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John Lothian Newsletter
April 20, 2022 "Irreverent, but never irrelevant"
 
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff

When I was a college reporter with the Purdue Exponent, my one and only assignment that took me on the road was to South Bend, Indiana, home of Touchdown Jesus and the Fighting Irish football team. But I went to the campus of Notre Dame University to hear famed New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning political columnist James "Scotty" Reston give a speech about sports. I forget who we were honoring at the time.

The gist of his speech was that all too often we put the words of war into our descriptions of competition between athletic teams or even political rivals. This was a bad practice, he said, and journalists should avoid such easy traps to make stories seem more dramatic and conflict more important than it really is. He spoke these words in the early 1980s, when the U.S. and the USSR had more nuclear missiles than they knew what to do with.

There are plenty of journalists guilty of this sloppy war language today. I am sure I have fallen guilty to making something a "battle" that is simply a game or match.

Now that we have on demand gambling, this type of language seems to be much more prevalent in our lives, whether on television commercials during baseball games or on billboards anywhere.

Language matters, Scotty Reston taught me. It was a lesson worth traveling to the campus of Purdue's sports rival.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler shared a video on the SEC's YouTube channel about his first year in office, continuing his excellent communication with staff and the public during his tenure. This is just my opinion, as an arbiter of communications.

What is the former Tudor Investment Corp Co-Founder Peter Borish up to now? Here is a tweet that helps tell the story.

The CFTC and SEC won a jury verdict in a 2020 commodity pool fraud and securities fraud case, but did not win on all counts in the case against Edward S. Walczak. The case revolved around fraud about risk management that was supposed to be in place and executed. On the SEC side of the case, the jury serving in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin found Walczak liable for negligence-based securities fraud for misrepresenting to investors how he would manage risk in the Catalyst Hedged Futures Strategy Fund. The SEC had won a partial summary judgment in the case back on February 4.

SEC Division of Enforcement Director Gurbir S. Grewal had this to say about the verdict:

"Fund portfolio managers like Walczak have a duty to tell the truth about the investments they manage, and when they fall short as the jury found in this case, we'll hold them accountable because that's what investor protection requires. In this case, we were joined in that effort by the CFTC and we thank them for their assistance and cooperation."


It is nice to see the SEC and CFTC work together and win a case together.

The Los Angeles Times has an in-depth story about the history of 420, which is today's date, and how it became synonymous with cannabis smoking.

Thank you to Maggie Sklar of Murphy & McGonigle for giving to the JLN MarketsWiki Education GoFundMe campaign. Maggie recently left the Chicago Federal Reserve's Financial Markets Group and was on Chris Giancarlo's team at the CFTC when he was chairman, but she has joined the growing Chicago office of the law firm Murphy & McGonigle. Thank you to Maggie and all who have supported our efforts to preserve industry history and educate the next generation of industry participants and professionals.

Interestingly, it was three years ago yesterday we shot the first official video (sorry Doug) for the Open Outcry Traders History Project with CME Chairman Emeritus Leo Melamed

Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL

*****

Marex announced record results for the year 2021 today, including net revenue up 31% to $543 million with strong performance across all segments and adjusted operating PBT up 29% to $79.6 million, driven primarily by strong organic growth. The press release is below, under Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds. ~SR

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Why We Admire Zelensky
Bret Stephens - NY Times
Why do we admire Volodymyr Zelensky? The question almost answers itself. We admire him because, in the face of unequal odds, Ukraine's president stands his ground. Because he proves the truth of the adage that one man with courage makes a majority. Because he shows that honor and love of country are virtues we forsake at our peril. Because he grasps the power of personal example and physical presence. Because he knows how words can inspire deeds — give shape and purpose to them — so that the deeds may, in turn, vindicate the meaning of words.
/jlne.ws/3OnXWiO

***** We all like an underdog. We all like courage. We all like someone who tells the truth to power. We all like a man who was made for the right time and place.~JJL

++++

Citizen Ken: What kind of politician would Illinois' richest man make? With Griffin eyeing a run for office "at some point," Crain's sizes up the mogul as a candidate.
Steve Daniels - Crain's Chicago Business
Ken Griffin, Illinois' richest man and founder of two highly successful Chicago-based businesses, is plowing tens of millions into the state's gubernatorial race this year, as well as the national midterm elections. Would the billionaire ever opt to use his formidable checkbook on his own campaign rather than the bids of others? If so, what kind of politician would he make?
/jlne.ws/3MilFz6

***** I don't believe Mr. Griffin would ever give up his privacy for the public life of a politician. And I don't blame him for that at all. And why do something yourself, when you can support others who can do it and preserve your privacy?~JJL

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With Inflation, Workers Are Facing Return-to-Office Sticker Shock; The cost of a daily routine — travel, coffee, food — is far pricier than it was when offices shut down two years ago.
Emma Goldberg - NY Times
As the security software company KnowBe4 weighed whether to require a return to the office, executives knew to anticipate a certain set of concerns from employees. Less flexibility. More time in transit. Then, in recent months, came a new set of worries about R.T.O.: the rising cost of gas and food, especially near the firm's headquarters in Clearwater, Fla., one of the areas of the United States hit hardest by inflation.
/jlne.ws/3uZ8gpS

***** Donuts are how much? ~JJL

++++

Tuesday's Top Three
Our top story on Tuesday was the SEC press release, SEC Uncovers $194 Million Penny Stock Schemes that Spanned Three Continents. That's a lot of pumping and dumping. Second was the Master Of ICE Futures YouTube video with Patrick Young talking to ICE Futures US President Trabue Bland and ICE Futures Abu Dhabi President Jamal Oulhadj. Third was Grandmaster Garry Kasparov Predicts 'Palace Coup' May Oust Putin Over Ukraine, from Huffpost via Yahoo! News.

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John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals.
 
