| December 26, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
On Tuesday I neglected to wish Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate it, as Hanukkah started late this year and its start aligned with Christmas Day. Hanukkah runs through January 22, 2025. Happy Hanukkah!
Also running from today, December 26, 2024 to January 1, 2024 is Kwanzaa, a seven-day holiday that honors African heritage, culture, and values, with each day focusing on one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, known as the Nguzo Sabay. Happy Kwanzaa!
Another holiday for today for our friends the Brits, and many under their cultural influence is Boxing Day. Boxing Day, observed on December 26th, is a public holiday in many countries with British influence, traditionally associated with charity, giving, and relaxation, and now widely celebrated with shopping sales and sports events.
Speaking of the UK, King Charles gave his annual King's Speech from a chapel of a former hospital rather than from the palace to praise and bring attention to the healthcare workers who "helped treat him and his daughter-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales, after their cancer diagnoses," The New York Times reported.
Charles was not the only European royal to make news during Christmas; the grand duke of Luxembourg, Henri, 69, announced he was abdicating from the throne, following in the footsteps of his father who had done the same thing in 1999, UPI reported.
I start with this soft news instead of stories like Russia's attack on Ukraine's power grid system on Christmas day across several regions with 170 missiles and drones that Ukraine's President Zelensky described as "inhumane," according to AFP. Even President-elect Trump's incoming Ukraine-Russia envoy slammed the attack, according to a story in The Hill. Then there was the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on Christmas Day. It was likely shot down by a Russian military air defense system "after it took a detour of hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and crash-landed with holes in the fuselage," The Telegraph reported.
Euronext CEO Stephane Boujnah shared the news on LinkedIn via a video that as 2025 approaches, Euronext has launched a new book titled "Euronext: A European Success Story", chronicling its evolution from a visionary European exchange project to a cornerstone of the continent's capital markets. The book reflects on 25 years of milestones, emphasizing the organization's role in building the backbone of the Savings and Investments Union across seven countries. The publication features insights from Euronext's founders, employees, clients, and stakeholders, highlighting the company's achievements in supporting diversified asset classes and advancing innovation in post-trade services. Euronext's transformative journey underscores its commitment to fostering a unified European capital market infrastructure.
The fine wine market has faced its second consecutive year of decline as demand from Chinese buyers wanes and higher interest rates reduce the appeal of non-yielding assets like wine. Prices of Burgundy, vintage Champagne, and Bordeaux fell sharply, with Liv-ex's Fine Wine 100 index down 9.2% by November 2024, the Financial Times reported. Top-end names such as Château Lafite Rothschild and Domaine Georges Roumier saw significant price drops, with some vintages tumbling over 40%. Analysts attribute the downturn to overinflated pandemic-era prices and economic uncertainties.
Wine is not the only high end item to be impacted by a drop in Chinese demand. De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer by revenue, is grappling with its biggest diamond stockpile since 2008, valued at around $2 billion, driven primarily by a sharp decline in Chinese demand, the Financial Times reported. Because of its economic slowdown, China, once a crucial market for luxury diamonds, has seen its domestic jewelers offload polished stones through exports to reduce oversupply, further disrupting the market. This significant drop in demand has led De Beers to slash production by 20% and lower prices, contributing to a steep revenue decline to $2.2 billion in the first half of 2024, down from $2.8 billion the previous year.
Neil Cavuto, a business journalist with Fox News since 1996, is leaving the network but not the field of journalism, according to a story in The New York Times. Cavuto has also worked for CNBC, PBS, and The Nightly Business Report.
My son Robby said on Christmas Day that he was talking to a colleague about the stock market two weeks ago, which had taken a sharp drop, so he decided to open his John Lothian Newsletter. What did he see at the top of the newsletter, but a discussion of the length of his and his brother's hair and a story about how men in Utah with long hair and beards are being hired as models to portray Jesus in photos. Needless to say, it was an interesting family discussion about hair length and fame.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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The Global Hunt for Putin's 'Sleeper Agents'; A quiet suburban mom, a hard-drinking war correspondent and an Arctic researcher were hiding in plain sight, championed by the Kremlin's No. 1 fan of spy fiction
Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson - The Wall Street Journal
MI6 had a secret so sensitive that Slovenia's spy chief needed to fly to London to hear it in person. Somewhere in his tiny Alpine nation, a pair of elite Russian spies were hiding under deep cover. But the British intelligence agency couldn't-or wouldn't-tell him their names. The CIA had heard about them just days earlier. Josko Kadivnik, director of Slovenia's intelligence service Sova, meaning Owl, felt his stomach sink. In its three decades of independence, Slovenia had never arrested such a spy. Now, just weeks after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he was being tasked with a mission that went far beyond Slovenia's borders to the heart of a New Cold War: His small team of officers needed to capture two Russian sleeper agents.
/jlne.ws/3DysLAr
**** Fascinating story about spycraft in the age of Putin.~JJL
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Michael Jordan Sells His Massive Luxury Mansion For $9.5 Million - But It Took 12 Years To Find A Buyer And He Spent $50 Million Building It
Jeannine Mancini - Benzinga
Michael Jordan's legendary Chicago-area mansion has been on the real estate equivalent of a never-ending shot clock. After sitting unsold for over a decade, the property has finally found a buyer. Public records confirm the deal has closed, with the home selling for $9.5 million - a far cry from the $29 million it was originally listed for in 2012. In the world of luxury real estate, that's what you call a serious markdown.
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***** Michael Jordan took undeveloped property he bought in 1991 and poured $50 million into developing this 56,000 square foot mansion on seven acres. It sold this year for $9.5 million and he barely cares because he has made so much money it is a rounding error.~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our most read story last Tuesday was Germany's own 'magnificent seven' help Dax defy bleak growth outlook from the Financial Times. Second was, Singapore Pulls Ahead of Hong Kong in Race to Be Crypto Hub from Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance. Third was, Investment Advisers to Supplant Hedge Funds as Top BTC ETF Holders in 2025: CF Benchmarks from CoinDesk.
