| June 05, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Major institutional investors are increasingly reallocating their portfolios away from US markets, driven by concerns over Donald Trump's unpredictable trade policies and the rapid escalation of US government debt, which has undermined confidence in American assets, according to the Financial Times. In a story titled "Big investors shift away from US markets," the FT reports that the US president's sweeping tariffs and a landmark tax bill expected to add $2.4 trillion to federal debt have prompted a sharp sell-off in the US dollar and left Wall Street equities lagging European counterparts. The S&P 500 is up less than 2% this year compared to a 9% rise in the Stoxx Europe 600. Surveys and allocation decisions from large asset managers reflect the biggest underweight in the US dollar in nearly two decades, as investors question the sustainability of US exceptionalism and seek more stable alternatives.
Despite the recent shift, the US remains a dominant force in global finance due to the depth and liquidity of its markets. However, Europe-bolstered by a EUR1 trillion German stimulus and relative political stability-has become a favored destination for new investments, with some firms dramatically increasing their private equity exposure to the region. While some investors caution that European markets remain fragmented and highly regulated, and China presents its own complexities, the trend suggests a potential long-term rebalancing of global portfolios away from US-centric allocations.
Add this to the list of reasons why we need to take action on climate change. EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra has warned that climate change will quadruple the risk of conflicts over scarce resources, emphasizing its direct and indirect impacts on geopolitics, security, and safety, according to the Financial Times. In a story titled "Hotter world will drive more wars, EU climate chief warns" with the subheadline "Military staff increasingly concerned about rising sea levels, droughts and floods, according to EU commissioner," the FT said military leaders have increasingly raised concerns about how rising sea levels, droughts, floods and wildfires impact military operations and infrastructure, citing examples such as the flooding risks at the US Naval Station Norfolk and operational challenges faced by NATO due to extreme heat. Hoekstra emphasized that while militaries should adopt greener practices, this must not compromise their operational capabilities.
Europe faces multiple security threats linked to climate change, including resource scarcity, increased migration, and dependence on unstable actors for critical commodities, which could exacerbate extremism and petty crime. As Europe is the fastest-warming continent, having experienced its warmest year on record in 2024, with severe flooding and water shortages, the EU has proposed new water-saving targets. Hoekstra highlighted the need for flexible policies to adapt to these evolving challenges as the EU prepares its future budget and climate goals.
The Trump administration's recent crackdown on foreign student visas is threatening to disrupt a longstanding pipeline of global talent that has been central to U.S. innovation and economic dynamism, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a story titled "Trump's Crackdown on Foreign Students Threatens to Disrupt Pipeline of Inventors" with the subheadline "Immigrants who came as students created the USB port and numerous other innovations," the Journal wrote that immigrants who have come to the U.S. as students are responsible for groundbreaking inventions like the USB port and have founded or co-founded more than half of America's billion-dollar startups, including major players such as Nvidia, Alphabet, and Tesla. However, new policies-such as aggressive visa revocations, bans on students from certain countries, and proposals to eliminate the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program-are making it increasingly difficult for international students to study and work in the U.S. This has led to a sharp decline in morale among foreign scholars and growing uncertainty for American universities, which rely on international students for research, innovation, and financial stability.
Experts warn that these measures could have significant negative consequences for U.S. competitiveness and research output, particularly in STEM fields, where international students comprise a substantial portion of graduate enrollment. As students and their families begin to look to other countries for education and career opportunities, the U.S. risks losing its edge in attracting the world's brightest minds. The crackdown is also eroding the country's global ties, as returning students often serve as important economic and diplomatic bridges. Ultimately, the disruption to this talent pipeline could weaken American innovation, reduce university funding, and push global leadership in science and technology toward more welcoming nations.
The June 2025 issue of FOCUS from The World Federation of Exchanges celebrates 40 years of options education, highlighting Cboe's Options Institute as a foundational force in investor knowledge and market innovation. Alexandra Szakats, vice president and head of The Options Institute, reflects on how education has driven the options industry's expansion since 1973, when Cboe introduced listed options and launched a range of educational resources, from primers to mock trading, for both professionals and the broader market. This ongoing commitment to education continues to underpin industry growth and confidence, ensuring that participants at all levels - from retail to institutional - are equipped to navigate evolving markets.
The issue also features insights from global exchange leaders: Frank Berle of the Ghana Stock Exchange discusses the debut of a regulated commercial paper market and its impact on deepening capital markets in Ghana. Gavin Serkin of Frontier Intelligence explores Morocco's derivatives expansion in anticipation of the World Cup. Magnus Haglind of Nasdaq argues that market operators must shift from maintenance to innovation, embracing service-led models and modernization at scale. Finally, James Black of the Canadian Securities Exchange and Nandini Sukumar of the WFE examine the role of stock exchanges in advancing global sustainability, emphasizing the importance of exchanges in fostering sustainable finance and responsible investment.
Acting CFTC Chairman Caroline D. Pham will give a keynote address at the Piper Sandler 2025 Global Exchange & Trading Conference. The event is scheduled for Thursday, June 5, 2025, at 12:45 p.m. EDT, and will take place at the New York Lotte Palace Hotel, located at 455 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: Europe calls for more exhaustive stress testing of AI models, EEX power volumes up 8% in May, slowing from bumper April, Cboe Global Markets on track for another record year, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing reports May volume down a fifth, ICE volumes up 13% in May but down from busy April and Eurex volumes down 5% in May as equity derivatives slump.
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:
- Expanding Access to Cryptocurrency with Cboe's New Spot Bitcoin ETF BuyWrite Indices from Cboe.
- Inside Cboe's Derivatives Vision: A Conversation with Catherine Clay from Traders Magazine.
- From Chef to Options Industry Leader: Get to Know Meaghan Dugan from Cboe. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Recent Shifts in FCM Ownership and Market Dynamics 
The futures commission merchant (FCM) landscape has undergone notable consolidation and transformation in recent years, driven by both traditional finance (TradFi) players and crypto-native firms seeking to establish regulatory footholds and expand their client base.
Two recent deals exemplify this, with each one having some similar drivers and some different ones: Kraken-NinjaTrader and StoneX-RJO. Another firm that was reportedly for sale doesn't match these drivers and doesn't make sense to me: ADM Investor Services, reportedly for sale, according to a lone unconfirmed Bloomberg story.
The Kraken deal to acquire NinjaTrader was a wake-up call, as one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges made the largest deal yet between the crypto and traditional finance worlds. The agreement gives Kraken direct access to regulated U.S. futures and derivatives markets, including the growing crypto futures markets at the CME Group.
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 Tastytrade's JJ Kinahan on the Wild Ride of Retail Trading: From Micros to Mobiles, and the Rise of the Educated Everyday Investor JohnLothianNews.com PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.-(JLN)-June 5, 2025 -In a hotel hallway where the air was thick with the scent of sunscreen and volatility, JJ Kinahan, CEO of Tastytrade, leaned forward in his chair and declared, "The micros have been a huge success in the industry overall." It was an understatement befitting the listed derivatives industry innovation tradition, for the story of the retail trader in 2025 is anything but micro. Watch the JJ Kinahan Video »
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Why are so many of Canada's wildfires burning 'out of control'?; Many fires burning across Canada, forcing evacuations and threatening air quality in the United States, cannot simply be put out, authorities and experts say.
Angie Orellana Hernandez - The Washington Post
Of the more than 200 wildfires incinerating Canadian forests - and sending smoke into the United States - more than half are burning "out of control," and some are being monitored but allowed to burn, Canadian authorities said. As fires intensify, so do concerns over air quality. But conditions on the ground mean that suppressing many of the fires swiftly is not realistic, authorities and researchers say.
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***** Canadians may not be visiting the U.S. as much anymore, but at least they are sending us their wildfire smoke.~JJL
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Chicago's Dire Finances Hold It Back in Competition Among Cities; The obstacles to economic growth in the third-largest US city have rarely looked so numerous and intractable.
