| October 21, 2022 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The FIA came out with its list of 10 startups selected for the 2022 Innovators Pavilion at FIA's Futures and Options Expo to be held in Chicago on November 14-15. One of the 10 is a company that I recommended to apply for the competition, but I am not going to share with you which one. You are just going to have to motor through the list yourself and figure it out.
Rupak Ghose, the chief operating officer of Galytix and former head of corporate strategy at ICAP/NEX, has written a piece for the Financial Times titled, "The financial infrastructure industry needs a new playbook; The golden era is over." He does not paint a pretty picture.
Do you need something to read while waiting for the little goblins and princesses to show up on your front porch on Halloween? Well, the Financial Times has come out with its "FT business books: what to read this month" list. "Why Managers Matter" and "Quit" are two of the books featured. There is also "When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them," by Julia Boorstin.
I am not the only one with a pun(ny) problem about the Liz Truss and lettuce comparison. The Financial Times' Claer Barretta's column's headline is "Lettuce pray for our personal finances" with the subheadline "Future for tax, pensions and energy policy has been tossed into the political salad spinner." These are the salad days for lettuce puns.
We know there are problems with Halloween candy and maybe shortages of some of our favorites, and now comes word from the New York Times that we also face turkey shortages heading into Thanksgiving. The story from the Times is titled, "Turkeys Will Be Scarcer and Pricier Than Ever This Thanksgiving" with the subheadline, "With avian flu, inflation and supply-chain challenges, this could be a rough year for getting just the bird you want." Adding to the pain, if you can find the bird you want, it will cost you 75% more than last year, according to a story from the NY Post titled, "Americans to pay almost 75% more for a turkey this Thanksgiving."
Here is a bad idea built on a bad idea. The New York Post reports "The island which hosted the fraudulent Fyre Festival in 2017 will become an exclusive resort sold exclusively via NFTs." The story says, "The land briefly used to host the notorious Fyre Festival is being sold exclusively as NFTs - reinventing the site as an ultra-luxe, crypto-first, resort-style community." I would have tried for something with a better reputation to build upon.
Gert H. P. de Boer is starting a new position as strategic sales executive at Trading Technologies. He was previously the sales manager Europe for TT.
Cboe Global Markets has a video on its YouTube channel titled "How SPX Options Are Taxed."
Nodal Exchange is holding its 15th annual Nodal Trader Conference in NYC on October 27-28th at the Hilton Midtown. Speakers will include Paul Cusenza, CEO of Nodal Exchange, and Demetri Karousos, president and COO.
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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WILD Gives Back has announced that the "Next Generation Women in Finance Scholarship" of $5000 has been awarded to two students at Dominican University and Benedictine University. Split evenly for the fall semester of 2022, the Scholarship has provided funds to help cover tuition. Dominican University and Benedictine University are two of Associated Colleges of Illinois' (ACI's) 24 member colleges and universities, whose students could apply for the scholarship.~SR
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Environmental Markets Association Annual Meeting a Success, Organization Poised for Growth to Meet Challenges Ahead
JohnLothianNews.com
The Environmental Markets Association recently held its annual meeting in person for the first time in three years, and JLN interviewed the EMA chairman, Jack Velasquez, about the meeting, the EMA and its plans.
Velasquez talked about how the EMA promotes market based solutions for environmental problems and seeks to decarbonize the economy.
Watch the video »
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FIA announces 10 startups selected for 2022 Innovators Pavilion
Futures Industry Association
FIA today announced the 10 startups that have been chosen to exhibit in the 2022 Innovators Pavilion, FIA's annual showcase for fintech startups relevant to derivatives trading and clearing. The Pavilion takes place during FIA's Futures and Options Expo, which brings together traders, brokers and other market professionals from a wide range of firms in the derivatives industry. The conference will be held in Chicago, Nov. 14-15, 2022.
/jlne.ws/3DgByEn
***** This is a great list of innovators. I can't wait to hear them at EXPO.~JJL
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Liz Truss Didn't Even Outlast the Lettuce; Her PM tenure, the shortest on record, left the Tories in shreds.
Mark Gongloff - Bloomberg
In an outcome that shocked few, the lettuce won. Six days ago, the UK's Daily Star tabloid started a live video feed of a head of lettuce with googly eyes, sitting next to a photograph of then-Prime Minister Liz Truss with squintier eyes. Would the lettuce rot before Truss's premiership? We should have bet money on it, gentle readers, because that lettuce is still crisp enough to make a nice salad, while Truss's political career is bound for the bin, innit.
/jlne.ws/3MQTUPA
***** She could have romained in power, but realistically she had an iceberg's chance in hell of surviving the Tory arugula about her tenure.
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Is College Worth It? Undergraduate Enrollment Slips in US; More students are questioning the costs of higher education as inflation hits household budgets.
Paulina Cachero - Bloomberg
Undergraduate enrollment at US colleges and universities is dropping as more students question whether the costs of getting a degree are worth it. The number of undergrad students dropped 1.1% this year, and is now down 4.2% since 2020, according to preliminary data from the National Student Clearinghouse. "We're seeing smaller declines, but we're in a deep hole," said Doug Shapiro, the NSC's executive research director.
/jlne.ws/3yYIvaG
***** Something to consider if you don't want to go away to college, but want to work at it slowly while having control of your schedule is Purdue Global. Purdue is doing a lot of good things, keeping tuition under control while continuing to deliver a world class education. And this online classroom brings some of the best of the university to the student who wants a unique education experience all their own. Disclosure: I am a Purdue University graduate, class of 1983.
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Loeffler's texts post-2020 election go public, raising new investigative questions
Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu - Politico
A log of text messages sent and received by former Sen. Kelly Loeffler during the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is raising questions about potentially unauthorized access to investigative material relevant to probes of the 2020 election. The messages, reviewed by POLITICO, shed light on Loeffler's shifting political calculus as she weighed whether to lodge a challenge to the 2020 results at the urging of then-President Donald Trump. She announced she would challenge the results but ultimately decided against it as a violent mob ransacked the Capitol one day after she lost her reelection bid to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
/jlne.ws/3SkhcOQ
****** Note to self. Never text again.~JJL
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Democratic Lawmakers Ask Justice Department to Publish Data on Corporate Crime; The letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland comes after a top Justice Department official said data showed a decline in corporate criminal prosecutions
Dylan Tokar - The Wall Street Journal
A trio of Democratic lawmakers is asking the U.S. Justice Department to publicly disclose data related to its prosecution of corporate crime. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the three Democrats said they were urging the Justice Department to more thoroughly track and publish agency-wide statistics on the number of actions taken by prosecutors against corporations and executives who engage in business crimes.
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****** Is this the list of corporations that committed a crime, or those that admitted to committing a crime. There is a difference.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top story Thursday was SEC Chairman's Agenda Strains Resources, Internal Watchdog Finds, from The Wall Street Journal. Second was Bloomberg's Americans Are Using Their Ancestry to Gain Citizenship in Europe. Third was a tie between Bloomberg's 'Star Wars' Actor Hamill's Campaign Sends 500 Drones to Ukraine and Nouriel Roubini Foresees an 'Ugly' Mix of the 1970s and the Global Financial Crisis (also from Bloomberg).
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
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| Lead Stories | CFTC Launches New Commitments of Traders Reports; The New Environment Allows Users the Choice to Access Data with Enhanced Features or Utilize the Traditional Format
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today launched new features for the widely popular Commitments of Traders (COT) reports. These new features offer easy to locate historical data as part of a modernization initiative intended to improve data access. The traditional weekly report will still be available on the CFTC's website. The new environment gives users the flexibility to access the COT reports in the traditional format they are familiar with or utilize new enhanced capabilities.
/jlne.ws/3yYx6Yt
Putin's War in Ukraine May Destroy Russia; In his attempt to resurrect the Soviet Union, Mr. Putin may be presiding over his country's final collapse.
