| March 21, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The FIA published its February 2025 volume and open interest report showing that exchange-traded derivatives volume fell to 7.94 billion contracts in February 2025, the lowest since October 2022. This represents a 23% monthly decline and 51.7% year-over-year drop. Options trading, which reached 5.64 billion contracts, showed a significant 60% decrease from February 2024, with most activity concentrated in Asia-Pacific. In contrast, futures trading grew 17.5% year-over-year to 2.3 billion contracts.
Year-to-date volume for the first two months of 2025 totaled 18.26 billion contracts, down 44.8% from the same period in 2024, primarily due to decreased equity contract trading. Options volume fell 52.5% to 13.74 billion contracts, while futures volume increased 9.1% to 4.51 billion contracts. Total open interest stood at 1.39 billion contracts at February's end, up 4.5% month-over-month but down 0.8% year-over-year.
The SEC announced the agenda and panelists for the public roundtable it will host on artificial intelligence in the financial industry on March 27 at its Washington, D.C. headquarters, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. The event, also available via live webcast on SEC.gov, will explore how AI can enhance regulatory efficiency, protect investors, and support market integrity. Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda encouraged the public to contribute data and insights on AI's potential benefits. In-person attendees must register, while online viewing requires no registration. Doors open at 8:00 a.m.
London Heathrow Airport faced its worst disruption in decades after a fire at a nearby National Grid electrical substation in Hayes cut power to the entire hub, forcing a full-day shutdown on Friday, March 21. More than 1,300 flights were canceled or rerouted, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers and triggering ripple effects likely to last for days, Bloomberg reported. The UK's counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation, though there's currently no sign of foul play. Airlines hit hardest include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, and Emirates, with some rerouting flights as far as Frankfurt. Heathrow warned travelers not to come to the airport, citing uncertainty over power restoration.
The outage raises serious concerns about Heathrow's infrastructure resilience, as the fire also disabled its backup power systems. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband called the failure "catastrophic." Major carriers scrambled to help stranded travelers, with Ryanair and EasyJet adding capacity and Eurostar offering additional rail services. As Heathrow pushes for a third runway, the incident may spark scrutiny over its readiness to handle national infrastructure crises.
Speaking of travel, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Denmark have issued updated travel advisories for the United States in response to sweeping immigration enforcement and policy shifts under President Donald Trump's second term. The UK Foreign Office warns British travelers of the risk of arrest or detention if they fail to fully comply with U.S. entry requirements, emphasizing strict enforcement at the border.
Germany updated its advisory after several of its citizens were detained despite having valid visas or entry waivers, cautioning that entry is not guaranteed. Meanwhile, Denmark revised its guidance specifically for transgender travelers, following a wave of executive orders by Trump that roll back protections for transgender and nonbinary individuals, including a directive recognizing only male and female sexes under federal law. The coordinated updates reflect growing international concern over the U.S.'s tightened border policies and shifting human rights stance.
Acuiti, in partnership with ION, released "The Next Four Years: The Outlook for FCMs Under the Second Trump Administration," analyzing how global Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) are preparing for a shifting landscape under the new U.S. leadership. Drawing insights from senior executives at leading FCMs across the derivatives market, the report highlights key regulatory, geopolitical, and technological trends expected to shape the industry.
Geopolitical tensions and potential U.S. restrictions on cross-border clearing are creating uncertainty, particularly around markets like China and India, where client trading interest is growing. Meanwhile, firms are prioritizing technology investment, with a strong focus on automation, front-to-back integration, and post-trade processing to boost efficiency and scalability. The report also notes a significant shift in sentiment toward digital assets, with FCMs preparing to adopt a more aggressive stance as regulatory clarity emerges and institutional demand increases. You can download the report HERE.
The FIA welcomed AMD as a new member of the association in a LinkedIn post. AMD is a provider of high-performance technology headquartered in California with locations worldwide. You can read AMD's FIA member profile HERE.
FOW's Trading Amsterdam 2025 is coming up on April 3, 2025.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: LME fine highlights importance of 'escalation to management', SEC to launch new crypto regime with first roundtable, Business sentiment continues to rise on volatility - SGX, Crypto market Kraken pays $1.5bn for retail broker Ninja Trader, Clearing body appoints new chair as CME's Betsill steps down and ANALYSIS: Cboe sees increasing interest in European derivatives.
Ellen Greene will be wearing a new hat at the Options Industry Conference this year. Gone is the SIFMA chapeau and on is the Dutch cap of IMC Trading where she is now the head of business development and market structure strategy. Greene has had two long career runs, almost twelve years at SIFMA and almost thirteen and a half years at Nasdaq. She was also at the American Stock Exchange for nearly five years.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Using a ZEBRA Strategy on $USO for Long Exposure from tastylive.
- CME Group to Launch BrokerTec U.S. Treasury Central Limit Order Book in Chicago to Streamline Trading Between Cash and Futures Markets from CME Group.
- DTCC's NSCC to Increase Clearing Hours to Support Extended Trading from Traders Magazine. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 Symphony CEO Levy Outlines Growth Strategy, Key Partnerships at FIA Boca50 JohnLothianNews.com BOCA RATON, Fla. (JLN) - Symphony, a secure communication platform for the financial industry, is focusing on strategic partnerships and global expansion while addressing compliance challenges in financial communications, according to CEO Brad Levy in an interview with John Lothian News at the FIA Boca50 conference in March. Symphony, which began as a consortium around 2014, aims to solve communication challenges in the financial sector, particularly as the industry grapples with non-compliant messaging channels. Watch the video »
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Pritzker likens Trump's tenure to the Great Chicago Fire
Mark Walsh - Crain's Chicago Business
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, during an appearance today at a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C., continued his sharp criticism of President Donald Trump by comparing his first two months in office to the Great Chicago Fire. "Chicago rose from the ashes to demonstrate what American ingenuity looks like," the Democratic governor said of the 1871 disaster. "It seems wherever we look right now, there is fire. There are embers. Trump and his bootlickers designed it that way. It should scare us, but it should not deter us, so let it instead be a call to action to all of us together (that) we can build something bigger and better."
/jlne.ws/4iLLBU5
***** JB Pritzker is emerging as one of the most outspoken and direct opposing voices to Donald Trump and his administration.~JJL
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Trump Organization sued over alleged malfeasance at Chicago tower
Rachel Herzog - Crain's Chicago Business
A former member of the condo-hotel board at Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is accusing the Trump Organization of misallocating funds and conspiring to operate the hotel for its own benefit at the expense of investors. A Wisconsin man who owns a dozen of the tower's hotel rooms and four of its residential condominiums filed a federal lawsuit March 18 against the Trump Organization and the board's president alleging racketeering and fraud, according to court records. His lawsuit also says he was arrested and walked out in handcuffs for using the tower's spa after raising his concerns.
/jlne.ws/4kUu79U
***** Note to the Trump Organization: you don't want to mess with a man from Wisconsin. They don't call it the Badger State for nothing.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top clicked story Thursday was Wall Street execs tell Trump: Take your commerce secretary off TV, from The Telegraph, about Howard Lutnick. Second was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hawks Tesla stock on TV: 'It'll never be this cheap again', from Business Insider. Third was Crypto Exchange Kraken Strikes $1.5 Billion Deal for Futures Trading Business, from The Wall Street Journal.
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| Lead Stories | CME to Launch New Venue for Cash Treasuries Trading in Chicago
Carter Johnson and Elizabeth Stanton - Bloomberg
CME Group Inc. plans to launch a second central limit order book for cash US Treasuries designed to support trading across the derivatives and cash markets in the third quarter. The new platform, operated by BrokerTec Americas, will be co-located alongside the CME's futures and options markets in Chicago, according to a Thursday press statement. It will allow trades in smaller price increments of the most recently issued US bonds of a particular maturity and tap into the growing demand for spread trading among investors in Treasuries, the world's largest sovereign bond market.
