| April 25, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
John Lothian News is launching the "Trade India" campaign to drive brand awareness, generate qualified leads, and support strategic product launches for firms seeking to access India's growing financial markets. Through targeted storytelling, thought leadership, and exclusive content on JohnLothianNews.com and MarketsWiki.com, the campaign will highlight India's expanding liquidity, accessibility, and trading opportunities across asset classes.
Sponsors will be positioned as trusted partners for onboarding, compliance, and market entry strategies, supported by prominent banner placements, special reports, video promotion, and social media amplification. With the slogan "Trade India: Access. Liquidity. Growth.," the campaign aims to connect financial professionals with the firms best equipped to unlock opportunities in one of the world's fastest-growing economies.
Contact me at [email protected] for the Trade India campaign proposal.
The Mission (Im)possible Kilt Challenge for Futures for Kids total raised is up to 70,215 GPB. There have been several industry leaders who have joined the mission and contributed to the challenge in recent days, including Scott Hill (1000 USD), Chris McNulty, Sr. (500 USD), Anonymous, KMX Trading (8000 USD), Paul Hamill (1000 USD), Steven Allen Beitler (1000 USD) and John McPartland (500 USD).
RFK, Jr. wants to get rid of synthetic dyes in foods. What would Froot Loops look like without color? Cheerios coated in sugar? The New York Times has a story titled "No More Food Dye in Froot Loops? Not So Fast" with the subheadline "Companies make packaged food without synthetic dyes in other countries. But despite pressure from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the change isn't likely to happen quickly in the United States."
Applications are now open for the Marex Graduate Programme 2025, with opportunities available in the clearing team. Clearing is central at Marex, coordinating with clients, exchanges, and internal teams to ensure secure and efficient post-trade processes. Graduates will gain hands-on experience in risk management, market infrastructure, and client service within a fast-paced, supportive environment. The program offers mentorship, development tools, and early responsibility to help participants build strong foundations for a career in financial markets. For more details, go HERE.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: Central banks need workforce 'suited to harnessing AI benefits' - BIS ANALYSIS: EU bond future launch to foster basis trading as market grows - Eurex, DV Group revamps trading business to support commodity expansion, CME to launch XRP futures in May for latest crypto expansion and TraditionData appoints US product head in latest senior hire.
Joshua Bruckstein is starting a new position as director - head of commercial data product at Nasdaq, he shared on LinkedIn. He was promoted from senior manager - options and index data products at Nasdaq.
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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Some here may have noticed our websites were flaky the last few days. We were a target of a denial of service attack (DDoS ... distributed denial of service attack). Or, at least, something very like one. A bot army descended on MarketsWiki, and both it and the JLN website were affected since they share the same server. We had some protection from this, but not enough. I have sorted it out (although I thought that before, and they came back, but I believe I have it this time). I mention this because, in the course of fixing things, I have improved our websites for our readers. The websites should be faster and more responsive now, especially for our readers who are not in the US. Among other things, I implemented a Content Delivery Network (CDN), which means our websites now have copies in several countries worldwide, specifically in Tokyo (Japan), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Warsaw (Poland), Hamina (Finland), Frankfurt (Germany), Eemshaven (Netherlands), Paris (France), and Sao Paulo (Brazil). I wish we also had one in India, since we have many visitors from there, but at least Singapore is closer to them than Chicago. There are also several within the US. This will improve everyone's speed in accessing our websites. This was a rite of passage for me, administering the websites. Not a fun one, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (or so I have heard). ~ JB
In yesterday's newsletter, John mentioned some videos from the Cboe that were educational for Options traders. I think it is also worth mentioning that a couple of days ago, the OIC (Options Industry Council) announced a new education program called "Ask Us (Almost) Anything - OIC Office Hours." Roughly twice a month, the OIC will answer questions from people on a live webinar on the topic of the day or anything at all (options related ... if you need relationship advice go somewhere else) that someone wants to ask (they will flip-flop from a stated topic to ask anything). The first two topics are "Buying Options: Using Call Options as an Alternative to Buying Stock" and "Key Points to Know About Selling Options." Between those are "Ask Anything" sessions. They start May 14. You can see the schedule HERE. ~ JB
Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Henry Schwartz State of the Industry 2025 from Cboe via YouTube (video ... 4.5 minutes).
- CME Clearing Appoints New Chief Risk Officer from CME Group.
- CME chief flags 'unprecedented' conditions after tariff turbulence spurs business from Reuters. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 All the Risk, None of the Panic: TS Imagine's Martin Packham on Taming the Hydra of Market Hazards JohnLothianNews.com BOCA RATON, Fla.-(JLN)-April 25, 2025-Martin Packham spends his days talking to people who stare into the abyss for a living-chief risk officers and global heads of risk. If their nightmares had a soundtrack, it would be the syncopated beeping of five different risk systems, each calculating with a different accent and none speaking the same language. "They will tell me that they have five different systems," recounts Packham, sales director at TS Imagine. "They're all calculating for different asset classes or for different desks. They're using different data sets. They don't calculate the same risk measures. And so they have a real challenge to kind of bring all of that together into one coherent and comprehensive view on risk." Watch the Martin Packham Video »
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World's First Catastrophe-Bond ETF Falters in 'Crazy' Market
Gautam Naik - Bloomberg
The world's first-ever exchange-traded fund based on catastrophe bonds has failed to get the seed capital it expected after launching on the eve of the Trump administration's tariff war. "Some of our seed capital investors are sitting on the sidelines because the market turmoil has taken people's eyes off new asset classes," said Ethan Powell, chief investment officer of Texas-based Brookmont Capital Management LLC, which oversees the fund. "It's a crazy environment," and "we don't want to be too pushy right now."
/jlne.ws/449e2XZ
***** We should have a credit default swap on this ETF, and then if we had more ETFs like this and more CDS, we could have an ETF on the credit default swaps on the Cat ETFs. ~JJL
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DV Group Embarks on Big Push Into Commodities Beyond Energy
Mia Gindis - Bloomberg
DV Group is expanding its nascent commodities-trading business, with plans to hire as many as 15 traders by the end of the year, particularly in the increasingly volatile softs business. The Chicago-based proprietary trading firm - one of the biggest market makers across the oil industry - will add staff for base and precious metals as well as agriculture and soft commodities. The firm previously specialized in crude, refined products, natural gas and related markets across the US, Europe and Asia.
****** DV Group continues to expand its horizons. This group, once a part of RCG, has come a long way.~JJL
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A New, Full-Bodied Fraud Comes in a Whisky Barrel; Small investors in Britain and Ireland have fallen prey to companies selling casks that turn out to be untraceable or nonexistent.
Clay Risen - The New York Times
There are some 48,000 barrels of Scotch whisky quietly aging in Martin Armstrong's warehouses in southwestern Scotland. Last year, 17 of them became a problem. Mr. Armstrong normally deals with companies that buy hundreds of barrels at a time from distilleries, then pay him to store them as they age. In July, he started getting desperate calls from people who had bought just one or two barrels from an investment outfit called Cask Whisky Limited. They had been told that some of those barrels were stored in Mr. Armstrong's warehouse.
/jlne.ws/3YcBOhV
****** Getting to the bottom of the barrel problem sounds like fun.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top clicked item Thursday was Your Bank, Your Car, Your Digital Butler: SoundHound's Executive VP on the Future of Talking to Machines, a John Lothian video interview with Michael Anderson. Second was Trump Sued by States Over Tariffs, Trade Policy, from Bloomberg. Third was Henry Schwartz State of the Industry 2025, a YouTube video report on the options industry from Cboe Global Markets.
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| Lead Stories | Trump Says He Would Sign Bill Banning Congressional Stock Trades
Hadriana Lowenkron - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump said he would "absolutely" sign a bill banning congressional stock trading, saying he was concerned lawmakers could be using insider information for an advantage. "I would be okay with it," Trump said in an interview with Time Magazine that published Friday. "If they send that to me, I would do it." There has long been some bipartisan support for legislation that would limit how members of Congress could buy and sell stocks, as their access to classified intelligence and internal knowledge about the progress of lawmaking offers a leg up on others in the market. In 2020, a bipartisan group of senators drew fire for trading health care stocks after closed-door briefings on the coronavirus pandemic.