Shruti Singh - Bloomberg
Chicago native Warren Baker started buying and converting apartment buildings into student housing in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood in 1985. His once-scrappy company went on to forge multi-million-dollar deals for shopping centers, car showrooms and high-rises across the third-largest US city. Now, though, with surging property taxes and a stagnant population in his hometown, he sees more opportunity elsewhere: Many of Baker's recent projects - warehouses, factories and cold storage facilities - are near the desert boomtown of Phoenix.
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***** Bloomberg had to use a picture of Chicago that featured the Chicago Board of Trade Building in the background for this story. But then, this is the banking district.~JJL
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Coalition urges Commodity Futures Trading Commission cut red tape on prediction markets
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today sent a coalition letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) urging it to adopt a policy of permissionless innovation toward the promising growth of prediction markets. Signed by leaders of 16 conservative and free-market organizations, including CEI, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Shareholder Advocacy Forum, the letter calls for a reversal of the Biden administration CFTC's "weaponized regulation against prediction market venues" and a policy statement affirming that prediction markets dealing with elections, sports, and other current events are allowable as futures trading venues under federal law.
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****** As if prediction markets have not pushed the envelope far enough, they are pushing harder.~JJL
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Wednesday's Top Three
Our top clicked story Wednesday was the Financial Times' We have 'surrendered more to the machines', says quant fund titan Cliff Asness. Second was Trading Technologies' LinkedIn post saying, "We'll be at FIA, Inc. IDX in London this month for Europe's largest annual gathering of derivatives clearing firms, vendors and exchanges. Visit us at booth #1." Third was the Chicago Booth Review Podcast: The Data on Sex, Marriage, and Happiness, in which Hal Weitzman interviews Sam Peltzman from the Chicago Booth School of Business.
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| Lead Stories | There Aren't Enough Engineers to Meet World's Growing Hunger for Power; The Missing Engineers; The world's need for power is outstripping the workforce that can build it. Aging populations and anti-immigration rhetoric aren't helping.
Akshat Rathi, Olivia Rudgard and Josh Saul - Bloomberg
Swedish battery startup Northvolt AB's bankruptcy filing was preceded by a number of debilitating events: failing to fulfill its contracts with customers; pleas to investors for more cash; ghosting its creditors. But its downfall began with a problem many companies are facing today. There was a severe, years-long struggle to find enough workers with the right skills. Peter Breuer, who oversaw new factory planning at Northvolt until 2023, says that the startup's ambitions grew faster than its workforce. "That contributed to its failure," says Breuer, who is now chief of staff at Peak Energy, another battery startup.
/jlne.ws/3ZgUKfW
The Convergence of TradFi and Digital Asset Markets - A Maturing Ecosystem
Adam Guren - CoinDesk
The line between traditional and crypto markets is actively being redrawn. As digital asset markets mature, the convergence of traditional finance (TradFi) and digital markets is accelerating, resulting in a more mature, institutional-grade ecosystem shaped by the frameworks, expectations and operational resilience that have historically characterized TradFi. Recent developments underscore a paradigm shift in how digital assets are perceived by institutions. The U.S. government's announcement of a strategic digital asset reserve, consisting of bitcoin, ether, XRP, solana and cardano, signals strong institutional validation. In parallel, more than eleven U.S. states have shown interest in or are actively working on bitcoin treasury bills. Sovereign investors such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) have disclosed significant positions, with a $436.9 million stake in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) as of December 31, 2024.
/jlne.ws/4kWhGJY
London Faces More Setbacks in a Grueling Fight for Listings
Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro - Bloomberg
London's bid to revive its shrinking stock market has faced a series of setbacks in recent weeks, with companies shifting listings and IPO plans from the market. Money transfer company Wise Plc unveiled a plan on Thursday morning to move its primary listing to the US, just after Cobalt Holdings Plc gave up on its plans to raise about $230 million in an initial public offering the evening before it was due to start trading. Meanwhile, the city's best hopes for an imminent blockbuster offering were dented last week when Shein Group Ltd turned its attention to Hong Kong for its IPO. "The UK stock market is like a boxer determined to keep going in a grueling fight," Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell wrote in a note.
/jlne.ws/3ZR4UnA
Where There's Smoke, There's $244 Billion a Year in Damage; Wildfire pollution is increasingly endangering lives and inflicting economic distress nationwide.
Mark Gongloff - Bloomberg
If any Canadian import should be tariffed out of existence, it's one that President Donald Trump couldn't tax even if he wanted to: wildfire smoke. Unfortunately, it's a product in increasing and borderless abundance across North America and the world, endangering lives and inflicting billions of dollars in economic damage every year. In fact, a new study suggests wildfire smoke is a bigger threat to American health and prosperity than many other climate-change effects combined.
/jlne.ws/4jB9BsK
JPMorgan Plans to Offer Clients Financing Against Crypto ETFs
Emily Nicolle and Hannah Levitt - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to let trading and wealth-management clients use some cryptocurrency-linked assets as collateral for loans, a major step by the biggest US bank to make inroads into an industry President Donald Trump has pledged to support. The firm will start providing financing against crypto exchange-traded funds, beginning with BlackRock Inc.'s iShares Bitcoin Trust, in the coming weeks, people familiar with the matter said. The move marks the latest effort involving crypto among the biggest US banks after the Trump administration started removing regulatory barriers.
/jlne.ws/3HqT5hO
Stablecoin bigwig Circle set to make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange
Alan Suderman - Associated Press Finance
Crypto enthusiasts will be watching the stock market Thursday as the U.S.-based issuer of one of most popular cryptocurrencies makes its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Circle Internet Group issues USDC, a stablecoin that can be traded at a one-to-one ratio for U.S. dollars, and EURC, which can similarly be traded for euros.
/jlne.ws/4kQKvam
Circle Prices IPO Above Range, Valuing It at $6.8 Billion. The Stock Starts Trading Today.
Paul R. La Monica - Barron's
Crypto mania is definitely back. Just look at the robust demand for the initial public offering of Circle Internet Group, the leader in the world of stablecoins. Circle, which plans to list 34 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday under the ticker symbol CRCL, priced its initial public offering Wednesday evening at $31 a share, above the originally expected price range.
/jlne.ws/4n2tuw2
Memecoins Show 94% Cross-Ownership Rate: Why These High-Beta Assets Are More Casino Than Investment
Nick Thomas - Benzinga
Memecoins-cryptocurrencies inspired by internet memes, viral trends, and pop culture-have captured mainstream attention with their explosive price movements and social media-driven hype. While recent data shows 94% of memecoin owners also hold traditional cryptocurrencies, suggesting these assets serve as a gateway to broader crypto adoption, investors must understand the significant risks lurking beneath the viral success stories.
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Hong Kong Set to Allow Crypto Derivatives Trading
Sam Reynolds - CoinDesk
The Securities and Futures Commission, Hong Kong's securities regulator, is planning to allow professional investors to trade crypto derivatives, marking a significant expansion of the territory's virtual asset market offerings, according to a report from China Daily. Crypto derivatives are a considerably larger market than spot trading. Data from TokenInsight shows that the crypto derivatives market pushed through $21 trillion in volume for the first quarter of the year, compared to $4.6 trillion in spot volume.
/jlne.ws/4mVeuA3
Moscow Exchange Launches Bitcoin Futures for Qualified Investors
Francisco Rodrigues - CoinDesk
The Moscow Exchange has launched bitcoin BTC-linked futures contracts on Wednesday, yet the product is only available for qualified investors. The futures, seemingly tied to the value of the U.S.-listed iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), will be quoted in U.S. dollars per lot, though settlement will be handled in Russian rubles. The exchange said it would offer quarterly futures with the first expiration in September 2025, TASS reports.
/jlne.ws/4kvyMOS
Rails launches perps-only crypto exchange in the U.S. with $14 million in new funding to build a better FTX
Leo Schwartz - Fortune
A new type of crypto exchange called Rails is launching in the U.S. this week. Backed by $20 million in funding, including $14 million in new token warrants, Rails wants to stand out in a crowded field by offering U.S. traders a popular but hard-to-access type of asset: perpetual futures, or perps. Perpetual futures are a crypto-specific type of derivative and have been offered for years at offshore exchanges, but not in the U.S. until recently due to regulatory uncertainty.
