| December 02, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
I am in Florida again, this time just for two weeks. I am finishing up some of the work I was doing in October and trying to get the damage to my roof fixed from Hurricane Milton. Also, JLN will not be at FIA Asia this year despite originally having plans for Robby Lothian (USA version) to attend again. At the beginning of November, Robby and Tim, whom he lives with, received notice from their landlord that the house they lived in had been sold and they needed to move out in 30 days. Thus, Robby and Tim did not make it home for Thanksgiving and spent the holiday weekend moving down in Columbia, MO.
Jemima Kelly of the Financial Times today does not paint a very pretty picture of the potential impact of the deregulation trend to spill from crypto into the traditional financial markets due to increased linkages. Her commentary titled The grim ghost of crypto future has the subheadline "Overconfidence since the election victory of Donald Trump could tee the sector up for its next collapse." The cryptocurrency market's recent surge, following Donald Trump's election victory and his pro-crypto stance, has raised concerns about potential overconfidence and the risk of another market collapse. Historically, minimal regulatory oversight allowed crypto platforms to engage in risky financial behaviors, leading to significant downturns, notably in 2021-22. Despite these past issues, there's a growing push within the industry for even less regulation. Elon Musk's call to "delete" the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau exemplifies this sentiment, she writes. The intertwining of crypto with traditional financial systems, especially with the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, has increased systemic risks. Experts warn that the current trajectory, emphasizing deregulation, could set the stage for another collapse, potentially affecting the broader financial system. This is not a painting I want to buy.
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter in what was a predictable move ahead of the President leaving office in January. Given the prosecution of the younger Biden, and the persecution of him by some Republicans and Elon Musk, the man has suffered enough. Having pictures of your junk shown during a Congressional hearing is punishment enough.
Wilfred Yiu will be retiring from HKEX at the end of 2024 as deputy chief executive officer & co-chief operating officer, he announced on LinkedIn.
The word of the day is "tenge," which is the national Kazakhstan currency. The tenge tumbled to new lows today after a total of $1 billion worth of intervention over the last two weeks by the central bank of Kazakhstan, Bloomberg reported.
Will Mitting of Acuiti announced on LinkedIn its event schedule for the first half of 2025, featuring a series of exclusive, invite-only meetings designed for senior executives across various sectors. The lineup includes the Asset Managers' Meeting in London on January 30, the Trading Managers' Meeting in Cyprus on February 5, the Hedge Fund Managers' Meeting in London on March 6, and the Crypto Derivatives Managers' Meeting in London on March 26. Additional events comprise the Trading Managers' Meetings in New York on April 8, Chicago on April 10 (focusing on CTAs and Proprietary Trading firms), Hong Kong on May 13, and Singapore on May 15, culminating with the Proprietary Trading Managers' Meeting in Amsterdam on May 22. Each event employs Acuiti's unique embedded panel format, fostering interactive discussions among participants. Senior executives interested in attending or organizations considering sponsorship opportunities are encouraged to contact Will Mitting at [email protected] for further information.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: US equity options on track for record year after November boost - Cboe, Marex, TP ICAP ramp up Middle East presence, ANALYSIS: Bearish outlook for renewables under Trump is over-stated - experts, ANALYSIS: Euronext expects strong start with latest total return future, Euronext launches total return future on Italian blue-chips and BoE sees no 'cause for concern' after tougher CCP stress test.
Rutger Vijgen has joined ABN AMRO Clearing Bank as global regulatory affairs & government relations advisor, he shared on LinkedIn. He said this new role represents an exciting opportunity to shape regulatory strategies and foster relationships that drive positive outcomes for the financial industry. Vijgen spent the last six years at FIA European Principal Traders Association
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- How Did MicroStrategy Sell $3 Billion of Zero-Rate Debt? Option Volatility is Key. from Barron's.
- Option Traders Bet on Deep Treasury-Market Selloff Within Weeks from Bloomberg.
- MIAX exchange lists Bitcoin ETF options from CoinTelegraph. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Leverage Shares Wants to Help European Investors Trade U.S. ETPS and Manage Fragmentation, Says Oktay Kavrak
JohnLothianNews.com
Investors in the EU and UK are looking for exposure to U.S. companies. They are also looking for the enhancement of leveraged products. In the past, foreign institutional investors could access U.S. ETFs directly or through local US-based affiliates. But in the past five years, regulations such as PRIIPs have made it harder for EMEA traders to hold U.S. ETFs.
Read more »
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Arcesium Executive Highlights Hedge Funds' Balancing Act: Advanced Tech vs. Top Talent
JohnLothianNews.com
In a recent interview with John Lothian News, David Nable, a senior executive at Arcesium, highlighted the growing challenge hedge funds face in balancing advanced technology adoption with the demand for skilled portfolio managers. Nable emphasized that top-tier talent has high expectations for seamless technology infrastructure when moving to a new employer.
Watch »
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Googling Is for Old People. That's a Problem for Google.; And it's not just demographics that are weighing on the search giant. Its core business is under siege from pressures that threaten to dismantle its ecosystem of search dominance and digital advertising.
Christopher Mims - The Wall Street Journal
If Google were a ship, it would be the Titanic in the hours before it struck an iceberg-riding high, supposedly unsinkable, and about to encounter a force of nature that could make its name synonymous with catastrophe. The trends moving against Google are so numerous and interrelated that the Justice Department's attempt to dismantle the company-the specifics of which were unveiled Nov. 20-could be the least of its problems. The company's core business is under siege. People are increasingly getting answers from artificial intelligence. Younger generations are using other platforms to gather information. And the quality of the results delivered by its search engine is deteriorating as the web is flooded with AI-generated content.
/jlne.ws/4fdj3AJ
****** I spend a lot of time working between Googling and AI and I can tell you, one still has to spend time Googling things.~JJL
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Trafigura's Bribery Case Puts Commodity Trading Culture on Trial in Switzerland; Founder, former COO accused of involvement in bribery scheme; Trafigura says its anti-corruption controls were adequate
Hugo Miller, Jack Farchy, and Archie Hunter - Bloomberg
A landmark trial for the global commodity trading industry got underway in Switzerland on Monday, as Trafigura Group and its former chief operating officer stand accused of corruption. The behavior of commodity traders has been in the crosshairs of global prosecutors for several years, but this week marks the first time that senior leadership of a major commodity trading house face allegations of bribery and corruption. In the biggest Swiss prosecution of a company since 2022, when Credit Suisse was convicted for laundering a cocaine dealer's cash, Trafigura and its former chief operating officer, Mike Wainwright, face a panel of judges at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona.
