| March 05, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The CME Group's February 2024 volume report reflects robust growth and record-breaking performance across various asset classes, driven by increased trading activity and market participation. Interest rate contracts reached a record average daily volume (ADV) of 17.2 million contracts, marking a 6% increase from the previous year. Equity index ADV stood at 6.6 million contracts, while options trading reached a new high with 6.4 million contracts traded across asset classes. Energy contracts saw a notable surge, reaching an ADV of 2.5 million contracts, representing a 20% increase compared to February 2023. Agricultural contracts also experienced growth, reaching an ADV of 1.8 million contracts, showing a 19% increase year-over-year. Foreign exchange ADV reached 854,000 contracts, while metals ADV stood at 587,000 contracts. Additionally, record U.S. Treasury futures and options ADV of 10.9 million contracts were observed, with substantial increases in 10-Year, 5-Year, and 2-Year U.S. Treasury Note futures ADV. Options trading saw an 8% increase, with significant growth in equity index, energy, and agricultural options ADV. Micro products, including micro E-mini equity index futures and options, represented a notable portion of overall ADV. Furthermore, BrokerTec U.S. Repo witnessed a 2% increase in average daily notional value (ADNV) to $298.6 billion, while international trading ADV rose by 9% to 8.1 million contracts, with EMEA ADV up by 14%.
My nephew Patrick Lothian, who is JLN's head of videography, canceled his plans to come to the Hall of Fame ceremony during FIA Boca as part of a long-needed vacation to Florida because of the outbreak of measles in parts of South Florida. This is not a Covid situation by any means and nothing for most adults, or anyone who has been vaccinated for measles, or had them before, to worry about.
Patrick has two small daughters, one of whom is under the age when one gets the first measles vaccination, so her pediatrician recommended that the family stay home. The outbreak in Florida involves 10 reported cases, with six of them in one elementary school in Broward county. The New York Post reported that the U.S. in 2024 has already surpassed the number of cases of measles in 2023, with 82 cases reported, 41 in January and 41 in February. In 2023 there were 58 cases of measles in the U.S.
The CDC said this breakout was years in the making, as some counties stopped giving the vaccine during the Covid pandemic, the NY Post said. I had the vaccine as a child, but decided to have my resistance levels checked just in case, since some of my maladies could have affected my immune system. The test I took showed that my resistance to measles is strong and I was not in need of a booster. So at least I have that going for me.
Here is something I missed from November of 2023. I was recently working on MarketsWiki, updating Cboe and its new executives, and I noticed that John Deters was no longer listed. Deters is no longer with Cboe. Here is the notice Cboe filed with the SEC in November of 2023:
Effective November 6, 2023, John F. Deters' employment as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (the "Company") was terminated. Mr. Deters' termination was without cause and not due to any disagreement with the Company or any matter relating to its operations, policies or practices. Mr. Deters will receive severance payments and benefits pursuant to the terms of the Company's Amended & Restated Executive Severance Plan.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have surged in popularity, contributing to a frenzy that drove the cryptocurrency's price towards a record high yesterday. Since their launch on January 11, investors have rapidly poured into these funds, with the total assets of the 10 U.S. spot bitcoin funds reaching nearly $50 billion. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust has surpassed $10 billion in assets, achieving this milestone faster than any other new ETF. Fidelity's fund, which now holds over $6 billion in assets, has become the asset manager's third-largest ETF and has been a major contributor to its net ETF inflows this year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Bitcoin may be the new gold, but the old gold is having a day too, setting a new all-time high yesterday, with bullion rising as much as 1.3% to $2,141.79, beating the previous record of $2,135.39 set on Dec. 4 last year, Bloomberg reported.
A Bloomberg story shared via Crain's Chicago Business about Mayor Brandon Johnson's plans to carry on plans from the previous mayor for the LaSalle Street canyon included this: "The mayor has been trying to appease the business community after a rocky start. Just last week he announced plans to boost the Loop that include a Chicago Board of Trade museum. He also gave more than $1 million in grants to six downtown restaurants including the storied Ceres Cafe, where dealers used to flock in the heydays of the city's trading floors."
Thank you to Steve Staszak and Cliff Histed for contributing to the JLN MarketsWiki Education GoFundMe campaign yesterday. Steve was featured in a John Lothian Profiles video in June of 2019 following his retirement.
Matthew Sheahan is starting a new position as public relations manager at Latham & Watkins, he shared on LinkedIn.
Laura Diorio is starting a new position as social media associate at NYSE, she shared on LinkedIn. She was previously social media coordinator at NYSE.
Niall Gibney recently moved into a new role at Euronext, as head of equity sales for UK & Ireland, he shared on LinkedIn. He was previously head of sales for the sell side.
Juli Lynne Charlot has died at the age of 101. Who was she? She was the wife of a viscount. She was a former Hollywood singer. And she was the creator of the Poodle Skirt, an embellished circle skirt that was the popular 1950s creation that became the visual shorthand for the entire decade, The New York Times reported.
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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The FIA responded to a public consultation issued by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) outlining a proposed set of "good practices" to promote the integrity and orderly functioning of voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). FIA commended IOSCO for fostering a much-needed dialogue on the issues surrounding the development of VCMs. The global trade agency emphasized that listed derivatives markets have a strong track record in scaling markets for a variety of asset classes and product types, and expressed optimism that collaboration among exchanges, market participants, regulatory authorities, and industry-led efforts to bring greater integrity to carbon markets will contribute positively to the development of robust VCMs. Read the FIA response HERE.~SAED
Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- CME Group Reports February ADV of 29.6 Million Contracts from CME Group.
- Low VIX caused by ETFs, not options-hungry day traders, says the BIS from MarketWatch.
- Cash market trading volumes in February 2024 from Deutsche Borse. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Two Years On, Ken Griffin's Plan for a Miami Headquarters Finally Begins to Take Shape; Citadel plans 'an iconic building' including a luxury hotel
Deborah Acosta - The Wall Street Journal
Billionaire Ken Griffin made a big splash when he said that his giant hedge-fund firm Citadel was moving its headquarters from Chicago to Miami. It was the most significant relocation of any financial firm to Miami. Now, nearly two years later, a waterfront site Griffin purchased for his planned $1 billion headquarters remains empty. Citadel employees still tap away on keyboards at temporary space in the financial district, and the firm has yet to replace the developer it parted ways with last spring.
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****** He should build a citadel.~JJL
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Are things going backwards for women on Wall Street? Those with the chops to make it to senior management in banking may not want to sit around and wait their turn
Brooke Masters - Financial Times
It's been more than 25 years since the biggest names on Wall Street started being hit by massive sex discrimination claims. Each time they ponied up millions of dollars, bank leaders piously promised to make their firms more hospitable to women who wanted an equal shot at success in a high-paying, mostly male industry. These days, the company that faced the most egregious allegations, Citigroup, is run by Jane Fraser, the first woman to become chief executive of a major US bank. At Morgan Stanley, another company that settled, 40 per cent of total staff and 47 per cent of its entry level hires are women. And Goldman Sachs, which paid $215mn just last year to settle long-running gender discrimination claims, can also brag that its most recent class of new partners was the most diverse yet, with 29 per cent women.
