| June 02, 2020 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Burton-Taylor Finds U.S. Futures Dominate
ICE Revenues Outpace CME in 2019
By Thom Thompson - JLN
Consultants Burton-Taylor report today that Intercontinental Exchange and CME Group remain the two largest exchange operators in the world, measured by total revenues. CME's exchange revenues were the highest in the world and, at $3.9 billion, dwarf number two Deutsche Boerse's $2.34 and number three ICE's $2.28. These latter two companies' results include sizable securities trading operations.
The consultants highlight the contributions that both U.S. exchanges' recent non-exchange acquisitions made to the top line - Interactive Data by ICE and NEX by CME. NEX helped make CME the fastest growing exchange in the world with a 13 percent increase in revenues. At ICE, revenue from its information services rivals its trading revenues. NEX's contribution helped push a 7.6 percent growth rate in CME trading and clearing revenues, which account for about 80 percent of CME's revenues from all sources.
ICE enjoyed gross revenues of $5.2 billion in 2019. According to Burton-Taylor's 88-slide benchmark study of the exchange industry, Intercontinental Exchange hauled in 14.6 percent, a little more than one-seventh, of the total $35.6 billion in global revenues, making it the largest exchange operator in the world last year.
To read the rest of this commentary, go HERE.
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Hits & Takes
By John Lothian
Think about the order of the values espoused in the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution.
Union
Justice
Domestic Tranquillity
Common Defense
General Welfare
Blessings of Liberty
Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Then, think about the first rights given in the First Amendment to the Constitution and their order in the Amendment and in the Bill of Rights.
Congress shall make no laws respecting:
Establishment of Religion
Free Speech
Freedom of the Press
Right to Assemble Peacefully
Petition the government
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The values espoused of the Preamble are before Article 1 creating the Executive branch.
The First Amendment is the first in the Bill of Rights that was insisted upon in order to get the votes for the whole Constitution to pass into law. Without it and the other nine amendments, there would be no Constitution.
In the last few days, members of the press have been assaulted by police in numerous instances.
Peaceful protesters yesterday were attacked by police across from the White House with tear gas and rubber bullets so the President could make a photo opportunity speech at a nearby church. Clergy providing medical care and food at the church for protestors were pushed off of the sacred ground of the church with concussion grenades, tear gas and reportedly rubber bullets. At the church the President held a Bible upside down as a prop while making a speech threatening to use the U.S. military to quell the country-wide protests. This was not the use of force to protect property, but to soothe the President's insecurities.
These are not expressions of the values and the rights of the U.S. Constitution or its people. They are something else completely and a threat to our Union.
The conservative columnist George Will, who has spoken at the FIA Boca conference, is calling for the President to be removed
Robby and Katherine Lothian have placed a handmade sign that says "Black Lives Matter" on our front lawn.
CNN is celebrating its 40th anniversary. To celebrate it, they sent a gray hoodie to employees that says, "The World Needs Journalists." I liked it so much, I ordered a JLN branded version for my employees and contractors. I guess I should have ordered the bullet-proof hoodies, but they were on backorder.
Stay safe!~JJL
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Bryan Harkins: Cboe Executive Vice President on Canadian M&A and the Pros and Cons of Floor Trading
JohnLothianNews.com
Cboe executive VP and head of markets talks about the MATCHNow acquisition, how price formation can differ in an all-electronic exchange, competition for retail and the challenge of working from home in the shadow of a pandemic.
Listen Here
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JLN Bachelier Options Model Virtual Panel Podcast
JohnLothianNews.com
John Lothian News is presenting the May 14 Bachelier Options Model virtual panel as a podcast. We have edited the content down to maximize the delivery of impactful information from the discussion. We also had a technician problem at the beginning of the recording and did not capture all of what Lee Betsill shared as a recap of the steps the CME Group took leading up to the expiration of the April WTI contract. We also removed a tense moment between Don Wilson and John Lothian over the wording of a question. The big takeaway from the podcast came when Don Wilson talked about ETF investing in crude oil and the risk dynamics to the investors, futures commission merchants and clearing system.
Listen to this podcast »
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America's Protests Won't Stop Until Police Brutality Does; This country has failed to provide one of the most fundamental protections in the Constitution: the right to life.
The Editorial Board - NY Times
"Stop Killing Us!" Three words, scrawled on a sign held by a 5-year-old black boy at a Tampa protest against police brutality. Messages don't get any clearer than that. Yet to judge by the days of protests sweeping the country, this message still hasn't gotten through.
/jlne.ws/2XRBNjx
*****JLN offers the editorial boards of the NY Times and the FT today. There is just one story dominating the news.~JJL
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George Floyd and the story of the Two Americas; The killing has highlighted links between racial injustice and economic inequality
The editorial board - FT
Social unrest has spread across America and beyond in reaction to the police killing of an unarmed African American man, George Floyd, by a Minneapolis police officer. It has brought even more attention to the racial inequality and economic bifurcation in the US — and the ways in which they are inexorably linked — which the Covid-19 pandemic had already laid bare.