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| Lead Stories | Jump Trading Raked In Crypto Profits. Now It's Paying a $123 Million Penalty; Regulators fine a unit of the high-speed trading firm over its dealings with disgraced crypto tycoon Do Kwon
Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
Jump Trading Group was a big winner during the last crypto bull market. Now, a unit of the high-speed trading giant has agreed to pay $123 million to settle an investigation stemming from its dealings with disgraced crypto tycoon Do Kwon. The unit, Tai Mo Shan, negligently misled investors about the stability of TerraUSD, a so-called stablecoin that imploded in 2022, hurting thousands of investors around the world, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a settlement last week. Stablecoins are digital currencies designed to maintain a price of $1. Kwon, the creator of the failed stablecoin, has been charged with fraud by New York federal prosecutors over the $40 billion crash of TerraUSD and a related token, Luna. He is in detention in the Balkan country of Montenegro as both the U.S. and his native South Korea seek his extradition. Kwon has denied committing fraud.
/jlne.ws/4gRO7qU
Bank Groups Sue Fed Over Stress Tests, Seeking Transparency; Lenders claim secrecy and changing rules whipsaw capital; Results also affect the cost of financial services, banks say
Bob Van Voris and Hannah Levitt - Bloomberg
Banking and business groups sued the Federal Reserve over the central bank's annual stress tests, saying they're seeking more transparency and input into how the rules are adopted. The groups, including the Bank Policy Institute and American Bankers Association, contend that the Fed's criteria for the tests are designed in secret and produce "vacillating and unexplained requirements and restrictions on bank capital." That's affecting the cost of financial services in the US, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.
/jlne.ws/3DrqWoI
How A.I. Could Reshape the Economic Geography of America; As the technology is widely adopted, some once-struggling midsize cities in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South may benefit, new research predicts.
Steve Lohr - The New York Times
Chattanooga, Tenn., a midsize Southern city, is on no one's list of artificial intelligence hot spots. But as the technology's use moves beyond a few big city hubs and is more widely adopted across the economy, Chattanooga and other once-struggling cities in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South are poised to be among the unlikely winners, a recent study found. The shared attributes of these metropolitan areas include an educated work force, affordable housing and workers who are mostly in occupations and industries less likely to be replaced or disrupted by A.I., according to the study by two labor economists, Scott Abrahams, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University, and Frank Levy, a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These cities are well positioned to use A.I. to become more productive, helping to draw more people to those areas.
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The South African gold mines taken over by criminal gangs; Authorities have resorted to siege tactics to 'smoke out' thousands of miners trapped underground
Monica Mark - Financial Times
Down a shaft that plunged more than a mile below the earth in South Africa's old mining heartland, a man's life hung in the balance. After weeks working - then later, trapped and starved by violent gang leaders - in the abandoned Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein, he clung weakly to a makeshift pulley winching him to safety this month. Above ground, a dozen men strained under the blistering morning sun, lifting the miner out inch by tenuous inch.
/jlne.ws/4fxJhxN
Russia launches Christmas Day attack on Ukraine's energy system; More than half a million people left without heating, water and electricity
Isobel Koshiw - Financial Times
Russia has carried out a Christmas Day attack on Ukraine's energy system, leaving more than half a million people without heating, water and electricity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack, the 13th large-scale assault of 2024 on the country's grid, was "deliberate" and not a coincidence. "What could be more inhuman?" he wrote on X.
/jlne.ws/40dJGkM
Defaults on leveraged loans soar to highest rate in 4 years; Borrowers turn to distressed exchanges in the face of punitive interest rates
Alan Livsey and Harriet Clarfelt - Financial Times
US companies are defaulting on junk loans at the fastest rate in four years, as they struggle to refinance a wave of cheap borrowing that followed the Covid pandemic. Defaults in the global leveraged loan market - the bulk of which is in the US - picked up to 7.2 per cent in the 12 months to October, as high interest rates took their toll on heavily indebted businesses, according to a report from Moody's. That is the highest rate since the end of 2020.
/jlne.ws/41LH6n9
China Debuts Polysilicon Futures Trading in Volatile Market
Bloomberg
China's first polysilicon futures debuted on Thursday, as a new hedging tool for a market that has been contending with massive price volatility. The first day of trading on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange saw prices for the solar-making material on the most-active June contract rally to their upper limit of 44,000 yuan a ton after producers pledged to cut output. The market ended 7.7% higher at 41,570 yuan a ton. A total of 331,253 lots changed hands, over 90% of them for June.
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America's big natural-gas footprint is about to get even bigger
David Uberti - The Wall Street Journal
Toby Rice, who leads one of America's largest natural-gas producers, says the "Drill, Baby, Drill" mantra that resurfaced during the presidential campaign is passé. Now, it is all about "Build, Baby, Build." Natural-gas investors are looking ahead to potential growth after a year in which historically low prices dinged profits and drilling plans. At the same time, the Biden administration questioned the benefits of making the U.S. liquefied-natural-gas-export machine-the world's biggest-even bigger. As climate advocates have increasingly warned of planet-warming emissions, President Biden has ramped up environmental rules and directed unprecedented sums into clean energy, rarely discussing record oil-and-gas output.
/jlne.ws/3DxWLwb
How a Young Mayor Turned Her Town Into a Hub for 'Pig Butchering' Scammers; WSJ got rare access to a criminal enclave in the Philippines from which Chinese gangs targeted people around the world, including Americans
Feliz Solomon and Patricia Kowsmann - The Wall Street Journal
Hundreds of law-enforcement agents burst into a large walled enclave in the middle of this town 60 miles northwest of Manila. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary cluster of buildings-shops, offices, homes-but in fact, it was a crime den from which Chinese gangs ran scams called pig butchering, swindling Americans and others around the world out of millions of dollars. The police hadn't warned anyone in local government, suspecting that most of them were in cahoots with the criminals. What they didn't know was that the town's popular young mayor, Alice Guo, was a key architect of the brazen enterprise. Investigations later showed how she charmed her way to wealth and power and used that to open up her town of 78,000 people to thugs and thieves.
/jlne.ws/49So4NW
ESG funds found to have $1.4bn exposure to Xinjiang labour camps; Ignites Asia analysis has tracked investments in companies such as CATL, the EV battery maker accused of Xinjiang links
Chloe Leung - Financial Times
Environmental, social and governance funds run by global managers have at least $1.4bn allocated to 14 electric vehicle and solar companies linked to forced labour in Xinjiang, according to an analysis by Ignites Asia. Amid growing scrutiny of Chinese and foreign firms operating in the region, the findings shed light on risks for fund firms that fail or are unable to conduct thorough due diligence on Chinese supply chains of investee companies, experts say.