/jlne.ws/4jPh4oP
Derivatives exchange CME set to launch XRP futures in crypto push
Niket Nishant - Reuters
CME Group will launch futures contracts tied to the XRP cryptocurrency next month, the derivatives exchange said on Thursday, aiming to tap into the growing interest in tokens other than bitcoin and ether. The cash-settled futures are set to launch on May 19, pending regulators' approval. Futures contracts let traders bet on or hedge against the future price movements of an asset, without owning it. CME's move highlights a push to offer sophisticated trading tools for altcoins - which typically refer to tokens smaller than bitcoin and ether. Initially viewed as speculative assets, these coins are fast becoming a vital component of investors' portfolios and can be a safe haven at a time when tariff-driven volatility has rattled equities.
/jlne.ws/3RUFWjb
Binance to Offer Crypto Asset Managers 'Fund Accounts' That Mirror TradFi Trading
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is offering digital asset managers special accounts that allow pooling of their investors' assets to make crypto fund management operations feel more like a traditional finance experience. The omnibus "Fund Accounts" introduce a universal net asset value (NAV) per unit concept used by buyside firms to provide a clear and trackable profit-and-loss for each fund, addressing the lack of a common market standard in crypto asset management, Binance said on Wednesday. Unlike the rarified world of high finance, crypto trading is still developing from a relatively unsophisticated retail market into a more institutional-friendly environment, a process that requires a transformation of infrastructure. "Asset management is a very mature and well established industry in TradFi," said Binance head of institutional and VIP Catherine Chen in an interview. "In crypto, we think there's a lot of demand for this particular expertise and infrastructure because, for the time being, the entry barriers and the learning curve remains relatively steep."
/jlne.ws/3EFynK3
US bank regulators pull back guardrails on bank crypto activities
Pete Schroeder - Reuters
U.S. banking regulators announced on Thursday they were pulling back several documents that urge banks to show caution when dabbling in cryptocurrency and related activities. The Federal Reserve said it was withdrawing a pair of supervisory letters stipulating that banks should seek advance approval from regulators before engaging in crypto-asset and stablecoin activities. In addition, the Fed joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in withdrawing a pair of 2023 statements urging banks to be vigilant around crypto-related risks.
/jlne.ws/42LZyed
Nasdaq Partners With Amazon Web to Move More Markets to Cloud
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Nasdaq Inc. is working with Amazon Web Services to help exchanges and others in the industry shift their services to the cloud without the added years of development and expense it would take to modernize on their own. "These are new services they otherwise wouldn't be able to offer," Nasdaq President Tal Cohen said in an interview Thursday. "It's a guide of how to improve your infrastructure to attract more capital and liquidity."
/jlne.ws/4cMIoS4
World's Finance Ministers Are Dazed and Confused; The path to faster growth and rising prosperity starts with avoiding a trade war.
The Editorial Board - Bloomberg
Financial officials have rarely seemed so bewildered. At this week's meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, finance ministers and central bank governors expressed alarm at rapidly deteriorating global growth prospects - thanks not to an unforeseen calamity, as with Covid-19, but to America's erratic economic policy. With the White House still proposing a "baseline" tariff of 10% on all US trading partners, and a who-knows-how-high duty on Chinese imports, the IMF's economists say that "uncertainties have climbed to new highs." The outlook is so muddled that they've set normal practice aside and offered a "reference forecast," as opposed to an actual forecast - saying, in effect, that their own projections would probably be wrong by the time anyone read them.
/jlne.ws/43aoUTp
America's Market Exceptionalism Isn't Coming Back; With the US's economic prospects waning, free movement of capital is becoming an Achilles' heel as investors of all stripes start to flee US assets.
Edward Harrison - Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump's 'America First' economic revolution has quickly turned into 'America Last' as far as financial markets go. So many investors have been dumping US assets wholesale that we recently saw equities, bonds and the US dollar all decline in a self-feeding doom loop that hasn't only hurt the value of American financial assets. If Trump persists, it threatens to cause an extended bear market and a financial crisis. This is a shock to the financial world that received his election with near-jubilation.
/jlne.ws/4lNstqW
The US Stock Market's Tariff Exposure Is About to Be Laid Bare
Esha Dey - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump's raft of tariffs is set to expose just how vulnerable the US stock market is to a trade war. The track record of S&P 500 Index companies over the past two decades suggests their ability to withstand additional levies is fragile, at least by one measure. Nearly all of the margin growth eked out from corporate sales on the gauge since 2004 has come from the booming technology sector, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Removing the group, profitability barely rose. The consequences for the US economy and corporate profits from the proposed tariffs is one of the top concerns that investors have been grappling with this month. The first-quarter earnings season so far has shown that companies themselves are unsure of the fallout, further adding to the angst.
/jlne.ws/3GoUYem
CFTC takes red pen to swaps rules, but don't call it a rollback; Lawyers and ex-regs say agency is fine-tuning and clarifying regulations, not eliminating them.
Janice Kirkel - Waters Technnology
Acting Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair Caroline Pham has been using her time in the corner office to do some editing of the agency's rulebook. The changes include repealing, withdrawing and consolidating no-action letters, guidance, staff advisories and relief issued since 2012. But lawyers and former regulators hesitate to call it a deregulatory push, saying that in a number of cases, rules made in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis have simply become irrelevant.
/jlne.ws/42TSxIu
Swiss National Bank chairman rebuffs bitcoin as reserve asset
Reuters
The head of the Swiss National Bank said on Friday that cryptocurrencies failed to meet the institution's currency reserve standards, rebuffing calls by crypto advocates that it hold bitcoin as a hedge against growing global economic risks. Cryptocurrency campaigners are ramping up pressure on the SNB to buy bitcoin, arguing that the economic turmoil triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs made it more important for the central bank to diversify its reserves.
/jlne.ws/3GoQRyW
Federal Reserve Board announces the withdrawal of guidance for banks related to their crypto-asset and dollar token activities and related changes to its expectations for these activities
Federal Reserve Board
The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced the withdrawal of guidance for banks related to their crypto-asset and dollar token activities and related changes to its expectations for these activities. These actions ensure the Board's expectations remain aligned with evolving risks and further support innovation in the banking system. The Board is rescinding its 2022 supervisory letter establishing an expectation that state member banks provide advance notification of planned or current crypto-asset activities. As a result, the Board will no longer expect banks to provide notification and will instead monitor banks' crypto-asset activities through the normal supervisory process.
/jlne.ws/4ivvGZq
EU regulator to intervene in row between market makers and German exchanges; Executives clash over legal definition of multilateral as retail trading booms
Lars Mucklejohn - Financial News
The EU's top financial markets watchdog is set to intervene in a row between retail-focused German trading venues and large market makers which accuse them of exploiting regulatory ambiguity to masquerade as stock exchanges. The European Securities and Markets Authority is preparing new guidance on part of its MiFID II rulebook to address concerns that retail brokers are giving select market makers exclusive access to orders on trading venues despite efforts to curb the practice, people familiar with the matter told Financial News.
/jlne.ws/4lHpiBb
How Trump's promise of 'Drill, baby, drill' faded to 'Delay, baby, delay' for oil companies
Jordan Blum - Fortune
A North American energy slowdown, especially for onshore U.S. crude oil, is well underway and threatens to worsen both domestically and worldwide amid weaker commodity prices, recession fears, and President Trump's tariff uncertainty, energy executives and analysts said.
/jlne.ws/4iB2hgt
Using AI to Combat Financial Fraud: Expert Says Increasingly Sophisticated Solutions are Needed
CBS42
As long as there are criminals, there will be money laundering, credit card fraud, healthcare fraud, account takeover and other scams that continue to cost American companies (collectively) billions of dollars every year. Staying one step ahead of fraudsters is paramount, and artificial intelligence-powered systems offer the most sophisticated solutions, explains AI expert Akli Adjaoute. "AI algorithms can sift through massive datasets of financial transactions to identify suspicious patterns and anomalies that might indicate fraudulent activities," Adjaoute said. "By leveraging the power of machine learning and predictive analytics, AI-powered systems continuously learn and adapt, enabling businesses and financial institutions to thwart increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics."
/jlne.ws/4cWjPm4
Russia's Finance Ministry to Offer Crypto Trading to 'Highly-Qualified' Investors: Report
Jamie Crawley - CoinDesk
Russia's finance ministry and central bank are set to unveil a crypto exchange for "highly-qualified" investors, news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday. The exchange will "legalize crypto assets and bring crypto operations out of the shadows," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during a ministry board meeting, according to the report.
