| April 28, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
In the aftermath of Donald Trump's first 100 days in office during his second term, various media outlets have conducted assessments revealing a dramatic decline in his approval ratings. Reports indicate that Trump's approval ratings have dropped to as low as 41%, marking the lowest level for any newly elected president in the last 70 years. Critics have described this period as marked by broken campaign promises and a significant drop in public trust, with outlets like USA Today and CNN emphasizing the president's struggles to maintain support among voters across different demographics.
Simultaneously, Trump faces criticism not just for his domestic policies but also for his handling of foreign affairs. As he attempts to navigate complex international relations, particularly with China, skepticism looms regarding his effectiveness on the global stage. The enduring conflict in Ukraine, against the backdrop of continuing Russian assaults, adds further pressure on his administration to provide meaningful responses and solutions.
Amidst this challenging landscape, political analysts warn that Trump's approach has instigated a shift toward more authoritarian governance, compounding public discontent. His faltering approval ratings and the perceived erosion of democratic norms raise concerns about the potential repercussions for his presidency and the broader political climate in the United States. As Trump looks to regroup, the path ahead appears fraught with challenges that could reshape his legacy and the future of American politics.
What is the price impact on the markets of Trump's policies that have led to his decline in approval? US stocks have lagged global markets by the widest margin since 1993, as Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies fuel investor fears of stagflation and policy uncertainty, the Financial Times reports. The MSCI USA index fell 11% in the year's first 16 weeks, while the MSCI all world ex-US index rose 4%, with a particularly sharp gap versus Europe, where increased government and defense spending have buoyed equities. A weaker dollar, down 8% against major currencies, has further boosted overseas performance in dollar terms. While the S&P 500 dropped sharply after Trump's trade war escalations, indices like Germany's Dax, France's CAC 40, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng have surged, driven by robust institutional confidence and, in Asia, technological advances including China's DeepSeek AI.
The weekend news featured the tragic story of the son of a CIA official who was killed while fighting for Russia in the Donetsk region. Michael Gloss was also an Eagle Scout. While the full truth remains unclear, it's likely that a mix of mental health issues and recruitment efforts from Moscow played a significant role in this situation.
The Guardian reported that Russia continued its assault on Ukraine just hours after President Trump raised doubts about Vladimir Putin's commitment to ending the conflict.
The DeGroote family's Naples, FL estate just sold for $225 million, the second-highest residential sale price in U.S. history, The Wall Street Journal reported. The family's wealth comes from Michael DeGroote, who built Laidlaw into North America's largest school bus company before selling it for nearly half a billion dollars.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: ANALYSIS: US options market on track for sixth record year as trading spikes, EEX to list EU Emissions Trading System 2 futures in early July, Crypto drives new listings including first US perpetual future - FOW Data and Central banks need workforce 'suited to harnessing AI benefits' - BIS.
The Mission (Im)possible: Kilt Challenge is at 70,215 GPB raised online and holding. I am told some additional funds have been raised offline, although those totals have not been shared yet.
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:
- Introducing Ask Us (Almost) Anything: OIC Office Hours from OIC.
- Cboe Options to allow new type of complex FLEX order from FX News Group.
- Nasdaq Offers New Electronic Flex Options on ISE from MarketsMedia. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 All the Risk, None of the Panic: TS Imagine's Martin Packham on Taming the Hydra of Market Hazards JohnLothianNews.com BOCA RATON, Fla.-(JLN)-April 25, 2025-Martin Packham spends his days talking to people who stare into the abyss for a living-chief risk officers and global heads of risk. If their nightmares had a soundtrack, it would be the syncopated beeping of five different risk systems, each calculating with a different accent and none speaking the same language. "They will tell me that they have five different systems," recounts Packham, sales director at TS Imagine. "They're all calculating for different asset classes or for different desks. They're using different data sets. They don't calculate the same risk measures. And so they have a real challenge to kind of bring all of that together into one coherent and comprehensive view on risk." Watch the Martin Packham Video »
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Hank Paulson: Clean energy will be critical to winning the AI race with China; Rather than choosing one energy source over another, the US must quickly create the conditions for a mix to meet demand
Hank Paulson - Financial Times
One of the most urgent and under-appreciated energy challenges facing the US is the artificial intelligence race with China. America is in the lead, but Beijing is investing heavily to close the gap. The question for Washington is: can the US stay ahead without a national energy strategy to power it? The energy landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. Russia's invasion of Ukraine reshaped it overnight. Prices soared and governments scrambled to reduce reliance on Russian gas. Energy security became paramount. As Europe and other regions that are not energy independent seek to address these vulnerabilities, they are increasingly looking to solar and wind to reduce fossil fuel dependence.
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***** I am all for clean energy, but don't get lost in the marketing. There is nothing clean about the millions of birds chopped to death by wind turbines. That is cleaner or better than black lung in miners for coal, but that is not the point.~JJL
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Americans Are Claiming Social Security Early, Fearful of Its Future; Waiting to start drawing benefits typically leads to a bigger monthly check, but many don't want to wait right now
Anne Tergesen - The Wall Street Journal
Americans anxious about the future of Social Security are claiming their benefits earlier than planned, even though it can mean less income over the rest of their lives. The Social Security Administration has been shedding staff and changing requirements for claiming benefits over the phone. President Trump has been pushing to cut government spending, though he has vowed not to reduce benefits.
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***** For a government to default on its obligations, there has to be a government in the first place. Right?~JJL
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Cargo Shipments From China to U.S. Slide Toward a Standstill; Cancellations accelerate; 'shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers has ceased'
Paul Berger - The Wall Street Journal
The number of ships sailing from China to the U.S. laden with clothes, electronics, furniture and other goods is plunging, as an accelerating number of cargoes are canceled. The scrapped sailings come after the Trump administration ratcheted up tariffs on China while giving a three-month reprieve on punitive levies for much of the rest of the world. At the Port of Los Angeles, one of America's biggest gateways for imports from China, executive director Gene Seroka told port officials Thursday that he expects a 35% drop in import volumes in two weeks "as essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers has ceased."
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****** Are you ready for the recession? When stores don't have things to sell, they don't need people to sell them.~JJL
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Stop Scaring Future World Leaders Off US Campuses; By pulling up the drawbridge around higher education in the US, Donald Trump is sabotaging the transnational networks that have amplified American power.
Andreas Kluth - Bloomberg
Here's yet another way in which President Donald Trump is making America neither Great Again nor strong, but weaker, and for a long time to come: He's sabotaging the US-centered transnational intellectual and personal networks that have amplified American power, by breaking the pipeline of future leaders of foreign countries who were educated and shaped in the United States. His administration was doing that by expelling, harassing or intimidating foreigners at US universities. It revoked the visas of more than 1,400 international students on American campuses. In some cases, the government alleged that students were pro-Palestinian protestors, in others that they committed "crimes," even if those turned out to be unpaid parking tickets or non-existent. Many of the revocations had no clear rationale at all. As part of the specific showdown between the White House and Harvard University, the administration even threatened to stop the institution from enrolling international students altogether.
/jlne.ws/4iyBcdF
***** Friends make better allies than strangers.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top clicked item on Friday was the Just Giving page for the "IDX Gala 2025 / Kilt Challenge" whereby FIA Connect is raising money for Futures for Kids. Second was the job listing for a Graduate Trainee, Junior Account Manager in London, from Marex. And third was FOW's DV Group revamps trading business to support commodity expansion.
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| Lead Stories | Widespread Power Outage Hits Spain and Parts of France and Portugal; The blackout hit critical infrastructure like airports and caused transportation disruptions across Spain and Portugal. The cause of the outage was unclear.
Amelia Nierenberg, Jonathan Wolfe and Tiago Carrasco - The New York Times
A major power outage hit Spain on Monday, shutting down trains, airports and other critical infrastructure and causing chaos in cities across the country. Parts of Portugal and France were also affected by the blackout, which energy authorities said occurred following a disruption in the European grid. It was not immediately clear what caused the outage, but the effects of the disruption were felt by millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula.
/jlne.ws/4iHoGIZ
Trump Tells Americans What Putin Wants Them to Hear; An exclusive analysis shows that the US president's views on the war in Ukraine are increasingly aligned with the Kremlin.