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***** It is not so much a step backwards for women as a cha-cha; it is a dance to get around the barriers in front of them.~JJL
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For fixed income asset managers, a better way to reduce tracking error; Combining data science with proprietary pricing models can help meaningfully reduce tracking error
Christopher Edmonds - President, Fixed Income & Data Services at ICE via LinkedIn
As someone with a long career in fixed income, some seismic events have shaped my thinking about the asset class. The market upheaval of COVID-19, and more dramatically, the credit crisis of 2008-09, each underscored what many see as a shortcoming of fixed income: a lack of transparency. It's a characteristic which reflects the sheer complexity and size of the market, where many securities are thinly traded, and risk can be hard to assess. On a systemic level, a dynamic which underpinned the 2008 credit crisis was this: people couldn't manage their risk, because they couldn't see the risk which was there. Part of the answer to this challenge is providing access to quality data.
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***** When ICE talks about data, you should listen.~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our most clicked item Monday was the OCC February 2024 Monthly Volume Data from the OCC. Second was Finance lobby group calls for bolder overhaul of Wealth Management Connect scheme to boost Chinese investments, from the South China Morning Post. And third was a tie between Bloomberg's Uranium Firms Revive Forgotten Mines as Price of Nuclear Fuel Soars and the South China Morning Post's Chinese state media warns against cryptocurrency trading, as domestic interest surge on bitcoin rally.
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| Lead Stories | Deutsche Boerse launches regulated spot platform for crypto assets targeting institutional clients; Named Deutsche Boerse Digital Exchange, the platform will offer a fully regulated ecosystem for trading, settlement and custody of crypto assets.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Deutsche Boerse Group has launched a crypto spot platform for institutional clients, named Deutsche Boerse Digital Exchange (DBDX). DBDX claims to provide a fully regulated, secure ecosystem for trading, settlement and custody of crypto assets, leveraging existing connectivity to market participants. The platform will also offer a suite of secure financial solutions for digital assets from a single point of access and across the value chain.
/jlne.ws/49VVBFG
Bitcoin Funds Pull In Money at Record Pace; BlackRock's bitcoin ETF is fastest ever to reach $10 billion in assets
Jack Pitcher - The Wall Street Journal
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have been a smash hit, helping feed into a frenzy that has sent the cryptocurrency's price toward a record high. Investors have piled into the funds at a historic clip since their Jan. 11 launch, with total assets in the 10 U.S. spot bitcoin funds on the market swelling to nearly $50 billion.
/jlne.ws/3P6sYO6
Gold Climbs to Record as Momentum Builds on Bets Over Fed Pivot; Bullion has rallied about $100 over the past five sessions; Risk of a stock market correction may have prompted buying
Jack Ryan - Bloomberg
Gold jumped to an all-time high, as speculation over a Federal Reserve pivot and geopolitical risks underpinned a rally in the precious metal. Bullion rose as much as 1.3% to $2,141.79 an ounce, before paring its gains. It beat the previous record of $2,135.39 set on Dec. 4 last year. Gold has added about $100 in the past five sessions, fueled by a combination of expectations for monetary easing, geopolitical tensions and the risk of a pullback in equity markets. The scale of the recent move has surprised some market watchers, who say it may be partially driven by momentum.
/jlne.ws/3IIEHyZ
Johnson to carry on Lightfoot-era plan to revamp LaSalle Street canyon
Shruti Singh and Miranda Davis - Bloomberg via Crain's Chicago Business
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is proceeding with a revamp of empty downtown buildings initially estimated at $1 billion in an effort to counter a commercial real estate crisis that's cut sale prices by more than 50%. The city has been working with developers to refine plans to repurpose buildings along and near LaSalle Street, according to the city's Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski. An announcement is expected by the summer after high interest rates delayed the project, she said.
/jlne.ws/3P1t75d
Bitcoin's Market Value Touches Record as Token's Price Nears All-Time High; Market capitalization of Bitcoin reaches $1.35 trillion; Token's price almost scaled pandemic-era record high
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
Bitcoin's price is in sight of an all-time high and the crypto faithful are on tenterhooks waiting for a never-before-seen level. But in market value terms the token already touched a record. The market capitalization of Bitcoin reached $1.35 trillion, scaling the peak of $1.28 trillion from November 2021, CoinGecko data show. That was the month the token jumped to $68,991.85 at the apogee of its pandemic-era bull run.
/jlne.ws/3uLVVrS
Hedge Fund Startups on the Rise With Giant Firms Under Scrutiny
Liza Tetley and Nishant Kumar - Bloomberg
At a Morgan Stanley conference in January at the Breakers luxury resort in Palm Beach, Joshua White was treated like a mini celebrity as his startup hedge fund piqued the interest of attendees. The founder of London-based Regents Gate Capital, who's striking out on his own after spending 15 years as portfolio manager at Balyasny Asset Management and Ken Griffin's Citadel, said he got more than twice the number of requests for meetings at the event than he had time to accommodate all.
/jlne.ws/3Iosor7
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Proposes to Modify and Codify Margin Adequacy Relief
Sidley
On February 20, 2024, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved on a 5-0 vote a proposal (the Proposal)1 that would allow clearing and nonclearing futures commission merchants (FCMs) to treat separate accounts of the same beneficial owner as accounts of different legal entities for purposes of the CFTC's margin adequacy regulations. The Proposal would codify relief provided by the CFTC staff in 2019 (and extended multiple times) that currently facilitates separate margining of accounts of the same customer at the same FCM.
/jlne.ws/432Q91r
Bitcoin's Market Value Touches Record as Token's Price Nears All-Time High
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
Bitcoin's price is in sight of an all-time high and the crypto faithful are on tenterhooks waiting for a never-before-seen level. But in market value terms the token already touched a record. The market capitalization of Bitcoin reached $1.35 trillion, scaling the peak of $1.28 trillion from November 2021, CoinGecko data show. That was the month the token jumped to $68,991.85 at the apogee of its pandemic-era bull run.
/jlne.ws/3uWOFJy
Global miners call on LME to introduce green premium for nickel; Exchange says market not large enough for 'green' nickel futures contract
A. Anantha Lakshmi and Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
Global mining companies have called for a green premium for sustainably produced nickel traded on the London Metal Exchange, as a flood of allegedly "dirty" supplies from Indonesia squeezes profits for producers. BHP, the world's largest mining group, and Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest, who owns miner Wyloo Metals, have been pushing the LME to distinguish between so-called dirty nickel and cleaner supplies.
/jlne.ws/3uTYoAv
Bitcoin surges to a new record high as mainstream money flows into crypto
Allison Morrow - CNN
Bitcoin surged to its all-time high on Monday, shaking off a more than two-year rut that put the future of the entire crypto ecosystem in question. Bitcoin, the world's first and by-far largest digital currency, was trading at $68,791, topping the previous record of $68,789 reached on November 10, 2021.
/jlne.ws/3uOC8YP
The Problem Isn't Big Banks-It's Banks Getting Bigger; Going from a midsize lender to a larger one comes with regulatory and other challenges
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journal
Recent regional banking crises have revived debates about the size of banks. Larger banks have been more insulated from some of the pressures hitting their smaller peers, such as deposit outflows and heavy concentrations in commercial-real estate lending. This suggests that letting banks get bigger might be a pathway to stability-though one that critics would charge shifts the burden to taxpayers to backstop more "too big to fail" behemoths, or would concentrate banking in a way that hurts customers.
/jlne.ws/48ETi8X
Don't Invest in China, Goldman Sachs Wealth Management CIO Warns
Jacob Gu - Bloomberg
China's big stock-market declines aren't enough to warrant putting money in the country, according to the chief investment officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s wealth-management business. "All our clients are asking us that question - given how cheap China appears, people inevitably say, well, has it discounted the worst news?" Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "Our view is that one should not invest in China."
