| January 30, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Things are moving faster in the Big Apple. New York City's morning commute has improved since the introduction of congestion pricing on January 5, with travel times down significantly on major crossings, Bloomberg reported. The Holland Tunnel saw a 48% drop, while the Queensboro and Williamsburg Bridges improved by 30%, according to MTA data. The toll, which charges most vehicles $9 during peak hours to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, has reduced weekday traffic in the area by 5%, or about 33,000 fewer vehicles per day. The policy aims to cut congestion, improve air quality, and generate $15 billion for much-needed transit upgrades.
As traffic eases, public transit usage has risen, with subway ridership up 7.3% on weekdays and 12.2% on weekends, while express bus usage increased by 5.8% on weekdays and 21% on weekends. However, not all streets have benefited-42nd Street westbound is 16% slower, and 9th Avenue southbound has seen a 28% delay. Evening commutes within the tolled zone have generally become faster, and the MTA plans to release revenue figures next month.
The event exchange Kalshi wants to know if Donald Trump will say a secret word in an address. The Kalshi event contract "Will [word] be said by Donald Trump in address?" presents a clear risk of market manipulation and should be withdrawn from certification by the exchange. Unlike contracts tied to broader economic, political, or sporting events, this contract relies on a single, easily controlled action-whether a specific word is spoken. A speechwriter, advisor, or even Trump himself could effortlessly insert or omit the word based on personal or financial incentives, creating an opportunity for manipulation that undermines market integrity.
For event contracts to serve the public interest, they must be tied to unpredictable or widely dispersed outcomes, such as election results (still not sure) or economic indicators. However, the decision to say a particular word is too narrow, falling under the influence of a small group with direct control over the outcome. This contract does not meet the standards of fairness or transparency required in regulated prediction markets and should not be permitted by the CFTC
CFTC Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson will moderate a fireside chat with the Honorable Sharon Bowen at the Financial Service Professional's (FSP) 10-year anniversary celebration on February 6, 2025. The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. EST at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. The discussion will highlight key insights from Bowen's career and contributions to financial services.
Maybe DOGE is really short for DODGE, as in dodging sanctions. Billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, sanctioned in 2018, secretly held a SpaceX stake via Heritage Trust, administered by Citigroup, Bloomberg reported. The trust acquired the stake in 2017, and Citigroup chose not to freeze its assets despite U.S. sanctions. By 2022, Treasury had blocked the $1 billion trust after uncovering hidden ownership structures. The SpaceX stake had already been sold, but Citigroup is now under Justice Department investigation. The case underscores gaps in sanction enforcement and raises questions about Musk's ethics and ties to Russian officials.
Bill Gross, the co-founder of PIMCO, has written a commentary for the Financial Times reflecting on his career as an investor titled "Lessons from my investing career" with the subheadline "The combination of leverage and time is a critical one to recognise in any portfolio blueprint."
Drew Mauck, the founder and principal of 3Points Communications, has endorsed the confirmation of former Senator Kelly Loeffler as head of the Small Business Administration in a post on LinkedIn. Mauck, citing personal and professional experiences, worked with Loeffler during her tenure at Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). In his endorsement he highlights her work ethic, integrity, and strategic mindset, noting her hands-on approach, prompt payments, and disciplined spending. Loeffler's leadership helped ICE grow into a global powerhouse, and her experience running businesses like Bakkt and the Atlanta Dream further solidifies her qualifications, he wrote. Her commitment to cutting red tape, increasing transparency, and combating fraud aligns with small business interests, leading the author to believe that, if confirmed, she will be a strong advocate for American entrepreneurs, Mauck says.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: CME to add options exposure to Bitcoin Friday futures next month, ANALYSIS: Nasdaq chief pledges innovation in 'dynamic' crypto market, ANALYSIS: Trump regime likely to target Basel bank capital rules - WFE, BGC's Lutnick says critics 'got it wrong' on Treasury futures clearing, Robinhood starts rolling out flagship CME futures and Miami International to list Bloomberg US blue chip index derivatives.
NinjaTrader today announced in a press release that Jennifer Marszalek has joined the company as chief people officer.
The 50th anniversary FIA Boca conference is coming up on March 9 to 12 and John Lothian News will again be there with our video team conducting interviews. Our annual Industry Leader video series is sponsored by the OCC. If you have news you will be releasing during Boca and want to share it in another format or want to share the views you are bringing to the conference with your industry colleagues, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] to set up an interview. We have also conducted interviews for our various historical video series at Boca. Additionally, in five years, the FIA will be celebrating its 75th anniversary and JLN is working on something special for that occasion. If you have some thoughts on the FIA and its impact on the listed derivatives industry over the years and are willing to sit for an interview and share them, please reach out.
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:
- Miami International Holdings to List Bloomberg 500 Index Futures and Options on MIAX Exchanges from MIAX.
- CME Group to Launch Options on Bitcoin Friday Futures from CME Group.
- How Will Tesla Stock React to Earnings? What Options Markets Say from Barron's.~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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| Sponsored Content |
Japan's Single Stock Options Markets Primed for Revitalization after Regulatory Improvements
The recent upturn in Japanese stock markets has drawn attention from domestic and overseas investors. Originally listed in 1997, Japan's Single Stock Options (JSSO) market is set for a dynamic revitalization, JSSOs are attracting both domestic and international investors. Together with Nikkei 225 and TOPIX derivatives, JSSOs are poised to be an important part of the Japanese equity derivatives markets.
In 2024, Osaka Exchange (OSE) has made groundbreaking changes:
1. Revised margin rules and dedicated SSO accounts to lower additional margin requirements for certain trades.
2. Expanded the number of eligible underlying assets, including popular stocks favored by retail investors.
3. Created an enhanced market-making environment for individual stock SSOs.
4. Improved rules for setting strike prices, making trading more attractive.
In addition to the existing local and international brokers, with the entry of new brokerage firms, the JSSO market is becoming more accessible to retail investors. This wave of improvements is expected to significantly boost market participation and liquidity.
Investors are encouraged to explore the exciting opportunities in Japan's revitalized SSO market, poised for substantial growth and offering diverse investment prospects. Join the momentum and capitalize on the emerging potential of Japan's Single Stock Options market today!
Click here for the full story!
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BMLL Expands Global Reach with Unified Market Data and Advanced Analytics
JohnLothianNews.com
BMLL, a data analytics provider for capital markets, emphasizes the ease of use and efficiency of its platform as it expands its global reach and diversifies its offerings, according to Rob Laible, who spoke with John Lothian News at the FIA EXPO.
Laible, head of sales for North America at BMLL, highlighted the platform's ability to quickly address client queries. "It just makes it so much easier for people to take a question from a client, do some quick ... market microstructure research and get an answer back," Laible said. He added that users can avoid legacy systems, stating, "You're not going into some kind of legacy system trying to pull the data out and then kind of get back to the client tomorrow. You can actually get it much more efficiently."
