in a speech in Savannah, Ga., promoting what he called a New American Industrialism. "It won't even be difficult. Your only worry will be deciding which job to take," he told supporters.
/jlne.ws/3zy6Do4
Trump flags made in China: how tariff-flouting campaign kit flooded the US; US manufacturers say wrongly labelled online goods are eroding their election-year hopes
Sun Yu - Financial Times
Chinese merchants have flooded online marketplaces to sell US presidential election merchandise - despite both sides in a campaign marked by hostility towards China seeking to promote locally made products. More than 90 per cent of the best-selling Donald Trump and Kamala Harris flags and hats on Amazon provide a seller's address in China, according to a Financial Times analysis. Both candidates state on their official websites that they only sell US-made products.
/jlne.ws/3zIJ0Jr
Germany Opposes Commerzbank Takeover But Concedes Hands Are Tied; Officials criticize approach adopted by UniCredit CEO Orcel; Italian lender has said government was aware of intentions
Kamil Kowalcze and Michael Nienaber - Bloomberg
The German government reiterated its opposition to any takeover of Commerzbank AG while indicating its powers to intervene are limited. Commerzbank should remain independent as it's "very important" for Europe's biggest economy, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's chief spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said Wednesday at the regular government news conference in Berlin.
/jlne.ws/4gvXQnc
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Skael Co-Founder Faces U.S. Fraud Charges; Co-founder of now-defunct business-automation startup raised $30 million in funding by claiming its revenue was far higher than it actually was, the SEC alleges
David Smagalla - The Wall Street Journal
The former chief executive of Skael faces criminal charges and a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly lying to investors about the business-automation startup's revenue figures. Between January 2021 and February 2022, the SEC alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Skael co-founder and CEO Baba Nadimpalli managed to raise more than $30 million from investors in the San Francisco-based startup by claiming it had as much as $7 million in annual recurring revenue when the actual figure was no more than $170,000.
/jlne.ws/3zx0DMg
CFTC Orders Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to Pay $1.25 Million for Untimely Swaps Reporting
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued an order simultaneously filing and settling charges with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) for repeatedly failing to timely report swap transactions to a registered swap data repository as required by the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC Regulations.
/jlne.ws/4emgZGY
CFTC Orders Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to Pay $30 Million for Recordkeeping and Supervision Failures for Firm-Wide Use of Unapproved Communication Methods
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued an order simultaneously filing and settling charges with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), a swap dealer, for failing to maintain and preserve records that were required to be kept under CFTC recordkeeping requirements and failing to diligently supervise matters related to its business as a CFTC registrant.
/jlne.ws/4eC0ru0
CFTC Charges Four Entities for Failing to Register as FCMs
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed charges against four entities for failing to register as futures commission merchants. Each complaint seeks an order directing the entities to cease and desist from committing violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations as charged.
/jlne.ws/3XGfRGG
SEC Charges Former CEO of Tech Startup SKAEL with $30 Million Fraud
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against Baba Nadimpalli, the co-founder and former CEO of SKAEL Inc., a San Francisco-based private technology company that developed business automation software.
/jlne.ws/47MKtLC
Eleven Firms to Pay More Than $88 Million Combined to Settle SEC's Charges for Widespread Recordkeeping Failures; One additional firm will not pay a penalty because it self-reported, self-policed, and demonstrated substantial efforts at compliance
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against 12 firms, comprising broker-dealers, investment advisers, and one dually-registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, for widespread and longstanding failures by the firms and their personnel to maintain and preserve electronic communications in violation of recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws.
/jlne.ws/3TGDiPh
SEC Charges Crypto Companies TrustToken and TrueCoin With Defrauding Investors Regarding Stablecoin Investment Program; Companies also charged with unregistered offer and sale of securities
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against TrueCoin LLC and TrustToken Inc. for their fraudulent and unregistered sales of investment contracts involving TrueUSD (TUSD), a purported stablecoin.
