| December 16, 2022 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The FT has a story that sums up the sentiments of the crypto space very well right now. The title of the story is "FTX charges leave industry's image in tatters." The accounting firm Mazars decided to pause all of its crypto-related audit work with global clients, including Binance, the FT reported.
On the positive side, Hong Kong launched its first two exchange traded funds for cryptocurrency futures, the ones traded at the CME Group, the FT reported.
In the U.S., the SEC has "doubled down" on its decision to reject the Grayscale spot bitcoin ETF and its position that "bitcoin futures funds are safer than proposed spot bitcoin funds would be," the FT reported.
You might have missed a piece yesterday by Robin Wigglesworth of the Financial Times titled, "We need to talk about the CFTC," as it was buried at the bottom of the newsletter. But it is worth a read. Mr. Wigglesworth takes the CFTC to task for being crypto and FTX friendly and names names of former CFTC officials who helped make the commission the perceived preferred government agency to regulate crypto because it was easy to "capture, dominate, manipulate, and keep defanged," according to Better Markets' Dennis Kelleher, who is quoted in the story.
The Washington Post has a story titled "Can politics kill you? Research says the answer increasingly is yes." The premise is that certain voting patterns and political leanings of political representatives led to higher rates of Covid deaths in those areas and districts.
Former President Donald Trump said he had a big announcement for Thursday and it turned out to be an NFT money grab, as described by the once-friendly, Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post. Trump is selling Donald Trump Digital Trading Cards that depicts the former president in various superhero outfits.
Elon Musk has crossed the red line by banning from Twitter some journalists who covered him. Mr. Musk must never have learned the old childhood response of "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me." The Twitter suspensions have drawn international outrage, according to The New York Times. Count me in on that.
The World's largest hotel aquarium in Berlin burst and spilled 1500 fish during the early hours of the morning. The freestanding cylindrical aquarium exploded and 1 million liters of salt water and 1500 fish splashed across the hotel lobby, Bloomberg reported. The New York Post also has the story with before and after pictures.
My brothers Scott and Dave both collected old beer cans as teenagers. Dave still has his collection, but his is nothing compared to that of the man featured in a story from Vinepair.com who has 87,000 cans valued at $1.6 million. The story is titled, "How A Bunch Of Old Beer Cans Made A Guy In Pennsylvania A Millionaire."
Longtime Trading Technologies executive Farley Owens is starting a new position as chief executive officer at Coflyt.
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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MarketsMedia has a "Daily Email Feature" that gathers the reactions of various entities to the SEC's market structure changes - the tweets and the actual statements. The reactions include those from: IEX Group President Ronan Ryan, MEMX's Adrian Griffiths, the Security Traders Association, Representative Maxine Waters, and others. You can see them all here. ~SR
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MWE SHORT: Charlotte Crosswell - Startups Aren't Just Found in Garages
JohnLothianNews.com
Charlotte Crosswell, CEO of Nasdaq OMX NLX, talks about her introduction into the financial industry and how she found herself in her current role. Beginning with a temporary position at Goldman Sachs, Crosswell assisted a salesperson who needed someone who understood French. She later moved on to the London Stock Exchange and has been in the exchange world ever since.
Watch the video »
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Twitter Suspends Journalists Who Musk Says Imperiled His Safety; 'This is management as dark performance art,' professor says; Billionaire Twitter owner seeks to protect personal safety
Kurt Wagner, Davey Alba, and Vlad Savov - Bloomberg
Twitter Inc. suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists covering the social network's billionaire owner Elon Musk, who alleged they were endangering his family. Late Thursday, reporters from publications including the Washington Post, the New York Times, Mashable and CNN were listed as blocked and their tweets were no longer visible. Musk said the suspended profiles, which included sports and political commentator Keith Olbermann, were of people who had posted his real-time location, describing the information as "basically assassination coordinates."
/jlne.ws/3hxagl2
****** Can you spell "paranoid?"~JJL
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Why Are Teams Issuing Extremely Long Contracts?
Ben Clemens - FanGraphs
I'm going to start today by telling you something very obvious: the new hot trend in contracts this offseason is extremely long deals. You know it. I know it. Ken Rosenthal says it, so it must be true. Living legend Jayson Stark laid it out as only he can: we've seen three free-agent deals of 11 or more years in the last two weeks, as compared to one in the entire previous history of baseball.
/jlne.ws/3FuWPKB
****** This is a fascinating article sent to me by my son Tim that looks at the impact of interest rates and inflation on the awarding of short term or long term contracts to baseball players. We have seen some long-term contracts be awarded to free agents this year and one of the factors for the length of the deals is clearly interest rates and inflation.~JJL
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Meet Our CFO, Mike Nowak
Options Clearing Corporation
"My OCC colleagues have been great as I've transitioned into this new role. One of my main priorities when joining the company was to come in and listen to people to understand what is working well, where the focus should be and what the opportunities are for the future. It has allowed me to learn about the organization quickly, identify key items and understand the structure of the firm. We have a remarkable team here at OCC, and I am excited at what the future holds for us all."
/jlne.ws/3W0e3WZ
****** Hello Mike, I am John, nice to meet you again.~JJL
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Toss of a coin that made a one-time game developer top of the quants; Igor Tulchinsky ended up at Millennium Management and founded WorldQuant thanks to a non data-driven approach
Harriet Agnew and Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
When Igor Tulchinsky was deciding whether to join hedge fund Millennium Management three decades ago, the Belarusian former video game programmer eschewed the systematic, data-driven approach that is characteristic of "quants" like him. He simply flipped a coin. It was not "so that chance shall decide the affair, while you're passively standing there moping", to quote a poem by Danish scientist Piet Hein. "But the moment the penny is up in the air, you suddenly know what you're hoping."
/jlne.ws/3FYtSrO
****** Life sometimes is just a coin flip.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top story Thursday was After Sam Bankman-Fried's Arrest, the FTX Show Goes On, from CoinDesk. Second was 'We're F****** Robbing Idiots:' Eight Financial Influencers Indicted in Massive Pump and Dump Scheme, from Gizmodo. Third was our MarketsWiki page for Joe Guinan, the CEO of Advantage Futures.
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MarketsWiki Stats
27,101 pages; 242,063 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
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| Lead Stories | ICE warns it may pull gas market from EU over Brussels price cap; Exchange operator cautions the rapid imposition of a cap would allow no time to test risk management systems
Philip Stafford and Alice Hancock - Financial Times
Intercontinental Exchange has warned it may pull its gas trading market out of the Netherlands if Brussels presses ahead with a plan to introduce a cap on prices. The stark threat comes as tensions among EU ministers rise following a month of divisive talks over a European Commission proposal to cap the derivatives price of gas traded in Amsterdam.
/jlne.ws/3Wp7ZHC
How Amazon put Ukraine's 'government in a box' - and saved its economy from Russia
Russ Mitchell - Los Angeles Times
Since February, Amazon has been playing Santa Claus to Ukraine, delivering planeloads of goods, including blankets, hygiene kits, diapers, food, and toys, for the war-torn nation and refugees in Poland and other parts of Europe. But long term, what's more important to Ukrainians than the gifts coming in is what's going out: massive amounts of government, tax, banking and property data vulnerable to destruction and abuse should Russian invaders get their hands on it.
/jlne.ws/3FWSMYI
Why has Big Tech fallen in love with exchanges? Microsoft's deal with London Stock Exchange Group follows moves by Amazon Web Services and Google into capital markets
Nikou Asgari and Kaye Wiggins in London and Richard Waters - Financial Times
Big Tech is cosying up to capital markets. The announcement this week of a partnership between Microsoft and the London Stock Exchange Group is the third such alliance to be formed in a little over a year. In November 2021, Google spent $1bn and signed a 10-year cloud computing agreement with Chicago-based CME. Amazon Web Services and New York's Nasdaq agreed a similar deal later that same month, and last week, Nasdaq completed moving one of its US options exchanges on to AWS.
/jlne.ws/3FX0nGM
Accountant That Vetted Binance's Reserves Halts All Crypto Work; French auditor Mazars halts work for Binance, Crypto.com; Crypto firms claim unable to sign deals with Big Four firms
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
Mazars Group, the accounting firm used by crypto giant Binance Holdings Ltd. and other big players in the industry to vouch for their assets held in reserve, has halted all work for crypto clients, dealing a blow to an industry seeking to shore up confidence in the wake of FTX's collapse.
/jlne.ws/3j9Mc8s
These Wall Street Companies Are Cutting Staff as They Prepare for a Downturn; A running list of where finance jobs are being eliminated as revenue tumbles and warnings intensify that the economy is headed for a slump
Paige Smith - Bloomberg
With investment-banking revenue plummeting and a recession looming, Wall Street is in retrenchment mode. The job cuts and hiring freezes that struck the tech world have made their way to the finance industry, with banking executives preparing for what's expected to be an austere year ahead. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group AG and Barclays Plc have all either already fired staff or announced that they plan to do so in coming months. Some smaller firms have even completed multiple rounds of terminations.
/jlne.ws/3PAZerQ
FTX charges leave industry's image in tatters; Plus, Binance strengthens its grip on the market
Scott Chipolina - Financial Times
For Christians it's supposed to be the season of goodwill and charity but these attributes are in short supply in the crypto industry. Most of the anger and acidity has understandably been aimed at Sam Bankman-Fried following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX last month, and the media apology tour only deepened the distrust.
/jlne.ws/3BBnX9B
Musk Disables Twitter Spaces After Clash With Journalists; Banned journalists were able to join a Spaces critical of Musk; Twitter owner has gone back on his free-speech absolutism
Vlad Savov and Davey Alba - Bloomberg
Twitter Inc.'s live audio service, Twitter Spaces, is down after a number of journalists that had just been suspended from the social network found they could still participate on it. Twitter owner Elon Musk said late Thursday night that the company was fixing an old bug and the audio service "should be working tomorrow." Earlier in the evening, Musk's network threw reporters from CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times, among others, into a seven-day suspension for allegedly disclosing the location of his private jet.