/jlne.ws/4ivfrLS
Fed Joins OCC, FDIC in Withdrawing Crypto Warnings for U.S. Banks
Jesse Hamilton - CoinDesk
The Federal Reserve has joined its fellow U.S. banking regulators in deleting its crypto guidance of previous years, including notices that banks should get pre-approvals before they get involved in crypto activity. Now, all three agencies - including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. - have joined in reversing those previous policies, leaving crypto matters at banks in the hands of their managers and compliance executives. In the absence of guidance, the banking industry awaits new laws from Congress to define how the digital assets industry should operate in the U.S.
/jlne.ws/42tkSWV
I Guess Elon Musk Doesn't Remember Econ 101; The DOGE chainsaw completely ignores the idea of "public goods," a key principle of economics.
Gautam Mukunda - Bloomberg
In 1854, Abraham Lincoln, who would not be elected president for another six years, mused about the purpose of the government he would one day save. He concluded that "the legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do for themselves - in their separate and individual capacities." In this, as in so many things, Lincoln saw to the heart of an issue that still plagues us. His insight tells us that many of the DOGE cutbacks, which are supposedly aimed at "waste, fraud, and abuse," are slashing away at government's core function: providing public goods.
/jlne.ws/42RDWgF
Ukraine fails to reach deal with investors to restructure $2.6bn of debt; Kyiv due to make estimated $600mn payment on GDP warrants next month
Joseph Cotterill - Financial Times
Ukraine said on Thursday that it had failed to reach a deal with holders of $2.6bn of its debt, in a blow to its hopes of securing a restructuring ahead of a payment deadline next month. The country's finance ministry said it would "consider all available options" on a restructuring and continue negotiations after the failure of opening talks in Washington this week with a group of holders of its so-called GDP warrants. Last month the IMF said that "if left untreated", the warrants "constitute an important risk" for debt sustainability even after a $15.5bn bailout by the fund and a restructuring of more than $20bn of bonds last year. The warrants were left out of last year's restructuring, given their complexity, but Kyiv needs to strike a deal on them to avoid potentially billions of dollars flowing out of its finances in the years ahead.
/jlne.ws/4cYbI8A
How can platforms offer such high interest rates? The use of liquidity tools enables providers to beef up returns on customers' uninvested cash
David Stevenson - Financial Times
An extraordinary price war is going on in the world of investment platforms, with the interest paid on both uninvested cash and in cash Isas and self-invested personal pensions shooting up as providers seek an edge in an increasingly competitive market. Not too long ago I'd regularly complain that my uninvested cash earned next to nothing, though to be fair it was an era of rock-bottom interest rates. Now, though, providers' adverts boast interest rates north of 4 per cent on cash and uninvested stocks and shares.
/jlne.ws/44tafVF
ADRessing the dragon in the room; Delisting dangers
Arjun Neil Alim - Financial Times
To paraphrase Patek Philippe, in America you never actually own a Chinese ADR. You merely look after it for its Hong Kong-listed parent company. Almost 300 Chinese companies have listings on US exchanges, and most of these are in the form of 'American depositary receipts'. In essence, these give US investors a claim over the underlying shares of an overseas company. Prominent ADR issuers include the likes of Alibaba, PDD and JD, and the aggregate market cap is over $1tn, so this is not a niche thing.
/jlne.ws/4jtrhYg
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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. | China has halted rare earth exports, can Australia step up?; Rare earths are notoriously difficult to extract and refine
BBC News
Australia's prime minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to invest A$1.2bn (£580m) in a strategic reserve for critical minerals if he wins next month's election, as trade tensions escalate. The announcement came after China imposed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements, essential to the production of advanced technologies - including electric vehicles, fighter jets, and robots. China's controls apply to all countries but were widely seen as retaliation to US President Donald Trump's tariffs.
/jlne.ws/3EEC1DW
Huge decline at LA port is a hit to truckers-and a stark warning of coming tariff damage
Jeff John Roberts - Fortune
Logistics experts are warning that cargo volumes at U.S. ports are undergoing a precipitous drop. This trend is most apparent in Los Angeles, home of the nation's busiest port, and one that is first to feel any drop-off from Asian shipping. The drop in container shipping is the latest sign the White House's trade war is having a real effect on the U.S. economy, and one sizable group of workers is poised to feel the impact first: long-haul truckers.
/jlne.ws/3S6fC5r
Asia is winning the trade war-at least as far as stock markets are concerned
Jim Edwards - Fortune
US futures were up this morning in early trading after the S&P 500 rose 2% on Thursday. That's nice but the broader global markets have spoken loud and clear ever since President Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement on trade tariffs: Most Asian markets have performed way better than Western ones. Some, like Japan's TOPIX, are even in positive territory. Japan's TOPIX index is in positive territory for the past 6 months, up 0.37% for the period. It's an example of a global trend in the equity markets: The Asian indexes are performing much better than the major U.S. markets. India's Nifty 50 is within one percentage point of going positive over the same time period.
/jlne.ws/4izy3dO
Switzerland is among the 15 countries Trump administration plans to hold 'privileged' talks with
Jamey Keaten and The Associated Press via Fortune
The Swiss president says Switzerland is among 15 countries with which the United States plans to conduct "privileged" negotiations to help reach a deal in the wake of sweeping U.S. tariffs on dozens of countries that have shaken global markets.
/jlne.ws/3GrW0pT
China cancels 12,000 metric tons of US pork shipments
Filip Timotija - The Hill
China canceled 12,000 metric tons of United States pork shipments amid a high-stakes trade standoff between the superpowers, according to data released Thursday. China, one of the biggest U.S. trading partners, axed 12,000 metric tons of U.S. pork orders, the data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows.
/jlne.ws/44FzcNq
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
After Pressuring Ukraine for Peace Deal, Trump Finally Sees Obstacle in Russia; U.S. president has yet to show much willingness to push Moscow into concessions
Alan Cullison - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump's latest plea to Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt his attacks on Ukraine highlights the risky premise Trump made in his quest for a quick end to the war-namely, that the Kremlin wants peace. Three months in with little to show for it, Trump was reduced to appealing to Putin by his first name after Russia's latest missile barrage on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. "Vladimir, STOP!" he wrote. "5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!" Trump's failure to halt the fighting after promising to do so quickly has left him increasingly frustrated and seemingly immobilized.
/jlne.ws/42MVFFK
Trump's shameful Crimea ultimatum to Ukraine; Washington is trying to force on Kyiv a peace deal on Russia's terms
The editorial board - Financial Times
Donald Trump's ultimatum to Kyiv to accept a peace deal that includes US recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea makes a mockery of Washington's supposed negotiation to end Russia's war against Ukraine. Trump's election campaign boast that he could strike a peace deal in 24 hours beggared belief. So has the incompetence and cynicism of his administration as it scrambles to land a settlement at any price.
/jlne.ws/4jGwJ9M
Car bomb kills senior Russian general in Moscow; Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik is the latest in a long line of senior Russian military figures to be killed in a bombing since Moscow invaded Ukraine three years ago.
Chantal Da Silva - NBC News
A senior Russian military figure was killed Friday after a vehicle exploded in the town of Balashikha in the Moscow region, the Investigative Committee of Russia said. Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement Friday that Russian authorities had launched a criminal inquiry into the death of Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik.
/jlne.ws/3EFEX34
Trump's peace offer on Ukraine is generous to Russia, and may not even be enough for Putin
Analysis by Nick Paton Walsh - CNN
Imposing a deadline on a negotiation for a deal you desperately want is a risky tactic if your only move is to walk away. President Donald Trump has threatened just this, and emphasized on Wednesday it is proving easier to make a deal with Russia than Ukraine. Yet that seems a perilous misreading of his own predicament. It is easier for Trump to pressure Kyiv, yes, because they are dependent on US aid and intelligence for their mere survival. But that does not mean Russia is more amenable to a deal. In fact, they are palpably dragging their feet.
/jlne.ws/3S5Wq7X
A frustrated Trump privately concedes ending the Ukraine war has been harder than he thought
Kevin Liptak, Alayna Treene and Jeff Zeleny - CNN
Five days before his 100th day in office - and 93 days since his own deadline passed for resolving the conflict in Ukraine - President Donald Trump is frustrated his efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine have so far fallen short, and has privately told advisers that mediating a deal has been more difficult than he anticipated, sources familiar with the discussions told CNN. Behind the scenes, he frequently brings up how much Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hate one another, one of the sources said - an unsurprising fact, but one the president argues further complicates negotiations.