Bloomberg News
Donald Trump's Russia policy has been sounding very familiar to the Kremlin. Since Trump's phone call with Vladimir Putin on Feb. 12, their first direct contact since Trump's return to office, there's been a shift in US rhetoric that has seen the president begin to echo specific Russian talking points on the war in Ukraine, according to a Bloomberg analysis of his public comments. Bloomberg used a Large Language Model to scan more than 300 of Trump's public comments between August 2024 and mid-March as well as more than 3,000 social media posts from the president and members of his administration since the start of 2025. The technique allows for comparing meaning across large volumes of text, even if the specific wording differs.
/jlne.ws/4cUv0eP
ECB's Guindos Warns of Disorderly Market Risk Amid Trade Turmoil
Mark Schroers, Craig Stirling, and Jana Randow - Bloomberg
European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said that volatile financial markets must be watched closely amid the risk of declines spiraling out of control. Speaking to European Parliament lawmakers in Brussels on Monday, he warned that despite a resilient banking system in the region, officials can't take anything for granted. "The recent trade policy upheaval has triggered the most significant financial market turmoil since the pandemic," Guindos said. "These developments warrant careful monitoring. Sharp adjustments in financial markets could become disorderly, particularly if they are amplified by the growing size and influence of non-bank financial institutions."
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Treasury market's 'new world order' brings fear of the long bond
Michael Mackenzie and Bloomberg via Fortune
The "Sell America" trade that gripped markets this month has left a potentially lasting dent in investors' willingness to hold the US government's longest-maturity debt, a mainstay of its deficit-financing toolkit.
/jlne.ws/3GwcmOw
SEC Already Has Ample Authority to Oversee Crypto, Atkins Says
Lydia Beyoud - Bloomberg
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has "ample room to maneuver" in regulating digital assets even without congressional action, Chairman Paul Atkins said Friday. The remarks by the agency's new head at a crypto event in Washington come while Congress is debating the contours of a market structure bill for digital assets that could clarify whether the SEC or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should be the primary regulator of the growing asset class.
/jlne.ws/3GlV3Q7
Ken Griffin Criticizes Trump Tariffs: 'These Jobs Are Not Coming Back'
Biz Carson - Bloomberg
Citadel founder Ken Griffin extended his criticism of the Trump administration's trade policy, saying that tariffs won't bring back American manufacturing jobs the way that the president anticipates and the country should play to its strengths instead. "He dreams of giving people their dignity back, and I have to applaud him for having that dream," Griffin, speaking Friday at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, said of President Donald Trump. The dream of creating more manufacturing jobs, however, "is not going to come true."
/jlne.ws/3EHCF3t
Trump's attempt to upend the global order has already been defeated; America has emerged from the trade war as an international laughing stock
Jeremy Warner - The Telegraph
It seems unlikely that President Donald Trump has read much Lenin, but had he done so he might have stumbled across the following observation: it takes organisers to make a revolution. Characterised by screeching handbrake turns, made-up policy on the hoof and mixed-messaging on steroids, it's been another week of chaos in Washington.
/jlne.ws/4lPRNMQ
Tyrants like Trump always fall - and we can already predict how he will be dethroned
Simon Tisdall - The Guardian
Tyrants come to a sticky end, or so history suggests. Richard III and Coriolanus made bloody exits. More recently, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows, Slobodan Milosevic went to jail, Bashar al-Assad went into exile. Libya's Muammar Gaddafi was run to ground in a sewer. Tyranny, from the Greek túrannos ("absolute ruler"), is typically fuelled by hubris and leads ineluctably to nemesis. Tyrants are for toppling. Their downfall is a saving grace.
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Congressional Republicans Might Set Off the Debt Bomb; Their new budget framework is the most irresponsible in modern history-and will put the American economy on a very dangerous trajectory.
Jessica Riedl - The Atlantic
Congressional Republicans have approved the most fiscally irresponsible budget resolution since the modern budget process began five decades ago. It allows Congress to slash taxes by $5.3 trillion and expand spending by $517 billion over the decade. This $5.8 trillion addition to the deficit (plus interest) would exceed the cost of the 2017 tax cuts, 2020 CARES Act, 2021 American Rescue Plan, and 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-combined.
/jlne.ws/4lKh3UN
Trump Promised a Markets Boom. 100 Days In, Stocks Have Only Seen Damage
Esha Dey - Bloomberg
Donald Trump promised Americans a "boom like no other" if they elected him president. But based on the stock market's performance during his first 100 days in office, it depends on what you mean by "boom." The action certainly has been explosive - just not in the way investors were hoping. By April 30, Trump will have closed out his first 100 days in office. Despite last week's rally, the S&P 500 Index is down about 8% since his inauguration and on track for its worst run during a president's first 100 days since Gerald Ford in 1974, following Richard Nixon's resignation.
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Markets are mispricing tariff uncertainty, say academics; Johns Hopkins economists warn of risk from changes to the 'rules of the game'
Ben St. Clair - Risk.net
Traders are underpricing the risk posed by uncertain US trade policy, say economists at Johns Hopkins University. Steve Hanke - a former adviser to President Reagan - and Matt Sekerke say even a scenario where tariffs come to rest close to historical levels would leave a continuing risk that US policy-makers change course or renege on existing agreements. "From the bond market to the equity market, everybody's just sleepwalking," says Hanke. "The mispricing is pretty dramatic."
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'This is not a wobble': Brunello Rosa on the path to de-dollarisation; Digital currencies will play a central role as China challenges US hegemony, says economist
Rob Mannix and Mauro Cesa - Risk.net
When the economist and geopolitical strategist Brunello Rosa was finalising drafts of his book Smart Money last year, he noted presciently that critical events might unfold before its publication in paperback. The book, written with co-author Casey Larsen, envisages a new cold war unfolding between the US and China in which "digital de-dollarisation" plays a central role. The paperback is due out in June. In the meantime, the fallout from the Trump administration's tariff announcements in early
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Star Stock Pickers Must Now Beat Their Clones; Investors today can pick low-cost ETFs that follow the strategies of successful fund managers such as Will Danoff.
Nir Kaissar - Bloomberg
It's harder to make it as a professional stock picker than it used to be, which is saying a lot because it was never easy. I was reminded of this when I read that celebrated stock picker Will Danoff ended his 34-year run as Fidelity Contrafund's solo manager earlier this month. When Danoff took the helm at Contrafund in 1990, the measure of a US stock picker was whether they could beat the S&P 500 Index. That's because investors had essentially two options in those days: Buy the market, usually by way of an S&P 500 index fund, or find a fund manager who can beat it.
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Why the Venture Capital Secondary Market Is So Hot Right Now
Yazhou Sun - Bloomberg
Venture capital investing should be relatively simple: You hand money to a new company to help it grow in exchange for a stake in the business. After a few years, once it's established and able to turn a profit, you sell your interest in an initial public offering or a buyout, yielding a multiple of your original outlay. Recently, however, the VC business model has come under strain. It's taking longer than in the past for startups to scale up and turn profitable. And even when they do, some founders choose to keep their business private as they find the potential valuation boost that comes with an IPO isn't worth all the additional scrutiny required for a public listing.
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| Trade War and Tariffs | | A roundup of today's trade war and tariff news and the global economic ripple effects shaping markets, industries, and investment strategies. | Goldman Sachs Offers Advice on Tariffs to Countries Scrambling to Please Trump; South Africa, Japan and Saudi Arabia are among nations that have sought counsel from Wall Street giant
Alexander Saeedy and AnnaMaria Andriotis - The Wall Street Journal
South Africa sought Goldman Sachs' advice on appeasing President Trump amid potential U.S. tariffs. Goldman suggested altering laws on Black ownership of companies and land seizure to improve relations with the U.S. Other countries like France, Saudi Arabia and Japan also consulted Goldman on navigating Trump's trade policies. South Africa knew tariffs from the U.S. were coming and wanted to figure out how to appease President Trump. So it turned to Goldman Sachs. Since late February, South African leaders including President Cyril Ramaphosa have held conversations with the bank about trade and improving relations with the U.S., people familiar with the matter said. One piece of advice Goldman gave to the president: consider changing a law, even at the margins, that requires Black ownership of some companies, and another that allows the government to seize property from landowners to address racial disparities.
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Why We're Joining the Legal Fight Over Trump's Tariffs; The taxing power belongs to Congress, which didn't surrender it in the 1977 law he cites.