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Lead Stories
Wannabe Traders Chase Dream of Student-Loan Payoffs Via Market Wins; Trying to trim $1.7 trillion owed through stocks, crypto; Advisers warn of risks as S&P 500, Bitcoin have sunk this year
Peyton Forte - Bloomberg
Viral success stories of people who used the post-pandemic stock market to trade their way out of mountains of student loan debt keep inspiring do-it-yourself investors. But while equities have provided a time-honored route to wealth creation for generations of Americans, aspects of these latest get-out-of-debt-quick efforts sit uneasily with Wall Street's conservative-investing old guard. With the fight against inflation whipping up volatility across asset classes, and exotica like cryptocurrency still finding its way into retail portfolios, they warn that the risk of bad outcomes is as high as it's ever been.
/jlne.ws/3jT0hUP

Cboe Europe Derivatives To Launch New Equity Index Products
Cboe Global Markets
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, today announced the planned launch of new equity index futures and options products for trading on Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX), its Amsterdam-based equity derivatives exchange. Futures and options will be launched on four additional Cboe Europe single country index benchmarks: the Cboe Italy 40, Cboe Norway 25, Cboe Spain 35 and Cboe Sweden 30. These eight new products are planned to be made available for trading on CEDX starting Wednesday, 27 April, with clearing provided by EuroCCP, Cboe's pan-European clearing house.
/jlne.ws/3KW5eId

U.K. Sets Gender, Ethnicity Targets for Executives, Boards; FCA says companies must give explanation if they don't comply; Firms can decide if definition of 'women' includes trans women
Katherine Griffiths - Bloomberg
The Financial Conduct Authority has set U.K.-listed companies three diversity targets, including a goal for at least 40% women on their boards, in the latest move to bolster diversity in the upper ranks of British business. Companies should also have at least one woman in the role of chief executive officer, chief financial officer or senior independent director, the FCA said in a statement Wednesday. The regulator also said that at least one member of the board should be from an ethnic minority background, excluding white ethnic groups.
/jlne.ws/3v0EK33

Financial regulator moves to boost number of women in UK boardrooms; FCA says women should hold at least 40% of seats on boards of listed companies in fresh diversity push
Daniel Thomas - FT
UK listed companies have been told by the country's financial watchdog that women should hold at least 40 per cent of board seats in a fresh push to ensure diversity in senior executive positions. The Financial Conduct Authority on Tuesday published long-awaited rules to boost representation across companies listed in London. These comprise targets to increase the number of women in boardroom roles, including in senior positions such as chief executive or finance director, and ensuring boards have at least one ethnic minority member.
/jlne.ws/36AF0wg

Momentum builds for Sweden to join Nato; Opinion poll shows record number of Swedes support membership in wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine
Richard Milne - FT
Momentum is building in Sweden for the country to apply for Nato membership after its biggest selling newspaper endorsed the move and an opinion poll showed a record number of Swedes supported the idea. The debate over membership of the western military alliance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been slower to ignite in Sweden than in neighbouring Finland, where an application is expected in the coming weeks.
/jlne.ws/3jTEXhQ

IMF Says LME Governance Needs Strengthening After Nickel Fiasco
Archie Hunter - Bloomberg
The International Monetary Fund said the London Metal Exchange's governance systems need to be strengthened after a massive short squeeze that left the world's main nickel market suspended for six days last month and billions of dollars of trades canceled. The LME has been criticized by investors for its handling of the crisis, when prices surged by 250% in less than two days in a squeeze centered around Chinese nickel and stainless steel producer Tsingshan Holding Group Co. The IMF highlighted the nickel-market chaos as part of wider risks in commodity markets and lessons for policy makers in the wake of recent extreme volatility.
/jlne.ws/3rz9PZd

The ECB Must Act Soon to Avoid a Currency Crisis; Dollar strength and euro weakness has increased inflation, made worse by the central bank's continuing stimulus programs.
Marcus Ashworth - Bloomberg
The remorseless strength of the U.S. dollar as the global haven is starting to cause problems — and not just in emerging markets. Japan and Europe have traditionally preferred to have their currencies run a little weak to the dollar to boost exports. But the slide this time is worrisome. The yen has fallen to its weakest levels in two decades, testing the Bank of Japan's resolve in maintaining a lid on bond yields. The eurozone, however, is where the most discomfort is felt because it is exacerbating inflation, in part because imports become more expensive. The common currency anchors the European Project so a precipitous drop risks becoming existential for continental unity in a way that yen weakness doesn't.
/jlne.ws/3jWRelH

Goldman's CEO Is Paying Himself Like a Private-Equity Chief; David Solomon and his top deputies will get a slice of profits from the bank's private-investment funds
Liz Hoffman - WSJ
David Solomon is getting a bigger slice of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s private-equity profits. The Goldman Sachs chief executive and a tight circle of lieutenants are taking a cut of profits from the firm's private investment funds, according to people familiar with the plans. The perk could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years to those executives, the people said, multiples of their annual pay depending on how those funds do.
/jlne.ws/37uS6eQ

Pot Investors Have Little to Celebrate on 4/20 Cannabis Holiday; Even as more Americans enjoy a legal spliff, shares in marijuana growers will remain on a downer
Carol Ryan - WSJ
Many pot smokers will light up Wednesday to celebrate 4/20, the unofficial annual cannabis holiday. But it still isn't a great time to reach for U.S. marijuana stocks as progress on federal reform stalls once again. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said his cannabis bill will be introduced in August, four months later than planned. It is a sign that the proposal, which would end cannabis prohibition in the U.S., doesn't have enough votes to pass.
/jlne.ws/36uiBR4

IMF warns of rising cryptocurrency risks in emerging markets
Jennifer Schonberger - Yahoo Finance
A spike in cryptocurrency trading in emerging markets could imperil the global financial system, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday in a report on global financial stability. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine is revealing the risks of crypto payment systems, the IMF found. "Repercussions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ensuing sanctions continue to reverberate globally and will test the resilience of the financial system through various channels, including ... acceleration of cryptoization in emerging markets, direct and indirect exposures of banks and nonbanks and possible cyber-related events," the international body said in the report.
/jlne.ws/37qLuhI

IMF Warns of Crypto Mining as Possible Dodge on Russia Sanctions; Countries may use energy resources to expand mining operations; Ukraine war reveals challenges in regulating crypto, fund says
Allyson Versprille - Bloomberg
Countries such as Russia and Iran may eventually use cryptocurrency mining to evade sanctions, the International Monetary Fund warned in a report. There's a risk that sanctioned nations will leverage their energy resources -- which can't be exported -- to power mining, an energy-intensive process of validating coin transactions, the IMF said. By expanding their mining operations, governments could also generate revenue directly from transactions fees.
/jlne.ws/3Opxpla

The Curious Exit of a Star China Banker; China Merchants Bank's innovative wealth-management business could be in for trouble ahead.
Shuli Ren - Bloomberg
An investors' darling has fallen. China Merchants Bank Co. lost about $16 billion in market value after the surprising departure of its long-time president, Tian Huiyu, who spent nearly nine years building the lender into a retail banking giant. Tian will get an administrative role at the bank's largest shareholder, China Merchants Group, a Shenzhen-based state-owned enterprise, according to local financial-news website Cailianshe.
/jlne.ws/3JYpWGj

MEME Cryptocurrency Exchange Is Launched with Futures Trading Based on Web3 System
MEME Exchange via Coinspeaker.com
Recently, MEME Exchange, a cryptocurrency derivative platform, was officially launched and concluded futures trading based on the Web3 system, providing investors with a new experience in futures trading. MEME is a futures exchange that supports a variety of cross-chain mainstream assets to meet the safety, lightweight, high frequency, and low commission demands of users.
/jlne.ws/3uVJsik