/jlne.ws/3uYQQZD
Germany on Twitter suspensions: 'We have a problem, @Twitter'
Thomas Escritt - Reuters
The German Foreign Office tweeted screenshots on Friday of the accounts of journalists suspended by Twitter, warning the platform that the ministry had a problem with moves that jeapordised press freedom. Twitter suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who had posted about its new owner Elon Musk, prompting protests from their media organisations.
/jlne.ws/3V5JCgO
Bitcoin falls as Binance auditors quit and scrub records - live updates Updated 13 minutes ago
The Telegraph
Binance's auditors have scrubbed a report into the financial health of the company from the internet and dropped the cryptocurrency giant as a client. The price of bitcoin fell as much as 2pc this morning following reports. A website featuring a "proof of reserves" report, produced by French audit firm Mazars, which showed how much financial collateral Binance held, had been deleted this morning.
/jlne.ws/3Ys6PNh
Crypto's Post-FTX Crisis Is Laid Bare as Trading Volumes Plummet by 50%; A trust deficit is driving investors away from digital assets; Virtual coins have suffered one of their worst years on record
Suvashree Ghosh and Joanna Ossinger - Bloomberg
Trading volumes at digital-asset exchanges have halved amid a loss of confidence in the crypto sector following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX platform. Daily average trading volume slid to $13.1 billion in the week through Dec. 11 versus $26.7 billion in the seven days to Oct. 30, according to Bloomberg calculations on data from research firm Kaiko.
/jlne.ws/3V8yK1Q
The Crypto Ice Age Is Here. It Could Get Even Worse; The collapse of FTX has sparked a crisis of confidence as crypto tries to rebuild its tarnished reputation. What's ahead for 2023.
Joe Light - Barron's
For crypto investors, the only thing to celebrate about 2022 is that it is almost over. The industry is fighting for its life amid a cascade of scandals, bankruptcies, and fury in Washington over its freewheeling, if not fraudulent, ways. Bitcoin has lost 67% since late 2021. The token market is down by $2 trillion in the same span-one of the biggest financial bubbles to burst in history.
/jlne.ws/3j8TY2q
An antiquated U.S. regulatory regime allowed SBF to screw up
Braden Perry - MarketWatch
"I f---ed up." That what Sam Bankman-Fried was supposedly going to admit under oath to the House Financial Services Committee Tuesday. But his indictment and subsequent arrest Monday night obviously canceled his planned appearance. And within hours, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have now piled on for additional civil actions against SBF.
/jlne.ws/3BHckho
Schumer makes last-ditch push for cannabis banking bill; This is likely the last opportunity for a bipartisan group of supporters to get a cannabis bill across the finish line in this Congress.
Natalie Fertig - Politico
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is making a final push for inclusion of the cannabis banking bill in the omnibus funding package. According to a senior Senate Democratic aide, Democrats shared the revised text with Republicans on Thursday in a bid to get cannabis legislation over the finish line. The new bill text addresses concerns raised by key Republicans, including Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (Iowa).
/jlne.ws/3j6KXa0
Crypto Skeptics Run the Show in Washington
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
It was only 10 months ago that Sam Bankman-Fried appeared before a Senate committee to promote FTX's risk engine as a harbinger of how crypto could dramatically improve the banking industry's processes. One of the qualities that made it so great, Bankman-Fried said, was how customer positions would be liquidated automatically if they turned negative. Another was that all collateral had to be "placed on the platform itself, rather than pledged but not delivered to the platform" to ensure FTX's immediate access to the assets. What he didn't say was that Alameda, Bankman-Fried's trading house, was exempt from those rules. Or how ensuring customer assets were directly delivered to FTX meant they could be used as fodder for Alameda trades further down the line.
/jlne.ws/3PyW9Zl
The FTX Crypto Victim Card Can Be Hard to Play; Blaming Sam Bankman-Fried is convenient cover for some firms that should have known better.
Lionel Laurent - Bloomberg
The crypto industry has suffered many booms and busts in its brief lifespan, but nothing like this. Sam Bankman-Fried, currently sitting in a Bahamian jail, has been accused by the US securities regulator of orchestrating a years-long fraud that diverted billions in customer funds from opaque and offshore exchange FTX to a now-bankrupt trading empire.
/jlne.ws/3BFvGTY
Chinese Companies Are Flocking to Indonesia for Its Nickel; Over a decade, they've poured upwards of $14 billion into two ore-rich islands to lock in supplies for battery production.
Yudith Ho and Eko Listiyorini - Bloomberg
About 3,000 miles south of Beijing, Chinese mining companies have set up operations in the heart of the world's largest known nickel reserves. On the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Halmahera, they've built refineries, smelters, a new metallurgy school-even a nickel museum. Together, they've plowed $3.2 billion into the remote islands this year alone, bringing the total to $14.2 billion in investment over the past 10 years-enough to secure their nickel supply into the next decade. The metal is primarily used in the production of stainless steel, but it's also a critical component in electric vehicles.
/jlne.ws/3YwVc7F
Will Auctions Help Investors Get Better Prices? Traders Are Skeptical
Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
If regulators have their way, your orders to buy and sell stocks could be directed into auctions where sophisticated trading firms would battle to give you the best price. The problem: Those firms say the plan won't work. Brokers, stock-market veterans and some academics are skeptical, too. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler says the proposed auction rule, which the agency unveiled Wednesday, would unleash the forces of competition to deliver better prices for individual investors.
/jlne.ws/3FWSfWI
Accountant That Vetted Binance's Reserves Halts All Crypto Work; French auditor Mazars halts work for Binance, Crypto.com; Crypto firms claim unable to sign deals with Big Four firms
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
Mazars Group, the accounting firm used by crypto giant Binance Holdings Ltd. and other big players in the industry to vouch for their assets held in reserve, has halted all work for crypto clients, dealing a blow to an industry seeking to shore up confidence in the wake of FTX's collapse.
/jlne.ws/3HHdgWX
AIG to Officially Shut Unit That Failed in Financial Crisis
Leslie Scism - The Wall Street Journal
American International Group Inc.'s infamous Financial Products unit-the one that nearly took down the global economy in 2008 with wrong-way bets on mortgages-is on its way to an official demise. AIG announced today that the unit has filed a voluntary petition for chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, as a way to close for good. Back in 2008, the woes of AIGFP, as it is known, caused its parent to teeter on the edge of bankruptcy. To stave off collapse, AIG took one of the U.S. government's biggest bailout packages, reaching more than $182 billion at its peak. The package was fully repaid by 2013.
/jlne.ws/3YtyEon
How a Cocaine-Smuggling Cartel Infiltrated the World's Biggest Shipping Company; As MSC grew into a dominant force in global trade, it also became a prime drug-trafficking conduit for Balkan gangs.
Lauren Etter and Michael Riley - Bloomberg
In the summer of 2019, Claudio Bozzo, chief operating officer of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., flew 4,000 miles from Geneva to Washington, DC, for a meeting with US Customs and Border Protection. He'd been sent by MSC's owner, a secretive 82-year-old billionaire named Gianluigi Aponte, to contain a crisis.
/jlne.ws/3Fz8w2N
Everything You Need to Know About the Case Against Sam Bankman-Fried
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
After the demise of his FTX crypto empire in November, Sam Bankman-Fried portrayed himself as a hapless but well-intentioned chief executive who made a series of calamitous mistakes, but never knowingly committed fraud. Regulators aren't buying it. A day after his arrest in the Bahamas, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice and Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil and criminal charges against Bankman-Fried, including that he had orchestrated a scheme to bilk equity investors out of more than $1.8 billion. Here's what we know so far.
/jlne.ws/3WF3t87
Quants May Be Forced to Sell $30 Billion of Stock Futures as Markets Drop; CTAs seen flipping to 83% short if S&P 500 closes below 3,933; Benchmark index at risk of closing below 100-day average
Lu Wang - Bloomberg
Thursday's stock selloff sent the S&P 500 to levels that likely made bears of certain types of rules-based investors. Commodity trading advisers, who place macro bets in the futures market, likely turned sellers as the S&P 500 dropped as much as 2.6% to 3,892, according to Nomura Securities International's cross-asset strategist Charlie McElligott. The big money managers could be forced to drop their heretofore bullish posture and go as much as 83% short should the benchmark index close below 3,933, his model shows.
/jlne.ws/3W3q7qG
Carbon-Credit Investors Start to Pay Up for Quality; Market volume is keeping up with last year's record, but prices are shifting under heightened scrutiny
Shane Shifflett - The Wall Street Journal
Buyers snapped up carbon credits this year at the same record pace as 2021, but they put higher prices on projects that were seen as more effective in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, a sign of growing maturity in the nascent market.
/jlne.ws/3Pz3R5J
Sam Bankman-Fried's Arrest Offers Cold Comfort to FTX Customers; Prosecutors and regulators alleged this week that the crypto exchange's founder stole billions of dollars from customers
Hannah Miao and Caitlin McCabe - The Wall Street Journal
For many customers burned by the whirlwind collapse of FTX, the arrest of founder Sam Bankman-Fried offered them the chance to take a brief sigh of relief-but not much more. Prosecutors and regulators alleged this week that Mr. Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars from FTX customers in one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. Much of the money, they said, propped up trading firm Alameda Research, also largely owned by Mr. Bankman-Fried.
/jlne.ws/3WqvZdw
Does FTX's New CEO Have the Worst Job in Corporate America? John J. Ray III was known for his work on Enron's bankruptcy. Then he took over the mess at FTX. 'I am drawn to crisis,' he says.
