| April 16, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
In the complex CME and CBOT member class action case (2014 CH 00829) against CME Group Inc. and the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Judge Patrick J. Sherlock of the Cook County Circuit Court denied all three motions of the CME Group. The defendants sought summary judgment, exclusion of the plaintiffs' expert witness, Dr. Jonathan Arnold, and decertification of the class. After reviewing nearly 300 pages of legal arguments, the court denied the motion to exclude Dr. Arnold's testimony, denied the motion to decertify the class, and denied the motion for summary judgment, citing numerous unresolved factual disputes that require a jury to decide. The case moves to the trial date set for July 7, 2025. The judge set a pre-trial conference for June 18, 2025 at 1:30 p.m.
The law firm that is representing the plaintiffs had more good news yesterday when a federal judge on Tuesday blocked most of Donald Trump's executive order targeting law firm Susman Godfrey. Reuters has that story.
Thank you to Cognitive Capital for its $5000 donation and CME Group's Julie Winkler for her $500 donation to the Kilt Challenge, supporting the fundraising of Alicia Crighton of Goldman Sachs and Chris Edmonds of ICE in support of Futures For Kids and their Mission (Im)possible campaign. With those two donations, the total has exceeded the goal of GBP 60,000. Let's keep it going!
IEX today announced plans to launch its new options exchange, IEX Options, by the end of Q1 2026, pending SEC approval. The launch reflects IEX's focus on market-driven innovation and aims to address long-standing industry challenges such as adverse selection, the exchange said in its new release. John Palmer, head of options, emphasized that the exchange's architecture is designed to improve risk management, enhance liquidity, and deliver better pricing outcomes. IEX has already achieved key milestones, including building out its options team and submitting its proposed rule book to regulators.
Ivan Brown, head of business and product development for IEX Options, highlighted the exchange's goal of empowering market participants with tools to quote confidently and manage capital more effectively. Drawing on its equities expertise, IEX intends to bring differentiated technology and functionality to a rapidly expanding options market, bolstered by strong client feedback and ongoing regulatory engagement.
Now we know why the price of gold is rallying. President Trump has launched an extensive and highly personalized redesign of the White House, transforming it with lavish gold accents reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate, The Wall Street Journal reported. Since returning to office, Trump has overseen the installation of gilded fireplace mantels, ornate molding, and gold-adorned furnishings-including cherubs, vases, and even a FIFA World Cup trophy-often enlisting help from his Florida-based "gold guy," cabinetmaker John Icart. The makeover extends to official portraiture, with requests for golden borders around his and Vice President J.D. Vance's images, requiring special metallic ink. Trump has also floated plans to add a patio to the Rose Garden and a ballroom on the White House grounds. Though past presidents have left personal marks on the residence, critics note Trump's vision blurs the line between public institution and personal brand, drawing parallels to royal palaces rather than a civic home. His fondness for gold-even reportedly praised by foreign dignitaries-continues to shape both his aesthetic and symbolic presence in Washington.
ABN AMRO Clearing USA has joined the FMX Futures Exchange as its newest FCM participant, the exchange reported on LinkedIn.
David Cooke has left Nodal Exchange and joined Marex in New York as a business analyst in the risk technology department, he shared on LinkedIn. David is one of my former Eagle Scouts and a good friend of my son Robby and daughter Kat, and this newsletter helped send him to the World Scout Jamboree in Japan in 2015. He had joined Nodal Exchange two years ago in 2023 after working for West Monroe Partners in Seattle after graduating from the University of Illinois with degrees in computer science and economics.
Tammy Botsford has started a new position as president and chief compliance officer at Topstep Brokerage, she shared on LinkedIn.
Eric Changnon is starting a new position as senior compliance officer at Optiver, he shared on LinkedIn. He was previously ad Citadel Securities in a compliance role.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: London Reporting House hires Frediani to lead business growth, ANALYSIS: One Trading aims to deliver perpetual futures to institutional market, One Trading live with Europe's first regulated perpetual futures and ANALYSIS: Duration of Trump volatility impossible to predict - Liquidnet.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Zero-Day Options Show How VIX Undersells Tariff-Fueled Turmoil from Bloomberg.
- Investors Haven't Been This Bearish in 30 Years, BofA Poll Shows from Bloomberg.
- Cboe expands options on S&P 500 Equal Weight Index from The Trade. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 Microsoft's Bill Borden on AI, Financial Services, and the Future of Collaboration JohnLothianNews.com BOCA RATON, FL-(JLN)-April 15, 2025-At the intersection of technology and finance, Bill Borden, corporate vice president of worldwide financial services at Microsoft, is shaping the way institutions harness artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Speaking to John Lothian News at the FIA Boca50 conference, Borden shared his vision for how Microsoft's tools are transforming workflows, enhancing collaboration, and enabling financial firms to navigate a rapidly evolving landscape. Watch the Bill Borden Video »
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Chicago futures brokerage R.J. O'Brien & Associates sold for $900M; New York-based StoneX Group buys the company that dates from 1914 and helped start the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
David Roeder - Chicago Sun-Times
R.J. O'Brien & Associates, a family-owned firm intertwined with Chicago's legacy in the global market for futures trading, said Monday it's being acquired by a New York-based company in a cash and stock deal worth $900 million. StoneX Group, a Fortune 100 financial services provider, said it expects the sale will close in the last half of 2025, pending regulatory review. StoneX will absorb the O'Brien firm's 75,000 client accounts into its own network of around 450,000 customers.
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***** This news was announced a couple of days ago, but the Chicago Sun-Times deserves some JLN hometown love from time to time since they are not owned by a billionaire. I am a big David Roeder fan.~JJL
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IEX Announces Planned Launch of Options Exchange End of Q1 2026
IEX
IEX is pleased to announce its planned launch of IEX Options at the end of the first quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval. This milestone reflects IEX's commitment to delivering an innovative options exchange that aligns with the needs of market participants and is informed by extensive conversations with clients regarding value, features and functionality.
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****** I will turn the ketchup bottle upside down and start the anticipation watch.~JJL
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Trump could derail the conquering march of American finance; A range of policies, including tariffs, are leading foreign firms to question their dependence on US funding
Brooke Masters - Financial Times
When Donald Trump won the US election in November, many bankers and money managers predicted that his presidency would create a bonanza for American finance. Now he could be Wall Street's Achilles heel. For the past 15 years, the big US banks and money managers have been on the march. The banks recovered more quickly from the 2008 financial crisis than their European rivals and have been snapping up market share ever since. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America each captured at least 5 percent of last year's global investment banking fees. The top European bank, Barclays, pulled in just 3.3 per cent.