/jlne.ws/41Hubkx
Social Security Says DOGE Ruling Could Force Agency to Shut Down
Gregory Korte and Zoe Tillman - Bloomberg
The Trump administration is threatening to all but shut down the Social Security Administration in response to a judge's ruling blocking activities by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency - an action that could delay payments to millions of beneficiaries caught in the middle of the legal battle. Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek said the temporary restraining order issued Thursday is so broad in blocking access to data by "DOGE affiliates" that it could apply to any Social Security employee.
/jlne.ws/4kJNfqV
Rice Price Drop Brings Relief to Billions, Risk for Farmers
Pratik Parija, Anuradha Raghu and Katarina Hoije - Bloomberg
From the Philippines to Senegal, billions of people are finding it easier to feed their families now that rice prices have plunged off 15-year highs. Favorable weather over the past year has helped lift global stockpiles for a second season, and a further flood of the crop is expected from top shipper India, which has scrapped long-running export restrictions. The abundance has pushed the price of Thai white rice - an Asian benchmark - to the lowest since 2022 and more than 30% below last year's peak.
/jlne.ws/41JUarA
The Days of Trading Infrequently Are Over; On Merryn Talks Money, UK billionaire Michael Spencer explains why he's betting on Nutshell Asset Management's trading strategy.
Merryn Somerset Webb - Bloomberg
There isn't much everyone agrees on in markets. But one thing you rarely hear an argument against is the importance of trading as little as possible. The higher your turnover, the higher your costs go and the worse your overall performance will be. So find good quality stocks you have faith in and hold them for the very long term-Warren Buffett or Nick Train style. Or maybe don't. On this week's episode of Merryn Talks Money, Michael Spencer, the billionaire behind one of the world's biggest financial brokerage fortune, says the low turnover story is old hat. There has been a change in market structure, he says, and trading costs today are "microscopic" compared with even a few years ago.
/jlne.ws/4irE4da
Wall Street Brokers Start Trading Insurer Claims From LA Fires
Reshmi Basu, Dorothy Ma, and Mark Chediak - Bloomberg
Wall Street brokers have started selling insurers' claims tied to Los Angeles' deadly wildfires, which may trigger a payout from the utilities blamed for the destruction, according to people familiar with the matter. Investors are buying so-called subrogation claims, obtaining an insurer's right to compensation from a utility if it's found liable for fire-related damage. The claims are meant to help insurance companies recover losses incurred from disasters.
/jlne.ws/41Ssp06
SEC Chair Confirmation Hearing Slated for March 27
Lydia Beyoud - Bloomgberg
The Senate Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Paul Atkins to lead the US Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, the panel announced Thursday. Atkins served as a Republican SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 before founding Patomak Global Partners, a Washington consulting firm. If confirmed by the Senate, Atkins is expected to streamline the process for companies going public and rein in SEC enforcement while playing a major role in shaping new regulations for the digital-asset industry.
/jlne.ws/41IrPSn
UK Financial Regulator Should Fine Itself for LME Fail; The 2022 nickel crisis could have cost $20 billion. The FCA still has questions to answer.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
After a 24-month-long investigation, the UK financial regulator on Thursday said it fined the London Metal Exchange £9.2 million ($11.9 million) for its failures during a massive short squeeze in the nickel market in 2022. This is the first time the regulator has sanctioned a London-based marketplace. But it feels like false closure. The Financial Conduct Authority should now take the next step: investigate itself for its own role in the crisis - or let someone else do it. Reading the available documentation, it's difficult to see how the FCA wouldn't admit that it, too, was asleep at the wheel, and thus fine itself. Sure the information-collection system at the time wasn't great, so the regulator couldn't see all the risks. But its role goes beyond collecting hard data - asking questions, pressing and cajoling market participants is as important. The time when UK regulators just needed to raise an eyebrow is long gone.
/jlne.ws/4iLZsty
U.K., France and Switzerland Launch New Task Force to Fight Bribery; The formation of an agency partnership to prosecute international bribery cases comes as President Trump scales back enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the U.S.
Mengqi Sun - The Wall Street Journal
U.K., French and Swiss authorities have established a new international bribery and corruption task force, stepping up as the U.S. under President Trump scales back enforcement of a key U.S. antiforeign bribery law. U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office, which prosecutes white-collar crime in the country, together with Switzerland's attorney general and France's National Financial Prosecutor's Office, on Thursday launched the International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce.
/jlne.ws/4iMYA7W
Peak Paris? Global Banks Put Their French Hiring Plans on Ice
Claudia Cohen - Bloomberg
In his office in the heart of the upmarket 8th Arrondissement of Paris, attorney in labor law Bruno Gambillo has been receiving a steady stream of traders, investment bankers and analysts. Most of them are foreigners, laid off from international banks and investment funds and looking for help navigating France's arcane employment rules. Gambillo gets a 10% success fee if he's able to negotiate a bigger severance. "Americans, English, Swiss, or Germans are now knocking on my door," said Gambillo, who for the past three decades has defended workers after they've been fired or made redundant, from factory staff to insurance executives. "In recent months, some major foreign financial companies in Paris no longer have the same discomfort as before to proceed with individual or economic layoffs."
/jlne.ws/41IS7nz
Jerome Powell Says Trump Can't Fire Him. That Might Change
Leah Nylen, Catarina Saraiva, and Greg Stohr - Bloomberg
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has been crystal clear about whether President Donald Trump can fire him. "Not permitted under the law," he said - twice - when asked in November. Powell, who's had the job since 2018, may soon find out if he was right. On Tuesday, the Trump administration dismissed the Federal Trade Commission's two Democratic commissioners, Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. The firings are the most direct challenge yet to a 1935 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for the independent agencies that now populate the US government.
/jlne.ws/4bLLaXu
JSCC, DTCC government bond units see default funds surge; Member contributions hit multi-year highs in Q4
Joshua Walker - Risk.net
Two clearing services specialising in government bonds saw their default funds swell in the final quarter of 2024, driven by increased member contributions. Clearing member contributions to the default fund at the Japanese government bond (JGB) futures and options unit of the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) increased 52.4% to ¥64.7 billion ($435.2 million) at the end of Q4, the most since Q1 2019.
/jlne.ws/4bKqv6b
SGX listcos with Indonesia exposure stay resilient amid market meltdown; But analysts raise caution over equities with emerging market exposure
Mia Pei - Business Times
While a market meltdown in Indonesia has rattled investor confidence, Singapore-listed companies with sizable exposure to the country have been shielded from the impact. Singapore Exchange (SGX) market strategist Geoff Howie noted that major agri-commodity plantation companies such as Wilmar International : F34 +0.3% and Golden Agri-Resources : E5H -1.89% have remained resilient, with no significant institutional outflows from the sector since the start of 2025.
/jlne.ws/4iqTZIS
What Spooked the S&P 500? It Wasn't the Trade War; A closer inspection of the recent 10% correction indicates the freakout was more about Big Tech than Trump's tariffs.
Nir Kaissar - Bloomberg Opinion
The US stock market is on edge. The S&P 500's recent 10% correction has investors worried, though a highly uncertain policy environment and an unusually top-heavy market obscure just what is spooking stocks. Two pain points come to mind, one in plain sight and the other harder to see. The obvious one is the barrage of pronouncements from the White House, some of which affect companies directly, most notably trade policy. The business environment has become so tense, in fact, that even typically apolitical corporate executives are starting to grumble about the administration's economic agenda.
/jlne.ws/4ih7GtH
A power outage shut down Heathrow - all of Heathrow - creating chaos for thousands of travelers
Shubhangi Goel, Joshua Nelken-Zitser, Thibault Spirlet - Business Insider
London's Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest, was closed on Friday after a large fire broke out nearby. Flightradar24, a live flight-tracking platform, told Business Insider that at least 1,351 flights would be affected. "Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage," the airport posted to X early Friday morning local time, saying it would be closed until just before midnight.