Ben Cohen - The Wall Street Journal
There was one question that nobody in this week's congressional hearing asked the new chief executive officer of FTX: Why would anybody want that job? "I am drawn to crisis," John J. Ray III told me in an email. "There is something about the sheer chaos and human panic that creates an unbridled energy."
/jlne.ws/3FxVeDG
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | War in Ukraine Hinges on Who Gets More Rockets and Shells First; A combination of the weather and Russian consolidation along defensive lines has slowed advances by either side on Ukraine's battlefields, but not the conflict's intensity.
Marc Champion - Bloomberg
The potential addition of Patriot missile defense batteries to Ukraine's arsenal comes as Kyiv and Moscow both face a critical question with the war in its 10th month: Can they secure enough missiles and artillery through winter to prevail? A combination of cold, but still wet weather and Russian consolidation along defensive lines has slowed advances by either side on Ukraine's battlefields, but not the war's intensity. The conflict continues to churn through limited reserves of troops and munitions at a frightening pace.
/jlne.ws/3Pv4CfO
UN Taps Stellar Blockchain to Send War-Impacted Ukrainians USDC Stablecoins
Andrew Asmakov - Decrypt
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, is launching a blockchain solution to distribute cash to Ukrainians affected by the ongoing Russian invasion. The program is being piloted first in Kyiv, Lviv, and Vinnytsia, the three Ukrainian cities many people fled to after their homes were destroyed by Russian missile attacks or seeking shelter for their families, with the UNHCR being responsible for confirming the eligibility of recipients and the allocation of the relief aid.
/jlne.ws/3PuuM2p
Russian Ally Serbia Mulls More Gas Links to Diversify Supply, Build Hub; Serbia is building a new pipe, and now considering two more; The Moscow ally gets the bulk of its gas from Russia's Gazprom
Misha Savic - Bloomberg
Serbia is considering building more gas links with nearby countries to reduce dependence on Russian flows and turn it into a regional transit hub.
/jlne.ws/3W222jP
=How Putin's technocrats saved the economy to fight a war they opposed; Once thought of as reformers, the president's economic confidants have ended up as enablers of an invasion they warned against
Max Seddon and Polina Ivanova - Financial Times
One month before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin's top economic confidants visited the Russian president's residence at Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow to brief him on the likely fallout from western sanctions.
/jlne.ws/3BEl3Re
Russia pounds Ukrainian infrastructure in 'biggest attacks' since invasion; Nationwide barrage increases Kyiv's calls for urgent shipments of advanced air defence systems from west
Roman Olearchyk - Financial Times
Explosions from the latest major barrage of Russian air strikes knocked out utilities in Kyiv and scores of other Ukrainian cities on Friday, increasing officials' pleas for more western air defence systems to protect critical infrastructure.
/jlne.ws/3FyN1iK
Russian crude being shipped to India under G7 price cap; Putin had claimed Moscow would not deal with countries observing the restriction
Chris Cook and David Sheppard - Financial ?Times
Russian crude oil is being shipped to India on tankers insured by western companies, in the first sign Moscow has reneged on its vow to block sales under the G7-imposed price cap.
/jlne.ws/3hCEljb
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Euronext completes sale of MTS subsidiary following reassessment of Borsa Italiana assets; Tradition America has purchased the subsidiary from Euronext which acquired the MTS holdings as part of its Borsa Italiana deal in 2021.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Euronext has sold off an MTS subsidiary to a subsidiary of interdealer broker Compagnie Financière Tradition SA, Tradition America Holdings, for an undisclosed price.
/jlne.ws/3Px50dL
SEC reforms: An exchange perspective; In the wake of the SEC's landmark market structure proposals this week, The TRADE sat down with John Ramsay, chief market policy officer at IEX Exchange, to discuss the latest changes.
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
What precipitated the SEC reforms, and are they needed?
It has been 17 years since the existing equity rules were adopted, and since that time, the stock market has seen significant change - including the growth of high-frequency trading, a dramatic decline in displayed liquidity on exchange, and a substantial rise in off-exchange trading.
/jlne.ws/3PzkFJv
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) Via Electronic Submission Re: The proposed FSB framework for the international regulation of crypto-asset activities
CCP12
The Global Association of Central Counterparties ("CCP12") is the international association for central counterparties ("CCPs"), representing 40 members who operate over 60 CCPs across the Americas, EMEA, and the Asia-Pacific region. CCP12 appreciates the opportunity to comment on the FSB proposed framework for the international regulation of crypto-asset activities1 ("the Proposed Framework") comprising a consultative document on Regulation, Supervision and Oversight of Crypto-Asset Activities and Markets; a consultative document on the Review of the FSB High-level Recommendations of the Regulation, Supervision and Oversight of "Global Stablecoin" Arrangements; and questions for consultation regarding International Regulation of Crypto-asset Activities.
/jlne.ws/3jbp6OV
HKEX Welcomes Asia's First Crypto Asset ETFs
HKEX
HKEX is first exchange in Asia to offer crypto asset exposure through ETFs ADT of Hong Kong-listed ETPs reached $11.8 billion YTD 2022, up 50% year-on-year. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pleased to welcome today (Friday) Asia's first crypto asset ETFs, further expanding its product ecosystem by offering Hong Kong and international investors even greater choice. The two new ETFs listed today - CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF (Stock code: 3066) and CSOP Ether Futures ETF (Stock code: 3068), both managed by CSOP Asset Management Limited, track the standardised, cash-settled Bitcoin futures contracts and Ether futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) respectively.
/jlne.ws/3HLlmh4
Notice Concerning Changes to Senior Management
JPX
Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) today announces that it has decided on changes to senior management including representative executive officers as follows. A change in the management structure in line with expiration of the term of office Names and job titles of newly appointed and retiring Representative Executive Officer, Group CEO; Representative Executive Officer, Group COO; and Director Newly appointed Representative Executive Officer, Group CEO: Representative Executive Officer, Group CEO Yamaji Hiromi(Note) To serve concurrently as Director of JPX and Director (part-time) of Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.(TSE)
/jlne.ws/3uSAe5M
Change of Name of Warehouse Company
LME
Please note that P Global Services NV, a listed warehouse company with listed facilities in Antwerp, Barcelona, Bilbao, Busan, Gwangyang, Incheon, Kaohsiung, Port Klang, Rotterdam and Trieste, has changed its name to Pac Global Services Spain S.A.U.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa
Listing Of Warehouses
LME
This notice details the listing of four warehouses in Gwangyang.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa
Delisting of Warehouse
LME
This notice details the delisting of a warehouse in Port Klang.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa
Position Limits - Government Of Canada Bond Listed Products (All Months)
TMX
The applicable position limits for the Government of Canada Bond futures and options on the Government of Canada Bond futures have been updated and are reflected in the position limit file. The position limit file is available in Annex 1 and retrievable here.
/jlne.ws/3V4nqnl
MIAX Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Plans TestingAand Member Designation Standards
Mondo Visione
As required by Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity and MIAX Options Rule 321, which is incorporated by reference into both the MIAX Pearl and MIAX Emerald Exchange Rule Books, and thus applicable to Members of both Exchanges, certain Members of the MIAX Exchanges will have mandatory participation requirements in the annual SIFMA Business Continuity Planning Disaster Recovery ("BC/DR") test. Please refer to the following for more information on designation standards and requirements for Designated Members.
/jlne.ws/3PwntXU
Changes in Nifty Fixed Income indices
NSE
The Index Maintenance Sub-Committee (Debt) of NSE Indices Limited, announces the following change in Nifty BHARAT bond index - April 2033 index. The change shall become effective from December 21, 2022.
/jlne.ws/3FYnFw7
NYSE's IPO pipeline is building. So how can the market gain momentum?
NYSE
Michael Harris joined the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year as the Global Head of Capital Markets, responsible for the exchange's work with private companies looking to publicly list on the Big Board. Harris has taken this seat at an interesting moment, with the next generation of public companies waiting, in most cases, for market volatility to abate before launching their IPOs. This pipeline has expanded significantly, Harris explains, as more and more emerging companies reach the point where they'd like to begin the process that leads to 11 Wall Street and their lives as NYSE-listed companies.
/jlne.ws/3v0h9OQ
SGX-listed issuers to return to physical general meetings when govt's (Temporary Measures) Orders cease from 1 July 2023
SGX
Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) notes that the Ministry of Law intends to revoke the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Alternative Arrangements for Meetings) Orders (Orders) from 1 July 2023. Consequent to this, general meetings that all listed issuers conduct from the date of the revocation of the Orders will have to return to the physical mode.
/jlne.ws/3FtELAl
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Ethereum Name Service DAO Votes on Stewards for Three Working Groups
Margaux Nijkerk - CoinDesk
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) members voted to elect stewards for three working groups for the forthcoming year. Voting ended on Dec. 15 at 09:00 UTC, when DAO members elected the stewards that will handle responsibilities for the Meta-Governance, the ENS ecosystem and the Public Goods working groups for the first two quarters of 2023. ENS working groups are a type of subgroup that tackle specific issues within the DAO. These smaller groups have stewards, which are members chosen by ENS voters who make decisions for the DAO.
/jlne.ws/3j93OBp
Self-Custodial Onboarding Will Be the Norm in Web3's 2023
Paulina Joskow - CoinDesk
Let's face it, crypto still has a reputation problem and, as of now, rightfully so - but 2023 is the moment to change that at a root level. Recent events have only accentuated a lack of trust in the space from both businesses and consumers. The worst part is that this has been due to counterparty risk, a problem that crypto is meant to bypass by design. In 2023, Web3 projects will take on the responsibility of educating new users on self-custody and creating better gateways for them to enter the space safely. All the necessary tools are already available, market sentiments are temporary, and the fundamentals are still sound.