The Stability of Algorithmic Stablecoins
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
Algorithmic stablecoins
Here is how an algorithmic stablecoin works. You invent two tokens, call them Dollarcoin and Sharecoin. You list them on the crypto exchanges. Sharecoin trades for whatever price is determined by supply and demand. It might be $0.01 per Sharecoin, or $1, or $100, who knows. But Dollarcoin is supposed to trade at $1. If it trades at $0.99, you have some automatic process in which you print more Sharecoins and use them to buy Dollarcoins until it is back to $1. If it trades at $1.01, you have some automatic process in which you print some more Dollarcoins and use them to buy Sharecoins until it is back to $1. The result is that Dollarcoin is firmly pegged to the dollar. The process is sometimes compared to algorithmic central banking, where the central bank maintains the value of the currency (Dollarcoin) by adjusting its supply.
/jlne.ws/3uUzjCr

Credit Suisse Warns of Loss From Russia and Legal Woes; Legal settlement costs have nibbled at Swiss bank's capital levels
Margot Patrick - WSJ
Credit Suisse CS 2.93% Group AG warned it will make a loss in the first quarter from rising litigation costs and loan losses related to Russia. The Swiss bank said litigation provisions will be around $740 million in the quarter because of developments in legal cases, which include a former client winning a roughly $555 million court award in Bermuda. It said results will be hit by around $212 million in negative revenues and loan-loss provisions stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that business activity in general was lower.
/jlne.ws/3Ld0oq8

The TRADE announces agenda for Mifid II Roadshow in London; The Mifid II Review event will focus on the regulatory and reporting topics most relevant to the UK market.
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
The TRADE Mifid II Review Roadshow series kicks off in London next month with an inaugural event hosted by LSEG at the London Stock Exchange. Diving deep into the issues most relevant to the UK audience, the Roadshow will explore the expected changes to Mifid II and look at how these will translate into a UK context, how UK markets will operate in parallel with Europe and how the updates might impact the world of trading.
/jlne.ws/3xI0Vg2



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Ukraine Invasion
News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact
Finland and Sweden, moving toward possible NATO membership, brace for Russian backlash
Melissa Rossi - Yahoo News
Last Wednesday in Stockholm, the prime ministers of Sweden and Finland, countries where neutrality and military non-alliance are deeply woven into their cultures, shocked the world by issuing a joint statement that, thanks to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, they were considering applying for membership in NATO. "There is a before and after Feb. 24," Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told reporters in reference to Russia's latest military incursion in Ukraine. "The security landscape has completely changed."
/jlne.ws/3JSWXDT

SAP Shutting Down Russia Operations After 30 Years in Country
Ivan Levingston - Bloomberg
SAP SE is taking steps toward an "orderly exit" of its operations in Russia with plans to stop offering support for on-premise products in the country while winding down cloud services.
/jlne.ws/3L0H13D

Russia Touts SWIFT Alternative, But Will Keep Its Members Secret
Bloomberg News
A day after Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina touted the country's alternative to the SWIFT financial-messaging service, the regulator said it will no longer publicly disclose who participates. U.S. and European sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine have cut several major banks off from SWIFT. But Nabiullina told parliament Monday that 52 institutions from 12 countries are participating. Until recently, the list was posted on the central bank's website.
/jlne.ws/3Oo4IVx

Putin signs decree to remove Russian stocks from overseas exchanges in huge blow to the nation's billionaires
Phil Rosen - Business Insider
In a blow to Russia's richest business people, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on April 16 that requires Russian companies to remove their listings from overseas stock exchanges The likes of Vladimir Potanin — Russia's richest man — will now have to adjust the ownership structure of their businesses, Bloomberg reported.
/jlne.ws/3KZTuES

Kremlin Insiders Alarmed Over Growing Toll of Putin's War in Ukraine; Some in the elite fear the invasion was a catastrophic mistake — but say the Russian president won't relent and is in no danger of losing power.
Bloomberg News
Almost eight weeks after Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, with military losses mounting and Russia facing unprecedented international isolation, a small but growing number of senior Kremlin insiders are quietly questioning his decision to go to war.
/jlne.ws/3EtPyK7

Mariupol Defenders Appeal for Help and Fear for Last Stand: Latest
Bloomberg News
Ukrainian defenders at a sprawling steel plant in the key port city of Mariupol said they were outnumbered and appealed to world leaders for help as they faced what might be their last stand. Russia is demanding that they lay down their arms and surrender. The government in Kyiv said a preliminary agreement had been reached to evacuate women, children and elderly people from the city later on Wednesday, describing the humanitarian situation there as "catastrophic." The UN's refugee agency said more than 5 million people had fled Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3Mgc77E

Nasdaq profit tops estimates on robust demand for investment products
Reuters
Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O) topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Wednesday, driven by robust demand for its investment-related products that offset a lull in initial public offerings. The stock exchange operator has looked to increasingly diversify its offerings and reposition itself as a leading financial technology company with an expanding footprint in the software sector, offering analytics, data and cloud services.
/jlne.ws/3892zMM

Germany to Support Ukraine With Artillery Ammunition, Training; Heavy-weapons training to be provided in Poland or Germany; Scholz faces criticism over muddled comments on military aid
Michael Nienaber - Bloomberg
Germany will provide Ukraine with ammunition and training for heavy artillery as Chancellor Olaf Scholz comes under pressure to give more support to the effort to fend off Russian forces. The training and ammunition are for the PzH 2000, a self-propelled, rapid-fire artillery system, which the Netherlands is sending to Ukraine, according to a senior government official. The training could be provided in Poland or Germany, but not in Ukraine because of ongoing attacks from Russia, said the official, who asked not to be identified because talks between NATO allies and Ukraine are confidential.
/jlne.ws/3xNI1nQ

Italy Is Ready to Halt Russian Gas Payments If EU Finds a Violation; Government in Rome waiting for EU assessment to be finalized; Draghi's government to secure new energy deals in Africa
Chiara Albanese - Bloomberg
Italy will refuse to comply with new gas-payment terms demanded by Moscow if the European Union concludes that doing so would breach sanctions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter. In a preliminary assessment, the EU found that the Kremlin's payment terms were a clear violation of the bloc's sanctions. The Italian government is waiting for Brussels to finalize its legal analysis before taking any action, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.
/jlne.ws/380UHgt

Kremlin says Russian metal companies facing difficulties from "unfriendly countries"
Reuters
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russian metals companies were facing "hostile attitudes" from what Moscow calls unfriendly countries, and that Russia would come up with a plan to combat this. "We are among world leaders in this industry, and our metallurgists have begun to face hostile attitudes, ... our companies are experiencing some difficulties," Peskov said on a conference call with reporters.
/jlne.ws/3OmJjw5