/jlne.ws/49dPUDX
******** When the Swiss traders are in trouble, you know there are problems. Just don't peel the layers of the onion back too much.~JJL
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Trump's Plans Risk Inflating Bullish Stock Market Into a Bubble; Equities at new records despite inflation, trade wars in play; 'One of my top concerns is extreme bullishness,' Diton says
Esha Dey - Bloomberg
The new Trump administration is coming in hot, with mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and threats of triggering a global trade war among its immediate priorities. Fighting continues in Europe and the Middle East. And bond traders are scaling back bets on lower interest rates as the US economy risks a fresh bout of inflation. But despite all of these risks, investors seem largely unperturbed, with the S&P 500 Index setting another record just this week. Traders are piling into the riskiest parts of the market, too, with the small-capitalization Russell 2000 Index nearly doubling the S&P 500's performance over the past two weeks and approaching its first record since 2021. Meanwhile, the Cboe Volatility Index is at levels that historically indicate serenity among traders.
/jlne.ws/3VkBOel
****** Now would be a good time to learn how to trade volatility. VIX is not just something you rub under your nose when you get a cold.~JJL
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The mother of all bubbles; The US has never been so overhyped, relative to the rest of the world
Ruchir Sharma - Financial Times
The idea of America as an exceptional nation, superior to its rivals and therefore destined to lead the world, seems passe to most observers. In political, diplomatic and military circles, the talk is of a dysfunctional superpower, isolationist abroad and polarised at home. But in the investing world, the term "American exceptionalism" is hotter than ever. United by faith in the strength of US financial markets and their capacity to keep outperforming all other economies, global investors are committing more capital to a single country than ever before in modern history. The US stock market now floats above the rest. Relative prices are the highest since data began over a century ago and relative valuations are at a peak since data began half a century ago.
/jlne.ws/3VkmiyS
****** You know all that hot air of the election? It seems to have been caught up in some kind of membrane made of baloney, BS and Trumpery. BTW, trumpery is a real word. Look it up.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top clicked item on Friday was The Political Dynamics of Derivative Securities Regulation, a paper written by Roberta Romano in 1997 looking at the prospects for a unified U.S. market regulator and the reasons why we didn't have one. Second was the Wikipedia page (Wikipedia, not MarketsWiki) for the New York Gold Exchange. And third was How Did MicroStrategy Sell $3 Billion of Zero-Rate Debt? Option Volatility is Key, from Barron's.
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| Lead Stories | Establishment's Takeover of Bitcoin Creates a New List of Risks; 'Bitcoin OGs no longer have control,' says longtime investor; ETFs now hold about as many Bitcoin as Satoshi's wallet
Olga Kharif and Isabelle Lee - Bloomberg
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have been such a smashing success in the US that they now hold more than 1 million of the tokens, or about 5% of what currently exists. That's in the same ballpark as the amounts that have long been frozen in the wallet of the market's original whale: The cryptocurrency's anonymous and enigmatic creator known as Satoshi Nakamoto. Another buyer of equal size potentially may arrive on the scene, as a Senate ally of Donald Trump's pushes to pass a bill that would require the Federal Reserve to sell some of its gold in order to fund the purchase of 1 million Bitcoin for a US government stockpile. In the corporate world, Michael Saylor's software company MicroStrategy is sitting on about $38 billion worth of the tokens and has been tapping capital markets to buy more.
/jlne.ws/4eZTfI1
Hedge Fund All-or-Nothing Trades Gain Traction in Options Market
Christian Dass - Bloomberg
With events from elections to central-bank rate moves to wars threatening upheaval in the markets, investors are increasingly seeking a pre-determined payoff if they bet right. While many traders - from mom-and-pops to systematic hedge funds - are using zero-day-to-expiry listed options, large investors have increasingly turned to over-the-counter binary contracts that can hedge tail risks across multiple assets. It's an all-or-nothing play: in exchange for a premium, the trade either returns 100% or nothing. While critics say it's more akin to betting on a sporting event than traditional options trading, the reality is that such a binary payoff is extremely useful to investors focused on hitting target returns within strict risk limits.
/jlne.ws/3CW620T
Korean Regulator Opposes Legal Changes Sought by Stock Investors; Mandating board obligation to shareholders could backfire: FSC; Investors have sought amendment of law to fix 'Korea Discount'
Youkyung Lee - Bloomberg
South Korea's top financial regulator opposes proposed changes to corporate law sought by investors as a way to address undervaluation of the nation's stock market. Amending the nation's Commercial Act to expand corporate boards' fiduciary duty to all shareholders could backfire, as such a move would affect smaller and non-listed companies as well as large corporations, Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byoung-hwan told reporters in a briefing Monday.
/jlne.ws/4fPrX8o
UK Faces Calls From Traders to End Pre-Market Data Releases; Statistics watchdog is set to deliver verdict in early 2025; BOE panel supports later release times amid liquidity concerns
Greg Ritchie - Bloomberg
The UK is expected to decide early in the new year whether it will continue to release key economic data before financial markets open, a practice that investors say spurs volatility that also feeds through to the real economy. The statistics regulator said it will share its verdict early in 2025 after considering evidence from the Office for National Statistics, which compiles the figures. Currently, data are released at 7 a.m. in London, half an hour before sterling interest-rate markets open and an hour ahead of UK government bonds.
/jlne.ws/3Vdzsxx
The Wrong Oil Price Is Truthfully a Problem for OPEC+; The cartel needs to be more honest about the implications of its drive to keep crude prices high.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
The best scandals are those that start when someone, somewhere, decides to say something utterly shocking: the truth! A senior official of the OPEC+ oil cartel has said publicly what many thought privately - the group has been keeping oil prices too high, effectively subsidizing its rivals. The result? It cannot increase production and instead relies on ever-increasing output cuts. Afshin Javan, the No. 2 official in the Iranian delegation to OPEC+, published a commentary on his country's state-run news agency Shana on Nov. 26. The group, he argued, faced a "a supply glut" largely of its own making following several years of production cuts. "This strategy in support of prices has effectively encouraged higher supply outside the group, particularly on the part of the US," he said. "That would leave a limited room for maneuvering by OPEC+ to ease its restrictions."
/jlne.ws/41cEvSK
It's Time for Germany to Admit Its Mistake on Nuclear Energy; The main thing standing in the way of the country rebuilding its nuclear sector is a stubborn insistence that it can't be done.
Katja Hoyer - Bloomberg
Angela Merkel's freshly released autobiography admits to few wrong turns in her 16 years as German chancellor. Among the momentous decisions she doesn't regret is Germany's frantic withdrawal from nuclear energy in favor of Russian gas. But the country should rethink this. Everyone else is - and for good reason. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's outgoing coalition may not admit it, but their completion of Merkel's accelerated nuclear exit was a mistake. When Scholz took office in 2021, Germany imported half of its gas and coal and a third of its oil from Russia. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, and Germany had to find expensive replacements. The country's last nuclear plants were closed in April 2023 even though they still provided 12.6% of electricity in 2021.
/jlne.ws/3ZyO3q0
Bitcoin Euphoria Threatens to Break These ETFs; Investors are piling into funds that seek to amplify daily return of MicroStrategy shares, but the ETFs haven't been working as intended in recent days
Jack Pitcher - The Wall Street Journal
Investors have flocked to a pair of turbocharged exchange-traded funds to ride the momentum in bitcoin, but they contain hidden risks that aren't widely understood. The ETFs seek to amplify the daily return of MicroStrategy, the software company that has turned itself into a bitcoin buying machine. Using complex derivative bets, they aim to offer double the daily return of the stock-to the upside or downside.