/jlne.ws/3VbmXA4
Big tech pushes further into finance; The move may upset regulators-and their own customers
Economist
With no end to the tech downturn in sight, the industry's titans are eyeing new markets. The bigger, the better: in the past year the combined revenue of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Meta reached $1.5trn, so further growth that moves the needle can only come from a giant business. One candidate is finance. What is more, that industry generates petabytes of data, the crunching of which is a core competency of tech firms. And it is dominated by stuffy, old institutions. For a tech ceo, it looks ripe for disruption.
/jlne.ws/3v1EzmZ
Why Returns on Digital Real Estate Don't Compute; Data centers promise a heady combination of growth and income, but investors need to crunch the numbers
Spencer Jakab - The Wall Street Journal
The internet never forgets. Well, at least it has a very long memory, so that silly selfie from five years ago, your old bank statements and the flight reservations for next summer's big vacation all have to live somewhere. Odds are they live in northern Virginia.
/jlne.ws/3YsvPny
Pico and BSO Partner to Expand Global Crypto Offerings
Pico
Pico, a leading provider of mission-critical technology services, software, data and analytics for the financial markets community, expanded its strategic partnership with BSO, a global pioneering infrastructure and connectivity provider, to offer clients unparalleled access to global crypto exchanges through the powerful combination of BSO's Crypto Connect service and PicoNet.
/jlne.ws/3FYr65Q
Fireside Friday with... Ediphy's Chris Murphy; CEO of Ediphy, Chris Murphy, tells The TRADE where he sees credit developing in 2023, why he still has concerns around the consolidate tape, and just when we might finally see a CT in Europe.
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
How has 2022 been for you, and what were the biggest challenges and achievements?
It's been a pretty flat out year for Ediphy. Whilst many people know us best for the data analytics work we have showcased regarding our advocacy on the consolidated tape, our main business is our fixed income execution offering.
/jlne.ws/3jaHs2a
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | U.K. Quantum Cybersecurity Firm Discloses SEC Investigation Over Merger
Eliot Brown, Dustin Volz and Byron Tau - The Wall Street Journal
British cybersecurity company Arqit Quantum Inc. is facing an investigation from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its merger with a special-purpose acquisition company last year, the company disclosed Wednesday. Arqit saw its market value rise from $1.4 billion to over $4.5 billion soon after it completed the SPAC merger-a form of public listing-in September 2021 as investors embraced the company and its projections of surging revenue and profits in the emerging sectors of digital security and advanced cryptography. Its shares have since fallen significantly amid a broad investor retreat from SPACs and young high-growth companies.
/jlne.ws/3PuBxBp
US Is Seizing 48 Websites in Sting of Cyberattack-for-Hire Services; Domains sold the ability to knock victims offline, US says; Six people charged by DOJ in connection with running the sites
William Turton - Bloomberg
The US seized dozens of internet domains and charged six people in a sting intended to bring down a network of cyberattack-for-hire services, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday. In all, the US obtained a court order to seize 48 websites, and six people were criminally charged in relation to the takedowns, according to federal prosecutors. The FBI was in the process of seizing the websites, officials said Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3HPoKaC
Inventor of the world wide web wants us to reclaim our data from tech giants
Daniel Renjifo - CNN
The internet has come a long way since Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web in 1989. Now, in an era of growing concern over privacy, he believes it's time for us to reclaim our personal data. Through their startup Inrupt, Berners-Lee and CEO John Bruce have created the "Solid Pod" - or Personal Online Data Store. It allows people to keep their data in one central place and control which people and applications can access it, rather than having it stored by apps or sites all over the web.
/jlne.ws/3WllxDV
Top 10 Harvard-Approved Cybersecurity Courses to Enroll in 2023
Preethi Cheguri - Analytics Insight
As the frequency of cybercrimes and security breaches rises in today's digital environment, new hazards appear, demanding the hiring of cybersecurity professionals by organizations. The cyber security courses expose you to put appropriate measures in place to avoid or control any security breaches and safeguard your company's critical data.
/jlne.ws/3BCuBwc
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | FTX ally warned authorities days before Bankman-Fried arrest
Alex Hern - The Guardian
One of the closest lieutenants of FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, warned Bahamian regulators about improper trades at the cryptocurrency exchange in the days running up to its collapse, according to court filings. The revelation came in papers published as part of the bail hearing for Bankman-Fried, FTX's former chief executive, who was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday and charged in the US on Tuesday over alleged fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. The filing refers to a warning from Ryan Salame, the co-CEO and chairman of FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamian-based portion of Bankman-Fried's sprawling cryptocurrency empire, about transfers to FTX's crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research.
/jlne.ws/3FzIuwd
You're Gonna Need a Crypto Wallet; This week on Gadget Lab, we talk about the development of the Ledger Stax, a cryptocurrency wallet designed by Tony Fadell.
Wired
Even if you own no bitcoin, no ether, and no NFTs, crypto wallets-pocket-friendly hardware lockers that store digital assets-will be a part of your future. They're essential tools for securing not only coins and tokens, but also the next generation of passports, drivers licenses, and concert tickets. A French company called Ledger, one of the leaders in digital wallets, is trying to take the technology mainstream with the help of Tony Fadell, one of Silicon Valley's most celebrated hardware designers. Fadell designed the iPod and the Nest thermostat, and now he's designed Ledger's next product, a crypto wallet called Stax.
/jlne.ws/3FYqxJ6
'Wolf of Wall Street' Jordan Belfort says Sam Bankman-Fried has 'diarrhea of the mouth' after the FTX founder's media appearances
Pete Syme - Business Insider
Jordan Belfort - better known as The Wolf of Wall Street - didn't hold back with his criticism of Sam Bankman-Fried during a Fox News interview about the collapse of FTX. "First of all, he's gotta shut up," Belfort said. "This guy has got diarrhea of the mouth." Up until his arrest Monday, Bankman-Fried had done several interviews with journalists in the aftermath of the collapse, despite saying his lawyers had told him not to talk.
/jlne.ws/3V7WD9M
FTX's massive $256 million real-estate empire is up for grabs as Bahamian and US lawyers squabble over who should control it
Robert Davis - Business Insider
Lawyers representing the US and the Bahamas are at odds with one another over who will control the massive real estate empire of Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former head of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, according to court filings reviewed by Insider. Bankman-Fried's real estate holdings - all of which are owned by an FTX subsidiary called FTX Property Holdings, LLC - have become a central part of the bankruptcy case against the crypto exchange as an unspecified number of creditors seek to recover billions of funds from the business. The real estate holdings represent some of the most tangible assets that can be liquidated and redistributed to creditors as lawyers for FTX say that billions of the crypto exchange's assets remain unaccounted for.
/jlne.ws/3V3DMg9
Crypto.com Receives License as a Payment Institution in Brazil
Rodrigo Tolotti - CoinDesk
Crypto.com has obtained a Payment Institution License from the Central Bank of Brazil, the crypto exchange said on Thursday. The license allows the company to continue offering regulated fiat wallet services in the country, where the Crypto.com Visa card has been available since 2021. "Brazil and the entire Latin America market is a significant region in the pursuit of our vision of cryptocurrency in every wallet," Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said in a statement. Marcos Jarne, general manager and head of legal for Latin America at Crypto.com, added that "Latin America is a major driver in crypto adoption and regulators have also been playing a key role to foster this."
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Boies law firm makes odd moves in FTX case against Tom Brady, celebs
Alison Frankel - Reuters
The law firm led by famed litigator David Boies appears to have engaged in some unusual litigation tactics on behalf of FTX crypto exchange users who accuse NFL quarterback Tom Brady, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, comedian Larry David and other celebrities of inducing them to open FTX accounts. This tale ventures deep into the weeds of federal court filing procedures, but the upshot is that Boies' firm, Boies Schiller Flexner, and co-counsel from The Moskowitz Law Firm filed three different but obviously related FTX lawsuits in the same federal court in Miami without asking the court to consolidate the cases before just one judge.
/jlne.ws/3Wj1DKl
Genesis Unit Is Among Crypto Firms Named to FTX Creditors Committee
Steven Church and Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
A unit of digital asset firm Genesis won a spot on an official creditors committee in the FTX bankruptcy, a panel that may have a leading role in the biggest crypto insolvency case filed so far. The US Trustee, a unit of the Justice Department that monitors bankruptcies, named nine creditors to the committee, according to a court filing Thursday. Judges typically rely on such groups to help shape payout plans in big, multibillion dollar bankruptcy cases.
/jlne.ws/3Wqj9LY
Provenance Blockchain's McKenney on Crypto Regulation
Bloomberg
Morgan McKenney, CEO at Provenance Blockchain Foundation, discusses her views for Crypto regulation's future following the FTX fallout and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest. She speaks with Su Keenan, Shery Ahn and Haidi Stroud-Watts on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia".
/jlne.ws/3FwNDW8
Shaquille O'Neal says 'I don't understand crypto' after being named in lawsuit over FTX collapse; The NBA star turned TV analyst was named alongside NFL veteran Tom Brady, comedian Larry David and tennis player Naomi Osaka in a lawsuit against FTX, which alleged celebrities who promoted the platform brought it credibility.
Tom Acres - Sky News
The American basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal has defended his appearance in ads for the collapsed cryptocurrency firm FTX, arguing he was "just a paid spokesperson".
/jlne.ws/3jblFI1
FTX files in bankruptcy court to sell four of its businesses; FTX was once valued at $32 billion
Aislinn Murphy - FOX Business
FTX, formerly one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, is seeking to sell four of its businesses. In a filing submitted Thursday to the Delaware bankruptcy court, FTX said it is soliciting bids for Embed Financial Technologies, LedgerX, FTX Japan and FTX Europe.
/jlne.ws/3FVbos6
Hedge funds raise bets against bitcoin miners; Sharp falls in the token's price and the rising cost of energy prompt managers to short several key players
Laurence Fletcher - Financial Times
Hedge funds have been upping their short positions against shares of cryptocurrency miners, betting that more will go to the financial brink after the collapse of the FTX exchange.