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****** Look for the rise of the crypto investment banking firms to fill the void. Do they exist yet? I am not sure, but they should pretty soon.~JJL
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The economic consequences of a mad king; Trump's delight in doing whatever he wishes in the moment is incompatible with stability and sustained dynamism
Martin Wolf - Financial Times
"Off with their heads." This is the sentence that the Queen of Hearts, the incarnation of monarchical caprice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, adores pronouncing. She might be entertaining. The reality, however, is not. Throughout history, absolute rulers have brought misery upon their people and even their families. Their courts are hotbeds of sycophancy, favouritism and corruption. This is the price of arbitrary despotism. At its best, the story of the English-speaking peoples, including the US, has been one of taming such arbitrary power. It was a lengthy and hard struggle, from Magna Carta in 1215 to the exile of James II and the declaration of the Bill of Rights in 1689, via the civil war of the early 17th century and execution of Charles I in 1649. Those who condemned the dethroned monarch to execution rightly found him guilty of seeking "an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will".
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***** History is ugly. That is why it is good to study it.~JJL
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Eggs are so expensive that some Americans are decorating potatoes this Easter; Marshmallows, rocks and pasta shells have also emerged online as popular alternatives
Natalie Stechyson - CBC News
Hippity, hoppity, Easter's on its way, but people in the U.S. may have to think outside the basket this year. Eggs tend to be a staple for Easter celebrations, whether they're being decorated with bright paints, rolled across the lawn of the White House, deviled and displayed on a platter, or baked into quiches and served with brunch. But with U.S. egg prices still stubbornly high amid an outbreak of bird flu in laying hens that led to a severe egg shortage, many Americans are looking for alternatives to some of their favourite traditions. Last month, U.S. egg prices increased again to reach a new record-high average of $6.23 US per dozen, or $8.73 Cdn.
/jlne.ws/43RWNdz
******* And what have they replaced the Easter Bunny with?~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our top clicked item Tuesday was a tie between the page for the Mission (Im)possible: Kilt Challenge in which FIA Connect is raising money for Futures for Kids, and FIA's MarketVoice Podcast on the CFTC's 50th Anniversary. Second was Celebrating the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by Walt Lukken, FIA President and CEO, for FIA MarketVoice. Third was Webull Shares Jump 375% in Second Session After SPAC Merger, from Bloomberg.
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| Lead Stories | Meet 'Captain Condor,' the Options Trader Whose Crew Can Move Markets; An options trader's gutsy bets have drawn followers, and a few nicknames
Krystal Hur - The Wall Street Journal
Fellow traders call him "Captain Condor," and he and his mates are making waves in the options market. The captain, or the "Iron Condor Whale" as he's known to others, first cruised into the imaginations of individual investors last year, when some had noticed the multimillion-dollar bets placed on options tied to the S&P 500 index. Soon, those market-moving trades began to attract nicknames and a cadre of fellow options traders determined to reveal the captain's identity. David Chau says it is him. But Chau, a 31-year-old day trader, doesn't sail alone. He runs an online trading community of more than 1,000 members. And when he shares his stock-index options trades with his followers, many will amplify his bets with wagers of their own. At times their positions, which bet on the volatility of the S&P 500 index, have been big enough to move the stock market. Some of their trades have exceeded 30,000 contracts.
/jlne.ws/3RgPch8
Trump trade war could challenge US credibility, says Jamie Dimon; JPMorgan chief tells the FT that Washington and Beijing 'should engage' as tariffs escalate
Roula Khalaf and Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
Donald Trump's trade war risks eroding the US's credibility, Jamie Dimon warned, as the JPMorgan Chase chief executive urged Washington to "engage" with Beijing. Dimon said that the US remained "a haven" because of its prosperity, rule of law, and economic and military strength, but that America's economic pre-eminence could come under threat from the president's attempt to reshape global trade. "A lot of this uncertainty is challenging that a little bit. So you're going to be reading about this nonstop until hopefully these tariffs and trade wars settle down and go away so people can say, I can rely on America," Dimon said in an interview with the Financial Times.
/jlne.ws/42x4cfP
The Financial Crisis of 2025? Better to Be Ready; Preposterous as it may seem that America would willfully precipitate a meltdown, it's a possibility that regulators everywhere must prepare for.
The Editorial Board - Bloomberg
If there's one thing investors have learned in recent days, it's that there's no way to guess what America will do next. With its on-again, off-again tariffs, the US administration has demonstrated a rare and reckless willingness to shock markets. Amid such radical uncertainty, a financial crisis isn't out of the question. Policymakers need to be prepared for the worst. Such crises follow a familiar pattern, whether the cause is a housing bust, a global pandemic or, in the current case, the premeditated actions of the world's biggest economy. The catalyst is debt, which investors use to buy many times more assets than they otherwise could. When prices fall sharply, lenders demand more cash collateral or pull out entirely, forcing asset sales that send prices down further in a vicious cycle. If the assets aren't worth enough to pay all the debt, lenders suffer losses. If those losses threaten the financial system and the broader economy, governments must step in with taxpayer-funded bailouts.
/jlne.ws/3RR0oBf
US SEC officials push back as Musk's DOGE seeks broad access, source says
Chris Prentice and Douglas Gillison - Reuters
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission data, including email communications, but has faced some pushback from the regulator, a source familiar with the matter said. Musk's DOGE team at the SEC, which is being spearheaded by Eliezer Mishory, a former attorney at prediction markets firm Kalshi, has sought full access to email, personnel, contract and payment systems, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
/jlne.ws/3Eo8qOW
Donald Trump Tries to Run Harvard; Many of his demands on the school exceed his power under the Constitution.
The Editorial Board - The Wall Street Journal
The Trump Administration on Monday froze $2.2 billion in funds to Harvard after the university refused to surrender to its sweeping demands. Few Americans will shed tears for the Cambridge crowd, but there are good reasons to oppose this unprecedented attempt by government to micromanage a private university. Stipulate that the feds have a duty to enforce civil-rights laws, and Harvard failed to protect Jewish students during anti-Israel protests. But the university agreed to strengthen protections for Jewish students in a legal settlement with Students Against Antisemitism, which praised it for "implementing effective long-term changes."
/jlne.ws/4ieM5B9
After Harvard rejects US demands, Trump adds new threat
Jonathan Allen - Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status on Tuesday and said the university should apologize, a day after it rejected what it called unlawful demands to overhaul academic programs or lose federal grants. Beginning with Columbia University, the Trump administration has rebuked universities across the country over their handling of the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled campuses last year following the 2023 Hamas-led attack inside Israel and the subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza.
/jlne.ws/3EoJirk
Judge blocks most of Trump order against Susman Godfrey, laments law firms 'capitulating'
Mike Scarcella and David Thomas - Reuters
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked most of Donald Trump's executive order targeting law firm Susman Godfrey, part of the Republican U.S. president's campaign against the legal industry, and lamented that other firms have been "capitulating" to what she called his coercion and abuse of power. Washington-based U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan issued a temporary restraining order halting provisions of Trump's directive that threatened to cancel federal contracts held by Susman Godfrey's clients and restricted access by its lawyers to government buildings and officials.
