July 25, 2018 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | John Lothian Publisher John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes By JLN Staff Today we have the first of the videos from the MarketsWiki Education World of Opportunity series in New York earlier in July. The first video up is Jaclyn Bouchard of S&P Global.~JJL In response to President Trump's farm aid announcement, Senator Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, said, "This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers and the White House's 'plan' is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches." Brian Kuehl, the executive director of Farmers for Free Trade, said, "The best relief for the president's trade war would be ending the trade war. Farmers need contracts, not compensation, so they can create stability and plan for the future."~SD Marketwatch's America's middle class is slowly being 'wiped out' story includes a reference to a Pew study that said, "Before the 2008 crash, only one-quarter of Americans viewed themselves as lower class or lower-middle class. No longer. After the recession of 2008 ...a full 40% of Americans viewed themselves as being at the bottom of the pyramid."~JK There was a typo in the URL for MarketsWiki Education World of Opportunity yesterday. The correct URL is www.marketswikieducation.com. Sign up your interns and other interested parties today for next week's Chicago series of WOO.~JJL I survived my trip to the great woods of northern Wisconsin, though one of our Troop's leaders took a topple on a bicycle and made a trip to the emergency room 30 minutes away from camp to get checked out. All is OK, though she is sore. It was good to be at camp with the Scouts, and I miss it a lot. Before I left, I left some money for all the Scouts to be able to get an ice cream treat from the camp store, just so they don't forget me.~JJL The Wall Street Journal has a story about the fleece vest becoming the new corporate uniform. I give credit to Duncan Niederauer for making this popular. No one wore the fleece vest better, or more often than Duncan.~JJL According to a new white paper from DTCC and The Field Effect, the industry "must cope with five times more reports than actual trades once Securities Financing Transactions Regulation takes effect." ~SD ++++ 10 Years of PHLX @ Nasdaq Spencer Doar - JLN The oldest stock exchange in the United States hit another milestone - the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) celebrated its 10-year anniversary as a part of the Nasdaq family on July 24. While the '07-'08 timeframe is best remembered in financial circles as the time of "bailout this" and "subprime that," it was a transformational period for non-crisis reasons at Nasdaq. Nasdaq purchased PHLX - founded in 1790 as a venue for bond trading - for $652 million in 2008. At the time PHLX was the third largest options exchange, with some 20 percent market share, behind ISE and CBOE. Nasdaq was looking for new products and did not have an existing footprint in U.S. derivatives. (The PHLX deal came with a futures business, too.) Besides a new technological framework, the PHLX move brought some venerable personnel along with it - Meyer (Sandy) Frucher, then PHLX chairman and CEO and now vice chairman with Nasdaq, and Tom Wittman, then a PHLX senior vice president and now a Nasdaq executive vice president, head of global trading and market services and CEO of the Nasdaq stock exchange. Five months before Nasdaq would complete its PHLX deal, it finished its acquisition of OMX for $3.7 billion, giving the exchange a European foothold. The OMX move came on the heels of a failed bid to purchase the London Stock Exchange in 2007. Nasdaq also acquired the Boston Stock Exchange in this period. Nasdaq's purchase of the International Securities Exchange for $1.1 billion in 2016 further grew Nasdaq's options franchise. According to Tabb's Options Liquidity Matrix, Nasdaq's six options exchanges had 35.3 percent market share in June 2018. PHLX accounted for 14.3 percent of that total. The options business at Nasdaq accounts for some $280 million in revenues. For more on PHLX's background see this video from Nasdaq. ++++
MWE - What is ESG? JohnLothianNews.com "By assessing the underlying issues of these three broad categories, a company can get a better understanding of the holistic risks that can affect their bottom line." In this video from MarketsWiki Education's World of Opportunity event in New York, Jaclyn Bouchard of S&P Global talks about how environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns are impacting investing and why every company should care. Watch the video here » ++++ How to spot power-hungry colleagues Lila MacLellan - Quartz With all their obvious eavesdropping and forced levity, Machiavellian characters of television and film are hard to miss. At your office, however, the colleagues who crave a seat near the top offer fewer tellsÂwhich is what makes new research from an international team of organizational behavior experts so intriguing. Their discovery: Power-hungry people give more advice than others. /jlne.ws/2v0OCti ***** I know a guy who had all the answers.