Michael Khodarkovsky - The Wall Street Journal
The Western media for decades has hailed Vladimir Putin as a great strategist. But if the past eight months have proved one thing, it's that this strategic wizard often achieves the opposite of his intentions. Mr. Putin has promised many things, including to make Russia an attractive place to live by 2020. Instead, millions of Russians have left and settled in the West. Russia's economy remains largely dependent on oil and gas-and gross domestic product per capita income has fallen nearly 60% since 2013. Government efforts to slow demographic decline have failed, and the Kremlin's military mobilization for its war in Ukraine has pushed more than 300,000 Russians to flee the country. Many of those unable to escape or bribe their way out of the draft are non-Russians from remote and impoverished regions in the east and south.
/jlne.ws/3CUMuWS
The Squeeze That Has the US Treasury Thinking About Buying Back Bonds
Alex Harris - Bloomberg
When traders in the $24 trillion US Treasury market have trouble trading, it's a matter for far wider concern. Liquidity metrics are flashing at crisis levels, making the debt market that's a key underpinning of global financial markets potentially so fragile that another shock could impair its functioning. That's why for the first time in more than two decades, the Treasury is considering buying back its bonds as a way of stabilizing the situation and buying time for policy makers to find more permanent solutions.
/jlne.ws/3TDkGgz
UK Bonds at Heart of Market Turmoil Set for Best Week on Record; Rate on 30-year bonds plummeted 78 basis points this week; Market is being supported by the scrapping of Truss's agenda
Greg Ritchie - Bloomberg
The UK government bonds at the heart of recent market turmoil are set for their biggest weekly surge on record. The rate on 30-year bonds has plummeted 78 basis points this week, its biggest retreat in data going back decades. The equivalent yield on 10- and 30-year inflation-linked gilts are also on course for record declines.
/jlne.ws/3TrFGXR
The market in Treasuries is storing up trouble; Questions raised by policymakers are a sign of mounting unease about American government bonds
Gillian Tett - Financial Times
This month, global investors have watched the wild gyrations of gilts - and British politicians - with mounting horror. But now that UK bond markets seem calmer - if not UK politics - investors should peek look across the Atlantic at the unfolding story in the $23.5tn world of American government bonds.
/jlne.ws/3CSbcY2
Trafigura warns the world is running low on copper; Commodities trader expects further shortages as demand rises in energy transition
Harry Dempsey, Shotaro Tani and David Sheppard - Financial Times
Global copper stocks have fallen to perilously low levels, one of the world's largest commodity traders Trafigura has warned. Speaking at the FT Mining Summit on Thursday, Kostas Bintas, co-head of metals and minerals trading at Trafigura, said the copper market is today running with inventories that cover 4.9 days of global consumption and is expected to finish this year at 2.7 days, according to its own forecasts. Copper stocks are usually counted in weeks.
/jlne.ws/3grgrGB
The financial infrastructure industry needs a new playbook; The golden era is over
Rupak Ghose - Financial Times
My first exposure to the world of exchanges was watching Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd corner the frozen orange juice futures market on the floor of the New York Board of Trade. Much has changed since then. Despite the death of trading pits, at almost every turn the financial market infrastructure sector of exchanges and data providers has thrived. It was an industry golden era. Until now. Relative valuation multiples have gradually contracted since the financial crisis, and share prices of many companies in the industry have lagged in recent years. Here's what the majors have done in 2022:
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London Stock Exchange revenues boosted by surge in volatility; Group benefits from market uncertainty triggered by outgoing UK prime minister Liz Truss's mini-Budget
Nikou Asgari - Financial Times
London Stock Exchange Group reported a 16 per cent year-on-year rise in third-quarter revenues to £1.9bn, as market volatility and a rush to raise collateral boosted the company's earnings. A trading update on Friday showed the owner of the London Stock Exchange and London Clearing House benefited from market uncertainty triggered by the UK government's ill-fated "mini" Budget last month.
/jlne.ws/3Sk7v2X
Chinese Stock Traders Told Not to Disrupt Market Around Communist Party Meeting; Brokers, fund managers received unofficial guidance about trading activity, to reduce market volatility
Rebecca Feng - The Wall Street Journal
Chinese stock exchange officials told brokers and fund managers in the country not to sell large blocks of shares around the Communist Party's National Congress this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The move was designed to reduce market volatility around the all-important political meeting, which began on Oct. 16. The Chinese Communist Party is nearing the end of its week-long gathering of senior officials, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping is widely expected to secure a convention-defying third term as party chief.
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New Guidelines Could Signal Tougher Approach From Foreign Investment Review Body; Cfius, the panel that reviews foreign investment in the U.S. for national-security concerns, has its first-ever enforcement guidelines
Richard Vanderford - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. panel that reviews foreign investments for national-security concerns has new guidelines on how it might deal with violations of its rules and agreements, a move that could signal a coming enforcement push. The enforcement guidelines issued Thursday are a first for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or Cfius, which previously had no written guidelines on the topic. The interagency committee is run by the U.S. Treasury Department and reviews foreign investments in U.S. companies and real estate, and can advise the president to block or unwind a deal.
/jlne.ws/3EWG3W1
Draft of 'DeFi Killing' CFTC Bill Has Leaked-Here's What's In It
Stacy Elliott - Decrypt
The draft's out of the capitol. A copy of the still in-progress Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA), which outlines how the Commodities Futures Trading Commission would regulate the crypto industry, was uploaded to GitHub today. The draft appears to show a softening of the language that drew criticism because it could have created a de facto ban on DeFi-a catch-all term for blockchain-based financial tools that allow users to trade, borrow, and loan crypto assets without third-party intermediaries. "Notably, this version contains a limited exception to the term 'digital commodity trading facility' which would exclude persons who solely develop or publish software-this could be a boon to DeFi/crypto," Gabriel Shapiro, a crypto attorney and general counsel at Delphi Labs, tweeted on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3F4X6VR
US Eyes Expanding China Tech Ban to Quantum Computing and AI
Anna Edgerton, Ian King, Eric Martin and Saleha Mohsin - BloombergThe Biden administration is exploring the possibility of new export controls that would limit China's access to some of the most powerful emerging computing technologies, according to people familiar with the situation. The potential plans, which are in an early stage, are focused on the still-experimental field of quantum computing, as well as artificial intelligence software, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing private deliberations. Industry experts are weighing in on how to set the parameters of the restrictions on this nascent technology, they said.
/jlne.ws/3yVgwZh
Michael Dell-backed investment group merges with Warren Buffett's favoured advisory firm; MSD Partners combines with Byron Trott's BDT merchant bank to advise billionaires on deals
James Fontanella-Khan, Antoine Gara and Sujeet Indap - Financial Times
MSD Partners, a company set up by Michael Dell, is merging with Byron Trott's BDT merchant bank, creating an advisory and investment group that counts some of the world's highest-profile billionaires and entrepreneurs as clients. The new group aims to capitalise on the wave of new fortunes forged as entrepreneurs founded companies during the two-decade-long tech boom while also advising the heirs of older family businesses. The two companies will together manage about $50bn. Trott, a former Goldman Sachs partner known on Wall Street as the billionaires' banker, is a close adviser and co-investor of Warren Buffett, the Pritzker family behind the Hyatt hotel empire and the descendants of Walmart founder Sam Walton.
/jlne.ws/3Snejgn
Elke Wenzler: Navigating the turbulent FX markets; Elke Wenzler, head of trading at MEAG, sits down with Annabel Smith to discuss the impact of Russian sanctions on the desk, the liquidity landscape for FX and what's next for automation and technology.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
How did the Russian sanctions impact your desk?