Watch the video »
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Injective Labs Leaders Discuss Blockchain Innovation on John Lothian News Podcast
JohnLothianNews.com
Eric Chen, CEO of Injective Labs, and Mirza Uddin, head of business development, recently joined John Lothian News for a podcast exploring the transformative potential of blockchain technology in financial markets. The discussion focused on Injective's efforts to create efficient, borderless trading environments, enhance exchange infrastructure, and cater to the rising demand for digital assets, particularly stablecoins.
Chen outlined Injective's strategy for modernizing financial systems by bridging traditional and decentralized finance. The company has prioritized upgrading exchange resilience and reliability while developing institutional-grade tools and digital assets for building blockchain-based financial applications. Recent advancements were highlighted, showcasing Injective's alignment with its long-term vision to facilitate more accessible and robust markets.
Listen to the podcast »
Alli Brennan and Kevin Darby - Americas & EMEA and CQG
Watch Video »
Nick Johnson - IMX
Watch Video »
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After LA Fires, Climate Experts Say There Is 'No Safe Place in the US'; More than 200 NASA staff lost homes in the LA fires. Their tragedies bring a personal perspective to rising global climate risks.
Eric Roston and Lauren Rosenthal - Bloomberg
Climate scientists are acutely aware of the devastation that a warming world can wreak on communities. But when disaster shows up at their doorstep, it hits in a completely different way. "This event, for me, has destroyed any boundary between my work as a climate scientist and the rest of my life, my family, my friends," Benjamin Hamlington, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, wrote in a LinkedIn post after his home in Altadena burned in the Los Angeles fires.
/jlne.ws/3WDGmNo
***** If gated communities were safe to start with, would they need to be gated in the first place? There is no safe place in the U.S. There are only places that are safer than others based on statistics. That does not mean it will be safe in the future.~JJL
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Trump White House rolls out social media account to hold 'fake news accountable'; The plan will be 'bad news for the fake news media,' a senior GOP strategist says
Emma Colton - Fox News
The White House on Monday afternoon rolled out a new social media account aimed to hold "fake news accountable." "Welcome to the official Rapid Response account of the Trump 47 White House. We will be supporting President Donald J. Trump's America First agenda and holding the Fake News accountable for their lies. Let's Make America Great Again!" the newly formed X account, Rapid Response 47, posted in its first message.
/jlne.ws/4jv6T9H
***** Breaking news is called breaking for a reason. The whole story is not yet known to those reporting it. Calling out an organization for breaking a story that evolves or changes is fine, as long as the firing squad shoots blanks.~JJL
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Wednesday's Top Three
Our top clicked story Wednesday was Donald Trump's commerce nominee Howard Lutnick accused of conflict of interest, from the Financial Times. Second, also from the Financial Times, was Trump Media targets crypto investments with push into financial services. And third, rounding out the Financial Times trifecta, was Record number of CEOs leave roles amid activist pressure, research shows.
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| Lead Stories | Norway's government collapses over EU energy dispute; Eurosceptic junior coalition partner quits after PM's push to implement energy directives from Brussels
Richard Milne - Financial Times
A dispute over EU energy policies has led to the collapse of Norway's coalition government, just as US President Donald Trump's threats to impose tariffs and take over Greenland were set to reignite a debate on Oslo joining the bloc. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre's push to implement three EU energy directives led to the abrupt departure of his party's Eurosceptic partner, the pro-farmer Centre party, on Thursday. The collapse of the coalition leaves the premier's Labour party to govern alone until elections later this year.
/jlne.ws/40BwvZJ
Miami International Holdings to List Bloomberg 500 Index Futures and Options on MIAX Exchanges
Miami International Holdings, Inc.
Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), a technology-driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes, today announced plans to list Bloomberg 500 Index futures and options on its MIAX exchanges in the second half of 2025, subject to various regulatory filings and approvals. MIAX Bloomberg 500 Index Futures will be listed on MIAX FuturesTM, pending certain filings with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). MIAX Bloomberg 500 Index Options will be listed on MIAX Options, pending certain filings with and subject to approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Bloomberg US Large Cap Price Return Index (Bloomberg ticker: B500 Index) provides a transparent, rules-based benchmark of the 500 most highly capitalized U.S. companies, resulting in a more representative benchmark for the large cap segment of the U.S. market compared to similar indices compiled using a discretionary approach.
/jlne.ws/3PTOtBR
CME Group set to introduce options on bitcoin Friday futures in February; The launch represents the first CME Group cryptocurrency options to be financially settled.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
CME Group is set to introduce options on bitcoin Friday futures on 24 February, with expiries available Monday to Friday. The launch - which represents be the first CME Group cryptocurrency options to be financially settled - is subject to regulatory approval. Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group global head of cryptocurrency products, said: "We are pleased to offer these new options that provide traders with even greater precision to manage short-term bitcoin price risk.
/jlne.ws/4gidfGr
CME Group to Launch Options on Bitcoin Friday Futures
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced it will introduce options on Bitcoin Friday futures on February 24, pending regulatory review. These new contracts will be the first CME Group cryptocurrency options to be financially-settled, with expiries available every day of the business week, Monday through Friday.
/jlne.ws/42xqdwG
Fortress Targets $1 Billion for Latest Litigation Finance Fund; Latest legal assets fund would more than double prior version; Backing lawsuits has become a multi-billion-dollar industry
Esteban Duarte and Carmen Arroyo - Bloomberg
Fortress Investment Group is seeking to raise about $1 billion for its latest fund in litigation finance, a sector in which it's becoming a powerhouse, according to people familiar with the matter. The new fund, dubbed Fortress Legal Assets Fund II, would be more than double the size of the prior version that closed in 2021, the people said. A representative for Fortress declined to comment.
/jlne.ws/40DYEiF
DeepSeek might have a trademark problem in the U.S.
Kyle Wiggers - TechCrunch
Chinese AI company DeepSeek has been accused of IP theft, faced privacy inquiries in Europe, and has been the target of an enormous cyberattack. Now, it appears the company has a new headache on its hands: a U.S. trademark conflict. On Tuesday, DeepSeek filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seeking to trademark its AI chatbot apps, products, and tools. But it was a hair too late. Thirty-six hours earlier, another firm had filed for the trademark "DeepSeek": a Delaware-based company going by the name "Delson Group Inc." Delson Group asserts that it has been selling DeepSeek-branded AI products since early 2020. In its application, the company lists its address as a home in Cupertino, and its CEO and founder as a person named Willie Lu.
/jlne.ws/3PWH0lt
BlockFills Collaborates with CoinDesk Indices to Bring Institutional-Grade Options Market Liquidity to the CoinDesk 20 Index
BlockFills
BlockFills, a leading digital assets technology and trading firm for institutions and professional traders, today announced a collaboration with CoinDesk Indices to introduce the BlockFills CoinDesk 20 Options Market and bring professional liquidity to the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20). CoinDesk 20 measures the performance of leading digital assets and applies a capped market capitalization weighted methodology to ensure portfolio diversification. Trading on the BlockFills CoinDesk 20 Options Market began this month with the first transaction initiated by Hyperion Decimus, a prominent digital asset manager and multi-strategy crypto hedge fund.