~JJL ++++ 'Hamilton' May Be Headed to the Movies; Bidding may exceed $50 million for recording of stage musical made in 2016 Ben Fritz - WSJ "Hamilton" may be coming to movie theaters, exactly as audiences saw it on Broadway. /jlne.ws/2uYJp5c ****** Best in show, now best in movies.~JJL ++++ Champagne-Time to Invest? Patrick Thornton-Smith - Via LinkedIn Following on from a successful 2017 En Primeur campaign, our focus on un-earthing value and promoting diversification continues with a deeper look at one of the most consistent performing areas of the Fine Wine market: Champagne. /jlne.ws/2v4LJaO ***** When I think of PTS, I imagine him sipping Champagne.~JJL ++++ Friday's Top Three Our top three stories of the day were led by Fortune's Google Cloud and Digital Asset Announce Blockchain Partnership. Second went to TABB Forum's Will CME and NEX Transform the Global Marketplace? Third went to Crain's Chicago Business' Chicago Trading Company expands at Loop office tower ++++ MarketsWiki Stats 129,987,015 pages viewed; 23,211 pages; 214,361 edits MarketsWiki Statistics
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Lead Stories | Bloomberg snatches trade data partner from rival Reuters; Deal with BrokerTec for rates benchmarks opens new front in war of the terminals Joe Rennison in New York - FT Bloomberg is aiming to tighten its grip over pricing information for issuers in the $8tn corporate bond market, following the defection of a data provider from rival Thomson Reuters. /jlne.ws/2Lmxf0R CFTC Nears Full Strength as Democrat Coasts Through Nomination Hearing; Dan Berkovitz appears set for Senate confirmation this year, along with Republican counterpart Dawn Stump Gabriel T. Rubin - WSJ The Commodity Futures Trading Commission moved a step closer to having a full commission for the first time in four years, with a Democratic nominee getting almost no pushback at a Senate confirmation hearing. /jlne.ws/2Ljl1Gx Institutional Investors Swap Bitcoin Futures for Physical BTC in Wall Street First Josiah Wilmoth - CCN Bitcoin took a significant step toward becoming a mainstream financial instrument this week, as two institutional investors completed the first-ever exchange for physical (EFP) transaction involving bitcoin futures. bit.ly/2JSgzZP Theresa May takes control of Brexit Tom McTague - POLITICO The U.K. Brexit department will no longer formally be in charge of Britain's Brexit negotiations, Theresa May announced Tuesday, taking control of the divorce talks with Brussels. bit.ly/2JZsIME Brexit lays bare the extremes that define British society; The greater a society's contradictions, the more disruptive the snap is when it comes Martin Sandbu - FT Who are you and what have you done to my friend Britain? This is what the country's one-time admirers from abroad  I am one  are asking as we watch it descend into increasingly vituperative politics and a policy course akin to self-sabotage. /jlne.ws/2v4wFtX SEC Charges Failed Fyre Festival Founder and Others With $27.4 Million Offering Fraud SEC The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that New York entrepreneur William Z. (Billy) McFarland, two companies he founded, a former senior executive, and a former contractor agreed to settle charges arising out of an extensive, multi-year offering fraud that raised at least $27.4 million from over 100 investors. /jlne.ws/2v5tstR CFTC Proposes Rule Update for U.S Markets in Security Futures Products CFTC The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved a proposal to update a rule impacting exchanges that list security futures products (SFPs). The proposal has the potential to provide greater liquidity in SFP trading, which would facilitate risk management for entities using SFPs. /jlne.ws/2v5taDh Insurers Pull Billions From Hedge Funds; Wall Street money managers are having problems hanging onto insurance companies as customers Mengqi Sun - WSJ Wall Street money managers are having problems hanging onto insurance companies as customers. American International Group Inc. AIG 0.56% and MetLife Inc. MET 0.72% pulled more than $700 million from hedge funds in the first quarter of 2018, according to filings. That followed billions of dollars in withdrawals over the previous two years. /jlne.ws/2v4Sn0K Trump to provide $12 billion in aid to farmers to ease trade pain Susan Heavey, David Shepardson - Reuters The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would provide up to $12 billion in aid for U.S. farmers to shield them from the repercussions felt by trade spats between the United States and China, the European Union and others. /reut.rs/2uMetpF ****Marketwatch here, WSJ here. Swiss Banks' Defense Against Cautious Clients UBS suffered a slowdown in client activity but it has defenses against that Paul J. Davies - WSJ UBS is fine: It's the Swiss bank's clients you should worry about. Trading and risk taking among UBS's global base of wealthy customers slowed in the second quarter, according to results reported Tuesday. /jlne.ws/2v2T62E EU prepares retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion of U.S. goods Johan Ahlander, Paul Carrel - Reuters The European Commission is drawing up a list of $20 billion of U.S. goods to hit with duties if Washington imposes tariffs on imported cars, European Union trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on the eve of her boss's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. /jlne.ws/2v0Mthe Trump Says