/jlne.ws/4bOCekf
Big Tech Is Still Too Big for FTSE Russell Despite Stock Slump
Lu Wang and Isabelle Lee - Bloomberg
For index behemoth FTSE Russell, the likes of Apple Inc. are still too big for comfort - even after the recent $2 trillion selloff that's dethroned Big Tech from the stock market's leaderboard. After equity trading wraps up on Friday, shares of the iPhone maker and five other technology giants will see their weightings shrink, with the benchmark provider pushing ahead with plans to curb the group's influence in key US growth and value gauges.
/jlne.ws/4hq7Ldm
Brexit Britain Abandons Ambition to Be Global Deal Cop; The UK no longer wants to be a global antitrust crusader. Reform could see fewer deals get roasted. It's good for bankers, middling for lawyers and worrying for consumers.
Chris Hughes - Bloomberg
The UK had a good stab at becoming the world's toughest merger regulator when Brexit gave it new freedom to thwart deals. Is Britain now overcorrecting the other way? Reform aired this week heralds the UK probing fewer transactions and ensuring investigations that do happen are faster and less combative. Good for dealmakers. But it could be dire for consumers if anticompetitive deals don't get so much as a glance.
/jlne.ws/4bQEQ12
UK Billionaire Spencer Warns of 'Slow Corrosion' in London IPOs
Benjamin Stupples and Merryn Somerset Webb - Bloomberg
One of Britain's richest finance billionaires has called for the UK government to scrap its tax on share trading as a way to boost the country's stock market after years of stagnating growth. "I've always found it laughable that we are the only major stock market that still has stamp duty," ICAP founder Michael Spencer said Friday on the Merryn Talks Money podcast. "If you are not prepared to abolish that duty, then stop pretending that you're in favor of the London market."
/jlne.ws/4iMkpEx
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| Trade War and Tariffs | | A roundup of today's trade war and tariff news and the global economic ripple effects shaping markets, industries, and investment strategies. | China Imports of US Commodities, Cars Collapse in New Trade War
Bloomberg News
China's imports of US cotton, cars and some energy products all plunged in the first two months of the year after President Donald Trump started imposing tariffs and Beijing retaliated. In a prelude to what could be widespread disruption to global trade, Chinese purchases of cotton fell almost 80% from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg analysis of data released Thursday. Imports of large-engined cars were down nearly 70%, while purchases of crude oil and liquefied natural gas dropped more than 40%.
/jlne.ws/4iFxXSR
Donald Trump imposes sanctions on Chinese companies over Iranian oil shipments; US measures are latest salvo in a 'maximum pressure' campaign on Tehran
Demetri Sevastopulo and Felicia Schwartz - Financial Times
The US has imposed sanctions on two Chinese petrochemicals groups for allegedly importing Iranian crude oil, in the latest salvo of President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign on the Islamic republic. The state department said it had put sanctions on Huaying Huizhou Daya Bay Petrochemical Terminal Storage for violating American sanctions by buying and storing Iranian crude oil shipped to China on a ship already under sanctions.
/jlne.ws/4bOsHcM
US companies race to secure import tariff exemptions after Trump pause
Abhinav Parmar - Reuters
Washington's temporary relief for import tariffs on goods covered under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has triggered a spike in US companies seeking exemption under the trade deal, industry experts said. The White House slapped fresh 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico on March 5, but later announced that levies on goods covered under the USMCA would be delayed until April 2.
/jlne.ws/4kPehxk
Canadian farmers face two-front trade war as China duties take effect
Ed White - Reuters
Canadian farmers are facing a two-front trade war, with China's tariffs on Canadian canola oil, canola meal and peas taking effect on Thursday and U.S. tariffs expected on additional Canadian products within two weeks. The double whammy from two major trading partners makes for a grim mood going into spring planting. "This is a terrible time," said Calgary area farmer Tara Sawyer of the Chinese tariffs.
/jlne.ws/4iJhRae
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
EU Leaders Fail to Agree on EUR5 Billion Ukraine Aid After Clashes
Andra Timu, Andrea Palasciano and Samy Adghirni - Bloomberg
European Union leaders tussled over weapons deliveries to Kyiv and who would represent them in US-led diplomacy as the bloc struggled to formulate a strategy on Ukraine. An EU summit in Brussels was unable to agree on delivering EUR5 billion ($5.4 billion) to secure ammunition for Ukraine this year, as members including France and Italy balked at committing to specific financial volumes, according to European diplomats familiar with the talks. A number of European leaders will meet again in Paris on March 27 to try to drive the process forward.
/jlne.ws/4hw1pt5
Ukraine port city 'on fire' after 'massive' Russian attack as Trump projects optimism ahead of peace talks
Edward Szekeres - CNN
The southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa was engulfed in flames late Thursday after being struck by a large-scale Russian drone attack, hours after US President Donald Trump expressed optimism about ending the war and as peace talks are set to resume on Monday. Trump - who recently held separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky on implementing a partial ceasefire - projected optimism about reaching an end to the war on Thursday, saying "we're doing pretty well in that regard."
/jlne.ws/4iNLDuG
Ukraine Hosted Lazard and Siemens to Push Reconstruction Plans
Daryna Krasnolutska and Carolina Wilson - Bloomberg
Days before the fateful White House encounter between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine took a symbolic step on the path to regaining its financial footing when officials received a delegation of foreign investors in Kyiv. Representatives from the country's creditors, including TCW Funds and Lazard Asset Management LLC, as well as multinational firms like Siemens AG were among the 16 executives who took part in the meetings, the first of their kind since Russia's invasion in 2022.
/jlne.ws/4hsoHQn
Lithuania Willing to Send Troops to Ukraine, President Says
Milda Seputyte and Oliver Crook - Bloomberg
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said the Baltic nation is prepared to deploy troops as part of a post-ceasefire mission to Ukraine as European allies grapple with how to maintain support for Kyiv. "My country is ready to provide the necessary support," the head of state said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Brussels on Friday. "We are talking about very concrete numbers of our military troops, but there should be commitment from all countries in this coalition to provide this support."
/jlne.ws/4htsP2I
US seeks to reopen terms of Ukraine minerals deal; Trump administration wants to include nuclear plant under Russian control in broader economic agreement
Christopher Miller, Ben Hall and Paola Tamma and James Politi - Financial Times
The Trump administration is seeking new terms for US access to critical minerals and energy assets in Ukraine, widening its economic demands on Kyiv as it pushes for a peace deal with Russia. Washington wants Kyiv to agree to detailed provisions about who owns and controls a joint investment fund, and to a broader scope, potentially covering US ownership of other economic assets such as Ukraine's nuclear power plants, two Ukrainian officials said.
/jlne.ws/4kOZxhY
Trump to Expand Critical Mineral Output Using Wartime Powers; Government support offers to help boost domestic production to satisfy the needs of the Defense Department and private industry.
Ari Natter and Joe Deaux - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump is invoking emergency powers to boost the ability of the US to produce critical minerals - and potentially coal - as part of a broad effort to ramp up the development of domestic natural resources and make the country less reliant on foreign imports. An executive order signed by the president Thursday taps the Defense Production Act as part of an effort to provide financing, loans and other investment support to domestically process critical minerals and rare earth elements, according to a White House official.
/jlne.ws/4iFTvid
Opening Nord Stream 2 would be a catastrophic mistake; Caught between Russia and an increasingly adversarial US, Germany's ties to Europe are being tested
Constanze Stelzenmuller - Financial Times
Remember the bizarrely menacing Russian video of ice-bound European cities set to a baleful song called "Winter Will Be Long"? It went viral in September 2022, about six months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and for Germans, it remains a visceral, shudder-inducing reminder of their country's worst energy crisis since the second world war. That year, Germany had finally - after years of sanctions threats from the US, as well as urgent warnings from its eastern European neighbours - grasped the enormity of its error in making itself hugely dependent on Russian energy. Now it was racing to undo it. As it became clear that Russia was about to attack Ukraine in February 2022, Berlin refused to certify the new twin Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was to double the capacity of the older Nord Stream 1. Later, it announced a step-by-step decoupling from Russian fossil fuels, with gas imports to end in 2024.