Joshua Claybourn - The Wall Street Journal (opinion)
I joined a broad coalition of leaders-including former U.S. senators, retired federal judges, a former U.S. attorney general and pre-eminent constitutional scholars-in filing a friend-of-the-court brief last week in V.O.S. Selections v. Trump. Our brief urges the U.S. Court of International Trade to strike down President Trump's 2025 tariffs as an unlawful and unprecedented seizure of legislative power. It challenges Mr. Trump's sweeping proclamations not because of what they do but how they were done: unilaterally, without congressional authorization, and in defiance of the Constitution's structure.
/jlne.ws/3EIAi0q
Trump's Tariffs Prompt Wave of Lawsuits as States and Businesses Fight Back
Tony Romm - The New York Times
Somewhere along a roughly 7,500-mile journey that begins in Shenzhen, China, there are 19 shipments bound for Rick Woldenberg, the chief executive of Learning Resources, an educational toy company in Vernon Hills, Ill. Eventually, the containers of puzzle cards, child binoculars and other products will reach a port in the United States, and Mr. Woldenberg will face a difficult and expensive decision. He can pay the sky-high tariffs that President Trump has imposed on most foreign goods, or forgo at least some of the much-needed inventory, perhaps imperiling his bottom line.
/jlne.ws/3YmPsiC
Move Over, Quinoa. There's a New 'It' Crop in Town.; As the trade war strands sorghum in Kansas, the state's farmers hope to push the tiny grain with an uncool name onto dinner plates
Joe Barrett - The Wall Street Journal
The dishes, starring what some are calling the next super food, rolled out of the kitchen of a Kansas State University gastropub: a cold plate of veggies with the tiny grain drizzled in honey-lemon vinaigrette; a ginger-soy vegan stir fry; and a creamy pudding. Rice? Quinoa? Couscous? Try sorghum-a high protein, non-GMO, gluten-free grain. It's what's for dinner. Or it could be-if only it had a cooler name. "The 'sor' is fine, but the 'ghum' implies maybe chewing gum," said Claib Harris, the pub's head chef. "Maybe we could rebrand it into something else."
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
The Russian Military Moves That Have Europe on Edge; Putin is expanding bases and preparing to move more troops to European border regions far from Ukraine; 'we're expecting some conflict with NATO'
Thomas Grove
With President Trump and many other world leaders preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, some Europeans are growing alarmed about what the Russian army has been doing much more quietly along other stretches of its border with Europe. Some 100 miles east of its border with Finland, in the Russian city of Petrozavodsk, military engineers are expanding army bases where the Kremlin plans to create a new army headquarters to oversee tens of thousands of troops over the next several years.
/jlne.ws/4lQA8Vs
Amid Uncertainty About U.S. Support, Ukraine Pins Its Hopes on Innovation; Ukraine has adapted strategies and weapons during its fight against Russia. It is now banking on expanding the use of domestically produced drones, even though American arms remain crucial.
Andrew E. Kramer - The New York Times
The Ukrainian soldiers rose in the predawn, stretching, rubbing their eyes and rolling up sleeping bags in a basement hide-out near the front line in the country's east. Their day would not take them far afield. Most stayed in the basement, working with keyboards and joysticks controlling drones. At a precarious moment for Ukraine, as the country wobbles between hopes that President Trump's cease-fire talks will end the war and fears that the United States will withdraw military support, the soldiers were taking part in a Ukrainian Army initiative focused on drones that Kyiv hopes will allow it to stay in the fight absent American weapons.
/jlne.ws/44wiNuX
Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says; Ukraine's foreign minister responded with skepticism to the unexpected announcement.
Nataliya Vasilyeva and Anton Troianovski - The New York Times
The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered a three-day cease-fire in Ukraine next month, the second time in two weeks that Russia's leader has promised a temporary pause in the fighting as President Trump shows growing impatience with his refusal to stop the war. The Kremlin said that Russian forces would stop fighting on May 8 for 72 hours to mark the May 9 celebration of Soviet victory in World War II, a major holiday in Russia.
/jlne.ws/3YRBPbf
Russia Claims Full Control of Kursk Region from Ukraine
Bloomberg News
Russia claims it has completed its efforts to remove Ukrainian forces from the Kursk Region, indicating that Ukraine may have lost an important bargaining chip with Moscow after seven months of holding Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the army on Saturday in a video address shown by state media following a report from Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. Ukraine's pullout from Kursk region opens the way for further Russian advances, Putin said.
/jlne.ws/4lQX9rm
North Korea Confirms Troop Deployment to Russia for First Time
Hyonhee Shin - Bloomberg
North Korea acknowledged for the first time that it deployed troops to support Russia's war on Ukraine, claiming the country's military had helped Moscow retake control of the border region of Kursk. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided to participate in the conflict to liberate the Kursk Region to repel the "adventurous invasion" of the Russian Federation by the Ukrainian authorities in an operation that has been "victoriously concluded," the official Korean Central News Agency said Monday citing North Korea's Central Military Commission.
/jlne.ws/3RCIdPK
Middle East Conflict
'We'll burn Jews like Hitler did', says BBC contributor in Gaza; Samer Elzaenen has appeared on BBC Arabic more than a dozen times since the conflict erupted and even reported live last month
Patrick Sawer, Senior News Reporter - The Telegraph
A journalist who appears prominently on the BBC's Arabic channel to report from Gaza called for Jews to be burned "as Hitler did", it can be revealed. Samer Elzaenen has appeared on BBC Arabic more than a dozen times since the conflict erupted following the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel. He reported live last month and his dispatches have included reports from the Nuseirat refugee camp in June last year, after an Israeli military operation to rescue four hostages, held by Hamas, led to hundreds of Palestinian deaths.
/jlne.ws/3YTXGyL
Israel says it strikes Hezbollah missiles in southern Beirut
Reuters
The Israeli army said on Sunday it struck a southern Beirut building being used to store precision missiles belonging to Hezbollah. The attack was a further test of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group. A huge plume of smoke billowed from the building, Reuters live footage showed, almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the Hadath neighbourhood. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hezbollah's precision missiles "posed a significant threat to the State of Israel". There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
/jlne.ws/3EIJ9zc
Other Conflicts
Panic in Pakistan as India vows to cut off water supply over Kashmir
Ariba Shahid and Krishna N. Das - Reuters
Spraying pesticides on his parched vegetables one street away from the Indus River, Pakistani farmer Homla Thakhur is worried about his future. The sun is at its peak, the river is running very low, and India has vowed to cut supplies upstream after a deadly militant attack in Kashmir.
"If they stop water, all of this will turn into the Thar desert, the whole country," said Thakhur, 40, before heading back to the river to refill the tank for the spray gun. "We'll die of hunger." His nearly 5-acre (2 hectare) farm is located in the Latifabad area of the southeastern province of Sindh, from where the Indus flows into the Arabian Sea after originating in Tibet and snaking through India.
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | ASX to Review Listing, Waiver Rules After James Hardie Deal
Ben Westcott - Bloomberg
The Australian Stock Exchange will review requirements for shareholder approvals in mergers and acquisitions, following James Hardie Industries Plc's A$14 billion ($9 billion) deal in March to take over AZEK Co. In a statement on Sunday, the ASX said Australian institutional investors had voiced concerns about current shareholder approval requirements and that the exchange would update an analysis from 2017.
/jlne.ws/3EK79lr
ON THE MOVE: Vijay Albuquerque Joins CME Group; Liquidnet Promotes Chris Jackson
Anna Lyudvig - Traders Magazine
CME Group has hired Vijay Albuquerque as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) in its Clearing & Post-Trade Services Division. With over 20 years' industry experience, Albuquerque most recently served as the Head of Counterparty Risk and Portfolio Risk Analytics for Citigroup's Markets and Banking businesses. Albuquerque will be based in New York and will report to Suzanne Sprague, CME Group Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of Clearing.
/jlne.ws/3RCfcDK
EEX to list EU ETS2 Futures in July
EEX
The European Energy Exchange (EEX), in cooperation with IncubEx, will introduce new futures contracts related to the EU Emissions Trading System 2 (EU ETS2) on 7 July 2025, subject to regulatory approval. The contract suite will initially comprise December and April maturities for the first three years of the new scheme, with the earliest expiry offered for December 2027. Additional expiries will be added at a later date. The EEX EU ETS2 futures contracts will be available through order book trading as well as trade registration.