/jlne.ws/42xImcm
Judge Blocks Trump From Retaliating Against Another Top Law Firm; It's the latest setback to the president's efforts to wield government power to punish law firms. A federal judge called it "a shocking abuse of power."
Zach Montague - The New York Times
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Trump from punishing the law firm Susman Godfrey, calling the retribution campaign he has waged from the White House against the nation's top firms "a shocking abuse of power." Ruling from the bench, Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia said that the executive order Mr. Trump signed last week targeting the firm stemmed from a "personal vendetta." Susman Godfrey represented Dominion, a manufacturer of voting machines that lawyers allied with Mr. Trump falsely attacked when he lost the 2020 election; the firm helped Dominion secure a $787.5 million settlement in a defamation case against Fox News.
/jlne.ws/4immEOl
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Yahoo Finance: China hasn't weaponized Treasurys despite bond market volatility
Brian Sozzi - Yahoo Finance
Fresh bond market volatility stemming from the Trump administration's fast-moving tariff policies isn't lost on US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. And neither is the risk of China potentially using its robust Treasury pile to inflict economic pain on the US. "We have a big toolkit. We do buybacks. I think if Treasurys hit a certain level or if the Federal Reserve believed that a foreign - I won't call them an adversary - but a foreign rival were weaponizing the US government bond market or attempting to destabilize it for political gain, I am sure that we would do something in conjunction with each other, but we just haven't seen that," Bessent told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday in an exclusive interview.
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Private equity goes 'risk off' as it pauses dealmaking; Buyout executives say economic uncertainty unleashed by US tariffs has made pricing assets
Alexandra Heal and Ivan Levingston and Antoine Gara and Oliver Barnes - Financial Times
Donald Trump's tariffs are forcing private equity groups to pause their dealmaking and focus on managing their existing portfolio companies, in a stark reversal of earlier expectations for a boom in activity under the new administration. One buyout executive at a top US firm told the Financial Times that economic uncertainty meant deals were being paused because businesses had become too difficult to value.
/jlne.ws/42esPPG
Former SEC Head Gensler Says Trump's Tariff Strategy Is 'Self-Inflicted Injury'
Nicholas Hatcher - The Wall Street Journal
Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said President Trump's aggressive tariff strategy of negotiating with dozens of countries in 90 days is a "self-inflicted injury." Gensler, who served as SEC chair under former President Joe Biden, said on CNBC that China's leaders believe they can outwait the volatility of Trump's tariff policy. "When they see inconsistency in policy, they tend to veer back," Gensler said. "They lean back and they don't like to engage. And they sort of think time is on their side."
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| Trade War and Tariffs | | A roundup of today's trade war and tariff news and the global economic ripple effects shaping markets, industries, and investment strategies. | Even Without Add-Ons, Trump's 10% Tariffs Will Have a Sting; The blanket tariffs, once considered extreme, still threaten to harm world trade and make everything more expensive for businesses and consumers.
Patricia Cohen - The New York Times
When Donald J. Trump championed the idea of a 10 percent blanket tariff during the campaign, many people, whether for or against, were taken aback by how radical the idea was. Alarms sounded about higher inflation, lost jobs, slower growth or recession. The prospect seemed so outlandish that most economists and Wall Street analysts who gamed out the possibilities tended to treat a 10 percent tariff simply as a bargaining tool.
/jlne.ws/44eMz7l
Trump Launches Critical Minerals Probe to Weigh New Tariffs
Kate Sullivan and Ari Natter - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump launched a probe into the need for tariffs on critical minerals, the latest action in an expanding trade war that has targeted key sectors of the global economy. The order, which Trump signed on Tuesday, calls for the commerce secretary to initiate a Section 232 investigation under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to "evaluate the impact of imports of these materials on America's security and resilience," according to a White House fact sheet.
/jlne.ws/3GdTYtC
Morning Bid: US-China trade war goes full throttle
Mike Dolan - Reuters
The escalating U.S.-China trade war has expanded and moved beyond tariffs, now hitting everything from chips to planes and pharma. The tensions upended the week's fragile market stability while hitting the dollar again and spurring gold to new records. Speaking of gold, in today's column, I explore the rush for the precious metal this year and let you know which country has been dramatically ramping up imports.
/jlne.ws/3YpUn2n
Trump's tariffs are tarnishing the dollar's global appeal. The damage may be hard to reverse.; The dollar's safe-haven and reserve status may be in jeopardy after Trump's April 2 tariffs
Joseph Adinolfi - MarketWatch
Volatility that gripped global markets over the past two weeks may be subsiding, at least for now. But some on Wall Street say that President Donald Trump's aggressive approach to rolling out his tariff agenda might trigger lasting consequence for U.S. markets. Specifically, the dollar's status as a reliable "safe haven" has been tarnished, and its role as the de facto global reserve currency has been looking increasingly uncertain.
/jlne.ws/3RmN3k6
U.S. Plans to Use Tariff Negotiations to Isolate China
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants trading partners to limit China's involvement in their economies in exchange for concessions on reciprocal tariffs
Gavin Bade and Brian Schwartz - The Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration plans to use ongoing tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. trading partners to limit their dealings with China, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. The idea is to extract commitments from U.S. trading partners to isolate China's economy in exchange for reductions in trade and tariff barriers imposed by the White House. U.S. officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries, prevent Chinese firms from locating in their territories to avoid U.S. tariffs, and not absorb China's cheap industrial goods into their economies.
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
US lowers Ukraine aid estimate in minerals deal talks, Bloomberg News reports
Reuters
The United States has reduced its cost estimate for the assistance provided to Ukraine since Russia's invasion in 2022 to about $100 billion from $300 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking a bilateral minerals deal as part of a peace push to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Trump also sees it as a way to recover billions of dollars spent on military assistance to Kyiv, although the aid was not a loan.
/jlne.ws/4jECwgi
A Key Putin Official Has Bizarrely Accused The UK Of 'Unleashing' The Ukraine War; Moscow's ambassador to London also said Britain had "escalated" the conflict.
Kevin Schofield - Huffpost
A senior Russian official has bizarrely accused the UK of helping to "unleash" the war in Ukraine. Andrei Kelin, who is Moscow's ambassador to London, also claimed Britain is keeping the conflict "escalated" by providing Kyiv with military and intelligence support. His comments, reported by the Russian news agency TASS, conveniently ignore the fact that Vladimir Putin started the war by ordering his troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
/jlne.ws/4jx3GoW
Ukraine unveils its own Russian drone killer as U.S. backing wanes
Anhelina Shamlii - CBS News
Amid concern in Kyiv that the United States is becoming a less dependable ally, Ukraine has unveiled its own domestically developed drone designed specifically to counter one of Moscow's weapons of choice, Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones. Russia again launched multiple drones on Monday at Ukraine's Sumy region. Explosions rang out from strikes that claimed lives and damaged civilian infrastructure. Vladimir Putin's forces have used the lethal, relatively inexpensive Shahed drones to attack Ukraine's infrastructure for years.