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Anthropic C.E.O.: Don't Let A.I. Companies off the Hook
Dario Amodei - The New York Times
Picture this: You give a bot notice that you'll shut it down soon, and replace it with a different artificial intelligence system. In the past, you gave it access to your emails. In some of them, you alluded to the fact that you've been having an affair. The bot threatens you, telling you that if the shutdown plans aren't changed, it will forward the emails to your wife. This scenario isn't fiction. Anthropic's latest A.I. model demonstrated just a few weeks ago that it was capable of this kind of behavior.
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Jeffrey Epstein Invested With Peter Thiel, and His Estate Is Reaping Millions; Mr. Epstein, the late financier and sex offender, started by putting $40 million into Valar Ventures, a firm backed by Mr. Thiel. Today that investment is worth about $170 million.
Matthew Goldstein - The New York Times
Jeffrey Epstein, the registered sex offender, met with many powerful people in finance and business during his career, but the financier invested with only a few of them. One of those people was Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire. In 2015 and 2016, Mr. Epstein put $40 million into two funds managed by Valar Ventures, a New York firm that was co-founded by Mr. Thiel. Today that investment is worth nearly $170 million, according to a confidential financial analysis of the late Mr. Epstein's estate reviewed by The New York Times and a statement provided by a Valar spokesman.
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Bill Ackman Is Tweeting Through It; The Wall Street billionaire remade himself into a very-online, Trump-loving culture warrior. Now he wants to be the next Warren Buffett.
Annie Massa and Katherine Burton - Bloomberg
Last May, Bill Ackman made up his mind about the 2024 presidential election. He was approaching his 58th birthday and had pretty much achieved a hedge fund manager's version of nirvana: He was a billionaire; he was five years into his second marriage, with the love of his life; and, much to his delight, he'd amassed more than 1 million followers on X, with a profile that was starting to transcend the boundaries of finance. He was about to test how far.
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Global Bond Auctions Show Weaker Trend as Fiscal Angst Grows
Alice Gledhill and Ruth Carson - Bloomberg
A spate of poorly-received longer-dated sovereign bond auctions worldwide has raised questions about the willingness of investors to fund the spending plans of governments from the US to Japan. Japan's 30-year bond sale Thursday was the third in as many weeks to show signs of a cold shoulder from buyers, with one measure of demand the weakest since 2023. Attention now turns to US Treasury auctions of 10- and 30-year debt next week, a test of appetite after recent similar issuance from other sovereigns failed to ignite.
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There Is an Alternative to the Dollar - It's the Euro; The single currency can improve its international standing without the greenback needing to lose its favored status.
Paul J. Davies - Bloomberg Opinion
President Donald Trump's mission to radically restructure the world economy is catnip to dollar doomsters, but raises few doubts for staunch believers in the currency's primacy in global finance. All conversations about threats to the greenback's role as the world's reserve currency tend toward either imagining a collapse of American financial dominance, or stubborn shouts of TINA - There Is No Alternative. Far more likely is a slow grinding evolution into a world where different countries and currencies hold spheres of influence, a shift from the recent unipolar era.
/jlne.ws/4dUUBVI
Whose Money Should You Manage? Also more Fannie and Freddie, antitrust shareholder lawsuits and an NFT ETF.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
Alternatives manager funding models If you are good at investing, there are two classic ways to make money: You can take your own money and buy stuff that will go up, and then you will have more money; or You can tell other people "hey I am really good at investing," take their money, buy stuff that will go up, and charge them 20% of the profits (or some other fee arrangement). The first approach has the advantage that you get 100% of the profits. The second approach only gives you 20% of the profits, but it has the advantages that (1) you can get 20% of the profits on a larger amount of money (if a lot of people give you their money) and (2) if you lose the money that's someone else's problem. Which should you choose? Often the answer is "both," but you can adjust the mix. The standard considerations are1:
/jlne.ws/4dOePjO
Wall Street's potential winners and losers from Trump's tax bill
Shashwat Chauhan - Reuters
As President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill heads to the Senate, analysts examine how his broad-ranging policies could turn the fortunes of U.S. companies if the package is enacted as law. What Trump has dubbed a "big, beautiful bill", narrowly passed the Republican-controlled House on May 22. The bill seeks to extend tax breaks, set during Trump's first term in 2017 and on track to expire at the end of 2025, for multinational corporations. It is also expected to fulfill many of Trump's populist campaign pledges, including an immigration crackdown and ending some green energy incentives.
/jlne.ws/4e8zRKh
Columbia Student Loans Are Threatened by Trump's 'Secret Weapon'
Elizabeth Rembert, Janet Lorin and Amanda Albright - Bloomberg
The Trump administration escalated its fight against top American colleges by targeting Columbia University's access to federal student loans - a new tactic in the White House's drive to wield power over academia and key financial streams. The Education Department said Wednesday that Columbia no longer meets standards for accreditation, citing its leadership's "deliberate indifference" to the harassment of Jewish students. It called for the school's accreditor - which determines if institutions are eligible for federal student aid - to ensure the university's compliance with anti-discrimination laws.
/jlne.ws/4dSpp9t
Jim Chanos Sees Big Short in Saylor's Strategy, But Others Aren't So Sure
Yiqin Shen - Bloomberg
Buy Bitcoin, short Michael Saylor's Strategy. That's the latest call from legendary short-seller Jim Chanos, who sees the arbitrage play as a no-brainer. Others aren't so sure. The trade has long been on the radar of Wall Street hedge funds, drawn to the premium Strategy's shares enjoy relative to the value of the company's Bitcoin holdings - a gap that topped 200% last year. The discrepancy stems from Saylor's self-styled Bitcoin treasury strategy, through which he has tapped capital markets to buy more and more of the world's biggest cryptocurrency, in turn attracting billions of dollars from retail investors.
/jlne.ws/4kSnBzB
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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. | Trump hiring freeze threatens key economic data as the Fed zeroes in on inflation
Christopher Rugaber - Fortune
The Labor Department has cut back on the inflation data it collects because of the Trump administration's government hiring freeze, raising concerns among economists about the quality of the inflation figures just as they are being closely watched for the impact of tariffs. The department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces the monthly consumer price index, the most closely watched inflation measure, said Wednesday that it is "reducing sample in areas across the country" and added that it stopped collecting price data entirely in April in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Provo, Utah. It also said it has stopped collecting data this month in Buffalo, New York.
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
How Ukraine pulled off an audacious attack deep inside Russia; Months of planning went into a covert operation that relied on cheap, short-range drones
Mike Collett-White, Prasanta Kumar Dutta and Mariano Zafra - Reuters
Three days after Ukraine launched its most complex attack against Russia since the full-scale war began, details of how it was carried out and the damage it caused to Russia's strategic bomber fleet are still emerging. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the operation, dubbed "Spider's Web", as "absolutely brilliant", although the extent of Russian military losses remains unclear. On Wednesday, he said that of the 41 planes damaged, half cannot be repaired.
/jlne.ws/3SyU41P
As the Ukrainians give a masterclass in modern war, our Government rehashes old plans; Healey and his team have had to resort to repeating Conservative announcements
Ben Wallace - The Telegraph (UK)
On Sunday one of the most successful attacks so far on Russia by Ukraine took place. Thousands of miles from the front line a trucks pulled up for what the drivers believed were innocent rendezvous with customers. Not long after the trucks stopped the roofs of the trailers slid open and swarms of small drones took off to attack nearby Russian strategic bomber bases.
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In call with Putin, Pope Leo urges Russia to support peace
Reuters
Pope Leo urged Russia to take steps towards ending the conflict in Ukraine when he spoke to President Vladimir Putin for the first time, the Vatican said on Wednesday.
"The pope made an appeal for Russia to make a gesture that favours peace, emphasising the importance of dialogue for achieving positive contacts between the parties and seeking solutions to the conflict," the Vatican said.