/jlne.ws/3EiJpV5
Fed guided by economic goals and the law, not politics, says Powell
Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider - Reuters
Fielding a range of questions about the imprint of the Trump administration on the U.S. central bank, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said that politics had not prompted the Fed's decision to leave a global climate-focused group, and would not affect its interest-rate calls. And while Powell did say that the Fed is working to align its workforce policies with President Donald Trump's executive order banning the promotion of diversity and inclusion, he signaled that changes could be limited, saying that they would be "consistent with applicable law" and that he remains convinced that diversity is a hallmark of successful organizations.
/jlne.ws/4aGbf9C
SoftBank in talks to invest up to $25bn in OpenAI; Deal would make Japanese group the biggest financial backer in ChatGPT maker
Arash Massoudi in Davos, David Keohane in Tokyo and George Hammond and Stephen Morris in San Francisco - Financial Times
SoftBank is in talks to invest as much as $25bn into OpenAI, in a deal that would make it the ChatGPT maker's biggest financial backer, as the pair partner on a huge new artificial intelligence infrastructure project. The two companies announced last week they would lead a joint venture that would spend $100bn on Stargate - a sprawling data centre project touted by US President Donald Trump - with the figure rising to as much as $500bn over the next four years. SoftBank is in talks to invest $15bn to $25bn directly into OpenAI on top of its commitment of more than $15bn to Stargate, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
/jlne.ws/3WE7QCw
Bank of Japan board reshuffle to bring it closer to 'normal' central banking
Leika Kihara - Reuters
The fading shadow of reflationists in the Bank of Japan, and the latest addition to the board of an academic favouring an end to ultra-low interest rates, will likely bring the central bank's thinking closer to global peers taking a more conventional approach on monetary policy. Newcomer Junko Koeda, a 49-year-old academic known as a fiscal and monetary hawk, is likely to reinforce the shift towards higher interest rates and bring fresh thinking into a central bank long focused on reflating growth via huge stimulus.
/jlne.ws/3EbCBbC
Meta Agrees to Pay Trump $25 Million to Settle His Lawsuit; President Trump had sued Meta and other tech firms in 2021, arguing that he had been wrongfully censored by them.
Mike Isaac and Maggie Haberman - The New York Times
Meta said on Wednesday that it had agreed to pay President Trump $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit he filed over the suspension of his Facebook and Instagram accounts after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The move was a significant concession by a major tech company and a victory for Mr. Trump, who had previously criticized social media platforms for censoring him but has lately wooed tech titans including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive.
/jlne.ws/3EdLl0S
Deutsche Bank chief says 'nothing is off limits' as profits plunge; Christian Sewing has 'firm confidence' lender will hit returns target this year as it reviews weaker units
Florian Müller - Financial Times
Deutsche Bank said profits plunged 92 per cent last quarter and warned investors of higher than expected costs for this year, as the German bank's boss pledged to consider ditching weaker businesses to improve performance. Chief executive Christian Sewing said on Thursday that the bank would unveil a new medium-term strategy this year.
/jlne.ws/42FidtT
FX Global Code revisions get green light from participants; New revisions will push for trading platforms to disclose how they use data from client transactions, as well as the establishment of a "hierarchy of settlement methods" and a 'risk waterfall' approach, to tackle settlement risk.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
The Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC) completed its review of the FX Global Code - with the December 2024 version superseding the July 2021 version - receiving greater support from market participants. The new version updates its principles of good practice in the foreign exchange market in two key areas. Alongside the revised code, GFXC stated that it will also publish enhanced Disclosure Cover Sheets (DCS) for liquidity providers and platforms.
/jlne.ws/42z6BIA
NinjaTrader Announces Jennifer Marszalek as Chief People Officer
NinjaTrader
Marszalek joins growing team, committed to fostering a dynamic workforce to drive business and leadership
NinjaTrader, a leading fintech platform for retail futures trading, today announced that Jennifer Marszalek has joined the company as Chief People Officer. The addition comes as the company continues to build its roster of talented executives to meet its rapid growth and expansion while prioritizing employee culture and work environment. "Jennifer brings an impressive background in HR and talent management and has several years of experience within various sectors," said Martin Franchi, CEO at NinjaTrader. "Her expertise and dedication to cultivating high-performing teams will be instrumental in furthering NinjaTrader's vision to build better futures for all traders by helping us deliver the best tools, support, and experiences to the rapidly growing retail futures trading community."
/jlne.ws/3Ck7bPX
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | EU debates return to Russian gas as part of Ukraine peace deal; Advocates say reopening pipelines could help settlement with Moscow and cut energy costs
Henry Foy and Alice Hancock in Brussels and Christopher Miller in Kyiv - Financial Times
European officials are debating whether Russian pipeline gas sales to the EU should be restarted as part of a potential settlement to end the war against Ukraine, according to people familiar with discussions. Advocates of buying Russian gas argue it would bring down high energy prices in Europe, encourage Moscow to the negotiating table, and give both sides a reason to implement and maintain a ceasefire. But raising the idea of reopening flows of Russian gas into Europe, even in preliminary discussions, has already sparked a backlash among Ukraine's closest allies in the EU.
/jlne.ws/4heDGxT
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| Middle East Conflict | | News about the current conflict in the Middle East that began with the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. | Israel Delays Prisoner Release After Chaotic Hostage Exchange
Galit Altstein - Bloomberg
Israel delayed the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners set for Thursday in protest over chaotic scenes during an earlier handover of hostages in Gaza to the Red Cross. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government said it ordered the delay "in the release of the terrorists" until "the safe exit of our hostages is guaranteed in the next round of swaps."
/jlne.ws/4hCvB6c
Hamas frees 3 Israelis and 5 Thais in largest hostage release; Israel due to hand over 110 Palestinian prisoners in additional exchange designed to resolve stand-off over ceasefire
James Shotter - Financial Times
Hamas has freed three Israeli and five Thai hostages, the Israeli military said on Thursday, the largest release so far in a fragile truce that took effect in Gaza this month. The six-week ceasefire, part of a complex three-stage deal brokered by US-led mediators, has raised hopes of an end to the bloodiest round of fighting in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
/jlne.ws/3PYt4as
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | ASX appoints Chief Risk Officer
ASX
ASX announces the appointment of Dirk McLiesh as its Chief Risk Officer, effective Monday 3rd March. Mr McLiesh is an accomplished listed-company executive with more than 25 years' experience in risk management leadership positions within the financial services industry in Australia and New Zealand. He brings deep expertise in both financial and non-financial risk, including a strong track record in delivering risk culture change and regulatory engagement programs.
/jlne.ws/3Cqbs4l
Cboe Clear Europe 2024 Recap and Look Ahead; Vikesh Patel, President of Cboe Clear Europe, recently sent a note to customers reflecting on the clearing house's accomplishments in 2024 and a look ahead to 2025.
Vikesh Patel - Cboe
As we step into 2025, it's a great moment to look back at the key achievements of 2024 and set our sights on the exciting opportunities ahead. Last year, we witnessed robust growth in our core equities franchise and made significant strides in diversifying our asset classes - both of which will remain key focuses this year to enable you to use our services to maximise the capital efficiencies you could realise.