U.S., EU Must Cut All Tariffs Ahead of Key Talks Nikos Chrysoloras - Bloomberg EU chiefs meet Trump in last-ditch bid to prevent car levies; Europe prepares $20 billion retaliation if U.S. raises tariffs President Donald Trump said that the U.S. and the European Union should eliminate all tariffs, barriers and subsidies, with the bloc's trade chiefs set to present him with proposals in that direction in a crunch meeting at the White House later Wednesday. /jlne.ws/2v4N3ui How the Fleece Vest Became the New Corporate Uniform Jacob Gallagher - WSJ The fleece zip-up vest, the capstone of a new corporate uniform, lurks in air-conditioned corporate cubicles across America. It covers the sweating backs of nervous interns ordering supersize coffees at Starbucks. It has become as ubiquitous as the take-out salad in humdrum workplaces, and is slowly supplanting the suit and tie as essential office wear. /jlne.ws/2v0THSo Trump Wants the Fed to Roll Back the U.S. Economy; Higher interest rates could revive manufacturing and exports. That will hurt consumers and workers. Conor Sen - Bloomberg Doves on the Federal Reserve evidently have a vocal ally in President Donald Trump. He said recently that he's "not thrilled" about the Fed increasing interest rates - a move the central bank is expected to signal this week, without yet doing so. /jlne.ws/2v3KpVQ America's middle class is slowly being 'wiped out' Larry Getlen - MarketWatch After spending his days teaching AP American history and economics at the public Live Oak High School in San Jose, Calif., Matt Barry drives for Uber. Barry's wife, Nicole, teaches as well  they each earn $69,000, a combined salary that not long ago was enough to afford a comfortable family life. But due to the astronomical costs in his area, including real estate  a 1,500-square-foot "starter home" costs $680,000  driving for Uber was a necessity. /jlne.ws/2uZFwNe FCA may force banks to pay minimum rates on savings; Regulator reckons move could generate £300m a year in extra interest payments Nicholas Megaw in London - FT The Financial Conduct Authority is considering forcing banks to pay a minimum interest rate to all customers with cash savings accounts, after finding lenders "take advantage" of people's unwillingness to switch providers in order to pay loyal customers less. /jlne.ws/2Lj3Zbo
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Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | IG Group profits jump but regulatory crackdown looms; Trading platform to diversify into other complex trading products Hannah Murphy in London - FT IG Group, Europe's largest contracts-for-difference trading platform, reported record full-year profits on Tuesday, but said it would diversify into other complex trading products as it braces for a regulatory crackdown that will hit its profitability this year. /jlne.ws/2v5JYdB NYSE Arca equities market faces brief 'technical' hiccup; Big Board had advised firms to 'route away' from Arca exchange Adam Samson in London - FT NYSE's all-electronic Arca equities market faced what it called a "critical" technical issue on Wednesday, which was ultimately resolved before the start of the regular trading session on Wall Street. /jlne.ws/2LjPZyd Swaps drive new FX trading record in London; Average daily FX turnover in the UK hits new highs in April according to data from the Bank of England. Hayley McDowell - The Trade A surge in foreign exchange (FX) swaps trading has led to a new average daily trading record in FX turnover in the UK, according to research from the Bank of England. /jlne.ws/2LowioX ICE closes $685 million TMC Bonds deal; ICE said the $685 million purchase will not have any impact on the exchange's financial results this year. Hayley McDowell - The Trade Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has completed its acquisition of TMC Bonds in a $685 million cash transaction. /jlne.ws/2LlzlhQ SGX welcomes DLF Holdings Limited to Catalist SGX Singapore Exchange (SGX) today welcomed DLF Holdings Limited to its Catalist under the stock code "KUX". /jlne.ws/2uYIvpk French Tech Star Navya lists on Euronext; Around EUR38 million raised; market capitalisation EUR190 million Euronext Euronext today welcomed Navya, the French leader in autonomous vehicles and smart shared mobility solutions, to its Paris' market. /jlne.ws/2LlAi9V Extended trading hours in Asia. A great opportunity to generate alpha says Byron Baldwin Eurex In his latest article Byron Baldwin, Deputy Global Head, Fixed Income Trading & Clearing Sales at Eurex, relates to Eurex's extension of trading hours in the Asia Pacific time zone for liquid Benchmark Fixed Income Products. /jlne.ws/2LjSqRn The long (and not the short) of it: three questions for Markus-Alexander Flesch Eurex Markus-Alexander Flesch, Global Head of Equity & Index Sales at Eurex, is in constant contact with his customers and their input is key to the development of our products. We asked him how Eurex is increasing its efforts to support the buy side. /jlne.ws/2Lo17tZ TMX Group Hosts Seventh Annual Charity Golf Tournament TMX Remote market close ceremony to be held at University Golf Club in Vancouver July 24, 2018 (VANCOUVER) - Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange are proud to host the seventh annual TMX Charity Golf Classic today at Vancouver's