/jlne.ws/4gxa9iJ
The Wealthy Investor Who Is Trump's Choice to Rebuild the Navy; Money manager John Phelan has little national-security experience and a deep network of GOP allies
Brian Schwartz and Nancy A. Youssef - The Wall Street Journal
As he fills senior positions in his incoming administration, President-elect Donald Trump has often turned to wealthy investors with ties to elite Republican circles in Palm Beach and New York. Trump's Navy-secretary nominee, John Phelan, a money manager and philanthropist who owns a mansion in Florida just miles from Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, checks all those boxes.
/jlne.ws/3DwNAfA
How Typhoons and Karaoke Crashed Japan's Insurance Industry; Japan's insurance giants are selling over $56 billion in shares after getting caught colluding in the wake of costly disasters.
Nao Sano and Aaron Clark - Bloomberg
It wasn't safe to talk about it at the office, or over email. But in a private room in one of Tokyo's karaoke bars, representatives of Japan's biggest insurance companies gathered - not to sing, but to coordinate a price hike on a shared corporate client. It was 2022, and the insurers were reeling from a series of costly natural disasters including heavy rains and typhoons that required billions in payouts and decimated their balance sheets. In a frictionless market, each insurer would have looked at the worsening storms, assessed the growing risk, and raised prices accordingly.
/jlne.ws/4gL8PJr
Colleges Expand Financial Aid Programs With Prices Near $100,000; Schools are taking steps to lower the cost of getting a degree as high costs face pushback.
Francesca Maglione - Bloomberg
A handful of top US colleges are taking steps to boost financial aid for low and middle-income families as the soaring cost of attendance fuels backlash from financially stretched students. The University of Pennsylvania recently announced it will stop including a family's home equity when determining financial aid eligibility. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, undergraduates with families earning less than $100,000 can expect to get a full ride starting next fall. In the University of Texas system students from families at that income level will attend college tuition-free.
/jlne.ws/3Pd9AOZ
Finland probes Russian shadow fleet oil tanker after cable-cutting incident; Disconnection of power line follows series of suspected sabotage attacks on Baltic Sea infrastructure
Richard Milne - Financial Times
Finland suspects an oil tanker that is part of Russia's shadow fleet of damaging an underwater electricity cable and three communication cables, opening an investigation into the vessel for aggravated sabotage. The Eagle S was stopped by Finnish authorities after the Estlink 2 subsea electricity cable in the Gulf of Finland was disconnected on Wednesday. The tanker, which is registered in the Cook Islands and is carrying oil from Russia to Egypt according to ship tracking data, was seen passing over the cable at the time of the incident.
/jlne.ws/3BAsVqp
De Beers amasses biggest diamond stockpile since 2008 financial crisis; Chinese demand has slumped as competition from lab-grown alternatives has increased
Leslie Hook - Financial Times
De Beers Group has amassed its biggest stockpile of diamonds since the 2008 financial crisis, laying bare the group's challenge in reviving demand for jewels long seen as the pinnacle of luxury. A slump in Chinese demand, intensifying competition from lab-grown alternatives and the legacy of pandemic lockdowns, when the number of marriages fell, has left the world's biggest diamond producer by revenue with inventory worth about $2bn.
/jlne.ws/4fQkeGB
The Hedge-Fund Trade of the Year: Betting on Argentina's Chain-Saw-Wielding President; Investors have piled into Argentine assets this year, betting Javier Milei can revitalize the beleaguered South American economy
Caitlin McCabe - The Wall Street Journal
The hot new trade on Wall Street has nothing to do with crypto, electric vehicles or artificial intelligence. It's Argentina-the country infamous among investors for serial debt defaults. Hedge funds and other money managers have piled into Argentine markets this year, betting President Javier Milei can overhaul a long-suffering economy. The trade has paid off handsomely, with Buenos Aires stocks on pace to finish 2024 as the world's best performers and government bond prices soaring. An exchange-traded fund tracking the MSCI Argentina index is up more than 60%.
/jlne.ws/49VB6KH
Stupidly Easy Hack Can Jailbreak Even the Most Advanced AI Chatbots
Frank Landymore - Futurism
Are you serious? Typo Personality. It sure sounds like some of the industry's smartest leading AI models are gullible suckers. As 404 Media reports, new research from Claude chatbot developer Anthropic reveals that it's incredibly easy to "jailbreak" large language models, which basically means tricking them into ignoring their own guardrails. Like, really easy. What they did was create a simple algorithm, called Best-of-N (BoN) Jailbreaking, to prod the chatbots with different variations of the same prompts, such as randomly capitalizing letters and swapping a few letters around, until the bots let the intrusive thoughts win and generated a verboten response.
/jlne.ws/3ZQy8Cy
Gazprom Expects Revenue From Gas Sales to Beat Plan This Year
Bloomberg News
Gazprom PJSC said revenue from natural-gas sales is expected to exceed its own forecasts in 2024, providing a boost for the Russian energy giant after last year's annual loss. "Proceeds from gas sales will amount to 4.6 trillion rubles ($45.8 billion), which is 155 billion rubles more than envisioned in the original financial plan," Deputy Chief Executive Officer Famil Sadygov said in a Telegram statement on Tuesday. That would also top last year's revenues from gas sales.
/jlne.ws/4gviwLQ
Worried About Market Turmoil Under Trump? Look to the Past; Readers have concerns that President-elect Trump's policy agenda will unsettle stocks. If you're tempted to make big portfolio moves, revisit 2020.
Tara Siegel Bernard and Ron Lieber - The New York Times
Nobody knows what will send the stock market into a tailspin, or when that moment may be coming. This is the inherent risk that comes with investing. But some investors are concerned that President-elect Donald J. Trump's policy agenda - stiff tariffs, deep federal spending cuts, mass deportations of immigrants - could push the market over the edge, inflicting real damage to the investment portfolios they worked so hard to build.
/jlne.ws/4gvA3n4
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Russia Unleashes Another Wave of Attacks on Ukraine; Moscow again struck Ukraine's energy infrastructure, part of an effort to wear down the country. "In the trenches, there are no holidays," one man said.
Marc Santora and Liubov Sholudko - The New York Times
Air-raid alarms and explosions sounded on Christmas Day in Ukraine as Russian missiles and drones targeted the nation's energy infrastructure. "Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack," President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a statement. "What could be more inhuman?"