/jlne.ws/45bshvM
Vladimir Putin rejects Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call for peace summit; Russian president accuses Ukraine of 'organising terrorist attacks' after daring strikes behind enemy lines
Max Seddon and Fabrice Deprez - Financial Times
Vladimir Putin has rejected Ukraine's calls for an immediate ceasefire and a top-level summit to end his three-year full-scale invasion of the country, raising the prospect that the war will grind on with no end in sight. In a televised cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Russian president accused Ukraine of "organising terrorist attacks" after a daring series of strikes behind enemy lines, and dismissed his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy's terms for peace.
/jlne.ws/43YRM2d
Putin's uncompromising demands emerge after the latest round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks
The Associated Press
Russia took weeks to present Ukraine with a "memorandum" setting out its conditions for a ceasefire, as well as key guidelines for a comprehensive treaty to end the more than 3-year-old war. To practically no one's surprise, it's a list of the Kremlin's longstanding, maximalist demands that Kyiv and its Western allies see as nonstarters. Ukraine had set its negotiating stance before Monday's direct peace talks in Istanbul, emphasizing its readiness to declare a 30-day ceasefire immediately without preconditions that was proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Kyiv reaffirmed its refusal to abandon a bid for NATO membership and rejected acknowledgment of Russia's annexation of any of its regions.
/jlne.ws/3T9wzwl
Middle East Conflict
The BBC's biased Israel reporting is fuelling anti-Semitism; The educated liberal world has been entirely captured by Hamas - they've played the media like a violin
Allison Pearson - The Telegraph (UK) (opinion)
I was in southern Israel last September, close to the border with Gaza, researching an article on the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacres. Our driver was taking us along Route 232, now known as the "Road of Death" since so many people were murdered there. A line of pensioners waiting patiently for a bus were machine-gunned, I was told. We passed a number of small roadside shelters called meguniots which normally offer protection for civilians from incoming rockets. Young partygoers fleeing the Nova music festival hid in these concrete bunkers when they came across dozens of terrorists on the broad highway through the desert.
/jlne.ws/45GVKOl
Other Conflicts
Germany to boost military by up to 60,000 troops under new NATO targets
Sabine Siebold - Reuters
Germany will need up to 60,000 additional troops under new NATO targets for weapons and personnel, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday, as the alliance beefs up its forces to respond to what it sees as an increased threat by Russia. "We are stepping up to our responsibility as Europe's largest economy," the minister told reporters ahead of a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels that was set to approve the new targets.
/jlne.ws/4mS9BYw
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | ASX Group monthly activity report - May 2025
ASX
/jlne.ws/4dYXZPd
Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for May 2025
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), the world's leading derivatives and securities exchange network, today reported May monthly trading volume statistics across its global business lines. The data sheet "Cboe Global Markets Monthly Volume & RPC/Net Revenue Capture Report" contains an overview of certain May trading statistics and market share by business segment, volume in select index products, and RPC/net capture, which is reported on a one-month lag, across business lines.
/jlne.ws/4ksYIL7
EBS Market on CME Globex Notice: June 2, 2025
CME Group
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EEX Press Release - EEX Group Monthly Volumes - May 2025
06/05/2025 Monthly Volume Report, EEX Press Release, Monthly Volume Report
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May 2025 figures at Eurex
Eurex
Amid a calmer market environment, Eurex, Europe's leading derivatives exchange and - along with Eurex Clearing - one of the leading central counterparties globally, saw a 5 percent decrease in total trading volume in May. A total of 152.7 million contracts were traded, down from 161.3 million in the same month last year. Equity derivatives decreased by 17 percent down from 28.3 million to 23.3 million contracts. Interest rate derivatives saw a 3 percent decrease to 76.2 million contracts.
/jlne.ws/3ZfYzC5
Micro/Mini-DAX Futures surge in Asia, mirroring European momentum
Eurex
Institutional and retail traders across Asia are increasingly trading Eurex's Micro-DAX and Mini-DAX futures during Asian trading hours, seeking to gain exposure to the German and European markets and capitalize on the contracts' recent growth. The DAX index tracks the 40 largest German companies. As the benchmark index of the world's fourth-largest economy, the DAX is a key indicator of the German economy, boasting a diverse range of companies across various industrial sectors.
/jlne.ws/4kRm5O8
Straits Times Index (STI) quarterly review
LSEG
FTSE Russell announces that there will be one change to the constituents of the Straits Times Index (STI), following the June 2025 quarterly review.
/jlne.ws/43vfUJS
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI June 2025 semi-annual review
LSEG
FTSE Russell announces that there will be one change to the constituents of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, following the semi-annual review of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Index Series today.
/jlne.ws/4jGVC4X
MarketAxess Announces Trading Volume Statistics for May 2025
MarketAxess
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, today announced trading volume and preliminary variable transaction fees per million ("FPM") for May 2025.1 Select May 2025 Highlights* (See tables 1-1C and table 2) The MarketAxess platform's strong performance persisted in May through moderated levels of volatility, providing our clients with deep liquidity through Open Trading.
We delivered strong progress with our new initiatives across the client-initiated, portfolio trading and dealer-initiated channels that contributed to the strong performance in May.
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Nasdaq Launches Exclusive Access to Nasdaq Private Market's Tape D API to Deliver Advanced Visibility into Private Markets; Real-Time Private Company Dataset Offers Critical Pricing and Valuation Insights for Private Companies, Investors, and Advisors
Nasdaq, Inc.
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) announced today that the company has partnered with Nasdaq Private Market (NPM), a leading provider of secondary liquidity solutions to private companies, employees, and investors, to provide greater price transparency and valuation visibility into private, pre-IPO companies, including unicorns and other startups through NPM's Tape D private company dataset.
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SIX Swiss Bond Indices Set the Standard for the CHF Bond Market
SIX
SIX has established itself as a key provider of Swiss Franc (CHF) bond indices, offering a comprehensive, transparent, and locally relevant view of the CHF bond market. With coverage of over 1,800 bonds including granular sectors, spread, ESG, rating buckets and maturity-based indices, the SIX Swiss Bond Indices provide broad and structured market representation.
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Straits Times Index (STI) quarterly review - June 2025
SGX
FTSE Russell announces that there will be one change to the constituents of the Straits Times Index (STI), following the June 2025 quarterly review.
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TMX Group Consolidated Trading Statistics - May 2025
TMX Group
TMX Group Limited today announced May 2025 trading statistics for its marketplaces - Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange (Alpha), including Alpha-X & Alpha DRK, and Montréal Exchange (MX).
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Tradeweb Reports May 2025 Total Trading Volume of $55.4 Trillion and Average Daily Volume of $2.5 Trillion
Tradeweb
Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today reported total trading volume for the month of May 2025 of $55.4 trillion (tn)[1]. Average daily volume (ADV) for the month was $2.5tn, an increase of 33.3 percent (%) year-over-year (YoY). Excluding the impact of the ICD acquisition, which closed on August 1, 2024, total ADV for the month of May was up 20.3% YoY.
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Japan Exchange Group: Correction To "Notice Of The 24th Annual General Shareholders Meeting"
Mondovisione
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | A Tiny Fintech Firm Is Launching $100M Crypto Treasury Strategy, Including BTC, ETH
Francisco Rodrigues - CoinDesk
Treasure Global (TGL), a publicly traded e-commerce and fintech firm, said it will invest up to $100 million in cryptocurrencies as part of a new capital strategy. Half the funding comes from an existing equity facility, while the other $50 million stems from an institutional partnership, according to a press release. The company isn't just focusing on just one digital asset, like many other firms are, but said it will buy cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin BTC, ether ETH, and "regulated" stablecoins.
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British fintech champion delivers 'devastating' blow to London
Daniel Woolfson - The Telegraph
The £12bn fintech champion Wise is to switch its primary listing from Britain to the US, dealing a fresh blow to London's beleaguered stock market. Wise told investors on Thursday that it would move its main listing to New York, claiming the change would help the company grow faster and attract more investment. It will be seen as a snub to the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which has been battling an exodus of companies amid concerns over poor liquidity and excess governance. Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, called the news "devastating" and blamed Labour.