/jlne.ws/3uWxmIC
Global Funds Are Returning to China Stocks, Morgan Stanley Says
Abhishek Vishnoi - Bloomberg
A shift away from Chinese equities by global long-term investors has taken a pause, with some funds getting less bearish, according to Morgan Stanley. Outflows from Chinese equities slowed into the end of February and regional active managers started adding growth and tech stocks, strategists including Gilbert Wong and Laura Wang wrote in a March 4 note on positions by long-only funds.
/jlne.ws/49Ce3TT
China's Ambitious Growth Plan Leaves Investors Wanting More
Bloomberg
Chinese stocks struggled and government bonds advanced even as Premier Li Qiang unveiled an ambitious growth target, underscoring widespread skepticism over the strength of the nation's recovery. The National People's Congress set a GDP growth target of around 5% for 2024 - a higher bar given last year's base, showing further stimulus will be needed. That, and a 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) issuance plan for ultra-long special government bonds, still failed to excite investors who had looked to the key political gathering for bolder steps to revive the world's second-largest economy.
/jlne.ws/49BSRO8
Webinar: International Women's Day 2024 - What does progress look like?; Register now for The TRADE's International Women's Day 2024 webinar on 13 March with guest speakers from Fidelity International, Syz Group and not-for-profit Everyone Matters.
Editors - The Trade
In celebration of International Women's Day (IWD) 2024, The TRADE is delighted to bring you this webinar on Wednesday 13 March from 2-3 pm GMT, celebrating gender diversity milestones achieved by the financial industry and examining where there remains work to be done in order to achieve it.
/jlne.ws/49Z9x1D
ETF Closures Jumped Last Month on Global X Moves
Lucy Brewster - ETF.com
Even as ETFs hit a record $11.7 trillion in assets last month, another measure of the industry's health moved in another direction, as fund closures jumped last month. In February, 39 funds closed, up 44% from the 27 that shuttered in January and more than double the number from February 2023, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. While the ETFs that closed were a mix of styles and themes, all were in the equity category.
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukraine claims to have sunk Russian warship in occupied Crimea; Sinking of warship near Kerch strait would deal further blow to Moscow's naval power and its control over Black Sea
Luke Harding in Kyiv - The Guardian
Ukraine has sunk a Russian warship near the Kerch strait in occupied Crimea, it said, in a further blow to Moscow's naval power and its control over the Black Sea despite Ukrainian losses elsewhere. The HUR military intelligence agency in Kyiv said it attacked the Sergei Kotov on Monday night with naval drones. The vessel, which was on patrol, suffered damage to the stern, right and left sides, and then sank, the agency said. Dramatic video footage showed Ukrainian kamikaze drones closing in on the vessel, seen in ghostly silhouette. A drone hits its hull and there is a large explosion. More drones then target the jagged hole caused by the first impact. There are further detonations, according to video shared by the Group 13 special unit.
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Ukraine claims it has sunk another Russian warship in the Black Sea using high-tech sea drones
Illia Novikov - Associated Press
Ukraine claimed Tuesday it has sunk another Russian warship in the Black Sea using high-tech sea drones as Kyiv's forces continue to take aim at targets deep behind the war's front line. Russian authorities did not confirm the claim. The Ukrainian military intelligence agency said a special operations unit destroyed the large patrol ship Sergey Kotov overnight. The ship, which Ukraine said was commissioned in 2021 and was hit near the Kerch Strait, reportedly can carry cruise missiles and around 60 crew. The sinking of such a modern ship would be a significant loss and an embarrassing blow for Moscow, even though there are dozens of other vessels in its Black Sea fleet.
/jlne.ws/3IuxvWJ
Ukraine destroys railway bridge deep inside Russia
Michael Murphy - The Telegraph
Ukraine said it blew up a railway bridge in Russia's southwestern Samara region on Monday because it was being used to transport "military cargo". The incident is the latest in a string of explosions targeting Russia's rail network, which Kyiv says Moscow uses to move troops and equipment for its invasion of Ukraine. "A railway bridge over the Chapaevka River in Russia's Samara region was blown up. On 4 March 2024, at around 6am [local time], the bridge was damaged by blowing up its support structures," Ukraine's military intelligence said. Russia was using the railway line to transport ammunition from a plant in the town of Chapayevsk, it said.
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Gaza war: Hopes for ceasefire falter ahead of Ramadan
Yolande Knell - BBC News
Hopes had been high over the past week following talks in Paris that there could be a new Gaza ceasefire deal in place for the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan next week. However, while Hamas has now sent a delegation to Cairo for further negotiations with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, Israel has not. This looks like a serious new block. Israeli officials - quoted in local media - demand clear answers from Hamas on key issues as well as a list of the surviving Israeli hostages who could be released with an agreement.
/jlne.ws/3T1pwFO
Pope Francis Calls for Two-State Solution in Israel-Palestine
GVWire.com
Pope Francis has renewed his call for a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict, stating that without it, "true peace remains distant." His comments were made during an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, where he also discussed the deadly conflict in the Middle East and his concerns about the potential for military escalation. The Pope's call for a two-state solution refers to the Oslo Accords, a peace agreement brokered by Norway and signed by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization in the 1990s. However, the agreement has yet to be fully implemented.
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US Says Airdrops to Gaza to Continue in 'Intolerable' Situation; 'People are desperate for food, for water,' spokesman says; Israeli official says it's not true 'starvation is looming'
Courtney McBride and Ethan Bronner - Bloomberg
The US government is working to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza "through as many channels as possible," including more airdrops, because "the situation is simply intolerable," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. "People are desperate for food, for water, for medicine," Miller told reporters Monday at the State Department. "Parents are facing impossible choices about how to feed their children. Many don't know where the next meal will come from, or if it will come at all."
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Exodus: Eight troubling omens for the London Stock Exchange; At least eight firms have plotted moves off the London Stock Exchange in 2024 - which was supposed to be a 'rebound' year for the exchange. It hasn't worked out that way so far
City AM Reporter
Relentless. That was the warning of one of the City's top investment banks this year over the pace of de-listings from the embattled London Stock Exchange. So far it, it appears the comments were frighteningly on the money. A number of take private deals look to be pushing ahead and several boards have fired the starting gun on delisting or swapping their primary hub to another market.
/jlne.ws/3TnaZ8P
Gabriela Grillo
London Metal Exchange
Summary. 1. This notice regretfully informs LME members and the broader metals community of the death of Gabriela Dagmar Grillo, former LME Board director and metals industry stalwart. Background and details. 2. In 1993, Ms Grillo joined Wilhelm Grillo Handelsgesellschaft mbH as a Managing Partner and quickly became a leading figure in the metals industry. She joined the supervisory board of Grillo-Werke AG that same year and was appointed as a member of the board in 1995, on which she served until 2004. Ms Grillo was closely associated with VDM (the Association of German Metal Dealers and Recyclers) and was a member of the VDM Metal Exchange Committee. 3. Ms Grillo served as an LME Board director from 2011 to 2012. She was known for her social responsibility and entrepreneurial courage, working charitably to help young people transition from studying to professional life. She received many awards for her commitment to helping others and improving the lives of those in her local community. 4. The LME wishes to express its sincere condolences to Ms Grillo's family and loved ones. Matthew Chamberlain, Chief Executive Officer, cc: Board directors, All metals.
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Modest improvement in farmer sentiment, yet financial concerns loom
CME Group
The latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer reveals a modest increase in farmer sentiment compared to the previous month, though concerns remain regarding farm financial performance in the year ahead.The February barometer reading reached 111, marking a 5-point rise from last month. The small uptick is attributed to producers expressing increased optimism about the future, with the Future Expectations Index climbing 7 points to 115. However, the Current Conditions Index remained unchanged.