/jlne.ws/3hB8FL1
Microsoft Bans Crypto Mining on Its Online Services Without Permission
Aoyon Ashraf - CoinDesk
Tech giant Microsoft won't allow its customers to mine cryptocurrencies on its online services without prior written permission, according to a policy update that came into effect on Dec. 1. "Neither Customer, nor those that access an Online Service through Customer, may use an Online Service ... to mine cryptocurrency without Microsoft's prior written approval," the update said. The company didn't have much explanation on the ban. However, in an update on Azure - its cloud platform - Microsoft said that crypto mining is prohibited in all online services as part of actions required to "secure the partner ecosystem."
/jlne.ws/3FwKm9i
Dutch Central Bank Says Crypto Exchange KuCoin Is Operating Without a License in Netherlands
Helene Braun - CoinDesk
The Dutch central bank has issued a warning to cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin for operating without a registration in the Netherlands, according to a statement. De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) said that MEK Global Limited (MGL), which is registered in the Seychelles and trades under the name KuCoin in the Netherlands, doesn't have a "legal registration" with the DNB. "This means that MGL is in violation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act and is illegally offering exchange services between virtual currencies and fiat currencies and offering custodial wallets," the bank said.
/jlne.ws/3BBoacD
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says 100% of customer assets are fully backed one-to-one, and all withdrawals will be covered: 'We will not have an issue'
Brian Evans - Markets Insider
Changpeng Zhao sought to ease crypto investors' worries about the exchange's liquidity on Thursday by emphasizing Binance's committement to honoring any customer withdrawals. The chief executive and founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange told CNBC's Squawk Box that all customer assets on the platform are backed one-to-one, either in hard or cold-storage wallets.
/jlne.ws/3PE6fYU
Miami fell for FTX. Then FTX fell and Heat arena is stuck with a name no one wants | Opinion
Miami Herald
There's no shortage of millionaires and billionaires dangling shiny objects in front of Miami-Dade officials, always with promises to help heal some community ailment. When the now-failed cryptocurrency exchange firm FTX went before the County Commission in 2021 to ask for a naming-rights deal for the Heat arena in downtown, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and supporters sold it as a key to solving gun violence. FTX's payments to the county would go toward neighborhood programs to combat the issue and promote economic development.
/jlne.ws/3BHaHAl
Bankman-Fried makes new bail application after losing first request: source
Reuters
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has made a bail application before The Bahamas Supreme Court, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, after a magistrate judge on Tuesday rejected the former crypto mogul's request for bail. Bankman-Fried was remanded to a Bahamas detention center after Chief Magistrate JoyAnn Ferguson-Pratt rejected his request to remain at home while he awaits for a hearing on his extradition to the United States, where he has been charged with financial crimes.
/jlne.ws/3FUQhGw
Embattled Crypto Firm FTX Wants to Sell Its Functioning Units, Including LedgerX
Nikhilesh De - CoinDesk
Crypto exchange FTX petitioned a federal court for permission to sell several subsidiaries on Thursday, including U.S.-based derivatives wing LedgerX. In a document filed to the Bankruptcy Court of Delaware, attorneys for FTX said it was a priority for the company's current management to "explore" the sale or find other strategic transactions for certain subsidiaries. "Based on their preliminary review, the Debtors own or control a number of subsidiaries and assets that are regulated, licensed and/or largely not integrated into the Debtors' operations, within and outside of the United States," the filing said.
/jlne.ws/3FSM2Kv
Who convinced Donald Trump that Trump NFTs were a good idea?
Philip Bump - The Washington Post
It's very easy to see how NFTs - non-fungible tokens, bits of digital art created to be unique - would appeal to Donald Trump. People were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for exclusive ownership of a drawing of a monkey! All you had to do was make a picture, hit some internet buttons somewhere, and suddenly you're vacuuming up cash like there's no tomorrow. For Donald Trump, a guy who used his name to sell everything from steaks to water, the idea would be irresistible. So, on Thursday, the former president of the United States - a guy who two years ago oversaw the vast power of the American government, a man who at one time could command armies and navies as he saw fit - announced that he was getting into the NFT game.
/jlne.ws/3V6E2ea
Trump's trading cards got us thinking: Is it sad? Desperate? Or a time to be selfless?
Rex Huppke, Ingrid Jacques and Louie Villalobos - USA Today
Have you ever wanted to throw $99 in a fire, just to watch it burn? Well you're in luck. Former President Donald Trump, a leading candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination (and for federal indictment), made what he called a "MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT" Thursday: He's selling cartoonish $99 digital trading cards that show him in various states of ludicrousness.
/jlne.ws/3hphsjq
Bring A Trailer, The Digital Auction Platform For Collectible Cars, Boasts $1 Billion-Plus In Sales This Year
Josh Max - Forbes
Bring a Trailer, a San Francisco-based online auction platform for classic and collector cars, is giving Sotheby's and Barrett-Jackson a run for their money. The company surpassed $1 billion in sales in September and is expected to close out the year with $1.3 billion - a significant increase over 2021's $829 million mark. Yes - the word is "billion."
/jlne.ws/3hqrJvH
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | The GOP Is Playing Chicken With Trillions in Assets; A new Senate Republican report gives us a look inside the party's playbook for punishing asset managers and their "liberal social goals."
Beth Kowitt - Bloomberg
In the clearest sign yet that a contingent of the Republican Party plans to make its attack on "woke" corporations a core tenet of its platform, look no further than its latest target: asset managers.
/jlne.ws/3V4jMd2
Was Trump or Brexit the Bigger Mistake? The Answer Is Clear; As Americans and Britons are discovering, nations can recover from bad elections far more easily than from bad referendums.
Ian Buruma - Bloomberg
In the postwar era, three nationwide referendums have been held in Britain. Two of them asked the British people to answer a simple question about a complicated issue. In 1975, the question was whether Britain should join the European Economic Community. Roughly 2 out of 3 voters said yes. In 2016, it was whether Britain should stay in the European Union. Just under 52% voted no.
/jlne.ws/3W53QbU
Sam Bankman-Fried's Dirty Political Donations; FTX's chief spent big on contributions. The recipients have some explaining to do.
Kimberley A. Strassel - The Wall Street Journal
Celebrity crypto savant Sam Bankman-Fried is in a heap of trouble. The FTX founder was arrested this week on federal fraud charges. But he can't be the only one sweating. Washington has its own giant FTX problem, in what now appears to be millions of dollars in dirty donations. It's a donor scandal for the ages, and yet politicians are mum on what they intend to do about it.
/jlne.ws/3HHUxKS
US regulators gain access to audits of Chinese companies
Stephen Foley - Financial Times
US regulators on Thursday said they had been allowed to inspect the work of auditors in China for the first time, easing the threat that about 200 Chinese companies could be thrown off American stock markets. The announcement represents a significant breakthrough after a more than decade-long stand-off between Beijing and Washington, which has argued shoddy audit work contributed to a series of accounting frauds at US-listed Chinese companies. Companies such as Alibaba, JD.com and Baidu were on course to be delisted starting in 2024 under US legislation that bans trading in stocks whose auditors cannot be inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
/jlne.ws/3HPjt2O
Key Takeaways From Senate Banking Hearing on FTX Collapse
CoinDesk
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown held a hearing Wednesday on the implosion of crypto exchange FTX as its continued fallout sparks debate on the need for crypto regulatory clarity. Cato Institute's Jennifer J. Schulp, who sat on the witness panel, discusses the key takeaways and outlook for crypto legislation.
/jlne.ws/3uURuY1
Corporate America Thrives Where Abortion Is Protected; Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo now knows that businesses outperform in states where reproductive rights are preserved.
Matthew A. Winkler - Bloomberg
Gina Raimondo doesn't "know why any woman would want to live in a state that criminalizes full access to health care." The assertion by the 40th US Secretary of Commerce is especially relevant after the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in June that upheld a Mississippi law conceived to overturn two landmark decisions -- Roe v. Wade in 1973 and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 -- conferring the almost half century constitutional right to obtain an abortion. Already in 2022, twice as many abortion clinics closed, mostly in the South and Midwest, than in 2021 since the Supreme Court decision.
/jlne.ws/3BIgzt8
California Slashes Rooftop Solar Incentives in Blow to Industry; Golden State risks slowing energy transition with overhaul to program that made it a green energy pioneer.
Mark Chediak and Brian Eckhouse - Bloomberg
California will sharply reduce the incentive that encouraged more than a million homeowners and businesses to install rooftop solar panels and cemented the Golden State as a green energy pioneer. State regulators unanimously voted Thursday to cut the compensation homeowners get for their systems' excess electricity by about 75%. The existing program pays solar customers the full retail electricity price for that excess power, a perk that some state officials say disproportionately hurts low-income residents who are less likely to own solar panels. The change won't go into effect until April and won't impact existing rooftop solar customers.
/jlne.ws/3uTNx5R
TikTok Ban May Satisfy Lawmakers - And Shift The Social Media Power Balance
Alex Barinka - Bloomberg
After months of sounding off against TikTok, US Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, has formally proposed banning the app in the US through a bill he's leading with a group of bipartisan lawmakers in the House and Senate. They're concerned about the platform's ownership by a Chinese company and whether the government in Beijing can access American users' data or influence the content they see in their feeds.
/jlne.ws/3hy2eZk
New York Risks Losing Wealthiest Over High Taxes, Comptroller Says; NY Comptroller warns state lawmakers against raising taxes; DiNapoli says investing has become too politically polarizing
Martin Z Braun - Bloomberg
New York's high taxes may already be pushing wealthy residents out of the city, providing little wiggle room for the state to raise more revenue during an economic slowdown, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said on Wednesday. "We might be getting near that tipping point where we do make it economically unsustainable for enough of those folks to stay here," DiNapoli said in an editorial board meeting with Bloomberg News. "There's no doubt there's been a net migration of taxpayers at the upper end. It should be a concern for everybody."