/jlne.ws/41L58wW
Middle East Conflict
Israel Threatens to Annex Land in Gaza Unless Hostages Freed
Alisa Odenheimer - Bloomberg
Israel will permanently annex land in Gaza if Hamas continues to refuse to free hostages, its defense minister said. Israel Katz's comments on Friday came days after renewed Israeli airstrikes on Gaza - as well as the country moving more troops into the Palestinian territory. Those signaled the breakdown of a ceasefire that had been in place since mid-January.
/jlne.ws/41LzjUP
***** Here is the Financial Times version of this story.~JJL
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: Mortgage Delinquencies Continue to Slowly Rise with FHA Performance in the Spotlight
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, reports the following "first look" at February 2025 month-end mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database representing the majority of the national mortgage market.
/jlne.ws/4hugjzV
The Global Association of Central Counterparties (CCP Global) Executive Committee and
Officer Changes
CCPGlobal
On March 20th 2025, Tim Cuddihy (DTCC) became the Chair of CCP Global. Tim Cuddihy has served the Association as Treasurer since December 2021. Lee Betsill has served as Chair of CCP Global for the second time, and we thank him for his years of contributions to the Association and the industry.
/jlne.ws/4kQ3CT1
Access Manager for TBA futures - Effective April 14, 2025
CME Group
Effective Monday April 14th, 2025, TBA futures contracts will be removed from Risk Management Tools - Access Manager display. Any Clearing Members with existing permissions in-effect are required to remove them by Thursday April 10th, 2025. As background, Access Manager is used by Clearing Members to manually permission (white-list) customer accounts that are allowed to submit orders in front-month TBA futures during a three-day period prior to expiration of the front-month contract. CME has observed that the current white-list permissioning functionality has created operational challenges with customers exiting positions within this three-day period. As an alternative, Clearing Members can manage customer account access to TBA futures by restricting trading at a product level for any of their trading participants via the product restriction functionality within Inline Credit Controls (ICC).
/jlne.ws/4bMIXLx
US dealers' OTC clearing rates plunge to multi-year lows; Cleared notionals down $24.3trn in Q4 amid year-end compression push
Lorenzo Migliorato - Risk.net
The share of over-the-counter derivatives cleared through central counterparties (CCPs) by top US banks slumped to multi-year lows in the last quarter of 2024, likely a side-effect of dealers' attempts at window-dressing to reduce capital surcharges. Across the country's eight systemic lenders, cleared notionals dropped by $24.3 trillion, outpacing a $13.7 trillion reduction in bilaterally settled trades, and driving the aggregate clearing rate down 2.5 percentage points to 48.3% - the lowest
/jlne.ws/4hoWDxi
Performance Bond Requirements: Cryptocurrency, Energy, and Metal Margins - Effective March 21, 2025
CME Group
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below.
/jlne.ws/41Iq47S
Release of Enhanced CME Direct Credit Control Tools - Effective March 20, 2025
CME Group
In order to enhance the risk management tools available to Clearing Members supporting the use of CME Direct for their customers trading on CME Globex, CME Group (on behalf of CME/CBOT/NYMEX/COMEX) recently rolled out enhanced credit control functionality allowing clearing member firm risk administrators to set a relative limit at the order level and account level for options premium buying power, for trades executed through CME Direct. For more information, please access the following link.
/jlne.ws/4kH1zk1
SGX RegCo reprimands directors of BlackGold Natural Resources Limited, Andreas Rinaldi, Lim Chee San and Bangun Madong Parulian Samosir, and Chief Financial Officer, Suherman Budiono
SGX
/jlne.ws/4kNBT5q
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Perplexity AI in talks to raise funds at $18 billion valuation, source says
Jaspreet Singh and Akash Sriram - Reuters
Perplexity AI is in talks to raise funds at an $18 billion valuation, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, as the Nvidia-backed startup looks to grow and capture soaring demand for its search tools. The jump in valuation doubles the previous $9 billion figure, reported by Reuters in November. Perplexity is an AI startup that provides information by searching the internet, just like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, and is backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Japan's SoftBank Group.
/jlne.ws/4ipUIdg
AI-Driven Compliance: Overcoming Barriers and Unlocking Potential
Anna Lyudvig - Traders Magazine
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping the compliance and surveillance landscape, offering powerful tools to identify risks, streamline processes, and enhance regulatory oversight. However, as AI adoption grows, firms must navigate critical challenges to ensure effective implementation and usage, according to Travis Schwab, CEO of Eventus.
/jlne.ws/41FYJTE
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Trump Admin Threatens to Stop Social Security If DOGE Can't Have Personal Data
Andrew Perez - Rolling Stone
Donald Trump's interim Social Security chief suggested Thursday night he will effectively turn off the agency that manages the essential safety net program for seniors and the disabled, if Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can't access the non-anonymized sensitive personal information and data of hundreds of millions of Americans, based on a judge's order. "My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates," said Lee Dudek, acting Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner, arguing the order was too broad, according to Bloomberg News. "As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems," he said, adding: "Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency."
/jlne.ws/4huUd0d
Google's Cybersecurity Deal Spins Tiny Investment Into $4 Billion Windfall; Index Ventures is set to earn a 250-fold return on its seed money in a startup Google has agreed to buy
Berber Jin - The Wall Street Journal
Shardul Shah got the call he had been waiting for on his 37th birthday in January 2020. A promising Israeli cybersecurity founder that he had been asking for years to launch a company was in need of funding. "It's time," the voice on the other end of the line said. Shah kicked in $3.5 million on behalf of Index Ventures. Flash forward five years and that original seed money earned a 250-fold return this week, turning into an $875 million stake, when Alphabet's Google agreed to buy Wiz for $32 billion.
/jlne.ws/4ipgZI8
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Bakkt Names Akshay Naheta as Co-CEO Amid Stablecoin Payments Push; The partnership aims to integrate Bakkt's trading platform with DTR's stablecoin-based payments infrastructure
Francisco Rodrigues - CoinDesk
Bakkt Holdings (BKKT) is bringing on Akshay Naheta as co-CEO and entering a strategic partnership with Naheta's payments startup, Distributed Technologies Research (DTR), as the firm moves to unlock new revenue streams. Naheta, a former SoftBank executive with past investments in Nvidia and ARM, will officially join Bakkt's leadership team from today. Alongside current CEO Andy Main, he's expected to help steer the company deeper into blockchain-enabled payments. Naheta is also joining Bakkt's board of directors.
/jlne.ws/4c4mOsh
One Man's Crypto Windfall Is Funding a $1 Billion Space Station Dream; Crafting and launching a space station that can keep humans alive comfortably in orbit is no easy feat.
Kiel Porter and Loren Grush - Bloomberg
Jed McCaleb made a fortune in cryptocurrency. Now he's prepared to lose a big chunk of it in space. The billionaire who was behind the infamous Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange and the cryptocurrency XRP is the sole financial backer of a wildly ambitious effort to build the world's first commercial space station and send it into orbit.
/jlne.ws/4bRdNTg
Ethereum ETFs could offer staking rewards if SEC approves NYSE proposal
Anand Sinha - The Street
On March 20, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) proposed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to permit the Bitwise Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) to stake ETH held by the Trust. The amendment, if approved, would allow Bitwise Ethereum ETF to offer staking rewards. On March 11, the Cboe BZX Exchange had filed a similar proposal to let Fidelity stake the ETH held by its ETF.
/jlne.ws/4kEXuwN
The Road to Digital Asset Securities: What's Driving Adoption and Innovation
Anna Lyudvig - Traders Magazine
The transition from traditional electronic markets to digital asset securities has been a gradual but transformative process, according to Aaron Kaplan, Founder and Co-CEO of Prometheum. With increased institutional understanding of blockchain technology and the development of regulatory frameworks, digital asset securities are no longer just a proof-of-concept-they are becoming a reality, he told Traders Magazine.