/jlne.ws/3gN8QO8
*****The time is now to deal with this. It can't continue or cities will burn even more.~JJL
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Tear Gas Used to Disperse Protesters, Clearing Path for Trump Moment at Church
Jordan Fabian and Jennifer Jacobs - Bloomberg
Trump wanted photo op after critics said he should be visible; Police use gas, horses and concussion grenades to clear park
With his path cleared by tear gas, concussion grenades and mounted police, Donald Trump strode across Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday evening to stand before the church of U.S. presidents and reinforce the get-tough message he had just delivered to the nation. Phalanxes of District of Columbia police and National Guard, plus Secret Service and other law enforcement personnel, had moved less than an hour earlier on a peaceful crowd gathered just across from the White House to protest the death of a black man in police custody. Police on horseback shoved demonstrators while other officers lobbed tear-gas canisters and grenades that make a deafening noise and blinding light.
/jlne.ws/2ArqIgV
*****Clergy were offering water, food and medical services at St. John's and were moved off of the sacred ground by rubber bullets, tear gas and concussion grenades. This is America?~JJL
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Enforcement and Registration Actions; York Business Associates LLC d/b/a Transact Futures, Infinity Futures LLC, James Paul Mooney, James Cagnina Jr., Patrick Zielbauer and Brian Sass
NFA
/jlne.ws/3coiQtJ
****** You don't want to see your name in Enforcement Actions by the NFA, ever. It is bad for business.~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our top story Monday was 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack at Medium. Second was Our Commitment to Equality, by Nasdaq CEO and President Adena Friedman, on LinkedIn. Third was the Careers page at IEX Cloud. They have openings, and they offer health insurance (among other things).
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MarketsWiki Stats
178,455,548 pages viewed; 24,141 pages; 224,348 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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New JLN Sponsor
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| Lead Stories | Colin Kaepernick's Protest Is Raging Across America; Racism and police brutality. The weekend of civil unrest across America can be traced back to the same issues that inspired protests by Colin Kaepernick and this generation of athletes.
Andrew Beaton and Ben Cohen - WSJ
Nobody initially paid him any attention. Nearly four years ago, when Colin Kaepernick took a seat during the national anthem before a preseason NFL game, his silent protest that would eventually shake the world of sports went unnoticed. Not until the third game, when a grainy picture of his peaceful demonstration began to spread, was the San Francisco 49ers quarterback asked why he wasn't standing.
/jlne.ws/3eFbXG4
CEOs and Big Businesses Speak out on Racism, Police Violence; As tensions mount across the U.S., executives offer reflections to workers, consumers and the public
Kathryn Dill - WSJ
Business leaders across industries are speaking out about social injustice and racial inequality in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of police and the protests in dozens of U.S. cities the fatal event has sparked.
/jlne.ws/2XWCatb
Journalists caught in the crossfire of US protests; Members of the media report dozens of attacks or arrests while covering demonstrations
Anna Nicolaou and Aime Williams - FT
"I've never seen anything like this", CNN anchor John Berman said, as the network broadcast the arrest of his colleagues covering protests in Minneapolis sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.
/jlne.ws/3007VUM
Police Target Journalists as Trump Blames 'Lamestream Media' for Protests; "I've really never seen anything like this": Reporters and news photographers describe being roughed up, arrested and shot with projectiles while covering demonstrations across the country.
Marc Tracy and Rachel Abrams - NY Times
Barbara Davidson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, was covering a protest near the Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles on Saturday when a police officer ordered her to move.
/jlne.ws/2BkGvys
China's Digital Currency Could Challenge Bitcoin and Even the Dollar; Authorities are testing a new kind of money in four cities.
Bloomberg News
People in China are no strangers to digital payments—if anything, it's easier to move around and shop in Shanghai or Beijing with an Alipay or WeChat Pay smartphone app than it is bearing a pocketbook filled with yuan notes. Now the Chinese government has begun a pilot program for an official digital version of its currency—with the likelihood of a bigger test at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. Some observers think the virtual yuan could bolster the government's power over the country's financial system and one day maybe even shift the global balance of economic influence.
/jlne.ws/3gLjKEk
HKEX extends lead over LSE as world's third-most valuable bourse operator as US-China spat boosts Hong Kong listings
Zhang Shidong - SCMP
The China-US dispute has driven up HKEX's share price, firming up its lead over the London Stock Exchange in terms of market cap; Hong Kong stands to benefit as more US-listed Chinese companies are set for secondary listings in the city
The escalation of tensions between China and the US has unexpectedly cemented Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing's place as the world's third most valuable exchange operator, as it extends its lead over its London counterpart, in fourth place.
/jlne.ws/2U29ZYl
JPMorgan's Traders Race Ahead in the Pandemic; The bank's scale and market dominance is setting it apart from the Wall Street pack.