/jlne.ws/4cQAirP
Nasdaq Offers New Electronic Flex Options on ISE
Press Release - Traders Magazine
In recent years, U.S. options have seen significant growth in volume and overall interest from institutional investors, as these derivative products allow for greater risk management and downside protection in today's rapidly changing market conditions. This week Nasdaq launched electronic Flexible Exchange Options (Flex Options) on the Nasdaq International Securities Exchange (ISE), providing options contracts tailored to meet the specific requirements of investors, enabling market participants to have greater flexibility in responding to shifting trading environments.
/jlne.ws/3ESatuK
VSTOXX turns 20: Experts appraise the volatility index's standing in equity markets
Eurex
The VSTOXX was introduced on April 20, 2005, during a calm and positive time for equity markets. The launch was a significant moment for European investors, offering a transparent measure of implied volatility that could be used to inform investment decisions.
Not only was the VSTOXX quickly adopted as the region's undisputed gauge of market stress, but it also helped broaden access to volatility as an investable asset class in Europe and facilitated multiple volatility trading strategies. In 2024, over 21 million futures and options on VSTOXX exchanged hands on Eurex
/jlne.ws/3S6Dshv
ESG Index Derivatives Development Update Q1/2025; 2025 - A strong first quarter for ESG Index Derivatives
Eurex
The Eurex ESG Index Derivatives segment maintained its strong momentum in Q1 2025, building upon the substantial growth seen in 2024 with a peak in notional volume.
/jlne.ws/4jU8KnP
Euronext launches the European Common Prospectus to accelerate capital market integration and boost IPO activity across the EU
Euronext
Euronext today announced the launch of the European Common Prospectus, a single, standardised template for equity issuances that marks a pivotal step towards deeper integration of European capital markets. This landmark initiative demonstrates Euronext's long-standing commitment to reduce regulatory fragmentation, enhance transparency and promote cross-border investment across Europe. To enhance European long-term competitiveness and innovation, it is essential to improve access to European capital markets. The full implementation of the Listing Act to simplify European rules for listing is not expected until June 2026. In the meantime, there is a clear and immediate need to boost IPO activity in Europe and to compete on a global level. To meet this need, Euronext began to develop a new European Common Prospectus in November 2024, following the publication of the Listing Act.
/jlne.ws/3GCAQ8w
LSEG extends multi-year cloud collaboration with AWS
LSEG
LSEG today announced it has extended its multi-year collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), naming AWS as the preferred cloud provider for its Markets, Risk Intelligence and FTSE Russell divisions. Today's new agreement builds on the existing relationship between the two companies. By migrating internal systems to the cloud, LSEG will further strengthen its resilience and security while delivering new services and products for customers. Using Amazon Bedrock will also give LSEG's Risk Intelligence division the ability to provide faster, more accurate risk analysis, empowering its customers to stay agile and enhance their resiliency.
/jlne.ws/3Yljd3g
Overview of Earnings for FY2024
JPX
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Consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025
(Based on IFRS), unaudited
JPX
/jlne.ws/44e3OWb
Candidates for Directors, etc.
JPX
Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) hereby announces that it and its subsidiaries have nominated candidates for directors and other officers to be put forth for approval at their respective Annual General Shareholders Meetings and Ordinary General Meeting of Members to be held on June 20, 2025. The new candidates are as follows.
/jlne.ws/3GtalT6
Decision on Matters Regarding Acquisition of Own Shares (Based on Provisions of the Articles of Incorporation)
JPX
Pursuant to Article 459, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act) Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) reached a resolution in its Board of Directors meeting, held on April 28, 2025, on matters regarding the acquisition of own shares in accordance with the provisions of its Articles of Incorporation and Article 459, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act.
/jlne.ws/4lKnKGp
Moscow Exchange to convene AGM on 23 June
MOEX
The Moscow Exchange Supervisory Board took the decision to convene the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) on 23 June 2025. The AGM record date is 29 May 2025. The AGM will be held in person, with absentee voting allowed. The deadline for the receipt of absentee voting ballots on items on the AGM agenda is 20 June 2025. The AGM agenda is expected to include the approval of the company's 2024 annual report, distribution of FY 2024 profit including the dividend, the election of a new Supervisory Board and other issues.
/jlne.ws/44GUZnV
Nasdaq Announces Mid-Month Open Short Interest Positions in Nasdaq Stocks as of Settlement Date April 15, 2025
Nasdaq
At the end of the settlement date of April 15, 2025, short interest in 3,143 Nasdaq Global MarketSM securities totaled 13,211,633,004 shares compared with 13,072,444,217 shares in 3,140 Global Market issues reported for the prior settlement date of March 31, 2025. The mid-April short interest represents 1.76 days compared with 2.64 days for the prior reporting period. Short interest in 1,634 securities on The Nasdaq Capital MarketSM totaled 2,609,354,721 shares at the end of the settlement date of April 15, 2025, compared with 2,682,510,166 shares in 1,625 securities for the previous reporting period. This represents a 1.00 day average daily volume; the previous reporting period's figure was 1.12.
/jlne.ws/4jLV5yY
NZX Revenue & Shareholder Metrics - Q1 2025
NZX
/jlne.ws/3GpVby5
ETF Market Report: 1st Quarter 2025; Discover the latest figures about the development of the ETF segment at SIX Swiss Exchange, one of Europe's top 3 ETF venues - including statistics for Quote on Demand (QOD).
SIX
For the fourth time in a row, both revenue and the number of transactions in the Swiss ETF market increased. The turnover generated in the first quarter of CHF 32.086 billion was the highest since the first quarter of 2022. A new record closing high was reached with 844,174 trades. The range of newly listed ETFs on SIX Swiss Exchange increased by 65 units in the first quarter, eight more units than in the previous quarter. The total number of ETFs listed on SIX Swiss Exchange amounted to 1,930 units by 31 March, corresponding to an increase of 45 compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.
/jlne.ws/3Gwcc9S
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Apple Begins Breaking Up Its AI Team With Robotics, Siri Changes
Mark Gurman - Bloomberg
Apple has begun breaking up its AI and machine learning organization by moving pieces to other parts of the company. Also: Meta races to get smart glasses with a display out this year and new details on Apple's plan to shift iPhone production to India. In other news, the Apple Watch's blood-oxygen feature remains elusive in the US even as the company touts other health offerings.
/jlne.ws/3RDe2rG
AccessFintech goes live with settlement netting for global fixed income markets; JP Morgan and Citi support the rollout of a netting solution for the EUR15 trillion EMEA repo market.
Sophia Thomson - The Trade
Synergy by AccessFintech has launched settlement netting to improve operation efficiency in global fixed income markets. The new solution supports real-time transparency and collaboration across the post-trade lifecycle by pairing data to improve pre-matching accuracy and reduce fail rates. It also aims to streamline workflows, deliver actionable insights, and resolve exceptions in real time.
/jlne.ws/44IXztx
We Now Know How AI 'Thinks'-and It's Barely Thinking at All; The vast 'brains' of artificial intelligence models can memorize endless lists of rules. That's useful, but not how humans solve problems.
Christopher Mims - The Wall Street Journal
The big names in artificial intelligence-leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others-still confidently predict that AI attaining human-level smarts is right around the corner. But the naysayers are growing in number and volume. AI, they say, just doesn't think like us. The work of these researchers suggests there's something fundamentally limiting about the underlying architecture of today's AI models. Today's AIs are able to simulate intelligence by, in essence, learning an enormous number of rules of thumb, which they selectively apply to all the information they encounter.
/jlne.ws/3YOUd4s
Reid Hoffman Says Tariffs, Spending Cuts Could Hurt US AI Lead
Paayal Zaveri - Bloomberg
Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder and venture capitalist, said the Trump administration's tariffs and federal spending cuts could hurt America's competitiveness in artificial intelligence and give China the upper hand. Tariffs are "in fact helping China across its entire industry," Hoffman said on Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. For example, if Europe sees the country as a more "stable trading partner" for manufacturing and technology, "it creates better global markets for China and worse for the US," he said.
/jlne.ws/4lU5daY
Brands target AI chatbots as users switch from Google search; Ad agencies adopt new strategies to ensure clients appear in results produced by OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude
Cristina Criddle and Hannah Murphy - Financial Times
Advertising groups and tech start-ups have been racing to find ways to help brands boost their likelihood of surfacing in results from artificial intelligence chatbots, marking a new era of "search engine optimisation". Companies such as Profound and Brandtech have developed software for monitoring how frequently brands were surfaced by AI-powered services such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google's Overviews feature.