/jlne.ws/3FsX9tc
Russia's wartime economy: learning to live without imports
Polina Ivanova and Max Seddon - Financial Times
One August afternoon, a taxi pulled up to a hotel in Istanbul and a group of men got out, speaking Russian. They pulled five suitcases out of the car. The cases were packed with equipment they had purchased in Austria. The goods were not particularly unique - professional electronics, for use in schools - but they were made by a western brand that had decided to boycott Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3BALhnV
Crypto hangover hits Hong Kong; Shockwaves from FTX collapse come just weeks after territory pitched itself as a hub for digital assets
Primrose Riordan - Financial Times
For Hong Kong, the timing of the FTX collapse could hardly have been worse. Just weeks ago, the city underlined its ambitions to be Asia's premier crypto hub with a banner announcement from Hong Kong financial secretary Paul Chan. During a week of conferences to celebrate the scrapping of suffocating pandemic restrictions on the territory, Chan signalled Hong Kong was to move towards allowing the retail trading of crypto assets and was exploring the listing of crypto exchange traded funds. "We want to make our policy stance clear to global markets, to demonstrate our determination to explore financial innovation together with the global, virtual-assets community," said Chan at the end of October.
/jlne.ws/3uWskbw
Indian Crypto Traffic Trending Down as Tax Regime Tightens, Data Shows
CoinDesk
Indians have lost interest in trading on local crypto exchanges since the government began imposing taxes on profits and transactions, data from AppTweak and SimilarWeb shows. "The Hash" panel discusses the latest in India's state of crypto.
/jlne.ws/3hwa2L3
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Hedge Fund Glen Point, Founder Phillips Sued by CFTC Over Alleged Trading Scheme
Chris Dolmetsch and Donal Griffin - Bloomberg
Glen Point Capital and founder Neil Phillips were sued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly scheming to trigger payouts on two options contracts totaling $30 million. Following one series of trades, the CFTC says in its lawsuit, a supervisor at the brokerage firm that executed the trades heard how they went down and reacted bluntly. "Jesus," he said, according to the complaint.
/jlne.ws/3BHIHfI
New York Financial Regulator Issues Crypto Guidance for Banks; New York Department of Financial Services reminds banks looking to branch out into cryptocurrency to first seek approval from the regulator
Mengqi Sun - The Wall Street Journal
New York's financial regulator said banks looking to enter the cryptocurrency space need to first seek approval from the regulator. The New York Department of Financial Services, in a guidance document published Thursday, said it would assess new crypto-related activities proposed by financial institutions based on potential risks they may pose to the banks and consumers, and detailed the process for those entities hoping to get approval to offer crypto products and services.
/jlne.ws/3BFCcdo
U.S. Sanctions Russia's Rosbank, Subsidiaries of VTB; OFAC has blacklisted Russian lender Rosbank, which oligarch Vladimir Potanin acquired from Société Générale earlier this year
David Smagalla - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. government has sanctioned Russian lender Rosbank and has expanded sanctions against VTB, one of the country's largest banks, in a move to further limit the Russian government's efforts to fund its war in Ukraine. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday announced sanctions against 17 subsidiaries of VTB, building on sanctions placed on the parent company in February, after Russia invaded Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3hzO8Xu
CFTC Charges Commodity Pool Operators and Their Co-Chief Investment Officer with Deception and Manipulation in Connection with Swaps and Supervision Failures
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Glen Point Capital Advisors LP and Glen Point Capital LLP (collectively, Glen Point Capital), two CFTC-registered commodity pool operators, and their Co-Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer, Neil Phillips, charging them with engaging in a deceptive and manipulative scheme to illegally trigger payouts on two large binary option contracts. Additionally, the defendants are charged with failing to supervise the trading activities of their officers, employees, and agents
/jlne.ws/3BBqwbt
SEC, DOJ Charge Nuveen Trader in Alleged $47 Million Insider-Trading Scheme
Kenneth Corbin - Barron's
Lawrence Billimek, the trader with Nuveen, a unit of TIAA, and Alan Williams are facing civil and criminal charges in the matter, and authorities arrested the men on Wednesday. "We learned yesterday that one of our employees has been charged with tipping an outsider about our planned trading activities by misappropriating confidential information in direct violation of our policies," a spokeswoman for Nuveen said in an email. "We immediately placed the employee on leave, suspended his access to all company networks and trading platforms and began our own review, and we are cooperating fully with authorities."
/jlne.ws/3Fy4CHA
SEC's $1.5 Billion Problem With Stock-Market Middlemen Has a Complex Solution
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journal
The Securities and Exchange Commission believes small investors could pocket about $1.5 billion a year from better trade execution. The question is whether someone else's wallet could lighten by that amount. A new series of SEC rule proposals are meant to address problems with equity market structure for investors, particularly for small investors when it comes to the practice of payment for order flow, or PFOF. That is when a brokerage such as Robinhood Markets or Charles Schwab sends retail orders to a wholesale market-maker such as Citadel Securities or Virtu Financial and collects payments.
/jlne.ws/3V59Xvs
SEC Proposes Rules That Would Squeeze Stock-Market Middlemen
Paul Kiernan - The Wall Street Journal
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted Wednesday to advance the biggest changes to U.S. stock-market rules since the mid-2000s, aiming to give small investors better prices on their trades and reduce some advantages enjoyed by high-speed trading firms. Democratic commissioners, who hold three of the SEC's five seats, supported moving forward on each of the four proposals. Republican commissioners voiced objection to two of the measures. Voting to advance the rules opens them to public comment until at least March 31 before the agency can decide whether to finalize them.
/jlne.ws/3hCWb5A
SEC votes to update insider-trading rules with new cooling-off period of up to four months
Ciara Linnane - MarketWatch
In an effort to improve U.S. rules on insider trading, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday unanimously voted in favor of new measures for executive officers and other corporate insiders trading in their own company's shares. The move came as part of a broader update of rules relating to trading that are up for a vote at an open SEC event. The aim of the changes is to prevent insiders, who often have access to material information about their own companies, from taking advantage of that when exercising stock options or selling their stock.
/jlne.ws/3jazbLW
Why Wall Street Is Clashing Over the SEC's Stock-Trading Overhaul
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
A planned overhaul of US stock-trading rules was greeted with skepticism by some financial firms that said, essentially, "If it ain't broke don't fix it." Other traders welcomed the proposed changes and their promise of greater transparency and improved access to markets for investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission laid out more then 1,000 pages of proposals on Wednesday that Chair Gary Gensler said would boost competition in equities markets. The changes would affect everyone, from wholesale firms that process orders to exchange operators and retail brokers.
/jlne.ws/3HGaCR2
Statement on PCAOB's Determinations Regarding Public Accounting Firms in China and Hong Kong
Commissioner Jaime Lizarraga - SEC
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) successful inspection and investigation of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms in China and Hong Kong is a positive development, but routine compliance with our laws shouldn't be newsworthy. It is concerning that it took more than 15 years and an act of Congress to secure full compliance with the most fundamental accountability requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
/jlne.ws/3FZrlOe
Statement on PCAOB's Determinations Regarding Public Accounting Firms in China
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Today, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) announced that it was able, in 2022, to inspect and investigate completely issuer audit engagements of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in China and Hong Kong. This marks the first time that Chinese authorities allowed access for complete inspections and investigations meeting U.S. standards, as required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
/jlne.ws/3UY18DX
Japan Financial Services Agency: Finalization Of "The Code Of Conduct For ESG Evaluation And Data Providers"
Mondo Visione
Finalization of the Code of Conduct for ESG Evaluation and Data Providers; Based on the recommendations of the "Report by the Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance(Building A Financial System that Supports a Sustainable Society)" published in June 2021, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) established the Technical Committee for ESG Evaluation and Data Providers, etc. in February 2022 and extensively discuss the current status of ESG evaluation and data, challenges faced by relevant parties in ensuring that ESG evaluation and data are appropriately provided and used, and future developments that are expected.
/jlne.ws/3hyyfjY
SEC doubles down on decision to reject Grayscale spot ETF; US regulator reiterates position that bitcoin futures funds are safer than proposed spot bitcoin funds would be
Ben Miller - Financial Times
The Securities and Exchange Commission doubled down last week on its decision to reject Grayscale's bid to launch a bitcoin ETF, repeating its stance that such products are prone to fraud and manipulation, court records show.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | The Most Serious Financial Risk Facing Retirees
Steve Vernon - Forbes
If you ask pre-retirees and retirees to name the most serious financial risk they face, they often cite investment risk. That's not surprising, given that this risk received a lot of attention in 2022 due to the volatility in the stock market and the sharp increase in interest rates. But while investment risk is certainly a significant risk, it isn't the most serious financial risk facing retirees, especially in the long term.
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Elon Musk offloads another $3.6bn of Tesla stock; Billionaire has sold $23bn of stock in EV group since announcing Twitter takeover
Dave Lee - Financial Times
Elon Musk has offloaded another tranche of Tesla stock, worth almost $3.6bn, in a move that risks further irritating already frustrated shareholders in the electric vehicle group. The billionaire, who took over the social media company in October, has sold four tranches of shares worth a total of almost $23bn since announcing his takeover of Twitter. It is the third sale since declaring in April there would be "no further TSLA sales" to support the deal.
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Elon Musk's Tesla Share Sales Approach the $40 Billion Mark; Carmaker's CEO offloaded $3.58 billion more stock this week; Latest disposal coincided with losing spot as No. 1 richest
Dana Hull - Bloomberg
Elon Musk sold another $3.58 billion worth of Tesla Inc. shares, bringing the total amount he's offloaded since late last year to almost $40 billion. The latest disposal of about 22 million shares this week coincided with Musk falling from the top spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a position he'd occupied since September of last year. Tesla's market value also slumped below the half-trillion-dollar mark for the first time since November 2020.