Almost 200,000 workers in Russia still on western payrolls; Multinationals keep paying wages despite pledges to suspend activity in country since Ukraine invasion
Ian Johnston, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Nastassia Astrasheuskaya - FT
Multinational companies continue to pay almost 200,000 employees based in Russia despite pledges to suspend or end activities in the country, raising fears of mass sackings or nationalisations as hopes fade for a swift end to war in Ukraine. A string of western companies from McDonald's to Renault committed to paying thousands of employees' wages when they halted operations in the country last month. Analysis by the Financial Times shows that at least 188,000 employees continue to be on payrolls.
/jlne.ws/3Ew5nzU

From YouTube to Rutube. Inside Russia's Influence Campaign; Kremlin cracks down on Western social media, but Russia's homemade alternatives are a tough sell
Sarah E. Needleman and Evan Gershkovich - WSJ
The Kremlin is waging a new influence campaign: persuading Russians to quit Western social-media platforms. As part of an expansive effort to control the narrative about its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin is pushing Russians to embrace homegrown alternatives instead. Russian authorities have put up firewalls around several Western social-media platforms and are threatening more. Now they have to convince Russians used to the freedoms of YouTube and Instagram that censored domestic social networks can deliver moneymaking opportunities and equally large audiences. And that they aren't just cheap knockoffs.
/jlne.ws/3K6Dks8

A viral Ukrainian appeal to the ultra-rich: 'Buy me a fighter jet'
By Jennifer Hassan - Washington Post
A Ukrainian campaign is asking the world's wealthiest people for help defending the country from invading Russian troops — and it's doing so with a five-word slogan: "Buy me a fighter jet." Those behind the initiative say that governments around the world are "afraid of escalation and the conflict spreading beyond Ukraine" and therefore will not send jets or impose a no-fly zone — both of which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly sought from NATO and the United States since the war began in late February.
/jlne.ws/3rCVrza








Exchanges, OTC & Clearing
Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities
MARF admits a new 202 million euro Securitisation Fund
BME
BME's Fixed Income Market, MARF, today admitted a new 202.3 million euro bond issue to trading from the TDA TITAN Securitisation Fund. With this transaction, the outstanding balance of securitisation bonds registered in MARF reaches 3.42 billion euros, represented by a broad range of securitisation transactions and underlying assets such as mortgages, receivables, CLOs, synthetics, SMEs, etc.
/bit.ly/380Q0Dn

Cboe Europe Derivatives To Launch New Equity Index Products
CBOE
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, today announced the planned launch of new equity index futures and options products for trading on Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX), its Amsterdam-based equity derivatives exchange.
/bit.ly/3JT3uhT

Clearing Transformation Trade Type PROD Date and Hybrid Transfer - Effective August 22, 2022
CME Group
As previously mentioned in CH Advisory 21-344 , CME Clearing is planning to introduce the new Clearing Transformation Trade Type to be used to post the results of Clearing Transformation processes. The Production date for this change has been pushed to Q1 2023. Testing in New Release will be suspended until Q4 2022.
/bit.ly/36u0tGY

Performance Bond Requirements: Metals, Energy, and Agriculture - Effective April 20, 2022
CME Group
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below.
/bit.ly/3JZ1QeB

Eurex Circular 040/22 Equity Derivatives: A. Cancellation of admission to trading for Single Stock Futures, Single Stock Dividend Futures and equity options; B. Name change with regard to the underlyings of Single Stock Futures and equity options
Eurex
The Management Board of Eurex Deutschland took the following decisions with effect from 25 April 2022: Cancellation of admission to trading for eleven Single Stock Futures, three Single Stock Dividend Futures, two equity options, one Total Return Future and one Stock Tracking Future pursuant to Annexes A, B, D, G and H of the Contract Specifications in the Attachment
/bit.ly/3vz0TEn

Selected Index Futures and Options: Introduction of additional expirations
Eurex
Eurex Circular 041/22 Selected Index Futures and Options: Introduction of additional expirations
With effect from 23 May 2022, the Management Board of Eurex Deutschland took the following decisions:EURO STOXX 50® Index Futures (FESX/FESQ): Introduction of four further quarterly expirations; STOXX 600® (FXXP) and SMI® Index Futures (FSMI): Introduction of eight further quarterly expirations; EURO STOXX 50® Index Options (OESX): Introduction of two further quarterly expirations; DAX® (ODAX), STOXX 600® (OXXP) and SMI® Index Options (OSMI): Introduction of four further quarterly expirations
/bit.ly/3OpobVZ

Subject: Relaunched Subscription Arrangement for Retail Green Bond of the
Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's
Republic of China (Stock code: 4252) - Details and Standard Application
Form Template
HKEX
CCASS Participants are advised that the Government has announced details on the
relaunch of the subscription arrangement for the inaugural retail green bond under the
Government Green Bond Programme.
/bit.ly/3EvpXjO

Moscow Exchange starts trading in "perpetual" currency futures
MOEX
On April 26, 2022, trading on a new type of instruments, the "perpetual" futures, will begin on the derivatives market of the Moscow Exchange. This is a settlement one-day futures contract for the foreign exchange rate against the Russian ruble with automatic prolongation.
/bit.ly/3s11EWb

Moscow Exchange starts trading yuan futures with new parameters
MOEX
On April 21, 2022, the Moscow Exchange derivatives market participants and their clients will have access to a settlement futures contract for the Chinese yuan - Russian ruble currency pair, aimed at private investors.
/bit.ly/3Oinkq2

Nasdaq Announces 11% Increase in Quarterly Dividend, Seeks Approvals to Execute 3-For-1 Stock Split
Nasdaq, Inc.
Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is announcing today that the Board has approved an 11% increase in the regular quarterly dividend, and that the company has begun seeking necessary shareholder and SEC approvals that would allow the company to execute a 3-for-1 stock split.
/jlne.ws/3rEFHfg

Nasdaq Reports First Quarter 2022 Results; Delivers Strong Growth in Solutions Segments Revenue
Nasdaq, Inc.
Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2022. First quarter 2022 net revenues¹ increased 5% compared to the first quarter of 2021. Solutions segments2 revenues increased 15%, including 13% organic growth and 4% contribution from the acquisition of Verafin, partially offset by a negative 2% FX impact. Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR)3 increased 9% compared to the first quarter of 2021. Annualized SaaS revenues increased 12% and represented 34% of ARR.
/jlne.ws/386btLk