/jlne.ws/4c2KHjh
Nasdaq Outlines Strategy to Deliver Next Phase of Resilient and Scalable Growth
Nasdaq
Highlights enhanced value-creation opportunity following strategic pivot to a platform business with a more scalable, recurring, and profitable revenue profile Reaffirms medium-term outlook and provides 2024 priorities, including progress made to achieve synergy and deleveraging targets associated with Adenza integration. Expects to action approximately 70% of targeted $80 million in net expense synergies ahead of plan, by the end of 2024. Details accelerated deleveraging plan with intent to reach a 4.0x leverage ratio nine to twelve months before - and a 3.3x leverage ratio at least six months before - previously announced targets. Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today will host its Investor Day at 8:00 AM ET, where Adena Friedman, Chair and CEO, Sarah Youngwood, Executive Vice President and CFO, and other members of the senior leadership team will detail the company's plans to deliver its next phase of resilient and scalable growth.
/jlne.ws/3IqnjP2
Exercise & Assignment (E/A) Processing and Deadline Changes for CME/CBT (DATE CHANGE) - Effective April 22, 2024
CME Group
Please be advised that, per CH Advisory 24-035, CME Clearing has planned changes to the Exercise & Assignment (E/A) Processing Times and Deadlines for CME/CBT Options. Option Assignment Processing for CME and CBT early Option Exercises will be moved to align with the times for Expiring Options. This change is now scheduled for Trade Date Monday, April 22, 2024.
/jlne.ws/3IlB2GO
Performance Bond Requirements: Agriculture, Equity, and Cryptocurrency - Effective March 05, 2024
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. The rates will be effective after the close of business on March 05, 2024.
/jlne.ws/3ImeCoT
Product Modification Summary: Amendments to Six (6) Container Freight (Baltic) Futures Contracts - Effective March 25, 2024
CME Group
Amendments to Six (6) Container Freight (Baltic) Futures Contracts.
/jlne.ws/432dQaa
Deutsche Boerse launches regulated crypto spot platform
Deutsche Boerse
Trading in crypto assets launched on the Deutsche Boerse Digital Exchange (DBDX). Regulated crypto spot platform aimed at institutional customers.Crypto Finance and DBDX offer complete ecosystem with trading, settlement and custody of crypto assets. Deutsche Boerse Group has launched the Deutsche Börse Digital Exchange (DBDX), a crypto spot platform for institutional customers. DBDX offers a fully regulated and secure ecosystem for trading, settlement and custody of crypto assets, leveraging the existing connectivity of market participants.
/jlne.ws/3IpTFtg
February 2024 figures at Eurex
Eurex
Total Eurex volume up 6 percent in February year-on-year. Notional outstanding in OTC Clearing up 8 percent year-on-year in February. Eurex Repo's GC Pooling market grows by 16 percent year-on-year. Eurex, Europe's leading derivatives exchange, reports a 6 percent increase in traded contracts for February compared to the previous year, rising from 146.1 million to 154.6 million contracts. Interest rate derivatives grew by robust 26 percent, with the number of contracts traded in February climbing from 61.4 million to 77.3 million. Equity derivatives also experienced a strong growth of 19 percent with contracts climbing year-on-year from 16.7 to 19.9 million contracts in February. Conversely, index derivatives turnover saw a 16 percent year-on-year decline in February, decreasing from 67.9 million to 57.1 million traded contracts.
/jlne.ws/3uOHeEr
Intercontinental Exchange Reports February 2024 Statistics
Intercontinental Exchange
Record Global Commodities ADV, including record total Ags & Metals. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today reported February 2024 trading volume and related revenue statistics, which can be viewed on the company's investor relations website at https://ir.theice.com/ir-resources/supplemental-information in the Monthly Statistics Tracking spreadsheet. February highlights include: Total average daily volume (ADV) up 19% y/y; open interest (OI) up 21% y/y, including record OI of 92.3M lots on February 23.
/jlne.ws/48AvaUY
Publication of JPX Working Paper, Vol.43 "Automated Determination of TCFD Recommended Disclosures through Zero-shot Text Classification Using Large Language Models"
Japan Exchange Group
Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) today published JPX Working Paper, Vol.43 "Automated Determination of TCFD Recommended Disclosures through Zero-shot Text Classification Using Large Language Models". JPX Working Papers highlight research and studies on changes in the market and regulatory environment with the aim of raising competitiveness. Conducted by officers and employees of JPX, its subsidiaries, and affiliates, as well as outside researchers, JPX Working Papers are intended to draw comments widely from academia, research institutions, and other market participants and observers.
/jlne.ws/4bYXUcZ
Discovering The Low Carbon Premium For The Nickel Market
London Metal Exchange
Summary. 1. This notice sets out the LME's position on the topic of "green" nickel, its solution for establishing sustainability-related pricing differentials and its broader efforts in driving improved sustainability practices across the industry. Background. 2. As part of its overall sustainability strategy, the LME places a strong emphasis on driving improved transparency around ESG data, all the while protecting the integrity of its traded contracts. The LME recognises that there is a broad range of mining and refining practices employed in the nickel market which give rise to nickel with widely differing ESG characteristics. 3. Noting recent market commentary on this important topic, this notice sets out an approach, backed by a solution already in operation, which enables industry participants to procure and price nickel with specific ESG characteristics.
/jlne.ws/3EEQs7p
Nominations of Directors - NZX Limited
New Zealand Exchange
NZX intends to hold its Annual Meeting on Thursday, 18 April 2024 in Auckland (and online). Further details will be advised in the Notice of Annual Meeting in due course. For the purposes of NZX Listing Rule 2.3.2, NZX advises that the opening date for nominations for directors is today, Friday, 1 March 2024. The closing date for nominations of directors will be Thursday, 14 March 2024.
/jlne.ws/3Tmqv4t
NGX, NG Clearing foster understanding of Single Stock futures
Kehinde Akinseinde-Jayeoba - Nigerian Tribune
Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) and NG Clearing Limited have enabled deeper understanding of the Single Stock Futures product in the Exchange Traded Derivatives market with a virtual workshop. Jude Chiemeka, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Exchange Limited, giving his welcome remarks, noted that derivatives play a crucial role in global risk management, with over 90 percent of leading companies using them. "The derivatives market continues to grow rapidly, reaching $39.17 billion by 2027.
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OCC February 2024 Monthly Volume Data
OCC
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Former Twitter execs sue Elon Musk for over $128 mln in severance
Reuters
Four former top Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, have sued Elon Musk for over $128 million in combined unpaid severance, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, is the latest in a series of legal challenges the billionaire faces after he acquired the social media company for $44 billion in October 2022 and later renamed it X. The other plaintiffs are Ned Segal, Twitter's former chief financial officer; Vijaya Gadde, its former chief legal officer; and Sean Edgett, its former general counsel.
/jlne.ws/3TobM9x
Apple on Collision Course With EU as New Digital Markets Act Kicks In; Landmark Digital Markets Act comes fully into play Thursday; Rules place guardrails on platforms including Meta, Google
Samuel Stolton and Stephanie Bodoni - Bloomberg
Apple Inc.'s troubles in the European Union are just beginning, even after it was hit with the third largest antitrust fine ever doled out by the bloc. This Thursday, the EU is betting that a new sweeping law will rein in the excesses of Apple and some of the world's most dominant tech firms after decades of market dominance that the bloc struggled to contain.