/jlne.ws/41N6tEX
Russian region declares emergency situation as Black Sea oil spill fallout widens
Reuters
Authorities in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on Wednesday declared a region-wide emergency, saying that oil was still washing up on the coastline 10 days after two ageing tankers ran into trouble. The oil is from the tankers which were hit by a storm on Dec. 15. One of the vessels split in half, while the other ran aground. The pollution, which has coated sandy beaches at and around Anapa, a popular summer resort, has caused serious problems for seabirds and everything from dolphins to porpoises and over 10,000 people have been trying to clear it up.
/jlne.ws/4gNkk2o
Russia can send gas to Europe via several routes, Novak says
Bloomberg
Russia is ready to continue gas exports to Europe through several routes just as a contract to transit the fuel via Ukraine is expected to end this year, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. It is up to authorities in Kyiv and the European Union to agree on the future of gas transportation, Novak said Wednesday in an interview with state-run Rossiya 24 TV channel. "We, in turn, have always stated that we are ready to continue supplying gas not only via the existing link" through Ukraine, he said.
/jlne.ws/4gQ3BLX
Russia says it foils Ukrainian plots to kill senior officers with disguised bombs
Guy Faulconbridge - Reuters
Russia's Federal Security Service said on Thursday it had foiled several plots by Ukrainian intelligence services to kill high-ranking Russian officers and their families in Moscow using bombs disguised as power banks or document folders. On Dec. 17, Ukraine's SBU intelligence service killed Lieutenant General Kirillov, chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, in Moscow outside his apartment building by detonating a bomb attached to an electric scooter.
/jlne.ws/49VuJHh
Azerbaijan Airlines plane 'likely shot down by Russian air defences'
Our Foreign Staff - The Telegraph
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on Christmas Day was "likely shot down by a Russian military air defence system," a UK-based aviation security firm has said. The crash immediately prompted speculation that the aircraft was shot down by Russia after it took a detour of hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and crash-landed with holes in the fuselage. Russian military bloggers have suggested the plane, which crashed near the Kazakhstan city of Aktau, could have been mistaken for a Ukrainian drone.
/jlne.ws/3VXqGnT
Sanctioned Russian LNG Ship Fails Four-Month Quest for Buyer
Stephen Stapczynski - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4iW7C3p
Roman Abramovich's £2.35 billion Chelsea sale funds remain in limbo - three years on
Tom Morgan - The Telegraph
/jlne.ws/3PbwPsL
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Five Journalists Killed in Gaza Strike, Palestinian Officials Say; The Israeli military said it had struck a vehicle containing a "terrorist cell" in the Nuseirat area of Gaza.
Yan Zhuang and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad - The New York Times
Five journalists were killed early Thursday when their vehicle was hit by an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat area of Gaza, according to the local authorities and Palestinian news media reports. The Israeli military said its air force had struck a vehicle overnight in Nuseirat with a "terrorist cell" from the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad inside. Reports about journalists being targeted were "fake claims," Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said on social media.
/jlne.ws/3ZQslNk
Israel Loosened Its Rules to Bomb Hamas Fighters, Killing Many More Civilians; Surprised by Oct. 7 and fearful of another attack, Israel weakened safeguards meant to protect noncombatants, allowing officers to endanger up to 20 people in each airstrike. One of the deadliest bombardments of the 21st century followed.
Patrick Kingsley, Natan Odenheimer, Bilal Shbair, Ronen Bergman - The New York Times
At exactly 1 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel's military leadership issued an order that unleashed one of the most intense bombing campaigns in contemporary warfare. Effective immediately, the order granted mid-ranking Israeli officers the authority to strike thousands of militants and military sites that had never been a priority in previous wars in Gaza. Officers could now pursue not only the senior Hamas commanders, arms depots and rocket launchers that were the focus of earlier campaigns, but also the lowest-ranking fighters.
/jlne.ws/4iOikbX
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | China's CATL to seek Hong Kong listing
Reuters
Chinese battery manufacturer CATL said on Thursday it plans to seek a listing in Hong Kong, a Shenzhen Stock Exchange filing showed. CATL plans to issue offshore H-shares and apply for a listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it said in the filing.
/jlne.ws/41RY5UY
Launch of "JPX Sustainability Information Search Tool (Beta Version)" for TSE Listed Companies
JPX
Japan Exchange Group, Inc. and JPX Market Innovation & Research, Inc. have today launched the "JPX Sustainability Information Search Tool (Beta Version)" for Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) listed companies, with the aim of enhancing disclosure of sustainability-related information.
This tool enables companies to view, on a single screen, links to information included in publications by Prime Market-listed companies (annual securities reports, integrated reports, websites, etc.) relating to a choice of 38 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics. It is intended to make it easier for listed companies to gather relevant information in the process of deciding the content and other aspects of their own sustainability disclosure. Please note that this tool is free to use, but usage is restricted to TSE listed companies. To enable us to gather opinions from users and verify the usefulness of the tool, it will be provided as a beta version for the time being.
/jlne.ws/4gS3Sy0
Issuance of 1256 Ruling; SDV December 2024 (SDVz24) Final Settlement Restatement
MOEX
Bourse de Montreal Inc. (the "Bourse") hereby informs its participants that the settlement price used for the December 2024 expiry of the S&P TSX 60 Dividend Points Index (SDVZ24) has been restated, as the original value extracted on December 20 had not yet been updated to take into account certain dividends that had been declared but remained unpaid. As a result, the Bourse is restating the settlement price to reflect the ex-dividend value.
/jlne.ws/4fHVnok
Strategic Financial Solutions Releases Report on Australian Financial Market Planning
Nasdaq
Strategic Financial Solutions, a leader in financial planning and advisory services, today issued a report on the Australian financial planning market. The report calls on Australians to take proactive steps in planning for their retirement. With millions of Australians expected to enter retirement age within the next decade, the company emphasizes the importance of investing time and effort into retirement plans to ensure a secure financial future.
/jlne.ws/3ZVT0YS
Nasdaq Announces Mid-Month Open Short Interest Positions in Nasdaq Stocks as of Settlement Date December 13, 2024
Nasdaq
Nasdaq At the end of the settlement date of December 13, 2024, short interest in 3,063 Nasdaq Global MarketSM securities totaled 11,912,589,852 shares compared with 11,857,580,215 shares in 3,065 Global Market issues reported for the prior settlement date of November 29, 2024. The mid-December short interest represents 2.65 days compared with 2.36 days for the prior reporting period.