University Golf Club. Over the past six years, the tournament has raised nearly $500,000 for a variety of charities. /jlne.ws/2LllLee ICE SONIA Futures Achieve Record Trading Volume and Open Interest; Extends Lead in SONIA Futures with More Than £100 Billion Notional Traded since Launch ICE Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, announced today that ICE One Month SONIA futures achieved record trading volume yesterday of 4,563 contracts and ICE One Month and Three Month SONIA futures both set record open interest on July 24, 2018, totalling 14,034 contracts and representing £33 billion. /jlne.ws/2LkL8ga Nasdaq Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.44 Per Share GlobeNewswire The Board of Directors of Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share on the company's outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on September 28, 2018 to shareowners of record at the close of business on September 14, 2018. Future declarations of quarterly dividends and the establishment of future record and payment dates are subject to approval by the Board of Directors. /jlne.ws/2Lln0Kh Nasdaq Reports Second Quarter 2018 Results; Completes Divestiture; Delivers Strong Organic Revenue Growth GlobeNewswire Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today reported financial results for the second quarter of 2018. /jlne.ws/2LjTRzf SGX and NSE resume discussion on potential collaboration in GIFT IFSC SGX Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) have resumed discussions on a potential collaboration in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City International Financial Services Centre (GIFT IFSC). /jlne.ws/2Lp5YuP
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Fintech | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | 5 Questions with Joseph Signorelli of RCM-X Brian Mehta - Trading Technologies Blog On May 30, we announced the availability of RCM-X execution algorithm strategies on the TT platform. We sat down with Joseph Signorelli, founder and managing partner of RCM-X, to learn more about the company and their offering. Prior to forming RCM-X, the technology and execution division of RCM Alternatives, Joe served as a managing director and head of futures for Wedbush Futures. He previously served as managing partner of Wedbush Market Neutral Hedge Fund. /goo.gl/EtHAUu TradingScreen Appoints Rishi Gupta as New CFO and Promotes Varghese Thomas as New COO TradingScreen TradingScreen Inc. (TS), the all-asset class order and execution management system (OEMS), today announced the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Experienced financial executive Rishi K. Gupta has joined TS as its CFO. Additionally, current TS Chief Strategy Officer Varghese Thomas has taken on the added role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). /jlne.ws/2v56xiv UK fintechs aren't eating the banks' lunch just yet Jemima Kelly - FT In China, tech giants Ant Financial and Tencent have veritably upended the financial establishment, creating digital ecosystems that bring together social media, e-commerce and payments. In the process, they've left traditional banks behind in the dust. For instance, Ant Financial's Alipay handles more than half of the country's $15.5trn online payments market, reporting half a billion active users. /jlne.ws/2LkqhJO Personal loans are surging in the US, fueled by fintech startups John Detrixhe - Quartz Ten years on from the credit crisis, Americans are again piling on debt in all its varieties, from credit cards to student loans to mortgages. These days, personal loansÂa category turbocharged by fintech upstartsÂare growing especially quickly. With an increasing number of shaky borrowers taking on this debt, the risks are growing for lenders during the next economic downturn. bit.ly/2v0LA8p Could Fintech & Blockchain Lending Further Drive The Housing Market Boom? Roger Aitken - Forbes It is a seller's market these days for homes across the top U.S. metro areas. Home prices have been rising - up 8% from 2017 - and homes are shifting fast as inventory and days on the market are down according to recent data by 8% and 7%, respectively. That said, home ownership for many remains a distant pipedream. Consequently all this is putting pressure on prospective homebuyers to settle deals quickly before opportunities to purchase dry up. Fortunately for buyers all is not lost, even if they do not have the proverbial mom and dad lending them a big hand - aka the bank of mom and dad. bit.ly/2uZM0f2