/jlne.ws/3wG7eCx
Alibaba Backs $2.5 Billion AI Firm in Second Big 2024 Deal
Jane Zhang - Bloomberg
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is leading a financing round of at least $600 million for Chinese AI startup MiniMax, spearheading its second major deal in the space this year as it unleashes capital in pursuit of growth. The two-year-old firm has secured funds from Alibaba and other investors at a valuation of more than $2.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The fundraise remains in progress but Alibaba and HongShan, formerly Sequoia China, have committed to the financing, one of the people said, asking not to be identified talking about private discussions. The terms could still change because negotiations with more investors are proceeding, the people added.
/jlne.ws/3wD4e9Y
American Society for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Elects Rei Llazani as President
American Society for Artificial Intelligence
In a significant development that marks a new chapter in the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Rei Llazani, entrepreneur and businessman, has been elected as President of the American Society for AI (ASFAI). The organization, a non-profit that brings together the top leaders and executives in AI, announced this decision following a unanimous vote by its Board of Directors. "I see AI as more than technology. In many ways, it is an evolutionary mechanism that brings humanity to new, great heights. I am honored to support the Society's mission in helping create a better world with AI and I am grateful for the Board's vote of confidence," Llazani says.
/jlne.ws/3P6tgEC
AMD hits US roadblock in selling AI chip tailored for China, Bloomberg News reports
Reuters
Advanced Micro Devices has hit a U.S. government roadblock in its efforts to sell an AI chip tailored for the Chinese market, as Washington cracks down on the export of advanced technologies to Beijing, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. AMD tried to get the U.S. Commerce Department's go-ahead but officials said it must obtain a license from the Bureau of Industry and Security as the chip was too powerful despite being weaker than what the company sells outside China, and designed to meet U.S. export restrictions, the report said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/3TnU98D
AI Search Startup Perplexity Set to Double Valuation to $1 Billion; Funding round comes just a few months after company's most recent financing
Berber Jin and Miles Kruppa - The Wall Street Journal
Perplexity, an artificial-intelligence startup aiming to challenge Google's dominance in web search, is finalizing a new funding deal at around a $1 billion valuation, people familiar with the matter said, roughly doubling its valuation since its most recent financing a few months ago. The funding frenzy for the one-year-old startup is a remarkable example of the enthusiasm among some venture capitalists who think AI technology could challenge Google's yearslong grip over search and breathe new life into startups after a bruising couple of years.
/jlne.ws/48KSm2O
OpenAI, Salesforce Sign Pledge to Build AI for Good of Humanity; Scale AI and Hugging Face also among dozens of signatories; The open letter stops short of listing specific actions needed
Jackie Davalos - Bloomberg
OpenAI, Salesforce Inc. and other tech companies signed an open letter highlighting a "collective responsibility" to "maximize AI's benefits and mitigate the risks" to society, in the tech industry's latest effort to call for building artificial intelligence responsibly. In a post on the social media platform X, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said he was "excited for the spirit of this letter," which was started by venture capitalist Ron Conway and his firm SV Angel. Altman said progress in AI "will be one of the biggest factors in improving people's quality of life." Hugging Face, Scale AI and dozens of other startups and tech companies were also listed as signatories in the letter.
/jlne.ws/3PbL3u7
Ex-Twitter Executives Sue Elon Musk for $128 Million in Severance Pay; Former CEO, three others claim billionaire reneged on payments; Executives were fired after Musk bought company in 2022
Jef Feeley and Kurt Wagner - Bloomberg
Four ex-Twitter executives, including former Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, sued company owner Elon Musk for allegedly stiffing them on more than $128 million in severance payments after they were ousted from the company. The former top officials said Musk showed "special ire" toward them after he took over the social-media platform in 2022, publicly vowing to withhold their severance to recoup about $200 million from the $44 billion deal, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in northern California.
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JPMorgan Joins French Payments Fray in Tie-Up With Visa Rival; Bank to offer Cartes Bancaires to French clients by year-end; JPMorgan is weighing joining other domestic payment networks
Alexandre Rajbhandari - Bloomberg
JPMorgan & Chase Co. will join France's Cartes Bancaires CB, giving the payment network more heft to compete with US rivals Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. The Wall Street giant was the first US bank to be approved as a principal member of Cartes Bancaires and is aiming to offer the option to French merchants by the end of the year, according to a statement Monday.
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Cybersecurity's AI Crossroads
Danny Lopez - Forbes
In the cybersecurity ecosystem, AI is already driving a polarizing set of opportunities and challenges, largely determined by the motivation of its users. In many ways, the battleground remains unchanged-organizations need to prevent incidents and breaches to the best of their ability while threat actors continue to pursue criminal or political agendas. What's changed is that the level of technology sophistication available to both groups has been transformed by AI, bringing with it heightened levels of risk to networks, data and connected infrastructure.
/jlne.ws/3T1WENp
The Future Of AI And ML In Cybersecurity
Michael Roytman - Forbes
The recent AI/ML inflection point in the C-suites of businesses world wide has a specific cause. The buzz around ChatGPT's rise is actually about the potential that the architecture of Open AI promises. This is the combination of two tried and true machine learning approaches: large language models (LLM) and reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF).
/jlne.ws/3TnDtiI
Practical Intellectual Property Protection With SASE
Emil Sayegh - Forbes
In the midst of intense national debates about physical border security, highlighted in the news by grandstanding and photo ops among politicians and presidential candidates, an equally critical discussion on sovereignty and safety is emerging: the protection of intellectual property (IP). The responsibility of safeguarding these invaluable national assets falls on our technological platforms-across networks, in the cloud, and on our collective computers. Unlike physical borders, however, the boundaries for IP protection are not constrained by geography.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Coinbase shrugs off site crash as shares of the top U.S. crypto exchange surge
Niamh Rowe - Fortune (paywalled)
Shares of Coinbase Global, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, have nearly doubled over the last month-and were up some 265% over the last year-through trading on Monday, which saw the biggest single-day gain since January 2022.
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Bitcoin is running out of enemies
Jeff John Roberts - Fortune
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you." This quote-frequently misattributed to Gandhi-has been around in one form or another for at least a century, and in recent years became a rallying cry for crypto believers. There's a problem though. In the case of Bitcoin, the number of powerful people who want to fight it is dwindling rapidly-so much so that it's becoming harder to tell who is David and who is Goliath.
/jlne.ws/4c4qz04
Memecoin Frenzy Reaches a Crescendo on Back of Bitcoin Rally
Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
Some of the most speculative cryptocurrencies introduced in the past few years are trading at record highs. And old favorites such as Dogecoin are outperforming Bitcoin while the original digital asset approaches its peak price reached during the pandemic-fueled rally more than two years ago.
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MicroStrategy to Offer $600 Million in Convertible Notes to Buy More Bitcoin
David Pan - Bloomberg
MicroStrategy Inc., the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, proposed increasing its cache of the largest cryptocurrency through the sale of $600 million in convertible senior notes. The value of Bitcoin holdings on the enterprise software maker's balance sheet has increased to around $13 billion since the company started purchasing the digital asset in 2020 as part of the effort to hedge inflation. Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy's co-founder, has become one of the most prominent advocates for the cryptocurrency by turning the software maker into a Bitcoin proxy for stock investors.
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | In the N.C. Governor's Race, the GOP Frontrunner Is a Climate Denier, and the Democrat Doesn't Want to Talk About It; The state's Republican lieutenant governor and Democratic attorney general are expected to square off in November to replace term-limited Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat. But the Republican legislature, with super-majorities in both houses, now calls the shots on climate.
Daniel Shailer - Inside Climate News
One stifling Sunday last summer, Winkler's Grove Baptist Church's congregation gathered in Hickory, North Carolina, for morning worship. The service's guest speaker, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, was three months into his gubernatorial campaign. After 25 minutes at the lectern, he turned his attention to climate change. "Last month it was a little cool. It was in the 60s. That was spring. Then the climate changed because summer came and it got hot," said Robinson. "The climate is going to change, because it happens four times a year."