/jlne.ws/3RBJXc6
Europe is shifting from supplying weapons to Ukraine to funding its defense industries
Tom Porter - Business Insider
European countries are shifting their strategy when it comes to Ukraine, aiming to boost the country's capacity to produce enough weapons for its own defense rather than handing over ready-made weapons from their own depleting stockpiles. In March, the European Union said that half of a EUR2 billion ($2.3 billion) aid package, taken from frozen Russian assets, was being earmarked specifically to help Ukraine boost its own artillery production, the largest package of its kind to date.
/jlne.ws/4iv1JZm
Russia's Lavrov says 'ready to reach a deal' on Ukraine
Aurelia End with Daria Andriievska and Sergii Volskyiv - AFP
/jlne.ws/3Yfv3fl
Alleged former members of neo-Nazi group claim its leader is Russian spy
Ben Makuch - The Guardian
/jlne.ws/4lH0Ob3
Putin Keeps Pummeling Ukraine, Convinced Trump Is on His Side; The concessions offered so far by President Trump fall short of Russia's stated war aims. But President Vladimir V. Putin appears certain that he has the upper hand in talks.
Anton Troianovski - The New York Times
/jlne.ws/4jI7Zho
Middle East Conflict
Israel's A.I. Experiments in Gaza War Raise Ethical Concerns; Israel developed new artificial intelligence tools to gain an advantage in the war. The technologies have sometimes led to fatal consequences.
Sheera Frenkel and Natan Odenheimer - The New York Times
In late 2023, Israel was aiming to assassinate Ibrahim Biari, a top Hamas commander in the northern Gaza Strip who had helped plan the Oct. 7 massacres. But Israeli intelligence could not find Mr. Biari, who they believed was hidden in the network of tunnels underneath Gaza. So Israeli officers turned to a new military technology infused with artificial intelligence, three Israeli and American officials briefed on the events said. The technology was developed a decade earlier but had not been used in battle. Finding Mr. Biari provided new incentive to improve the tool, so engineers in Israel's Unit 8200, the country's equivalent of the National Security Agency, soon integrated A.I. into it, the people said.
/jlne.ws/3YfyuT8
Other Conflicts
Trump administration strikes on Houthi rebels have cost $200 million in shot-down drones
Lolita C. Baldor and The Associated Press via Fortune
Houthi rebels in Yemen have shot down seven U.S. Reaper drones in less than six weeks, a loss of aircraft worth more than $200 million in what is becoming the most dramatic cost to the Pentagon of the military campaign against the Iran-backed militants.
/jlne.ws/3GoI7c6
Trump Is Facing Six Wars, and He's Losing All of Them; Events of the next few months will forge the president's legacy - including crises over Iran's nukes, Houthi missiles, China tariffs and Ukraine's devastation.
Hal Brands - Bloomberg Opinion
Donald Trump anointed himself, in his second inaugural, as the world's "peacemaker." Just three months later, his presidency is consumed by conflict. The coming months will be Trump's season of crisis, a legacy-making period in which he must navigate three hot wars, a cold war, a potential war and a trade war. Unfortunately, he's starting from a deficit of his own making: His decisions have left America's alliances strained, its economic power tattered, and its strategic competence in question.
/jlne.ws/4cObcdd
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Deutsche Börse eyes more acquisitions after EUR3.9bn SimCorp deal; Executive says the German group has received inbound interest from firms
Lars Mucklejohn - Financial News
Deutsche Börse is considering further software company acquisitions following its EUR3.9bn purchase of Danish firm SimCorp two years ago. Christian Kromann, the head of Deutsche Börse's investment management solutions division, said the group would monitor the market for potential deals and had already received inbound interest from firms.
/jlne.ws/3Gp25n6
OCC's security chief on generative AI with guardrails; Clearing house looks to scale technology across risk and data operations - but safety is still the watchword
Menghan Xiao - Risk.net
The financial industry's scramble to adopt generative AI has sometimes resembled a modern-day goldrush of companies beating a trail to the tech haven of California's Silicon Valley in search of a competitive edge in this latest form of artificial intelligence. Leading the effort in many companies is the chief technology officer. At the Options Clearing Corporation, the remit for GenAI development falls instead to Matt Rathbun, chief security officer-elect at the derivatives clearing giant.
/jlne.ws/3EDrIA8
Bursa Malaysia confirms issue confined to small number of brokers and client accounts
The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd has confirmed that the failed logins, unauthorised access, and trades were limited to a small number of client trading accounts from a few brokers, and were not as "widespread" as reported by some news outlets. "As at the close of market, there have been no reports on unauthorised access and trades that occurred today," the exchange said in a statement. Bursa Malaysia also confirms that the robustness and security of its trading and clearing systems are not compromised.
/jlne.ws/42tFher
CME Group to Expand Crypto Derivatives Suite with Launch of XRP Futures
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced plans to launch XRP futures on May 19, pending regulatory review. Market participants will have the choice to trade both a micro-sized contract (2,500 XRP) and a larger-sized contract (50,000 XRP).
/jlne.ws/4jMc4RA
Business Conduct Committee
CME Group
Attached is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange disciplinary posting for the following, which has an effective date of Thursday, April 24, 2025. DRW Execution Services, LLC - CME 25-1877-BC. Read Full Notice
/jlne.ws/4cOU2My
Performance Bond Requirements: Agriculture and Rates Margins - Effective April 25, 2025
CME Group
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below. The rates will be effective after the close of business on April 25, 2025.
/jlne.ws/3RTPvyR
ESG Index Derivatives Development Update Q1/2025; 2025 - A strong first quarter for ESG Index Derivatives
Eurex
The Eurex ESG Index Derivatives segment maintained its strong momentum in Q1 2025, building upon the substantial growth seen in 2024 with a peak in notional volume.
/jlne.ws/4jU8KnP
Euronext launches the European Common Prospectus to accelerate capital market integration and boost IPO activity across the EU
Euronext
Euronext today announced the launch of the European Common Prospectus, a single, standardised template for equity issuances that marks a pivotal step towards deeper integration of European capital markets. This landmark initiative demonstrates Euronext's long-standing commitment to reduce regulatory fragmentation, enhance transparency and promote cross-border investment across Europe. To enhance European long-term competitiveness and innovation, it is essential to improve access to European capital markets. The full implementation of the Listing Act to simplify European rules for listing is not expected until June 2026. In the meantime, there is a clear and immediate need to boost IPO activity in Europe and to compete on a global level. To meet this need, Euronext began to develop a new European Common Prospectus in November 2024, following the publication of the Listing Act.
/jlne.ws/3GCAQ8w
NYSE to Commence Delisting Proceedings with Respect to Warrants of Wallbox N.V. (WBXWS)
ICE
The New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE", the "Exchange") announced today that the staff of NYSE Regulation has determined to commence proceedings to delist the warrants ("Warrants") - ticker symbol WBXWS - to purchase Class A Shares, of Wallbox N.V. (the "Company") from the NYSE. Trading in these Warrants will be suspended immediately. Trading in the Company's Class A ordinary shares - ticker symbol WBX - will continue on the NYSE. NYSE Regulation has determined that the Company's Warrants are no longer suitable for listing based on "abnormally low selling price" levels, pursuant to Section 802.01D of the Listed Company Manual.
/jlne.ws/4itFkvv
Turquoise and LeveL Markets partner to offer new block Manual Conditional Order Type to buy-side and broker members using Luminex interface
LSEG
LSEG today announces the launch of a partnership between its pan-European trading platform Turquoise and US-based trading marketplace LeveL Markets, which operates the Luminex platform. Under the partnership, Turquoise will offer a new block Manual Conditional Order Type to buy-side and nominated broker members. The new order type will be accessible to buy-side trading desks through Luminex's GUI and connects to nominated brokers on the Turquoise Plato Block Discovery™ trading service (MICs: TRQM and TQEM). Benefiting from Turquoise's pan-European presence and award-winning block trading services alongside Luminex's technology capabilities and extensive buy-side network, the Manual Conditional Order Type enables trading participants to have greater control over their larger block orders and to seek liquidity with reduced market impact by self-directing orders to Turquoise, allowing buy-side firms to find both buy-side and sell-side counterparties. The new offering is expected to go live in H2 2025, subject to regulatory approval.