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Cryptocurrencies | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | City blockchain group Setl loses co-founder after spat Yolanda Bobeldijk - Financial News Setl, the blockchain startup founded by City trading veteran Peter Randall, has lost one of its co-founders after a dispute about the future direction of the company. Francois Barthelemy left in June, according to filings with Companies House. He and Randall, the former chief executive of stock exchange group Chi-X  now part of Cboe Global Markets  co-founded Setl in 2015. /goo.gl/KQZvF1 Bitcoin Fever Persists With Fresh ETF Proposal Asjylyn Loder - WSJ A new request for Wall Street's top regulator to allow the launch of a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund is a sign that bitcoin fever isn't going away anytime soon. /jlne.ws/2v55YVV Could blockchain solve China's food and drug safety problems?; In the wake of China's latest vaccine scandal, many are pointing to the technology behind bitcoin as a possible solution. For others, it has too many drawbacks Amanda Lee - South China Morning Post A scandal involving a Chinese pharmaceutical firm that forged documents relating to a rabies vaccine for babies has sparked a debate about whether blockchain, the technology best known for underpinning bitcoin, could be a solution to the nation's food and drug safety problems. /jlne.ws/2v550ZN Bitcoin And Crypto Use Gets Coinbase Boost In Europe Billy Bambrough - Fortune One of the world's largest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges, the San Francisco-based Coinbase, is hoping to grow its footprint in Europe with digital gift cards, as users continue to struggle to get their hands on their crypto gains. /jlne.ws/2uZAoIY Coinbase Strikes Partnership for Crypto Gift Cards in Europe Lily Katz - Bloomberg Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Inc. is rolling out a new feature that will allow customers in Europe to cash out their crypto coins for digital gift cards. /jlne.ws/2v0LLR6 Cryptocurrency Faces Anti-Competitive Hurdles, EU Parliament Research Shows Christine Masters - Cryptovest The European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) sees crypto assets as an indispensable element of European financial technology (fintech) and warns against anti-competitive behavior by traditional banks. A paper, crafted by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies, suggests that organizations and entities could issue crypto assets in lieu of money, as a form of value exchange. bit.ly/2v62Wkb Keep an Eye on What Bitcoin Miners Are Doing During This Rally Olga Kharif - Bloomberg Researcher says more digital coins are being sold than mined; Miners often sell new coins to meet operating expenses Bitcoin bulls may want to pay closer attention to the miners. In the last 24 hours, the companies whose computers perform the calculations that validate each transaction and are rewarded with new digital tokens, sold more coins than they mined, according to data from Cryptocomposite.com, a soon-to-be-launched analytics provider. Miners sold $17.3 million of coins, while they earned around $14.4 million, the company said. /jlne.ws/2v4tQZT Coinbase Reveal Results of Internal Investigation Anca Faget - Coindoo Coinbase has unofficially disclosed that its internal investigation that was aimed at exposing insider trading of Bitcoin Cash came up with no evidence of criminal activity. The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US told Fortune in private comments that as of last week, the highly-expected investigation has reached its conclusion, but that "no disciplinary action" would be applied. bit.ly/2v4X8aC
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Politics | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Republican tax plans include making U.S. cuts permanent - documents Reuters Republican plans to build on last year's U.S. tax legislation will include making individual and small business tax cuts permanent, expanding savings plans and giving breaks to start-up companies, according to documents released on Tuesday by the chief architect of the legislation. /reut.rs/2OipQOe Mueller plans to call IRS, FBI, FinCen witnesses at Manafort trial Darren Samuelsohn - Politico Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors plan to call witnesses from the IRS, FBI and the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as part of the upcoming trial involving Paul Manafort, one of the lead investigators said in court Tuesday. /jlne.ws/2v2sXRl GOP ex-gov to Republicans: Call on Trump to step down Sarah Hallam, CNN Washington (CNN)A former New Jersey governor is urging fellow Republicans to call on President Donald Trump to resign following his embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Helsinki summit last week. /jlne.ws/2v4OSHE 'Like a Soviet-type economy': GOP free traders unload on Trump; The president's $12 billion farm bailout gets an ugly reception among many Republicans in Congress. Burgess Everett - Politico President Donald Trump's bailout for the ag industry is driving his many Republican trade critics to exasperation. Pro-free trade Republicans were already furious with Trump's escalation of tariffs against U.S. allies and China  a multi-front trade war they say is hurting U.S. farmers and manufacturers. But the administration's response Tuesday  announcing plans to send $12 billion to farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs to ease the pain  is the opposite of conservative, free-trade orthodoxy, they said. /jlne.ws/2v27XKM Republicans Pan Trump's $12 Billion Farm Aid Plan Alan Bjerga - Bloomberg GOP lawmakers' responses range from ambivalent to outraged; Crop prices rise in anticipation of agricultural aid program The Trump administration's decision to deliver $12 billion in aid to farmers hit by a burgeoning trade war was panned Tuesday by Republicans in Congress as not fixing the underlying problem -- the White House's own trade policies. /jlne.ws/2v6o5uw Crypto Exchange Coinbase Forms Political Action Committee