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Commissioner Pham Announces Agenda for the March 6 Global Markets Advisory Committee Meeting
CFTC
CFTC Commissioner Caroline D. Pham, sponsor of the Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), today announced the agenda for the upcoming GMAC public meeting on Wednesday, March 6, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (EST) at the CFTC's Washington, D.C., headquarters.
/jlne.ws/3Io3VlO
Bank Runs Spooked Regulators. Now a Clampdown Is Coming; Federal Reserve officials and other bank regulators could roll out a new proposal this spring to ward off a repeat of 2023's banking turmoil.
Jeanna Smialek and Rob Copeland - The New York Times
One year after a series of bank runs threatened the financial system, government officials are preparing to unveil a regulatory response aimed at preventing future meltdowns. After months of floating fixes at conferences and in quiet conversations with bank executives, the Federal Reserve and other regulators could unveil new rules this spring. At least some policymakers hope to release their proposal before a regulation-focused conference in June, according to a person familiar with the plans.
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Small business reporting requirement found unconstitutional by Alabama federal judge
Fatima Hussein - AP
In a blow to the Biden administration's effort to increase corporate transparency, an Alabama federal district judge has ruled that the Treasury Department cannot require small business owners to report details on their owners and others who benefit from the business. U.S. District Judge Liles C. Burke decided late Friday that the Corporate Transparency Act, a landmark U.S. anti-money laundering law enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021, is unconstitutional on the grounds that Congress exceeded its powers in enacting the law - and so the rulemaking stemming from it is unlawful.
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Judge Strikes Down Law Requiring Corporate-Ownership Disclosure; A U.S. District Judge in Alabama sided with a small business group, saying the Corporate Transparency Act was unconstitutional
Mengqi Sun - The Wall Street Journal
An Alabama federal judge ruled the Corporate Transparency Act, a sweeping bipartisan anti-money-laundering law passed in 2021, was unconstitutional, leaving its future uncertain. The act became effective Jan. 1. Congress hoped it would help stop money-laundering by rooting out the use of anonymous shell companies and would track the flow of illicit money and protect U.S. national security interests. The law creates a beneficial ownership database and reporting requirements for companies to file ownership information to the U.S. Treasury Department, similar to existing requirements in the U.K. and the European Union. The law focuses primarily on small and private companies and applies to more than 32 million small businesses nationwide.
/jlne.ws/3P97VdE
Office Hours with Gary Gensler: Mrs. O'Leary's Cow & Market Resiliency
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
In 1871, a century and a half ago, as the story goes, Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern. That led to the Great Chicago Fire, which left over a hundred thousand people without homes and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, and that's in 1871 dollars. Now, what does Mrs. O'Leary's cow have to do with the Securities and Exchange Commission? The Chicago fire was caused by so much more than bovine mischief. It was about building materials and incentives related to Chicago infrastructure. It was about fire prevention, firefighting equipment, building codes. Chicagoans understood this. When they rebuilt their city, they did it with better infrastructure and standards to prevent fires from starting and then containing the spread. And such investments in resiliency were well worth it. Chicagoans have benefited ever since.
/jlne.ws/49VLpwW
Prepared Remarks Before the 2024 SEC Investor Advocacy Clinic Summit
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Today is the fifth Investor Advocacy Clinic Summit, and it features a great set of presentations and panels, including clinic work experiences and community outreach, engagement with underrepresented individuals, and the role of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in clinical work. One of the pillars of the SEC's mission is to protect investors. Fundamental to that pillar is the need to help all investors guard against financial fraud. Our registrants have to comply with investor protections through specific duties - things like fiduciary duty, duty of care, duty of loyalty, best execution, and best interest.
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FCA warns firms over anti-money laundering failings
FCA
We have today warned firms about common failings we have found in firms' financial crime controls. We have written to CEOs of Annex 1 firms setting out our findings from our recent assessments of how firms are complying with money laundering regulations. Annex 1 businesses, which include some lenders, safe custody providers, money brokers and financial leasing companies, undertake specified activities which mean they must be registered and supervised by us for their compliance with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs).
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FCA to investigate use of personal guarantees in certain small business lending
FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today committed to investigate the use of personal guarantees by lenders to support loans to certain small businesses. The steps come in response to a super complaint from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The FSB has raised concerns that a growing demand for personal guarantees by lenders has a detrimental impact on small businesses, which they believe dissuades them from borrowing funds to grow. It has particular concerns about small limited companies. The FCA's remit, which is set by Parliament, does not include lending to limited companies. However, the work announced by the FCA today reflects its commitment to do what it can to support small businesses within its defined remit.
/jlne.ws/3T6O4NB
SFC warns public of BitForex for suspected virtual asset-related fraud
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today warned the public of suspected virtual asset fraud involving a purported virtual asset trading platform (VATP) operating under the name of BitForex (Note 1). BitForex, purportedly headquartered in Hong Kong, has neither been licensed by the SFC nor applied to the SFC for a licence to operate a VATP in Hong Kong.
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Banks find clean-energy allies in fight against stricter capital rules; Concern risk-weighting for renewable-power projects would rise fourfold under Basel III endgame proposal
Amanda Chu and Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
US banks pushing back against tougher capital rules have found an ally in the renewable power industry, as project developers warn that a proposal to guard against a financial crisis risks slowing down the clean-energy transition. The so-called Basel III endgame proposal, being drawn up by the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators, aims to make the system safer by increasing the amount of capital that lenders have to hold on their balance sheets.
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Byju's Hedge Fund Ally Faces Jail Time Over Missing $533 Million
Steven Church - Bloomberg
The founder of a small Florida hedge fund could be jailed for refusing to reveal where Indian tech firm Think & Learn Pvt allegedly hid $533 million that lenders are trying to recover, according to a federal judge. William C. Morton could be locked up for contempt of court if he can't explain why he disobeyed a court order to provide details about the money, which was briefly placed with his hedge fund, Camshaft Capital Fund. US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey scheduled a hearing for later this month in Delaware to decide what should happen to the founder for defying a court order.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Is Your 401(k) Destroying Capitalism? Target-date funds and other passive investments attract the ire of fund managers like David Einhorn. Is there a better mousetrap?
Spencer Jakab - The Wall Street Journal
A respected Wall Street strategist was lambasted when he wrote in 2016 that index funds are "worse than Marxism." No, Lenin won't be plundering your 401(k), but serious people are again pointing to what they say are the hazards of retirement funds on autopilot-for America's savers and maybe even for markets themselves. The reason people such as hedge-fund manager David Einhorn are sounding the alarm isn't just the relentless rise of the AI-inspired "Magnificent Seven," now collectively more valuable than any foreign stock market, but the huge sums being plowed into stocks and bonds with regard only to price, not value.
/jlne.ws/437mQuW
Reddit's Meme Stock Forum Users Threaten to Bet Against Its IPO
Bailey Lipschultz - Bloomberg
Reddit Inc.'s stock-trading enthusiasts made it a household name by backing companies that Wall Street wouldn't. For Reddit's own initial public offering, a group of them are about to flip the script. In the days after the social-media company filed for an IPO, thousands of members of the WallStreetBets forum - which boasts around 15 million users and helped popularize meme stocks like GameStop Corp. - voted to boost a forum post about shorting the company, a sharp reversal of their typically bullish ways. Their avowed reasons varied from the company's lack of profitability to competitive concerns, and mostly centered on spite. For Reddit, which is eyeing a valuation of as much as $6.5 billion in an IPO that could come this month, the scrutiny is particularly unwelcome as it appears in one of the most active and high-profile communities - which it touts in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission as key to its value proposition.