/jlne.ws/42x10kl
Russia Asks to Buy Boeing Jets With Frozen Funds in US Talks
Bloomberg News
Russia has asked the US to let it buy Boeing Co. aircraft using money from billions of dollars in frozen state assets once there's a ceasefire in Ukraine, according to a person in Moscow familiar with the matter. While the request isn't a condition of agreeing to a truce, Russia understands that frozen funds can't be used to buy the jets without a ceasefire being in place, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing internal matters. A deal allowing the purchase of jets could form part of an easing of sanctions in the event there's a halt to the fighting.
/jlne.ws/3EAvfyS
Middle East Conflict
Members of UK's largest Jewish body condemn Israel's offensive in Gaza; Letter underscores concern in Jewish community over Netanyahu government's violence against Palestinians
Andrew England - Financial Times
Dozens of members of the UK's largest Jewish representative body have launched a stinging attack on Israel's government for resuming its offensive in Gaza and warned that "Israel's soul is being ripped out". In an open letter, the 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said they could not "turn a blind eye or remain silent at this renewed loss of life and livelihoods".
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | ICE Bonds Enhances MBS Trading With New RFQ Protocol on ICE TMC Platform; New RFQ Protocol provides enhanced liquidity, flexibility and efficiency for MBS trading
Intercontinental Exchange
ICE Bonds, part of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today announced the launch of a new Request-for-Quote (RFQ) protocol for Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS). This new functionality sits alongside ICE Bonds' existing MBS Click-to-Trade marketplace and allows clients to send MBS RFQs within ICE TMC's anonymous trading pool. The ICE TMC platform now offers an enhanced suite of execution capabilities for MBS trading, providing wealth management and retail brokerage clients with a more flexible and efficient trading environment. This new RFQ feature complements the platform's existing Click-to-Trade functionality, driving increased liquidity and execution efficiency in the MBS market.
/jlne.ws/3RVDVTu
Performance Bond Requirements: Interest Rate Margins - Effective April 16, 2025
CME Clearing
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below.
/jlne.ws/3YupREk
Regularity Approval for Gold, Gold (Enhanced Delivery), Silver, Platinum, and Palladium
CME Group
New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. ("NYMEX") and Commodity Exchange, Inc. ("COMEX") (collectively, the "Exchanges") have approved the application of StoneX Precious Metals LLC to become an Approved Depository for gold, gold (enhanced delivery), silver, platinum, and palladium at their location in Hempstead, NY.
/jlne.ws/42gTbkb
After-Hours Trading Arrangement on 26 May 2025
HKEX
Exchange Participants are requested to note that Monday, 26 May 2025 will be a bank holiday in both the United Kingdom and the United States. There will be no after-hours trading session for equity index products. For currency and commodity products, after-hours trading session will continue as usual on Monday, 26 May 2025.
/jlne.ws/3RXDFmZ
Commitment of Traders Reports and Other Market Data Reports
LME
1. This Notice informs Members and Market Participants that a number of LME Market Data reports have been recalculated and republished as a result of certain position data having now been fully corrected by a Member following reporting issues.
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Investors trade N1.116trn stocks in two months
NGX
In two months to February 2025, investors exchanged stocks worth N1.116trillion, surpassing the N1.009trillion recorded in the same period of 2023, according to recently released report on domestic and foreign portfolio investment. The report at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) shows that in January, investors traded stocks worth N607.05billion while in February they traded stocks worth N509.47 billion.
/jlne.ws/43VbX1G
SGX retains top honours at FX Markets Asia Awards
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) has once again been recognised as the "Best Asia FX Derivatives Exchange" at the FX Markets Asia Awards, marking its eighth consecutive win since the award's inception. This recognition underscores SGX's leadership and unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence in the FX derivatives market. As the world's largest and most liquid Asian FX futures exchange, SGX achieved record FX futures volume of US$4.1 trillion in 2024, a 40% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth. In the first quarter of 2025, FX futures volume increased 45% y-o-y, hitting a new high of US$1.2 trillion, while daily average volume (DAV) was up 47% y-o-y, reaching a milestone of US$20.3 billion.
/jlne.ws/4inVuGS
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey Call For Abolition Of All Intellectual Property Laws, Arguing There Are 'Much Greater Models To Pay Creators'
Namrata Sen - Benzinga
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), and Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter (currently X) as well as Square, now called Block Inc. (NYSE:XYZ), have ignited a debate over intellectual property rights. The tech magnates have suggested a complete eradication of IP laws, a move that has stirred controversy in the tech industry. What Happened: Dorsey initiated the discussion with a post on X stating, "delete all IP law." Musk, who now owns X (formerly Twitter), promptly agreed with Dorsey's sentiment. The discussion comes amid ongoing lawsuits faced by AI companies, including OpenAI, co-founded by Musk, over alleged copyright violations.
/jlne.ws/3YxpPLS
ChatGPT founder escalates Musk feud by launching X rival
James Warrington - The Telegraph
The co-founder of ChatGPT is escalating his feud with Elon Musk by launching a new social media platform to rival X. Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, is said to be exploring plans for a new website based on its newly released AI image generator. The plans, which were first reported by The Verge, mark the latest twist in the spat between the OpenAI founder and Mr Musk.
/jlne.ws/43WrOgn
Anthropic's Claude can now read your emails; Google Docs and Calendar are also covered in the AI chatbot integration.
Anna Washenko - Engadget via Yahoo Tech
Anthropic announced that its Claude AI can integrate with Google Workspace. This tie-in allows the AI assistant to access any information in Gmail, Google Documents and Google Calendar. Enterprise-level customers even get a special cataloguing option for Documents that aims to offer even better speed and accuracy when retrieving information.
/jlne.ws/3G6sQMP
AI Can't Predict the Impact of Tariffs-but It Will Try; Companies are looking to technology to help navigate supply-chain uncertainty
Isabelle Bousquette and Belle Lin - The Wall Street Journal
Artificial intelligence was supposed to be a boon for helping companies navigate the impact of disruptions to their supply chains. But even this groundbreaking tech has its limits-and wasn't ready for the far-reaching, on-and-off tariffs from President Trump. Businesses contending with ongoing uncertainty want help from their supply-chain technology providers. In recent weeks, a number of vendors have rolled out AI features intended to gauge the impact of new tariffs. There is one problem: Tech can't forecast what Trump will do next.
/jlne.ws/42eIwX3
AI hype is drowning in slopaganda; Grifters gonna grift
Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan - Financial Times
Much ink has been spilt and many keys pressed to figure out whether AI is a bubble. Just last month, OpenAI's ersatz Ghibli took X by storm. A "big net win for society", as head honcho Sam Altman described it, and for the "democratisation of creating content" which Hayao Miyazaki and other dastardly animators spent so long gatekeeping.