/jlne.ws/3N0NPAQ
Testimony of the Securities and Exchange Commission Before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services
Chair Gary Gensler, Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw, Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda and Commissioner Jaime Lizarraga - SEC
At the SEC, we celebrated our 90th birthday earlier this year. In the aftermath of the 1929 market crash and the frauds, scams, and other observed problems in the securities markets, President Franklin Roosevelt came together with Congress to enact a series of securities laws in the 1930s and set up the SEC. Congress and Roosevelt understood how vital capital markets are to investors, issuers, and a dynamic and growing economy.
/jlne.ws/4emjRn1
A Catalyst: Statement on Qatalyst Partners LP
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce and Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
Over the last several years, off-channel communications cases have become more prevalent on the Commission's enforcement docket. We have struggled with these cases. While we supported many of them initially, it was not without deep reservations. Recently, we have objected to the penalties and undertakings in most of these cases. Today's case against Qatalyst Partners LP[1] illustrates and confirms the reason for our reservations: it does not appear that firms have an achievable path to compliance. Accordingly, we voted no on Qatalyst Partners LP, and urge our colleagues to reconsider our current approach to the off-channel communications issue.
/jlne.ws/3zsWvgp
SEC Charges Former CEO of Tech Startup SKAEL with $30 Million Fraud
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against Baba Nadimpalli, the co-founder and former CEO of SKAEL Inc., a San Francisco-based private technology company that developed business automation software.
/jlne.ws/3Br43Re
SEC Charges Former Foot Locker Employee with Insider Trading
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged New York resident Barry Siegel with insider trading ahead of two earnings announcements by Foot Locker, Inc.
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SEC Obtains Final Judgment in Insider Trading Case
SEC
On September 20, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a final judgment against defendant Oliver-Barret Lindsay, a Canadian citizen, whom the SEC previously charged with insider trading in advance of an announcement by Long Blockchain Company (formerly known as Long Island Iced Tea Co.) that it was going to "pivot" from its existing beverage business to blockchain technology, which caused the company's stock price to soar.
/jlne.ws/3MWg9of
ASIC's Vanguard greenwashing action results in record $12.9 million penalty
ASIC
The Federal Court today ordered Vanguard Investments Australia to pay a $12.9 million penalty for making misleading claims about environmental, social and governance (ESG) exclusionary screens. These screens were applied to investments in the Vanguard Ethically Conscious Global Aggregate Bond Index Fund.
/jlne.ws/3TFaVkc
Macquarie Bank fined a record $4.995m for serious market gatekeeper failure
ASIC
Following an ASIC investigation, the Markets Disciplinary Panel (MDP) has fined Macquarie Bank Limited (Macquarie) a record $4.995 million for failing to prevent suspicious orders being placed on the electricity futures market. This is the highest penalty ever imposed by the MDP. On 50 occasions, from January to September 2022, Macquarie breached market integrity rules by permitting three of its clients to place suspicious orders.
/jlne.ws/3MX66iv
Former Linchpin Capital director appeal dismissed by Full Federal Court
ASIC
The Full Federal Court has dismissed an appeal by Peter Daly, a former director of Linchpin Capital Group Ltd (in liquidation).
/jlne.ws/3N0Plmw
Proposed new rules to better protect customers of payments firms
FCA
The FCA is stepping in to better protect customers when payments and e-money firms go out of business. Use of payments firms has grown in recent years, but the FCA says it continues to see poor safeguarding practices from firms.
/jlne.ws/3MYaAFH
MAS Establishes International Advisory Panel for Cyber and Technology Resilience
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today the establishment of a Cyber and Technology Resilience Experts (CTREX) Panel. The Panel replaces MAS' Cyber Security Advisory Panel[1], with an expanded mandate to cover technology resilience which, together with cybersecurity, significantly underpins the operational resilience of the financial sector.
/jlne.ws/4gGvhDB
"How Private Markets Can Underwrite Asia's Growth Story" - Keynote Speech by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the SuperReturn Asia Conference on 25 September 2024
MAS
Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen, Good morning to all of you. I am happy to join all of you here at the SuperReturn Asia conference.