/jlne.ws/4cXQ9VI
Baidu offers new AI models with enhanced features, lower cost than DeepSeek's products; The lower cost would help developers focus on creating 'more super interesting and useful' AI applications, Baidu CEO Robin Li says
Ben Jiangin in Wuhan, China - South China Morning Post
Baidu on Friday launched two new artificial intelligence (AI) models that offer enhanced multimodal reasoning capabilities and cost less than comparable products from DeepSeek. At a developer conference held in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, Baidu co-founder, chairman and chief executive Robin Li Yanhong unveiled the multimodal Ernie 4.5 Turbo and X1 Turbo reasoning models.
/jlne.ws/4iv3iXb
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | What To Know About AI, Cybersecurity And Compliance Frameworks
Metin Kortak - Forbes
Deepak Chopra once said, "All great changes are preceded by chaos." This has never been more accurate than when it's applied to the current AI and cybersecurity environments-and the regulations that govern them. New frameworks like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the EU AI Act, the Network and Information Systems Directive 2 (NIS2) and the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) are reshaping how businesses handle security, risk and compliance. These regulations aren't just about ticking boxes-they carry major financial penalties and demand real operational changes.
/jlne.ws/42G1ftq
European IT professionals fear impact of quantum computing on cybersecurity
Coen Van Eenbergen - TechZine
More than two-thirds (67%) of European IT professionals fear that quantum computing could increase cybersecurity risks in the coming years. Despite these concerns, only 4% of organizations have a defined quantum computing strategy. Furthermore, the majority do not realize that quantum computing may arrive sooner than expected, according to new research by ISACA.
/jlne.ws/4cUZL3x
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Grayscale Still Tops All US Spot Bitcoin ETFs in Revenue; Despite heavy outflows since January 2024, GBTC's 1.5% fee still generates $268 million a year, outpacing rivals' combined $211 million.
Vince Dioquino - Decrypt
Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) generates more revenue than all other spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds combined, despite charging fees that are up to seven times higher than its competitors. GBTC is still "making more $$$ than all of the other ETFs combined ... " Nate Geraci, president of ETF Store, stated on X on Sunday. "And it's not even close."
/jlne.ws/434mGWC
Trump 2.0 Era Brings Flurry of Crypto Deals; Companies seek to capitalize on lighter regulation, growing mainstream interest
Alexander Osipovich and Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump's embrace of digital currencies has unleashed a flurry of crypto deals, with companies seeking to capitalize on lighter U.S. regulation and what they hope will be growing mainstream interest in the sector. This week brought the debut of Twenty One Capital, a new bitcoin company that plans to go public through a $3.6 billion merger with a special-purpose acquisition company led by Brandon Lutnick, son of Commerce Secretary and close Trump confidant Howard Lutnick
/jlne.ws/4jxlwJ4
Coinbase to Launch Institutional Fund Offering Yield on Bitcoin
Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
Coinbase Asset Management is launching a new fund that aims to deliver a regular yield on a customer's Bitcoin holdings. The Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund, which is set to launch on May 1, will seek a 4% to 8% annualized net return, delivered in Bitcoin, and will only be open to non-US institutional investors.
/jlne.ws/4lWdkns
Payments giant Stripe building 'new stablecoin product,' bypassing US, EU and UK
Daniel Kuhn - The Block
Payments giant Stripe is building a new stablecoin-based product, according to several social media posts. The product will be built using Bridge, the stablecoin services unit Stripe acquired in October 2024 for $1.1 billion. "We've wanted to build this product for around a decade, and it's now happening," Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said on X on Friday. According to Stripe developer Jen Kim, the product is "ready to start testing." During that process, the company is soliciting customer feedback.
/jlne.ws/3YfRMrG
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump Says He's Restoring Columbus Day to Its Former Prominence
MarÃa Paula Mijares Torres - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump pledged to boost the status of Columbus Day, stoking a conflict with activists and some US states that argue the day should honor indigenous Americans rather than the Italian explorer's legacy. "I'm bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday, alleging that "Democrats did everything to destroy" Christopher Columbus's reputation, including by tearing down statues "and all of the Italians that love him so much."
/jlne.ws/42wAj0v
Republicans plan to scrap US audit regulator; Proposal to fold the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board into the SEC will boost Donald Trump's deregulatory agenda
Stephen Foley and Myles McCormick - Financial Times
Republican lawmakers are planning to shut down the US audit regulator, which was founded in the wake of the Enron scandal more than two decades ago, as part of a reform package designed to deliver Donald Trump's deregulatory agenda. The proposal to eliminate the independent Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was published late on Friday by the leadership of the House Committee on Financial Services, for inclusion in the giant tax and spending bill being considered by Congress.
/jlne.ws/4iuWaKp
Trump Upended the Country in His First 100 Days. What's Next?; The president is expected to shift his focus abroad as he works to negotiate trade deals and launch high-level discussions with China
Alex Leary and Meridith McGraw
After a 100-day sprint through domestic priorities, President Trump's focus is shifting abroad, driven by a mountain of trade negotiations with other countries, including China, and unfulfilled promises of attaining peace in Ukraine. By no means is Trump finished at home, where he is consolidating executive power, targeting perceived political enemies, upending the federal bureaucracy, rolling back regulations and imposing strict immigration controls. Advisers said the breakneck start of Trump's second term had made room for other aspects of his packed agenda.
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AMERICAN PANOPTICON; The Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next.
Ian Bogost and Charlie Warzel - The Atlantic
If you were tasked with building a panopticon, your design might look a lot like the information stores of the U.S. federal government-a collection of large, complex agencies, each making use of enormous volumes of data provided by or collected from citizens. The federal government is a veritable cosmos of information, made up of constellations of databases: The IRS gathers comprehensive financial and employment information from every taxpayer; the Department of Labor maintains the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) system, which collects the personal information of many workers; the Department of Homeland Security amasses data about the movements of every person who travels by air commercially or crosses the nation's borders; the Drug Enforcement Administration tracks license plates scanned on American roads. And that's only a minuscule sampling.
/jlne.ws/3GpM805
JD Vance Owes Romania an Apology; If he bothered with evidence, he'd see institutions under attack and in need of US support.
Marc Champion - Bloomberg
When JD Vance blasted Europe for abandoning democracy in February, he singled out Romania over its unprecedented decision to annul a first-round presidential vote that a candidate from the far-right had come from nowhere to win. The US vice president owes this country an apology. I say that despite agreeing at the time with two points Vance made in his blistering address to Germany's annual Munich Security Conference. These were that declassified intelligence documents used to justify voiding Romania's Nov. 24 vote fell short of proof beyond reasonable doubt and that Romanian democracy must be weak if it can be so easily swayed.
/jlne.ws/436pOBa
Is the U.S. Becoming an Autocracy?; Other countries have watched their democracies slip away gradually, without tanks in the streets. That may be where we're headed-or where we already are.
Andrew Marantz - The New Yorker
The nonfiction best-seller list in early 2018 included "Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic" and "It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America." The cover of the former was emergency-alert red; on the latter, a map of the United States was bursting into flames. By comparison, the cover of another book, "How Democracies Die," was somewhat muted-white capital letters on a black background. The word "DIE," though, did loom large.
/jlne.ws/44LnTTT
Who will stop Donald Trump's drive for unchecked power?; Congress is inert, but a deft Supreme Court might contain him
The Economist
It was April 28th 2017, the 99th day of his first administration, and President Donald Trump was frustrated. "It's a very rough system, it's an archaic system," he vented to an interviewer about working with Congress to pass legislation. Avoiding this nuisance, he mused, would be "for the good of the nation". Now that he is president for the second time, Mr Trump has decided to dispense with the archaic system. These first 100 days have been different from those of any modern president, who is usually desperate to secure some signature legislative achievement. Mr Trump has shown little interest in Congress, despite Republican control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. He is wielding the imperial powers of the presidency to do what he likes: impose some of the highest tariff increases ever seen; shred the federal bureaucracy; and cudgel his adversaries. Yet despite a dearth of notable legislative accomplishments, Mr Trump's first 100 days have hardly been a failure. They are arguably the most consequential of any modern president.