/jlne.ws/4lvcLjY
TDK claims optical breakthrough to tackle generative AI's biggest bottleneck; Response times of 20 trillionths of a second recorded in test to improve data transfer speeds
Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
Japan's TDK is claiming a breakthrough in optical technology that would process data 10 times faster than current electronics and solve a key bottleneck holding back the growth of generative artificial intelligence. The Apple supplier said it has demonstrated the world's first "spin photo detector", combining optical, electronic and magnetic elements to create response times of 20 picoseconds, or 20 trillionths of a second, potentially replacing existing semiconductor-based photo detectors that transfer data between chips.
/jlne.ws/3RkuSeH
Trump promises 'expedited' process for Nvidia's US supercomputer plans as Big Tech pledges top $1.6 trillion
Laura Bratton - Yahoo Finance
/jlne.ws/3RPwrBt
The Chipmakers Caught in the Trade War Crossfire; Nvidia and others are the latest casualties of escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing, as analysts press business leaders about the tariffs fallout.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Edmund Lee - The New York Times
/jlne.ws/42MSYVV
Nvidia faces $5.5 billion charge as US restricts chip sales to China
Stephen Nellis and Karen Freifeld - Reuters
/jlne.ws/44t45EF
Trump's chips strategy: The US will struggle to take on Asia
Suranjana Tewari - BBC
/jlne.ws/4j9pneZ
Securitize Acquires MG Stover's Unit to Become Largest Digital Asset Fund Administrator
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/4lDb0By
Bitget Wallet makes surprising push into tokenized gold trading
Anushka Basu - TheStreet
/jlne.ws/3EAuohE
Worldpay delivers payments industry insights in DC
Lynne Marek - Payments Dive
/jlne.ws/42L9Xrz
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Japan Brokerages to Tighten Authentication After Accounts Hacked
Ryo Horiuchi - Bloomberg
Japan's securities industry group is urging brokerages to tighten identification requirements for client accounts following a spate of hacking incidents that led to unauthorized stock trading. A working group for online trading has begun discussions on revising guidelines to prevent fraudulent transactions, Japan Securities Dealers Association Chairman Toshio Morita said at a news briefing on Wednesday. The aim is to make brokerages use a method of identification verification that requires two or more elements, he added, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report.
/jlne.ws/4jB1BIW
A Cybersecurity Professor Disappeared Amid an FBI Search. His Family Is 'Determined to Fight'
Zeyi Yang - Wired
The abrupt firing of Xiaofeng Wang and his wife from Indiana University last month shocked the academic community and is stoking fears that Chinese-born scholars are being targeted.
/jlne.ws/4lszInX
China Accuses U.S. Spy Agency of Winter Games Cyberattacks; Beijing is growing increasingly aggressive in pushing back against perceived efforts by the U.S. to prevent China's rise
Brian Spegele - The Wall Street Journal
Chinese police issued wanted notices for three people they said engaged in cyberattacks against China on behalf of the U.S. National Security Agency, a rare step by Beijing as hostilities between the superpowers escalate. The accusations that the NSA targeted the Asian Winter Games held in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin in February are part of efforts by Beijing to present China as a victim of U.S. aggression alongside the Trump administration's hefty tariffs against the country.
/jlne.ws/3EoQUKq
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Canada To Launch 4 Spot Solana ETFs on April 16, Beating U.S. to Market
Ayesha Aziz - CoinMarketCap
Four asset managers-Purpose, Evolve, CI, and 3iQ-are set to launch spot Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Canada on April 16. These funds will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange, following approval from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). The ETFs will feature staking of Solana (SOL), which could result in higher yields compared to Ether staking. This approval marks the first instance of spot Solana ETFs and comes as part of Canada's regulatory update, which allows for crypto-related investment products to be publicly traded.
/jlne.ws/43PQ6Zs
Crypto exchange OKX relaunches in U.S. two months after settling with DOJ for $500 million
Ben Weiss - Fortune
Seychelles-based OKX announced on Tuesday that it is relaunching the U.S. version of its crypto exchange and unveiled a new wallet for American users to store as well as trade cryptocurrencies. The company also named Roshan Robert, a longtime employee of Barclays, as its U.S. CEO and revealed it would locate its U.S. regional headquarters in San Jose, California.
/jlne.ws/4jzvskH
Trump reportedly to launch Monopoly-style crypto game
Anushka Basu - The Street
Trump's most recent endeavor will be a Trump-branded cryptocurrency game with a Monopoly-like feel, based on two sources familiar with the project. President Donald Trump is said to be creating a Monopoly-like game in cryptocurrency, representing the latest in a series of blockchain activities that the Trump family has engaged with, as per Fortune.
/jlne.ws/4jkANgo
OKX to Expand to the U.S., Establish Regional Headquarters in California
Cheyenne Ligon - CoinDesk
Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange OKX is expanding to the U.S. and establishing a new regional headquarters in San Jose, California. The exchange will rolling out access to its platform and its native OKX Wallet to U.S.-based crypto traders. In a Tuesday evening announcement, newly-appointed U.S. CEO Roshan Robert said the expansion was "a commitment to responsible growth." Robert was most recently an executive at institutional crypto lending platform CLST, and was a founding team member of crypto prime broker Hidden Road, which was recently acquired by Ripple for $1.25 billion.
/jlne.ws/3Gdg53h
Trump administration says tariff revenue could be used to buy Bitcoin
Anushka Basu - The Street
Bo Hines, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisers on Digital Assets of the White House stated that the administration is pursuing inventive avenues to obtain more Bitcoin, including tariff revenue and revalued gold reserves. In a conversation with crypto investor Anthony Pompliano, Hines said, "Everything's on the table" as the U.S. seeks to expand its Bitcoin position.
/jlne.ws/4lxHtsJ
Tether, Circle to Face Intense Competition as TradFi Enters the Arena, Fireblocks Says
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
The competition for stablecoin dominance is entering a third phase and companies such as Tether, issuer of the largest token, and Circle, the No. 2, are setting up their positions as the industry faces increased regulation in the form of the European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regime and U.S. legislation that is working its way through Congress, according to digital asset cryptography and custody specialists Fireblocks.
/jlne.ws/43VqnyJ
Stablecoin Sector May Reach $2 Trillion: Standard Chartered
Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/42MnZt1
Binance's Potential Zcash Delisting Met With Dismay From Industry Heavyweights
Oliver Knight - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/3EliA2U
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | White House Moves to Limit Newswire Access After AP Lawsuit Win
Bloomberg News
The White House announced Tuesday that it was eliminating the traditional press pool access for wire services after a federal court ordered the administration to end viewpoint discrimination against the Associated Press. The move will significantly reduce the traditional level of access for journalists from the AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg News to the press pool, which cover the president in areas like the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One where space is limited.
/jlne.ws/43WtQx0
New US Justice Department policy cracks down on social media posts
Sarah N. Lynch - Reuters
President Donald Trump's administration has ordered, opens new tab U.S. Justice Department employees not to post anything on social media related to their government work, after a wave of new political appointees took to cheering Trump and castigating his opponents online. The directive, which was emailed to U.S. Attorneys' offices late on Monday, appears to prohibit the types of social media posts that Trump's political appointees routinely make on their official government accounts.