/jlne.ws/3YGV5bq
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Yahoo Is Ready to Buy Chrome Browser If Google Is Forced to Sell
Leah Nylen - Bloomberg
Internet company Yahoo Inc. - backed by owner Apollo Global Management Inc. - would bid for the Chrome web browser if a federal court orders Google to divest it as a remedy for maintaining an illegal monopoly, a senior executive said. Brian Provost, the general manager for Yahoo Search, testified Thursday during Google's trial in Washington that his company estimates the browser would have a sale price in the tens of billions of dollars.
/jlne.ws/4cKFr4C
Bank of America reduces, reuses, and recycles tech for markets division; Voice of the CTO: When it comes to the old build, buy, or borrow debate, Ashok Krishnan and his team are increasingly leaning into repurposing tech that is tried and true.
Anthony Malakian - Waterstechnnology
Last year, WatersTechnology spoke with eight senior technologists from eight different tier-one banks. Those interviews were conducted on background to get an honest understanding of the challenges they were facing. Nearly all of those challenges still exist today-you can find those articles here. For this year's series, we wanted to drill into interesting projects from five different institutions: three global systemically important banks (G-Sibs), one large buy-side firm, and
/jlne.ws/42Jd7uZ
Finance execs are the new targets of deepfake videos
Sheryl Estrada - Fortune
It's no secret that AI-generated hyper-realistic impersonations known as deepfakes have become more sophisticated.
/jlne.ws/3RwI7cr
Trump Administration Pressures Europe to Ditch Its AI Rulebook
Gian Volpicelli, Samuel Stolton, and Alberto Nardelli - Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump's administration is putting pressure on Europe to ditch a rulebook that would compel developers of advanced artificial intelligence to follow stricter standards of transparency, risk-mitigation and copyright rules. The US government's Mission to the EU reached out to the European Commission to push back against the AI code of practice. The letter argues against the adoption of the code in its current form, and also went out to several European governments, people familiar with the matter said. In response to Bloomberg questions, commission spokesman Thomas Regnier confirmed the reception of the letter.
/jlne.ws/42F2nPz
Publisher of PCMag and Mashable Sues OpenAI; Ziff Davis, which owns more than 45 media properties, is accusing the tech company of infringing on the publisher's copyrights and diluting its trademarks.
Benjamin Mullin - The New York Times
Ziff Davis, the digital publisher behind tech sites like Mashable, PCMag and Lifehacker, sued OpenAI on Thursday, joining a wave of media companies accusing the artificial intelligence giant of stealing its content. Ziff Davis is one of the largest publishers in the United States, with more than 45 sites globally that together attract an average of 292 million visitors per month, and is among the biggest media companies pressing a claim against OpenAI.
/jlne.ws/3RyQnsk
Publishing grapples with where to draw the line on AI; FT and Schroders launch Business Book of the Year Award as industry debates new technology
Andrew Hill - Financial Times
Since Parmy Olson won last year's Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award with Supremacy, about tech companies' battle for control of artificial intelligence, she has started using large language models more frequently in her own research. "[They] can be a helpful tool for bouncing ideas around, [exploring] angles, and getting historic references to make comparisons," she says.
/jlne.ws/42rS6WG
IBM Is Back. Now It Must Prove Its Mettle in AI; 'Big Blue' has clawed back into investor favor, but needs to show staying power in AI to cement its comeback
Asa Fitch - The Wall Street Journal
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Financial Firms Brace for Rising Cyber Threats
Anna Lyudvig - Traders Magazine
As the financial services industry accelerates into a digitally driven future, cybersecurity and operational resilience have become critical focal points, according to Neha Singh, Head of Post Trade Transformation and Strategic Products at Broadridge. The findings of the Broadridge 2025 Digital Transformation & Next-Gen Technology Study reflect an industry grappling with new threats and old infrastructure. "It's no longer a conversation about if an attack will happen, but whether firms will be ready when it does," she said, reflecting on the 41% of technology and operations leaders who identified data security as a top concern.
/jlne.ws/4lRuClC
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | CME to Roll Out XRP Futures as Interest and Adoption in XRP Grows
Helene Braun - CoinDesk
CME Group is rolling out XRP futures on May 19th as it continues to expand its suite of cryptocurrency products, the world's largest derivatives exchange, said in a press release. Pending regulatory approval, traders will be able to trade two contract sizes: 2,500 XRP and 50,000 XRP. The contracts will be cash-settled and based on the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, which tracks XRP's price daily at 4:00 p.m. London time.
/jlne.ws/3RzhnIb
Cryptocurrency campaigners call for Swiss central bank to hold bitcoin
John Revill - Reuters
Cryptocurrency campaigners have stepped up calls for the Swiss National Bank to buy bitcoin, saying the global economic turmoil triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs made it more important for the central bank to diversify its reserves. Supporters launched a referendum campaign in December to change the Swiss constitution to require the SNB holds bitcoin in its reserves alongside gold.
/jlne.ws/4lRay2M
Shares of Cantor Equity Soar 134% Following Planned Merger With Bitcoin Company Worth $3.9 Billion
Atqa Arif - CoinMarketCap
Shares of Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) experienced a significant surge of 134% over the past week, with a notable 50% increase on Thursday, following the announcement of a planned merger to form a new Bitcoin-centric company named Twenty One. The Nasdaq-listed shares were trading at approximately $24.80 prior to the announcement. The merger, which involves a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), aims to launch Twenty One as a publicly traded entity with a focus on Bitcoin investments. The company plans to debut with a treasury of over 42,000 BTC, valued at approximately $3.9 billion at current market prices.
/jlne.ws/4jRBNsc
Binance's continued challenges can hinder wider crypto industry ambitions
GlobalData
Binance added fiat-to-crypto onramp capabilities for the top two global leading mobile wallets, Apple Pay and Google Pay, via an integration with Worldpay, as part of its ambition to bring the next billion users into Web3. But despite its efforts to partner with some of the most established names in payments in order to boost awareness and trust among the masses, Binance's continued challenges may counter that.
/jlne.ws/4jAK1oH
Theo Raises $20M to Bring Wall Street-Grade Trading Tools to Crypto
Francisco Rodrigues - CoinDesk
Crypto trading infrastructure startup, Theo, has raised a $20 million round co-led by Hack VC and Anthos Capital. Other participants included crypto-native firms and individual investors affiliated with traditional trading companies such as Citadel, Jane Street, and JPMorgan. Theo is developing a system that allows retail users to deposit digital assets into strategy-specific vaults, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. These vaults are designed to provide access to advanced trading strategies-including arbitrage, hedging, and cross-chain funding rate optimization-that are typically used by institutional players.
/jlne.ws/42Lq8nx
Why Bitcoin's biggest moment has finally arrived; Bitcoin is once again bucking its correlation with tech, but this time feels different
Zack Guzman - The Street
Something weird happened on Monday. Stocks were down. Bitcoin was up. This keeps happening more and more these days. That's huge. Particularly at a time when uncertainty in Trump's trade war is reaching new heights, to see gold continue its rise makes sense - but could Bitcoin really be finally turning into digital gold? It's long been the promise, but the data hasn't supported it ... until, maybe now?
/jlne.ws/444mmrT
Bitcoin Reserves on Exchanges Drop to Lowest Level in Over Six Years as Public Companies Purchase 425,000 BTC
Ayesha Aziz - CoinMarketCap
/jlne.ws/42RvKwV
Vanilla Launches 10,000x Leverage Super Perpetuals on BNB Chain
CoinMarketCap
/jlne.ws/4jTyktc
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Big Ten university faculties push for defense compact against Trump; The proposed NATO-like alliance for the 18 schools would allow them to share resources in case the president targets one of their members.
Ben Brasch and Molly Hennessy-Fiske - The Washington Post
A burgeoning movement among Big Ten universities would create an alliance to counter government attacks on higher education, which the White House says aim to end "woke" policies on campuses it views as fostering antisemitism and harboring foreign students engaged in "known illegal" activity. Several faculty and university senates have approved resolutions asking their leaders to sign a NATO-like agreement that would allow the institutions to share attorneys and pool financial resources in case President Donald Trump's administration targets one of its members.