/jlne.ws/3EhVhGU
CME Group Futures to Launch on Robinhood, Bringing New Trading Opportunities to Retail Traders
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, and Robinhood Derivatives, LLC ('Robinhood'), today announced that some of CME Group's most popular futures products have started rolling out on the Robinhood mobile app.
Over the coming weeks, all eligible Robinhood customers in the U.S. will have access to futures products across five major asset classes, including the four leading U.S. equity indices - S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000 and Dow Jones Industrial Average - as well as bitcoin and ether, major FX currency pairs, key metals including gold, silver and copper, and additional commodities such as crude oil and natural gas.
/jlne.ws/42AGGQS
Tradeweb's TW SEF Receives SEC Approval for SBSEF Registration
Tradeweb
Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the registration of its swap execution facility, TW SEF LLC, as a security-based swap execution facility (SBSEF) under Regulation SE. This milestone follows the SEC's new Regulation SE requirements mandating that any trading system or platform facilitating the trading or execution of security-based swaps (SBS) among participants, as delineated in the requirements, register with the SEC as either an SBSEF or a national securities exchange. With this approval, TW SEF is now eligible to operate as an SBSEF, thereby enabling institutional clients to trade single-name credit default swaps (CDS) via TW SEF in compliance with this new regulatory framework.
/jlne.ws/4hxFaTR
EGX To Offer New Course For Investor Relations Officers
Mondovisione
EGX in collaboration with the Egyptian Institute of Directors (EIoD), announces the launch of its tenth training course designed to qualify investor relations officers for registration in the official registry. This course is part of EGX's strategy to enhance the efficiency and professionalism of investor relations officers, to improve the quality of disclosures, and ultimately to promote greater informational efficiency in the market. The dates and full details of the training course will be announced soon for those interested in enrolling.
/jlne.ws/40FETXY
Adding Create Time and Accept Time Timestamps to Allocation Messages - Effective March 31, 2025
CME Group
Please be advised that CME Clearing is adding two designated Timestamps to the FIXML clearing confirmation messages for Allocations; Create Time and Accept Time. This enhancement will help Firms identify those important details for each Allocation. The Production Date for this change will be for Trade Date Monday, March 31, 2025.
/jlne.ws/3CDrNT9
Xetra ETF & ETP statistics 2024: assets under management and product diversity continue to grow
Deutsche Borse
Deutsche Borse's Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) segment continued its growth trajectory last year, reaching a new all-time high with assets under management of EUR1.83 trillion (+33.9 per cent; December 2023: EUR1.36 trillion). At the same time, the trading volume in ETFs and ETPs on Xetra rose significantly by 28 per cent to EUR230.8 billion (2023: EUR180.4 billion). Trading in non-euro currencies achieved a particularly high growth rate of 82.9 per cent to 1.81 billion euros (2023: 989 million euros). In total, Deutsche Borse now offers 180 ETFs and ETPs in other trading currencies such as the US dollar and British pound.
/jlne.ws/3PUSCVU
Just published: Repo Trading and Clearing Report 2024/2025; Navigating Uncertainty: Geopolitics and Market Dynamics
Eurex
Our freshly printed repo report, "Navigating uncertainty: geopolitics and market dynamics," summarizes 2024's key developments, including challenges and successes, figures, and trends. It also explores why 2024 represented a significant shift in the repo market and the factors likely to influence 2025. Discover why 2024 marked a pivotal change in the repo market dynamics, transitioning from a scenario where cash chased collateral to one where collateral chased cash. Gain insight into the evolution of the European repo market, with a particular focus on Eurex repo trading and clearing, innovations and strategic enhancements in 2024, and the outlook for 2025.
/jlne.ws/42Fkx45
Overview of Earnings for Q3 FY2024
JPX
/jlne.ws/4hfxlT7
Revolutionizing Financial Intelligence Through AI
SIX
SIX continues to pursue growth and innovation, expanding its expertise in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Shai Popat, Global Head Product and Commercial Strategy and Jan Zürcher, Head Market Data, share their perspectives on how this technology is already driving success in services offered by SIX through strategic partnerships.
/jlne.ws/4jEQ6Ri
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Trump is turning the fate of TikTok into a public bidding war
Alexis Keenan - Yahoo Finance
President Donald Trump apparently has no qualms about turning the fate of TikTok into a public bidding war. When prompted by specific questions from reporters, the new president tossed out some of the biggest names in the tech world as possible buyers of TikTok's US operations - a deal that would allow the platform to get around a ban imposed by Congress in the name of national security.
/jlne.ws/4gq77fb
Microsoft's cloud sales disappoint as it struggles to meet AI demand; Tech group's capital spending surges to $23bn in attempt to clear capacity constraints
Rafe Uddin - Financial Times
Microsoft's vast cloud division posted slower growth than Wall Street forecast as the tech group struggled to keep pace with customer demand for artificial intelligence-related services. The Seattle-based software group beat analysts' expectations for revenue and net income in the quarter ending in December, but its cloud division - its biggest revenue driver, which includes its Azure cloud computing platform - narrowly missed expectations.
/jlne.ws/4hAe1jb
OpenAI Doesn't Want AI Cheaters; Distillation, shorts, private company tokenization, Trumpcoin for payments and sportsbook correlation desks.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg Opinion
DeepSeek distillation: As a person who writes columns on the internet, I have a lot of sympathy for both sides of the artificial intelligence copyright debate: If you publish words on the internet, you have some proprietary rights to them. If somebody else just took my columns and republished them, under their own name, without credit to me, and sold ads or subscriptions against them, I would be annoyed. If somebody stole my ideas and changed the wording a little, and then republished them in slightly modified form, I would be equally - maybe more - annoyed.
/jlne.ws/40zGUVH
Oracle debuts new AI agents as artificial intelligence war enters next battle
Daniel Howley - Yahoo Finance
Oracle (ORCL), fresh off of announcing its part in the massive Stargate Project alongside OpenAI and SoftBank, debuted its latest AI agents aimed at manufacturers during its CloudWorld event in Austin Thursday. The agents are designed to help supply-chain workers across a host of jobs ranging from procurement to sustainability. AI agents are specialized AI bots that can take actions on a user's behalf, either autonomously or with their oversight, across multiple apps.
/jlne.ws/4hDVMtk
Has Europe's great hope for AI missed its moment?; Mistral AI was hailed as a potential global leader in the technology. But it has lost ground to US rivals - and now China's emerging star
Tim Bradshaw in London and Leila Abboud in Paris - Financial Times
True to the strong winds that inspired its name, French start-up Mistral AI took Davos by storm in 2024, having delivered a world-class artificial intelligence model with a fraction of the usual resources. The Paris-based start-up, less than a year old, was on a high. It was freshly valued at $2bn and had the backing of AI chip leader Nvidia and prominent venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. Mistral's founding trio of hotshot AI researchers - Guillaume Lample, Timothée Lacroix and chief executive Arthur Mensch - were hailed as the heroes who would finally put Europe at tech's top table.