Elisa Martinuzzi - Bloomberg
The rising tide of pandemic relief money that's oiling the wheels of finance has been a boon for those in the business of securities trading. Even as the wild market swings have subsided, activity has been buoyant as central banks and governments pumped trillions into economies. This may turn out to be one of the best environments for investment bankers generally, especially those who are buying and selling shares and bonds, but a standout company is emerging.
/jlne.ws/3gJGjJn
OCC Welcomes the Small Exchange
OCC
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, today congratulated the Small Exchange on its successful launch. With this newest addition, OCC now provides central counterparty clearing and settlement services to 21 exchanges and trading platforms for options, security futures, financial and commodity futures, and securities lending transactions.
/jlne.ws/3gKAxY3
Boerse Stuttgart Records May Turnover Of Around EUR 8.1 Billion - All Asset Classes Show Significant Increase In Trading Volume Compared To May 2019
MondoVisione
Based on the order book statistics, Boerse Stuttgart generated turnover of around EUR 8,1 billion in May 2020 - an increase of around 29 per cent compared to the same month of the previous year.
/jlne.ws/2BiPVui
SGX to launch Singapore single stock futures; Plans to launch 10 Singapore single stock futures at SGX follows move to reduce licensing agreement with MSCI earlier this month.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Singapore Exchange (SGX) has said it will launch 10 Singapore single stock futures later this month amid increased client demand for Singapore-linked equities.
/jlne.ws/3csMwpL
Harmonisation across Europe key to shorter market hours proposal; Responses to the LSE's consultation for shorter market hours in Europe highlight the need for all exchanges to make the move if benefits are to be fully realised.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Respondents to the London Stock Exchange's (LSE) consultation on shorter market hours have agreed that for the benefits to be realised there must be harmonisation across exchanges in Europe.
/jlne.ws/2Xq2tsH
There are risks to liquidity from rock-bottom rates; Despite vanishing yields, money market funds provide vital flexibility
Robert Armstrong - FT
The yield on short-term credit is all but zero, and is threatening to stay that way. This causes weird things to happen in credit markets: a store where the products cost nothing, or almost nothing, is unlikely to function like a normal store.
/jlne.ws/2XZcagO
OCC May 2020 Total Volume Up 17.3 Percent from a Year Ago
OCC
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, announced today that May 2020 total cleared contract volume was 545,272,318 contracts, up 17.3 percent from May 2019. OCC's year-to-date average daily total cleared contract volume is 27,748,391 contracts, up 41.5 percent from 2019.
/jlne.ws/36Ppg49
IRS Fails to Pursue Thousands of Rich Tax Cheats, Watchdog Says
Laura Davison - Bloomberg
Report finds 879,415 high-income people didn't pay tax bills; Budget cuts have forced agency to scale back enforcement
The Internal Revenue Service is letting hundreds of thousands of high-income individuals duck their tax obligations, according to a government watchdog report.
/jlne.ws/3eHHY07
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| Coronavirus | | Stories relating to the COVID-19 pandemic | For Boris Johnson, Covid-19 is now an economic not a health crisis; For all the talk of 'following the science', the decisions have always been political
Robert Shrimsley - FT
No one will admit it openly but there has been a decisive shift in the British government's approach to coronavirus. In the minds of ministers, the pandemic is no longer primarily a health crisis; it is now principally an economic crisis.
/jlne.ws/2zUCsIL
Pandemic brings palladium's record run to screeching halt; Supply constraints suggest prices could leap again when demand recovers
Henry Sanderson and Neil Hume - FT
Coronavirus has put the brakes on a long rally in palladium prices that has been a gift to miners in South Africa and Russia and to criminals in London.
/jlne.ws/2XW19wD
France's StopCovid Tracing App Available as Country Reopens
Helene Fouquet - Bloomberg
Voluntary downloads of the app will supplement human tracers; Less than half of citizens say they're willing to use it
France's contact-tracing app, which the government hopes will prevent a resurgence of Covid-19 as lockdown measures ease, will be available to download on Tuesday. They just have to get people to use it.
/jlne.ws/2XZaiVk
Britain's Coronavirus Quarantine Won't Fly; The U.K.'s quarantine for inbound travelers will inflict economic damage on its $182.5 billion tourism market, and it may not be enforceable.
Therese Raphael - Bloomberg
Just as coronavirus infections weaken, European countries lift foreign travel restrictions and people gear up for the possibility that we might actually get on an airplane again, one of the world's largest tourism markets is effectively shutting down. Under rules to be finalized on Tuesday, anyone arriving in the U.K. from June 8, including returning Britons, will have to quarantine for 14 days, with a hefty fine levied on those found in breach of the rules.
/jlne.ws/2ZWJYh7
Coronavirus fallout will haunt U.S. economy for years, costing it $8 trillion through 2030, CBO says
Jeff Stein - Washington Post
Fallout from the coronavirus pandemic will shrink the size of the U.S. economy by roughly $8 trillion over the next decade, according to new projections released by the Congressional Budget Office on Monday.