/jlne.ws/42JrXBH
Loan to Trump-Friendly Argentina Went Against IMF Board Concerns
Manuela Tobias and Eric Martin - Bloomberg
The IMF's latest jumbo loan to Argentina - a serial defaulter now led by a close Donald Trump ally - raised red flags for many of the Fund's top decision-makers. It got a green light anyway. About half of the 25 executive board chairs at the International Monetary Fund had serious concerns about the $20 billion deal, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. The credit will go to a country that's already by far the Fund's biggest debtor - gobbling up more than one-third of its entire global lending - and includes an unusually large $12 billion chunk upfront.
/jlne.ws/4cMNrlP
Are things falling apart for Trump?; About 100 days in, the signs are almost uniformly negative for the second-term Trump project.
Aaron Blake - The Washington Post
The White House just announced that President Donald Trump will hold a rally next week in Michigan to mark his 100th day in office. The timing is ... inauspicious. Even as Trump nears that milestone by which new administrations have increasingly gauged their early progress, there are myriad signs that his second-term project may be falling apart. A man who came into office vastly exaggerating the mandate that voters had just given him - and has governed accordingly - appears to have, per public polling, squandered whatever mandate he was given with his brazen actions. And indicators are increasingly dire on a number of significant policy fronts for him.
/jlne.ws/4cPxwmK
Trump says he doesn't 'believe in loopholes' to run in 2028
Alex Gangitano - The Hill
President Trump in a new interview suggested that he won't be looking into "loopholes" to run again for a third term, an idea he has flirted with in the past. Trump told Time magazine that he didn't want to discuss what he meant by his previous comments that "there are methods which you could do it." "I'd rather not discuss that now, but as you know, there are some loopholes that have been discussed that are well known," the president said. "But I don't believe in loopholes. I don't believe in using loopholes." He also did not directly respond when asked if he would run as vice president on the 2028 Republican ticket with J.D. Vance, the current vice president.
/jlne.ws/444mYOd
The Justice Department's new argument: Trump is a snowflake; Why did Trump boot the Associated Press from the White House press pool? That's an easy one.
Erik Wemple - The Washington Post (opinion)
President Donald Trump defaulted to his usual spiel when he discussed the expulsion of the Associated Press from the White House press pool. The wire service's Stylebook declined to adopt Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America." "It's called the Gulf of America now; it's not called the Gulf of Mexico any longer," said Trump in a Feb. 18 news conference, a week after the expulsion. Piling on, the president also said that the AP has been "very, very wrong on the election, on Trump and the treatment of Trump," an apparent reference to his defeat in the 2020 election. That, of course, was a lie.
/jlne.ws/3ENHdFv
World Bank is not an American bank, German development minister says
Maria Martinez - Reuters
The Trump administration cannot determine the mission of the World Bank because the global lender's goals are based on agreement by many countries, Svenja Schulze, Germany's minister for economic cooperation and development, told Reuters. "This is not an American bank, it's a world bank," Schulze said in an interview on Thursday on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.
/jlne.ws/3YeBZt3
Denmark Blames Russia for False Greenland News to Stoke US Spat
Sanne Wass - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4cT0BO6
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | UK's FCA proposes 70% reduction in regulatory capital rules for investment firms
GlobalDa
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced plans to simplify the regulatory capital rules for investment firms, aiming to reduce the complexity associated with the existing framework. The proposed changes focus on the types of funds that firms must maintain to absorb losses and ensure financial stability during challenging periods.
/jlne.ws/3S7Lneq
US prosecutors may end oversight tool in corporate criminal cases; Review comes as Trump's DoJ appointees loosen enforcement on crypto, sanctions and foreign bribery
Stefania Palma, Amelia Pollard and Joshua Franklin and Leslie Hook - Finandcial Times
The US Department of Justice might axe an important tool used to ensure companies that have broken the law do not do so again: monitors who continue to scrutinise corporate conduct after criminal cases have been resolved. The move is part of an effort to loosen corporate enforcement policies, including for companies that already accepted monitors as a condition of government settlements, according to people familiar with the department leadership's thinking. The DoJ declined to comment.
/jlne.ws/4jjM9B4
Joint Media Statement: Securities Commission Malaysia And Bursa Malaysia
Mondovisione
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and Bursa Malaysia had received reports on Thursday afternoon, 24 April 2025, whereby a few brokers have identified failed client logins or unauthorised access and trading activities executed via limited clients' online trading accounts. Actions undertaken thus far to minimise the risk of further unauthorised access and / or trading include the following: All brokers have been advised to immediately alert clients to undertake passwords / login credentials reset to enhance the security of their accounts; All brokers to implement additional security measures to enhance authentication such as implementing multi-factor authentication and stricter password policies.
/jlne.ws/3YfnSni
Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson: Africa Fintech Summit 2025 Keynote Remarks
CFTC
Inspiring a World of Innovation
It is a privilege to join you today to kick-off the Africa Fintech Summit of 2025. Twice a year this convening serves as one of the largest gatherings of Africa's Fintech Community-connecting entrepreneurs, investors, and regulators during the International Monetary Fund/World Bank spring meeting week in Washington, DC. and in the fall in Africa. My tremendous thanks to the organizers and hosts.
/jlne.ws/4cXm0FR
SEC Wins Summary Judgment Against Repeat Securities Law Violator Based on His Fraudulent Securities Offering
SEC
On April 17, 2025, the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina granted the Securities and Exchange Commission's motion for summary judgment against Marshall E. Melton and his company, Integrated Consulting & Management, LLC (collectively "Defendants").
/jlne.ws/4jqart8
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Wireless Network Creator for Misrepresentations Concerning Network Users
SEC
On April 23, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a final judgment by consent against Nova Labs, Inc., the creator of a purportedly decentralized wireless network known as the Helium Network. The Commission had charged Nova Labs with making misrepresentations in connection with its offer and sale of preferred stock in a private placement.
/jlne.ws/4lJABIS
New speech by Julia Leung: Keynote remarks at OSC Dialogue
SFC
A speech titled "Fostering Future-ready Capital Markets in a New Era of Uncertainty" delivered by Ms Julia Leung at the OSC Dialogue1 was posted on the SFC website today.
/jlne.ws/3YgbXpr
SFC obtains arrest warrant for suspected market manipulator and interim injunction to freeze his assets in Hong Kong up to $3,158,400
SFC
The Eastern Magistrates' Court has issued a warrant for Mr Liu Shaolin's arrest, directing that Liu be brought before the Court to answer four charges of false trading in the shares of Pak Wing Group Holdings Limited (Pak Wing) (Notes 1 and 2). The Court made the order for Liu's arrest following an application made by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
/jlne.ws/42F14A9
Court further adjourns insider dealing hearing against Wong Pak Ming
SFC
The Eastern Magistrates' Court has further adjourned the insider dealing case against Mr Wong Pak Ming to 5 June 2025 for mention in the criminal proceedings commenced by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) (Note 1). Wong is charged with the offence of insider dealing involving the shares of Transmit Entertainment Limited (formerly known as Pegasus Entertainment Holdings Limited) (Pegasus). He allegedly counselled or procured another person to deal in the shares of Pegasus around 25 August 2017 to 17 October 2017 while he was the chairman and the controlling shareholder of Pegasus and having information which he knew was inside information in relation to Pegasus.
/jlne.ws/3RznYCr
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Nobel-winning economist warns Trump's tariff walk back makes them 'worse' than they were in the first place
Eleanor Pringle - Fortune
Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman warns that President Trump's unpredictable and often reversed tariff policies are creating deep uncertainty, discouraging business investment and thus increasing the risk of recession. While concerns about inflation exist, Krugman emphasizes that the greater threat lies in declining investment in trade-sensitive sectors due to the lack of stability in U.S. foreign policy. If there's one thing investors don't like it's uncertainty, and President Trump's ever-evolving stance on tariffs is not helping matters.
/jlne.ws/42KU6bz
DV Group Rebrands Expanded Commodities Trading Operations from DV Energy to DV Commodities; Former DV Energy business expands into new markets with the incorporation of precious & base metals, and soft & agricultural commodities trading desks along with continued growth in energy
DV Commodities
DV Group, a global proprietary trading firm that provides a trading platform across multiple asset classes, today announced the rebrand of its DV Energy business line to DV Commodities. DV Commodities will now encompass the firm's primary energy trading business, DV Energy, alongside the division's expansion into new commodities markets - a direct result of the firm's continued success in the energy markets. The firm also disclosed the prior launch of its new Soft & Agricultural Commodities Group, and the buildout of the Metals Group, focusing on both precious and base metals markets. These new initiatives are a natural extension into additional commodities sub-asset classes and are a fundamental part of bolstering its commodities business as DV Commodities transitions from primarily being a liquidity provider to becoming a risk allocator as well. DV Energy, which now falls under DV Commodities, has been a leading trading division within DV Group since 2013, specializing in the trading of energy commodity products including crude oil, refined products, natural gas, power, and emissions.