/jlne.ws/4iNQNa2
Australia Proposes New Crypto Regulation Structure, Plans to Integrate Digital Assets Into the Economy
Sam Reynolds - CoinDesk
The Australian Government announced an ambitious whole-of-government approach to regulating and integrating digital assets into the broader economy, inspired by work done in the European Union (EU) and Singapore. In a white paper published by the Australian Treasury, the country's government says it will embrace tokenization, real-world assets (RWAs), and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as part of a broader push to modernize its financial system.
/jlne.ws/4kKyO60
What the Collapse of the U.S. Bitcoin ETF Cash-and-Carry Trade Means for Investors; Inflows into U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have stagnated this year compared with 2024.
James Van Straten - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/4ip1gc4
Digital Euro Needed to Counter Stablecoins, Non-European Big Tech, ECB Chief Economist Says
Jamie Crawley - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/4bOHJPV
Stablecoin de-pegging to be probed by Ripple, Warwick Business School's Gillmore Centre
FinExtra
/jlne.ws/4imSlIf
Telegram-based blockchain TON raises $400 million from prominent crypto VCs
Catherine McGrath - Fortune
/jlne.ws/4iq10JQ
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | 'This Is Worse': Trump's Judicial Defiance Veers Beyond the Autocrat Playbook; The president's escalating conflict with federal courts is even more aggressive than what happened in countries like Hungary and Turkey, experts say.
Amanda Taub - The New York Times
President Trump's intensifying conflict with the federal courts is unusually aggressive compared with similar disputes in other countries, according to scholars. Unlike leaders who subverted or restructured the courts, Mr. Trump is acting as if judges were already too weak to constrain his power. "Honest to god, I've never seen anything like it," said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist and coauthor of "How Democracies Die" and "Competitive Authoritarianism."
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Administration Officials Believe Order Lets Immigration Agents Enter Homes Without Warrants; It remains unclear whether the Trump administration will apply the law in this way. But such an interpretation, experts say, would infringe on basic civil liberties.
Devlin Barrett - The New York Times
Trump administration lawyers have determined that an 18th-century wartime law the president has invoked to deport suspected members of a Venezuelan gang allows federal agents to enter homes without a warrant, according to people familiar with internal discussions. The disclosure reflects the Trump administration's aggressive view of presidential power, including setting aside a key provision of the Fourth Amendment that requires a court order to search someone's home.
/jlne.ws/4iniXsy
Ex-Vance Staffer Kofsky Joins FHFA as Agency Eyes Job Cuts
Jason Leopold, Lydia Beyoud, and Katanga Johnson - Bloomberg
Aaron Kofsky, a former staffer to then-Senator JD Vance, has joined the Federal Housing Finance Agency and is tasked with helping to overhaul its structure and workforce, according to people familiar with the matter. Kofsky joined shortly after Director Bill Pulte was sworn-in, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the move hadn't been announced. The agency cut some jobs this week and is looking to accelerate those efforts, some of the people said.
/jlne.ws/4izYkci
The US is poised to use terror laws against students. This could be worse than McCarthyism
Thomas Anthony Durkin and Bernard Harcourt - The Guardian
On Monday, the Department of Justice announced the launch of "Joint Task Force October 7 (JTF 10-7)". In an accompanying press release, the DoJ said it would bring to justice Hamas leaders who murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians in the deadly attack on Israel of 7 October 2023. Few would quarrel with this ambition. In the same breath, however, the press release claimed that the task force would also "investigate acts of terrorism and civil rights violations by individuals and entities providing support and financing to Hamas, related Iran proxies, and their affiliates, as well as acts of antisemitism by these groups".
/jlne.ws/41KA6Fp
Trump's Imaginary Emergencies Are Doing Real Damage
David Cole - The New York Times
President Trump's initiatives have frequently invoked national security - but in the absence of any actual threat to the nation. That may make a difference in the courts. As profoundly disturbing as Mr. Trump's sweeping and irresponsible violations of civil liberties have been, in one respect they are not exactly unprecedented. Previous presidents have deported people for their speech, targeted internal critics for blacklists, locked up foreign nationals without charge, invoked military authority at home and sought to muzzle the media. But there is one fundamental difference.
/jlne.ws/4ihypGx
European military powers work on 5-10 year plan to replace US in Nato; UK, France, Germany and Nordics among countries engaged in informal discussions over a managed transfer
Henry Foy and Ben Hall - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/41Ste9c
Germany Set for Trillion-Euro Defense and Infrastructure Splurge; Economists warn that the country would need structural overhauls for the spending package to boost growth without causing inflation
Bertrand Benoit - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/41Gnz5Q
On Verge of Oil Boom, Namibia Swears in First Female President
Kaula Nhongo - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4bOG6BF
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Hong Kong's SFC orders brokers to end 'imprudent' margin financing to pre-empt IPO madness
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's market watchdog has asked the city's stock brokerages to clean up their act in funding their clients in initial public offerings (IPOs), after a review discovered "imprudent and aggressive financing practices" that exposed both parties to financial risks or default. They would be required to collect an upfront subscription deposit of 10 per cent from clients who do not fully pre-fund their IPO orders, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said in a circular on Thursday. The firms must also assess their financial capabilities and creditworthiness, as well as segregate those deposits to smoothen refunds for unsuccessful bids, it added.
/jlne.ws/4imCXLZ
Hong Kong Caps IPO Margin Loans Amid Heated Retail Demand
Kiuyan Wong - Bloomberg
Hong Kong's market regulator capped the amount of margin loans that can be used to buy shares at initial public offerings to clamp down on excessive demand from retail investors. The Securities and Futures Commission will require retail investors to put in downpayment of at least 10% when taking out a margin loan for IPOs, according to a circular issued Thursday. That means brokers will only be able to extend margin loans of as much as 90% of the cost of subscribing to the IPO shares.
/jlne.ws/4l0Kzpd
CFTC Staff Issues Interpretation Regarding Financial Reporting Requirements for Japanese Nonbank Swap Dealers
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Market Participants Division today issued interpretation concerning financial reporting obligations for nonbank swap dealers subject to regulation by the Financial Services Agency of Japan (Japanese nonbank SDs). On July 18, 2024, the Commission issued a comparability determination and related comparability order granting substituted compliance in connection with the CFTC's capital and financial reporting requirements to Japanese nonbank SDs, subject to certain conditions in the order (Japanese Comparability Order). One of the conditions in the Japanese Comparability Order, condition 9, requires each Japanese nonbank SD to file a copy of its home regulator Annual Business Report with the CFTC and the National Futures Association (NFA).
/jlne.ws/4bIqiAr
SEC Announces Agenda, Panelists for Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the agenda and panelists for the March 27 roundtable on artificial intelligence in the financial industry. "I look forward to hearing from the panelists on how emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, can both improve the cost-effectiveness of the Commission's regulations and provide additional value to market participants," said SEC Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda. "I encourage members of the public to provide data and other evidence on how artificial intelligence can be used to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation." The roundtable, announced in February, will be held at the SEC's headquarters at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. from 9:00 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. The event will be open to the public and webcast live on the SEC's website. Doors will open at 8:00 a.m. For online attendance, no registration is necessary. A link to watch the event will be available on March 27 on www.sec.gov. Please register for in-person attendance.
/jlne.ws/4hpSd9p
SEC Announces Agenda, Panelists for Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the agenda and panelists for the March 27 roundtable on artificial intelligence in the financial industry.