/jlne.ws/3gKBhwj
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | OCC May 2020 Total Volume Up 17.3 Percent from a Year Ago
OCC (press release)
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, announced today that May 2020 total cleared contract volume was 545,272,318 contracts, up 17.3 percent from May 2019. OCC's year-to-date average daily total cleared contract volume is 27,748,391 contracts, up 41.5 percent from 2019.
/jlne.ws/36Ppg49
OCC Welcomes the Small Exchange
Press Release
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, today congratulated the Small Exchange on its successful launch. With this newest addition, OCC now provides central counterparty clearing and settlement services to 21 exchanges and trading platforms for options, security futures, financial and commodity futures, and securities lending transactions.
/bit.ly/3eGpFZb
SGX announces launch of Singapore Single Stock Futures and signs MSCI Singapore licence agreement
SGX
10 Singapore single stock futures contracts will be launched on Monday, 15 June 2020; Signs licence agreement with MSCI for Singapore index products
Singapore Exchange (SGX) today announced that it will launch 10 Singapore Single Stock Futures (SSFs) on 15 June 2020, in response to growing client demand for a broader suite of Singapore-linked equities products.
/jlne.ws/2MjjBtL
CME Group Reports May 2020 Monthly Market Statistics
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today reported May 2020 market statistics, showing it reached average daily volume (ADV) of 17.9 million contracts during the month. Open interest at the end of May was 114 million contracts. Market statistics are available online in greater detail at https://cmegroupinc.gcs-web.com/monthly-volume.
/jlne.ws/2XqcO7O
Nasdaq May 2020 Volumes
Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today reported monthly volumes for May 2020, on its investor relations website. A data sheet showing the monthly volumes and quarterly capture rates can be found at: http://ir.nasdaq.com/financials/volume-statistics
/jlne.ws/2MiP5jE
HKEX to Launch Silver Futures
HKEX
Physically settled contracts denominated in USD and CNH; Trading and settlement fees, as well as SFC commission levy, waived for the first six months of launch
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is today pleased to announce the launch of Silver Futures contracts settled in US dollars (USD) and Offshore Renminbi (CNH), starting 8 June 2020, further expanding its commodities product suite.
/jlne.ws/2Msagj3
Cash market sales statistics for May
Deutsche Börse Group
A trading volume of EUR 159.8 billion was achieved on the cash markets of Deutsche Börse in May (previous year: EUR 146.0 billion). Xetra accounted for EUR 135.4 billion of this (previous year: EUR 131.4 billion), bringing average Xetra daily sales to EUR 6.8 billion. EUR 4.0 billion was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (previous year: EUR 3.2 billion) and EUR 20.4 billion on the Tradegate Exchange (previous year: EUR 11.4 billion).
/jlne.ws/2yWbgcd
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | NICE integrates trading recording system with Microsoft Teams; Partnership between NICE and Microsoft Teams aims to help firms meet surveillance requirements as employees shift to remote working.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Communications compliance specialist NICE has integrated its trading recording system with the Microsoft Teams platform to help firms meet surveillance requirements as employees work remotely.
/jlne.ws/2XnFxKy
TraditionDATA expands with three hires from TP ICAP, Bloomberg and IHS Markit; OTC data provider TraditionDATA targets expansion with three new hires focused on business development, products and vendor relationships.
Kiays Khalil - The Trade
The data business of interdealer broker Tradition, TraditionDATA, has made three new hires from TP ICAP, Bloomberg and IHS Markit, as part of expansion plans.
/jlne.ws/2Au2p1S
How AI is getting an emotionally intelligent reboot; Tech that reacts to feelings and facial expressions is about to transform our lives
John Thornhill - FT
Rana el Kaliouby has spent her career tackling an increasingly important challenge: computers don't understand humans. First, as an academic at Cambridge university and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and now as co-founder and chief executive of a Boston-based AI start-up called Affectiva, Ms el Kaliouby has been working in the fast-evolving field of Human Robot Interaction (HRI) for more than 20 years.
/jlne.ws/2U1gZ84
Western Union Makes an Offer to Buy MoneyGram
Ed Hammond and Jennifer Surane - Bloomberg
Western Union Co. is seeking to acquire MoneyGram International Inc. in a transaction that would bring together two of the largest U.S. providers of money-transfer services, according to a person familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/2zKnBRq
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | China's Digital Currency Could Challenge Bitcoin and Even the Dollar
Bloomberg News
People in China are no strangers to digital payments—if anything, it's easier to move around and shop in Shanghai or Beijing with an Alipay or WeChat Pay smartphone app than it is bearing a pocketbook filled with yuan notes. Now the Chinese government has begun a pilot program for an official digital version of its currency—with the likelihood of a bigger test at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. Some observers think the virtual yuan could bolster the government's power over the country's financial system and one day maybe even shift the global balance of economic influence.