/jlne.ws/4hh9mTo
How the UK Can Catch Up in the AI Race; On this episode of In the City, Bloomberg Opinion columnist Parmy Olson explains what DeepSeek's surprise innovation means for everyone else.
Mohsis Andam - Bloomberg (podcast)
For the past few years, billions of dollars have been plowed into artificial intelligence research and development, with the promise that such large investments are needed in order to fuel growth and global productivity. But DeepSeek, a Chinese startup founded in 2023, appears to have demonstrated that AI models can be developed for a fraction of the cost while performing comparatively the same.
/jlne.ws/4hyNLpk
DeepSeek's AI Triumph Shouldn't Deep-Six Chip Curbs; US export controls are meant to slow down Chinese progress in AI, not halt it altogether. They're still valuable.
The Editorial Board - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4gkKRDq
High-Flyer, the AI quant fund behind China's DeepSeek
Eduardo Baptista - Reuters
/jlne.ws/40TxBkZ
India Races to Build Own AI Models as DeepSeek Leaps Ahead
Sankalp Phartiyal and Saritha Rai - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4aCRIqS
Challenges and Opportunities of Digital Transformation: Scott O'Malia Opening Remarks January 29, 2025
ISDA & The Centre for Financial Technology
/jlne.ws/3Cv4sDa
Blackstone defends $80bn data centre investment as DeepSeek shakes market; US group has pushed heavily into facilities needed to feed AI boom amid breakneck spending by Big Tech
Antoine Gara - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3WELqBe
HSBC sunsets year-old app Zing
Rajashree Chakravarty - Banking Dive
/jlne.ws/4hjbnia
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Japan hit with record barrage of cyberattacks; December onslaught mainly targets finance and e-commerce
Akinobu Iwasawa - Nikkei Asia
A type of cyberattack that overloads a network with data rose to an all-time high in Japan last month, industry data shows. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting Japanese businesses jumped about 60% in December compared with a year earlier, according to a survey by the Japanese unit of Akamai Technologies, a U.S.-based cybersecurity company. Both the number and scale of attacks surged to records. In particular, attacks against the financial industry were 4.1 times higher in December compared with a year earlier. The e-commerce sector sustained 2.3 times the year-earlier amount.
/jlne.ws/4jFy5Cr
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Gemini won't hire MIT grads unless university drops ex-SEC chair Gensler; Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss said the exchange won't hire from MIT due to the university rehiring Gary Gensler, a boycott that one commentator called "overkill."
Brayden Lindrea - CoinTelegraph
Crypto exchange Gemini won't be hiring any graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology unless the university drops former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler from his teaching role. "As long as MIT has any association with Gary Gensler, Gemini will not hire any graduates from this school," Gemini co-founder and CEO Tyler Winklevoss said in a Jan. 30 X post. He added the crypto exchange also wouldn't hire interns for its summer internship program. Gemini's feud with the SEC stems back to at least March, when it paid $21 million in fines to settle SEC claims that it sold unregistered securities through its Gemini Earn program with the now-bankrupt crypto firm Genesis.
/jlne.ws/40TxR3h
Deribit appoints Jean-David Péquignot (JD) as Chief Commercial Officer
Derbit
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Jean-David (JD) Péquignot as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Deribit, effective immediately. In this role, JD will oversee our global sales and marketing strategies, which will contribute significantly to our growth and market presence. JD brings over 20 years of experience in the financial sector, including 3.5 years at OSL, where he played a pivotal role in advancing the company's objectives. His career also includes senior positions at prominent institutions such as Barclays, Westpac, and Deutsche Bank. His extensive background in both traditional finance (TradFi) and the crypto institutional landscape positions him uniquely to drive Deribit's strategic initiatives forward.
/jlne.ws/4hj9jXs
Trump crypto coins a sign of 'speculative frenzy' in markets, famed short seller says
Ines Ferre - Yahoo Finance
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump's new meme coins are drawing skepticism from some prominent investors - even those betting against the market. One famed short seller told Yahoo Finance this week that he'll steer clear of meme tokens. "These things have no intrinsic value. They're just barometers of how much liquidity is out there, how much speculative frenzy is out there," Carson Block, founder and chief investment officer of Muddy Waters Capital said in an interview with Yahoo Finance last week. "Right now, all the signals are reading there's a lot."
/jlne.ws/4jGCZiP
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Palestinian Premier Wants to Rebuild Gaza With Trump's Help; But Mohammad Mustafa rejects Trump idea of relocating Gazans; He wants Gaza to be without Hamas rule or Israeli control
Ethan Bronner and Fadwa Hodali - Bloomberg
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said his government plans to rebuild Gaza with help from the US and Saudi Arabia, a process he said would reshape the Middle East and require the removal of Hamas from power and Israel from the ground. While expressing optimism about early contacts with aides of President Donald Trump, he rejected the US leader's notion of relocating most of the more than 2 million Gazans to countries like Egypt and Jordan during the postwar reconstruction. "I have every reason to believe that this administration will actually help us all do the right deal, a balanced deal that could hopefully end the conflict in the region," Mustafa, 70, told Bloomberg TV in his office in Ramallah, in the West Bank, on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/4gj8GLV
Trump's Transactional Foreign Policy Leads to Flurry of Pledges; Promises of Saudi investment, LNG for Europe, Boeing planes; It's 'a global bidding war' for Trump's favor, an analyst says
Iain Marlow - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump has boasted about bringing a more transactional approach to his relationship with world leaders. Just over a week into his second term, many have shown they're eager to make the deals he treasures. Saudi Arabia offered to invest more than $600 billion in the next four years while European governments will look to purchase more US-produced liquefied natural gas. Vietnam's leader suggested his country might buy more Boeing Co. planes. India raised the possibility of importing more oil.
/jlne.ws/3EedjcZ
Donald Trump lashes out after Federal Reserve keeps interest rates steady; US president had called on the central bank to sharply reduce borrowing costs
Claire Jones in Washington and Harriet Clarfelt in New York - Financial Times
Donald Trump sharply criticised the Federal Reserve just hours after the US central bank defied the president's calls for deep reductions in borrowing costs and left interest rates on hold. The central bank on Wednesday kept its main interest rate at 4.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent and indicated it was now on pause, with Fed chair Jay Powell saying US rate-setters "do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance". Trump railed against the central bank on his Truth Social messaging platform, saying, "If the Fed had spent less time on [diversity, equity and inclusion], gender ideology, 'green' energy, and fake climate change, inflation would never have been a problem."
/jlne.ws/4jDDREQ
Lutnick Says Trump Tariffs Will Restore US Economy, Respect Commerce; Secretary pick prefers levies 'across-the-board'; Says tariffs will make trade more fair and aren't inflationary
Daniel Flatley and Josh Wingrove - Bloomberg
Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Commerce Department, offered a detailed defense of tariffs in his confirmation hearing, the clearest signal yet from a cabinet pick that the new administration is prepared to impose the levies on allies and adversaries alike. The Wall Street veteran, appearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, detailed several goals he expects tariffs to achieve, from bolstering national security to restoring American manufacturing and supply chains. He also called them an effective negotiating tactic that will force other countries to again "respect" the US.