/jlne.ws/4hpSd9p
Crypto Mining Statement: The Flame in Plato's Cave
Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw - SEC
[1]The Acting Chairman's office has directed the staff to issue yet another non-binding interpretation bringing the running tally to at least 10 such actions in 9 weeks.[2] Rather than engaging in an open and transparent process that benefits from the input of market participants, these supposedly "clarifying" statements deliver neither progress nor clarity. Today's statement suffers from a few problems. First, the logic is flawed. The statement assumes a hypothetical situation as true (relying on its ability to read the minds of crypto miners). Specifically, it declares with certitude that miners choose to mine "merely" to receive rewards in the form of crypto assets, not to profit from the managerial efforts of others. Accordingly, the statement finds, crypto mining does not fall under the definition of a security. If you start with an assumption that mining is not undertaken with the expectation of profits based on the efforts of others, you will necessarily conclude that it does not involve such an expectation and is therefore not a security.
/jlne.ws/4bV3qhe
Statement on Certain Proof-of-Work Mining Activities
Division of Corporation Finance - SEC
As part of an effort to provide greater clarity on the application of the federal securities laws to crypto assets,[1] the Division of Corporation Finance is providing its views[2] on certain activities on proof-of-work networks known as "mining." Specifically, this statement addresses the mining of crypto assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network, and are used to participate in and/or earned for participating in such network's consensus mechanism or otherwise used to maintain and/or earned for maintaining the technological operation and security of such network. We refer in this statement to these crypto assets as "Covered Crypto Assets"[3] and their mining on proof-of-work networks as "Protocol Mining."[4]
/jlne.ws/4hxPH0V
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against North Carolina Man and Entities He Controlled in Offering Fraud Scheme
SEC
On March 6, 2025, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina entered final judgment against Dharma Teja Nukarapu and two companies he controlled, SharkDreams, Inc. and D Dollar Inc., for their role in a fraudulent offering scheme.
/jlne.ws/4iOFvCl
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Massachusetts Resident in Multi-Million Dollar Securities Fraud
SEC
On March 13, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered final judgment against Norman V. Meier in the SEC's action alleging that Meier orchestrated a years-long, multi-million-dollar international securities fraud.
/jlne.ws/4iwktIP
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Investment Adviser Arising from Undisclosed Conflicts in Mutual Fund and Account Recommendations
SEC
On March 19, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a final judgment by consent against Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc. (CIRA), a registered investment adviser based in Fairfield, Iowa. The Commission had charged CIRA with failing to disclose material conflicts of interest and breaching its duty of care related to its recommendation to place clients in wrap accounts and its selection of mutual funds and money market sweep funds for clients.
/jlne.ws/4hxRpiR
Scam Alert: Beware scammers impersonating ASIC requesting payments to release funds or assets
ASIC
Consumers have received emails and phone calls from scammers purporting to be from ASIC, asking them to provide a payment to enable funds or assets to be released. ASIC is aware of a recent example where requests were made for payments in US dollars to release an investor's funds. Offers such as these are recovery scams.
/jlne.ws/4bAVXnl
FCA to scrutinise whether pure protection market provides fair value to consumers
FCA
The FCA has launched a market study into how well the distribution of pure protection insurance products - which support families with financial commitments if someone becomes critically ill or dies - is working for consumers.
/jlne.ws/41OUEg9
Crypto Firms Face New FCA Compliance Deadlines Amid Regulatory Overhaul
Anna Woods - Blockchain Magazine
The FCA's New Crypto Compliance Rules Are Shaking Up the Market
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has once again tightened its grip on the crypto market, leaving firms scrambling to meet its latest compliance deadlines. With new regulations in place, companies operating in the digital asset space are now faced with a critical choice: adapt swiftly or risk being pushed out of one of the world's most influential financial markets.
/jlne.ws/4iwoop1
FSA Weekly Review No.628
FSA
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MAS issues Prohibition Order against Mr Lim Kok Tiong Danny for Forgery and Cheating Offences
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a 6-year prohibition order (PO) under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 (FSMA) against Mr Lim Kok Tiong Danny[1], a former representative of Professional Investment Advisory Services Pte Ltd (PIAS). This follows his conviction in the State Courts for forgery and cheating offences under the Penal Code (PC). In view of Mr Lim's misconduct, MAS is satisfied that Mr Lim is not a fit and proper person in accordance with the Guidelines on Fit and Proper Criteria under Section 7 of the FSMA.
/jlne.ws/4kQiErV
SFC and Ministry of Finance top management meet in Beijing
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission's Chief Executive Officer, Ms Julia Leung and its Executive Director of Intermediaries Dr Eric Yip called on the Vice Minister of Finance, Mr Liao Min, in Beijing on 19 March 2025. Ms Leung thanked the Ministry of Finance for its support of the development of Hong Kong's capital markets over the years. The two sides had in-depth exchanges on the development of Hong Kong as an international finance centre, particularly the development on fixed income and currency markets, as well as cooperation on enhancing mutual market access for both financial markets.
/jlne.ws/41J9B3b
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Musk Tells Tesla Employees Hang On to Stock After 50% Plunge
Kara Carlson - Bloomberg
Elon Musk sought to reassure Tesla Inc. employees during what he referred to "a little bit of stormy weather," after the carmaker's shares plunged more than 50% in just three months. "If you read the news, it feels like Armageddon," Musk said during an all-hands meeting broadcast late Thursday on X. The chief executive officer joked that he can't walk past a television without seeing a Tesla on fire, then mocked his detractors. "I understand if you don't want to buy our product, but you don't have to burn it down. That's a bit unreasonable."
/jlne.ws/426Wl8T
Money-Losing Retail Crowd Keeps Buying Stocks as Market Teeters
Esha Dey - Bloomberg
In a stock market battered by trade turmoil and growing fears of an economic slowdown, retail investors are doubling down, undeterred as their losses mount. Individual traders pumped more than $12 billion into US equities in the week ending March 19, retail-trading data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. showed. The pace of buying was significantly higher than the group's 12-month average, according to Emma Wu, a global equity derivatives strategist at the bank.
/jlne.ws/4hpE8Jf
Closing Time for 24-Hour Equity Markets
Phil Mackintosh - Nasdaq
More and more trading in U.S. stocks is coming from overseas. Some of those traders are used to how trading in futures, FX and other markets work, where they offer trading outside U.S. working hours, sometimes 24 hours a day. As the U.S. stock market moves closer to trading "around the clock," there are some things we need to think about. To be fair, trades in U.S. stocks can already occur after hours (especially when there is news). Although, the rules for trading are different - and a lot of the investor protections like the NBBO aren't enforced.
/jlne.ws/4kIira7
J.P. Morgan Redesigns Short Volatility ETNs
Editorial Staff - Traders Magazine
(This article is sponsored by J. P. Morgan.)
J.P. Morgan has launched an exchange-traded note (ETN) designed to help investors efficiently implement a "short volatility" strategy. By utilizing this ETN, investors may more efficiently take advantage of periods of low market turbulence while attempting to manage the inherent risks associated with potential spikes in volatility. The latest innovative design features integrated into the ETN's construction attempts to enhance the investor experience by addressing some of the challenges previously encountered with these types of products. The Inverse VIX Short-Term Futures ETN began trading on March 20, 2025 on NYSE Arca under the ticker "VYLD" and aims to give short exposure to VIX futures contracts.
/jlne.ws/4hCLbhS
'Eggflation' sending US shoppers to Mexico - where $300 fines await; 'Egg interceptions' are up more than 150% at some ports of entry as a US avian flu outbreak fuels shortages
Katharine Gammon in Los Angeles - The Guardian
In grocery stores across the US, egg shelves sitting empty and desolate have become a sign of the times. A surging bird flu affected nearly 19m birds in January alone, wiping out supply and sending prices soaring. Officials forecast a 41% increase in egg prices this year in what some are calling "eggflation". Where eggs are available, consumers are often limited in the number they can purchase at a time. Breakfast chains from Waffle House to Denny's have added a surcharge of $0.50 per egg on their iconic dishes.