/jlne.ws/3Bfbs6n
Hong Kong's securities industry extends earnings growth into first half of 2024
SFC
Hong Kong's securities industry posted further growth in total net profits for the six months ended 30 June 2024 amidst higher average daily market turnover and increases in the number of active cash and margin clients, according to the financial review of the securities industry issued today by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Options Traders Pile Into China Stock Rally Bets After Stimulus; Call volume most since February in iShares China Large-Cap ETF; Buying also seen in bullish options for PDD Holdings ADRs
David Marino - Bloomberg
Investors added to bets on a recovery in Chinese shares, snapping up bullish options on US-traded securities after the country's central bank announced a massive stimulus package. Shares surged in Asia trading after the People's Bank of China and other financial officials announced measures to bolster the real estate sector and the broader economy. Those gains carried over to the US market, with exchange-traded funds tracking large-cap and internet stocks both up more than 8%, while PDD Holdings Inc.'s American depositary receipts gained as much as 11% and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. rallied more than 7%.
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The Art Market Is Tanking. Sotheby's Has Even Bigger Problems; The auction house, owned by highly leveraged billionaire Patrick Drahi, is pushing off payments, awaiting a financial lifeline from an Abu Dhabi fund
Kelly Crow, Matt Wirz and Ben Foldy - The Wall Street Journal
The art market is grinding through a rough patch, and no one is feeling the pain more than Sotheby's. The sales downturn, driven in part by China's economic slowdown, wars and volatile U.S. elections, has hit at a crunchtime for the auction house's highly leveraged billionaire owner, Patrick Drahi, who is fighting fires amid restructuring in his broader telecom empire, Altice. Sotheby's had been riding a rollicking art market wave in recent years, bringing in at least $7 billion in sales annually and setting record-level prices for trophies by Gustav Klimt and René Magritte.
/jlne.ws/3ZJBZma
How to Invest in Bonds in a World of Falling Rates; Treasurys, funds, ladders, municipal debt and other options to consider
Vicky Ge Huang and Heather Gillers - The Wall Street Journal
Falling rates have Wall Street recommending bonds again. Once considered a boring safe play, bonds have lately felt like anything but. Rising interest rates drove returns to their worst year on record in 2022. Now, with rates coming down, many investors have had gains instead. But buying bonds can confront investors with a bewildering array of options: Treasurys, company bonds or municipal debt? Individual bonds or funds?
/jlne.ws/3XyDHEq
Secret Trusts, a Bitter Divorce and the Battle Over One of America's Biggest Homes; A roughly 50,000-square-foot Los Angeles estate is slated to come on the market following a lengthy fight between billionaire Tony Pritzker and philanthropist Jeanne Pritzker
Candace Taylor - The Wall Street Journal
The Pritzker estate, a roughly 50,000-square-foot estate on a promontory in the hills above Los Angeles, is one of the largest private homes in the country. At times run by a staff of more than 25 people, it has a bowling alley, a hairdressing area, a gym with changing rooms and an infinity swimming pool overlooking the city skyline. The longtime home of billionaire Hyatt hotel heir Tony Pritzker and philanthropist Jeanne Pritzker, the mammoth estate has been at the center of the couple's bitter divorce fight since they separated in 2022. Now, with the divorce settled for an undisclosed sum, the estate is slated to go on the market, likely asking somewhere between $150 million and $200 million, according to local real-estate agents. If the home fetches its price, it would be one of the most expensive homes ever to sell in L.A.
/jlne.ws/3MYuK2j
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | GE Vernova CEO Appraises Nuclear Power Prospects, Offshore Wind Business
Scott Strazik sees nuclear power adding 'gigawatts upon gigawatts,' adding that offshore wind needs to sort out its business model
Walden Siew - The Wall Street Journal
The nuclear power industry is set to add "gigawatts upon gigawatts" of capacity heading into the 2030s, while offshore wind in the U.S. sorts out its business model, according to GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik. Strazik leads General Electric's spinoff of its power and wind business, which started trading as a stand-alone company in April. The energy company has emerged at a crossroads for the nuclear energy industry as companies contend with managing aging reactors while exploring newer reactor technologies-along with alternative energy sources such as onshore and offshore wind energy.
/jlne.ws/4efXteX
Net-zero targets are everywhere. But to be effective, they need accountability. Without a single standard, countries and companies are promising a lot of different things.