/jlne.ws/3gLjKEk
Tokenise Stock Exchange collaborates with GMEX to launch regulated digital exchange - goes live with fully-regulated digital exchange enabled by innovative technology
Mondovisione (press release)
Tokenise Stock Exchange (Tokenise), a global fully-regulated digital securities exchange, and GMEX Technologies Ltd (GMEX), a wholly owned subsidiary of GMEX Group providing multi-asset digital and conventional exchange and post-trade business and technology solutions, are pleased to announce their latest collaboration. Responding to the gap in the market for a well developed regulated exchange leading the way in delivering capital raises through the offering of tokenised securities, by enabling issuers to tokenise their equity, debt and income streams and raise capital in a safe and transparent environment.
/jlne.ws/2XRucl0
Elwood Global becomes largest blockchain ETF with $95.4 million in total assets
Aislinn Keely - The Block
The Elwood Global Blockchain Equity exchange-traded fund (ETF) has become the largest blockchain ETF as of last week when it hit a new total asset high, according to publicly available data. The BCHN fund reached $95.4 million on May 29, according to Bloomberg's data. The United Kingdom-based fund has stock holdings that include Overstock, CME Group and Square, among others. It is intended to provide a vehicle for exposure to companies involved with the crypto sector in some fashion.
/jlne.ws/36T9kxB
Tether Integrates With Plasma Sidechain to Reduce Load on Ethereum
Andrey Shevchenko - Cointelegraph
Tether has integrated the just-launched OMG Network Plasma sidechain, formerly known as OmiseGo, promising cheaper transactions as Ethereum's fees skyrocket. Bitfinex's Tether (USDT) stablecoin is now available on the OMG Network, a plasma-based Ethereum sidechain launched on June 1 by the project formerly known as OmiseGo.
/jlne.ws/36XwrHp
Square Crypto grants $100K to bitcoin's Lightning Network watchtower The Eye of Satoshi
Yogita Khatri - The Block
Square Crypto has awarded a new grant to Talaia Labs, which is building bitcoin's Lightning Network watchtower called The Eye of Satoshi. The grant amount is $100,000, Talaia Labs CEO Sergi Delgado told The Block. He added that the funds would be used "exclusively for Bitcoin development, with a current focus on the watchtower."
/jlne.ws/2zLtSMJ
Andreessen's Katie Haun Says More Libra-Like Crypto Projects to Follow
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
Venture capital firm is an investor in Libra, competitor Celo; 'We are in the dial-up days of internet money,' Haun said
Katie Haun, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said that in 10 years money will be digital, the same way books and music are today -- and that efforts such as Libra, which the venture-capital firm has invested in, will be key to getting there.
/jlne.ws/2U1J0MJ
'Financial Surveillance' or 'Blockchain Analysis'? Human Rights Foundation Debates Elliptic
Brady Dale - Coindesk
"I think you should quit your job and go and work for the good guys," the Human Rights Foundation's Alex Gladstein told Tom Robinson, the founder of crypto compliance firm Elliptic, Monday afternoon. The two were debating blockchain surveillance as part of the Mainnet online event, sponsored by Messari, which opened today on the Hopin platform. Human Rights Foundation is an organization that focuses on working with activists around the world, especially in closed societies. Elliptic is a blockchain analytics company that helps enforcement-minded clients track the flow of crypto payments.
/jlne.ws/2XZvDxU
Crypto Markets Facing Make-or-Break Moment After Recent Surge
Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
Major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether have surged over the past week, but technical indicators show they're butting up against a key resistance level. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, which includes most of the largest digital tokens, is nearing a critical juncture at the 400 mark, which has acted as both a support and a resistance line since March. A break below it led to one of its largest-ever selloffs earlier this year, but technical analysis now suggests a break higher could presage a rally that potentially takes the gauge to an annual high.
/jlne.ws/3cuIQ6S
Private Swiss Bank Rolls Out New Premium Crypto Trading Service
Paddy Baker - Coindesk
Private Swiss bank Maerki Baumann's new crypto trading service shows there's a growing market for providing premium execution for an institutional or wealthy clientele. The entity promised its new crypto trading and custody service would provide clients with the best trading experience in a blog post last week.
/jlne.ws/3004hdt
Crypto exchange backed by SIG and ConsenSys cleared to trade crypto derivatives in the EU
Aislinn Keely - The Block
Crypto exchange Nomisma has received the green light to trade crypto derivatives in the European Union (EU). The firm has obtained a Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II license (MiFiD2), allowing the firm to operate a blockchain-based Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF). Nomisma's license enables the MTF to trade derivatives on digital assets and derivatives on security tokens, payment tokens and utility tokens. According to a release from the company, it's the first crypto derivative-trading MTF to earn the license form the Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority.
/jlne.ws/2zJ6TSp
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump Takes Us to the Brink; Will weaponized racism destroy America?
Paul Krugman - NY Times
Last fall Bob Kroll, the head of the Minneapolis police union, appeared at a Trump rally, where he thanked the president for ending Barack Obama's "oppression of police" and letting cops "put the handcuffs on criminals instead of us."
/jlne.ws/2zTgiGY
Trump Checks Out While the Nation Rages; His only response, as always, is bluster and division.