/jlne.ws/3ZyUdGE
Musk Urges Court to Block 'Illegal' OpenAI For-Profit Conversion; Billionaire says anticompetitive conduct threatens his startup; OpenAI says filing 'recycles the same baseless complaints'
Peter Blumberg - Bloomberg
Elon Musk asked a federal court to block OpenAI from pursuing an "illegal" conversion to a for-profit business, saying that a pause on the ChatGPT maker's accelerating dominance is urgently needed to protect his own artificial intelligence startup as well as the public. In his latest court filing, Musk continued his months-long attack on Sam Altman, nine years after they worked together to launch OpenAI as a nonprofit with a stated mission to develop generative artificial intelligence for the benefit of society.
/jlne.ws/3ZvNjlz
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Putin signs off record Russian defense spending as top EU officials visit Kyiv
Associated Press Finance
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved budget plans, raising 2025 military spending to record levels as Moscow seeks to prevail in the war in Ukraine. Around 32.5% of the budget posted on a government website Sunday has been allocated for national defense, amounting to 13.5 trillion rubles (over $145 billion), up from a reported 28.3% this year.
/jlne.ws/4fVis7K
Zelenskyy says NATO offer for Ukraine-controlled territory could end 'hot stage' of war
Susie Blann - Associated Press
An offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv's control would end "the hot stage of the war" in Ukraine, but any proposal to join the military alliance should be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a broadcast interview. Zelenskyy's remarks on Friday signaled a possible way forward to the difficult path Ukraine faces to future NATO membership. At their summit in Washington in July, the 32 members declared Ukraine on an "irreversible" path to membership.
/jlne.ws/4gfk5go
Russia's ruble is still worth less than a penny, and the Kremlin's piggy bank for propping it up is running low
Jason Ma - Fortune
The ruble has come off its lows from earlier in the week after the central bank halted all foreign currency purchases for the remainder of the year, but it remains battered-and resources for preventing a further collapse are shrinking. On Friday, the central bank set the official rate at about 108 to the U.S. dollar. While that's improved from Wednesday's rate of 114 on the spot market, that's still means one ruble is worth less than a penny.
/jlne.ws/3OAeJQU
Vladimir Putin to reject Donald Trump's opening peace offer, says Russian tycoon; Konstantin Malofeyev says Russian president to engage in talks only if they include broader conflicts
Max Seddon - Financial Times
Donald Trump's pledge to end Russia's war in Ukraine is doomed to failure if the US president-elect does not involve broader talks on Moscow's security concerns, an influential hardliner close to the Kremlin has warned. Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian tycoon who is subject to western sanctions, told the Financial Times that President Vladimir Putin was likely to reject a peace plan proposal by Trump's recently nominated special envoy for the conflict, Keith Kellogg.
/jlne.ws/3Oz1PTd
Ukraine buys thousands of armoured robot buggies to hold front lines; Mykhailo Fedorov says uncrewed vehicles are already being used in Kursk region
The Telegraph
The buggy-like vehicles would spare troops from operating in areas near the front where Russian shelling Ukraine has bought thousands of uncrewed robotic ground vehicles next year to shuttle ammunition and supplies to infantry in the trenches and evacuate wounded soldiers. The buggy-like vehicles, an example of how technology is transforming trench warfare in Ukraine, would spare troops from operating in areas near the front where Russian shelling and drones are rife, Mykhailo Fedorov, the deputy prime minister for innovation, said.
/jlne.ws/4ibSe2h
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Israel Builds Bases in Central Gaza, a Sign It May Be There to Stay; In recent months, soldiers have demolished more than 600 buildings to create a buffer area and expanded a network of bases, a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery and video footage shows.
Aaron Boxerman, Aric Toler, Riley Mellen and Patrick Kingsley - The New York Times
The Israeli military has been expanding its presence in central Gaza in recent months, fortifying military bases and demolishing Palestinian buildings, according to Israeli officials and satellite images, a move that suggests that it may be preparing to exert long-term control over the area. Since the early months of the war in Gaza, Israeli forces have occupied a four-mile road, known as the Netzarim corridor, that bisects the enclave, to keep hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans from returning north. That has slowly grown into an 18-square-mile block of territory controlled by Israeli forces, according to the Israeli military and a New York Times analysis of satellite images and video footage.
/jlne.ws/3ZxYb2i
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Deutsche Borse Cash Market launches new trading feature with Xetra Midpoint
Deutsche Borse
Deutsche Borse Cash Market will launch Xetra Midpoint on 9 December. The trading feature is aimed at institutional clients and gives them access to a dark pool that facilitates efficient execution of orders at the midpoint price. Xetra Midpoint is seamlessly integrated into the Xetra reference market where price formation in many German equities and a wide range of ETFs takes place. The new offering ensures that all trades are concluded at the real-time midpoint reference price of these securities. It comes at a time when dark trading is gaining momentum across Europe and meets growing demand from market participants such as large investors trading shares privately to avoid impacting the market price.
/jlne.ws/49jLrPW
DTCC Announces the Appointment of Michael Winnike to Lead Clearing & Securities Services Strategy and Market Solutions Winnike brings more than 20 years of experience in Clearing, Market Structure and Trading to DTCC
DTCC
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced the appointment of Michael Winnike as Managing Director, Clearing & Securities Services (CSS), Strategy and Market Solutions. He joins December 2, 2024, and reports to Brian Steele, Managing Director, President, CSS.
/jlne.ws/49jzfyF
Nasdaq Stockholm Streamlines Dual Listing Process for US-Listed Companies to access European markets
Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) announced today an update to the Nasdaq Stockholm Main Market rulebook, effective from 1 January 2025. This update will streamline the listing review process for companies seeking to list on Nasdaq Stockholm simultaneously with or within 12 months of a listing on the U.S. exchanges, including the Nasdaq Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. As the first of several listing simplification initiatives, Nasdaq Europe is focused on driving capital markets integration and leading the development of EU capital markets and listing environment.
/jlne.ws/3OxJshF
Christmas Holiday Operating Hours
FEX
/jlne.ws/4f2XVN7
All Reporting Firms - Clearing Member Firms; Foreign Brokers; Omnibus Accounts
CME Groups
/jlne.ws/41eaguJ
Notice: Appointed Clearing Organisation of LuxSE as of 2 December 2024
LSE
Following our previous Notice, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) would like to communicate that, according to Rule 2401.A.1 of its Rules and Regulations, as of 2 December 2024, the appointed Clearing Organisation is Euronext Clearing, the Euronext Group's Central Counterparty.