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Wise Plans to Shift Main Listing to US in Latest London Loss
Jenny Surane, Aisha S Gani and Lisa Pham - Bloomberg
Wise Plc is planning to list its shares in the US, the latest loss for London's stock market after companies worth roughly $100 billion have shifted their primary listings stateside in recent years. While the London-based money transfer firm will maintain a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange, the US will be its primary listing venue, Wise said in a statement Thursday. It's the latest sign that low valuations and weak liquidity in London's capital markets are pushing companies to list elsewhere.
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Amazon planning $10B investment in North Carolina for data center and AI campus
Associated Press
Amazon plans to invest $10 billion toward building a campus in North Carolina to expand its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure, bringing a massive shot in the arm to a region where many textile and apparel jobs dried up a generation ago. Amazon said Wednesday that its investment in rural Richmond County should create at least 500 jobs and support thousands more through construction and data center supply chain providers, according to statements from the company and Gov. Josh Stein's office. Stein called the investment one of the largest in state history.
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smartTrade Technologies Selects AWS To Power The Future Of Its Trading Technology
Mondovisione
smartTrade Technologies, a global leader and specialist in ultra-low latency, multi-asset electronic trading and payments solutions, today announced that the company is leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enhance smartTrade's market-leading platforms, accelerate innovation, and deliver greater value to its clients. Through a new strategic initiative named the MetaCloud project, which enables smartTrade to efficiently manage and deploy its solutions across both public and private cloud environments, the company will capitalize on the greater flexibility, scalability, and resilience of a hybrid cloud approach to meet the evolving needs of its clients while optimizing customer deployments.
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Reddit Sues Anthropic, Says AI Company Exploited User Data
Riley Griffin and Shirin Ghaffary - Bloomberg
Reddit Inc. sued artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, saying it has used the social media company's content without permission to train its AI models. The lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that Anthropic attempted to access Reddit data more than 100,000 times since last July. Reddit said this "unauthorized commercial use of its content" has breached its rules and exploited users' personal data without their consent.
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Big Tech's AI Endgame Is Coming Into Focus
Matteo Wong - The Atlantic
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Microsoft CEO Says OpenAI Alliance Changing But Remains Strong
Brody Ford and Emily Chang - Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said his company's crucial partnership https://jlne.ws/4dPb7Gp
Vista CEO Says AI to Force 60% of SuperReturn Crowd to Seek Work
Kat Hidalgo - Bloomberg
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AI Can Help Predict Inflation, Bank of England's Greene Says
Tom Rees and Irina Anghel - Bloomberg
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Palantir Partners With Former Fintech Darling Bolt for AI Checkout
Emily Mason - Bloomberg
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Inside the collapse of Microsoft-backed UK tech unicorn Builder.ai; Top investors including Qatar are realising they may have backed a business that largely reported artificial revenues
Alexandra Heal and Robert Smith - Financial Times
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Nvidia reclaims crown as world's most valuable company as $1 trillion rally continues
Laura Bratton - Yahoo Finance
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Cybersecurity Investor Merlin Ventures Raises Over $75 Million Debut Fund
Veteran industry partners seek to groom startups in Israel's thriving cybersecurity market pursuing U.S. public-sector contracts
Angus Loten - The Wall Street Journal
Merlin Ventures, a Tel Aviv-based investor in early-stage startups, on Wednesday announced the launch of an over-$75 million venture-capital fund targeting nascent ventures in Israel's thriving cybersecurity market. The fund is backed by a half-dozen industry veterans, including the founders of Talon cybersecurity and Dig Security, two Israel-based cybersecurity companies acquired by security company Palo Alto Networks in 2023.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Suspected mastermind of French crypto kidnappings held in Morocco
AFP
A 24-year-old Franco-Moroccan man suspected of masterminding a series of kidnappings targeting cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in France has been arrested in Morocco, France said. Badiss Mohamed Amide Bajjou was wanted by the French authorities and was the subject of an Interpol red notice for "arrest, kidnapping, false imprisonment or arbitrary detention of a hostage."
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This company is helping family offices turn idle crypto into passive income
Jackson Hinkle - TheStreet
Tired of watching your Bitcoin or Ethereum sit idle while others earn yield? Figment, the world's largest independent staking provider, is making it effortless to put your crypto to work - securely, at scale, and with full institutional backing. Whether you're holding a few million in Solana or running a fund, staking is the new way to earn, and Figment is quietly powering that revolution behind the scenes.
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Pakistan unveils crypto reserve plan seen as ploy to woo Trump
Adnan Aamir - Nikkei Asia
Pakistan has unveiled a plan to establish a national crypto reserve, making the country an early adopter of digital currencies as a national asset. However, the move faces a mounting backlash, with critics expressing concerns about a possible erosion of national wealth. The quickly taken decision is also seen as way to garner the favor of U.S. President Donald Trump.
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JPMorgan to let clients use spot Bitcoin ETFs as loan collateral
Anushka Basu - TheStreet
JPMorgan to let clients use spot Bitcoin ETFs as loan collateral originally appeared on TheStreet. JPMorgan Chase is reportedly gearing up to accept spot Bitcoin ETFs as collateral for loans - a move that could open the floodgates for more crypto-backed lending on Wall Street.According to a June 4 report by Bloomberg, the bank plans to roll out the program within its trading and wealth management divisions. The initial focus will be on BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), but sources say other spot Bitcoin ETFs will likely be included over time.
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Bitcoin Liquidity Crunch Points to Fresh Volatility as New Cycle Builds: Sygnum Bank
Shaurya Malwa - CoinDesk
Bitcoin's BTC circulating supply is thinning out with an estimated 30% drop in liquid BTC over the last 18 months, a steep drain that could set the stage for potential upside volatility in the coming months, a Sygnum Bank's market outlook said Tuesday. "Bitcoin's liquid supply is getting severely constrained while positive demand trends continue, creating the foundation for upside shocks in the price," analysts wrote, adding the rise of ETF inflows, along with governments increasingly open to bitcoin reserves, is fueling speculation about a "demand shock" scenario, where too many buyers chase too few coins.
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Scoop: JD Vance says Bitcoin strategic reserve act is coming soon
Alp Gasimov - TheStreet
In a Roundtable interview at Bitcoin 2025 conference, Sam Kazemian, founder of Frax Finance, shared insights from his private meeting with Vice President JD Vance on stablecoin regulation. Kazemian told TheStreet Roundtable that Vance conveyed his commitment to fostering innovation in the American economy. "Vice President is deeply committed to bringing innovation to the American economy and promoting American entrepreneurs," Kazemian said, quoting Vance's message. He added that the Stablecoin Act in the House and its Senate counterpart "are common sense bills" designed to provide nonpartisan regulatory stepping stones.
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Investment Advisors Become Top Holders of Spot Bitcoin ETFs, Ether ETF Demand Rises
James Van Straten - CoinDesk
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Stablecoin issuer Circle raises $1.05 billion in upsized US IPO
Pritam Biswas and Manya Saini - Reuters
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Stablecoins 2.0: How USD1 Is Setting the Benchmark
CoinDesk
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Coinbase Unlocks DeFi Opportunities for XRP and Dogecoin Holders on Base
Omkar Godbole - CoinDesk
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Jamie Dimon for president? Why the banking CEO would be a welcome alternative for many voters
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Stephen Henriques - Fortune
What do the names H. Ross Perot, Lee Iacocca, Bob Iger, Mark Cuban, Mike Bloomberg, Carly Fiorina, Doug Bergum, Andrew Yang, Tom Styer, Herman Cain, and Howard Schultz all have in common? First, they are prominent businesspeople who have either run for office or considered a presidential candidacy. And second, not one of them is JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. In fact, while some of these CEOs have compelling cross-sector leadership qualities and might govern well, Dimon has developed a transcendent national image as the systemic stabilizer of JPMorgan in the 21st century.
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Elizabeth Warren Says Trump 'Approved' The Largest Meat Company In World To Be Listed On NYSE Ignoring Corruption And Bribery History, Demands Answers
Vishaal Sanjay - Benzinga
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is once again calling out corruption in the Trump Administration, following a questionable decision made by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. What Happened: On Monday, Warren shared a video on X questioning the SEC's recent approval of Brazilian meat processing company JBS SA's (OTC:JBSAY) listing on the New York Stock Exchange, despite its history of corruption, price fixing, and safety violations.