Gautama Mehta - Grist
Averting a worst-case global warming scenario will require the world's largest institutions to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, and do it fast. Over the last decade and a half, a standard form has emerged in which governments and corporations have made their promise to do so: the net-zero target. This is generally a voluntarily self-imposed deadline, usually decades away, by which the institution's emissions will not necessarily actually reduce to zero, but rather by which they will at least be ostensibly canceled out by carbon offsets.
/jlne.ws/3ZFhCXo
Big Tech Is Rushing to Find Clean Power to Fuel AI's Insatiable Appetite; Google and Microsoft scout for geothermal and other green-power sources after emissions surge
Jennifer Hiller and Amrith Ramkumar - The Wall Street Journal
Tech giants swore just a few years ago that they would slash their carbon emissions. Then they got swept up in artificial-intelligence mania. The scramble to build AI data centers that require massive amounts of energy is upending the industry's climate pledges and spurring it to work with power producers to speed development of new clean-energy sources.
/jlne.ws/4djCTJm
Confronting Our New Reality; Solutions to the problem of climate change have never been more clear. But the scale of the problem keeps getting bigger.
David Gelles - The New York Times
For a hot minute, it looked like the Doomers might be proved wrong. In recent years, the rapid deployment of renewable energy and a shift away from the dirtiest fossil fuels has given even grizzled climate activists cause for some measure of hope. The most extreme projections about temperature rise on planet Earth were replaced by less apocalyptic forecasts, and while the world wasn't shifting away from fossil fuels nearly fast enough, there appeared to be a realistic pathway to significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the decades ahead.
/jlne.ws/4gAtakT
Azerbaijan offers to fund climate-vulnerable islands' delegates at COP29, source says
Kate Abnett - Reuters
The government of Azerbaijan, host of this year's COP29 U.N. climate summit, has offered to cover the costs for negotiators from climate-vulnerable small islands to attend the event, a senior COP29 official told Reuters. At the United Nations climate summit in November, countries are due to set a new target for funding to help poorer countries cope with climate change - a topic with direct consequences for island nations highly exposed to rising sea levels.
/jlne.ws/3BinrA0
Restarting nuclear power plants: the unprecedented gamble in the US
Thomas Urbain - Associated Press
Two American energy companies are each preparing to bring a nuclear power station back into service, an unprecedented operation which should help meet the growing need for electricity in the United States. With demand for nuclear energy rising in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the US government eager to transition to carbon-free resources, the calculus has changed on the shuttered nuclear plants.
/jlne.ws/4gFTWYS
93F and no electricity: why some US utilities can cut power despite heatwaves; In 27 states, utilities can disconnect power for non-payment on the hottest days, which can have deadly consequences
Dharna Noor and Aliya Uteuova - The Guardian
/jlne.ws/3XXrUB8
Early Ice Build-Up Closing East Arctic to Sanctioned Russian LNG; Russia to shut eastern Arctic for non-ice tankers Oct. 15; Arctic LNG 2 has made two eastbound cargo shipments so far
Bloomberg News
/jlne.ws/3TCAJO7
Even solar energy's biggest fans are underestimating it; Solar's extraordinary forecast-defying growth, explained.
Umair Irfan - Vox
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Hot Weather in Japan Drains LNG Inventories to Five-Month Low
Stephen Stapczynski - Bloomberg
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Buffett Whittles Bank of America Stake to 10.5% With $863 Million Disposal
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold an additional $863 million of Bank of America Corp. stock, trimming the conglomerate's stake closer to a 10% regulatory threshold. Berkshire now owns 10.5% of the second-largest US bank after the latest disposals on the three trading days through Tuesday, according to a regulatory filing. As long as it remains above the threshold, the company must disclose trades within a few days.
/jlne.ws/47VnFtf
Challenging the Passive vs. Active Fund Wisdom; Money managers can - and do - beat their benchmarks more often than you think.