/jlne.ws/3YwvVfw
How a Supreme Court Ruling Could Weaken Fed Independence, Shake Markets; Justices are revisiting 'Humphrey's Executor,' a decision barring presidents from firing certain federal officials for purely political reasons
Greg Ip - The Wall Street Journal
Investors are already fretting about the safety of the dollar and Treasury debt. The Supreme Court might be about to give them even more reason to worry. The court is about to take up a question that, while not directly about the Federal Reserve, could determine whether President Trump can fire the Fed chair. There's no indication the justices will give the president that authority. And if they did, Trump wouldn't necessarily sack Jerome Powell, whom he nominated.
/jlne.ws/4j9x2tL
Trump's D.C. U.S. attorney pick appeared on Russian state media over 150 times; Nominee Ed Martin did not disclose his RT and Sputnik appearances from 2016 to 2024 to the Senate. The State Department has said the networks act like arms of Russian intelligence.
Spencer S. Hsu and Aaron Schaffer - The Washington Post
Hours before President Donald Trump announced U.S. missile strikes on Syria in response to a chemical attack that killed 90 civilians in April 2017, Ed Martin said on the Russian state television network RT America that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad might not be to blame. Instead, Martin told viewers, the situation was "engineered" in Washington "by the people that want war in Syria."
/jlne.ws/42ycd4q
Judge blocks most of Trump's punishments for law firm Susman Godfrey; President Trump has imposed sanctions on several law firms and made deals with others hoping to avoid punishments.
Mark Berman - The Washington Post
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked most of President Donald Trump's sanctions for the law firm Susman Godfrey, the latest courtroom defeat for his crackdown on prominent firms. Trump has in recent weeks issued executive orders punishing prominent law firms, ordering that they lose government contracts and barring their employees from federal buildings. Firms have been split on how to respond. Some filed lawsuits challenging Trump's actions, while others hoping to avoid sanctions have instead struck deals and pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in pro bono legal services for causes he supports.
/jlne.ws/4iotVNF
Trump hasn't killed globalisation. He's killing the US economy; The president's liberation day tariff fiasco is proving in real time why protectionism is so economically damaging
Daniel J Mitchell - The Telegraph
In 1930, Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. Combined with many other policy mistakes, that protectionist law led to a dramatic contraction in global trade and contributed to America's decade-long Great Depression. That's the bad news. The good news is that Hoover's protectionism was a learning experience for American policy-makers, producing a mostly bipartisan consensus in favour of trade liberalisation in the decades after the Second World War. Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, there were ongoing efforts for multilateral trade liberalisation (GATT, WTO) as well as bilateral and plurilateral free-trade agreements. As a result, trade barriers dramatically declined in the post-Second World War era and global prosperity dramatically increased. Until Trump.
/jlne.ws/4czyWSf
Senators To Visit El Salvador While Trump Defies Courts; With the president defying the Supreme Court's orders and questions swirling about what's next for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, at least one senator says he is headed to El Salvador.
Brandi Buchman - Huffpost
/jlne.ws/4czZmTT
Former Banker in Congress Sticks Up for Muni-Bond Tax Break
Arvelisse Bonilla Ramos, Zach C Cohen, and Amanda Albright - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3RPgCL9
Trump Ally Marjorie Taylor Greene Bought Tesla, Amazon, Blackstone Before Rally
Gregory Korte - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4jsbVTe
The DOGE Ate My Constitution
Dan McLaughlin - National Review
/jlne.ws/42dkJXA
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | What the Courts Can Still Do to Constrain Trump; Kilmar Abrego Garcia's deportation case is a test for the rule of law.
Stephen I. Vladeck - The Atlantic
In an Oval Office meeting yesterday, President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele both indicated that they would not, and were perhaps even powerless to, help Kilmar Abrego Garcia-the Salvadoran national whom the Trump administration wrongfully removed from the United States last month and who remains imprisoned in El Salvador's Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo mega-jail. Many headlines have suggested that Trump is therefore openly, if not gleefully, defying Thursday's Supreme Court ruling that the administration "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return.
/jlne.ws/4cK3UHh
CFTC Staff Issues No-Action Letter Regarding the Merger of UBS Group and Credit Suisse Group
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Market Participants Division and Division of Clearing and Risk today issued a no-action letter regarding the CFTC's swap clearing and uncleared swap margin requirements. The letter is in connection with a court-supervised transfer, consistent with United Kingdom laws, of certain swaps from Credit Suisse International to UBS AG London Branch following the merger of UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG.
/jlne.ws/3Rju0ac
European Commission exploring US-style order protection rule among other market reforms; New consultation paper explores how effective US Reg NMS rule is while also re-tabling VWAP Crossing in Europe, reviewing dark trading levels in Europe, the prospect of 24-hour trading and more.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
The European Commission is tabling the implementation of a more US-centric market structure with regards to how orders are routed, in one of a range of suggestions aimed at improving the integration and efficiency of EU capital markets. Tabled as part of a consultation paper launched on 15 April, the European watchdog has asked participants how effective they believe the order protection rule is for guaranteeing the best price for clients/investor protection, speed of execution, level of execution fees, split of liquidity, interconnection between trading venues, efficiency of the price formation process, modernising trading protocols and trading.
/jlne.ws/4ijV3gG
Notice I-25-10
NFA
Effective date for NFA rule establishing requirements regarding pre-dispute arbitration agreements and amendments to NFA's Code of Arbitration NFA recently adopted NFA Compliance Rule 2-53 , which requires NFA Members and Associates to ensure that any pre-dispute arbitration agreement (PDA) they enter into or rely upon with non-eligible contract participant (ECP) customers complies with CFTC Regulation 166.5. The Rule ensures NFA Members and Associates fully understand their obligations under CFTC Regulation 166.5. NFA Compliance Rule 2-53 is effective as of today, April 15, 2025.
/jlne.ws/42fWmZj
SEC Amends Complaint Charging New Jersey Investment Adviser and His Firm with Fraud and Other Violations
SEC
Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on April 11, 2025, it filed an amended complaint against David Yow Shang Chiueh of East Hanover, New Jersey and his investment advisory firm, Upright Financial Corp., for misconduct and for investing more than 25 percent of Upright Growth Fund's assets in a single company over multiple years, causing losses of $1.6 million.
/jlne.ws/4ioHeO1
SEC Obtains Judgments Against Sports Entertainment and Media Company and CEO for Fraudulent Scheme to Illegally Sell Stock to Investing Public
SEC
On, April 15, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained final judgments by consent against Florida-based Xtreme Fighting Championships, Inc. and its CEO, Steve A. Smith, Jr. In December 2024, the Commission charged Xtreme Fighting and Smith with engaging in a fraudulent scheme to sell Xtreme Fighting stock to the investing public illegally.