NYSE, NYSE American, NYSE American Options, NYSE Arca, NYSE Arca Options, NYSE Bonds, NYSE Chicago, NYSE National, FINRA/NYSE TRF and Global OTC Traders Subject: 2022 Regulation SCI BCP/DR Testing - October 15, 2022
NYSE
On October 15, 2022, NYSE, NYSE American, NYSE American Options, NYSE Arca, NYSE Arca Options, NYSE Bonds, NYSE Chicago, NYSE National, FINRA/NYSE TRF and Global OTC (collectively, "NYSE") will conduct business continuity and disaster recovery testing during the SIFMA coordinated industry test. Market participants that meet criteria established by the NYSE exchanges for designation as a required participant ("Required Participants") will be notified by NYSE in April 2022.
/bit.ly/3rDVGu9

IMAS Digital Summit 2022 Keynote speech by Loh Boon Chye, CEO of SGX Group
SGX Group
Susan Soh, Chairman of IMAS Executive Committee
Ladies and gentlemen
A very good morning to all and thank you to IMAS for inviting me here today.
/bit.ly/3vCQsA2




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Robinhood Signs Agreement to Acquire Ziglu
Robinhood Blog
At Robinhood, our mission to democratize finance for all can only be achieved if we reach people around the world. That's why earlier this year, we announced that we've set aggressive goals to start opening our crypto platform up to customers internationally.
/jlne.ws/383TRj0

Robinhood's Crypto Push Goes International. The U.K. Is the First Stop.
Jack Denton - Barron's
Weeks after Robinhood Markets extended cryptocurrency wallet services to more than two million users in the U.S., the investing platform is taking its move into digital assets overseas. Robinhood (ticker: HOOD) has signed a deal to acquire Ziglu, a British electronic-money institution and crypto asset firm, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, the groups said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/36s6ioj

Billionaire Trade Desk CEO Gets $830 Million in Pay to Fight Google
Scott Carpenter - Bloomberg
It's not a googol, but Trade Desk Inc.'s nine-figure compensation package for founder Jeff Green is the largest yet disclosed for any chief executive officer in 2021. The Ventura, California-based ad-tech company awarded Green pay valued at more than $830 million, according to a recent filing. That's more than the compensation for each of KKR & Co.'s new co-CEOs, Joseph Bae and Scott Nuttall, or Blackstone Inc.'s Stephen Schwarzman.
/jlne.ws/3rGg2CP

Musk willing to invest up to $15 billion of own money to buy Twitter
Reuters
Elon Musk is willing to invest between $10 billion and $15 billion of his own money to take Twitter Inc private, the New York Post reported on Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The billionaire, who is Twitter's second-biggest shareholder with a 9.1% stake, is planning to launch a tender offer in about 10 days and has tapped Morgan Stanley to raise another $10 billion in debt, according to the report.
/jlne.ws/3EqAQUd

Crypto Billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried Wants to Talk to Elon Musk About Twitter; He hopes to create interoperability between platforms; 'I have not directly talked to Elon about this': Bankman-Fried
Crystal Kim and Matthew Miller - Bloomberg
It is well-known that cryptocurrency billionaire and FTX Chief Executive Officer Sam Bankman-Fried wants to give away his entire fortune. Next on his agenda is fixing social media's "broken model" through blockchain technology. "What is the moderation policy for all of social media -- it's like three guys? It's the people who run three companies who choose what does and doesn't get censored. That's a broken model," Bankman-Fried said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
/jlne.ws/3ExfSmz

IBM Revenue Up 8% on Continued Momentum in Hybrid Cloud Business; Tech giant lifts revenue outlook as CFO says customers speed up digital investments
Maria Armental - WSJ
International Business Machines Corp. reported a stronger-than-expected 8% revenue increase in the first quarter on continued momentum in its hybrid cloud platform, a key focus of the tech company's transformation.
/jlne.ws/3jVXwSE



Vermiculus



Cybersecurity
Top stories for cybersecurity
Cybersecurity advisory: Nation-state hackers target crypto
Security Magazine
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Treasury Department have released a joint cybersecurity advisory on an advanced persistent threat (APT) group sponsored by the North Korean state.
/jlne.ws/3s11BJZ

How Development Teams Can Stay Agile Without Sacrificing Cybersecurity
Nikhil Gupta - Forbes
In today's digital world, businesses cannot afford to sit still. You have to always be innovating and moving onto the next version of the product—by waiting, you find yourself left behind by competitors.
This technological progress and competitive pressure has resulted in digital innovation cycles being accelerated. For example, software or new versions of applications used to be released once or twice a year, but it is not uncommon to see software releases every week, or even every day, in today's agile world.
/jlne.ws/3rDpaZ8

Ukraine war and new US law may trigger more cybersecurity investment
Daniel Kennedy - S&P Global Market Intelligence
President Joe Biden signed the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act of 2022 into law on March 15. The new law requires organizations that maintain critical infrastructure to report substantial cyberattacks to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, no later than 72 hours after determining an incident has occurred. Organizations must also report any ransomware payment within 24 hours.
/jlne.ws/3MjO87G

Demystifying 'shared Fate'
Phil Venables - Forbes
"Shared responsibility" for security emerged from the earliest days of cloud computing as a helpful model for assigning responsibilities between cloud providers and their customers. While it made sense in the beginning, the rapidly-changing security landscape means we can reimagine the shared responsibility model to better capture the full spirit of the relationship required for a true partnership to transform security in the cloud. That may sound trivial, but not having the right conceptual model in cybersecurity can lead to real-world issues. It's time for cloud service providers (CSPs) to elevate their shared responsibility into a more resilient model. We call it "shared fate."
/jlne.ws/3OsS7jZ





Cryptocurrencies
Top stories for cryptocurrencies
Crypto Startups Bring In Billions Even With Lofty Valuations, For Now
Crystal Kim - Bloomberg
Investors drawn to cryptocurrency startups are doing a lot of double-takes these days. The industry continues to draw venture capital even amid broad market angst, luring roughly $5 billion in the first quarter, double the year-earlier period, according to data compiled by PitchBook Data Inc. But ever-lofty valuations of new companies, some less than a year old, are giving some potential backers pause.
/jlne.ws/3ErlFtS

Crypto Exchange Okcoin Launches Fee-Free NFT Trading Marketplace; Latest to extend trading from coins to nonfungible tokens; Joining industry-wide move from currencies into digital images
Tanzeel Akhtar - Bloomberg
Okcoin, a cryptocurrency exchange, is starting a marketplace for nonfungible tokens, seeking to extend its reach by allowing free trading in the digital artworks. The San-Francisco based site, which was founded in 2013, is the latest to shift into NFT trading, following similar announcements by rivals including Coinbase Global Inc., Kraken and Gemini.
/jlne.ws/3uYbcD1