/jlne.ws/3HGewcE
How Twitter Influencers Used Penny Stocks to Dupe Retail Investors; Eight people, including @MrZackMorris, were allegedly involved with pump-and-dumps through online trading chatrooms as novices embraced trading.
Claire Ballentine and Paulina Cachero - Bloomberg
The meme stock and crypto craziness that bubbled up online in recent years is facing a reckoning. Atlas Trading - known for giving advice to small-time traders trying to make a quick buck - is the latest to come under investigation, with its founders charged by federal authorities with running a $100 million "pump and dump" scheme through social media and taking advantage of novice traders by "feeding them a steady diet of misinformation," according to a press release from the SEC.
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Credit Chaos Leaves Debt-Hungry Companies Sweating on Bond Sales; Companies need to meet with investors more as easy money ends
Ronan Martin, Irene Garcia Perez, and Priscila Azevedo Rocha - Bloomberg
Companies are set to raise the least new debt in more than a decade this year and there's an unusual contributing factor: wild swings in markets mean borrowing windows often shut before firms can begin to sell their bonds. The trend is set to continue into 2023 because credit committees at some firms aren't used to the levels of volatility, meaning demand can evaporate by the time they sign off on issuing securities, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
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Should retail investors buy gold? While the precious metal retains its age-old shine, its investment value is less obvious
Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
Gold loves uncertainty - something that is hardly missing in the world today. Few thought that 2022 would deliver greater shocks after two years of pandemic-driven border closures, lockdowns and global supply chain snarls.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Plastic Recycling Isn't Working as Advertised; The plastic industry says it's the solution to cutting waste. But in Thailand, where much of the world's plastic ends up, it's not so simple.
Angus Bennett - Bloomberg
The plastic industry has long said that recycling is the solution to reducing waste. But in Thailand, where much of the world's plastic refuse currently ends up, it's created a new set of intractable problems. In this episode of Bloomberg Storylines, we go to Thailand and explore what happens to all the plastic people in countries like the US toss into recycling bins, the damage it's doing to the environment of other countries and the health of their citizens, and how more nations may soon bear the brunt of the world's illusions when it comes to how much plastic is actually recycled.
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Southland water woes
Justin Kaufmann and Monica Eng - Axios Chicago
After a year of trying, Rep. Bobby Rush convened a roundtable with the EPA and South suburban mayors to discuss water main emergencies that have been plaguing communities. Why it matters: Because of failing infrastructure, some residents are being deprived of access to clean water. What they're saying: "We have citizens across the state of Illinois that wake up every day without knowing if they're going to have water," Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant said after the meeting. "It is totally unacceptable," Rush said in a statement.
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Global sustainability rules body steps up focus on biodiversity
Isla Binnie - Reuters
ISSB will look at biodiversity after climate rules agreed; Appoints two special advisers to help on issue; ISSB board meets in Montreal at same time as COP15 talks. The head of a body setting a global standard for corporate sustainability disclosures said it expects to weave in guidance for more transparency on biodiversity immediately after publishing climate rules next year. Emmanuel Faber, chair of the Frankfurt-based International Sustainability Standards Board, was in Montreal to meet fellow board members and participate in events around the United Nations COP15 talks to create a landmark deal to protect nature.
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Desjardins Global Am And Unicredit Among 15 New Signatories Announced At COP15
Finance for Biodiversity
AP3, Avesco Sustainable Finance, Blue Horizon, Danske Bank A/S, Desjardins Global Asset Management, Desjardins Investments, Helios, JGP, Montpensier Finance, SWEN Capital Partners, Tribe Impact Capital, UBP Asset Management, UniCredit, Varma and WHEB Asset Management are the 15 new signatories of the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge. The new signatory financial institutions were welcomed by Amanda Blanc, CEO of Aviva, during the Second Plenary of the 'Finance and Biodiversity Day' organised by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montréal, on 14 December 2022 during COP15. Milestones: 126 signatories of the Pledge and 60 members of the Foundation. With the new total of signatory financial institutions, the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge is now representing a total of EUR18.8 trillion in assets, held by the 126 signatories from 21 countries. We have representation of a signatory from a new country, Brazil. Furthermore, the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation is reaching the milestone of 60 members collaborating and sharing knowledge on biodiversity.
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Sustainability information is crucial for valuing companies - and high-quality data is key
Rene van Merrienboer and Pepijn Rijvers - PRI
Standard-setters, policy makers and regulators have made significant strides this year towards standardised sustainability disclosures by companies, launching several major consultations. The value of corporate sustainability information is clearly becoming more widely understood. Sustainability issues can affect the financial performance of a business and hence its value over the short, medium and long term. Aware of this, a growing number of investors use sustainability information to assess the likely effect of sustainability risks and opportunities on the cash flows of existing or potential investee companies.
/jlne.ws/3FyMvRM
California Regulators Approve Reduced Solar Compensation for Homeowners; Solar installations are expected to decline as reduced rates for new solar users would extend the time necessary to earn back the cost of rooftop panels.
Emma Foehringer Merchant - Inside Climate News
California utility regulators on Thursday unanimously approved long-anticipated changes to how the state compensates homeowners with renewable energy installations, reducing financial incentives for the electricity generated from solar on customer's rooftops. The vote came after more than three hours of public comment in which many California residents expressed concern that the decision would imperil the state's climate goals. When they go into effect, the new rules will cut credits for most new customers by about 75 percent and are expected to slow installations in California's nation-leading home solar market. Existing customers would continue to receive current compensation rates.
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ESG funds plunge, underscoring need for SEC standards, group says; GOP senators tell Biden to rethink 'unrealistic' approach to ESG
Ellen Meyers - Roll Call
A decline in sustainable investments due to current and expected regulatory scrutiny is highlighting the industry's need for better standards on what qualifies as an environmental, social and governance asset, a top sustainable investing group said. American sustainable assets under management totaled $8.4 trillion, or about one-sixth of all funds, at the start of 2022, according to a report released this week by US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. The 2022 total is less than half the figure reported for 2020, when the organization reported domestic sustainable investments totaled $17.1 trillion.
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Sustainable Debt, ESG Markets Turn Frosty in 2022; A slow down in social bond issuances and political attacks against ESG in the US have created a chill in the air.
Nathaniel Bullard - Bloomberg
In the past five years, the world's sustainable finance markets have expanded from niche products a decade ago, to more than one and half trillion dollars of bonds and loans issued last year. Investors have also allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to ESG-focused equity and debt exchange-traded funds. Sustainable finance is a growth market - or at least, it was until this year. Through November of this year, sustainable debt issuance is just under $1.2 trillion. At the same time last year, companies had raised more than $1.5 trillion.
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BlackRock and State Street Grilled by Texas Lawmakers in ESG Debate; Firms summoned by state panel to Marshall, in eastern Texas; Goal is 'best risk-adjusted returns' for clients: BlackRock
Brendan Walsh and Danielle Moran - Bloomberg
Texas lawmakers grilled finance industry executives they summoned to a remote corner of the Lone Star State for a hearing, questioning whether their environmental, social and governance policies are hindering state pension investments. The GOP-led committee on state affairs called the hearing on Thursday amid growing concern in the party that financial firms are pushing a "woke" ideology with investing rules tied to ESG issues. They summoned officials from BlackRock Inc., State Street Corp. and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. to defend their practices before a committee made up of seven Republicans and two Democrats.
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How a Trick 62% Coupon Helped Sell a Wisconsin School Bond Deal; Wisconsin school district deal features coupons of 4% and 62%; Pair of Texas deals in 2021 carried coupons of 25% and 30%
Joseph Mysak Jr - Bloomberg
"Trick" coupons made another visit to the municipal bond market this week, as a Minneapolis underwriter employed a 62% coupon to win a $9.5 million school bond issue. Bankers have used the phrase "trick" since at least the 1970s to describe unusually high coupons that aren't what they seem. In this case, the 62% coupon doesn't yield 62%. It yields 3.25%.
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Harvard Names First Black President as Claudine Gay Succeeds Bacow; Gay also becomes second woman to lead the Ivy League school; She will succeed Lawrence Bacow, who's retiring as of July 1
Francesca Maglione - Bloomberg
Harvard University named Claudine Gay as the Ivy League school's first Black president and just the second woman to hold the post. She will succeed Lawrence Bacow on July 1, the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in a statement Thursday. Gay, 52, joined Harvard's faculty in 2006 as a professor of government and served as dean of social science from 2015 to 2018. She earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, followed by a doctorate in government from Harvard.
/jlne.ws/3WfIpow
World's Coal Consumption Set to Breach New Record This Year; Usage of the dirty fuel is likely to increase by 1.2% in 2022; Europe fell back on coal after Russia squeezed gas supply
Olivia Fletcher - Bloomberg
World coal consumption is set to rise to the highest level ever this year despite ambitious global goals aimed at weaning nations off burning the dirty fossil fuel.
/jlne.ws/3hwLjGt
NatWest Is First UK Bank to Get Climate Claims Backed by Science; NatWest Group Plc becomes the first UK bank to have its emissions reductions targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.
Alastair Marsh and Frances Schwartzkopff - Bloomberg
NatWest Group Plc became the first UK bank to have its emissions-reductions claims approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, as such certifications take on greater importance for a growing number of investors.
/jlne.ws/3Wp2iti
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Blanchflower: I Think BOE Has it Completely Wrong
Bloomberg
Danny Blanchflower, professor of economics at Dartmouth College and former monetary policy committee member at the Bank of England, discusses the BOE's decision to raise interest rates by 50 basis points, Federal Reserve policy and the impact of China's reopening on markets. He speaks on Bloomberg Television.