Nikhilesh De - Coindesk Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has formed a Political Action Committee (PAC), according to government documents published Friday night. A disclosure published by the U.S. Federal Election Commission revealed that the exchange formed the "Coinbase, Inc. Political Action Committee" in June 2018, though it has yet to raise or donate any money. The Form 3x - a "Report of Receipts and Disbursements For Other Than An Authorized Committee" - means the PAC is not currently attached to any candidate running for public office. /jlne.ws/2v2XYos Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren: 'I am a capitalist' - but markets need to work for more than just the rich Elizabeth Warren takes on Trump, the midterms and economic inequality in an interview with CNBC's John Harwood; On Trump: "What he wants to do is set working people against working people, black working people against white working people."; On possibly running for president: "Right now we better stay focused on 2018." John Harwood - CNBC Sen. Elizabeth Warren has followed a circuitous path to the largest stages of American politics. Raised in Oklahoma by a family of modest means, she won a college scholarship but dropped out to get married at 19. Later she got her degree, then a law degree, and ultimately became a Harvard Law School professor and a leading authority on the economic struggles of American families. /jlne.ws/2LjP7JX
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Regulation & Enforcement | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | CFTC Issues Proposal to Streamline Regulations for Swap Dealers, Help End Users CFTC The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued a proposal approved unanimously by the Commission to reduce unnecessary burdens on registrants and market participants by simplifying overly complex notification provisions, thereby reducing certain intricate and prescriptive requirements that have been found to provide little or no benefit. /jlne.ws/2v4uR49 SFTR to impact trade booking models Securities Lending Times Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR) is likely to significantly impact trade booking models, according to a white paper jointly published by The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and The Field Effect. The regulation is likely to affect 60 percent of current processes resulting in the need to develop new processes. /goo.gl/J1Pi5q SEC Detects Silicon Valley Executive's Insider Trading SEC The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a senior executive at a Silicon Valley fiber optics company has agreed to settle charges that he made nearly $200,000 in illicit profits by trading on inside information in advance of three disappointing earnings announcements by the company. /jlne.ws/2v4uM0l Sebi proposes three-phase process for re-classification of promoters; The issue of re-classification had assumed significance at the time of implementation of minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms Samie Modak - Business Standard The Sebi on Tuesday proposed a three-phase process for re-classification of promoters as public shareholders. In the first stage, the concerned promoter shareholder or the company will have to file an application to the stock exchange requesting re-classification. In the next stage, the request will go to the board of directors. /jlne.ws/2uZBGUk CFTC responds to Vatican's criticism of derivatives market; Christopher Giancarlo makes the case against the unethical nature of derivatives products after scathing statement from Pope Francis in May. Hayley McDowell - The Trade The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has countered claims made by the Vatican in May this year that derivatives are unethical financial products. /jlne.ws/2LqzvEI Statement of CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo Regarding the Proposed Rule on Segregation of Assets Held as Collateral in Uncleared Swap Transactions CFTC After more than four years of administering the final rules in subpart L of Part 23 (Commission Regulations 23.700-704), CFTC staff have observed that the detailed requirements of these regulations have been difficult and burdensome for swap dealers to satisfy. The requirements have also caused some confusion by end user counterparties who rely on our markets to hedge commercial risk. These observations were supported by comments made in response to the Commission's Project KISS initiative. /jlne.ws/2Lp6Ak7 Statement of Concurrence of CFTC Commissioner Rostin Behnam Regarding Segregation of Assets Held as Collateral in Uncleared Swap Transactions; Amendments CFTC I respectfully concur with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (the Commission or CFTC) approval of its proposed rule (Proposal) regarding amendments to subpart L of the Commission's Regulations (Segregation of Assets Held as Collateral in Uncleared Swap Transactions" consisting of Regulations 23.700 through 23.704), which implement Section 4s(l) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA or the Act). While I have strong reservations about the Commission's proposed interpretation of CEA Section 4s(l) and its slash and burn approach to "simplify" requirements for swap dealers (SDs) and major swap participants (MSPs) absent