/jlne.ws/4fPsQOg
SIX Exchanges Figures: November 2024
BME-X
/jlne.ws/3ZyH0Of
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | US Tightens Curbs on China's Access to AI Memory and Chips Tools; New rules affect 27 types of chip design and fabrication tools; US to sanction 140 Chinese entities
Mackenzie Hawkins - Bloomberg
The Biden administration unveiled new restrictions on China's access to vital components for chips and AI, escalating a campaign to contain Beijing's technological ambitions. The Department of Commerce slapped additional curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory and chipmaking gear, including that produced by US firms at foreign facilities. It also blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities that it accused of acting on Beijing's behalf, though it didn't name them in an initial statement.
/jlne.ws/3ZBiw76
Bezos Backs AI Chipmaker Vying With Nvidia at $2.6 Billion Value
Jane Lanhee Lee and Vlad Savov - Bloomberg
Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos joined Samsung in a $700 million bet on Tenstorrent, valuing the AI chip startup with ambitions of taking on Nvidia Corp. at about $2.6 billion. Tenstorrent, which hopes to create a chip to try and break Nvidia's stranglehold on the AI business, raised capital in a funding round led by South Korea's AFW Partners and Samsung Securities, founder and semiconductor pioneer Jim Keller said in an interview. Bezos Expeditions joined LG Electronics Inc. and Fidelity in that financing, betting on Keller's pedigree and the booming opportunity in artificial intelligence tech.
/jlne.ws/3Zf2UEO
Amazon's Moonshot Plan to Rival Nvidia in AI Chips; The cloud computing giant won't dislodge the incumbent anytime soon but is hoping to reduce its reliance on the chipmaker.
Matt Day, Ian King, and Dina Bass - Bloomberg
In a bland north Austin neighborhood dominated by anonymous corporate office towers, Amazon.com Inc. engineers are toiling away on one of the tech industry's most ambitious moonshots: loosening Nvidia Corp.'s grip on the $100-billion-plus market for artificial intelligence chips.
/jlne.ws/4f5gkt2
Nvidia Joins $700 Million Nebius Deal For AI Cloud Services
Mark Bergen - Bloomberg
Nebius Group NV, the technology company rebranded from Russian internet giant Yandex, has raised $700 million from a slate of investors including Nvidia Corp. and Accel Partners LP. With the private placement financing, Nebius will issue 33.3 million shares at $21 each, according to a statement on Monday. The company said it is shelving earlier plans for a share buyback. Nebius, which is based in Amsterdam, renamed itself earlier this year after selling its business in Russia, including the nation's popular search engine. Yandex shares on Nasdaq were suspended after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Nebius resumed trading on the exchange in October.
/jlne.ws/3OyiPJc
Amazon Web Services CEO Promises 'Needle-Moving' AI Updates; As the cloud-computing leader kicks off its re:Invent conference, Chief Executive Matt Garman says there is no end in sight to the artificial intelligence race
Belle Lin - The Wall Street Journal
Matt Garman, the new chief executive of Amazon's cloud unit, says artificial intelligence is a race without a finish line. "It is such a foundational technology," Garman said. "It's just a thing that's going to happen forever." Garman, who became CEO of Amazon Web Services in June, is about to headline his first re:Invent, the company's annual conference, which regularly attracts tens of thousands of attendees to Las Vegas.
/jlne.ws/3CRkwiD
Brazil's instant payment transactions more than doubled on Black Friday
Reuters
Brazil's popular instant payment system Pix saw a 120.7% jump in the value of transactions recorded on Black Friday compared to the previous year, central bank data showed on Monday. The figures underscore the widespread adoption of the payment method and its growing use for payments between people and businesses (P2B), as well as the strength of the promotional period in Latin America's largest economy.
/jlne.ws/41fmxzg
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger to retire
Reuters
Chipmaker Intel said on Monday CEO Pat Gelsinger will retire from the company.
/jlne.ws/4ghFA09
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Revolut Faces UK Fraud Lawsuit After Scammer Stole EUR700,000; It is one of thousands of fraud claims facing the fintech firm; Revolut denies all the claims made at a London court hearing
Eleanor Thornber and Aisha S Gani - Bloomberg
Revolut Ltd. is facing a UK lawsuit that could see it pay a Serbian energy company EUR700,000 ($735,880) as part of a fraud claim, calling into question the ease that scammers can operate on the fintech platform. Terna Energy Trading d.o.o instructed its bank to send the EUR700,000 to a Revolut account it thought belonged to a business partner, according to documents filed at a London court. Terna alleges that the account belonged to a 22-year-old Czech fraudster.
/jlne.ws/41aga05
Polish Central Banker Testifies in Pegasus Spyware Case; Bank board member Pogonowski testifies in parliament; Central bank protests his 'illegal' detention and questioning
Konrad Krasuski and Agnieszka Barteczko - Bloomberg
Police detained a member of the management board of Poland's central bank on Monday to make him cooperate with a parliamentary investigation into the use of Pegasus spyware under the previous government. Piotr Pogonowski, who is not a member of the Monetary Policy Council that sets interest rates, ran the country's Internal Security Agency between 2015 and 2020. He previously refused to testify before a parliamentary committee examining whether the former Law & Justice administration deployed Pegasus to spy on its political opponents.
/jlne.ws/4g8DOyN
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | US Bitcoin, Ether ETFs Log Record Inflows on Trump's Embrace of Crypto; Crypto market up over $1 trillion since Trump's election win; Traders expect US regulators to pivot to a friendlier stance
Sunil Jagtiani and Suvashree Ghosh - Bloomberg
US exchange-traded funds investing directly in Bitcoin and Ether are enjoying unprecedented demand, buoyed by President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to unfetter the crypto industry from regulatory shackles. The groups of Bitcoin and Ether ETFs each posted record monthly net inflows in November, $6.5 billion and $1.1 billion respectively, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Friday's daily Ether ETF subscriptions also hit an all-time peak. The interest in Ether, the largest token after Bitcoin, points to widening speculative appetite for crypto following Trump's US election victory on Nov. 5. By some metrics, the clamor for exposure to digital assets has yet to reprise the mania of a pandemic-era bubble, at least among retail investors.
/jlne.ws/4fTFqvR
Crypto's $1 Trillion Rally Has Yet to Reprise Pandemic-Era Mania; Bitcoin hit records but many other tokens are below highs; eToro says some retail investors may be on the sidelines
Adrian Wong, Sidhartha Shukla, and Suvashree Ghosh - Bloomberg
Controversial crypto mogul Justin Sun beamed as he ate a $6.2 million banana in Hong Kong, a spectacle that ratcheted up the spotlight on digital assets as the industry tries to keep an historic market rally on track. The banana comes from a viral conceptual artwork, Comedian, comprised of the fruit duct-taped to a wall, which Sun bought in a Sotheby's auction last week. For Sun, the conspicuous consumption becomes a part of art history, and, as the sculpture's owner, he has the right to manifest the piece with a new banana.