/jlne.ws/4j3yH4K
EBS Market on CME Globex Notice: December 26, 2024
CME Group
/jlne.ws/3BJWZjj
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Trading Technologies Achieves High Spot in Chartis Buyside Platforms 2024 Rankings; Firm also earns "strong category leader" status for Energy and Equity Trade Surveillance Solutions in new Chartis Market Quadrants report
Trading Technologies
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology platform services provider, has earned the number 12 spot in the Chartis Buyside Platforms 2024 ranking of the top 50 providers of buy-side platforms and technology. The report released this month showcases the leading players in financial infrastructure and highlights providers delivering essential services and tools - including trading networks, market data, prime brokerage services and more - to buy-side market participants. The ranking, which Chartis called a testament of the "commitment to delivering exceptional value and innovation" to that community, provides insights into how the companies are shaping the industry with advanced solutions in asset management, risk assessment and operational efficiency.
/jlne.ws/3VRfjhl
Microsoft Invested Nearly $14 Billion In OpenAI But Now Its Reducing Its Dependence On The ChatGPT-Parent: Report
Ananya Gairola - Benzinga
Microsoft Corporation is reportedly planning to reduce its dependence on ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. What Happened: Microsoft has been working on integrating internal and third-party artificial intelligence models into its AI product, Microsoft 365 Copilot, reported Reuters, citing sources familiar with the effort. This move is a strategic step to diversify from the current underlying technology of OpenAI and reduce costs. The Satya Nadella-led company is also decreasing 365 Copilot's dependence on OpenAI due to concerns about cost and speed for enterprise users, the report noted, citing the sources. A Microsoft spokesperson was quoted in the report saying that OpenAI continues to be the company's partner on frontier models. "We incorporate various models from OpenAI and Microsoft depending on the product and experience."
/jlne.ws/3VRTL44
AI phones could sustain chip sector if data centre spending slows, says Nvidia supplier; Advantest chief warns any faltering in Big Tech's AI investments will reverberate through supply chain
David Keohane and Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
Demand for artificial intelligence-enabled smartphones could help to protect parts of the semiconductor industry from a "vicious" downturn if investment in data centres slows, said the chief executive of the world's largest provider of chip testing machines. Doug Lefever, who leads Nvidia supplier Advantest, said he was watching for any sign of slower spending on AI by big US tech groups. Meta, Google and Microsoft have been heavy investors in data centres that can deliver massive amounts of computing power.
/jlne.ws/4fyJn8r
Coffee goes onchain as Agridex settles first-ever transaction on Solana; Real-world asset tokenization could become a multitrillion-dollar industry by 2030, according to Boston Consulting Group.
Sam Bourgi - Cointelegraph
Solana-based real-world asset (RWA) platform Agridex has facilitated its first onchain coffee trade, a move it said could open the door to more cost-effective agricultural commodity transactions. The transaction was executed by Tiki Tonga Coffee, a United Kingdom-based coffee brand, which exported premium coffee from its home country to South Africa. The payment was made in South African rands and settled in British pounds using the Agridex blockchain.
/jlne.ws/4fFppsC
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Japanese regional banks face cybersecurity challenges amid increasing threats
Rick Steves - FinanceFeeds
A joint cybersecurity self-assessment (CSSA) conducted by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has revealed that regional financial institutions are making steady progress in enhancing cybersecurity but continue to face significant challenges, particularly in human resources and third-party risk management. The assessment, targeting 99 regional banks, 254 shinkin banks, and 145 shinkumi banks, underscores the growing cyber threat landscape in Japan's financial sector.
/jlne.ws/4gOznZz
Some Japan Airlines Flights Canceled, Delayed After Cyber attack; Company says it identified the cause of the failure and its systems recovered
Kosaku Narioka - The Wall Street Journal
Dozens of Japan Airlines flights have been canceled or delayed after a cyberattack disrupted its network, the carrier said Thursday. Japan Airlines said more than 60 flights, including 11 international ones, were delayed by half an hour or more as of 7 a.m. GMT. Two domestic flights were canceled, it said. The airline said network equipment connecting internal and external systems wasn't working properly Thursday morning. By the afternoon, the company said it had identified the cause of the failure and its systems had recovered.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Russia is mining a hot cryptocurrency, trying to solve one big trade problem
Huileng Tan - Business Insider
Russian companies have found another way to skirt Western sanctions against trade payments: cryptocurrency. Some businesses have begun using crypto, including bitcoin, to make international payments, Anton Siluanov, Russia's finance minister, told Russia 24 TV channel on Wednesday. "As part of the experimental regime, it is possible to use bitcoins, which we had mined here in Russia," Siluanov said, according to a Reuters translation.
/jlne.ws/3BLE7jR
Russia is using bitcoin in foreign trade, finance minister says
Reuters
Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in international payments following legislative changes that allowed such use in order to counter Western sanctions, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday. Sanctions have complicated Russia's trade with its major partners such as China or Turkey, as local banks are extremely cautious with Russia-related transactions to avoid scrutiny from Western regulators.
/jlne.ws/41TKvAf
Trump's 'made in USA' bitcoin is a promise impossible to keep
David Pan - Bloomberg
As Donald Trump prepares to fulfill a lengthy list of campaign promises, the president-elect's vow to ensure that all remaining Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is "made in the USA" may prove to be one of the most challenging to keep. Trump made the pledge in a post on his Truth Social account in June after meeting at Mar-a-Lago with a group of executives from crypto miners, the companies whose massive, high-tech data centers do the work that facilitates transactions on the blockchain in exchange for compensation paid in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. The gathering was a key juncture in Trump's transformation from a crypto skeptic to one of the industry's strongest allies.
/jlne.ws/4iOdk7b
How Robinhood's Head of Crypto is preparing for a crypto rebound
Rob Nelson - The Street
Bitcoin's price continues to capture attention with its steady yet volatile fluctuations, leaving investors and analysts speculating on its trajectory. Roundtable anchor, Rob Nelson, recently engaged Johann Kerbrat, Head of Crypto at Robinhood, in a conversation about bitcoin's potential future movements and Robinhood's strategies in managing crypto volatility. Rob Nelson opened the discussion by emphasizing bitcoin's relatively narrow trading range of 9-10%, noting, "It's moving $95,000 to $104,000 ... I think it's moving higher and faster than people think." He urged Kerbrat to share projections for bitcoin through 2025, suggesting the cryptocurrency could surpass expectations.