meaningful consideration of the impact on swap counterparties, I am hopeful that the Proposal's solicitation of comments on these key points will produce a balanced record from which to adopt a final rule that more precisely simplifies the current requirements and provides tailored regulatory relief. /jlne.ws/2LjUVDf Concurring Statement of CFTC Commissioner Rostin Behnam Regarding the Position Limits and Position Accountability for Security Futures Products Proposed Rule CFTC I respectfully concur with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's approval of its proposed rule regarding Position Limits and Position Accountability for Security Futures Products (Proposal). I commend staff on their hard work in producing this Proposal, and for their thoughtful responses to my questions. /jlne.ws/2Lpn6AM Update on the temporary permissions regime UK FCA On 24 July 2018 the Government published the draft Statutory Instrument that will form the legislative basis of the temporary permissions regime for inbound passporting EEA firms and funds. At the same time we have provided an update setting out more detail on how the regime will operate including our initial views on the FCA rules we propose will apply to firms while they are in the regime. /jlne.ws/2LmvhOi FCA opens a discussion on introducing a basic savings rate in the cash savings market UK FCA The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published a Discussion Paper on price discrimination in the cash savings market. /jlne.ws/2Lj6yu2
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Investing & Trading | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Bunge to close Argentine soybean mill, lay off 60 workers -union Reuters Staff A union of employees of soy crushing plants in Argentina said on Tuesday that U.S. grains merchant Bunge Ltd told workers it will shutter a mill at the port of Ramallo in the province of Buenos Aires, laying off 60 workers. /jlne.ws/2v55G1h Darts Are Beating the Ira Sohn Investing Pros; Bulls' Eye!; Top 5 dart picks in blue, top 5 Sohn picks in red Spencer Jakab - WSJ "Nothing new ever occurs in the business of speculating. What's happened in the past will happen again and again and again." Bond king Jeffrey Gundlach's comments three months ago at the Sohn Conference in New York, which raises money for charity by inviting investing legends to share their stock tips with the masses, were more accurate than he could have imagined. Once again, investors would have been better off picking companies by throwing darts at stock tables than listening to Wall Street's geniuses. /jlne.ws/2vbBi5B Nickel Is New Headache for Automakers as Cobalt Fears Abate Mark Burton - Bloomberg Graphite also failing to keep up with electric boom: Benchmark; Nickel looks set to double by 2022 amid shortage: WoodMac Locking in supplies of key battery raw materials lithium and cobalt has been a headache for electric car manufacturers, but these days it's the supply of nickel and graphite that's keeping them up at night. /jlne.ws/2v4tKBv Stock Market Boom Shows Trade War Is Becoming Background Noise Justin Carrigan - Bloomberg Global equity index heads for best month since January; This could be the start of risk-on phase, Aberdeen says What trade angst? U.S. stocks are at five-month highs, Australian stocks at decade highs, and equity markets including Canada and India are at or near their highest levels on record. /jlne.ws/2LnlDek How the Trump Tax Cut Is Helping to Push the Federal Deficit to $1 Trillion; Corporate income tax collections are near a 75-year low, as a share of the economy, after a new law reduced rates and allowed companies to deduct investments immediately. Jim Tankersley - NY Times In the trough of the Great Recession in 2009, as companies laid off hundreds of thousands of workers each month, the amount of corporate income taxes collected by the federal government plunged by almost a third. It was the largest quarterly drop since the Commerce Department began compiling the data in the 1940s. No other period came close. Until this year. /jlne.ws/2LjlY1z
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Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Luc Caytan appointed as new Chairman of ThomasLloyd SICAV in Luxembourg Thomas Lloyd The ThomasLloyd Group has appointed Luc Caytan, an experienced senior financial market and investment expert, as the new Chairman of its European AIF fund platform ThomasLloyd SICAV. In his new role, he will take responsibility to enhance relations with the supervisory authorities, market participants and further stakeholders in Luxembourg and increasingly throughout Europe. /jlne.ws/2v2V8ji Deutsche Bank's Sewing Dares to Talk Growth Again After Cuts Steven Arons - Bloomberg Lender to redeploy capital to strengthen fixed-income unit; Vows to defend its position as a top global debt trader Since Christian Sewing took over as Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer, he has cut jobs, reduced risk and built capital. Four months later, he's already talking about expanding again. /jlne.ws/2v2Cisp For Deutsche Bank's Escapee, Freedom Is No Reward; DWS has lost more than a billion euros of value since its IPO. Mark Gilbert - Bloomberg Four months after escaping from the claustrophobic embrace of Deutsche Bank AG, DWS