Merryn Somerset Webb - Bloomberg
A decade ago, a mere 19% of the open-ended funds domiciled in the UK invested passively. Today, according to Morningstar Inc., that number is nearly 30% and rising. On its face, this makes complete sense. Passive funds are cheaper than active - and when you buy active you rarely get what you pay for. In the first half of 2024, only 31% of UK-focused active equity funds beat the average passive fund in their sector. Over the last five years, that number is still only 36%. No wonder, say analysts at the AJ Bell investment platform in their latest Manager vs. Machine report, so much money is pouring out of active funds - £89 billion ($119 billion) since the start of 2022 in the UK; and that makes active managers start "to feel like an endangered species."
/jlne.ws/3ZCAOoT
The $6.3 Trillion Money-Market Industry Just Got Its First ETF; Texas Capital Bank debuts new ETF which trades as 'MMKT'; ETF will comply with rules governing money-market funds
Katie Greifeld and Emily Graffeo - Bloomberg
A new exchange-traded fund attempting to carve out a slice of the $6.3 trillion sitting in traditional money-market funds is launching Wednesday. The Texas Capital Government Money Market ETF begins trading under the ticker MMKT, according to a press release. While other short-dated bond ETFs exist, MMKT is the first to follow the so-called Rule 2a-7 - a provision of a 1940s Securities and Exchange Commission law that governs money-market funds.
/jlne.ws/3Zx4RhE
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Jamie Dimon says business school grads taking a private equity job while already working at JPMorgan is 'unethical'
Sydney Lake - Fortune
It's not uncommon for big-name business leaders to get poached by major corporations. Take the recent example of Brian Niccol, the former CEO of Chipotle who got poached by Starbucks last month. But these behaviors have started with the earliest-career professionals-and Jamie Dimon doesn't like it. Dimon, the illustrious CEO of JPMorgan Chase, spoke of his disdain for private equity's poaching practices during a talk last week at Georgetown University's Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy.
/jlne.ws/4gA7l4T
Rippling Introduces AI-Based Tool to Evaluate Employee Performance; Business software startup exploring ways customers will use artificial intelligence
Sarah McBride - Bloomberg
Rippling, a business software startup, is rolling out a bot-forward way to size up a new employee. The product, Talent Signal, will tap corporate willingness to experiment with different ways to use artificial intelligence. Talent Signal aims to take bias out of evaluations by using task-specific metrics to evaluate how well an employee is performing - and then provide feedback, such as analyzing call transcripts and message exchanges to encourage a support agent to make sure they acknowledge customer emotions.
/jlne.ws/4etbtSA
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | The Keys to Aging at Home? Frank Conversations and Financial Planning; What to do now to stay in your own home as you grow older
Clare Ansberry - The Wall Street Journal
Staying in your own home as you get older can strain finances and family members. Preparing can lessen the burden of aging in place. About 77% of older adults want to age in their current home. Doing so requires an objective assessment of the home, honest discussions with family, and a realistic financial plan. Delaying preparation-or not preparing at all-makes the difficult task of aging at home even harder.
/jlne.ws/4dfWPNb
For Gen Z workers, the generation gap is a wellness gap. Here's how to bridge it
Beth Greenfield - Fortune
For one nonprofit executive director, it was a 2022 New York City subway shooting that highlighted the stark differences between how he, a 55-year-old, and his Gen Z staffers show up to work. "We had an employee who lived a mile from where it happened and was traumatized by it - and further upset about the fact that we didn't create space in our weekly staff meeting to address that trauma," the leader, who asked not to be identified because he continues to manage Gen Zers, tells Fortune.
/jlne.ws/3XVlAK9
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Hong Kong overtakes Singapore as Asia's top financial centre, influential ranking shows
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong has dethroned Singapore to become Asia's top financial centre for the first time in two years, according to the latest edition of the semi-annual Global Financial Centres Index released on Tuesday. Globally, Hong Kong ranked third behind New York and London, with Singapore and San Francisco rounding off the top five, according to the study of 121 cities compiled by the China Development Institute in Shenzhen and London think tank Z/Yen Partners.
/jlne.ws/3XBiU37
Offshore Korea Bond Trades Surge in Step Toward Index Inclusion; Transactions rose over 10 times to 367.5 billion won in August; Slow takeup on international settlement seen as sticking point
Whanwoong Choi - Bloomberg
Offshore trades in South Korean bonds skyrocketed in August, potentially taking the country a step closer to its objective of joining a major international debt index. Overseas transactions via a so-called omnibus account rose to 367.5 billion won ($277 million) last month, up from just 20.4 billion won in July, according to data from the Korea Securities Depository. Omnibus accounts allow investors to process trades more conveniently, including via Euroclear Bank SA and Clearstream.