/jlne.ws/4bUHgvp
Dollar slump magnifies stock market pain for foreign investors; Simultaneous sell-off in US equities and currency ends 'virtuous cycle' for fund managers in Europe
Ian Smith - Financial Times
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Tin hats on, investors - and consider the cockroach stocks; Confusion reigns over Trump's policies and the long-term effect of AI
Simon Edelsten - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/4irMsJG
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Green Investors Are Finding Bargains in Trump's Big Oil Era; Renewable power assets have now become a buyers' market; Wind, solar are still key to meet rising electricity demand
Will Mathis and Petra Sorge - Bloomberg
Private infrastructure investors are snatching up green bargains in what's emerged as a buyer's market for wind, solar and battery projects. The moves follow a a slump in clean-energy stocks, as US President Donald Trump's call for more fossil-fuel power generation has sent a chill through the sector and boosted Big Oil's plans to pivot back to core business.
/jlne.ws/4hqljWg
Greenpeace loss will embolden big oil and gas to pursue protesters: 'No one will feel safe'; As Trump pushes 'drill, baby, drill' agenda, Greenpeace verdict offers startling outlook for environmental activism
Rachel Leingang - The Guardian
A pipeline company's victory in court over Greenpeace, and the huge damages it now faces, will encourage other oil and gas companies to legally pursue environmental protesters at a time when Donald Trump's energy agenda is in ascendancy, experts have warned. On Wednesday a North Dakota jury ruled that three Greenpeace entities collectively must pay Energy Transfer, which was co-founded by a prominent Trump donor, more than $660m, deciding that the organizations were liable for defamation and other claims after a five-week trial in Mandan, near where the Dakota Access pipeline protests occurred in 2016 and 2017.
/jlne.ws/4kNxPCc
World's glaciers are losing record ice as global temperatures climb, U.N. says
Alexander Villegas - Reuters
Glaciers around the globe are disappearing faster than ever, with the last three-year period seeing the largest glacial mass loss on record, according to a UNESCO report released on Friday. The 9,000 gigatons of ice lost from glaciers since 1975 are roughly equivalent to "an ice block the size of Germany with the thickness of 25 meters," Michael Zemp, director of the Switzerland-based World Glacier Monitoring Service, said during a press conference announcing the report at the UN headquarters in Geneva.
/jlne.ws/4hubfeT
Japan's JERA to shut coal plants during off-season to cut carbon; Coal power generation costs often surpass retail prices in spring and fall
Nikkei
Japanese energy company JERA will begin shutting some coal-fired power plants in the spring and fall, when demand is low, as the country rethinks the role of the carbon-intensive fossil fuel as a baseload power source. The seasonal shutdowns, set to start as early as fiscal 2026, aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. JERA initially will shut plants that have particularly high emissions, with the Hekinan power station near Nagoya among the candidates.
/jlne.ws/4imPWNC
Trafigura, Exxon Mobil Protest Colonial Pipeline Changes
Nathan Risser - Bloomberg
Commodities trading giant Trafigura joined oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. in protesting operational changes to Colonial Pipeline Co.'s 5,500-mile fuel network. Colonial, which operates the largest US gasoline pipeline, wants to boost capacity on the maxed-out line by, in part, halting the shipment of a particular fuel grade. But shippers on the line, including refiners Valero Corp. and BP, are asking US regulators to reject Colonial's plan, saying it will raise their own costs and create operational hurdles.
/jlne.ws/4bV4bXC
The illicit oil trade that is keeping Libya divided; Heavily subsidised fuels are being smuggled out of the country and sold abroad, helping sustain its rival political factions
Shotaro Tani and Heba Saleh - Financial Times
In late March 2024, Mardi, an oil products tanker sailing under a Cameroon flag, completely disappeared from vessel tracking databases after spending a couple of days circling in the Mediterranean east of Malta. It reappeared a month later north of Libya. The Mardi is one of 48 vessels identified by a panel of UN experts monitoring Libya. They said in their latest report in December that it made 14 visits to Benghazi's old harbour and smuggled out over 13,000 tonnes of diesel between March 2022 and October 2024, in breach of UN sanctions on Libya. The International Maritime Organization holds no information on the owner of the Mardi.
/jlne.ws/4kFfBCN
What Went Wrong for BP? Why the Oil Major Hit Reset
Mitchell Ferman - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41LypHV
Disney investors reject anti-DEI proposal after company sheds some diversity programs
Alexis Keenan - Yahoo Finance
/jlne.ws/4kIt9NN
JPMorgan makes changes to its diversity programs, memo says
Nupur Anand - Reuters
/jlne.ws/4iruerK
Pentagon deletes articles about Holocaust and 9/11 in DEI purge; It remains unclear whether officials removed the webpages by mistake
The Telegraph
/jlne.ws/4kJo08d
What Went Wrong for DEI? Donald Trump dealt the movement a body blow, but some of its wounds may have been self-inflicted.
Simone Foxman - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4htReFh
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Apex Group announces key leadership appointment to accelerate global growth; Apex Group strengthens global business development and sales leadership with appointment of Regina Gannon, Global Chief Business Development Officer
Apex Group
Apex Group Ltd. ("the Group"), the leading global financial services provider, has appointed Regina Gannon as Global Chief Business Development Officer. In this role, Regina will drive global business growth by building deep relationships with key clients, enhancing engagement with industry partners, collaborating on product development and go-to-market strategies, and setting commercial priorities for the business. Based in New York, this strategic role follows several other senior leadership appointments made by Apex Group in the U.S., including a newly appointed Chief Product Officer and Global Head of Transformation. The combined hires mark a foundational cornerstone as Apex Group continues to expand its U.S. presence, while bolstering its global product offerings and spearheading digital transformation across the financial services industry.
/jlne.ws/41Kl16L
Citadel Securities Poaches From Banks to Run US Rates Sales Team
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Citadel Securities added more talent from the largest banks to its roster, as Ken Griffin's trading firm looks to expand its rates business across the globe. The firm hired Keith Cynar from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Jordan Brink from Morgan Stanley to co-head US rates sales, according to Jordan Cila, head of US fixed income sales. Both executives will be based in New York, reporting to Cila starting in May.
/jlne.ws/4kNG6Gg
JPMorgan Enters an Infamous Short-Volatility Market With ETN
Vildana Hajric and Denitsa Tsekova - Bloomberg
With worries over US trade policy roiling Wall Street, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is repackaging a well-known strategy that would profit if the turbulence subsided. The Inverse VIX Short-Term Futures ETNs, ticker VYLD, provides exposure to an index shorting futures tied to Wall Street's fear gauge, known as the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX.
/jlne.ws/4kJRNO6
UBS could relocate Swiss HQ if capital demand is not reduced, Bloomberg News reports
Reuters
UBS Group AG is exploring options to relocate its headquarters if Switzerland enforces a requirement for the bank to hold an extra $25 billion in capital, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Internal estimates suggest the extra buffer could push UBS's key capital ratio to roughly 20% under the toughest conditions, up from its current 14%, the report said.
/jlne.ws/41Ksymc
Deutsche Bank Decides Against Calling One of Its AT1 Bonds
Esteban Duarte - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.DE) is choosing to leave one of its Additional Tier 1 bonds outstanding, breaking with expectations for European banks to retire the debt at the first opportunity. The lender said it will not exercise a call option to redeem the $1.25 billion of 4.789% notes, according to a statement, citing its strategy of "taking a case-by-case approach." The decision may be due to the bank standing to lose around EUR240 million ($260 million) if it called the debt because of a weaker euro, according to CreditSights analyst Simon Adamson.
/jlne.ws/4bPbz6K
Danske Bank Readies Support for Defense Firms as Europe Arms Up
Sara Sjolin - Bloomberg
Danske Bank A/S is preparing to step up its engagement with defense companies, as Europe embarks on an ambitious rearmament plan to boost security in the face of threats from Russia and a retrenchment by the US. "We are open for business," Martin Blessing, the chair of Denmark's largest bank, told Bloomberg following Danske's annual general meeting on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4itkf5o
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Job scams are soaring. Newly laid-off workers could be fresh targets.; It's become one of the most common forms of reported fraud in recent years. But you can take steps to protect yourself.