The sanctions imposed on Russia have cut off many Russian banks from the SWIFT global payments system and the global payments architecture and have limited the room for manoeuvres for all Russia-related market participants. For us at the trading desk, the most important thing was to always act in accordance with all sanctions. First, we had to have an overview of all our sanctions-related touch points in the back office and settlement processes in order to work off all transactions even under high pressure in a very restrictive environment.
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Leaders in Trading 2022: Meet the nominees for.... Outstanding Innovation in Fixed Income; Learn more about the four firms nominated for the Editors' Choice Outstanding Innovation in Fixed Income award: AxeTrading, BondCliQ, Glimpse Markets and Wave Labs.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Next up to be introduced in our Editors' Choice awards nominees series are the four firms shortlisted for the Outstanding Innovation in Fixed Income award. As another new category for this year's Leaders in Trading awards ceremony, this award is designed to highlight the extraordinary strides being taken in technology, operations and execution within fixed income. Up for this year's award are AxeTrading, BondCliQ, Glimpse Markets and Wave Labs. Let's see what they've been up to...
/jlne.ws/3CR4Fg3
Regulators Crack Down on Financial Institutions for Usage of Unauthorised Communication Channels by Employees
Robert Grosvenor, Matthew Negus and Noorita Karnik - Alvarez and Marsal
A number of major American and European-headquartered banks have set aside a combined amount of over $2 billion to cover anticipated fines for the use of unauthorised messaging apps to exchange confidential communications amongst employees. Regulatory authorities have been investigating and are now clamping down on the use of communication channels used by bankers and clients on messaging platforms like WhatsApp.
/jlne.ws/3zmIq0T
Crypto cases make up 20% of CFTC enforcement; Agency secured more than US$2.5 billion in monetary sanctions in fiscal 2022
James Langton - Investment Executive
More than one in five enforcement actions taken by derivatives regulator the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in fiscal 2022 involved digital assets. The agency's report detailing enforcement for its latest fiscal year (ended Sept. 30) showed that it filed 82 enforcement actions during the year, including 53 administrative cases and 29 civil actions. Those cases produced orders imposing more than US$2.5 billion in restitution, disgorgement and civil penalties.
/jlne.ws/3EWDeUZ
Crypto's $2 Trillion Wipeout Is Coming for the C-Suite; After a period of tumult that is still shaking crypto companies to the core, a wave of management turnover is now sweeping across the industry.
Michael P. Regan, Hannah Miller, and Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
The convulsions that set the cryptocurrency market tumbling earlier this year and delivered shock waves through the industry have subsided. Now comes the shakeup in the C-suite. More than two dozen high-ranking executives - from Alex Mashinsky, the charismatic and controversial co-founder of now-bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network to Brett Harrison of digital-asset exchange FTX US and Jesse Powell, the outspoken head of FTX's rival Kraken - have vacated their posts in the past two months alone.
/jlne.ws/3SgSsad
Goldman's Dina Powell McCormick Set to Be Next Robin Hood Chair
Nur Dayana Mustak - Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Dina Powell McCormick is poised to become the next chair of the Robin Hood Foundation, the poverty-fighting organization with strong ties to Wall Street. McCormick, 49, Goldman's global head of sustainability and a former Trump administration official, will be the second woman to chair the nonprofit, which has donated more than $3 billion over the last three decades. The foundation's board will vote on her nomination in February.
/jlne.ws/3StcQoU
The Fight Over Regulating Crypto's Energy Use: Crypto Irl
Tim Stenovec and Katherine Greifeld - Bloomberg
Crypto's energy consumption remains one of the most fiercely debated topics in the sector, with environmental activists arguing electricity usage should be curtailed, and miners saying that Bitcoin's benefits outweigh its costs. "There are energy standards for light fixtures. There are energy standards for appliances," Liz Moran, of advocacy group Earthjustice, said in the fourth episode of "Crypto IRL". "So that's the type of thing we need to look at for the cryptocurrency mining universe as well." The government needs "to play catch up" when it comes to regulating crypto mining, Moran added.
/jlne.ws/3DfzZ9F
Ripple Obtains Long-Sought Documents of Former SEC Official Who Declared Ethereum Not a Security
Ryan Ozawa - Decrypt
A veritable treasure trove of email messages and documents from within the Securities and Exchange Commission has been turned over to Ripple, whose founders created the XRP cryptocurrency and now find themselves as defendants in a high-profile legal battle with the regulatory agency over its assertion that XRP was illegally sold as an unregistered security.
/jlne.ws/3CRutZI
Binance.US Hires Former FBI Agent BJ Kang as Head of Investigations; New hire comes as federal agencies have launched probes into several crypto companies, including Binance.US
Vicky Ge Huang - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. arm of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has hired former FBI agent BJ Kang as its first head of investigations. In his new role, Mr. Kang will work closely with law enforcement, regulators and other crypto companies, Binance.US said. The company said it will build Binance.US' own "investigations infrastructure" to identify and mitigate crypto-related criminal activities on the platform.
/jlne.ws/3SmnfTb
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Russians withdrew $7.5 bln in Sept as they left the country - c.bank
Reuters
Russian citizens withdrew 458 billion roubles ($7.5 billion) in cash from banks in September, with the bulk of the outflow recorded in the second half of the month when increased numbers of people were leaving the country, the central bank said on Thursday. On Sept. 21, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's first wartime mobilisation since World War Two as he sought to call up 300,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of people left Russia after the Kremlin announced what it called a "partial mobilisation".
/jlne.ws/3Dfvw6R
U.S. says Iranian troops "directly engaged" in Crimea, backing Russian drone strikes
CBS News
The White House said Thursday that the U.S. has evidence that Iranian troops are "directly engaged on the ground" in Crimea supporting Russian drone attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure and civilian population. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Iran has sent a "relatively small number" of personnel to Crimea, a part of Ukraine unilaterally annexed by Russia in contravention of international law in 2014, to assist Russian troops in launching Iranian-made drones against Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3sePDfl
This Powerful BlackRock Team Has the Ear of Governments and Megabanks; The company's financial markets advisory team dispenses counsel to the Fed, the Vatican and the Ukrainian president, among others
Angel Au-Yeung - The Wall Street Journal
BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Larry Fink spoke last month with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, extending an offer to help. By videoconference, Mr. Fink told Mr. Zelensky that BlackRock stood ready to assist Ukraine in creating a reconstruction fund, according to Mr. Zelensky's office. Rebuilding a war-torn country would be the goal-along with making a profit for investors.
/jlne.ws/3TmZuvA
Elon Musk's Starlink Is at the Forefront of a Corporatized Space War in Ukraine; Earth's orbit is now the domain of companies, not just countries, and that's changing the nature of warfare.
Ashlee Vance - Bloomberg
Over the past couple of years, Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has just about doubled the total number of satellites in orbit around Earth. It now has as many functioning satellites as all other nations and companies, combined. And they're raising a lot of very important questions. SpaceX's satellites are part of its Starlink network, which beams down high-speed internet service to antennas on Earth. The company's original purpose was to connect the 3.5 billion or so people who don't have access to fiber-optic service, catering as well to those who want to watch Netflix and chill at their second home or on their yacht.
/jlne.ws/3gvovGs
Putin's Conscriptions Supercharge Russia's Brain Drain; Thousands of working professionals have escaped to neighboring countries. This is how they got out, and what their departure means for their homeland.
Willem Marx - Bloomberg
When President Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization of some 300,000 fresh soldiers for his war in Ukraine, thousands of military-age men across Russia headed for the borders, preferring exile over conscription for a fight they didn't believe in. Within days of the Sept. 21 address, prices for flights to places Russians were still free to visit had soared-if you could get a seat.