/jlne.ws/3uZ2yqK
Morgan Stanley Offers Pre-IPO Share Trading to Wealth Clients
Bailey Lipschultz - Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley's wealth management arm is giving its clients a chance to buy and sell coveted shares of private companies before they are available to the wider public, as startups weighing initial public offerings increasingly remain private for longer.
/jlne.ws/3V1EDS4
Gold Flirts With New Record High on US Interest Rate Outlook
Yvonne Yue Li - Bloomberg
Gold - a safe-haven asset that generally thrives during times of lower interest rates and geopolitical upheaval - is understandably having a moment. As investors bet the Federal Reserve will trim rates in June following a slew of mixed US data reports, the precious metal that's stored in both federal depositories and individuals' sock drawers is now within striking distance of a new all-time high. Gold rose above $2,100 an ounce on Monday, quickly nearing the metal's $2,135.39 peak.
/jlne.ws/4bYT5jT
Options Show Bitcoin Traders Are Betting on $70,000 and Beyond
David Pan - Bloomberg
Traders are setting their sights beyond Bitcoin's 2021 record price even before it has been broken, with options showing growing expectations for a run to as high as $80,000 by the end of March. The open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts, for short-dated call options that expire on March 29 with strike prices of $70,000, $75,000 and $80,000 has climbed in the last 24 hours, data from Deribit and Amberdata show. Bitcoin rose as much as 5.7% to $66,460 on Monday, bringing it within striking distance of its all-time high of $68,991 set in November 2021.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Jamie Dimon takes a stand by signing JPMorgan up as the first big bank to reveal a key clean energy metric to investors
Amanda Gerut - Fortune
The dean of Wall Street CEOs is green. JPMorgan Chase today struck an agreement with three New York City pension funds with investments in the bank valued at $478 million to disclose the ratio of its clean energy to fossil fuel financing. According to the NYC funds, the metric will give investors a more comprehensive view as to how the bank is progressing on its net-zero emissions goals and whether it is ratcheting up its clean-energy financing activities over time.
/jlne.ws/48KQcQK
Financial toll of climate crisis hitting women harder, UN says; Rural households led by women lose about 8% more income to heat stress than male-led families, data shows
Fiona Harvey - The Guardian
Women in rural areas suffer substantially greater economic losses from the impacts of climate breakdown than men in developing countries, research has shown, and the gap is likely to widen further. Households headed by women in rural areas lost about 8% more of their income to heat stress than male-headed households, and their reduction in income when floods struck was about 3% greater than the loss to men, according to data released by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Tuesday. The difference, taken across the world's low- and middle-income countries, adds up to about an extra $37bn lost to women from heat stress and $16bn extra from floods each year.
/jlne.ws/49QkKSo
Many Environmentalists Don't Vote. This Group Wants to Change That
Zahra Hirji - Bloomberg
All over the planet, elections are taking center stage this year, as some 4 billion people across more than 50 countries head to the polls - roughly half the world's population. In the US, March 5 marks what's known as Super Tuesday, when the greatest number of states hold primary elections and caucuses to determine the presidential candidates come November. You could be forgiven for thinking that climate change is high on the list of election issues, or for assuming that Americans who care about it will be running, not walking, to the ballot box to vote. The US endured a whopping 28 disasters costing $1 billion or more in damages in 2023, which was also the hottest year in recorded history. This year is shaping up to match or exceed that record.
/jlne.ws/4320EC6
Exclusive: Labor unions end Starbucks boardroom fight after progress on bargaining
Svea Herbst-Bayliss - Reuters
The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a coalition of North American labor unions, is withdrawing its three director candidates to the coffee chain's 11-member board one week before Starbucks investors were slated to elect directors to oversee corporate strategy at the company's March 13 annual meeting, the sources said, asking not to be named because the discussions are private.
/jlne.ws/49ZL9Ng
Pressed for Space, Solar Farms Are Getting Creative
Jessica Nix - Bloomberg
Solar power is expected to dominate global electricity markets in the next few decades, and already accounts for three-quarters of renewable energy capacity, according to the International Energy Agency. This year, BloombergNEF predicts solar builds will climb another 25%, adding more than 500 gigawatts of capacity. All of that solar needs a lot of space. Powering just one megawatt of capacity requires at least five acres, meaning a 200-megawatt project (roughly 3,000 panels) takes up as much space as 550 American football fields. That calculus is one reason China - the world's biggest solar market - is hosting many projects in remote desert regions. It's also why the IEA expects rooftop and residential solar to expand faster than farms this year.
/jlne.ws/4a0mkRq
SpaceX faces hearing on engineers fired after criticizing Elon Musk over sexism
Daniel Wiessner - Reuters
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The DEI Debate in US Fails to Slow Top Minority-Owned Investment Bank
Caleb Mutua - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3V0duz3
UN nuclear watchdog head urges development banks to fund new projects
Jamie Smyth and Sarah White - Financial Times
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EU Parliament, Council agree to ban products made with forced labour
Reuters
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European companies face hurdles linking sustainability to growth, survey finds
Sidhi Mittal - edie
/jlne.ws/49yJizk
Could 'Microfactories' Pave a New Path Forward for Plastic Recycling?
Wyatt Myskow - Inside Climate News
/jlne.ws/3V3uKU4
US Cities Post New Daily High Temperature Records: Weather Watch
Brian K Sullivan - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3P7MREv
Could the $6 billion legal fee in Musk's Tesla pay case be reasonable?
Tom Hals - Reuters
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | BlackRock to Buy TC Energy Natural Gas Pipeline System in $1.14 Billion Deal
Kevin Orland - Bloomberg
BlackRock Inc. and Morgan Stanley investment funds agreed to buy TC Energy Corp.'s Portland Natural Gas Transmission System in a deal valued at about $1.14 billion as the world's largest asset manager bulks up in infrastructure. The sale by TC Energy and partner Energir LP to BlackRock's diversified infrastructure business and investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners includes the assumption of $250 million in debt. TC Energy said Monday it will reap pretax cash equity proceeds of about C$740 million ($545 million).
/jlne.ws/3TnaF9U
Citigroup Looks to Deepen Ties With Mideast's Richest Families
Zainab Fattah - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. has been dispatching its top investment bankers to spend more time with family offices across the Middle East as the funds look to deploy their riches in areas like real estate and private equity. In most cases, these families generate their wealth from large companies they own, giving Citigroup another reason for trying to capture more of their business, said Manolo Falcó, a vice chairman in the firm's banking division.
/jlne.ws/3uVHiCi
Short-sellers rake in nearly $1 billion targeting US regional bank ETF
Manya Saini and Niket Nishant - Reuters
Short sellers targeting a key regional U.S. bank exchange-traded fund have made $977 million on paper so far in 2024, data from analytics firm Ortex showed, as troubles at New York Community Bancorp rippled across the industry. The fallout from NYCB's exposure to the troubled commercial real estate (CRE) market has made many investors jittery about the health of the sector.
/jlne.ws/4c0UNRE
US banks far more exposed than Europeans to property crunch, says Morgan Stanley
Tommy Wilkes - Reuters
Major European banks have been cutting their lending to commercial property and have half the exposure of their U.S. peers, making U.S. lenders more vulnerable as office prices plunge further, Morgan Stanley said on Tuesday. Commercial real estate (CRE) markets are in the grip of the biggest downturn since the 2008-9 financial crisis as higher borrowing costs and a spike in vacancy rates driven by more people working from home hit demand for office space.