Michelle Singletary - The Washington Post
Employment scams - already a massive problem - will likely worsen as thousands of fired federal employees create a growing pool of prospective targets. Scammers know these workers and others displaced by federal government cuts will be desperate to find work quickly, and the trauma of their sudden displacement from civil service makes them a prime target. But the broader problem has been growing for years. According to the Federal Trade Commission, job and fake employment agency scams have nearly tripled from 2020 to 2024, with consumers losing $501 million, up from $90 million. Meanwhile, the number of reports jumped from 38,000 to 105,000, making it one of the top forms of fraud last year, the FTC reported recently.
/jlne.ws/41KRr10
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | How to Make Better Decisions in an Age of Disinformation; A new book by an infectious disease epidemiologist shows how proof is more elusive than we realize, whether in law, science, policy or math.
Helen Pearson - Bloomberg
In April 2010, Adam Kucharski found himself stranded because of uncertainty. Kucharski, a mathematician, had been poised to fly from the Caribbean to the UK until the sudden eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland pumped a vast ash cloud into the air. Airlines cancelled thousands of flights - including his. The stoppage became one of the biggest disruptions to air travel in history, affecting more than 10 million passengers worldwide. But how much danger did the ash plume really pose? No one knew. Scientists raced to run simulations to predict its spread. Airlines launched experimental flights. Confusion and conflicting opinions reigned. The debate made an impression on Kucharski, who was a few months into a PhD in mathematical modeling and suddenly "on the sharp end of people trying to prove whether or not the plane should take off," he told me in an interview.
/jlne.ws/4hv3p4J
Spring Is Here! Prepare to be Miserable; A warming planet is making seasonal allergies worse at great cost to the collective health of Americans as well as the economy.
Mark Gongloff - Bloomberg
A go-to argument of the modern breed of climate-change deniers is that carbon dioxide is good for plants and what's good for plants is good for humans. Well, sure, a greener planet actually could be beneficial for humanity. But lets not ignore the many not so beneficial effects. Seasonal-allergy sufferers could give you at least one. Hay fever and the like may not be the most devastating illnesses in the world, but they have a real cost in terms of dollars and human misery. Due to its effect on plants, a hotter planet is making these seasonal allergies worse. Even if not the direst effect of climate change, it does add to the growing list of harms humanity has inflicted on itself by refusing to take climate seriously for so long. And every little bit hurts.
/jlne.ws/4hx3h4K
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | A Naked Short on Gold in a Country That Loves Glitter; India's plan to wean its population off the yellow metal has left New Delhi nursing a $13 billion liability.
Andy Mukherjee - Bloomberg
Back in 2015, India's finance ministry had a clever idea: Why not borrow cheaply by promising returns linked to bling? In the process, the officials would wean the country off a costly addiction. Indians would be able to satiate their world-beating appetite for gold by punting on something even more glittering. That something, the mandarins reckoned, could only be a government-backed investment option that allowed investors to earn some cash while speculating on the price of their best-loved commodity - without actually having to buy it.
/jlne.ws/4iKxeiJ
Inside the company that helped build China's equity options market; Fintech firm Bachelier Technology on the challenges of creating a trading platform for China's unique OTC derivatives market
Chris Davis and Wei-Shen Wong - Risk.net
Ten years ago, a group of friends, working as traders and quants at different investment banks in New York, were chatting about some big markets news breaking in their home country. It was February 2015. The Shanghai Stock Exchange had just launched options on an exchange-traded fund, the SSE China 50 ETF, China's first listed options contract. Stocks were entering a bull run.
/jlne.ws/4hsVipd
Japan Urgently Needs an AI Vibe Shift; Citizens aren't afraid of the technology, but they're not very receptive either.
Catherine Thorbecke - Bloomberg
You likely wouldn't know it, but Japanese scientists were some of the earliest pioneers in the field of artificial intelligence and neural network research. Despite helping to lay the foundation for the global AI race that's unfolding now, by most measures Japan currently lags in the development and adoption of the technology that is forecast to become a trillion-dollar market.
/jlne.ws/4bKiy0J
Europe Is Short of Gunpowder and TNT When It Needs Them Most; Ammunition manufacturers are working to secure supplies of chemicals and cotton as they prepare for a massive increase in demand for explosives and propellants.
Laura Alviz - Bloomberg
The last stages of gunpowder manufacture at Nitrochemie Aschau look a bit like making pasta. A mass of fibers is squeezed through rollers until it is flat and gelatinous, which is then coiled tightly by hand and fed through a press that squeezes it into a thick cord. Finally, it is passed through a matrix that cuts it into pellets, each measured to within a hundredth of a millimeter.
/jlne.ws/4iJ4XJm
Dubai Weighs Major Regulatory Changes to Lure More Hedge Funds
Hema Parmar and Adveith Nair - Bloomberg
Dubai is weighing significant changes to its rules governing money managers to further burnish the city's credentials as an emerging hub for hedge funds. Officials at the Dubai Financial Services Authority are undergoing a sweeping review of the emirate's slate of regulations with the goal of removing unnecessary regulatory burden and lowering barriers to entry, according to a spokesperson for the agency.
/jlne.ws/4huTdsZ
Kuwait Is Set to Allow Banks to Offer Mortgages for the First Time
Fiona MacDonald - Bloomberg
Kuwait is preparing to allow banks to offer mortgages for the first time, a move that could reshape the oil-rich nation's financial landscape. The legislation is expected to be passed soon by the Council of Ministers, according to people familiar with the matter. The move would unlock a market that could eventually reach a value of $65 billion, implying a 40% expansion in lenders' credit portfolios, according to the people, who declined to be identified as the information is private.
/jlne.ws/41SohNE
Minerva Sees Global Herds Shrinking in Sign of Pricier Beef
Clarice Couto - Bloomberg
Cattle herds are declining in the US, Europe and China, according to Brazilian meatpacker Minerva SA, in a sign that beef prices could rise further. The US is already struggling with the smallest herd in more than seven decades, and now China and Europe are starting to face a decrease in their cattle supplies, Fernando Galletti de Queiroz, Minerva's chief executive officer, said during an earnings call on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4kIYOyF
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Tesla Recalls Most Cybertrucks; More than 46,000 of the electric vehicles have potential exterior panel issue, federal agency says
Becky Peterson and Colin Kellaher - The Wall Street Journal
Tesla is recalling more than 46,000 Cybertrucks over the potential for an exterior panel to fall off. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said a cosmetic applique along the exterior of the vehicles, known as the cant rail, can delaminate and detach from the vehicle, which the agency said could create a road hazard for motorists. The cant rail is a long piece of metal trim over the left and right side windows. The NHTSA said the recall population includes 46,096 model year 2024 and 2025 Cybertrucks made from Nov. 13, 2023, to Feb. 27, 2025. That is the majority of all Cybertrucks, which Tesla first released in November 2023.
/jlne.ws/4bMkWnI
Tesla vandalism sparks fury on the right while protests escalate
Kara Carlson - Bloomberg
Molotov cocktails at Tesla showrooms. Disturbing messages on Cybertrucks. Vandalism at charging stations. The backlash against Tesla Inc. (TSLA) - and more specifically, CEO Elon Musk - is escalating, provoking a response from the billionaire's conservative supporters while emboldening a growing rank of protesters. Caught in the middle are millions of customers whose electric vehicles increasingly are viewed as political symbols.
/jlne.ws/41KryOP
Wine Connoisseurs Freeze Purchases Over Trump's 200% Tariff Risk
Nacha Cattan, Suzanne Woolley, and Alicia Clanton - Bloomberg
Wine enthusiast Steven Nordhoff typically spends about $25,000 a year adding to his 2,500-bottle collection, with Bruno Giacosa reds from Italy or Vilmart champagnes from France. But not now. President Donald Trump's threat to slap 200% tariffs on European wines and spirits has the Southern California family law attorney pausing his purchases from abroad.
/jlne.ws/4bJuxf7
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