/jlne.ws/3EVOL6W
Ukraine's civilian army takes aim at Russia as Moscow steps up strikes; Tens of thousands of ordinary citizens from computer wizards to pensioners are intrinsic to Kyiv's war effort
John Paul Rathbone and Christopher Miller - Financial Times
It took less than 48 hours after Russia unleashed a massive missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine this month for the aptly named "You Have Enraged Ukrainians" crowdfund to raise almost $10mn to buy 50 kamikaze drones. "Thank you generous and noble Ukrainians," celebrity turned fundraiser Serhiy Prytula, who helped organise the campaign, wrote on social media. "We will make sure these funds are well spent on effective support of our armed forces!"
/jlne.ws/3eU1e07
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Cboe, S&P Dow Jones to develop new dispersion index
Seeking Alpha
Cboe Global Markets (BATS:CBOE) will work with S&P Dow Jones Indices, part of S&P Global (NYSE:SPG), to develop the Cboe S&P 500 Dispersion Index, a gauge that's meant to help investors better understand portfolio diversification benefits and implement dispersion trading strategies, the company said Wednesday. The index is the first concept developed by Cboe Labs, the company's new innovation arm focused on new tradable products and services.
/jlne.ws/3Slp9Di
Cboe Digital Aims to Launch Margin-Based Crypto Futures
Shanny Basar - Markets Media
Cboe Digital has applied for regulatory approval to launch margin-based futures on crypto assets, which it is hoping to introduce in 2023. In May 2022 Cboe Global Markets completed its purchase of Eris Digital Holdings (ErisX), an operator of a US-based digital asset spot market, a regulated futures exchange and a regulated clearinghouse, which is the cornerstone of the new Cboe Digital business. John Palmer, president of Cboe Digital, told Markets Media that since the acquisition closed the two teams have been building and integrating to leverage Cboe's global brand and assets, which has been a huge effort.
/jlne.ws/3scIjkf
Shanghai Futures Exchange and Shanghai International Energy Exchange release 2022 Q3 Trading Volume Statistics
Shanghai Futures Exchange - PRNewswire
Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) and its subsidiary Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) released trading volume statistics for the third quarter of 2022. Total trading volume for SHFE reached 528,014 thousand lots in the third quarter of 2022, a decrease of 5.19% compared to the prior-year period, with the average daily open interest of 9,029 thousand lots. Total trading days stood at 65.
/jlne.ws/3SkEMeq
Subject: Changes of List of Eligible SZSE Securities for Margin Trading and List of Eligible SZSE Securities for Short Selling
HKEX
With effect from 24 October 2022, 192 China Connect Securities listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange will be added to the List of Eligible SZSE Securities for Margin Trading and List of Eligible SZSE Securities for Short Selling. The aforementioned change(s) is(are) available on the "Eligible Stocks" section of the Connect Scheme webpage.
/jlne.ws/3CKiSvm
Miami International Holdings Announces Acquisition of Dorman Trading, a Full-Service FCM
MIAX
Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), owner of Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC (MIAX®), MIAX PEARL, LLC (MIAX Pearl®), MIAX Emerald, LLC (MIAX Emerald®), Minneapolis Grain Exchange, LLC (MGEXTM), and The Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSXTM), announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Dorman Trading, LLC (Dorman Trading), a full-service Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
/jlne.ws/3CTUHul
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | ADVASA Co., Ltd. to Exhibit at Money20/20 Las Vegas, the World's Largest FinTech Conference
ADVASA Co., Ltd.
ADVASA Co., Ltd. (HQ: Tokyo, CEO: Asamitsu Kosugi) will exhibit at Money20/20, the world's largest FinTech conference, in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 23-26, 2022, to accelerate its expansion into the US market, where digital payroll and instant payroll access services are rapidly growing.
/jlne.ws/3MU6rC0
Securities Commission Announces Inaugural Fintech Festival - D3 Bahamas
Business Wire
The Securities Commission of The Bahamas ("the Commission"), in partnership with the Government of The Bahamas, announced today that the country will host a global FinTech and Web3 Festival, from 24-26 January 2023, at Atlantis Hotel, Nassau, Bahamas. The in-person festival, branded as D3 Bahamas (Decentralized | Digital | Disruptive), aims to host over 3,000 industry leaders from across the Americas, Middle East, Europe and Asia.
/jlne.ws/3TEa1Cf
Fintech OppFi challenges California regulator's 'true lender' theory; The fintech latest challenge to bunk a California regulator's claim in a cross complaint filed Monday.
Rajashree Chakravarty - Banking Dive
Fintech OppFi is trying to reverse a California regulator's claim that it is involved in illegal and high-cost lending services, insisting that the claims are based on the "true lender" doctrine, which it calls "underground regulation."
/jlne.ws/3Diga1K
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | A Text Scam Called 'Pig Butchering' Cost Her More Than $1.6 Million; Scammers swindle professionals with friendship to generate fake cryptocurrency investments
Robert McMillan - The Wall Street Journal
The text message on Jane Yan's mobile phone came from a number she didn't recognize. "Are we going to the salon tonight?" It looked like the kind of mistake that can happen any day. In fact, it was part of a continuing scam that cost U.S. victims more than $429 million in losses last year, according to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's clearinghouse for consumer complaints about online crime.
/jlne.ws/3ToHVew
This sneaky kind of cybercrime rules them all
Tim Starks - The Washington Post
As ransomware steals the headlines, another kind of cybercrime is quietly making off with far, far more money - and there are signs it's on the rise, too. In "business email compromise," or BEC, criminals pose as someone a victim trusts, such as their company's CEO, sometimes by hacking them and taking over their email. The criminals send an urgent message to transfer money, which they then pilfer.
/jlne.ws/3TGVcPj
Former hacker Kevin Mitnick: Tips to protect your personal info online
Tom Huddleston Jr. - CNBC
We all want to think that we're doing enough to keep our personal and financial information safe from hackers when we go online. But nearly 300 million people were affected by 1,862 corporate data breaches last year in the U.S. alone, according to the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center. Past studies from the University of Maryland show that hackers launch attacks roughly every 39 seconds.
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The cybersecurity industry is short 3.4 million workers-that's good news for cyber wages
Sydney Lake - Fortune
The cybersecurity workforce has reached an all-time high, with an estimated 4.7 million professionals, but there's still a global shortage of 3.4 million workers in this field, according to the 2022 (ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study released Thursday. And that shortage persists, despite the addition of 464,000 more cybersecurity positions this year, the report found. In the U.S. alone, there are more than 700,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs, data from Cybersecurity Ventures shows.
/jlne.ws/3TKAlL7
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Crypto Exchange Binance.US Hires Ex-FBI Agent as First Head of Investigations
Stephen Alpher - CoinDesk
The U.S. unit of crypto exchange Binance has hired ex-FBI agent BJ Kang as its first head of investigations, according to a statement released Thursday. The news was first reported by the WSJ. Kang would work closely with law enforcement and regulators to "identify and mitigate criminal activity" related to digital assets on the company's US platform, said Binance.US. Binance.US has been increasing its regulatory staff, with headcount in up 145% in that department so far this year and more than 20% of the company's staff now working in legal, compliance and risk operations, according to the WSJ story.
/jlne.ws/3TBv2NW
Crypto interest has waned in North America and Europe in last year
David Hollerith - Yahoo! Finance
As crypto prices plunged in the last year so did growth in adoption worldwide, led by slowing transactions in North America and Europe. While Europe (20.8%) and North America (18.3%) remained the two regions with the largest shares of crypto transactions received in the second quarter, their rate of growth has cooled, a new report from crypto firm Chainalysis shows. Their shares of total transaction volume also declined from the previous two quarters.
/jlne.ws/3yUd8hx
Making Crypto Hacking Less Lucrative; Also Elon Musk is overpaying for Twitter, the SEC is busy, and YOLOing options.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
Finance rewards cleverness. Sometimes this is true in a pleasingly positive-sum way; if you can cleverly think up a new way to slice cash flows or allocate risk then you can get rich by increasing economic activity. Often, though, it is true in some straightforwardly zero-sum way: If you have a contract with a counterparty, and you cleverly ferret out a hidden provision in the contract that says that your counterparty has to give you $10 million, then you get $10 million and they lose $10 million.