/jlne.ws/3Gl6d7J
You can't out-trade tariffs as stocks move in tandem
Matthew Griffin - Bloomberg
Traders have long known Donald Trump intended to use tariffs as a tool for economic policy. Citigroup Inc., a year ago, even offered up a handy framework for trading potential levies on China. Lean into a group of companies like Target Corp. (TGT) and Lowe's Cos. (LOW) that derive much of their sales in the US, and stay away from firms like Becton Dickinson and Co. (BDX) and Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) with a high portion of sales or manufacturing in China.
/jlne.ws/4lJz2L0
The Bond Investors Who Got Trump to Pause His Tariffs; How "bond vigilantes" - who collectively act out of self-interest - keep governments in check.
Ye Xie - Bloomberg
In the days before the April 9 launch of his long-awaited tariffs on most imports to the US, President Donald Trump was unwavering. He didn't flinch when the stock market plunged, wiping out more than $6 trillion in market value. And he was unmoved when a chorus of foreign leaders - and some members of his own party - registered their opposition to the tariffs. But in the hours after the tariffs went into effect, the Treasury bond market tanked. Many bond investors, concerned that the duties would accelerate inflation and reduce foreign demand for US assets, started dumping their holdings in order to pressure the administration to reverse course.
/jlne.ws/3EOUJIW
Harvard in Talks to Sell $1 Billion of Private Equity Stakes
Gillian Tan and Janet Lorin - Bloomberg
Harvard University's endowment is in advanced talks to sell about $1 billion of private equity fund stakes, at a time when the school faces financial uncertainty compounded by pressure from President Donald Trump's threats and a sluggish market for returns on illiquid assets.
/jlne.ws/3RUTP0N
Why Investors Can't Get Enough of Gold Right Now
Jack Ryan and Yvonne Yue Li - Bloomberg
For centuries, gold has been the go-to haven asset in times of political and economic uncertainty. Its status as a reliably high-value commodity that can be transported easily and sold anywhere offers a sense of safety when everything else is in turmoil. Not everyone's a fan. Famed investor Warren Buffett has called the precious metal a "sterile" asset, telling Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders in a 2011 letter that "if you own one ounce of gold for an eternity, you will still own one ounce at its end."
/jlne.ws/44aUXVo
Point72 Traders Exit as Trading Pod Focused on Emerging Markets Closes
Vinicius Andrade, Kerim Karakaya, and Jorgelina Do Rosario - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3YjxfT4
Private Equity Sets Up Shop on Madison Avenue; Once put off by ad agencies' fickle cash flows, private investment firms now see an opportunity to capitalize on the sector's accelerating shift toward automation
Katie Deighton and Rod James - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3YEtIyX
Repo clearing rule could raise SOFR volatility - OFR analysts; Analysis of 2022 data finds large divergence in tail rates but no change in median
Helen Bartholomew - Risk.net
/jlne.ws/3YPKn2i
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Hedge Funds Seek Out Ways to Navigate Trump's Anti-Climate Agenda
Ishika Mookerjee and Sheryl Tian Tong Lee - Bloomberg
As President Donald Trump takes a hatchet to the clean-energy transition, a number of hedge funds are trying to figure out how to make money on low-carbon investments that appear resilient to White House attacks. Their preferred assets are generally located outside the US, including utilities and grid-equipment providers, the money managers said. Some also are turning to natural gas, which Europe has designated a green asset suited to enabling the transition.
/jlne.ws/3S8gias
One year on, EU banks get greener as GARs grow; Contentious green asset disclosures show improvements for most major European banks in 2024
Joshua Walker - Risk.net
One year on from the first round of green asset ratio (GAR) disclosures, most European banks have made measurable progress, Risk Quantum analysis shows. The median GAR rose from 2.1% to 3.4%, as banks expanded their portfolios of taxonomy-aligned green assets. Out of 26 European banks analysed, 22 reported a higher ratio at the end of 2024 than a year earlier. Only four saw declines.
/jlne.ws/42uNBe4
Trump Takes a Major Step Toward Seabed Mining in International Waters; A new executive order pits the United States against the rest of the world over the question of who can exploit mineral resources in shared waters.
Max BearakRebecca Dzombak and Harry Stevens - The New York Times
President Trump has ordered the U.S. government to take a major step toward mining vast tracts of the ocean floor, a move that is opposed by nearly all other nations, which consider international waters off limits to this kind of industrial activity. The executive order, signed Thursday, would circumvent a decades-old treaty that every major coastal nation except the United States has ratified. It is the latest example of the Trump administration's willingness to disregard international institutions and is likely to provoke an outcry from America's rivals and allies alike.
/jlne.ws/449LdKR
Elon Musk's xAI accused of pollution over Memphis supercomputer; Hearing scheduled for Friday as residents receive anonymous leaflets that downplay pollution dangers
Dara Kerr - The Guardian
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is stirring controversy in Memphis, Tennessee. That's where he's building a massive supercomputer to power his company xAI. Community residents and environmental activists say that since the supercomputer was fired up last summer it has become one of the biggest air polluters in the county. But some local officials have championed the billionaire, saying he's investing in Memphis.
/jlne.ws/3YcLN6T
Chinese Wind Turbine Makers Face European Market Hurdles
OilPrice.com
Over the past three years, Western OEMs have retrenched to core markets, aiming to restore profitability after years of margin pressure. Input costs declined in 2024, but turbine prices continued to rise, helping Western OEMs improve their earnings. Still, CAPEX remains a central concern for developers, especially as interest rates stay elevated. In China, manufacturers responded to the phase-out of feed-in tariffs by introducing larger turbine models to keep costs down. This intensified domestic competition and led to falling turbine prices - eroding margins. With installations expected to peak in 2025 and decline in 2026, Chinese OEMs are increasingly looking abroad to absorb excess capacity and restore profitability. In export markets, their turbines remain 30-40% cheaper than Western equivalents, giving them a strong cost advantage.
/jlne.ws/4iDMNZ3
ESG fund outflows hit record as sustainable investing backlash grows; European investors pull money from sector for first time in sign that US scepticism of 'woke capitalism' is spreading
Steve Johnson - Financial Times
Investors pulled a record amount from "sustainable" funds in the first quarter of the year, in an early sign that the US backlash against environmental, social and governance-based investing is going global. While US investors cut their exposure to sustainable mutual and exchange traded funds for a 10th straight quarter, Europeans were net sellers for the first time on record in data going back to 2018, pulling out $1.2bn, according to data from Morningstar.
/jlne.ws/4jQjIut
India plans incentives for steelmakers to drive decarbonisation, secretary says
Neha Arora - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3RBUa8i
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Nomura Weighs Deeper Foray Into Prime Brokerage 4 Years After Archegos
William Shaw and Donal Griffin - Bloomberg
Nomura is expanding its prime brokerage business despite regulatory scrutiny, with the Bank of England planning to investigate how banks measure their exposures within their prime brokerage divisions. Nomura Holdings Inc. is weighing a return to offering cash prime-brokerage services in the US and Europe, businesses it largely exited just four years ago following the implosion of Archegos Capital Management. As part of the push, Nomura hired Matias Bercun, a 17-year veteran of Barclays Plc, to run the prime brokerage business globally, according to people familiar with the matter. Nomura officials have already held discussions with regulators in Japan about its latest plans, the people said, asking not to be named discussing non-public information.
/jlne.ws/4itdu2n
Nomura CFO Says Japan's Volatile Yields Make Trading Difficult
Takashi Nakamichi - Bloomberg
Nomura Holdings Inc. is finding the volatility in yen interest rates movements a challenge, even as it embraces the roller-coaster ride elsewhere. "We are doing very well in trading business abroad, especially in the US," Chief Financial Officer Takumi Kitamura said at an earnings briefing on Friday. "On the other hand, it has become a little difficult to manage it in Japan partly due to the impact of a big jump in super-long yen rates."