Mark Gongloff - Bloomberg
A week ago, America had a coronavirus crisis and an economic crisis, but it at least didn't have a rioting crisis. Those halcyon days of late May are over. Cities that until recently were quiet as a library because of the pandemic have erupted in legitimate fury over the abhorrent killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The vast majority of the protests have been peaceful, though many have devolved into violence and looting, which doesn't advance the cause of justice, Bloomberg's editorial board reminds us.
/jlne.ws/3eCyao4
Policing and Oppression Have a Long History; The debate on racism and law enforcement follows a clear line back to the antebellum South.
Stephen L. Carter - Bloomberg
In my previous column, I promised to take up the topic of the historical roots of the continuing mistrust between law enforcement and the black community. My intention in setting forth the background is not to impugn the integrity of police officers anywhere. Yet if we don't study the past we'll never understand the present, and the history of policing in America is deeply intertwined with the violence of racial oppression.
/jlne.ws/2MqhDHK
Trump's Riot Act Dismays, Emboldens Other Leaders
Rosalind Mathieson - Bloomberg
For years President Donald Trump has called out other countries for their troubles. Now the spotlight is on America's turmoil after the death of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The episode has raised fresh questions about policing in a country where inequality runs deep, exacerbated by Covid-19 decimating jobs and small businesses.
/jlne.ws/2XuvcN3
White supremacists pose as Antifa online, call for violence
Donie O'Sullivan, CNN Business
A Twitter account that tweeted a call to violence and claimed to be representing the position of "Antifa" was in fact created by a known white supremacist group, Twitter said Monday. The company removed the account.
/jlne.ws/36V2x6L
Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers.
George F. Will - Washington Post
This unraveling presidency began with the Crybaby-in-Chief banging his spoon on his highchair tray to protest a photograph — a photograph — showing that his inauguration crowd the day before had been smaller than the one four years previous. Since then, this weak person's idea of a strong person, this chest-pounding advertisement of his own gnawing insecurities, this low-rent Lear raging on his Twitter-heath has proven that the phrase malignant buffoon is not an oxymoron.
/jlne.ws/3dDHd8x
Can Trump Send In the Military? Probably, Yes; An obscure 1807 law may give the president that power. It doesn't mean he should use it.
Noah Feldman - Bloomberg
At a hastily arranged Rose Garden press conference on Monday, President Donald Trump announced his intention to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to send federal troops into the states unless governors were able to "dominate" protesters using National Guard soldiers. Then, after the Secret Service fired tear gas and rubber bullets at what appeared to be peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park, Trump walked a few hundred feet across the park for a photo op in front of a boarded-up church opposite the White House.
/jlne.ws/3csIAoO
Trump's Antifa Threat Is a Threat to Free Speech; This isn't the first time that labeling something "terrorism" has been used to censor it.
Noah Feldman - Bloomberg
On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted that the executive branch will designate Antifa as a "terrorist organization," apparently in an attempt to pin blame for the weekend's violent protests on the loose collection of far-left activists.
/jlne.ws/36QTO5y
Putin Sets New Date for Vote on Extending His Rule; His political program and ratings derailed by the coronavirus, Russia's president pushes to get back on track.
Andrew Higgins - NY Times
Pushing to get his political program back on track, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Monday that a referendum on constitutional changes that would allow him to dispense with term limits and stay in office until 2036 will be held on July 1.
/jlne.ws/3drKrvD
Take China's U.S. Farm Threats Seriously, Not Literally; Curbing imports has been a tried-and-tested way of turning the diplomatic screws. But all is not lost for American producers.
David Fickling - Bloomberg
If you're haggling over the price of goods at a market, there often comes a point when the buyer threatens to walk away. It's up to the seller to decide whether or not that's a bluff.
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | NFA permanently bars former Winter Park, Fla. commodity trading advisor Fintech Investment Group, Inc. and its former principal Alan Friedland from membership
NFA
NFA has permanently barred Fintech Investment Group, Inc. (Fintech), a former NFA Member commodity trading advisor and forex firm located in Winter Park, Fla., and its former sole principal and associated person Alan Friedland from membership and from acting as a principal of an NFA Member.
/jlne.ws/3csegee
NFA permanently bars Hong Kong commodity pool operator Bainbridge Asia Limited and its principal Wai Man Yip from membership
NFA
NFA has permanently barred Bainbridge Asia Limited (Bainbridge), an NFA Member commodity pool operator located in Hong Kong, and its sole principal and associated person Wai Man Yip from membership and from acting as a principal of an NFA Member.
/jlne.ws/2XrJa21
FINRA Gateway
FINRA
Attend this session to hear about the New FINRA Gateway, that will replace the current Firm Gateway. FINRA Gateway is an enhanced reporting and compliance user experience, which will roll out over the coming months. The new system is designed to streamline the FINRA compliance and reporting experience by providing a more flexible solution that can be customized to each firm.
/jlne.ws/2XqJ3Uh
ESMA publishes final report on FRANDT commercial terms for clearing services
ESMA
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's securities markets regulator has published its final report with technical advice to the European Commission (EC) on the fair, reasonable, non-discriminatory and transparent (FRANDT) commercial terms for the provision of clearing services.