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Stealthy Crypto Hedge Fund Edge Capital Raises $66.8M for DeFi Bets
Brandy Betz - CoinDesk
Crypto hedge fund Edge Capital Management, which has very little public information, has raised $66.78 million across two decentralized finance (DeFi)-focused funds, according to regulatory filings on Oct. 19 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The U.S.-based Edge DeFi Fund LP has raised about $28 million from eight investors since sales opened on Feb. 1 of this year, according to the filing. The firm plans for the offering to last for more than one year for the fund. The other Cayman Islands-based Edge DeFi Offshore Fund has sold about $38.6 million to six investors since opening for sales at the start of October 2021.
/jlne.ws/3eJCYy0
FTX Recovery Plan Could Reimburse 72% of Voyager Users' Funds
Andrew Asmakov - Decrypt
Following a successful bid to acquire the remaining assets of the bankrupt crypto broker Voyager, crypto exchange FTX.US is offering a recovery plan that would return about 72% of Voyager customer funds, according to a Bloomberg report. The deal, however, can't be completed until U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Wiles approves Voyager's bankruptcy payout plan, which reportedly may be considered in December.
/jlne.ws/3SkFGaO
The crypto dream is not dead. We hope the delusions are
Danny Rimer - Fortune
Six months into the crypto meltdown that's wiped $2 trillion off the market, people are still talking about the chances of a rebound-a "crypto spring" after yet another "winter." What's surprising is that the correction hasn't been enough to inject more realism into the discussion. What the carnage actually reveals is that most blockchain-enabled crypto businesses need to be rethought and rebuilt from top to bottom.
/jlne.ws/3gtyZ99
"Ethereum Killers" Could Take Decades to Die Away: Paul Brody
CoinDesk
Ernst & Young Principal Paul Brody discusses the outlook for Ethereum's challengers and DeFi at large amid an increasing ecosystem dominance of the Ethereum blockchain. "Even after the winner is clearly visible, the losers take a long time to die away ... it could go on for decades," Brody said.
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How it Started... How it's Going: 100 Episodes of 'Bloomberg Crypto'; A look at what the last 100 episodes have shown listeners about this ever-volatile asset class.
Victoria Vergolina - Bloomberg
This is episode 100 of the Bloomberg Crypto podcast. When we launched, in June, Bitcoin was trading around $30,000. Celsius and Three Arrows Capital hadn't yet filed for bankruptcy. People knew where Do Kwon was. Celebrities cared about NFTs. It was a different time.
/jlne.ws/3ghfAbi
Stablecoins Could 'Fundamentally Alter' Banking System, Says US FDIC Chief
Jesse Hamilton - CoinDesk
Stablecoins could have such a profound effect on the established banking system that U.S. regulators need to require the digital tokens fit in without disrupting it, said Martin Gruenberg, the acting chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), at a Brookings Institution event on Thursday. Gruenberg's agency is among the U.S. banking watchdogs that will have significant influence over how stablecoins are regulated. The FDIC has also had to weigh in with recent sanctions against firms - such as FTX US - that have made claims misrepresenting how FDIC deposit insurance backstops their operations.
/jlne.ws/3TJLb45
Crypto Exchange Coinbase Waives Fees for Converting Between USDC and Fiat, Eyeing Global Audience
Elizabeth Napolitano - CoinDesk
Publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) will waive commission fees for USD coin (USDC) sales and purchases made in any fiat currency in a push to promote the wider global adoption of its stablecoin, it said in a blog post Thursday. The company's policy change is effective immediately.
/jlne.ws/3DgBvIR
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Peter Thiel's venture capital-style political strategy yields low returns; Tech investor's quest to become Republican party political kingmaker has faltered as US midterm elections loom
Courtney Weaver and Richard Waters - Financial Times
Peter Thiel entered the 2022 midterm season with a bang, writing two $10mn cheques to a pair of handpicked Senate candidates and positioning himself as the Republican party's next political kingmaker.
/jlne.ws/3CPlYON
Student-Loan Forgiveness Program Clears Hurdle as Judge Rejects GOP Bid to Block It; Republican officials from six states don't have legal standing to mount a challenge to the debt cancellation, judge rules
Jacob Gershman - The Wall Street Journal
A federal judge in Missouri denied a request by a group of Republican state leaders to block the Biden administration's student-loan forgiveness program, a boost for the White House as it plans to begin canceling debt in the coming days. Thursday's ruling, by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey of St. Louis, said GOP officials representing six states didn't have standing to challenge the loan forgiveness because they couldn't show they had been harmed by the Biden program.
/jlne.ws/3DpPJHz
CFPB Funding Is Ruled Unconstitutional; The Fifth Circuit says the scheme violates the separation of powers.
The Wall Street Journal
The originalist legal revolution continues to pay dividends, and the latest evidence is a bombshell appellate ruling on Wednesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) funding scheme is unconstitutional. Congress's attempt to end-run political accountability for financial regulators has suffered a direct hit.
/jlne.ws/3sbbKTY
Senators Push CFTC to Probe Commodity Speculators' Impact on Inflation
Ryan Dezember - The Wall Street Journal
How much has chaotic commodity-futures trading contributed to inflation? Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker have asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to find out. Citing wild swings in prices for raw materials like wheat and natural gas and record profits among commodity traders, the Democratic senators requested that regulators "conduct and publish an independent study of the extent to which rising commodity prices and market volatility have been driven by excessive speculation."
/jlne.ws/3schbSv
U.S. jury finds Credit Suisse did not rig forex market
Jody Godoy - Reuters
A U.S. jury found on Thursday that Credit Suisse Group AG did not conspire with the world's largest banks to rig prices in the foreign exchange market between 2007 and 2013, handing the bank a win as it works to restructure and put a string of scandals behind it. The case stems from the forex rigging scandal, which led to international regulatory probes resulting in more than $10 billion in fines for several banks. A Credit Suisse spokesperson said the bank is "extremely pleased that the jury agreed with us that plaintiffs' case had no merit."
/jlne.ws/3Dg6RiA
FDIC chief warns crypto could undermine community banks
Chris Matthews - MarketWatch
The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is the latest Biden administration regulator to warn of the potentially destructive impact of cryptocurrencies on the U.S. economy. Acting FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said Thursday he was particularly concerned about the impact of so-called "payment stablecoins" on the business models of traditional banks. Stablecoins, like USD Coin and Tether are a type of cryptocurrency that aims to maintain a stable value relative to the dollar. They are predominately used by crypto investors as a stable store of value, but many crypto entrepreneurs imagine stablecoins could become popular means of payment for traditional goods and services over the internet.
/jlne.ws/3yZIymv
Missouri Attorney General Leads 19 State Coalition in Launching Investigation into Six Major Banks Over ESG Investing
Eric Schmitt - Missouri Attorney General
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced today that his office and 18 other attorneys general have served six major American banks with civil investigative demands, which act as a subpoena, asking for documents relating to the companies' involvement with the United Nations' (UN) Net-Zero Banking Alliance. The banks under investigation include Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. NZBA-member banks must set emissions reduction targets in their lending and investment portfolios to reach net zero by 2050. Missouri, Arizona, Kentucky, and Texas are leadership states on this investigation.
/jlne.ws/3F0ZfSA
Liz Truss Resigns as U.K. Prime Minister After Tax Plan Caused Market Turmoil; Resignation after six weeks is set to make Truss the shortest-serving prime minister in British history
Max Colchester - The Wall Street Journal
U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss said Thursday that she would resign, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history after a tumultuous six weeks that saw her try to push through a risky tax-cut plan, only to be forced by financial markets into a humiliating retreat that caused her political authority to disintegrate.