/jlne.ws/3ZrSS4l
The grim ghost of crypto future; Overconfidence since the election victory of Donald Trump could tee the sector up for its next collapse
Jemima Kelly - Financial Times (opinion)
Remember when crypto was so heavily and onerously regulated, so unnecessarily scrutinised by the authorities, that the whole market crashed in spectacular fashion as one tightly regulated crypto platform after another collapsed into oblivion? Yeah, me neither. Because that's not quite how it went, is it? The last time the crypto market cratered, back in 2021-22, it was not about the industry being so tightly controlled by regulators, but the opposite. It was precisely because of the lack of regulatory oversight in the so-called "crypto space" that the barons of cryptoland believed they were entitled to mess around with other people's money as if they were playing Monopoly.
/jlne.ws/3ZvdN6L
Managers rush to file for 'risk-averse' crypto ETFs; If approved, the products will allow investors to limit or protect against losses in return for surrendering some potential gains
Steve Johnson - Financial Times
Risk-averse investing in cryptocurrency might sound like a contradiction in terms, but a tranche of US exchange trade fund providers have plans to let investors try to do just that. A quartet of asset managers have filed with US regulators to create ETFs that invest in bitcoin, but use derivatives to minimise or completely protect against potential losses. "Given the meteoric rise in bitcoin this year, many investors are likely regretting they missed out because they were nervous about the volatility of the cryptocurrency," said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at TMX VettaFi, a consultancy. "These pending downside protection ETFs will allow more people to add bitcoin exposure to their portfolios in a risk-aware manner."
/jlne.ws/4ihpRA0
MicroStrategy Makes Fourth Straight Weekly Purchase of Bitcoin
Monique Mulima - Bloomberg
MicroStrategy Inc. bought another $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, the fourth consecutive weekly purchase announced by the crypto hedge fund proxy. The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm acquired 15,400 tokens from Nov. 25 through Dec. 1, according to an US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The firm has purchase over $13.5 billion since Nov. 11, and now hold around $38 billion in Bitcoin.
/jlne.ws/3ZagqcK
Ripple-Linked XRP Soars to Third-Largest Token After Trump Win; The cryptocurrency gained as much as 15% Monday to hit $2.50; Since the US election it has added over $100 billion in value
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
XRP, a token linked to Ripple Labs Inc., has vaulted rivals to become the third-largest cryptocurrency in a $100 billion rally. The token rose as much as 15% on Monday to $2.50. In the process its market capitalization topped $137 billion, up from less than $30 billion on November 5, when Donald Trump emerged victorious in the US presidential election, according to CoinGecko data.
/jlne.ws/49fR2qC
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | The crypto investors who could land inside Trump's White House
David Hollerith - Yahoo Finance
Donald Trump is pledging to be a pro-crypto president, and the new administration's affinity for digital assets likely won't stop with the commander in chief. Vice President-elect JD Vance and several of Trump's presidential nominees have in the past disclosed or discussed their exposure to cryptocurrencies through asset ownership or business interests, according to federal filings and public statements.
/jlne.ws/49fPRri
A Roadmap Through the Drama and Realities of Trump's Trade War; Trump's tariffs could go in many different directions. Understanding the strategy from his first term, and the priorities of his new team, reveals a potential path ahead.
Shawn Donnan and Anna Wong - Bloomberg
Donald Trump's love of tariffs is as well-known as the incoming US president's capriciousness. For everyone from CEOs and mom-and-pop businesses to Wall Street investors and foreign governments, gaming out the path from protectionist campaign rhetoric to policy reality is proving tough, leaving the outlook fraught with uncertainty. Bloomberg Economics has mapped out a plausible scenario for what lies ahead. It's admittedly a plot sketched without a high degree of confidence given the unpredictability of Trump himself.
/jlne.ws/3ZhvuoR
President Biden Pardons Son Hunter; The move is an about-face after the president previously vowed not to pardon his son, who was convicted on federal gun and tax charges
C. Ryan Barber, Annie Linskey, and Ken Thomas - The Wall Street Journal
President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday, wiping away his criminal convictions on tax and gun charges despite saying earlier this year he wouldn't grant such a reprieve. Biden's pardon, a decision he said he made over the Thanksgiving weekend, came as his son was set to appear for sentencing hearings later this month in Delaware and California, where he faced the potential of lengthy prison terms. In a statement, the president said it was clear that his son had been "treated differently" by the Justice Department and "singled out only because he is my son-and that is wrong."
/jlne.ws/3ZwsDtz
Trump is playing high-stakes poker on tariffs; And the US consumer market is now the world's richest chip
Rana Foroohar - Financial Times (opinion)
Donald Trump isn't even president yet, but the world is already locked into a dysfunctional dance with him. Headlines herald the beginning of his tariff war while pundits prognosticate about all the disastrous things that will follow as a result. But most of these analyses fundamentally misinterpret the president-elect and his "policies". Trump is not a policymaker. He's not actually even a protectionist (that would require a political belief system). Neither is he a true nationalist (ditto). He's an opportunist.
/jlne.ws/4eUkyDv
EU commissioner pitches 'Europe first' in response to Donald Trump; Stephane Sejourne says 'biggest fear' is for bloc to become 'collateral victim' of global trade war
Henry Foy and Alice Hancock - Financial Times
The EU's new industry chief has called for a "Europe first" strategy for key business sectors, in a bid to prevent the bloc becoming collateral damage in a potential global trade war sparked by Donald Trump. European Commission vice-president Stephane Sejourne, a former French foreign minister and close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, told the Financial Times that Europe must act on the "offensive" to promote its strategic business interests and avoid being flooded by heavily subsidised imports from China.
/jlne.ws/3Zwod5U
EU's New Leadership to Outline Competitiveness Plan Next Month; Bloc aims to close growing innovation gap with China, the US; Europe wants to increase security, reduce dependencies
Alberto Nardelli and Ewa Krukowska - Bloomberg
The European Union's executive arm plans to present next month the outlines of a plan for how to boost the bloc's competitiveness with the US and China as it pursues an ambitious clean-tech overhaul. The European Commission, which started a new five-year term on Sunday, wants to unveil the so-called Competitiveness Compact initiative on Jan. 15, according to an EU document seen by Bloomberg. It will offer more details on proposals for how the 27-nations region could increase its security and cut dependencies, following up on a report that former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi published in September.
/jlne.ws/3Zdy4fD
Far-Right Leader Le Pen Has Never Been So Powerful in France; Confidence vote on French premier could come next week; Le Pen has repeatedly threatened to bring down Barnier
Ania Nussbaum - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4ghK6vz
China sends officials to study effects of sanctions on Russia as it eyes up Taiwan invasion
William Yang - The Telegraph
/jlne.ws/3VjCj8x
Iran's Oil Trade With China Rattled by US Sanctions on Tankers
Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3ZcljSJ
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | JPMorgan Fined $1.8 Million in Singapore Over Client Bond Trades
Chanyaporn Chanjaroen - Bloomberg
Singapore fined JPMorgan Chase & Co. S$2.4 million ($1.8 million) for failing to prevent and detect misconduct by its relationship managers over client bond trades. The bankers had made inaccurate or incomplete disclosures to private banking clients in 24 over-the-counter bond transactions between Nov. 2018 and Sept. 2019, according to a statement by the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Monday. This resulted in the customers being charged spreads that were above bilaterally agreed rates, the regulator said.