/jlne.ws/3Gdlkjm
ASIC releases guidance on requesting eligible applicant authorisation
ASIC
ASIC has released Information Sheet 293 Requesting eligible applicant authorisation (INFO 293) explaining the process for individuals or entities wanting to be authorised as eligible applicants under the Corporations Act 2001. Eligible applicant authorisation enables individuals or entities to apply to a court to conduct or take part in public examinations related to the affairs of a company in external administration.
/jlne.ws/4ihhP8I
Federal Court finds Green County and Max Funding engaged in unlicensed lending practices
ASIC
The Federal Court has found that business lender Green County Pty Ltd and business loan introducer Max Funding Pty Ltd engaged in unlicensed credit activity in relation to loans provided by Green County to two consumers. The Court found Green County also contravened consumer protection provisions in the Credit Code.
/jlne.ws/42vDOmD
ASIC to launch new portal for Australian financial services licensees
ASIC
ASIC is launching a new digital portal for licensing on 5 May 2025 to apply for, vary and cancel an Australian financial services (AFS) licence, marking a significant step in its digital transformation. The AFS licence portal will provide AFS licensees and applicants with a modern, more efficient, and user-friendly experience in applying for, maintaining, varying, and cancelling licences.
/jlne.ws/3RRcc6w
FCA reduces firm burden for 16,000 firms
FCA
We are proposing to remove unnecessary data reporting for firms, helping to reduce burden and unlock economic growth. The 3 collections identified will also be removed from the firm handbook, helping to further simplify our reporting requirements, and deliver on our commitment in our response to the PM's growth letter.
/jlne.ws/3Ed70a6
Working together to deliver our enforcement priorities; Speech by Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, delivered at the Spring Conference of NYU's Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement.
Speaker: Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight
Event: NYU's Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement Spring Conference
Delivered: 11 April 2025
Note: this is the speech as drafted and may differ from the delivered version
/jlne.ws/42gVe7R
Information supplied to investors to be simplified under plans to boost investment
FCA
The FCA has already proposed a simpler and flexible system which is tailored to the UK to replace current rules, introduced across Europe when the UK was in the EU.
/jlne.ws/42MUcAv
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | U.S. delisting risk for Chinese shares resurfaces: 5 things to know; Trump looks to expand restrictions on Chinese investments in the U.S.
Lisa Kim and Pak Yiu - Nikkei Asia
Chinese shares are facing renewed risk of being delisted in the U.S. after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said such a move was possible, refueling a long-running dispute. Asked if he would be open to removing Chinese shares from U.S. exchanges, Bessent said during a media interview last week, "I think everything's on the table." He added that it will ultimately be President Donald Trump's decision.
/jlne.ws/42Mu20I
Betting Game Developer Hacksaw Is Said to Weigh Stockholm IPO
Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro - Bloomberg
Hacksaw, a developer and distributor of online betting games, is considering an initial public offering in Stockholm in the coming months, according to people familiar with the matter. Hacksaw is working with advisers including Carnegie Investment Bank AB and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. on the potential share sale, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn't public.
/jlne.ws/44pW97e
End of 'America First' Trade Is Boosting Europe's Markets; Donald Trump's push to reshape global trade is driving investors to Europe
Alice Gledhill, Abhinav Ramnarayan, and Julien Ponthus - Bloomberg
Europe's long-sluggish financial markets are being shocked into life as Donald Trump's drive to reshape global trade and security undermines America's decades-long dominance. Across assets of all stripes, the Old Continent is collectively trouncing America in a way that's rarely been seen before. The euro is the strongest in three years. German bonds last week beat Treasuries by the most ever. And while European shares have been knocked by the trade war, they're turning out to be far more resilient than American ones.
/jlne.ws/42CmzA9
Rio Tinto Iron Ore Shipments Drop Sharply Due to Cyclones; It shipped 70.7 million metric tons from pits in Australia's Pilbara region
Rhiannon Hoyle - The Wall Street Journal
Iron-ore shipments from Rio Tinto's massive Australian mining operations are likely to fall at the lower end of the miner's estimates this year, following disruptions from four cyclones in recent months. The miner, which generates the bulk of its profits by extracting the steelmaking ingredient in Australia's remote Pilbara region, said Wednesday that it shipped 70.7 million metric tons of iron ore from those operations in the three months through March.
/jlne.ws/4cDx0rO
The U.S. dollar's role as the de facto global reserve currency is looking increasingly uncertain; The dollar's safe-haven and reserve status may be in jeopardy after Trump's April 2 tariffs
Joseph Adinolfi - MarketWatch
Volatility that gripped global markets over the past two weeks may be subsiding, at least for now. But some on Wall Street say that President Donald Trump's aggressive approach to rolling out his tariff agenda might trigger lasting consequence for U.S. markets. Specifically, the dollar's status as a reliable "safe haven" has been tarnished, and its role as the de facto global reserve currency has been looking increasingly uncertain.
/jlne.ws/3RmN3k6
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Texas Oil Drillers Can Bury Toxic Waste on Private Property Without Telling the Landowner. A New Bill Seeks to Change That
Martha Pskowski - Inside Climate News
House Bill 4572 would introduce new requirements for pits where drillers bury oil and gas waste. Supporters of the bill gave testimony this week at the state capitol.
/jlne.ws/3EbowLV
India to review ESG disclosures for listed firms, market regulator says
Jayshree P Upadhyay and Ira Dugal - Reuters
India's market regulator is rethinking sustainability or ESG disclosures required of listed firms including its already delayed plans for companies to include supply chains in their reporting, its new chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey told Reuters. The review, which follows concerns raised by Indian industry on reporting requirements on environment, labour and other issues that it believes are onerous, could focus on easing disclosures for smaller firms, a source familiar with the regulator's thinking said. The person declined to be identified as discussions are private.
/jlne.ws/3G9UNU6
US Biofuel Industry Sees Threats to Feedstock From Trump Tariffs
Kim Chipman - Bloomberg
LanzaJet Inc. has ambitions to become the first ever commercial maker of green jet fuel made from ethanol. But now, US tariffs on Brazilian biofuel are creating a problem. While its plant in Georgia sits about 1,000 miles from the biggest US corn and ethanol hub in Iowa, it is positioning to take in shipments instead from South America. It's not that LanzaJet doesn't want to use domestic farm products for its fuel. Rather, those commodities aren't deemed climate-friendly enough under US federal guidelines to qualify for a tax credit, known as 45Z, aimed at boosting production of low-carbon fuels - including sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.
/jlne.ws/3YzjO1b
The White House Targets State Climate Laws; Fossil fuel producers gain a powerful ally with Trump's order challenging rules to promote renewable energy.
Steve Goreham - The Wall Street Journal (opinion)
In the Trump administration's first 100 days, advocates for climate policy have been hit by actions to close climate departments, halt offshore wind leases, cut green energy funding, and impose tariffs on renewable equipment imports from China. Just when it seemed things couldn't get worse, President Trump ordered the federal government to challenge state climate laws.