/jlne.ws/3ePS596
Working for a Positive Outcome on Euro Clearing
International Swaps and Derivatives Association
The European Commission (EC) is determined to increase the allure of clearing in the EU as it looks to reduce what it sees as an over-reliance on systemically important third-country central counterparties (CCPs). Making EU clearing more attractive is a principle we support, but it will require a multi-faceted strategy to achieve this - one we've set out in a new whitepaper published earlier this week.
/jlne.ws/3F48jWH
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Two US Men Sentenced for Stealing Crypto Using 'SIM Swapping'
Amitoj Singh - CoinDesk
Two men from Massachusetts have been sentenced to serve time in prison for an "extensive scheme to take over victims' social media accounts and steal their cryptocurrency using techniques such as SIM swapping," according to a press release by the U.S. Justice Department. Eric Meiggs, 24, has been sentenced to two years and one day in prison and Declan Harrington, 22, has been sentenced to two years and seven days in prison. The FBI had arrested Meiggs and Harrington in 2019. Meiggs pleaded guilty to each of the seven counts charging him with conspiracy, wire fraud, computer fraud and abuse as well as aggravated identity theft in 2021.
/jlne.ws/3sgiZdg
Credit Suisse Set to Settle Criminal Tax Case in France
Gaspard Sebag - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG will aim to settle a tax fraud and money laundering case in France on Monday that saw coordinated raids in five countries from Australia to the UK. The Swiss lender is in the final stretch of negotiations with prosecutors at the Parquet National Financier to reach a settlement that would include a fine but no admission of guilt, according to people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/3VQryJw
CFTC Launches New Commitments of Traders Reports
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today launched new features for the widely popular Commitments of Traders (COT) reports. These new features offer easy to locate historical data as part of a modernization initiative intended to improve data access. The traditional weekly report will still be available on the CFTC's website. The new environment gives users the flexibility to access the COT reports in the traditional format they are familiar with or utilize new enhanced capabilities.
/jlne.ws/3yYx6Yt
CFTC Releases Annual Enforcement Results
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today released the agency's enforcement results for Fiscal Year 2022 that demonstrates its continued commitment to protecting customers and ensuring market integrity. In FY 2022, the CFTC obtained orders imposing over $2.5 billion in restitution, disgorgement and civil monetary penalties either through settlement or litigation. In the agency's efforts to prevent fraud, manipulation, reporting, supervision and misconduct related to digital assets, the CFTC filed 82 enforcement actions and continued to devote significant resources to litigating complex cases and achieved several litigation successes during the fiscal year.
/jlne.ws/3MPp21O
CFTC Orders Wisconsin Broker to Pay Over $750,000 for Improper Trade Allocation and Additional Violations
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued an order simultaneously filing and settling charges against Prime Agricultural Investors, Inc. (Prime), an introducing broker based in Wisconsin, and Chad Henderson, a Principal and Associated Person of Prime, for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations relating to improper allocation of customer trades.
/jlne.ws/3TjzS2I
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission levied $2.5 bln in fines last year
Chris Prentice - Reuters
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday said it had imposed over $2.5 billion in restitution, penalties and ill-gotten gains during the fiscal year ending September 30. The CFTC filed 82 enforcement actions in fiscal 2021, with fraud cases representing the largest number of actions, the agency's data showed. More than 20% of the year's cases related to digital assets, the CFTC said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/3SlpGVO
Remarks at the APABA-DC Awards and Installation Reception
Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
Good evening and thank you for the invitation to be here. Before I begin, I must remind you that my remarks reflect solely my individual views as a Commissioner and do not necessarily reflect the views of the full Commission or my fellow Commissioners.
Congratulations to Yifang Zhao as she starts her service as the incoming President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area (APABA), and to outgoing president Ethel Hong Badawi for successfully leading the organization during the past year.
/jlne.ws/3yZzZZ9
Ripple lawyer says 'worth the fight' as SEC hands over Hinman files in court case
Danny Park - Forkast
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has handed over internal documents to Ripple Labs Inc. containing comments by former SEC Corporation Finance Division director William Hinman on cryptocurrencies, Ripple's general counsel Stuart Alderoty said on his verified Twitter handle on Friday.
/jlne.ws/3TkIdDd
FCA publishes Decision Notices for Barclays plc and Barclays Bank plc (together "Barclays")
FCA
Barclays have referred their Decision Notices to the Upper Tribunal. Any findings in the Notices are therefore provisional and reflect the FCA's belief as to what occurred and how it considers the firms' behaviour should be characterised.
/jlne.ws/3eSiwuK
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Accurate Hemp Data Requires Collaboration
Rebecca Schweitzer - Lancaster Farming
The hemp industry has been waxing and waning for the last several years, gaining traction in some states and areas only to lose it in others. One of its more recent milestones is USDA putting out its first hemp report. While this report is a strong start to the collection of data for the hemp industry, there are still many holes that need to be filled to keep hemp farming moving forward, calling for collaboration. In February, the USDA released its first hemp report, which includes data on prices, acres and yields. The majority of the report's data come from surveys sent to farmers, according to Joshua Bates, USDA's hemp, soybean and oat statistician.
/jlne.ws/3DdXboO
The U.K. Market Meltdown Could Be Headed Your Way; The standard explanation for Truss's bad few weeks doesn't hold up. The real reason is far scarier.
Joseph C. Sternberg - The Wall Street Journal
As fun as it might be for outsiders to gawk at the political chaos engulfing the U.K., Prime Minister Liz Truss's resignation Thursday is a sideshow. The bigger problem is that recent events in Britain are an alarming vision of a fate that potentially awaits all of us in developed economies. The conventional view of Ms. Truss's rise and unfortunate fall holds that markets took fright after then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Sept. 23 announced a major package of tax cuts and energy subsidies.
/jlne.ws/3MRsPLX
Elon Musk Says He's 'Obviously Overpaying' for Twitter
Kurt Wagner and Sean O'Kane - Bloomberg
Elon Musk said he and other investors are "obviously overpaying" for Twitter Inc. Tesla Inc.'s chief executive officer said he is "excited about the Twitter situation," describing the social media company as an asset that has "sort of languished for a long time" but has "incredible potential." The company's long-term potential is an "order of magnitude greater than its current value," Musk's said on Tesla's quarterly earnings call Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3yUfz3F
Ken Griffin Committed Millions to Funding Elon Musk's Twitter Deal
Brian Chappatta - Bloomberg
Billionaire Ken Griffin has committed to back Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter, though the amount he pledged was less than $20 million. The backing from Griffin, who has an estimated net worth of $29.2 billion, hadn't been disclosed publicly by Musk. Twitter had described the Citadel founder as an "actual or potential" co-investor in the equity financing for the deal.
/jlne.ws/3TDs7UN
Treasuries Tumble in Longest Slump Since 1984 on Hawkish Fed; US 10-year yields climb for 12th week, matching record; Traders up peak rate bets to 5% on Fed Harker's hawkish words
Garfield Clinton Reynolds - Bloomberg
US Treasuries have entered the longest sustained slump in 38 years, as policy makers signal their determination to keep raising rates until they are sure inflation is under control. The yield on benchmark 10-year notes jumped 23 basis points this week to 4.26% on Friday, heading for a 12-week streak of increases that would match the duration of the 1984 episode when then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was carrying out a series of rapid interest rate hikes.
/jlne.ws/3F1nSyr
Global Bond Yields Break New Milestones as Rate-Hike Bets Mount; US 10-yr rate hits level unseen since financial crisis depths; Traders bet on Fed rate peaking at 5% after Harker comments
Garfield Clinton Reynolds - Bloomberg
US Treasuries tumbled Friday, driving benchmark yields to the highest since 2007, as policy makers signaled their determination to keep raising rates until they are sure inflation is under control. The yield on US 10-year notes jumped as much as six basis points to 4.29%. That spilled over across global markets, with German bonds slumping to take equivalent yields above 2.5% for the first time since 2011.