Thai Energy Firm Gulf Concludes Investments in Binance.US and BNB
Sujha Sundararajan - FX Empire
Thai billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi's firm Gulf Energy Development PCL has finalized an investment in the US arm of the Binance crypto exchange and its signature cryptocurrency - BNB. The move comes after both the firms entered a partnership in January to launch a digital asset exchange in Thailand. Binance described the collaboration as the "first step" in exploring opportunities in Thailand. Although, a criminal complaint on the exchange from the Thailand regulator for operating without a license still remains.
/jlne.ws/3Ommfh5

Happy endings sought for hijack of the Beanstalk; A DeFi stablecoin with a $76mn hole that needs filling.
Bryce Elder - FT
We're pretty optimistic that there's a path forward here. [But] let's start with what's the problem. Beanstalk had something like $76mn stolen from it yesterday. Now it needs to recuperate as much of that money as possible.
That's where things stand for Beanstalk Farms, a decentralised finance platform whose entire collateral was siphoned off over the weekend. Despite having no remaining treasury funds and a token that since midnight Sunday has lost 92 per cent of its value, the project founders remain upbeat, because they have a plan.
/jlne.ws/386lEj0





Politics
An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets
Rep. Sean Casten Visits South Elgin High School Students Participating in SIFMA Foundation's Capitol Hill Challenge
SIFMA
Today, Rep. Sean Casten (IL-6) visited with South Elgin High School students participating in the SIFMA Foundation's Capitol Hill Challenge program, underwritten by the Charles Schwab Foundation. This national 14-week financial education competition pairs individual members of Congress with public schools in every congressional district, equipping middle and high school students to become financially capable and civics minded.
/jlne.ws/3jVuKlm

SEC Chair Gary Gensler Faces Lawmaker Scrutiny as Ripple Case Drags On
Bob Mason - FX Empire
Last week, the SEC was left with little choice but to request yet another extension in its case against Ripple. Over the weekend, we reported on the SEC's request for an extension of time to file its objection to Magistrate Judge Netburn's ruling on the Motion for Reconsideration of the DPP Ruling.
/jlne.ws/3OzrQ3R

Biden administration urged to ban UK lawyers who 'enabled' oligarchs; Congressman seeks action against those acting in cases for wealthy Russians against investigative journalists
Kiran Stacey and Kate Beioley - FT
A member of Congress has urged the Biden administration to place travel bans on senior British lawyers that acted for wealthy Russian clients against investigative journalists. Steve Cohen, a Democratic representative from Tennessee, has written to Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, urging him to sanction the lawyers for having "enabled malign activities of Russian oligarchs".
/jlne.ws/36vyua3

David McCormick Gets Flood of Goldman Sachs Cash in MAGA-Fueled Senate Race; Bridgewater's McCormick gets boost from bank where wife works; The candidate had sought Trump endorsement that went to Dr. Oz
Mark Niquette, Sridhar Natarajan, and Bill Allison - Bloomberg
A parade of senior Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives is writing one check after another to sway a crucial Senate primary in Pennsylvania. More than 60 executives at the Wall Street giant have given the maximum allowed to support David McCormick, the hedge fund manager who has tried to position himself as "an America-first conservative" embracing Donald Trump's agenda in the race to represent the Keystone State. He is married to Goldman partner Dina Powell McCormick.
/jlne.ws/3xHlsS2

Le Pen Upset Would Be as Big a Shock to Markets as Brexit; Investors see stocks falling, euro weaker on Le Pen win; Hedges recommended as only debate of campaign looms Wednesday
Albertina Torsoli, Libby Cherry, and Michael Msika - Bloomberg
All the polls show French President Emmanuel Macron is likely to win a second term Sunday. But from Citigroup Inc. to asset manager Amundi SA, the warnings are piling up that markets are underestimating the risk of a surprise. If nationalist Marine Le Pen upsets the incumbent, European stocks are likely to slump Monday, while French bonds would underperform German securities and the euro could even trade at parity with the dollar in coming months, according to investors and strategists. The full consequences wouldn't be visible until after legislative elections in June, they said, when it would be clear whether she has a majority to back her proposals to review free trade agreements and re-establish border controls.
/jlne.ws/3K2JQ2O

Marine Le Pen's Plan for Europe Would Be a Gift to Putin; Remolding France into an ideal partner for the likes of Viktor Orban would weaken Europe and divide the West.
Lionel Laurent - Bloomberg
When Emmanuel Macron last faced off against far-right foe Marine Le Pen for the French presidency in 2017, her call to follow the U.K. out of the European Union was in tune with the populist times. Yet it failed to win over voters worried about the chaos that would ensue. A French Brexit is off the menu this time, which has made Le Pen seem more palatable. But what she's proposing in its place is an EU hollowed out from the inside by France following in the footsteps of Hungary's Viktor Orban, tearing up German cooperation and breaking unity on Russia. As she and Macron debate ahead of Sunday's vote, the risks are less extreme than before but the West still has reason to watch — and worry.
/jlne.ws/3JY8Bxd



Regulation & Enforcement
Stories about regulation and the law.
SEC: Ex-Morgan Stanley Advisor's Ponzi Scheme Cost Clients Millions, Netted Him a Tesla
Andrew Welsch - Barron's
Shawn E. Good, 55, allegedly defrauded at least five clients, some of whom were retirees, of about $4.8 million, according to the agency. He allegedly spent client money on a Tesla car, an Alfa Romeo SUV, more than $800,000 in credit-card bills, and Venmo transfers with memo lines such as "because youre [sic] sexy" and "tattoo," according to the SEC, which filed civil charges against Good in a federal court April 18 in Raleigh, N.C. He also used new client money to repay other investors, according to the SEC's complaint.
/jlne.ws/3960QbR

CFTC Wins Jury Verdict in 2020 Commodity Pool Fraud Case; Portfolio Manager Found Liable for Making False or Misleading Statements
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that on April 15, a jury in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin issued a verdict finding Edward S. Walczak liable for engaging in conduct that operated as a fraud or deceit upon investors, potential investors, or investment advisors, in violation of Section 4o(1)(B) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
/jlne.ws/3Ml42Pb

FCA finalises proposals to boost disclosure of diversity on listed company boards and executive committees
FCA
The FCA has finalised rules requiring listed companies to report information and disclose against targets on the representation of women and ethnic minorities on their boards and executive management, making it easier for investors to see the diversity of their senior leadership teams.
/jlne.ws/3EtYSxB








Investing & Trading
Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities)
Corn Hovers at Decade High as War, Weather Stoke Supply Fear
Megan Durisin and Sybilla Gross - Bloomberg
Chicago corn futures are hovering close to a decade high reached earlier Tuesday as the war in Ukraine curtails grain sales and weather hampers crops elsewhere.
/jlne.ws/3L105ib