/jlne.ws/4iOeOhL
Crypto got everything it wanted in 2024
David Hollerith - Yahoo Finance
Crypto was once a fringe sideshow for the investing public, a concern for D.C. policymakers and a subject of ridicule for top Wall Street figures. That changed in 2024. Digital assets such as bitcoin (BTC-USD) can now be owned and traded by regular Americans like a stock. Some of the biggest players on Wall Street are hailing it as a wise investment. And an incoming administration in Washington, D.C., is promising major legislative changes to support the industry. Crypto's widespread acceptance translated into major gains for investors who were along for the ride. Those holding bitcoin are up 126% since the beginning of the year as the price of the world's largest cryptocurrency set new records and surged past $100,000 following the election of Donald Trump. The market value of all crypto swelled by nearly $1.7 trillion, according to Coinmarketcap.
/jlne.ws/4iPMGed
MicroStrategy Wants to Buy All the Bitcoin in the World
Andrew Bary - Barrons
MicroStrategy chairman and controlling shareholder Michael Saylor has grand ambitions and is one of the world's biggest champions of Bitcoin. Now the company is asking shareholders for approval to boost the authorized number of the company's class A common shares outstanding to 10.33 billion from the current 330 million, according to a preliminary proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Monday.
/jlne.ws/409MNdd
Have a bitcoin-obsessed brother-in-law? Here's what to tell him this Christmas.
Brett Arends - Market Watch (opinion)
/jlne.ws/41PBLeA
As stablecoin bill advances in Hong Kong legislature, advocates trumpet its many uses
South China Morning Post
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | The CFPB vs. Checking Accounts; The rule on overdraft fees is ripe for the GOP Congress to overturn.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board
Time is almost up for the Biden Administration, which means agencies are rushing out their last overreaching rules. One example is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's attempt to redefine checking accounts to make it harder for banks to charge overdraft fees. It's bad for banks, and especially for their low-income customers. The CFPB rule, finalized this month, applies to commercial banks and credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets. It gives three options for charging a customer whose account goes negative.
/jlne.ws/4gwkBH9
Elon Musk Calls Jeff Bezos' Ex-Wife MacKenzie Scott's $19 Billion Charitable Donations 'Concerning'
Kaustubh Bagalkote - Benzinga
Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has raised fresh concerns about MacKenzie Scott's charitable donations, highlighting growing tensions over billionaire philanthropy and its societal impact. What Happened: Responding to a social media post about Scott's donations to liberal nonprofits, Musk offered a one-word critique: "Concerning." The comment came after author John LeFevre highlighted Scott's contributions to organizations focused on racial equity, social justice, and LGBTQ+ rights. Scott, who received Amazon.com Inc. shares worth billions in her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos, has emerged as one of America's most prolific philanthropists. Through her Yield Giving organization, she has donated over $19 billion to more than 2,450 nonprofits since 2019, while maintaining a net worth above $30 billion due to Amazon's stock performance.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Chasing the Highest-Yield Savings Account: More Trouble Than It's Worth?; With the Fed cutting rates, some savers say they are done moving money from bank to bank in pursuit of the best return on cash
Dalvin Brown - The Wall Street Journal
Ondrei Ronhaar, a 40-year-old energy broker, said that last week a friend suggested he switch banks to grab a higher-yield savings account. He didn't bite. It turned out the rate was only 0.4 percentage point higher than the 3.8% he is earning at Ally Financial. "We're looking at a few bucks a month," he said. The hassle of opening a fresh account, with its new account numbers and logins, wasn't worth the trouble, he reasoned. He kept his $10,000 parked at Ally. It has been there since 2023.
/jlne.ws/3ZRuCI2
A Credit-Score Hangover Is Hitting America's Riskiest Borrowers; These borrowers are falling behind on payments after pandemic aid ran out and inflation skyrocketed
David Uberti and Katherine Hamilton - The Wall Street Journal
Adrianna Boshears's dream of homeownership seemed within reach for the first time in 2021. She and her husband Jeffrey were finally saving money, thanks to pandemic stimulus checks and a larger-than-usual tax refund. A real-estate agent suggested they work to boost their low credit scores before applying for a mortgage. The couple's scores rose after Adrianna opened her first credit card, and then vaulted into the 700s after the couple added four others. But as their savings dwindled, the 41-year-old mom started pulling out the plastic to pay for groceries and utilities. By October, the kitchen cabinets in her Fresno, Calif., apartment were bare. All five cards were maxed out.
/jlne.ws/3ZZBsLM
When the Hassle of Moving Cash Is and Isn't Worth It; Some savers say they're done switching banks to chase higher yields
Dalvin Brown - The Wall Street Journal
Ondrei Ronhaar, a 40-year-old energy broker, said that last week a friend suggested he switch banks to grab a higher-yield savings account. He didn't bite. It turned out the rate was only 0.4 percentage point higher than the 3.8% he is earning at Ally Financial. "We're looking at a few bucks a month," he said. The hassle of opening a fresh account, with its new account numbers and logins, wasn't worth the trouble, he reasoned. He kept his $10,000 parked at Ally. It has been there since 2023.
/jlne.ws/4fyQWfl
Money Moves for the New Year: Setting and Keeping Your Personal-Finance Goals; A four-part podcast series that answers listeners' questions about achieving their financial goals for 2025
WSJ Staff
It's common to make resolutions around the start of a new year, but keeping those promises is another story. Setting realistic goals about your money, and sticking to a plan, can pay off throughout the year and beyond. The Wall Street Journal's Your Money Briefing podcast will answer listeners' questions about the most important financial goals they plan to tackle in 2025
/jlne.ws/4gLavTf
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Will Trump Cut Short the Biden Clean-Energy Boom? Investors Are Nervous.; President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to roll back many of the rules and subsidies that have attracted billions of dollars from the private sector to renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Lydia DePillis - The New York Times
Money is the mother's milk of politics, but the outcome of elections also determines where it flows - and last month's was especially crucial for the energy industry. Clean investment - including renewable energy as well as the manufacturing of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels - has boomed since the passage of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, championed by President Biden. In the third quarter of 2024, it reached a record $71 billion, according to a tracker maintained by the Rhodium Group, an energy-focused research firm, and M.I.T.