/jlne.ws/3ZiWS6d
Singapore cenbank fines JPMorgan $1.8 million over misconduct by relationship managers
Reuters
Singapore's central bank said on Monday it fined U.S. lender JPMorgan Chase S$2.4 million ($1.79 million) for failing to prevent and detect misconduct committed by its relationship managers. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said JPMorgan's relationship managers provided inaccurate or incomplete information to clients in 24 instances of over-the-counter bond transactions, charging them spreads above the agreed rates.
/jlne.ws/3Vf1Yiz
SEC Charges Touzi Capital, LLC and its Managing Member for Misleading Investors and Misusing Investor Funds
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil injunctive action against Touzi Capital, LLC and Eng Taing, its managing member, for allegedly defrauding more than a thousand investors in unregistered securities offerings that raised more than $100 million. The SEC's complaint alleges that the defendants misled investors about the use of investor proceeds by commingling and misappropriating investor funds, and raised capital through false and misleading statements about the liquidity of their investments and other factors material to the investments' profitability.
/jlne.ws/4ih33jF
CBLC update
FMA
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) - Te Mana Tatai Hokohoko - welcomes the High Court's decision last week to dismiss the application to strike out the FMA's claim against the executor of the estate of former CBLC director Alistair Hutchison. The FMA's claim relates to the alleged failure by CBLC, two of its former directors and its chief financial officer, to disclose related party interests in a series of interrelated transactions (known as the Samoa Transaction) in CBLC's Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) upon listing in October 2015. The FMA also alleges false and misleading statements in the PDS as to CBL Insurance Limited's solvency position and the stated purpose of the IPO (the IPO Proceeding)1.
/jlne.ws/3Z8jWEk
Inaugural Consumer Confidence survey provides valuable insights for FMA and financial services sector
FMA
Three quarters of New Zealanders believe financial service providers treat customers fairly, with banking and KiwiSaver providers perceived to be fairer than insurance providers, a new consumer survey from the Financial Markets Authority - Te Mana Tatai Hokohoko - shows. The FMA has completed its first Consumer Confidence Survey, in what will become an annual survey of consumers' confidence in their financial service providers. The survey combines the key questions from the Investor Confidence Survey and KiwiSaver Statements Survey from previous years, as well as new questions covering key focus areas for the FMA such as fairness, investment scams, and confidence in various aspects of financial markets. The survey offers a nationally representative snapshot of consumer experiences and perceptions of financial services and markets.
/jlne.ws/4icXx1z
IOSCO Publishes Final Report on Regulatory Implications and Good Practices on the Evolution
of Market Structures
IOSCO
IOSCO has today published its Final Report on the Evolution in the Operation, Governance, and Business Models of Exchanges. The Final Report addresses significant changes in exchange business models and market structures, highlighting the impact of increased competition, technological advancements, and cross-border activity on exchanges.
/jlne.ws/49oOPcv
MAS Imposes Civil Penalty of $2.4 million on JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. for Misconduct by its Relationship Managers
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed a civil penalty of $2.4 million on JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPM), for failing to prevent and detect misconduct committed by its relationship managers (RMs). In 24 over-the-counter (OTC) bond transactions[1], the RMs had made inaccurate or incomplete disclosures to clients, resulting in the clients being charged spreads that were above the bilaterally agreed rates.
/jlne.ws/4fQRiis
Joint Advisory on Rise in Government Official Impersonation Scam Variant Featuring Impersonation of Banks
MAS
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) would like to alert members of the public to a recent rise in Government Official Impersonation Scams featuring the impersonation of banks and government officials. From January to October 2024, there have been at least 1,100 cases reported, with total losses amounting to at least $120 million. This is almost double - compared to at least 680 cases reported with total losses amounting to at least $67 million in the same period in 2023.
/jlne.ws/3OBjKZK
Response to Letter "Look into training of financial professionals by those who are not financially trained" - The Straits Times, 27 November 2024
MAS
/jlne.ws/3B7OgqR
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Largest Asset Owners Hold Record $26.3 Trillion
Traders Magazine
The world's largest 100 asset owners now hold a record $26.3 trillion in total assets; 12.3% rise year-on-year represents a return to growth after previous year's 8.7% drop; Sovereign Wealth Funds approach two-fifths of assets of top 100 asset owners
Assets of the top 100 asset owners globally have returned to growth in 2023 after a fall of 8.7% in 2022, according to new research by the Thinking Ahead Institute. As a result of a marked 12.3% year-on-year increase from 2022, recovering the losses from the previous year, the world's largest 100 asset owners (the 'AO100') now hold a record US$26.3 trillion.
/jlne.ws/4fPEqcj
Trump Weaponizing Dollar Seen as Needless BRICS Provocation; Comments by Trump suggest lack of confidence in dollar: Setser; Greenback accounts for almost 90% of all currency trades: BIS
Ruth Carson and Matthew Burgess - Bloomberg
Donald Trump's fresh pressure on countries around the world to stay anchored to a US-dollar-based financial system is a tactic that risks backfiring, market watchers say. The dollar looks likely to dominate the world economy for the foreseeable future and emerging nations' idea of setting up their own single currency is "hot air," said Mark Sobel, a retired 40-year veteran of currency policy who worked at the US Treasury.
/jlne.ws/4eZWbV3
Ex-BNP Paribas and Instinet to join Liquidnet's buy-side facing EMEA team; Three new appointments have been made to Liquidnet's European Execution & Quantitative Services (EQS) team, The TRADE has learnt.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
Liquidnet has made three new hires into its European Execution & Quantitative Services (EQS) team as it seeks to grow its execution offering across the region, The TRADE can reveal. EQS advises Liquidnet's buy-side members on topics including trade analytics, algorithmic strategies, and quantitative products and services. Among the new hires is Prashanth Manoharan who has been named head of execution consulting, EMEA, set to focus on enhancing the firm's core algorithmic trading offering, as well as assessing market microstructure and enhancing execution quality alongside Liquidnet's members.
/jlne.ws/3D3NmMw
Zinc's Wild Week May Signal Volatile Era as Supplies Squeezed
Alfred Cang - Bloomberg
Zinc could see more sharp price swings as growing tightness along the metal's supply chain leaves buyers exposed to sudden changes in availability. The material used to galvanize steel had a turbulent time on the London Metal Exchange last week, finishing almost 5% higher despite a 2.5% slump on Thursday. The spike was fueled by the withdrawal of huge volumes from LME warehouses, which stoked speculation of a potential squeeze on short-position holders.
/jlne.ws/3Vex4qE
Traders Exit Diesel Short Bets With Europe Set for Cold Weather
Alex Longley, Jack Wittels, and Yongchang Chin - Bloomberg
Money managers are slashing wagers against Europe's diesel benchmark. Speculators cut short positions in ICE gasoil for a fourth consecutive week last week, the longest such run since February. The move comes as cold weather in Europe helps boost natural gas prices, offering support to the region's diesel market.