/jlne.ws/3EGw6yk
The UK needs to tackle Trump contagion risk for gilts; Authorities should take action to encourage a 'decoupling' from moves in Treasury yields
Sushil Wadhwani - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/4lQksBu
Maltese 'golden' passports were sold to Russians with Ukraine war links; Paid-for citizenship that could be banned by European court was handed to people who later faced sanctions
Laura Dubois - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/44GSAtu
An Investor's Guide to Navigating Singapore's General Election
John Cheng and Eduard Gismatullin - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | ECB Launches New Task Force to Simplify Banking Regulation
Laura Noonan, Kamil Kowalcze, Nicholas Comfort, and Mark Schroers - Bloomberg
The European Central Bank has convened a task force led by some of its most powerful governors aimed at simplifying banking regulation, amid growing fears the region is falling behind. The central bank governors of Germany, France and Italy are among the key figures in the newly-convened group, as is the governor of the Bank of Finland, who's also the first vice chair of Europe's Systemic Risk Board, according to people familiar with the matter asking not to be identified as the information is private.
/jlne.ws/4jojlaA
ECB Prepares for June Cut With Tariffs Expected to Hurt Economy
Jana Randow and Alexander Weber - Bloomberg
European Central Bank officials are preparing to lower interest rates further, expecting lasting damage to the economy from US tariffs even if Donald Trump's administration softens its stance in the weeks ahead.
/jlne.ws/3SegViI
Don't expect SEC enforcement to just disappear under new chairman Paul Atkins, warn 3 former general counsels
Amanda Gerut - Fortune
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins was sworn in last week and will preside over a newly constituted SEC after a flood of departures due to DOGE. The rule-making agenda is likely to see significant shifts, experts said, but Atkins is no shrinking violet when it comes to enforcement actions. Three out of the last four general counsels of the Securities & Exchange Commission are predicting that enforcement priorities will shift, but not disappear with newly sworn-in Chairman Paul Atkins at the helm of the agency.
/jlne.ws/3Sbdcm6
Remarks at the Crypto Task Force Roundtable
Paul S. Atkins - SEC
In addition, my warmest personal thanks go to Commissioner Peirce for her principled and tireless advocacy for common-sense crypto policy within the United States. It is no wonder that she has earned the title of "CryptoMom." Commissioner Peirce is the right person to lead the effort to come up with a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets. Thank you to the panelists for volunteering their time and expertise. This is important work as entrepreneurs across the United States are harnessing blockchain technology to modernize aspects of our financial system. I expect huge benefits from this market innovation for efficiency, cost reduction, transparency, and risk mitigation. Market participants engaging with this technology deserve clear regulatory rules of the road. Innovation has been stifled for the last several years due to market and regulatory uncertainty that unfortunately the SEC has fostered.
/jlne.ws/4cNzZ0K
Remarks at the Third Crypto Roundtable - Know Your Custodian: Key Considerations for Crypto Custody
Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw - SEC
The concept of custody in the federal securities laws is based on the idea of trust. In our everyday lives, relationships involving trust are everywhere. For example, when we fly, we generally trust that we can give an airline our luggage and they won't steal it and will deliver it to our destination safely. Of course, luggage gets lost sometimes and that's inconvenient and frustrating. Maybe you lose some clothes and your vacation gets off to a stressful start.
/jlne.ws/4jCm14M
Lava and Lamps: Opening Remarks for Crypto Custody Roundtable
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce - SEC
Children often play a game called "the floor is lava." The game requires you to leap from one piece of furniture to the next without falling or touching the ground-otherwise, you will be burned by the imaginary molten lava below. A D.C. version of this game is our regulatory approach to crypto assets, and crypto asset custody in particular. The twist in the regulatory version is that it is largely played in the dark: burning legal lava and no lamps to illuminate the way. To engage in crypto-related activities, SEC-registrants have had to hop from one poorly illuminated regulatory space to the next, all while ensuring that they never touch any crypto asset. A broker or ATS that cannot custody or otherwise handle an asset will find it difficult to facilitate trading in the asset, and a robust market is unlikely to develop. If investment advisers do not know which crypto assets are securities, what types of entities are qualified custodians, and whether exercising staking or voting rights will result in custody violations, advisers may not be able to serve their clients' best interests. Similar confusion may prevent investment companies from investing in crypto assets or investing in a way that would be most efficient or beneficial to the fund. It is time that we find a way to end this game. We need to turn on the lights and build some walkways over the lava pit.
/jlne.ws/44J6T0v
SEC Charges Former CFO of Real Estate Development Company with Participating in a $93 Million Fraud Scheme
SEC
On April 25, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Daniel J. Motha, the former CFO, President, and board member of Location Ventures, LLC, with participating in an alleged $93 million real estate investment fraud alongside Rishi Kapoor, the founder and former CEO of Location Ventures. The SEC previously charged Kapoor, Location Ventures, and 21 other related entities in connection with this fraudulent scheme and obtained emergency relief, including an asset freeze and an appointment of a receiver over the corporate entities.
/jlne.ws/42UyTfm
Global responses to digital asset regulation
FCA
Speech by Jessica Rusu, FCA Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer delivered at TheCityUK International Conference 2025.
/jlne.ws/4d1H0eD
CPMI-IOSCO assesses that the EU has implemented the Principles for financial market infrastructures for two FMI types, but recommends some improvements
IOSCO
The EU's implementation of the framework for systemically important payment systems (PSs) and central securities depositories (CSDs) securities settlement systems (SSSs) is consistent with the Principles for financial market infrastructures (PFMI) issued by the Bank for International Settlements' Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
/jlne.ws/4lRaTSK
SFC reprimands and fines Interactive Brokers Hong Kong Limited $4.2 million for regulatory breaches
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined Interactive Brokers Hong Kong Limited (IBHK) $4.2 million for regulatory breaches in relation to the handling of client assets (Note 1). The SFC's investigation found that between 3 December 2017 and 23 October 2020, IBHK relied on expired standing authority of 7,911 clients and loaned their securities listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited pursuant to a securities borrowing and lending agreement. The incident arose from IBHK's failure to send these clients renewal notices of the standing authority during the material time due to a programming error.
/jlne.ws/448tGTm
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | After 100 days under Trump, investors reassess the allure of 'brand USA'
Suzanne McGee, Saqib Iqbal Ahmed and Davide Barbuscia - Reuters
A bruising rollercoaster ride for markets in the first 100 days of the Trump administration has seen some investors move away from American assets, but it remains to be seen whether policies have caused a sustained shift away from the United States. The market has seen significant rallies fueled in part by trade negotiation optimism, but investors remain concerned about the longevity and strength of any bounce-back in asset prices. Some are diversifying to international assets or making sure they are not overweight U.S. assets as they seek more certainty over policy.
/jlne.ws/42LruPd
Higher Treasury Yields Underscore a Problem for the National Debt
Karishma Vanjani - Barron's
President Donald Trump's tariffs announcement earlier this month led to the biggest bond selloff in decades. The market has since calmed, but that response underscores an ever-looming threat for investors. Sustained higher Treasury yields will make the already record-high level of interest that the U.S. is paying on its debt even higher and create a feedback loop that further deteriorates the perception of the sustainability of the $36 trillion in national debt.
/jlne.ws/4cUOrV5
Opinion: 'Bond king' Jeffrey Gundlach predicts our next financial hangover - and it's sobering; Easy money was never meant to last forever: Expect a 4% return on cash, 5% on bonds and 6% from stocks.
Charlie Garcia - MarketWatch
DoubleLine bond-fund manager Jeff Gundlach says to expect volatility and manage risk deliberately. Investment firm DoubleLine released a conversation earlier this week featuring none other than the "bond king" himself, DoubleLine founder and Chief Executive Jeffrey Gundlach, and Bianco Research's Jim Bianco. The two market veterans dissected President Donald Trump's latest "reciprocal" tariffs like the seasoned economic surgeons they are. (Watch the entire illuminating chat here. Their meeting was held before Trump walked back his threats to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and before U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlined the Trump administration's softer approach to its trade strategy.)
/jlne.ws/3EIOWVt
Trump Badmouthed Chicago but Scooped Up Its Bonds; The president's municipal-bond holdings stretch from coast to coast
Heather Gillers - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump has called New York a city "in decline," Philadelphia a place where "bad things happen," and Chicago "worse than Afghanistan." But all three cities show up in his personal municipal-bond portfolio. And during this month's tariff turmoil, they turned out to be decent places to invest. Trump is a big investor in the debt of America's state and local governments. The disclosure he submitted to the Office of Government Ethics in August lists more than 500 muni bonds with a combined value between $100 million and $330 million. (He isn't required to disclose the exact value of each holding, only a range.)