Commodity prices are going haywire, prompting fears of the next financial crisis
Chris Matthews - MarketWatch
The prices of commodities including oil CL00, -4.84%, wheat W00, -2.04% and palladium PA00, -3.28% have surged this year as much of the global economy shakes off COVID restrictions and as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to a key commodity-exporting region to be cut off from the the rest of the world. This volatility has not only helped fuel levels of inflation not seen in 40 years —market observers are warning that it could put the stability of the global economy at risk unless regulators and central banks wake up to the threats posed.
/jlne.ws/3JR2FpG

Stanley Gibbons expects inflation boost to dealing in stamps and coins; UK collectibles group says real assets could appreciate as investors hedge against rising prices
Ian Johnston - FT
Stanley Gibbons expects stamp and coin enthusiasts to benefit from rising prices for their collections, as inflationary pressures push investors to hedge against inflation. Graham Shircore, chief executive of the collectibles dealer, said on Tuesday there was "some evidence that real assets tend to do reasonably well during periods of heightened inflation . . . stamps and coins have shown to be at the better end of the spectrum."
/jlne.ws/36yTH2Q




Qontigo




Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance
Stories about environmental, social and governance investing
Denmark Expects to Cut 3.7 Million Tons of CO2 With Climate Tax
Morten Buttler - Bloomberg
Denmark expects to cut 3.7 million tons of CO2 in 2030 by changing the way it taxes companies for emissions. The Nordic country, which has a plan to reduce emissions by 70% before 2030, will charge companies as much as 1,125 kroner ($165) per ton of CO2, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/37AdIGB

China's Sudden Pledge to Cut Steel Output Upends Carbon Policy; Stimulus will likely require rise in production later in year; Nation's copper exports increase to the highest since 2016
Bloomberg News
China's promise to cut steel output for a second year looks like a bit of improvisation by the government, as a resurgent virus sweeps through the economy and chokes production in any case. Beijing's sudden pledge on Tuesday comes barely two months after it extended the steel industry's deadline to peak its emissions by five years to 2030. The laxer stance was adopted after production crashed in the second half of 2021 because of the government's insistence on reducing output from the prior year's record in service of its climate goals.
/jlne.ws/3rDSChD

Climate Crisis? Fund Managers Are Sticking With Fossil Fuel; A new report alleges broken promises on the part of bankers and asset managers who just a year ago pledged to fight global warming.
Tim Quinson - Bloomberg
None of the world's largest asset managers has definitively called on fossil-fuel companies to stop the development of new oil and gas projects. Surely, one would think, given all the climate-conscious talk coming from Wall Street bigwigs like BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, that the investment industry would be using all of its muscle to press the world's worst polluters to reduce their production of dangerous greenhouse gases.
/jlne.ws/3uZWGLd

Investors wary of Australia's green hydrogen hype; Vaunted $188bn pipeline of projects is yet to translate to a single molecule being sold
James Fernyhough - FT
In the vast expanses of sun-drenched north-west Australia, one of the most ambitious energy ventures in history is being planned as part of a pipeline of billion-dollar hydrogen projects across the country.The Asian Renewable Energy Hub is expected to cover 6,500 square kilometres in the Pilbara mining region with solar panels and wind turbines to generate 26 gigawatts of power, an amount equal to one-third of the present capacity of the entire country.
/jlne.ws/389baiw








Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds
The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures
JPMorgan Loses Lead Role on China Deal After 'Uninvestable' Call; JPMorgan may earn less in fees after losing lead-left place; Bank's analyst cut Kingsoft Cloud's target price by half
Cathy Chan - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. was removed as the most senior underwriter for Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd.'s Hong Kong stock offering after one of the bank's analysts cut the share-price target for the Chinese technology company by half, people familiar with the matter said. The New York-based bank lost the so-called lead-left role in arranging Kingsoft Cloud's listing, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. JPMorgan is still a sponsor of the offering, but is now ranked behind UBS Group AG and China International Capital Corp., the people said.
/jlne.ws/3JT3IWh

Big U.S. Banks Get a Little Taste of the 'Doom Loop'; Deepening bond losses cut into capital ratios, which put cash payouts to investors at risk.
Paul J. Davies - Bloomberg
The phrase "doom loop" will induce a nervous eye-twitch for most bank shareholders in Europe. Now, some investors are asking whether U.S. banks are about to get uncomfortably familiar with the same idea. So what's a doom loop? When bond yields rise, their prices fall, which means a loss for the owners if they mark them to market. For a bank, those losses eat into its capital base, the foundation of its balance sheet. In the euro-zone crisis a decade ago, weak government finances, especially in Italy and Greece, led investors to sell their bonds, which local banks also owned in spades. Bond prices tumbled and local banks suffered heavy losses, raising the risk they might need to be bailed out. That threatened a further strain on government finances, making their debt more risky, pushing yields higher and feeding back into more losses for banks. It's a vicious circle that still haunts Europe.
/jlne.ws/3Mhx0zd

Marex Announces Record FY 2021 Results
Marex via Businesswire
Successful execution of growth strategy delivers strong organic growth in 2021, and a positive start to 2022
Marex Group, the diversified global financial services platform, has today announced record full year results to 31 December 2021, which saw strong growth in revenue and profit, demonstrating the strength of the Group's global franchise and organic growth across all businesses and geographies.
/jlne.ws/3JZhrKY

Credit Suisse warns of first-quarter loss as legal provisions balloon; Fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to hit Swiss bank's results
Owen Walker - FT
Credit Suisse has warned that it expects a first-quarter loss after a sharp increase in its legal provisions, the latest blow to the Swiss bank that has struggled to draw a line under multiple crises in recent years. The bank said on Wednesday that it would set aside a further SFr600mn ($631mn) for litigation provisions in the first quarter, taking the total to about SFr700mn for what it described as developments in legal matters that started more than a decade ago. That marked a 60 per cent increase from the previous quarter.
/jlne.ws/3s13571

BlackRock EMEA equities trading head departs for hedge fund; Winner of The TRADE's Trader of the Year award 2021 and former Daiwa Securities Capital Markets and Barclays Capital executive takes on new role.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
BlackRock's director of equities trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) has departed after seven years to join hedge fund, Millennium. Laimonas Staskus joined Millennium in an index rebalancing role in February according to his social media page after spending the last seven years at BlackRock responsible for its equities EMEA business, primarily for index strategies.
/jlne.ws/3K2ZTh4

Babel Finance appoints new head of treasury as crypto lending business expands; New head joins from Commerzbank, where he spent the last 12 years serving in various leadership positions.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Crypto financial services provider Babel Finance has appointed Yang Song as head of treasury, a newly created role as the company expands the scope of its services to more diverse client groups. Song joins Babel Finance from Commerzbank, where he spent 12 years, most recently serving as vice president of treasury.
/jlne.ws/3rHVqtV