Group is finding life as a free agent somewhat tougher than it might have hoped. /jlne.ws/2v2AzDr Deutsche Bank Is Playing for Time; The idea of radically shrinking the investment-bank is gaining no traction. Lionel Laurent - Bloomberg The early release of some of Deutsche Bank AG's quarterly results last week was a hint that analysts had become too gloomy about the battered lender's fortunes. But the full figures published on Wednesday are a reminder that much of that gloom is justified. /jlne.ws/2v5IP5N Deutsche Bank completes half its workforce cut target; Germany's biggest lender spent EUR239m on restructuring in the second quarter Olaf Storbeck in Frankfurt - FT Deutsche Bank has delivered half of its full-year job cutting target while spending less on restructuring than previously expected and arrested market share losses in key investment banking areas. /jlne.ws/2LkpLLS
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Regions | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Euro-U.S. Dollar: The Sway of Politics and the Economics Erik Norland - CME Group The contrast between the state of Europe's economy and the state of its politics could hardly be starker. Despite some evidence of a slight moderation in the pace of growth, Europe's economy continues to improve even as political situations in Germany, Italy and Spain become increasingly delicate. Brexit remains the source of significant uncertainty; the refugee issue continues to roil politics and NATO's foundations have developed cracks. As we head to the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting on July 26, markets appear to be more focused on what's going wrong in Europe rather than what's going well. From an economic perspective, there are three positive trends that are easily overlooked: /goo.gl/qt2udr Turkish Lira's Plunge Prompts Concern About a Currency Crisis; Sharp slide follows central bank's refusal to raise key rate in the face of soaring inflation; worries about President Erdogan's influence Christopher Whittall and David Gauthier-Villars - WSJ Turkey's currency fell sharply amid investor concerns that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's growing influence over the central bank could push the country toward a currency crisis. /jlne.ws/2v2Ss5e Inflation in This Country Will Skyrocket to 1,000,000% by 2019, Experts Say Andrew Rosati - Time.com Venezuela's inflation will skyrocket to 1 million percent by the end of the year as the government continues to print money to cover a growing budget hole, the International Monetary Fund predicted on Monday. /jlne.ws/2v5Lk8b Wine Australia toasts Treasury Wine as exports boom; China demand helps country's overseas sales soar and sees producer return to profit Jamie Smyth in Sydney - FT Treasury Wine Estates was the toast of the town on Tuesday after Australia's industry group said the country's wine exports grew at their fastest rate in 15 years last year amid strong demand from China. /jlne.ws/2v5JiF5 Ruble Rise Shows Traders Aren't Scared by Debt Sanctions Threat Natasha Doff and Olga Voitova - Bloomberg Local bonds slide, catching up with news from Tuesday evening; U.S. earlier concluded bond sanctions could rattle markets Investors in Russian assets took a skeptical stance on a threat by U.S. senators to introduce a bill that could harm the local bond market. /jlne.ws/2v4sEp7 Trade War and Brexit Open Door for U.K. Grain Sales to China Manisha Jha - Bloomberg China looks to U.K. as potential wheat and barley supplier; Bulk of U.K. wheat, barley exports currently goes to the EU The global trade war and Brexit uncertainty could give U.K. wheat and barley exporters the chance to break into the Chinese market. /jlne.ws/2LpiAlO Virtu Financial registers as HFT in Japan; Virtu Financial's Singapore entity gains regulatory approval to operate a high-speed trading business in Japan. Hayley McDowell - The Trade US-based market maker Virtu Financial has gained regulatory approval to operate as a high-frequency trading (HFT) firm in Japan. /jlne.ws/2LlzvFZ
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Brexit | Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union | 'No terminal damage' of the City because of Brexit, says Barclays boss John McFarlane Catherine Neilan - City AM Barclays boss John McFarlane has struck a note of caution about the impact of Brexit on the City, saying he doesn't believe it will cause "terminal damage". /jlne.ws/2LjRNHv
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Miscellaneous | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Fortnite Mania Fuels Epic Growth to $8.5 Billion; Epic Games' profits on the game have made "legendary character" Tim Sweeney a billionaire. Devon Pendleton, Christopher Palmeri - Bloomberg Tim Sweeney made Fortnite a phenomenon by doing something that sounds crazy: He gave it away. That strategy has made him a billionaire. In an industry chock-a-block with monster hits, such as Candy Crush and Pokemon Go, Fortnite's popularity isn't surprising. Its revenues are. Between the release of the current version in September and the end of May, Fortnite brought in more than $1.2 billion, according to SuperData Research. As of early June, it has been played by 125 million people. /jlne.ws/2LoVcF5
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