/jlne.ws/3RyUKDQ
Data-Crunching Wall Street Skeptics Sit Out the Turnaround Trade
Denitsa Tsekova and Emily Graffeo - Bloomberg
Michael Mullaney's mind was elsewhere during the market rebound this week, even as stocks surged, borrowing costs for Corporate America eased and Treasuries settled down. Instead, the head of research at value-investing firm Boston Partners found himself checking and re-checking economic data that he fears show early signs of the damage already caused by Donald Trump's trade war. Signals like dwindling Los Angeles shipping volumes, declining tourism-related travel and shrinking credit-card receipts in key consumer sectors.
/jlne.ws/4jP9JW2
Lots More on How TikTok Options Traders Got Quiet; Benn Eifert on the Greeks.
Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal - Bloomberg
Over the last few years, retail traders have gotten into options in a major way. Selling puts, buying calls, trading volatility - what used to be the domain of niche experts engaged in practical hedging has exploded into the public sphere. And there was a lot of easy money during a time when every dip was bought, and stocks mostly just went up. But what have we seen in recent weeks, with the extraordinary trading since April 2? On this episode we bring back one of our favorite guests, Benn Eifert of QVR Advisors. He describes what's been going on in the markets, and why a lot of social media "volfluencers" have suddenly gotten very quiet.
/jlne.ws/4lQB8sF
Unhedged and Burned, Stock Investors Brace for More Dollar Pain; Traders had increasingly given up on currency hedges. Now, that's taking a toll.
Alice Gledhill, Julien Ponthus, and Masaki Kondo - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4iy92Q4
Gold Is So Popular It's Making People Nervous
Merryn Somerset Webb - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4cXXogm
Ultra-wealthy Asians rethink US stock exceptionalism amid Trump turmoil; Investors looking for havens turn to gold, the euro and the yen
Lisa Kim, Jada Nagumo and Sayan Chakraborty - Nikkei Asia
/jlne.ws/3Eu6tkd
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | LNG companies say they cannot comply with Trump rules on Chinese ships; Industry says administration's levies on foreign vessels will harm US plans for 'energy dominance'
Jamie Smyth and Aime Williams - Financial Times
The liquefied natural gas industry has warned the Trump administration it cannot comply with new rules aimed at forcing them to use US transport vessels by imposing levies on Chinese-built ships docking at US ports. It warns that the rules published by US trade representative Jamieson Greer on April 17 could damage a $34bn-a-year export industry that is central to the president's "energy dominance" agenda, according to lobbying letters sent by the American Petroleum Institute to the administration this week.
/jlne.ws/3RDubNW
Private credit firms take aim at ESG for holding back financing for European defence; Restrictions are increasingly being questioned by the industry and government officials
Euan Healy and Robert Smith - Financial Times
Private credit firms that could offer vital funding to Europe's expanding defence industry are exploring whether their investors' sustainable investment requirements can be watered down to allow them to lend. Financing Europe's defence sector has become a priority for governments, since President Donald Trump threatened to curtail US support for the continent.
/jlne.ws/3RCMti7
Japan to ship CO2 emissions to Malaysia for storage underground; Planet-warming pollutant would be liquefied and taken to depleted gas fields
Riho Nagao - Nikkei Asia
Japan and Malaysia are closing in on an agreement to cooperate on the underground storage of carbon dioxide, Nikkei has learned, in a plan that would take the greenhouse gas produced in Japan and transport it in liquefied form to the Southeast Asian nation for storage, starting as early as 2030. Parties including trading house Mitsui & Co. and Japanese compatriot Kansai Electric Power are working on the project with state-run Malaysian oil company Petronas. The plan is to inject the gas into large offshore gas fields once they are depleted.
/jlne.ws/3GGB7qZ
China stockpiles oil as Trump tariff shock hits crude prices; Imports surged in March and continued to accelerate despite concerns global economy will weaken
Malcolm Moore - Financial Times
Chinese oil traders are setting aside concerns over the long-term economic damage of a US trade war as they seek to profit from one of the short-term consequences: lower crude prices. Imports of crude oil into China surged in March and have continued to accelerate in April, according to analysts, as the country replenishes stocks despite expectations that a weaker global economy will reduce demand.
/jlne.ws/449tbZj
Exxon poised to overtake Shell and BP on low carbon spending; US oil major's $30bn plan depends on Trump administration retaining Biden-era tax incentives
Jamie Smyth - Financial Times
ExxonMobil, which once derided European rivals' clean energy investments as a "beauty contest" that would do little to halt climate change, is poised to leapfrog Shell and BP in low carbon spending. Investment guidance issued by six of the largest western oil majors shows that Exxon plans to spend $30bn on "low emissions opportunities" between now and 2030 - far higher than its $3bn spending plan announced in 2021.
/jlne.ws/4daVs4h
China Approves 10 New Reactors in Nuclear Power Ramp-Up
Bloomberg News
China's State Council approved 10 new reactors on Sunday in a vote of confidence for nuclear power to remain central to the nation's clean energy transition. It's the fourth year in a row that China has approved at least 10 new reactors. The nation has 30 under construction, nearly half the global total, and is expected to leapfrog the US to become the world's largest atomic energy generator by the end of the decade.
/jlne.ws/4lRrypu
NASA Cancels Columbia University Lease for Climate Science Unit
Eric Roston and Loren Grush - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/42xcoxZ
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Synthetic deals drive securitisation RWA surge at EU banks; BNP Paribas and RBI lead Q4 rise
Joshua Walker - Risk.net
Several European banks reported sharp increases in securitisation risk-weighted assets (RWAs) in the final quarter of 2024, driven largely by synthetic transactions at BNP Paribas and Raiffeisen Bank International. The French bank recorded the largest absolute increase, with securitisation RWAs climbing 23.3% to EUR20.7 billion ($22.8 billion) - the highest level since at least 2016. RBI's securitisation RWAs surged 44.8% to a record EUR2.9 billion. BBVA saw a 59.9% jump to EUR1.2 billion, while
/jlne.ws/4cVgHXx
HSBC, Lloyds CEOs Among UK Bankers Seeking End of Ring-Fencing: Sky
Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
The chief executive officers of four of Britain's largest banks have called on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to abolish so-called ring-fencing rules. HSBC Holdings Plc's Georges Elhedery and Charlie Nunn of Lloyds Banking Group Plc said in a letter to Rachel Reeves this week that the regulations, which require banking groups to separate their retail banking services from their investment and international banking activities, are a drag on the banks' ability to support the economy and have become "redundant," according to people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/4jQ5VUH
Singapore Banks Dominate Surge in Share Buybacks
Justina T Lee - Bloomberg
Singapore lenders are taking advantage of recent weakness in their share prices to purchase stock, making up the bulk of total corporate buybacks that are set to be the biggest in the city-state in four years. The value of buybacks by DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Singapore's largest bank, account for nearly half of all the stock repurchases in Singapore from April 1 to April 23, followed by United Overseas Bank Ltd. at 25% and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. at just over 8%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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Hooked on hedge fund leverage; Plus, Elliott's 'lone wolf', US stocks underperform, and Grayson Perry at the Wallace Collection
Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
Of hedge funds and Treasury market turmoil
In June 1979, a desperate broker called John F Eckstein III approached Salomon Brothers with a proposal. "I got a great trade, but I can't stay in it," Eckstein pleaded with the assembled Salomon traders, according to Roger Lowenstein's book, When Genius Failed. "How about buying me out?" Eckstein's eponymous firm specialised in a then novel area: financial futures, derivatives contracts tied to the price and delivery of securities rather than commodities such as oil or orange juice.
/jlne.ws/44e91NQ
After 15 Years, John Paulson Is Finally Winning Big on Gold; Billionaire is spending $800 million to buy a big stake in an Alaskan mine
Caitlin McCabe and Joe Wallace - The Wall Street Journal
John Paulson made a vast fortune betting against the U.S. housing market in what was dubbed "the greatest trade ever." And his next act-a yearslong wager on gold-is finally turning out to be a another great trade. More than a decade and a half after Paulson went big on gold, the billionaire investor has emerged as one of the winners from the record-setting surge in the price of the precious metal.