/jlne.ws/3cofZRx
Regulators and accountants set for 'going concern' hit to markets; Rising fears of a wave of audit warnings across broad range of sectors
Tabby Kinder - FT
UK financial regulators are examining how many listed companies are set to issue warnings about their ability to survive the pandemic, as they seek to assess the impact on markets should share prices plummet.
/jlne.ws/3gNbvY8
UK regulator launches investigation into Amigo Loans; FCA probes whether subprime lender's assessments of customer creditworthiness were UK compliant
Matthew Vincent and Philip Georgiadis - FT
The UK's financial regulator has launched an investigation into Amigo Loans, as the subprime lender's public dispute with its founder escalates.
/jlne.ws/3eL2q0q
SIFMA And The SIFMA Foundation Announce The Top 10 Winners Of The 17th Annual Stock Market Game™ Capitol Hill Challenge And Congratulate All Participants - Top 10 Schools To Be Recognized Via Virtual Awards Ceremony On June 10
Mondovisione
SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation today congratulate all the participants of the 17th Annual Capitol Hill Challenge™ national financial education program, generously supported by the Charles Schwab Foundation, and announce the 10 teams who rose to the top of this rigorous investment competition. Student teams representing public schools in every US congressional district were invited to show their investing prowess by managing high-performing, diversified portfolios. Remarkably, in spite of school disruptions this Spring, 8,400 students and their teachers persevered to finish the Challenge, demonstrating incredible commitment and achieving impressive results. Dynamic market conditions made for an exciting competition.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | 'Bankrupt in Just Two Weeks'—Individual Investors Get Burned by Collapse of Complex Securities; Seeking high returns, they poured savings into leveraged exchange-traded notes; the coronavirus downturn made some of them nearly worthless
Akane Otani and Sebastian Pellejero - WSJ
When William Mark decided to get back into investing after the 2008 financial crisis, he looked past stocks and bonds. Needing to play catch-up with his retirement portfolio, the piping engineer decided to bet on a complicated product he hoped would deliver double-digit annual returns.
/jlne.ws/3gJZYc8
Three good reasons not to dabble in negative interest rates; The evidence that this policy tool works is too weak to justify the risks
Huw van Steenis - FT
The spectre of negative interest rates is looming over Anglo-Saxon markets. Last month, the UK sold three-year debt at a negative yield for the first time. The Bank of England said the option of pushing benchmark interest rates below zero was under "active review", as it also is in New Zealand. And in the US, the market is starting to price in this possibility from next year.
/jlne.ws/2XVNMfE
Delinquency rate triples in US commercial mortgage market; Investors in securities backed by $1.3tn of property loans fear worse is to come
Joe Rennison - FT
The percentage of commercial property loans left unpaid by borrowers in the US more than trebled last month, in a sign of a deepening crisis in the $1.3tn market for bonds backed by the mortgages.
/jlne.ws/2zTcZzy
Green Bond Crisis Premium Theory Debunked by Covid, Manager Says
Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
Green bonds fared no better than regular debt in the coronavirus-fueled credit rout, confounding a widely held theory that because holders of the debt are motivated by the environmental impact of the securities they may be less prone to losses in a market crash.
/jlne.ws/2BiyeuS
World's Biggest Jewelry Firm Moves to Recycled Gold, Silver
Christian Wienberg and Elena Mazneva - Bloomberg
Pandora A/S, which makes more pieces of jewelry than any other company in the world, will stop relying on newly mined gold and silver and instead use only recycled precious metals. The new policy, which takes effect in 2025, will help the Copenhagen-based company beef up its climate credentials and make it a more appealing target for investors eager to fill their portfolios with assets that meet environmental, social and governance goals.
/jlne.ws/2U391eC
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Goldman Sachs global currencies and emerging markets co-head to retire; Kayhan Mirza's retirement at the end of June will spark leadership changes at the global currencies and emerging markets division at Goldman Sachs.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
The co-head of the global currencies and emerging markets (GCEM) business at Goldman Sachs is set to retire after six years with investment bank, according to an internal memo seen by The TRADE.
/jlne.ws/2MojUU4
JPMorgan's Math Shows Why U.S. Stocks Can Keep Rallying
Justina Lee - Bloomberg
Money managers are holding plenty of cash on the sidelines; JPMorgan says equity allocations are still historically low
Think the sizzling U.S. stock rally is excessive in an economy frozen by shutdowns? From one perspective, it's just getting started. Giant piles of cash sloshing around the financial system means there's substantial ammunition yet to push risk assets higher. JPMorgan Chase & Co., meanwhile, sees potential for billions to flow into equities at the expense of bonds to rebalance portfolios. Money-market funds have lured $1.2 trillion this year, while fund managers with $591 billion overall are holding cash at levels rarely seen in history, according to Bank of America Corp.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Record Rate Cuts Leaves Emerging Markets Mulling QE
Ziad Daoud (Economist) - Bloomberg
Emerging market central banks have cut rates by more than 20 percentage points in the last three months to stimulate their coronavirus-ravaged economies, according to Bloomberg Economics. A number are also considering asset purchase programs. Unconventional monetary policy carries unique risks for emerging markets: With central bank independence less well-established, the risk of fiscal dominance is greater.