/jlne.ws/4jDEpdS
White House Considers Dozens of New Ways to Seize Spending Power
Riley Griffin and Jordan Fabian - Bloomberg
The White House is considering challenging the constitutionality of a 50-year-old law limiting the president's control over federal spending, easing the firing of civil servants, curbing pay and reining in independent agencies, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. The ideas, detailed in a slide presentation labeled "confidential," outline the ways President Donald Trump's administration could try to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and its workforce - though it's unclear whether the president has the legal authority to carry out the suggested actions.
/jlne.ws/4geZyIt
Trump administration to cancel student visas of pro-Palestinian protesters
Andrea Shalal - Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests. A fact sheet on the order promises "immediate action" by the Justice Department to prosecute "terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called "the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
/jlne.ws/3PYkqc0
Trump Officials Discuss Tighter Curbs on Nvidia China Sales
Mackenzie Hawkins and Jenny Leonard - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4hgysSj
Trump Threats Risk Stretching Europe's Fragile Unity to Breaking Point; The EU sees a trade clash as inevitable and has prepared a list of US goods to hit with duties in retaliation.
Jorge Valero, Alberto Nardelli, Shawn Donnan, and Michael Nienaber - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/40CgJOn
Russian Oligarch Held Stake in Musk's SpaceX Through Trust While He Was Sanctioned
Katrina Manson and Todd Gillespie - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/40VNrvv
TotalEnergies failed to convince Joe Biden's team to back $20bn African project; LNG development faces paralysis after halt in 2021 following Islamist insurgency
Ian Johnston, David Pilling and Jim Pickard - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/4heXHV9
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Trump Says Fed Has Done 'Terrible Job' on Banking Regulation; President says Treasury will lead an effort to cut regulation
Jordan Fabian - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump assailed the Federal Reserve's approach to bank regulation and accused Chair Jay Powell of fumbling the fight against inflation, while refraining from directly commenting on interest rates. "The Fed has done a terrible job on Bank Regulation. Treasury is going to lead the effort to cut unnecessary Regulation, and will unleash lending for all American people and businesses," Trump posted Wednesday on his social media site. Trump commented after the Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep the federal funds rate in a range of 4.25%-4.5%. The president wrote "Jay Powell and the Fed failed to stop the problem they created with Inflation," but did not mention the rate decision.
/jlne.ws/3WASCOP
CFTC, SEC Extend Form PF Amendments Compliance Date
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, together with the Securities and Exchange Commission, extended the compliance date for the amendments to Form PF that were adopted Feb. 8, 2024. The compliance date for these amendments, which was originally March 12, 2025, has been extended to June 12, 2025.
/jlne.ws/4aHYBHw
Federal Court Orders International Enterprise to Pay Over $451 Million for Global Binary Options Fraud
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois issued an order of default judgment against five offshore entities and three individuals, finding them liable for fraud and other violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations in connection with a global retail binary options fraud that victimized U.S. residents. The defendants executed their unlawful scheme through internet websites using fictitious trade names such as BigOption, BinaryBook, and BinaryOnline.
/jlne.ws/40FtLux
Extension of Form PF Amendments Compliance Date
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), extended the compliance date for the amendments to Form PF that were adopted on Feb. 8, 2024. The compliance date for these amendments, which was originally March 12, 2025, has been extended to June 12, 2025.
/jlne.ws/4jyQroL
Delivering a step-change in superannuation
ASIC
Joint keynote speech by ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant at the Conexus Financial Super Chair Forum in Sorrento, VIC on 30 January 2025.
/jlne.ws/4aGgeqQ
ASIC calls out superannuation trustees for weak scam and fraud practices
ASIC
ASIC has written to superannuation trustees urging them to strengthen anti-scam practices, or risk exposing members to harm. The open letter, signed by ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant, outlines our guidance for superannuation trustees in preventing, detecting and responding to scams and fraud activity.
/jlne.ws/4gjczjZ
ASIC acts to protect small business - Q2 FY25 update
ASIC
Small businesses employ approximately half of the private sector workforce and contribute more than $500 billion to the Australian economy each year. They are essential for Australia's prosperity. ASIC assists small businesses by providing the information they need to operate lawfully, and by taking enforcement action against directors or companies when the law has been contravened.
/jlne.ws/42BwJTg
The FCA and Practitioner Panel joint survey for 2025 launches
FCA
The FCA and Practitioner Panel survey is being sent to all regulated firms so they can share their feedback on how the FCA regulates the industry. The survey is carried out on our behalf by VerianLink is external (formerly known as Kantar Public), an independent social research organisation. For the first time, the survey will be sent out to all regulated firms allowing us to capture an even wider range of feedback.
/jlne.ws/3PXrdCX
FSA Weekly Review No.621
FSA
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Retail investors pour $900mn into Nvidia as they chase 'buying opportunity'; Traders bought chipmaker shares at 'astounding' pace as stocks wobbled this week
George Steer and Jennifer Hughes in New York - Financial Times
Retail investors have ploughed more than $900mn into Nvidia shares this week as individual traders rushed to scoop up artificial intelligence stocks that sustained a heavy blow from fears over China's DeepSeek. Retail traders purchased a net $562mn on Monday, the most on record, and $360mn on Tuesday, according to data provider Vandatrack. The rush into Nvidia and similar companies comes as Wall Street analysts hurry to assess how DeepSeek's claims that it created an AI model on a par with US leaders such as OpenAI at a much lower cost will affect spending for advanced chips. Nvidia shares shed almost $600bn in a historic sell-off on Monday and have swung higher and lower over the following two days.
/jlne.ws/40Trf57
The waning of active funds is drying up the IPO market; The natural buyers of new equity have suffered relentless outflows
Robert Buckland - Financial Times (opinion)
The writer is senior adviser at Engine AI and Investa, and former chief global equity strategist at Citigroup.
"The job of an investment banker is to hang out where the money is." That was the steer from a former colleague many years ago. Maybe obvious and intuitive but the best advice often is. I can tell you where the money now isn't - UK active equity funds. According to Goldman Sachs, some £150bn has flowed out of them since 2016. There are many reasons for this exodus. Within equities, disappointing performance from the UK market pushed investors to chase better returns elsewhere. Lacklustre relative performance and high fees drove capital into cheaper passive funds. A historic home bias created a desire to diversify into other equity markets.
/jlne.ws/3WE3AD8
US block size changes reveal trillions in swaps trading; Fears of information leakage force some large buy-side users to adjust execution strategy
Ben St. Clair - Risk.net
Changes to trade reporting rules have shone a light on large US interest rate derivatives trades, but also forced some prominent buy-side swaps users to change the way they transact large notional positions. Trades above block size in the US benefit from a reporting delay to data repositories, a waiver from requirements to put dealers into competition, and sometimes a cap on notionals reported publicly.