/jlne.ws/3ENQwFq
As Markets Swooned, Pros Sold-and Individuals Pounced; Hedge funds have sold a net $1 trillion of shares this year, while 97% of Vanguard 401(k) investors avoided trading in early April
Gregory Zuckerman and Gunjan Banerji - The Wall Street Journal
In the market chaos of recent weeks, professional investors headed for the exits while individuals held steady. It's a dynamic that upends the conventional wisdom on Wall Street about how investors behave during market turmoil. So far this year, hedge funds have sold over $1 trillion more shares than they have purchased, even as individuals have made $50 billion a month in net stock purchases, "with little interruption," according to JPMorgan.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | The Company That Laid You Off Wants You Back. What Do You Say? Businesses that cut too many jobs are turning to ex-employees who can get up to speed quickly
Callum Borchers - The Wall Street Journal
You got laid off. Now the company that dumped you is crawling back, like a sorry ex, with an offer to return. Do you kiss and make up? Thousands of federal workers have been let go and recalled in recent months. Some who landed different jobs declined, others jumped at the chance. A third group accepted warily while continuing to apply elsewhere.
/jlne.ws/3Yi1VE9
DOGE's mass federal workforce cuts may cost taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal year alone
Sasha Rogelbert - Fortune
DOGE claims to have saved the government $150 million in waste, fraud, and abuse, but some federal workforce and policy experts believe Elon Musk's cost-cutting efforts have proven expensive to taxpayers. The chaos of personnel changes have tanked productivity, one expert claims, costing the government billions in wasted payroll. Fired IRS employees are no longer able to carry out audits to bring in key revenue, another argued. As Elon Musk prepares to step back from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), his goal to rout out government waste, fraud, and abuse may have fallen short. Some experts warn his efforts may actually be costing the government billions in lost labor and revenue.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | A 'Miracle' HIV Drug May Not Reach the Women Who Need It Most; Lenacapavir could be a gamechanger in the fight against infection. But US funding cuts have thrown the rollout of the twice-yearly injection into doubt.
Jason Gale and Janice Kew - Bloomberg
By midday, the Witkoppen Clinic in Johannesburg is crowded. Women sit quietly on plastic chairs with babies on their laps, staying inside to avoid the worst of the heat. Sitshengisiwe Sibanda is among them, her week-old newborn tucked against her chest and her 8-year-old son playing by her side. She's here for her infant son's check-up and to collect her pills that prevent HIV infection.
/jlne.ws/3ES4lTg
The Kind of Protein You Eat Could Help You Live Longer, New Study Suggests; The researchers looked at protein sources around the world-here's what they found.
Carrie Myers, M.S. - EatingWell
Over the last few years, there has been mounting evidence that eating more plants-including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds-benefits health in many ways, primarily in reducing disease risk. This is partly due to plants' effects on our microbiomes, as they provide plenty of fiber that acts as food for beneficial bacteria to thrive and multiply. A healthy microbiome has been linked with lower chronic inflammation and disease risk.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Global Money Managers Are Reluctant to Return to Chinese Stocks
Sangmi Cha, Abhishek Vishnoi, and Winnie Hsu - Bloomberg
Signs of a softening stance from the US on China tariffs may be a cue to buy the Asian nation's stocks for some traders, but for long-term global funds the risk is still too high to pile into the market. Money managers and strategists at Franklin Templeton, UBS Global Wealth Management and Jupiter Asset Management are among those expecting the trade war to be drawn out and inflict significant pain on the Chinese economy, making them cautious. Their wariness suggests any temporary detente will likely prove insufficient to lure back global funds en masse.
/jlne.ws/44L51EC
Revived Corporate Bond Deals in Japan Underline Need for Funding
Ayai Tomisawa - Bloomberg
Japanese corporate issuers are rekindling some shelved yen bond deals in a sign of pressing funding needs even as investors seek fatter premiums. Suntory Holdings Ltd., one of a slew of firms that canceled or delayed deals in April due to sharp market fluctuations, is considering resuming the sale in May. Another beverage group, Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., sold yen bonds on Friday in an offering that was postponed at the start of the month.
/jlne.ws/42R2CWA
China's Commodities Firms Wait on Output Cuts to Rescue Profits
Bloomberg News
The profitability of Chinese commodities producers is still heavily lagging other sectors as markets wait on output cuts to relieve the downward pressure on prices. Persistent oversupply means that last year's worst performers in terms of earnings - crude oil refiners, steel mills and coal miners - continued to prop up the table in the first quarter, according to data from the statistics bureau on Sunday.
/jlne.ws/3Eu7FnI
S&P Warns Australia's AAA Rating at Risk From Election Promises
Swati Pandey - Bloomberg
S&P Global Ratings warned Australia's prized AAA sovereign credit rating may be at risk if election campaign pledges result in larger structural deficits, debt and interest costs, highlighting fiscal pressures facing the next government. "The budget is already regressing to moderate deficits as public spending hits post-war highs, global trade tensions intensify, and growth slows," analysts Anthony Walker and Martin Foo wrote in a note on Monday. "How the elected government funds its campaign pledges and rising spending will be crucial for maintaining the rating."
/jlne.ws/4d15IvF
The NATO Country With No Military Gets Serious About Defense; Iceland watches nearby Greenland nervously, aiming to avoid tensions with President Trump
Daniel Michaels and Benoit Faucon - The Wall Street Journal
REYKJAVIK, Iceland-North America and Europe meet beneath this island, where continental plates diverge. Icelanders are trying to balance interests on both sides. The country of fewer than 400,000 people is an anomaly. A founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it has no standing military. Though rooted in Europe, it isn't part of the European Union. Traditionally a fishing island, it has become a tech hub thanks to bountiful geothermal and hydroelectric power.
/jlne.ws/3Eu8zk5
US tariff war 'will not kill Hong Kong', Trade Development Council says; City's increasingly diversified exports helped businesses prepare, and they are aware of risks of relying on single market, body says
Vivian Au - South China Morning Post
The US trade war "will not kill Hong Kong" given the city's increasingly diversified exports in recent years, with only 3 per cent of goods expected to be affected, the Trade Development Council has said. Council director of research Irina Fan Yuen-yee said on Saturday that only about half of Hong Kong's exports to the US were subject to tariffs, accounting for only about 3 per cent of the city's total exports. "The impact of the trade war on Hong Kong, in general, is a bit painful but will not kill us," she said at a briefing during a Beijing-organised media tour to promote the Greater Bay Area that groups leading cities in southern China.
/jlne.ws/42U5OAB
Swiss franc surge sparks bets on return to negative interest rates; Switzerland's currency has soared as investors seek a haven from US President Donald Trump's trade war
Emily Herbert and Ian Smith and Mercedes Ruehl - Financial Times
The Swiss franc has soared to a decade high against the dollar as investors rush for shelter from the global trade turmoil, sparking bets that the country's central bank will have to lower interest rates to zero or below to curb the currency's rise. The currency, historically a financial market haven because of the Alpine country's political and economic stability, reached near-record strength against the dollar this week, with the greenback sinking close to SFr0.80 for the first time since the franc's shock appreciation in 2015.
/jlne.ws/4346415
Demand slump fuelled by Trump tariffs hits US ports and air freight; Bookings plunge as importers hold off on shipping goods to America in hope of Beijing-Washington deal
Peter Foster, Chan Ho-him, Patricia Nilsson, Rafe Uddin and Patrick Temple-West - Financial Times
Donald Trump's trade war with Beijing is starting to affect the wider US economy as container port operators and air freight managers report sharp declines in goods transported from China. Logistics groups said container bookings to the US have fallen sharply since the introduction of 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports to the US.
/jlne.ws/433gKwZ
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Naples Estate Sells for $225 Million in One of the Country's Priciest Home Sales; The deal comes after a banner week for Florida real estate, with multiple other big-ticket sales
Libertina Brandt and E.B. Solomont - The Wall Street Journal
A waterfront estate in Naples, Fla., has sold for $225 million, the second-highest home-sale price in U.S. history and a record for the state of Florida. The seller is tied to the DeGroote family of Canada, property records show. The 15-acre property, which has multiple residences, was listed for $295 million in February 2024, according to Zillow. The family assembled the compound starting in the 1990s, property records show.
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