Slowbalizing, newbalizing — Goldman Sachs sees a lot going on with the global economic order right now
Barbara Kollmeyer - MarketWatch
Goldman Sachs is dredging up some old new terms in a bid to accurately describe a changing global economic order. The word deglobalization has been on the lips of many economists, who see a looming breakdown of decades of free movement of goods and people in the wake of the pandemic, a U.S.-China trade war, and now the biggest and most devastating ground war on European soil since WWII.
/jlne.ws/3jX9NWV




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Wellness Exchange
An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information
India's Capital Reimposes Mask Mandate as Daily Covid Cases Rise; Over 2,000 new infections reported on two days this week; Federal government asking states to bolster Covid protocols
Archana Chaudhary - Bloomberg
India's capital has reinstated the mask mandate in public spaces and stepped up testing for new variants, amid concerns around rising daily Covid-19 infections in the country. The Delhi state government has begun genome sequencing for all Covid-positive samples collected April 9 onward, its spokesman said. The measures follow the detection of the highly transmissible XE variant in Mumbai earlier this month.
/jlne.ws/3Opy7i7

Bacteria Linked to Prostate Cancer Raises Hope of Breakthrough
Nina Massey - Press Association via Bloomberg
Researchers have identified five types of bacteria that are linked to aggressive prostate cancer. The bacteria was common in urine and tissue samples from men with the condition, a new study found. It is hoped the findings could help pave the way for treatments that could target this bacteria and slow or prevent the development of aggressive disease. Scientists do not yet know how people pick up the bacteria, or whether they are causing the disease.
/jlne.ws/3xWuuuD

Alzheimer's Trials Exclude Black Patients at 'Astonishing' Rate; Black people are more prone than White people to develop Alzheimer's yet represent only 2% of those in clinical trials.
Robert Langreth and Madeline Campbell - Bloomberg
Black people are about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as White people, but for years the pharmaceutical industry has mostly left them out of trials intended to prove new drugs are safe and effective. Brian Van Buren, a 71-year-old retired flight attendant, knows what that feels like. He's been living with Alzheimer's since 2015. Over the years he has tried to join numerous trials, but he says he's been turned down every time. In some cases he's been told his other health issues—he suffers from diabetes, hypertension, and sleep apnea—rule him out. At other times, he says, he was turned away for not having a nearby partner or caregiver.
/jlne.ws/3JVmFrb

Scientists urge China to replace its faltering Covid vaccines; Omicron outbreak in Shanghai has refocused attention on waning efficacy of homegrown jabs
Hannah Kuchler, Eleanor Olcott and Andy Lin - FT
Scientists are urging China to look for alternatives to its two homegrown Covid-19 vaccines to tackle its Omicron outbreak, amid mounting concerns about the jabs' efficacy against the variant. The country is struggling with two problems as it faces its worst Covid-19 surge since the start of the pandemic: the sluggish take-up of booster doses — authorities said this week that only 57 per cent of people over 60 have been fully vaccinated with three jabs — and homegrown vaccines that are much less effective than foreign-produced jabs.
/jlne.ws/3Ex4qrd

Mask ruling raises fears over US's ability to fight future pandemics; Court's decision on face coverings threatens to make it harder to tackle new outbreaks, say experts
Kiran Stacey - FT
In a few years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hoping to be able to predict outbreaks like a forecaster might do the weather, following the launch of its new pandemic forecasting unit on Tuesday. But thanks to legal setbacks for the Biden administration, including a ruling earlier this week by a Donald Trump-appointed judge in Florida, its attempts to fight them could be frustrated.
/jlne.ws/3jVS5TR

Is low-grade prostate cancer really cancer? University of Chicago doctor argues it's time for a name change.
Lisa Schleicher - Chicago Tribune
A University of Chicago Medicine doctor is arguing that one of the most common types of cancer in men sometimes shouldn't be called cancer at all — a stance that some say could save many patients from invasive, unnecessary treatments but others say could put patients at risk. About one out of every eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The severity of prostate cancer is measured on what's called a Gleason scale, with 6 being the lowest level and 10 being the highest.
/jlne.ws/3xG2qLC








Regions
Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions
Goldman Sachs Boosts Hiring of Dealmakers in Singapore
Elffie Chew and Joyce Koh - Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is hiring senior investment bankers in Singapore, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as the U.S. lender looks to bolster its dealmaking capabilities in Southeast Asia.
/jlne.ws/3EruUKo

Sri Lanka Seeks Bridge Loans as IMF Aid Will Take Six Months; Foreign Minister to meet Chinese ambassador on Thursday; 'Difficulties not going to end today or tomorrow': Minister
Chris Kay - Bloomberg
Sri Lanka is reaching out to several nations for bilateral credit as a comprehensive aid package from the International Monetary Fund may require about six months. India is providing "every conceivable assistance," Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris told reporters at a briefing in Colombo Wednesday, adding that he will be meeting the Chinese ambassador Thursday. Sri Lanka is also seeking help from Japan, Oman, Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
/jlne.ws/36yGkQc

Brexit friction pushes UK companies to set up Dutch trade hubs; Growing number of businesses are deploying to the Netherlands to do business with Europe
Andy Bounds - FT
While the UK government launches a search for Brexit opportunities, one group has already discovered them: Dutch warehouse owners. An influx of British-based companies to the Netherlands has swelled as they struggle with the disruption of a customs border across the North Sea. More than 90 investors have built or rented distribution space since 2017, half of them in 2021, according to government agency Invest in Holland.
/jlne.ws/36y9MG2

Energy chiefs warn of 'truly horrific' autumn for British households; Call for more government help over concerns up to 40% of Britons will face fuel poverty from October
Jim Pickard - FT
Energy chiefs have warned of a "truly horrific" spike in bills in the autumn that could leave up to 40 per cent of households in Britain in fuel poverty unless the government offers further help. Keith Anderson, chief executive of ScottishPower, told MPs that people were going to "really, really struggle" in the autumn with the weather turning cold and the household energy cap expected to rise again.
/jlne.ws/3jT2MXe

Petropavlovsk hit with demand for almost $300mn from Gazprombank; London-listed gold producer's shares plunge after debt repayment order from sanctions-hit Russian lender
Neil Hume - FT
Petropavlovsk shares plunged on Wednesday after the Russian gold producer was hit with a demand for almost $300mn of cash from its main lender. The London-listed company said it had received notices from Gazprombank asking for the immediate repayment of a $201mn loan and $87.1mn from another credit facility to be paid next week.
/jlne.ws/3JTZiy9

Saudi fintech firm FOODICS raises $170 mln from investors
Reuters
FOODICS, a cloud-based technology firm serving restaurants in the Middle East, has raised $170 million from investors led by tech investor Prosus and Sanabil Investments, which is owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF, it said on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3L2FtWO







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