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JPMorgan Topples Citi as No. 2 Muni Underwriter in 2022 Rankings; Issuance of muni bonds down about 21% from last year's record; JPMorgan has managed about $38 billion of sales this year
Jennah Haque - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the clear winner this year in an increasingly competitive municipal-bond market, encroaching on Bank of America Corp.'s stranglehold on the top slot of underwriting rankings. The New York-based bank managed $38.2 billion of long-term state and local government debt as of Dec. 15, or roughly 11% of the overall issuance, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That marks a nearly 3 percentage point jump from the bank's share last year, the biggest increase among the 91 managers who have run at least one deal this year, the data shows.
/jlne.ws/3HHmqCO
In Hedge Fund Pay Dispute, a Portfolio Manager Denies Misconduct; Gagliardi accuses ex-employer of power play to deny him bonus; ECM says it fired him for lying about block-trading probe
Ava Benny-Morrison and Sridhar Natarajan - Bloomberg
A hedge fund manager involved in a multi-million dollar pay dispute with his former employer, Evolution Capital Management, denied claims by the company that he engaged in misconduct following revelations of a criminal investigation into improper block trading. Robert Gagliardi, who is based in London, and ECM have been embroiled in a legal fight that led to public disclosures about his involvement in a long-running probe by prosecutors in New York and federal regulators into coordinated buying and selling of big blocks of stock to influence prices.
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Citi's Employees Can Work From Anywhere for Last Two Weeks of Year; Workers must stay in their home country to use the perk; Fraser has bucked rivals' get-tough policy on remote work
Jennifer Surane - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. told most employees they can work from anywhere for the final two weeks of the year, as Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser bucks a trend among rivals to get office workers back to their desks full time.
/jlne.ws/3YsnU9I
Goldman Sachs Considers Eliminating as Many as 4,000 Jobs
Sridhar Natarajan and Steve Dickson - Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may eliminate as many as 4,000 employees, according to a person familiar with the matter. Top managers have been asked to identify potential cost-reduction targets, and no final job-cut number has been determined, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing internal deliberations.
/jlne.ws/3W5mwbt
Quant Hedge Funds Post Historic Returns in Ugly Year for Wall Street; AQR, Systematica, Man and Aspect are among year's big winners; Large moves, stock rotations offer quants chance to shine
Justina Lee and Nishant Kumar - Bloomberg
The math wizards of Wall Street are notching dream returns in this nightmare year for global markets. Famous quant firms like AQR Capital Management, Man Group and Aspect Capital are riding high as inflation-fueled turmoil trashes many of their human counterparts in the stock and bond world.
/jlne.ws/3FZtqd0
BlackRock's Larry Fink making leadership changes after ESG criticism
Reuters
BlackRock plans to make a slew of leadership changes across divisions and create a new unit, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday, at a time when the asset manager resists pressure to remove its Chief Executive Larry Fink.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Is COVID a Common Cold Yet?; Its symptoms have changed a lot.
Katherine J. Wu - The Atlantic
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the worst things about SARS-CoV-2 was that it was so new: The world lacked immunity, treatments, and vaccines. Tests were hard to come by too, making diagnosis a pain-except when it wasn't. Sometimes, the symptoms of COVID got so odd, so off-book, that telling SARS-CoV-2 from other viruses became "kind of a slam dunk," says Summer Chavez, an emergency physician at the University of Houston. Patients would turn up with the standard-issue signs of respiratory illness-fever, coughing, and the like-but also less expected ones, such as rashes, diarrhea, shortness of breath, and loss of taste or smell. A strange new virus was colliding with people's bodies in such unusual ways that it couldn't help but stand out.
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Changing the way we think about rapid tests
Tina Reed - Axios Vitals
The COVID-19 rapid tests that public health officials are counting on to help fight a wintertime surge may not give an on-the-spot picture of whether a person is infected. And that could influence the way people approach the holiday season, Axios' Sabrina Moreno and Arielle Dreher report.
Driving the news: The FDA last month urged repeat testing after a negative result to reduce the risk of missing an infection amid concerns rapid tests aren't sensitive enough for early detection.
/jlne.ws/3Wn0mRP
Stephen 'tWitch' Boss's Death Sparks Conversation on Suicide Prevention for Men of Color
Ella Ceron - Bloomberg
The death of Stephen "tWitch" Boss, the dancer who rose to fame on So You Think You Can Dance and as the DJ for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, has sparked a discussion about mental health, particularly among Black men and other men of color. Boss's death was ruled a suicide by the LA County Medical Examiner. He was 40. His wife, Allison Holker Boss, said in a statement to People that he was "the backbone of our family, the best husband and father, and an inspiration to his fans."
/jlne.ws/3FWiLPX
COVID-19 is about to explode in China. What that could mean for the United States.
Karen Weintraub - USA Today
China is likely to see an explosion of COVID-19 cases in coming weeks, experts say, as the country lifts its long-standing and highly unpopular zero-COVID policy. China is extremely vulnerable right now because its population - especially older adults, who are the most likely to suffer severe disease - is undervaccinated, has no natural immunity from infection and a limited supply of treatments.
/jlne.ws/3HHg1HN
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Britain Is Too Cheap for Retail Investors to Ignore; UK equities are far cheaper than can be reasonably explained. That's fantastic news for investors.
Merryn Somerset Webb - Bloomberg
If I had a hundred pounds for every time over the last few years that I had either read - or for that matter written - a headline announcing that UK equities are cheap ("Bargain Britain!"), I probably wouldn't need to think about it anymore. I'd be in the Bahamas. But the fact that this has been true for a long time doesn't make it less true.
/jlne.ws/3PzIXTG
Hong Kong Bitcoin, Ether Crypto ETFs Raise $79 Million in Shadow of FTX Crisis; CSOP Asset Management to list the ETFs in Hong Kong on Friday; Demand for virtual-asset funds globally has withered amid rout
Sunil Jagtiani and John Cheng - Bloomberg
A pair of Hong Kong exchange-traded funds investing in Bitcoin and Ether futures raised $79 million as the city pushes ahead with a plan to become a crypto hub even as the sector globally reels from the FTX collapse.
/jlne.ws/3uVZGqV
China Cranks Up Propaganda Defending Xi as Covid Surges; People's Daily piece calls on citizens to unite around party; Argues country's previous policies bought precious time
Bloomberg
With Covid-19 running rampant after President Xi Jinping's government swiftly abandoned its zero-tolerance policy, the Communist Party is still insisting its strategy will "stand the test of history." In a front-page commentary on Thursday totaling over 11,000 Chinese characters, the People's Daily newspaper - the party's main mouthpiece - called on citizens to "unswervingly" trust the nation's leaders. It added that Xi's Covid Zero policy "won precious time" in controlling the outbreak, saying that China is now "not afraid of the continuous mutation of the virus."
/jlne.ws/3W3mzVo
Potato Shortage Spurs Australian Grocer to Limit Buying of Fries; Coles sets limit of two lots of frozen fries per transaction; Flooding has damaged crops from lettuce, wheat to fruits
Sybilla Gross - Bloomberg
Australians looking forward to demolishing a serving (or three) of fries at home this summer may be forced to curb their appetite after a top grocer restricted purchases following a potato shortage. Coles Group Ltd., Australia's second-largest supermarket chain, imposed a temporary purchase limit of two lots of frozen fries per transaction, citing supply issues, according to a statement posted on its website Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3uVYG69
Panama Shuts Down First Quantum Copper Mine After Talks Fail; Government takes control of the Cobre Panama mine: Cortizo; Shutting project may support metal's prices as demand wavers
Yvonne Yue Li, James Attwood, and Michael D McDonald - Bloomberg
Panama will close commercial operations of a massive copper mine operated by Canadian company First Quantum Minerals Ltd. after tax talks broke down, in a rare move among Latin American countries. "The government will seek the best options to guarantee the sustainable functioning of the mine under a fair contract," President Laurentino Cortizo said during an address to the nation late Thursday. He's instructed the commerce ministry to preserve the Cobre Panamá copper mine and take charge of maintenance.
/jlne.ws/3YrRH2s
Day Trading Meets Communal Working Space in Puerto Rico; TradeSpace is part trading floor, part social club
Jim Wyss - Bloomberg
For day traders with wanderlust, Puerto Rico seems to have it all: killer tax breaks, endless beaches and a laid-back Caribbean vibe that can take the edge off even the cruelest market. What it didn't have was the raw energy and camaraderie of a trading floor. So Anand Sanghvi and Dip Patel - a former hedge fund manager from Boston and a banker from New Jersey - decided to build one in the capital, San Juan.
/jlne.ws/3PyYi7l
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Sam Bankman-Fried's family reportedly called prison to request vegan meals
Snejana Farberov - New York Post
Disgraced crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried's relatives reportedly called the rodent-infested Bahamas prison where he is being held and asked if he could get vegan meals. The founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX - who was charged this week with multiple financial crimes - has his own room in the maximum-security section of the Bahamas lockup that is known to be crawling with rats and maggots, unnamed sources told Bloomberg. Bankman-Fried's relatives called the Fox Hill jail in Nassau Tuesday night to request that vegan meals be provided to him, a source told the outlet.
/jlne.ws/3j2HpWd
3 Contradictory Personal Qualities to Help You Build a Billion-Dollar Brand
Tim Hentschel - Entrepreneur
Along my journey of entrepreneurship, I have reflected a great deal on the personal qualities that underlie success. I believe there are certain qualities that you see in nearly every successful entrepreneur, and I have tried to distill them, understand them and reflect on them along my own path to building a successful travel technology company. I recently discussed these rules of success in a speech at Cornell, my alma mater, and now I'd like to share just a few of them with other entrepreneurs.
/jlne.ws/3W50i9A
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