/jlne.ws/3CSuuQG
European Central Bank to abandon crisis-era strategy as inflation falls; Chief economist Philip Lane says focus on latest economic data will ebb
Olaf Storbeck - Financial Times
The European Central Bank is set to scrap its focus on using the latest economic data to determine whether to cut interest rates, sounding the knell for one of the core strategies deployed by the Eurozone's rate-setters to bring under control the worst bout of inflation in a generation. Philip Lane, the ECB's chief economist, told the Financial Times' The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes that monetary policy decisions at some point in the future needed "to be driven by upcoming risks rather than being backward-looking" once the central bank was sure inflation was in line to hit its medium-term goal of 2 per cent.
/jlne.ws/3ZgdhrR
De Beers Capitulates on Diamond Strategy With Big Price Cuts; Diamond giant cuts prices by over 10% at final sale of year; Anglo American unit had tried to put floor under prices
Thomas Biesheuvel - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3Vfu2lO
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Top UN court to begin hearings on landmark climate change case; ICJ to hear submissions from more than 100 groups in Pacific-led campaign to provide an advisory opinion on states' obligations for climate harm
Rebecca Bush in Port Moresby and Bethanie Harriman with agencies - The Guardian
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is due to begin hearings in a landmark climate change case on Monday, examining what countries worldwide are legally required to do to combat climate change and help vulnerable nations fight its devastating impact. After years of lobbying by island nations, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ last year for an opinion on "the obligations of States in respect of climate change."
/jlne.ws/3B7KaPv
Chinese recycling firm Carbon Zero aims to replicate success overseas after Nasdaq IPO
South China Morning Post
Shenzhen-based recycling firm Carbon Zero Technologies International, which is eyeing a US listing, is aiming to replicate its success in mainland China globally despite geopolitical uncertainties, according to its founder. nCarbon Zero, founded in 2016, operates an online platform that dispatches recycling orders from individuals, retail outlets and consumer brands to its recycling personnel. With thousands of physical sorting centres across China, the company then sells recycled items to dismantling and disposal firms.
/jlne.ws/4gbQHr7
Harvard University Doubles Down on Emissions Reductions; Will new clean energy funding on and off campus be enough to meet its ambitious climate goals?
Phil McKenna - Inside Climate News
Harvard University has taken two major steps toward reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, making significant investments in renewables and energy efficiency as it seeks to eliminate its use of fossil fuels by 2050. The investments come as the university's earlier emissions reductions of 30 percent since 2006 have been partially reversed as Harvard bounced back from the Covid pandemic while expanding its campus in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. As emission reduction efforts move forward, relatively easy measures like swapping out inefficient lighting and adding solar panels on rooftops will give way to more costly fixes such as replacing gas-fired boilers with electric heating systems.
/jlne.ws/4id6JTz
JPMorgan Rejects Transition-Finance Trend Gripping Wall Street
Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is turning its back on a trend that's been embraced by many of its Wall Street peers. Transition finance - a term intended to describe the allocation of capital to activities that will ultimately help cut carbon emissions in the wider economy - exists in something of a regulatory gray zone. At the same time, financing corporate decarbonization has been identified as a huge business area, with Apollo Global Management Inc. recently suggesting the energy transition may represent a $50 trillion investment opportunity in the decades to come.
/jlne.ws/3OH6YIR
New US solar tariffs on Southeast Asia to raise prices, cut profit margins
Colleen Howe - Reuters
A new round of U.S. solar panel import tariffs on Southeast Asian producers is expected to raise consumer prices and cut into producer profit margins, but was largely anticipated by industry, analysts said. The new duties announced on Friday by the Commerce Department extend the United States' anti-dumping regime in Southeast Asia to solar cells, from just finished modules previously.
/jlne.ws/3Zx8hAn
UK Is Paying £1 Billion to Waste a Record Amount of Wind Power;l Britain faces mounting costs from overwhelmed electricity grid; Constraints on network could jeopardize decarbonization plans
Will Mathis - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3VkznZf
EU's outgoing energy chief warns against masking Russian gas imports; Kadri Simson says talks with Azerbaijan would allow Gazprom to continue exporting to central Europe
Alice Hancock, Raphael Minder in Warsaw and Isobel Koshiw - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/4icC2xV
Amazon to pilot AI-designed material for carbon removal
Jeffrey Dastin - Reuters
/jlne.ws/4igWJZn
Norway Carbon-Capture Plant Marks Milestone in Longship Project; Heidelberg Materials' Brevik facility is now fully assembled; It's part of $2.6 billion plan to bury emissions under the sea
Kari Lundgren and Eva Brendel - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3CNnFjd
India scraps windfall tax on crude products, aviation fuel, petrol, diesel exports
Reuters
/jlne.ws/41cZXag
Threatened by climate change, Panama Canal has big plans to combat drought
Marianna Parraga and Elida Moreno - Reuters
/jlne.ws/4eUHvXd
Australian Grid Wants Ability to Tame a World-Beating Solar Boom
Sing Yee Ong - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3Zv8K6a
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | TP ICAP bolsters regional operations with new Dubai office; New location will help the firm better deliver services across the Middle East and North Africa region.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Market infrastructure provider TP ICAP Group has expanded its Middle East operations with the opening of a new office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The new office, which is three times larger than its existing facility, will bring the company closer to its clients, with the aim to better deliver services across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The office is located in Central Park Towers and will act as a strategic hub for TP ICAP's business operations across the region. In addition, the new location will bring together key brands under the Group umbrella, including ICAP, Tullett Prebon, PVM, Parameta Solutions, and COEX.
/jlne.ws/4g5aEjw
Credit Agricole CIB bolsters Asia expansion from Hong Kong, undeterred by Trump trade war
South China Morning Post
French banking giant Credit Agricole CIB is committed to using Hong Kong as a base to expand its business in Asia, and those plans will not be affected by Donald Trump's plan to wage a trade war with China, according to its CEO. "Internationalisation of the yuan, green finance and infrastructure development are the three major themes of development in Hong Kong, which can offer huge opportunities for Credit Agricole CIB as we have strong capability in these areas," Xavier Musca said in an exclusive interview with the Post during a recent visit to the city.
/jlne.ws/3CSnvHs
Bank of England warns of risks from non-banks in future markets crisis; Fire sales of assets by pension funds, hedge funds and other investors would amplify impact, says study
Martin Arnold and Ortenca Aliaj - Financial Times
More work is needed to tackle risks outside the banking sector, according to a Bank of England study which found that a market crisis would be amplified by fire sales of assets by pension funds, hedge funds and other investors. The BoE said a sharp rise in sovereign and corporate bond yields caused by "a sudden crystallisation of geopolitical tensions" would cause "significant losses" for non-bank institutions - such as pensions funds, hedge funds and private equity firms - forcing many to sell assets and amplify the shock.