/jlne.ws/40wwDJY
Trader Mints Millions in Hours on Bond Options Bet Tied to Fed; Bearish 10-year note hedge bought pre-Fed, expired at close; Bond drop post-Fed boosted position, which cost $2.3 million
Edward Bolingbroke - Bloomberg
A bond trader appears to have hit the jackpot on a one-day options bet that Treasury yields would climb Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's decision, potentially raking in millions of dollars in profits. The position was in the so-called Treasury 'Weekly' options, which are short-term expiries designed to cover key market-moving risk events. It likely wasn't the only such bearish options bet placed on the day, but the size stands out. The trader spent about $2.3 million in premium on the bearish hedge, bought at a price of 3 ticks a few minutes before 11:30 a.m. New York time Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/4hhbcDM
Lessons from my investing career; The combination of leverage and time is a critical one to recognise in any portfolio blueprint
Bill Gross - Financial Times
The writer is a philanthropist, private investor and co-founder of Pimco.
With age comes some insight and as we head into 2025, now is as good a time as any to look back on some of the lessons from my investing career that have served me well. On the occasion last year of the publication of a (almost) comprehensive collection of my Investment Outlook essays going back to the late 1970s, I allowed myself some time for reflection. Not over the humility of calls that I got right or wrong, but what can be drawn from them now.
/jlne.ws/40B21qU
Wealth Adviser Builds $11 Billion Fortune on Goldman, TPG Deals; Peter Mallouk has retained majority stake in Creative Planning; Recent investment by TPG values Mallouk's RIA at $16 billion
Devon Pendleton - Bloomberg
From an office park in a Kansas City suburb, Peter Mallouk has grown Creative Planning into one of the country's biggest financial advisers, managing or advising about $350 billion of clients' money. Its slogan: "Experience a richer way to wealth." No one personifies that mantra better than Mallouk. When he took over the firm more than two decades ago, its clients numbered in the dozens. In September TPG Inc. acquired a minority stake in a deal that valued Creative Planning at $16 billion including debt.
/jlne.ws/4heEOl7
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Donald Trump wiped out dozens of Joe Biden's climate initiatives in first-week blitz; President upended US efforts to combat climate change and accelerate clean energy development, according to FT analysis
Amanda Chu and Jamie Smyth in New York - Financial Times
US President Donald Trump eliminated more than 70 climate and green energy initiatives in his first week of office, launching a sweeping and aggressive move to dismantle Joe Biden's climate and industrial legacy. Trump's executive orders upended federal commitments, initiatives and targets aimed at combating climate change, limiting oil and gas development and accelerating the clean energy buildout, a Financial Times analysis of the new president's first week of executive orders found.
/jlne.ws/40VQns1
Germany Seen Canceling 1,000 Wind Projects as Election Nears
Petra Sorge - Bloomberg
Germany's expansion of onshore wind is at risk of a drastic slowdown, with proposed amendments to energy legislation threatening about 1,000 projects, an industry group said. A draft bill before parliament cancels a pre-approval process for certain wind farms, a quick procedure that's helped fast-track many to a full permit. The bill is likely to be passed in the Bundestag before snap elections Feb. 23, since it's part of a larger energy package that won cross-party support on Monday.
/jlne.ws/3EqZpnM
Shell Takes $1 Billion Hit on Wind Farm That Trump Wants 'Dead'; Shell has withdrawn from US offshore wind joint venture; Trump has targeted the industry with executive orders
Will Mathis and Mitchell Ferman - Bloomberg
Shell Plc said it has written off almost $1 billion and withdrawn from a US offshore wind farm as President Donald Trump seeks to stymie the industry's development with executive orders. It's the latest illustration of the reversal experienced by the nascent American offshore wind industry, which was championed by former President Joe Biden but suffered from soaring costs in recent years. With Trump in office, developers face the added obstacle of a president who's set out to halt the industry.
/jlne.ws/3WEJTes
What Trump's Anti-Climate Moves Mean for the Global Energy Transition; "If you just look at energy transition all day, you have this dissonance of things sometimes looking really great and other times just not enough," Albert Cheung, deputy CEO of BloombergNEF says on this week's Zero.
Akshat Rathi and Mythili Rao - Bloomberg
With President Donald Trump back in office, the US is leaving the Paris Agreement for the second time. Unlike in 2017, this withdrawal is set to have more lasting consequences. Meanwhile, even as the US gives up its climate leadership, China's focus on clean energy is growing. A new report from BloombergNEF finds that global investment in the energy transition surpassed $2 trillion for the first time in 2024, with China driving two thirds of that growth. "China invested more than $800 billion in the energy transition last year," BNEF Deputy CEO Albert Cheung tells Akshat Rathi on this week's episode of Zero. "That was more than the EU, the US, and the UK combined - which by the way hadn't been the case the year before."
/jlne.ws/40RjwV0
Trump's California Water Order Does More for Farms Than Fires; The state's Republican farmers are an emerging force but still fear tariffs and deportations.
Eliyahu Kamisher - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump's obsession with California's water comes from an often overlooked source - Golden State farmers. Typically Republican and clustered in the vast Central Valley, they've long fought Democrat-controlled Sacramento over California's limited water supplies, saying state officials shortchange farms to protect fish. They power California's $59 billion agriculture industry but command none of the national political clout given the big donors of Hollywood or Silicon Valley.
/jlne.ws/4jySM31
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Deutsche Bank CEO Joins Dimon, Solomon in Resisting DEI Attacks
Arno Schutze and Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
The chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank AG joined his counterparts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in challenging critics of DEI. Programs designed to promote diversity, equity and inclusion are an "integral" part of Deutsche Bank's strategy, Christian Sewing said during a press conference in Frankfurt after the bank unveiled fourth-quarter results on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4hsmJjs
Deutsche Bank's Sewing to Cut Management Roles as Costs Rise
Arno Schutze - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG said it plans to reduce management roles and cut headcount over coming years, after higher-than-expected costs marred its results in the final months of last year. Expenses rose 14% from a year ago, overshadowing a better-than-expected performance in the investment bank, where fixed-income traders record their best fourth quarter on record.
/jlne.ws/4aFcwhp
Deutsche Bank CEO Says He May Shutter Units in Next Revamp
Arno Schuetze and Steven Arons - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing said the next steps in his strategic plan for the lender may involve cutting underperforming units to improve profitability. Sewing, who is reviewing the bank in preparation for his next strategy update, told reporters on Thursday that he may "intervene even more rigorously where we are putting resources into business areas that generate below-average returns."
/jlne.ws/42DAUOn
Trafigura Asks to Subpoena Banks in Search for Lost Nickel Funds
Archie Hunter and Jonathan Browning - Bloomberg
Trafigura Group is seeking permission to subpoena Wall Street banks for information that might help the commodity trading giant track down the more than half a billion dollars it lost in an alleged nickel fraud. Trafigura is still chasing down the funds almost two years after news broke that it was on the hook for almost $600 million of nickel in containers that turned out to be almost worthless carbon steel. It's suing Prateek Gupta - the businessman it paid the money to - and companies affiliated with his network in London.