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Trump announces travel ban and restrictions on 19 countries set to go into effect Monday
Chris Megerian and Farnoush Amiri - Associated Press
President Donald Trump on Wednesday resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term, announcing that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions. The ban takes effect Monday at 12:01 a.m., a cushion that avoids the chaos that unfolded at airports nationwide when a similar measure took effect with virtually no notice in 2017. Trump, who signaled plans for a new ban upon taking office in January, appears to be on firmer ground this time after the Supreme Court sided with him.
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Trump Halts New Foreign Student Enrollment at Harvard; The action is the president's latest attack on the Ivy League school
Natalie Andrews and Douglas Belkin - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump suspended Harvard from participating in the student visa program, effectively prohibiting foreign nationals from attending the nation's most prominent university. The proclamation issued by the White House late Wednesday ramps up Trump's attacks on the university, which has fought back against the administration in federal court. The proclamation seeks to prevent students from receiving visas to study for six months and perhaps longer.
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Trump is no man of steel; The president's policy threatens American industry.
The Editorial Board - The Washington Post
President Donald Trump is hardly the first chief executive to try to save the U.S. steel industry. Going back to George W. Bush's presidency, the U.S. government has imposed multiple rounds of tariffs meant to protect an iconic sector that built American heavy industry starting in the 19th century. The levies have been bad for the United States' 21st-century economy. But Trump wants to go even bigger, imposing on Wednesday a whopping 50 percent tariff on imported steel and aluminum.
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Trump orders investigation into alleged cover-up of Biden's decline; President Donald Trump's executive order does not specify the parameters or legal justification for investigating President Joe Biden's cognitive abilities.
Perry Stein and Matt Viser - The Washington Post
President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered a broad investigation into whether Joe Biden covered up a cognitive decline while in the White House and was incapable of executing presidential decisions - an unprecedented request that in theory could undermine thousands of Biden's executive actions and pardons. The order focused in part on whether Biden's use of the autopen - a machine that uses real ink to duplicate a human signature - on executive actions was legitimate, or whether his aides used it to hide a president who was not cognitively capable of signing them himself.
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How Trump killed Pride month; LGBTQ events across America face budget shortfalls as corporate sponsors duck out in fear of provoking administration
Benedict Smith - The Telegraph (UK)
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Musk's Doge army 'left Washington office littered with drugs and cockroaches'; US Institute of Peace employees return to 'rat-infested workplace' in complete disarray
Benedict Smith - The Telegraph (UK)
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Tax Bill's Bid to Ban New AI Rules Faces Bipartisan Blowback
Jackie Davalos - Bloomberg
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Wall Street Stages a Weird Tax Bill Freakout; An uproar is underway over a provision that isn't in the House fiscal plan.
The Editorial Board - The Wall Street Journal
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Israel's Government Wobbles as Netanyahu Allies Threaten Exit
Galit Altstein and Marissa Newman - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Bernie Madoff customers to recoup $498 million, payout tops $15 billion
Jonathan Stempel - Reuters
Former customers of the late Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff will recoup $498.3 million under a settlement on Wednesday with the liquidators of two Luxembourg funds, boosting their recovery to about $15.26 billion. The Luxembourg Investment Fund and Luxembourg Investment Fund U.S. Equity Plus had invested exclusively with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities for three years before Madoff's firm collapsed in December 2008. Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Madoff's firm, said the $498.3 million represents all transfers that the Luxembourg funds received from the firm.
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'Agroterrorism' arrest in US spurs calls to bring back China Initiative; FBI accuses 2 Chinese nationals of smuggling crop-killing fungus
Ken Moriyasu - Nikkei Asia
WASHINGTON -- U.S. authorities have charged two Chinese nationals with smuggling a fungus that could cause significant damage to crops of wheat, barley, maize and rice and has been described as a "potential agroterrorism weapon." Tuesday's announcement has triggered calls here to revive the China Initiative, which was established by the U.S. Department of Justice in the first administration of President Donald Trump to combat industrial espionage. The program was ended in February 2022 by then-President Joe Biden's administration amid accusations of racial discrimination against Chinese and Chinese American scientists.
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SEC Solicits Public Comment on the Foreign Private Issuer Definition
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today published a concept release soliciting public comment on the definition of foreign private issuer. Foreign private issuers benefit from certain accommodations and exemptions from the disclosure and filing requirements of the federal securities laws. The concept release solicits public input on whether the definition of foreign private issuer should be amended in light of significant changes in the population of foreign private issuers since 2003.
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Statement on Concept Release on Foreign Private Issuer Eligibility
Paul S. Atkins, Chairman - SEC
Good afternoon. This is an open meeting on June 4, 2025 of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Government in the Sunshine Act. Commissioners Caroline Crenshaw and Mark Uyeda are here with me in Washington, D.C., and Commissioner Hester Peirce is participating remotely. Today, the Commission will consider a recommendation from the Division of Corporation Finance that the Commission issue a concept release seeking comment on whether to revise the definition of foreign private issuer.
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Statement on the Concept Release on Foreign Private Issuer Eligibility
Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
Thank you, Chairman Atkins, and thank you to the SEC staff for your presentation. One central issue that underpins today's concept release is whether, and to what extent, the substance and frequency of disclosure by foreign issuers should differ from U.S. issuers when raising capital in the United States. How do we promote capital formation for companies and investment opportunities for investors, while minimizing the likelihood that foreign competitors might leverage regulatory vacuums to obtain a competitive advantage over their U.S. peers? Today's concept release contains extensive data with respect to foreign private issuers (FPI) and how the universe of such companies has changed over the past two decades. As a proponent of data-based policymaking, I find the work of the SEC economists helpful, and that data is included in the concept release. Such data analysis provides a good reason to reassess the FPI definition and the current regulatory regime.
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Statement on the Concept Release on Foreign Private Issuer Eligibility
Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw - SEC
Today we put out questions to industry participants around our framework for allowing foreign private issuers access to our markets.[1] It has been nearly two decades since we last visited this topic, and I agree that it is time for us to reconsider those rules. The framework that we have in place is premised on the expectation that foreign issuers seeking access to our markets will be subject to meaningful disclosure and oversight in their home jurisdictions. But the data posited by staff calls those assumptions into question. The markets have changed and we must too.
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From Canada to the Caymans: Statement on Concept Release on Foreign Private Issuer Eligibility
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce - SEC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Cicely, and Kelsey, and thank you to the staff for their efforts on this concept release. The questions we are posing are timely and appropriate. The Commission formally adopted rules meant to accommodate foreign companies attempting to register securities in the United States ninety years ago.[1] The decision then was sensible. After all, American investors should not be prohibited from investing in good companies because our laws make selling to Americans more trouble than it is worth.
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Eleventh Circuit Grants Consent Motion to Dismiss Appeal of Subpoena Enforcement Decision
SEC
On May 8, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted appellant James L. Koutoulas's unopposed motion to dismiss his appeal from a district court order compelling him to respond to an administrative subpoena issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The motion noted that the appeal was moot because the Commission had concluded the underlying investigation, and thus no longer sought enforcement of the subpoena. With the consent of both parties, the Eleventh Circuit vacated the district court's judgment and remanded the case to the district court for dismissal.
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SEC Charges New Mexico Investment Adviser Firm and Owner With False And Misleading Statements And Failing To Disclose Conflicts Of Interest
SEC
On June 2, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged New Mexico investment advisory firm New Line Capital, LLC and its owner and managing member David A. Nagler for breaching their fiduciary duties and defrauding their advisory clients by making false and misleading fee disclosures and failing to disclose related conflicts of interest.
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Full Federal Court finds Auto & General did not include an unfair contract term in its insurance contracts
ASIC
The Full Federal Court has dismissed ASIC's appeal against an earlier Federal Court ruling that a term in house and contents insurance policies issued by Auto & General Insurance Company Limited (Auto & General) was not unfair. The term required policy holders to notify Auto & General if 'anything' changed in their home and contents.