/jlne.ws/4gvJdjx
Catastrophe-Bond Issuance Pushes Overall Market to Almost $50 Billion; Roughly $17.7 billion of new bonds have been sold this year; Market returns were about 16%, down from a record 20% in 2023
Gautam Naik - Bloomberg
Catastrophe-bond issuance rose to a record this year, increasing the overall market to almost $50 billion, as insurers transferred more risk from costly climate disasters to private investors. Sales of bonds earmarked for supplemental coverage of large windstorms, earthquakes and other events totaled $17.7 billion, up 7% from the previous record set a year ago, according to Artemis, which tracks the market for insurance-linked securities. The figures include cyber-risk and private transactions.
/jlne.ws/40dFTE4
How Typhoons and Karaoke Crashed Japan's Insurance Industry; Japan's insurance giants are selling over $56 billion in shares after getting caught colluding in the wake of costly disasters.
Nao Sano and Aaron Clark - Bloomberg
It wasn't safe to talk about it at the office, or over email. But in a private room in one of Tokyo's karaoke bars, representatives of Japan's biggest insurance companies gathered - not to sing, but to coordinate a price hike on a shared corporate client. It was 2022, and the insurers were reeling from a series of costly natural disasters including heavy rains and typhoons that required billions in payouts and decimated their balance sheets. In a frictionless market, each insurer would have looked at the worsening storms, assessed the growing risk, and raised prices accordingly. But in deflationary Japan, clients were accustomed to price cuts, not hikes, climate change be damned. It was easier, the salesmen agreed, to cheat.
/jlne.ws/3PjcWQt
Investors file historic number of biodiversity resolutions in 2024, yet none pass
edie
A new analysis has revealed that investors filed a record number of biodiversity and deforestation-related resolutions in 2024, but none of the resolutions analysed that went to a vote passed.
/jlne.ws/40adEGg
China to build world's largest hydropower dam in Tibet
Reuters
China has approved the construction of what will be the world's largest hydropower dam, kicking off an ambitious project on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau that could affect millions downstream in India and Bangladesh. The dam, which will be located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, could produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, according to an estimate provided by the Power Construction Corp of China in 2020.
/jlne.ws/41K3FIS
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | How these 24 people changed banking in 2024
Chana Schoenberger - American Banker
At the end of last year, American Banker's journalists assembled a list of the individuals we thought would have the greatest impact on banking in 2024. Were we right? Here's an update on what each was up to this year, and how much of a difference they made to the industry. See who we think are the 25 people who will change banking in 2025.
/jlne.ws/3BByxRg
Defaults on leveraged loans soar to highest rate in 4 years; Borrowers turn to distressed exchanges in the face of punitive interest rates
Alan Livsey and Harriet Clarfelt - Financial Times
US companies are defaulting on junk loans at the fastest rate in four years, as they struggle to refinance a wave of cheap borrowing that followed the Covid pandemic. Defaults in the global leveraged loan market - the bulk of which is in the US - picked up to 7.2 per cent in the 12 months to October, as high interest rates took their toll on heavily indebted businesses, according to a report from Moody's. That is the highest rate since the end of 2020.
/jlne.ws/409XjBn
Ex-Comedian Joins Ex-Goldman Analyst to Advise Japan Stock Fund
Yasutaka Tamura - Bloomberg
A former comedian and an ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst will offer investment advice for a Japanese equity fund that's set to launch in January. The fund will be run by Tokyo-based asset management firm Fundnote, and will invest in stocks with limited downside by looking at their price-earnings ratio and price-to-cash flow ratio, among other measures, and it seek to capture so-called alpha, according to its website.
/jlne.ws/41PLLEH
Little-Known Quantum ETF Rakes In Cash After Computing Breakthrough; QTUM ETF on pace for best month of inflows with $250 million; Wouldn't be surprised to see more quantum ETF filings soon: BI
Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
For most of its six-year life, the Defiance Quantum ETF behaved just like any other high-tech long shot: Unexceptional returns and meager investor interest kept it stuck among the investing also-rans that dot the exchange-traded fund landscape. All that changed in the span of a nanosecond after Google-parent Alphabet Inc. announced a big breakthrough in quantum computing earlier this month. Now, flows for the fund, which trades under the ticker QTUM, are surging like never before.
/jlne.ws/4gvhpMa
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | AI is expected to fuel Wall Street's tech hiring in 2025. Headhunters break down what you need to know to get a leg up.
Bianca Chan - Business Insider
It's been a tough year for software engineers on the job market, but one bright spot is starting to emerge on Wall Street for technologists looking for a new gig. Banks, hedge funds, and investment firms bullish on AI are expected to hire more tech talent in the new year, according to two headhunters who recruit engineers and data scientists for finance firms. That's good news for jobseekers in these sectors, which were long considered to be recession-proof careers but were hit this year with waves of layoffs, job freezes, and hiring cutbacks. Ben Hodzic, a managing director at recruitment firm Selby Jennings who finds talent for hedge funds and investment banks, told Business Insider there's "a lot of optimism" around AI in financial services. "Financial services institutions are slowly adopting their workflows and they've come to a reality where you need the right talent to actually build and implement and manage those products," he said.
/jlne.ws/408RCn3
Hong Kong employers look to hire more relationship managers and data analysts next year
South China Morning Post
Relationship managers, customer due diligence officers and data analysts are some of Hong Kong's hottest jobs in the coming year, according to human resource professionals. In the current business environment, relationship managers will be one of the "hot jobs" in the financial services sector, according to Betty Lam, the head of human resources at DBS Bank in Hong Kong.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Wellness Retreat Market is Projected to Grow Expeditiously: to Reach US$ 363.9 Billion by 2032, Report
Newswires
According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, "Wellness Retreat Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Retreat Type, by Location, by Duration : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032." The research provides a current evaluation of the global market landscape, highlighting recent trends, key drivers, and the overall market environment. The study examines the main factors influencing industry expansion, analyzing both its growth drivers and restraints. Additionally, it sheds light on factors expected to offer promising opportunities for development of industry in the future.