/jlne.ws/4hwk5ZO
Blackstone President Jon Gray Calls the Bottom After Office-Market Rout
Dawn Lim - Bloomberg
Blackstone Inc., the world's largest commercial property owner, said the worst is over for the global office market after a prolonged slump fueled by the pandemic. "Office has bottomed, particularly in stronger markets and better-quality buildings," Blackstone President Jon Gray said in an interview before the firm reported fourth-quarter earnings Thursday. The results showed a surge in profit even as the real estate business slumped.
/jlne.ws/40TLnnA
Chinese managers to cut QDII fund fees for domestic investors; The funds, which invest in overseas securities, are expected to charge 1.2% or less
Roxanne Liu - Financial Times
Chinese fund firms are planning to slash management and custodian fees for qualified domestic institutional investor products that invest offshore, as regulators push ahead with fee reforms to reduce costs for investors. Chinese authorities have instructed some fund companies to keep management fees for QDII products no higher than 1.2 per cent and custodian fees at no higher than 0.2 per cent, a source at a Shanghai-based fund house familiar with the matter told Ignites Asia.
/jlne.ws/4jDZpRv
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Amazon Cuts Dozens of Corporate Jobs in Latest Round of Layoffs; New terminations are affecting the communications department; CEO also forced employees to return to office five days week
Spencer Soper and Vinicy Chan - Bloomberg
Amazon.com Inc. is laying off dozens of people in its communications department, the latest culling of the corporate workforce amid executives' efforts to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy. "Following a recent review, we're making some changes to the Communications & Corporate Responsibility organization to help us move faster, increase ownership, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers," Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said in an emailed statement. "As part of these changes, we've made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles. We don't make these decisions lightly, and we're committed to supporting affected employees through their transitions."
/jlne.ws/40D7NYN
Cargill to Cut 1,100 Workers With Arkansas Turkey Plant Closure
Michael Hirtzer - Bloomberg
Cargill Inc. will shutter a turkey-processing plant in Arkansas, cutting about 1,100 jobs amid a downturn in both turkey and the broader agricultural sector. The closure in Springdale is planned for August, and Cargill will shift production to facilities in Missouri and Virginia, the company said in a Wednesday statement. The decision was first reported by Reuters.
/jlne.ws/4gn1QFt
Barclays tightens working-from-home rules; UK bank becomes the latest company to require more days spent in the office
Akila Quinio, Ivan Levingston and Ortenca Aliaj - Financial Times
Barclays has tightened its working-from-home requirements, making it the latest company to rethink its hybrid working policy since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK-based bank announced more stringent hybrid working requirements and asked most of its 85,000 employees to come into the office for an additional day a week, according to a memo sent to staff on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3PVbILB
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Major tuberculosis outbreak hits Kansas City area
Hannah Lang - Reuters
An outbreak of tuberculosis in the Kansas City area has grown into one of the largest ever recorded in the United States, with dozens of active cases of the infectious disease reported, according to health officials. As of Jan. 24, 67 active cases of tuberculosis, or TB, had been reported in Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas. The outbreak began last year, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said on its website. It did not specify a source of the outbreak.
/jlne.ws/4hhO3Be
7 Big Questions About Cancer, Answered; Can pollution cause it? What about inflammation? And how do tumors spread? Here's what scientists are learning about this complex disease.
Nina Agrawal - The New York Times
Every day, billions of cells in our body divide or die off. It's all part of the intricate processes that keep blood flowing from our heart, food moving through our gut and our skin regenerating. Once in a while, though, something goes awry, and cells that should stop growing or die simply don't. Left unchecked, those cells can turn into cancer. The question of when and why, exactly, that happens - and what can be done to stop it - has long stumped cancer scientists and physicians. Despite the unanswered questions that remain, they have made enormous strides in understanding and treating cancer.
/jlne.ws/4jv6W5n
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Asian investors can benefit from early mover advantage in nature investments: fund manager
South China Morning Post
Asian investors should view nature investments favourably despite volatility in returns and longer investment horizons, as they offer diversification benefits and tackle climate change, according to an asset manager. There is an "early mover advantage" for investors in nature assets before it becomes mainstream, said Ben O'Donnell, chief investment officer of Climate Asset Management (CAM). The London-based fund manager is a joint venture formed in 2020 between HSBC Asset Management and climate change investment and advisory firm Pollination.
/jlne.ws/3CrZEi0
Swiss Gold Exports to US Surged Last Month on Trump Tariff Fears
Jack Ryan - Bloomberg
Gold exports to the US from Europe's main refining hub in Switzerland jumped to the highest since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as traders scrambled to bring bullion ashore ahead of potential tariffs. Switzerland shipped 64.2 tons of gold to the US in December, the most since March 2022. That's 11 times more than in November and equates to almost $6 billion of bullion.
/jlne.ws/40B25Ha
Norway's Wealth Fund Reduced US Tech Exposure to Limit Risk
Lisa Abramowicz, Jonathan Ferro and Stephen Treloar - Bloomberg
Norway's sovereign wealth fund was underweight on US tech stocks last year, a move that hit 2024 returns but may have helped it weather recent turmoil caused by the challenge posed by Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek. Although technology stocks such as including Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and NVIDIA Corp. accounted for nine out of its ten largest holdings, the sector was underrepresented compared to its benchmark portfolio. That contributed to the world's biggest single owner of equities posting its third-worst relative performance in 2024.
/jlne.ws/3CvCJCo
Brazil Egg Producer Considers US Deal After Merger With JBS
Clarice Couto - Bloomberg
South America's top egg producer, fresh off a sale of a 50% stake in the company to meat producer JBS SA, said it is weighing a merger or acquisition to enter the US market. "No option is ruled out," Márcio Utsch, chief executive officer of Mantiqueira Brasil, said in an interview. "It can happen through local production or partnerships with companies already operating in the market."
/jlne.ws/3PXoSYH
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Epstein's Ties to Jes Staley, Prince Andrew Lasted Longer Than Disclosed; UK legal filing in Jes Staley case sets out details of emails; Staley says he cut contact after he was named Barclays CEO
Harry Wilson and Jonathan Browning - Bloomberg
Pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein maintained relationships with both Barclays Plc boss Jes Staley and British royal Prince Andrew for longer than has been previously disclosed, according to documents from UK financial regulators. Since Epstein's death in prison in 2019, both men have declared when they cut ties with the disgraced financier. Their timelines are challenged by the Financial Conduct Authority in a legal filing, which has been obtained by Bloomberg News.
/jlne.ws/4hgd2VF
Press platforms to promote trusted content or risk 'American news swamp', says Channel 4 boss; UK's Channel 4 chief Alex Mahon calls for regulated providers to be given priority on social media
Daniel Thomas - Financial Times
Social media platforms operating in the UK should be forced or incentivised to promote content from trusted sources to avoid an "American news swamp", according to the boss of broadcaster Channel 4. Alex Mahon said content from respected broadcasters was being "shadow banned" by computer technology that selected what was promoted online, and regulated providers should be given "algorithmic prominence" to prevent this from happening.
/jlne.ws/3EiT9yD
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