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Home insurance claims handling improvements need to go further, ASIC says
ASIC
Fair and timely claims handling is essential to maintaining consumer trust and confidence in the general insurance industry, particularly when it comes to home insurance claims and the increasing frequency of severe weather events. We previously examined insurers' claims handling practices following the major floods of 2022 and found weaknesses across key areas. Our findings were consistent with other reviews, including the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into insurers' responses to the 2022 major floods.
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ASIC and APRA provide update on review of life insurance premium practices
ASIC
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) have released an update on the progress life companies (life insurers and friendly societies) have made in addressing issues related to premium increases, product design, and disclosure and marketing materials. The regulators first notified life companies in December 2022 and again in December 2023 amid growing concerns that frequent, large and unexpected premium increases may not have been applied in accordance with policy terms and may not have met reasonable policyholder expectations.
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Funding our future: Building brilliant companies on the UK's public markets
FCA
Speech by Sarah Pritchard, executive director for supervision, policy and competition and executive director for international, at Quoted Companies Alliance Annual Conference, London.
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Key considerations in implementing a possible motor finance consumer redress scheme
FCA
We're setting out some of the things we need to consider if we were to introduce a redress scheme as part of our review into motor finance commission arrangements.
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Opening Remarks by Mr Chee Hong Tat, Minister for National Development, and Deputy Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Nomura Investment Forum Asia on 4 June 2025
MAS
1. Good afternoon. I am delighted to join you at the Nomura Investment Forum Asia. I thought this is an opportunity to be able to engage everyone over lunch; gives us an opportunity to share with all of you some of our thoughts on the current situation and how we want to move forward. I don't think I have to spend too much time to explain why we are now in a very different environment. I am sure you have heard this many times and you have experienced it day-to-day in your jobs.
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Court sets preliminary trial date for insider dealing case against Wong Pak Ming
SFC
The Eastern Magistrates' Court has fixed, on a preliminary basis, a trial date beginning on 24 November 2025 for the insider dealing prosecution against Mr Wong Pak Ming brought by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) (Note 1). The case was further adjourned to 25 August 2025 for mention and pre-trial review.
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The WFE Supports European Commission's SIU Efforts, But Calls For Stronger Measures To Drive Growth
Mondovisione
The The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses, has published a response to the European Commission's (EC) consultation on the Savings and Investment Union (SIU). The WFE commends the simplification and burden reduction objectives, but urges the EC to shift its focus from structural supervision reforms towards more impactful, growth-oriented initiatives.
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Financial Stability Oversight Council Meeting on June 4, 2025
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Today, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent convened a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (Council) in executive session at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury).During the meeting, Council members heard updates from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on their efforts to enhance their supervisory and regulatory frameworks and to focus bank supervision on material financial risks. Members also discussed their continued collaboration to facilitate support for economic growth by banks and other financial institutions.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Robinhood Is a 'Prime Candidate' for S&P 500 Addition, BofA Says
Matthew Griffin and Jessica Menton - Bloomberg
Robinhood Markets Inc. is a "prime candidate" to enter the S&P 500 Index in the rebalancing set to be announced Friday, a milestone that would spur passive funds to snap up shares of the online brokerage, according to Bank of America Corp. The stock was in focus among investors at a meeting about potential index changes for financial stocks, analysts led by Craig Siegenthaler wrote in a note. Robinhood's stock has surged as both equity and cryptocurrency markets rally, and on Tuesday, it closed at its first record high in nearly four years.
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Wealth Firm Cresset Taps Private Credit to Weather Market Swings
Devon Pendleton and Ryan Vlastelica - Bloomberg
Wealth management firm Cresset Capital has turned to private credit to boost client returns as President Donald Trump's on-off tariffs policy stokes turbulence across financial markets. The Chicago-based company, which manages more than $65 billion on behalf of clients, has increased its allocation to private credit to as much as 20% in one of its strategies, said Chief Investment Officer Jack Ablin. Cresset wasn't involved in that market at all prior to 2022 because the risk was too high relative to returns, he said.
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Traders Flock to Niche Options Market to Bet on Crude Oil Glut
David Marino and Alex Longley - Bloomberg
Investors have ramped up wagers in a relatively obscure corner of the oil market that OPEC+ output hikes will lead to an eventual glut toward the end of this year and into 2026. Open interest in calendar spread options - the difference between West Texas Intermediate crude's value over different delivery months - this week reached a record high, according to CME Group. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's latest report shows that speculators hold the biggest net position wagering on a weaker US crude futures curve since 2020.
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Trafigura warns of further 'turbulence' in commodities markets; Trading house reports interim profit of $1.5bn and pays out same amount in dividend to its 1,400 employee shareholders
Leslie Hook - Financial Times
Global commodities trader Trafigura has warned "turbulence" in the market would extend into the second half of the year as geopolitical uncertainty, higher tariffs and inflationary pressures take their toll on the industry. The trading houses that move raw materials around the world have responded to the whiplash of US policy pronouncements and sudden changes to proposed trade tariffs, which have triggered huge flows of commodities into the US.
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Trader Spends $755 Million to Bet on More Gains in Korean Stocks
Cecile Vannucci - Bloomberg
A trader spent around $755 million in options betting South Korea's stock rally has more to go after this week's election ended months of political uncertainty. An opening block of more than 11,000 bullish contracts on the benchmark Kospi 200 Index changed hands in late trading Wednesday for more than 1 trillion won in notional. The calls, expiring July 10, have an exercise level of 385, implying a 4.1% gain from the last close.
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Laopu Gold's 2,300% Rally Faces Test After Stock Hits HK$1,000
Bloomberg
A breathtaking rally in Laopu Gold Co. is facing a critical test after its stock price hit HK$1,000 ($127), a rare milestone that may deter retail investors due to the steep price tag. The jewelry maker soared more than 2,300% since its listing in late June 2024 to set a new record earlier Thursday, emerging as the new face of Chinese luxury and outperforming over 500 peers in the Hang Seng Composite Index. Its share price far surpasses the second-most expensive stock in Hong Kong: bubble tea maker Mixue Group which is trading at around HK$580.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | The Trump Administration Is Spending $2 Million to Figure Out Whether DEI Causes Plane Crashes; The president may be disappointed by the findings.
Isaac Stanley-Becker - The Atlantic
When President Donald Trump blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion programs for the deadly January crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, some aviation officials were appalled. Some were simply perplexed. But few officials inside the Federal Aviation Administration took the president's remarks seriously. Not so for the political leadership of the Department of Transportation. The FAA's parent agency agreed in March to spend as much as $2.1 million on an investigation into DEI policies and their impact on recent safety incidents. To conduct that investigation, the Trump administration has turned to Alex Spiro, a former prosecutor and a prominent defense attorney who has represented Elon Musk, among other billionaires and celebrities.
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The Green Transition Needs More Workers
Olivia Rudgard and Akshat Rathi - Bloomberg
What does a country need to be self-sufficient? Natural resources, for sure. Land, to grow things, and critical minerals to mine. And people. Lots, and lots of people. Onshoring - the practice of bringing your technical and trade jobs home, is in vogue. Trump says he wants Americans making the goods that they buy, rather than relying on imports. He also wants Americans learning technical skills, rather than studying at Ivy League universities. Among Harvard University's many sins, according to comments in a TV interview by Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt, is that it produces too many "LGBTQ graduate majors" and not enough plumbers and electricians.
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AI Boom Risks Pushing UK Further Away From 2030 Carbon Goals
Eamon Farhat - Bloomberg
Britain is relying on a renewables expansion that is too slow to meet the booming power needs of data centers and risks missing its 2030 decarbonization targets as a result. Regardless of whether the nation's data center buildout maintains its current momentum or accelerates, increasing electricity demand won't allow it to meet its end-of-decade goal for a clean power system, market analytics firm Aurora Energy Research said in a report.
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It's Not Just Poor Rains Causing Drought. The Atmosphere Is 'Thirstier.'; Higher temperatures caused by climate change are driving complex processes that make droughts bigger and more severe, new research shows.