/jlne.ws/3T6A4TU
ICMA study sees more cbank intervention in bonds, regulation needs review
Reuters
Central banks will have to intervene more frequently in bond markets and policymakers should review regulations applying to dealers given increased volatility, trade body ICMA said in the findings of a study on Europe's biggest government bond markets. While liquidity is good in European markets, it has become more sensitive to volatility, International Capital Markets Association said in its study published on Tuesday, adding that markets are becoming volatile faster than in the past.
/jlne.ws/48HSO23
Former Goldman Sachs Partner's Hedge Fund Plans New York Office
Cristiane Lucchesi and VinÃcius Andrade - Bloomberg
Vinland Capital, a Brazilian hedge fund founded by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Andre Laport, is planning to open an office in New York, according to people familiar with the matter. The fund, which already has US institutional clients, is considering ways to deepen its relationship with those investors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn't public. Vinland has about 14 billion reais ($2.8 billion) under management, according to Anbima, Brazil's capital-markets association.
/jlne.ws/3V2ucO2
BlackRock sees India, Indonesia as promising for investment opportunities
Reuters
/jlne.ws/3uWLL7B
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | AI Talent Is in Demand as Other Tech Job Listings Decline; Postings for artificial-intelligence-related roles are growing and touting higher pay
Nate Rattner - The Wall Street Journal
U.S. companies are ramping up recruitment of artificial-intelligence professionals and paying a premium for talent. Firms in the tech sector and beyond went on a hiring spree after the onset of the pandemic before pivoting to a focus on efficiency through layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. The market for AI-related roles has proved resilient, job-listings data show.
/jlne.ws/3ImVver
Warren Buffett Proposed A Way To Ensure 'Anybody Who's Willing To Work 40 Hours A Week Has A Decent Living' - And It Wouldn't Cost Employers Anything
Jeannine Mancini - Benzinga
In a 2016 interview with CNN, famed investor Warren Buffett shared insightful views on the state of the economy, the distribution of wealth and the mechanisms through which a fairer economic system could be achieved. Buffett's observations came years before concerns over inflation intensified. Given that the federal minimum wage has remained unchanged at $7.25 since 2009, his proposals for ensuring a livable wage have become increasingly relevant today. Buffett emphasized the disparity within the American economy, noting, "We're in an economy where specialized talents bring incredible sums and where if you're a little bit where you really don't fit well into the market system you are left behind."
/jlne.ws/4ccUbsu
The banks on the frontline of the remote working battle; Some Wall Street lenders have taken a more aggressive stance than European rivals on staff returning to the office
Owen Walker and Akila Quinio - Financial Times
As many professional workers have settled into now well established hybrid work patterns, banks and other financial services companies have stood out in recent weeks for the battles they are still having with staff. Several lenders have upset employees by demanding they return to the office more days a week, with workers complaining of draconian measures, such as monitoring their attendance and threats of disciplinary action for non-compliance.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Health benefits navigation platform Healthee garners $32M; The company will use the funds to scale its employee-focused benefits-navigation platform and speed up product development.
Jessica Hagen - MobileHealthNews.com
Healthee, a healthcare benefits navigation platform, announced it secured $32 million in a Series A funding round. Fin Capital, Glilot Capital Partners, and Group11 co-led the round with participation from TriNet, a publicly traded company providing companies with HR-related offerings, including payroll, benefits, compliance and risk-management solutions.
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As cyberattack jeopardizes physician practices, AMA demands action
Bookmark
American Medical Association
As the cyber-takedown of Change Healthcare has forced medical practices to go without revenue for a twelfth day, the American Medical Association (AMA) urged U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to use all its available authorities to ensure that physician practices can continue to function, and patients can continue to receive the care that they need.
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How contagious is measles? State health expert weighs in
CBS News Video
Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, joined CBS News Detroit to talk about the measles cases reported in SE Michigan.
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Updated Covid Shot Expected to Come This Fall, CDC Director Says; Americans can expect new Covid shots along with those for flu;
Scientists have begun work on picking a strain to target Jemima Denham and Riley Griffin - Bloomberg
Americans should expect yet another update of the Covid-19 vaccine this fall at about the same time as flu shots are available, the top US public health official said Monday. Researchers are working on selecting a strain for the upcoming version, and will probably wait until May to pick one to target with vaccines, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen said in an interview at Bloomberg's offices in Washington.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Dubai's $429 Million Parking IPO Sells Out Within Minutes
Julia Fioretti and Shaji Mathew - Bloomberg
The Dubai government's latest initial public offering sold out as soon as books opened, with investors rushing to snap up shares in the city's public-parking business. Books for the listing of Parkin Co. PJSC, which could raise as much as 1.57 billion dirhams ($429 million), were covered across the price range within minutes of opening for subscriptions on Tuesday, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg show.
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Egyptians Are Buying and Selling Gold Just to Stay Afloat; Clamor for the precious metal is growing as the buying power of the country's currency plunges in value against the dollar, and inflation eats away at savings.
Vivian Yee and Nada Rashwan - The New York Times
Inside the wood-paneled shop in Cairo's famed Khan el-Khalili market, the price of gold was slumping fast, and Rania Hussein was feeling the future slip through her fingers. She and her mother watched the gold merchant weigh the necklace and three bangles they had brought in - jewelry Ms. Hussein had bought for her mother as a present five years ago but which they now needed to sell. Her brother was getting married, an expensive undertaking even in normal times, but the economic crisis and soaring inflation that have gripped Egypt for more than two years left the family no choice.
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Britain Isn't Such a Basket Case Anymore, at Least to Investors; There's a new sense of optimism in the UK as a global investment destination ahead of a general election later this year.
Philip Aldrick and Caroline Hepker - Bloomberg
The UK's reputation as a global investment destination hit rock bottom last April. The European Union was a "more attractive place to start a business," Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith said after the UK competition watchdog blocked the company's takeover of games developer Activision Blizzard. For post-Brexit Britain, no rebuke stung more.
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Guyana Beats Venezuela in Oil Exports During Border Dispute
Lucia Kassai and Julian Lee - Bloomberg
The border dispute between oil-rich Venezuela and Guyana got a new twist with Guyana exporting more oil than its neighbor for the third straight month. Guyana's daily exports were 621,000 barrels in February, higher than Venezuela's 604,000 barrels, according to vessel movements compiled by Bloomberg.
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Malaysia Sees Asia, Africa Taking Palm Oil Europe Doesn't Want; EU deforestation rules set to hit imports from top growers; Malaysia says smallholders will find it difficult to adapt
Anuradha Raghu and Megan Durisin Albery - Bloomberg
Malaysia, the second-biggest palm oil producer, expects Asia and Africa to soak up any supply that becomes available from export disruptions to Europe after the bloc's new deforestation laws come into effect. The European Union has put in place rules that stop products causing forest destruction from being sold in shops and supermarkets. Most companies have until the end of the year to comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation, which covers commodities from palm oil to cocoa and coffee. Critics say the rules especially punish smaller farmers.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Why pessimism is pointless - and pernicious; It may be fashionable to be a catastrophist but the consequences can be alarming
Jemima Kelly - Financial Times (opinion)
The world of self-help teems with motivational quotes about the power of positive thinking, and the importance of reframing the negative. "Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results." "Positive thinking is more than just a tagline." "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." (That last one is from Shakespeare himself, via Hamlet.) Yet when it comes to the way in which we think and talk about the world outside our own heads, its future in particular, striking anything other than a very gloomy tone is not the done thing. We seem to have collectively decided that we must at all times pursue and project a sense of relentless, spirit-crushing pessimism.
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