/jlne.ws/3VFTWxP
Single-stock ETFs struggle to get past distributors; Industry executives say the inverse and leveraged products are poorly understood
Nicole Jao - Financial Times
Though shops have been pumping out single-stock ETFs since the first products got the regulatory stamp of approval this summer, they still have to overcome at least one hurdle, industry executives say: getting their products into the hands of investors. Two dozen single-stock ETFs have debuted since July, according to data from FactSet Research.
/jlne.ws/3CTZkEK
Investors Jump Into Risky ETFs to Supersize Bets Amid Market Turmoil; As volatilty roils bonds and stocks, some investors turn to funds that seek to boost daily returns by up to three times
Eric Wallerstein - The Wall Street Journal
Investors are plowing record amounts of cash into risky funds that turbocharge investment bets during a market rout that is roiling stocks and bonds. Nearly $25 billion has flowed into leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds this year, according to Morningstar Direct. This is already above 2008's record haul of $17 billion.
/jlne.ws/3CQxsBG
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | UBS Analyst Says 'Astonishing Amount of Money' Aiding ESG Agenda; IRA 'transcends politics,' UBS global ESG research head says; GOP has been enacting laws to ban ESG investing strategies
Lisa Pham - Bloomberg News
As the GOP steps up its attacks on ESG, the smart money has kept its eye on changes in legislation that look set to rewrite the US investment landscape. The global head of ESG research at UBS Investment Bank, Vicki Kalb, said the Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in August has the potential to rise above the partisanship gripping US politics and transform the flow of money.
/jlne.ws/3TkszYA
Big Oil Moves Beyond Wind and Solar With Green-Gas Bet; 'Green molecules' can play a role in hard-to-decarbonize corners of the global economy, and further such investments are likely.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
In the past few years, European oil majors BP Plc, Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE have touted their green credentials by investing billions of dollars in wind, solar and electric-vehicle charging. The mantra is: the green-energy future is about electrons, not hydrocarbons. Electrons remain key for Europe's Big Oil. But molecules are making a comeback - in greener form. As Alastair Syme at Citigroup Inc. put it, the "renewable pivot" is "no longer focused on renewable electricity."
/jlne.ws/3eMwy0Q
Drilling 12 Miles Down to Tap Geothermal Energy; Quaise Energy, a Boston company, is using tech from nuclear fusion experiments to reach new depths.
Mark Bergen - Bloomberg
Most geothermal power today comes from natural geysers or drilling operations that plunge a few miles down to harness heat from buried rock. Quaise Energy, a startup based in Boston, is taking a third approach: digging deeper-and using more heat-than any company has before. To do so, it's refashioning a millimeter-wave drilling technique from nuclear fusion experiments.
/jlne.ws/3CPFZol
Shareholder group wants Tesla to link Musk's pay to ESG metrics
Ross Kerber - Reuters
Retail activist shareholder platform Tulipshare called on Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) to tie its executive pay to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and said it expects to file a shareholder resolution on the matter for the electric carmaker's annual meeting next year. Antoine Argouges, chief executive of Britain-based Tulipshare, said a decision by S&P Dow Jones Indices last spring to oust Tesla from a widely followed ESG index showed the company faces reputational and legal risks that investors will not tolerate.
/jlne.ws/3DifqJQ
An ESG pickle
Jordan Wolman - Politico
Sustainability may be on the chopping block as a recession looms - even if it helps businesses' bottom lines. Reconsidering environmental, social and governance efforts is the top step U.S. companies are taking to plan for recession, according to a new KPMG poll. One-third of the 400 U.S. CEOs surveyed this summer said they had already paused or reconsidered ESG plans in preparation for a downturn, and nearly 60 percent said they plan to pause or reconsider their companies' efforts in the next six months. Half of the 925 CEOs surveyed from around the world said they too would pause or reconsider sustainability initiatives in the next six months.
/jlne.ws/3eRbtCA
Tax As A Component of ESG
Carrie Brandon Elliott - Forbes
In 2005 a group of financial institutions, consultants, governments, regulators, and analysts met in Zurich to examine the effect of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations on long-term investments. The group concluded that long-term value is created by companies that embed ESG concepts into their strategies.
/jlne.ws/3F1MNCa
Deutsche Bank Pledges to Cut Emissions From Loans to Oil and Gas; In the oil and gas sector, the bank plans a 23% reduction in financed emissions by 2030 and a 90% decrease by 2050.
Alastair Marsh and Greg Ritchie - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG has given its clearest indication yet of how it plans to deliver on the commitment it made last year to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. Germany's biggest bank said in a statement Friday that it will "significantly" reduce its so-called Scope 3 emissions, which are also known as financed emissions, by 2030 and announced a set of emissions reductions targets for its 250 billion-euro ($244 billion) corporate loan book. The bank said it "aims to support a progressive and orderly phasing out of fossil-fuel usage, while incentivizing the financing of lower carbon-intensity technologies and clients with credible transition plans."
/jlne.ws/3TmFysG
Climate change: possible macroeconomic implications
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin 2022 Q4
Climate change - and the response of governments at home and abroad to it - will affect the macroeconomy in a number of ways, both over shorter horizons and the longer term. Since it influences key economic variables such as output and inflation, climate could change matter for monetary policy makers such as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Monetary policy clearly cannot solve climate change, but climate change may have macroeconomic implications that could be relevant for monetary policy makers. This article explores the macroeconomic effects of physical impacts from climate change (such as extreme weather) and the transition to a net-zero economy (such as through less carbon intensive investment), with a particular focus on the UK economy. https://jlne.ws/3Tke9re
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | 'Fragile' Treasury market is at risk of 'large scale forced selling' or surprise that leads to breakdown, BofA says
Vivien Lou Chen - MarketWatch
The world's deepest and most liquid fixed-income market is in big, big trouble. For months, traders, academics, and other analysts have fretted that the $23.7 trillion Treasurys market might be the source of the next financial crisis. Then last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged concerns about a potential breakdown in the trading of government debt and expressed worry about "a loss of adequate liquidity in the market." Now, strategists at BofA Securities have identified a list of reasons why U.S. government bonds are exposed to the risk of "large scale forced selling or an external surprise" at a time when the bond market is in need of a reliable group of big buyers.
/jlne.ws/3SpLxeW
Credit Suisse Scores a Win in FX Rigging Trial Others Settled
Bob Van Voris - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG won a class-action trial over alleged price-fixing in the foreign-exchange market, vindicating its decision to fight rather than settle a lawsuit that originally threatened it with as much as $19 billion in potential damages. Jurors in New York on Thursday returned a verdict for Credit Suisse, which denied colluding with other banking giants to fix the bid-ask spreads for currency trades and profit at the expense of customers. The verdict, if not successfully appealed, would resolve the biggest remaining case against Credit Suisse over its foreign exchange trading.