Rebecca Dzombak - The New York Times
Look down from a plane at farms in the Great Plains and the West and you'll see green circles dotting the countryside, a kind of agricultural pointillism. They're from center-pivot irrigation systems. But some farmers are finding older versions, many built 10, 15 or even 20 years ago, aren't keeping up with today's hotter reality, said Meetpal Kukal, an agricultural hydrologist at the University of Idaho. "There's a gap between how much water you can apply and what the crop demands are," he said.
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A Market Verdict on Florida's Insurance Crisis Is Coming; Slide's IPO will test the proposition that tort reform and better technology can keep the Sunshine State insurable.
Jonathan Levin - Bloomberg
Florida has made major strides since its property insurance crisis a few years ago, when some companies failed and others abandoned the state. Carriers have started turning profits again, new insurers are entering the market, and premiums have stabilized. Climate change isn't going away, but new insurers are testing the notion that they can manage the risks with better underwriting technology and legislative reforms. The forthcoming initial public offering from Slide Insurance Holdings Inc., which comes to market at the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, is perhaps the clearest test for that thesis.
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'Putting profit over people': big gas is waging war on a California clean air rule; Coalition that includes SoCalGas, country's largest gas utility, has launched fierce campaign against transition away from gas-fired appliances
Hilary Beaumont - The Guardian
On a windy night in early January, Barbara Ishida, a second grade teacher, spotted the Eaton fire glowing in the hills behind her home in Altadena, California. Her mind turned to the deadly wildfires in Lahaina and Paradise and she thought, "Let's get out - now." Ishida and her husband evacuated safely, but the flames destroyed their home. An attribution study found that climate change, which is primarily caused by burning fossil fuels, made the January fires 35% more likely.
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European Power Markets Brace for Extreme Heat Over the Summer
Joe Wertz and Anna Shiryaevskaya - Bloomberg
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Why Charles Schwab Is Taking a Slow-Go Approach to Alternative Investments; Schwab recently launched an alternative investment offering for retail investors-but the company set a high bar to participate.
Andrew Welsch - Barron's
While some Wall Street companies are sprinting to offer more alternative investment products to clients, Charles Schwab's approach may be best described as a slow walk. The company's alternative investment platform for retail clients launched in April and currently has just six funds available, with plans to grow to about 30. Other wealth managers are adding dozens of alternative investments to their platforms every year. What's more, Schwab is also restricting access to clients with more than $5 million in household assets at Schwab. That's well above the minimum for an accredited investor.
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BMO Reworks Executive Team as US Businesses Undergo Revamp
Christine Dobby - Bloomberg
Bank of Montreal is revamping its management team amid a restructuring of its US businesses and the planned retirement of one of its top executives. The Canadian lender hired Aron Levine, a three-decade industry veteran, from Bank of America Corp. to lead a newly combined US operation that will include personal and business banking, commercial banking as well as wealth management, according to a statement Thursday. Levine will be on the US management committee and report to both Chief Executive Officer Darryl White and Darrel Hackett, CEO of the firm's overall US operations.
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Lex Greensill Set to Testify in $440 Million Credit Suisse UK Trial
Jonathan Browning - Bloomberg
Lex Greensill will testify in court for the first time since the high-profile collapse of his trade finance firm, as a $440 million Credit Suisse lawsuit against SoftBank Group Corp. gets underway. Evidence from the embattled financier will be the centerpiece of a month long London trial that starts on Thursday over investor losses in a failed startup. Credit Suisse is seeking damages from SoftBank alleging that a series of transactions with Greensill deprived its investors of $440 million in funds.
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Thoma Bravo Founder Says Private Equity Has Lost Its Way
Dani Burger and Fion Li - Bloomberg
Private equity has lost its way in the last three years with its leaders becoming too concerned about macroeconomics instead of looking at the fundamentals of companies, according to Orlando Bravo, co-founder and managing partner of buyout giant Thoma Bravo. Firms are holding onto assets for longer as exits have become more challenging with a muted initial public offering market. Private equity firms are increasingly dependent on financial engineering such as continuation vehicles, where firms dispose of stakes in their companies to new funds they've created - effectively selling to themselves.
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Yale Nears Deal to Sell $2.5 Billion of Private Equity Stakes
Preeti Singh, Dawn Lim, Allison McNeely, and Janet Lorin - Bloomberg
Yale University, whose embrace of private equity and venture capital spawned legions of followers, is finalizing the sale of as much as $2.5 billion of those assets ahead of potential tax changes. The Ivy League school's endowment is in advanced talks on the portfolio sale, code-named "Project Gatsby," with an overall discount expected to be less than 10%, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Potential buyers had valued parts of the portfolio at a haircut of as much as 15%, some of the people said.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Microsoft cuts hundreds of jobs after firing 6,000 in May
Brody Ford - Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) cut hundreds more jobs just weeks after its largest layoff in years, underscoring the tech industry's efforts to trim costs even as it plows billions of dollars into artificial intelligence. More than 300 employees were told their positions had been eliminated on Monday, according to a Washington state notice reviewed by Bloomberg. The cuts impacted a range of positions, including software engineers, marketers, product managers, lawyers and research scientists, a state document showed.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Ground beef sold at Whole Foods may be tainted with E. coli, USDA says
The Associated Press
U.S. agriculture officials are warning that ground beef sold at Whole Foods markets nationwide may be contaminated with potentially dangerous E. coli bacteria. Officials on Tuesday issued a public health alert for 1-pound, vacuum-packed packages of Organic Rancher beef, produced on May 22 and May 23, by NPC Processing Inc., of Shelburne, Vermont. The products have use-by dates of June 19 and June 20. The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service did not request a recall because the products are no longer available for purchase. However, they may still be in consumers' refrigerators or freezers.
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Surge in new opioids and designer drugs threatens Europe, EU drug agency warns
Reuters
Massive shipments of previously unknown recreational designer drugs and potent new opioids are threatening Europe, while traffic of cocaine and cannabis is worsening, according to the European Union Drugs Agency's annual report published on Thursday. Seizures of synthetic cathinones - stimulants chemically akin to the active ingredient in khat, a plant widely consumed in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula - reached 37 metric tons in 2023, primarily imported from India. Seven new cathinones were identified last year, suggesting their growing prevalence.
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A healthcare giant is using AI to sift through millions of transactions. It's saved employees 15,000 hours a month.
Erica Sweeney - Business Insider
Omega Healthcare Management Services is a revenue cycle management company that helps more than 350 healthcare organizations, including providers, payers, and pharmaceutical companies, manage their financial operations. This includes medical billing, insurance eligibility verification, collections, clinical documentation, and other administrative tasks. The company, which was founded in 2003, is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. It also has teams in India, Colombia, and the Philippines.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China increases scrutiny over rare earth magnets with new tracking system
Reuters
China has introduced a tracking system for its rare earth magnet sector, three sources said, as its export restrictions on them begin to cut off customers around the world. The national tracking system, which went into effect last week, requires producers to submit extra information online including trading volumes and client names, said two sources familiar with the matter and another briefed by those involved.
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Japan turns to Thai and Vietnamese rice as prices soar; Short-grain types on rise among Southeast Asian farmers eyeing export opportunities
Koki Izumi, Yuji Nitta and Yui Sato - Nikkei Asia
Rice imports from Southeast Asia are ramping up in Japan, providing a more-affordable source of the staple grain as persistently tight domestic supply keeps prices high. Vietnam's Tan Long Group plans to bring over 20,000 metric tons of rice to Japan this year, more than quadruple last year's total and equivalent to the annual consumption for around 400,000 people. While the company had mainly imported long-grain indica rice, it expanded into short-grain japonica rice, the type usually grown in Japan, last fall.
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Job of Last Resort Puts Further Strain on Malaysia's Palm Sector
Anuradha Raghu - Bloomberg
Malaysia's palm oil industry is grappling with a dwindling labor pool as workers increasingly shun physically demanding jobs at plantations, a trend that threatens to exacerbate production woes in the major grower. The sector has become the "last choice" for foreign laborers - the backbone of the industry - and locals, who view the work as dirty, dangerous and difficult, said Roslin Azmy Hassan, the head of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, an industry group. Many are choosing jobs in urban areas, he added.
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