/jlne.ws/3ZDSobZ
Malaysia Takes the Limelight as Singapore Firms Look North for Listings; Singapore-listed chip firms looking to sell shares in Malaysia; Malaysia has seen more than 30 IPOs in 2024, Singapore one
Dave Sebastian and John Cheng - Bloomberg
Some Singaporean companies are looking to sell shares in Malaysia's booming market, as the city-state remains on track for its worst year for new stock listings in a quarter century. A shift would buck the historical pattern of Malaysian firms offering equity in Singapore, which has traditionally been seen as offering better access to global institutional investors.
/jlne.ws/3zIIcEp
Australian IPO market slumps to lowest since global financial crisis; Number of companies going public has been hit by weaker economic outlook
Nic Fildes - Financial Times
The number of companies going public in Australia is at its lowest since the global financial crisis 15 years ago, leaving a Mexican fast-food chain as the biggest listing in a market once buzzing with new mining and energy stocks. The 12 initial public offerings so far in 2024 on the Australian stock exchange have raised just $371mn, according to data provided by LSEG, the lowest year-to-date levels since 2009 and little more than a quarter of the historic average since the turn of the century.
/jlne.ws/4emqt52
Bunge's Rescue of Huge Soy Supplier Rests With Argentine Court; Provincial judges are expected to rule on Vicentin bankruptcy; Decision on case has significance for global soy trading
Jonathan Gilbert - Bloomberg
A top court in Argentina is set to decide whether crop giants Bunge Global SA and Viterra Inc. will be allowed to take over a company that was once the crown jewel of the country's massive soybean-processing industry. The ruling on Vicentin SAIC is expected as soon as this month and has broad significance for global soy trading, since Argentina is the largest supplier of processed meal and oil. A go-ahead for a plan to rescue Vicentin, which filed for bankruptcy protection nearly five years ago, would further solidify Bunge-Viterra's share of world soy-crush capacity. Meanwhile, a rejection would throw open an opportunity for competing proposals.
/jlne.ws/3BezLkS
Brazil Sugar Losses Make Thai and Indian Supply More Important; Fears over Brazilian crop damage sent sugar prices soaring; That's putting more focus on how other major growers fare
Mumbi Gitau, Pratik Parija and Patpicha Tanakasempipat - Bloomberg
Brazil's wildfires and drought that rattled the global sugar market have put the onus on Thailand and India to cover lost supplies. But both have offered recent reminders that they too face their own risks. Futures spiked to the highest since February this week as fears mount over crop damage from blazes, heat and dryness in top grower and exporter Brazil. That's threatening to raise costs for grocery goods from soft drinks to candy and shifting traders' focus to how output fares in fellow major producers.
/jlne.ws/3MYuAbm
Vancouver Port's Grain Workers Strike in Midst of Harvest Season
Thomas Seal - Bloomberg
Grain workers at Canada's biggest port went on strike Tuesday over a dispute regarding hours and pay, setting up what an industry association called a "devastating" situation for farmers during the harvest season. The Grain Workers Union Local 333 served a 72-hour strike notice on Saturday, and the measure took effect at 7 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday after talks with the Vancouver Terminal Elevator Association fell through.
/jlne.ws/3XXY13D
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Priced out? Why not sleep in an old Goldman Sachs office - for $4,000 a month
The latest instance of the New York City financial district's transformation into a residential neighborhood
Madeline Fitzgerald - Quartz
Four years after the COVID-19 pandemic first shuttered offices and emptied the streets of lower Manhattan, the financial district is bustling - but with fewer businesspeople and more families.
The former headquarters of Goldman Sachs at 55 Broad Street, is being converted into luxury apartments complete with custom Italian kitchens, 10-foot ceilings, and waterfront views. While the project is not expected to be completed until mid-2025, the leasing office is already open, and the first tenants are expected to move in, in November.
/jlne.ws/3XLwwZQ
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