/jlne.ws/3CVdhm9
JPMorgan's Dimon to Discuss Bank Tax in Call With UK Chancellor; Jamie Dimon due to speak to Jeremy Hunt next week on economy; The executive traditionally holds calls with UK chancellors
Katherine Griffiths - Bloomberg
Jamie Dimon, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., will discuss bank taxes and the UK's plans to boost the finance sector's competitiveness in a telephone call next week with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt. The call comes after mounting concerns among banks that the Treasury may be planning to impose taxes on banks that could reach more than 30% as part of efforts by the UK government to fill its funding black hole. https://jlne.ws/3eJDBrm
Credit Suisse Was a Reverse Meme Stock; Also Elon Musk's plans for Twitter bots, Engine No. 1, green hushing and Binance.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
One truly new fact that I have learned about financial markets in the last two years is that random silly enthusiasm from retail investors on social media can save a big company from bankruptcy. You have a somewhat nostalgic consumer-oriented company, it falls on hard times, it has too much debt, things look grim, short sellers are circling, and then some people on Reddit are like "hey let's have some fun and stick it to the short sellers," it becomes a meme, the stock rallies, the company raises money at the new high stock price, it pays off its debts, it expands into non-fungible tokens, the retail investors save the day. It is still a little early to write an ending to this story. "
/jlne.ws/3CUkVgf
Credit Suisse Weighs Convertible Bond to Help Pay for Revamp; Swiss bank considering options beyond straight rights issue; Bank issued convertible after Archegos to shore up capital
Eyk Henning, Dinesh Nair, Abhinav Ramnarayan, and Jan-Henrik Foerster - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG is considering the issuance of convertible bonds or preferred shares among options to help pay for its overhaul and strengthen its balance sheet, people familiar with the matter said. A convertible bond would allow the bank to potentially limit the sale of shares at depressed current prices after the stock lost about half its value this year. The Swiss firm used mandatory convertible notes to raise about $2 billion to mend its balance sheet after the collapse of Archegos Capital Management in 2021.
/jlne.ws/3F1mrjn
Qontigo expands partnership with Goldman Sachs to offer Axioma portfolio construction and risk analytics solutions through Goldman Sachs Financial Cloud for Data and Marquee | Press Releases
Press Releases - Qontigo
Qontigo, a leading provider of innovative risk, analytics, and index solutions, today announced an expanded collaboration with Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), a leading global investment banking, securities, and investment management firm. Qontigo will now offer the Axioma Portfolio OptimizerTM and Axioma Equity Factor Risk Models through Goldman Sachs Financial Cloud for Data, a suite of modular data management and analytics solutions, as well as Goldman Sachs Marquee, the firm's digital platform that delivers market-leading data, analytics, market insights and trading solutions to institutional investors.
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Barclays challenges £50mn fine over Qatari fundraising during 2008 crisis; Alleged failure to disclose payments was 'reckless', says UK financial watchdog
Emma Dunkley, Laura Noonan and Caroline Binham - Financial Times
Barclays is challenging a £50mn fine from UK regulators over the bank's allegedly "reckless" failure "to disclose certain arrangements" about controversial Qatari fundraising 14 years ago, during the height of the financial crisis. Mark Steward, head of enforcement at the Financial Conduct Authority, said on Friday Barclays had failed to make appropriate disclosures about paying "hundreds of millions of pounds in fees to certain Qatari investors so that they would contribute new capital".
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Deutsche Bank lays off bankers as dealmaking dries up: sources
Lydia Moynihan - NY Post
Deutsche Bank axed more than 20 junior bankers as well as a handful of senior employees this week as dealmaking dries up ahead of a potential downturn, The Post has learned. The Tuesday layoffs of workers based in New York were concentrated in the German lender's advisory group, which advises companies about prospective mergers and acquisitions, and origination, which offers loans particularly for mortgages, sources told The Post.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Toxic Workplaces Are Bad for Mental and Physical Health, Surgeon General Says; A mentally healthy workplace includes growth opportunities, work-life balance and community, according to America's doctor
Lindsay Ellis - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. surgeon general is telling Americans for the first time that disrespectful or cutthroat workplaces could be hazardous to their health. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's office-which is more often associated with warnings about nicotine, Zika and the Covid-19 pandemic-issued a guidance Thursday outlining how long hours, limited autonomy and low wages can affect workers' health and organizational performance. Chronic stress disrupts sleep, increases vulnerability to infection and has been linked to conditions ranging from heart disease to depression, the document said, citing research from the American Psychological Association and a Stanford University psychologist.
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Rural Thailand Faces Higher Poverty Risks on Covid, World Bank Says
Suttinee Yuvejwattana - Bloomberg
The impact of Covid-19 outbreak will have a long-lasting impact on rural Thailand, where 79% of the nation's poor live, according to the World Bank. While Thailand made progress in reducing poverty from 58% in 1990 to 6.8% in 2020, the rate is now increasing mirroring a slowing economy, stagnating farm and business incomes and the Covid-19 crisis, the multilateral lender said in its report on Rural Income Diagnostic on Friday.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Alternative assets remain key driver of Singapore asset management industry in 2021: MAS
Michelle Zhue - The Business Times
THE alternatives sector continued to serve as a key driver of Singapore's assets under management (AUM) growth, propelling the city state to outpace the global asset management industry for 2021. According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) annual survey of asset management released on Friday (Oct 21), alternative AUM expanded 30 per cent year on year to reach US$0.9 trillion or S$1.23 trillion for all of 2021.
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Hong Kong Liquidity Has Room to Drop Further Amid FX Defense; Aggregate balance near HK$100 billion after HKMA intervention; Liquidity won't bottom out soon if Fed keeps hiking: DBS Bank
Chester Yung - Bloomberg
Hong Kong's interbank liquidity could nearly halve from around HK$100 billion currently before borrowing costs reach high enough to stem the local dollar's losses. That's according to analysts from DBS Bank Ltd., Mizuho Bank Ltd. and Bloomberg Intelligence. The aggregate balance, a gauge of interbank liquidity, had fallen to HK$54 billion in 2019 during the Federal Reserve's previous rate hike cycle before the Hong Kong dollar moved away from the weak end of its allowed trading band.
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Apollo Targets Asia's Rich From Singapore in Retail Ramp Up; Firm focusing on private banks, advisers to build footprint; Apollo also looking to expand in Asia's private-debt sector
Preeti Singh - Bloomberg
Apollo Global Management Inc. said a "big portion" of the $50 billion it targets to raise from retail investors over the next five years will come from Asia's growing rich, as the alternative asset manager expands beyond its institutional client base.
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Germany Risks Wasting Billions on LNG Projects, Report Says
John Ainger - Bloomberg
Germany is at risk of wasting billions of euros on boosting liquefied natural gas imports instead of moving toward sustainable alternatives like energy efficiency, according to a new report. The country faces about 200 billion euros ($196 billion) of additional costs for gas imports by the end of the decade, causing a doubling of bills for consumers, the climate think tank E3G said. By comparison, improving buildings' energy use can save more gas than that provided by new LNG terminals, it said.
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Hungary will not agree to EU gas price cap, will need exemption
Jan Strupczewski - Reuters
Hungary will not agree to an EU price cap on imported gas because it would end Russian deliveries, a senior aide to Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, adding that if the EU decides on a cap it would have to exempt Hungary, as it did for oil.
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A price cap on natural gas could swipe supplies away from energy-strapped Europe, German chancellor warns
Jennifer Sor - Business Insider
The European Union's proposal to cap natural gas prices could swipe supplies away from energy-strapped Europe this winter, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned on Thursday in opposition to the measure. The EU has been scrambling to lower the pain of soaring energy costs on consumers and businesses, particularly as Europe heads into winter, when increased demand and tighter supply is expected to slam the continent with sky-high prices.
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A cooler than normal winter is forecast for a dozen states amid rising energy costs
Allison Chinchar and Jennifer Gray - CNN
A dozen states could see cooler than normal temperatures this winter, according to NOAA's outlook released Thursday morning. That could mean an increase in energy consumption across the northern tier of the US - amid rising energy costs. "It takes energy to heat your house," Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University who was not affiliated with NOAA's outlook, told CNN. "So, the colder it is, the more energy we need for heating. And that's bad news in a world where energy is constrained by things like the war in Ukraine."
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New England May Face a Gas Shortage This Winter
Naureen S. Malik and Josh Saul - Bloomberg
New England is at risk of natural gas shortages this winter amid surging global demand that's driving up US exports, according to the top federal energy regulator. Fuel availability "is a primary concern" in the six New England states, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Thursday in its annual winter assessment. Strong demand for liquefied natural gas is keeping prices high, and the region also faces limited pipeline capacity.
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