/jlne.ws/3c3vVJR
Sweden's Lackluster Bond Market May Be Nearing Tipping Point
Charles Daly and Love Liman - Bloomberg
Sweden's corporate bond market could be on the verge of an issuance rush as more investors and issuers find alignment over where to price deals. Bankers say a slump in new bond sales by lower rated companies looks set to change with the likes of SKF AB now returning to a market that recently suffered its worst rout since the financial crisis.
/jlne.ws/2U1Orem
Australia's Water Is Vanishing; Scorched by climate change and drained by industrial farms, the country's most important river system is nearing collapse.
Matthew Campbell - Bloomberg
The early afternoon sun was pounding the parched soil, and Gus Whyte was pulling on his dust-caked cowboy boots to take me for a drive. We'd just finished lunch—cured ham, a loaf of bread I'd bought on the trip up, chutney pickled by Whyte's wife, Kelly—at his house in Anabranch South, which isn't a town but rather a fuzzy cartographic notion in the far west of New South Wales, a seven-hour drive from Melbourne and half as far again from Sydney. I'd been grateful, as I pulled off the blacktop of the Silver City Highway to cover the last 10 miles or so, that I'd rented the biggest 4x4 Hertz could give me. I was on a dirt road, technically, but the dirt was mostly sand, punctuated with rocks the size of small livestock and marked only by the faintest of tire tracks.
/jlne.ws/2XStX9d
Brazil Soy Export Boom Accelerates on Real, China Demand
Tatiana Freitas and Dominic Carey - Bloomberg
Brazil's soybean exports reached a record in May, pushing year-to-date shipments to an all-time high of 50 million tons, as a tumbling real and bumper harvest helped the country tap more Chinese demand. While shipments are expected to slow in the coming months as supplies shrink, growing tensions between China and the U.S. may support demand despite higher prices in the South America nation. Local crushers and exporters may compete in the second half of the year for soybeans left in the world's largest exporter.
/jlne.ws/3csnMOu
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| Brexit | | Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union | Johnson heading for crunch Brexit talks with von der Leyen; Hopes are pinned on 'high-level' political meeting with negotiations stalled
George Parker and Jim Pickard and Javier Espinoza - FT
Boris Johnson is planning crunch talks with Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, this month in an effort to unblock post-Brexit trade negotiations, with British officials warning the haggling cannot be allowed to drag on into the autumn.
/jlne.ws/2TZhI9x
'No-Deal' Brexit Threat Looms Over Pandemic-Ravaged U.K. Economy
Jill Ward - Bloomberg
Government has refused to delay final parting amid coronavirus; Leaving bloc on WTO terms could hinder Britain's recovery
The threat of a no-deal Brexit is back -- and with it the risk that the U.K. economy's shaky recovery from the coronavirus pandemic will be hobbled. As British and European Union negotiators head into the last round of talks scheduled before a key summit this month, chances are growing that the U.K. will end the post-Brexit transition period on Dec. 31 without a free trade agreement in place -- spelling turmoil for businesses.
/jlne.ws/3eFXqK9
Brexit: UK's smallest firms divert £10bn in exports away from EU
Richard Partington - The Guardian
Britain's smallest companies are "jumping before they are pushed" by diverting £10bn in exports away from the EU as concerns mount over a possible collapse in Brexit trade talks, according to a report. The research from academics at Aston University, which comes before the latest round of Brexit negotiations this week, showed small British firms were ramping up sales to countries in South America and east Asia.
/jlne.ws/2XnGX7H
Does the DUP now want a 'best of both worlds' Brexit?
John Campbell - BBC News
"Best of both worlds" was a phrase that featured earlier in the Brexit process. It was mainly used by supporters of the backstop - the arrangement which would have kept the whole of the UK in the EU's customs union and Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods. They said this would have protected trade between NI and the rest of the UK, while also giving NI firms better access to the EU than competitors in England, Scotland and Wales.
/jlne.ws/3cno9Kd
Where's the catch in the Brexit fishing talks?
Jennifer Rankin - The Guardian
European Union and British negotiators will face each other screen-to-screen as the latest round of Brexit talks get under way on Tuesday. During this four-day round, the most time has been allocated to one of the toughest issues: fishing rights.
/jlne.ws/36QAzsT
Rice in the Desert: Pandemic Spurs UAE to Grow More Food
Bruce Stanley - Bloomberg
The country imports as much as 90% of the food it consumes; UAE owns farms in more than 60 countries, may invest in others
The United Arab Emirates doesn't spring to mind as an obvious place to farm rice, but the coronavirus is prodding the arid nation to explore new ways of feeding itself.
/jlne.ws/3eH172j
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