/jlne.ws/3Du5X4B
The Fitness & Wellness Moves That Defined 2024; These acquisitions, bankruptcies and CEO hires made headlines in 2024. They figure to impact the fitness and wellness industry for years to come
Josh Liberatore - Athletech
The fitness and wellness industry is starting to settle into a post-pandemic rhythm, marked by people returning to gyms and studios in large numbers, a rising interest in longevity services and the surging popularity of modalities like strength training and Pilates. This past year saw plenty of headlines, from major mergers to big-name brands filing for bankruptcy to CEO changes at the industry's top companies. Athletech News recaps the eight fitness and wellness moves that defined 2024, and forecasts what each could mean as we enter a new year.
/jlne.ws/3Du6h3j
The Failures of Medicine Without Markets; Even in rich countries, government management destroys patient care.
James Freeman - The Wall Street Journal
Americans dissatisfied with the medical system created by ObamaCare might want to take a moment to inspect a health system where market discipline has not just been suppressed and distorted but eliminated entirely. No, this column is not about the deprivation and suffering in Marxist regimes like Cuba or Venezuela. Even in a society as wealthy as the U.K., dysfunctional government-run medicine has lately produced a debate on how best to provide treatment in hospital hallways when there are no rooms available for patients.
/jlne.ws/4a1fOva
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China Seeks to Spur Growth by Giving Local Officials Bond Leeway; A key government bond can be used more flexibly for projects; Changes may help localities better drive investment, economy
Bloomberg News
China is allowing local officials to invest in more areas with a key government bond while also simplifying its approval process in a bid to make better use of an important source of public funding to drive the economy. Local governments can use their special bonds to invest in projects as long as they're not on a special list published by the cabinet, the government said in a document Wednesday. That list includes projects that don't generate any returns, government buildings, vanity constructions like giant sculptures and commercial property.
/jlne.ws/4gslqB5
US oil exports to China dwindle as demand wanes, buying shifts
Christopher Charleston - Bloomberg
US crude exports to China plunged by almost half this year as shifts in the nation's economy weighed on demand and it bought more barrels from other countries including Russia and Iran. Exports of US oil to China plunged to 81.9 million barrels over the course of the year, down 46% from 150.6 million barrels last year, according to data from Kpler. That knocked China down to the sixth-largest buyer of US crude, from second last year.
/jlne.ws/408dTS8
India roars ahead of China to top Asian IPO rankings; Fast-growing Indian market behind only the US in money raised by company listings
Arjun Neil Alim, Haohsiang Ko, Chris Kay and Krishn Kaushik - Financial Times
India has eclipsed China as Asia's top market for company listings this year, as buoyant stock prices spark a boom in initial public offerings. Propelled by companies including Swiggy and Hyundai Motor, India will be the world's second-largest equity fundraising market behind the US for the first time, according to data from Dealogic for 2024. The National Stock Exchange of India is set to be the number-one venue for primary listings by value, ahead of Nasdaq and Hong Kong Stock Exchange, KPMG figures show.
/jlne.ws/3Pcqs8F
South Korean opposition moves to impeach acting president; Han Duck-soo has refused to fill vacancies on the constitutional court hearing Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment
Song Jung-a - Financial Times
South Korea's main opposition party is seeking to impeach the acting president, deepening the country's political crisis after President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed power grab and impeachment this month. The Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday submitted a bill to parliament to impeach Han Duck-soo, who is also prime minister, after he resisted pressure to appoint three justices to fill vacancies on the country's constitutional court.
/jlne.ws/41PKcpZ
World Bank lifts China growth forecast but calls for deeper reforms; Multilateral lender says greater detail of policies is needed to bolster household and business confidence
Edward White - Financial Times
The World Bank has raised its near-term economic forecasts for China while repeating calls for President Xi Jinping to pursue deep reforms to address lagging confidence and structural problems in the world's second-biggest economy. The multilateral lender said on Thursday that it had revised its forecast for China's GDP growth next year upwards by 0.4 percentage points to 4.5 per cent, reflecting a series of policy-easing measures announced by Beijing over the past three months as well as the strength of the country's exports.
/jlne.ws/4guF0wj
Opinion: Biden's gift to Trump: Golden opportunity to supercharge the economy; Dismantling Biden's industrial policies would greatly harm U.S. economic growth
Peter Morici - MarketWatch
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to Washington with a golden opportunity to continue the country's accelerated economic growth. Over the past eight years, U.S. GDP has increased 2.5% annually. This surpasses the 1.9% growth during the Bush-Obama years but trails the 3.2% performance of the Reagan-Bush-Clinton era.
/jlne.ws/4iTXf00
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| Auditions | | Explore a space for creative trading stories where you can find and share unique works like screenplays, television scripts, poetry, and more, all inspired by the world of finance and trading. | INT. MIKES MOTHERS APARTMENT HALLWAY
Carter bangs on the door with the baseball bat. The sound echoes through the building.
Mike's mother rises from the table, stuffing a stack of twenties into her housecoat pocket as she wheels her oxygen tank toward the door. She opens it to find Rex Carter standing there.
REX CARTER
Is your son here?
MOTHER
Who the hell are you?
REX CARTER
I'm his boss. It's urgent I speak
to him.
MOTHER
He's not here. Get the hell out of
here.
Carter is starting to lose his patience. He pushes at the door. Mom holds her ground.
See today's complete entry of Auditions HERE and the complete script to date HERE.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | The TRADE's most read stories of 2024, part one: M&A, quant moves, and outsourced trading remits
The Trade
The TRADE counts down from 10 to eight of the most read news stories on The TRADE over the past year, featuring FIS and Torstone Technology, Citadel, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and BNY.
/jlne.ws/3VUjs42
The TRADE's most read stories of 2024, part two: People moves, TRADE 20 roundups, and open outcry
The Trade
Counting down from seven to four of the most read news stories on The TRADE over the past year, featuring Citadel, Millennium and more.
/jlne.ws/4fFJkHL
Neil Cavuto, Longtime Fox News Host, Signs Off the Network; "Your World with Neil Cavuto" was shown in the 4-5 p.m. slot for 28 years, since the network began in 1996.
Adeel Hassan - The New York Times
Neil Cavuto, a business journalist who hosted a weekday afternoon program on the Fox News Channel since the network began in 1996, signed off for the final time on Thursday. Mr. Cavuto, 66, also hosted two programs on Fox Business, but is best known for "Your World with Neil Cavuto," which was in the 4-5 p.m. slot for 28 years. He did not give a reason for leaving but said he was not retiring from journalism.
/jlne.ws/4gUg953
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