/jlne.ws/3EAyYwm
The great Mississippi tops list of most endangered rivers amid fears over Trump rollbacks; Cuts to disaster agency and deregulation of fossil fuels, plus rise of water-guzzling datacentres, highlighted in new report
Nina Lakhani - The Guardian
The Trump administration's sweeping cuts to the federal climate disaster agency - and the full-throttle deregulation of fossil fuels and water-guzzling datacentres - could prove catastrophic for America's endangered rivers, threatening the food, water and livelihoods of millions of people, according to a new report. American Rivers' annual most-endangered rivers list lays bare a myriad of human-made threats including floods, drought and other extreme weather events driven by the climate crisis, as well as industrial pollution and poor river management - all of which Trump's regulatory rollbacks will almost inevitably make worse.
/jlne.ws/3GcGPRl
Big Bets on Speculative Carbon Capture Tech Ignore Today's Solutions; Investors and buyers are backing futuristic carbon cleanup technologies rather than ones working at scale now.
Michelle Ma and Dave Merrill - Bloomberg
The first step in reducing the risks of climate change is cutting carbon emissions. The world hit a notable milestone on that front, with global energy-related emissions likely peaking last year, according to a recent BloombergNEF report. Now, the world's carbon pollution is likely to begin a long, inexorable decline over the coming decades. But there's a catch: Emissions almost certainly won't fall fast enough to limit global warming to 2C, let alone meet the 1.5C target set in the Paris Agreement.
/jlne.ws/4jULK8j
How oil major TotalEnergies avoided a green energy U-turn; French group maintains pledge to expand oil, gas and green businesses while BP and Shell rein in electricity ambitions
Ian Johnston and Tom Wilson - Financial Times
At a lunch with TotalEnergies boss Patrick Pouyanné in 2019, drillers worried about the future asked what their roles would look like a decade down the line. For the chief executive it was "obvious", they would still be drilling for oil. TotalEnergies pushed further into renewables in 2021 as it and the rest of the industry responded to pressure to embrace the green transition. But Pouyanné also made the crucial decision to raise oil and gas output, using profits from its legacy business to fund the pivot into greener products.
/jlne.ws/4ign9tj
How Trump Might Unwittingly Cut Emissions From Online Shopping; Fast fashion retailers rely heavily on shipping by air. The president's tariffs could change that.
Claire Brown - The New York Times
/jlne.ws/42L8npD
The Hidden Climate Costs of Exporting US Liquefied Natural Gas
Phil McKenna and Peter Aldhous - Inside Climate News
/jlne.ws/4j9mPgV
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | U.S. Bancorp Profit Climbs with Higher Fees, Lower Costs; Revenue in the quarter rose 3.6% to $6.96 billion, above analyst forecasts for $6.91 billion
Dean Seal - The Wall Street Journal
U.S. Bancorp boosted its earnings in the first quarter with more revenue, lower costs and a smaller provision for credit losses. The parent company of U.S. Bank posted a profit of $1.71 billion, or $1.03 a share, compared with $1.32 billion, or 78 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting earnings of 98 cents a share. Revenue rose 3.6% to $6.96 billion, above analyst forecasts for $6.91 billion, according to FactSet.
/jlne.ws/42DiU5j
Monte Paschi's Mediobanca Bid Faces Crucial Investor Vote
Sonia Sirletti - Bloomberg
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA Chief Executive Officer Luigi Lovaglio is facing a crucial step in his pursuit of rival Mediobanca SpA: getting approval from his shareholders. Investors will convene in Monte Paschi's hometown Siena on Thursday and decide whether to authorize Lovaglio to issue new shares. That would give the CEO the needed currency for the deal, but also dilute those who already own stock in the bank.
/jlne.ws/4lzqAhr
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Fake LinkedIn profiles, Webex, and Fiverr: Inside the North Korean IT worker scheme roiling the Fortune 500
Amanda Gerut - Fortune
A key component to a scheme developed by North Koreans in getting remote-work tech jobs is working with Americans on mainland soil to serve as a facilitator or proxy-in exchange for hefty fees. A cybersecurity expert posed as an American willing to go along with the IT worker plot to learn the ins and outs of the blueprint U.S. authorities estimate has generated hundreds of millions for North Korea, and impacted hundreds of Fortune 500 companies. The message Aidan Raney sent to a Fiverr profile he learned was being manned 24/7 by North Korean engineers looking to recruit American accomplices was simple and straightforward.
/jlne.ws/44eNJQf
Why the IRS Will Struggle With Your Tax Return This Year; The least-loved agency in government is being starved of the workers it needs to handle the mountains of 1040s it'll be getting.
Wes Kosova - Bloomberg
As Americans file their 1040s and the myriad additional schedules and forms that are often required, the IRS is increasingly unable to cope with the workload. Bloomberg Businessweek editor at large Wes Kosova explains. Plus a visit to San Francisco's hottest startup accelerator. It's Tax Day in the US, and employees at the Internal Revenue Service are already churning through many of the 160 million individual tax returns that flood in each year. (If you're one of the millions of procrastinators who haven't filed yet and you're freaking out, click here, pronto.) All told, the IRS is responsible for collecting about $5 trillion in taxes-money that pays for almost everything the federal government does.
/jlne.ws/3Exd9hd
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Study highlights cancer risk from millions of CT scans performed annually
Ronnie Cohen - NPR
CT scans diagnose afflictions from tumors to kidney stones to life-threatening diseases and injuries, such as aneurysms and blood clots leading to stroke. But the radiation emitted by this essential diagnostic tool may cause more harm than previously known and could eventually be responsible for roughly 5% of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. in a single year, a new study finds. "Medical imaging has potential benefits," said radiologist Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of the study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. "It has potential harms as well, and it's really important to balance them."
/jlne.ws/42DeT0J
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Asset Firm Lures Australia's Rich to Loans to Replace AT1 Bonds
Sharon Klyne - Bloomberg
Australia-listed investment firm Income Asset Management Ltd. is launching so-called managed accounts for wealthy locals to invest directly in corporate loans to replace the soon-to-be scrapped contingent convertible securities. Syndicated facilities are typically only available to institutional investors due to the high minimum entry levels, IAM's head of sales capital markets Jenna Hayes said in an interview Wednesday. But the firm is giving private clients access to these deals by packaging smaller allocations, Hayes said, adding a managed account is an investment portfolio that is owned directly by an investor.
/jlne.ws/4jxdgZ1
PwC exits more than a dozen countries in push to avoid scandals; African firms say they lost over a third of their business as global executives forced them to drop risky clients
Stephen Foley - Financial Times
PwC has ceased operations in more than a dozen countries that its global bosses have deemed too small, risky or unprofitable, as it seeks to avoid a repeat of scandals that have plagued the accounting network. The Big Four accounting firm, which operates as a global network of locally owned partnerships, severed ties with its 10 member firms in francophone Africa at the beginning of this month after mounting differences with local partners, according to people familiar with the discussions.
/jlne.ws/3G6ddoS
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