/jlne.ws/3GrPf7F
HSBC launches new wealth centre in Singapore
GlobalData
HSBC has launched a new wealth Centre at The Star Vista, aiming to offer tailored financial services to affluent clients in western Singapore. The new centre is the second of three planned wealth centres, with the final one expected to open by the end of this year. Situated on the second floor of The Star Vista Mall, this new facility is part of the bank's strategy to enhance accessibility to personalised wealth management while engaging with local communities.
/jlne.ws/3RzfUlb
Morgan Stanley Fired a Trading Unit Head After Conduct Probe; Kow Atta-Mensah was head of the firm's commodities business
Departure followed alleged inappropriate remarks to colleagues
Todd Gillespie, Sridhar Natarajan, and Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
A senior Morgan Stanley trading executive's abrupt departure last month was triggered by an internal investigation into his interactions with colleagues, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The firm terminated Kow Atta-Mensah, who ran the global commodities business, after looking into allegations that he made inappropriate remarks to colleagues, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing the confidential review. There was no explanation for the exit at the time.
/jlne.ws/42yrCmA
Top Goldman Sachs banker quits UK after non-dom change; Investment bank's vice-chair Richard Gnodde is moving to Milan
Harriet Agnew and Josh Spero and Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
A senior Goldman Sachs banker is leaving the UK after the government abolished the favourable tax rules for non-domiciled residents. Richard Gnodde, vice-chair of the investment bank, is moving to Milan, according to people familiar with the situation.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | How an ergonomist can support return to work and claims management
Carrie Taylor - OHS Canada
For health and safety professionals managing return-to-work (RTW) cases and injury claims, the process can be complex, time-consuming, and frustrating. If you've supported injured or absent workers, or been in that position yourself, you know how challenging it can be to get everyone aligned. Involving an ergonomist early in the process can streamline claims, improve outcomes, and reduce the risk of future injuries.
/jlne.ws/4cOzjZf
Giving workers unlimited time off could help companies outperform the S&P 500, investors say
Orianna Rosa Royle - Fortune
Businesses grappling with falling stock prices amid an economic downturn like the one the world could be approaching should consider revisiting their vacation policies, an investor survey suggests.
/jlne.ws/42IwGn2
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Millions of U.S. measles cases forecast over 25 years if shots decline; Measles, once virtually wiped out in the United States, could become commonplace again if declining vaccination rates continue, a new model shows.
Lena H. Sun - The Washington Post
The United States faces millions of measles cases over the next 25 years if vaccination rates for the disease drop 10 percent, according to new research published Thursday. No change in the current vaccination rate would result in hundreds of thousands of measles cases over the same period, according to a mathematical model produced by a team of Stanford University researchers.
/jlne.ws/42HKiiq
USDA is withdrawing a proposal that sought to reduce Salmonella in poultry; The rule, proposed by the Biden administration last year, would have created new safety standards in an effort to prevent the sale of contaminated chicken.
Suzy Khimm - NBC News
The Trump administration is withdrawing a Biden-era proposal that aimed to reduce Salmonella in raw poultry products, arguing the new rule would have imposed "significant financial and operational burdens on American businesses and consumers," the Agriculture Department said Thursday. The proposed rule, which the Biden administration unveiled last year, would have created new safety standards in an effort to prevent the sale of raw chicken and chicken parts contaminated with certain levels or types of Salmonella. It would have also overhauled safety procedures and testing for poultry slaughterhouses to prevent Salmonella contamination.
/jlne.ws/4lN5aNO
Trump Cuts Threaten Agency Running Meals on Wheels; A tiny division responsible for overseeing services for people with disabilities and older Americans is being dismantled as part of an overhaul by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary.
Reed Abelson - The New York Times
Every Monday, Maurine Gentis, a retired teacher, waits for a delivery from Meals on Wheels South Texas. "The meals help stretch my budget," Ms. Gentis, 77, said. Living alone and in a wheelchair, she appreciates having someone look in on her regularly. The same group, a nonprofit, delivers books from the library and dry food for her cat. But Ms. Gentis is anxious about what lies ahead. The small government agency responsible for overseeing programs like Meals on Wheels is being dismantled as part of the Trump administration's overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Roughly half its staff has been let go in recent layoffs and all of its 10 regional offices are closed, according to several employees who lost their jobs.
/jlne.ws/4jKcfO5
'More a Cheerleader Than a Regulator': The FDA's Untold Role in the Opioid Epidemic; An investigation into the agency's repeated violations of its own rules to approve addictive drugs-and its ongoing failure to rein in the public-health crisis.
Sam Hornblower - Bloomberg
On a sunny May afternoon 14 years ago, a group of doctors from across the country gathered in a windowless conference room at the US Food and Drug Administration's main campus in White Oak, Maryland, with an urgent message: Prescription opioids were not just addictive, they were also ineffective in treating chronic pain. The physicians, all pain and addiction experts, told Janet Woodcock, then director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), that pharmaceutical companies had lied when they claimed opioids harmed only abusers seeking to get high. The drugs could be valuable tools for relieving acute, short-term pain, the doctors allowed. But they accused the FDA of acting rashly, starting with the 1995 approval of Purdue Pharma's OxyContin label, which helped expand opioid use to millions of new patients, including people with long-term conditions such as arthritis and back pain.
/jlne.ws/4iuKZBp
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Prince Alwaleed Plots Next Act With Billions Riding on Elon Musk; The flamboyant Saudi billionaire investor is back in the spotlight, emboldened by Donald Trump's return to the White House.
Devon Pendleton - Bloomberg
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is back. The flamboyant billionaire founder of Saudi conglomerate Kingdom Holding Co., in a literal sense, never really went anywhere. But since he was caught up in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's 2017 detention of hundreds of the country's elite in the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, he has laid uncharacteristically low. No longer. Emboldened after Donald Trump was elected and his pal Elon Musk was given unprecedented political power, he's acting like his old self: hyping investments, posting photos with baby camels and taking his frank views to the airwaves.
/jlne.ws/3Gq3Ss9
Japan's lower house passes AI bill as nation targets Western investment; Move comes as Trump's tariff threats overshadow tech supply chains
Ryohtaroh Satoh - Nikkei Asia
Lawmakers in Japan's lower house has passed the country's first regulatory bill for artificial intelligence on in an attempt to position the nation as the "most AI-friendly country in the world." The government hopes that the bill, which is expected to pass swiftly in the ruling coalition-controlled upper house after making it through the lower house on Thursday, will help attract AI-related investment. U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats and America's push for tech dominance could, however, complicate those efforts.
/jlne.ws/4julv8P
Ant Group to Take Control of Hong Kong Retail Broker for $362 Million
Foster Wong - Bloomberg
Ant Group has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Hong Kong-listed brokerage Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group for HK$2.81 billion ($362 million), in a move to expand its presence in the city. Under the deal, Bright Smart chairman Yip Mow Lum has conditionally agreed to sell his 50.55% stake, or about 858 million shares, to Wealthiness and Prosperity Holding Ltd., which is ultimately controlled by the Jack Ma's Chinese fintech giant, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday.
/jlne.ws/4iv7O88
Indonesia Mulls Rare Rice Exports in Bid to Boost Ties Abroad
Eko Listiyorini - Bloomberg
Indonesia is considering exporting rice, a rare phenomenon for a country that often imports itself, in a bid to bolster goodwill with nations in need of the staple grain. President Prabowo Subianto this week said Indonesia will allow exports of rice to several countries that have approached it for supply. A Japanese delegation also plans to raise the topic in a trip to Jakarta in the coming days, local media has reported, citing Indonesia's agricultural minister.
/jlne.ws/44FUJFF
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | The memoirs of a 'Forrest Gump' of banking shine light on an era; Scott Bok's autobiography raises questions about the vast influence of those that have benefited most from a golden age of finance
Sujeet Indap - Financial Times
In a break during a tense 2009 Citigroup board meeting, one of Wall Street's more influential figures Robert Rubin approached the firm's outside investment banking adviser, Scott Bok. Former US Treasury secretary Rubin, at that time a Citi executive, told Bok he knew his father, mistakenly presuming he was the son of Derek Bok, the esteemed scholar and former president of Harvard University. The origins of the banker's father were far more humble - a Midwestern high school dropout, he supported his family by installing telephone poles. This start, however, did not hinder an eventful four-decade career on Wall Street recounted in Scott Bok's memoirs Surviving Wall Street: A Tale of Triumph, Tragedy and Timing set to be published next week.
/jlne.ws/4jI5VGa
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