/jlne.ws/4ir3uYW
JPMorgan Drops Suit Against Tesla Over Musk Tweet, Warrants; Bank sued Tesla in 2021 over strike price, take-private tweet; Tesla countersued; mutual filing to drop claims has no details
Bob Van Voris - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to drop a lawsuit it filed against Tesla Inc. three years ago seeking $162 million tied to stock warrant transactions. The move to end the litigation was announced Friday in a one-page court filing by both sides, in which they dropped their claims against each other without the ability to refile them. They didn't disclose any settlement agreement.
/jlne.ws/4eVRpYv
Point72 Hires Portfolio Managers From Symmetry in Asia Expansion
Bei Hu and Nishant Kumar - Bloomberg
Point72 Asset Management is adding two portfolio managers from Symmetry Investments, as billionaire Steve Cohen's $35 billion hedge fund firm expands its roster of Asia-based staff seeking to profit from broader economic themes. Wang Kai and Koh Ushijima are expected to start their new jobs in Hong Kong in the second half of 2025, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
/jlne.ws/4gbQrZb
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Is your boss talking too much? AI can tell them; New tools will flag when someone is dominating a meeting
Grace Lordan - Financial Times
The writer is author of 'Think Big', an associate professor at the London School of Economics and founding director of The Inclusion Initiative
When different generations of colleagues get together to discuss ideas and make decisions, there is usually no shortage of potential conflict. But there is one thing Gen Z, millennials, Gen Xers and boomers agree on: that meetings themselves are often unproductive, unenjoyable and take up too much time. In research my colleague Daniel Jolles and I did for the Inclusion Initiative at the London School of Economics, we asked more than 3,400 professional workers about their experiences of meetings. They found 35 per cent of meetings were unproductive - a judgment that was consistent across age groups.
/jlne.ws/3VeASIs
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Rising Sick Days Are Costing Europe Billions Every Year; Governments and companies are desperate to reverse the trend of absences
Ott Ummelas - Bloomberg
For businesses in Norway, illness is becoming an increasingly trying problem. Workers take more sick days than anywhere else in Europe and absences are at the highest level in 15 years. As companies struggle with chronic shortages, critics blame an overly generous welfare system, where spending on health-related benefits outranks other developed nations. The IMF calls it "costly and distortionary" and says that reform should be a priority. Workers get their full salary for a year, with a cap at somewhat higher than the average wage, and then two thirds of former income after that.
/jlne.ws/41frHv8
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Lula Ignores Aides and Sparks Market Rout That Threatens Economy
Martha Beck, Daniel Carvalho, Barbara Nascimento and Giovanna Bellotti Azevedo - Bloomberg
The dangers were crystal clear. Top economic aides to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had pointed them out to him again and again: Any moves to water down the fiscal-austerity plan in the works will spark a selloff - another selloff - across Brazilian financial markets. And yet, Lula decided he did not care. He ordered his staff to weave a series of tax-relief measures for the poor into the package unveiled late last week, thereby dulling the much-needed savings the plan would generate. Markets, as advertised, plunged immediately, wiping 2.4% off a stock market that had already been falling for months and sending the currency to a record low against the dollar.
/jlne.ws/4gdbgnk
Australian gold miners strike $3.2bn takeover deal; Northern Star to acquire rival De Grey in all-share transaction as gold price surge continues to drive consolidation
Nic Fildes - Financial Times
Two of Australia's largest gold miners have agreed a A$5bn ($3.2bn) takeover deal as the booming price for the commodity continues to drive consolidation in the sector. Northern Star Resources, which operates the huge Super Pit gold mine near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, has agreed to take over rival De Grey Mining in an all-share deal pitched at a 37 per cent premium to the smaller company's share price. De Grey shareholders would hold 20 per cent of the combined company.
/jlne.ws/41x5EAj
How to end Europe's backwater investment status; Lagarde envisages a new investment structure to guarantee common standards and low costs
Patrick Jenkins - Financial Times (opinion)
As European policymakers fret about the threat to EU competitiveness posed by Donald Trump, there is at least one US phenomenon that Europe would love to import: the country's ability to fund itself with dynamic equity finance provided by individuals and institutional investors. Europe continues to rely on loans from its hobbled banking system for corporate finance. A European Central Bank analysis found that if EU households put as much into equities and bonds as American counterparts, it could redirect a stock of up to EUR8tn, and an ongoing flow of EUR350bn a year, away from cash deposits. The EU has been pursuing a Capital Markets Union to spur such a shift for a decade - to no tangible effect. So why should anyone take the initiative seriously now?
/jlne.ws/4gdkqjD
Kazakh Tenge Drops to Record After $1 Billion Intervention; More than $1 billion spent in interventions since Nov. 15; Tenge weakens below levels seen when Russia invaded Ukraine
Nariman Gizitdinov - Bloomberg
Kazakhstan's currency tumbled to a record low on Monday after the central bank spent more than $1 billion on interventions over the past two weeks. The tenge weakened to a record low of 530.83 per dollar at 2:37 p.m. local time in Almaty, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, bringing its loss this year to more than 13%. That's the worst performance among currencies in the region after Russia's ruble, which is down more than 15%. Kazakhstan government and central bank are taking "coordinated measures to stabilize the currency market," Deputy Prime Minister Nurlan Baibazarov told reporters on Monday. The government plans to ask exporters to sell dollars, while also expecting foreign-currency inflows for investment projects next year to help buoy the exchange rate, he said.
/jlne.ws/4eVXRPw
Italy Struggles to Harvest Fruits of EU Recovery Fund Boon; Olive mills financing among examples of fragmented approach; Scatter-gun spending on projects risks dissipating impact
Alessandra Migliaccio and Flavia Rotondi - Bloomberg
It's olive season in the hills around Rome, where a century-old family business upgrading its machinery showcases both the fruits and shortcomings of Italy's efforts to spend European Union cash. Pierluigi Ceccarelli plans to use his slice of EUR100 million ($106 million) in EU funds set aside for Italian olive millers to raise output in his facility by 50% to 6 tons an hour and to improve the quality of the oil harvested from the silver-leafed trees scattered around the town of Fara Sabina.
/jlne.ws/3ZxgTHd
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Hotel-Room Coffee Gets a Serious Upgrade-Whether You Want It or Not; From artisan beans to personalized pour-overs, a geek-worthy in-room coffee station is the hot new luxury hotel perk. Not everyone's thrilled.
Chadner Navarro - The Wall Street Journal
When Jennifer May was planning the 2023 opening of Ambiente in Sedona, Ariz., she wanted to make every part of the hotel's guest experience special-right down to the coffee stations in all 40 rooms. May, the co-founder of the luxury hotel company Two Sister Bosses, tested many brewing systems before settling on Fellow's Stagg Pour Over Set, a vacuum-insulated carafe and dripper that high-end-java aficionados favor. She paired it with a matching electric kettle and beans from local roaster Firecreek Coffee, a setup that encourages users to "slow down and savor that first, perfectly steeped sip," as May put it. "It's about the ritual as much as the result."
/jlne.ws/3ZeSLYz
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