| June 20, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
My trip to the U.K. ends tomorrow, when I fly home from LHR to ORD. I will have conducted and shot three video interviews in Scotland by myself, three in London, and then twenty-one with the help of Robbie Lothian from London. We have our last interview to shoot this afternoon.
By far, the best interviews from a technical standpoint are the ones shot with Robbie's help. Those were shot with three cameras, and the lighting was hired in London. Robbie, who is my fourth cousin, twice removed, shares the same name as my youngest son. Both are Robert Lothian and go by Robbie (UK) and Robby (USA) respectively. Thank you to Robbie for the excellent work this week. It is great to have such talented Lothian videographers on both sides of the pond.
I should have named the business John J. Lothian & Family, Inc., rather than just Company, Inc. I also learned that I have another relative living in London, the son of my father's second cousin. This person is my second cousin, once removed. I met his mother back in 1984 when I visited Scotland. She passed away a couple of years ago. He works for the FT on the commercial side and attended Nottingham Trent University, the same university that Robbie (UK) is currently attending.
I am very dismayed about my attempt to get the record straight on the beginning of the Kilt Challenge. I sat a couple of the principal players down in front of the cameras, and their versions were hazier and more mixed up than any I had heard before. Thus, the video that I will produce about the origins of the Kilt Challenge will probably be more "Legend has it" than "Here are the facts." Look for a talking Nessie (AI version) to be part of the video.
The Financial Times' "Summer Books of 2025" roundup highlights the year's standout titles across a wide range of genres, from politics and economics to fiction, history, art, food, and more. FT's expert writers and critics each curate their top picks, offering readers a rich and varied selection for summer reading. Among the contributors are Gideon Rachman (politics), Frederick Studemann (history), Maria Crawford (fiction and poetry), Angel Gurria-Quintana (fiction in translation), Andrew Hill (business), James Lovegrove (science fiction), Pilita Clark, Clive Cookson, and John Thornhill (environment, science, and technology), Jackie Wullschlager and Edwin Heathcote (art, architecture, and design), Simon Kuper and Anjana Ahuja (sport, health, and wellness), Carl Wilkinson (literary non-fiction), Harriet Fitch Little and Tom Robbins (food, drink, and travel), Richard Fairman and Ludovic Hunter-Tilney (classical and pop music), Barry Forshaw and Adam LeBor (crime and thrillers), and Alex Clark (audio books). While the article features a diverse array of books, a couple of notable mentions include new political analyses selected by Gideon Rachman and fresh works of fiction highlighted by Maria Crawford.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: Regulators need to go further on margin standards - clearing experts, ICE to clear Euro rates futures in Europe to mitigate regulatory impact and ANALYSIS: Commodity leaders point to resilience amid recent volatility.
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:
https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/government_relations/European-Derivatives-Supporting-Retail-Investors-June-2025.pdf from Cboe.
Policy Recommendations to Unlock Retail Participation in Europe's Options Markets from Cboe.
What needs to happen for options trading to grow in Europe? from SmartBrief. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Farm Broadcaster Max Armstrong Saw the Heartland-and the Airwaves-Change Before His Eyes JohnLothianNews.com ELMHURST, IL-(JLN)-June 19, 2025-Max Armstrong remembers when farm broadcasters didn't need to worry about lighting, camera angles, or video editing. "Many of them never imagined they would do video," Armstrong told John Lothian News over Zoom. "Now, even the writers for big publications like Farm Futures and Prairie Farmer are out in the field shooting video. It's a bit of a strange effort for them." Watch the Max Armstrong Video » Max Armstrong - Broadcaster Watch the Max Armstrong Video » Max Armstrong - Broadcaster Watch the Max Armstrong Video »
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The death of the business card; In San Francisco we prefer to tap our phones, scan QR codes or get microchip manicures
Cristina Criddle - Bloomberg
By the time I joined the FT in 2021, business cards had mostly fallen out of fashion. Colourful stacks of embossed cards sat on the desks of my colleagues, gathering dust. Here in San Francisco, the custom of exchanging printed contact details has long been replaced by the high-tech alternative of holding iPhones together to automatically swap numbers. At tech events, I am often provided with a lanyard that has a QR code that lets other people find my LinkedIn profile. Or a device that enables conference-goers to tap lanyards in order to connect (also an annoying way to force you to use a conference's app).
/jlne.ws/3SWia6R
****** I only gave out one business card at IDX and received only three during my whole two-week trip.~JJL
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Surging Silver Prices Prompt Americans to Empty Jewelry Boxes and Coin Jars; Strong industrial demand brings the precious metal's highest price levels in more than a decade
Roshan Fernandez - The Wall Street Journal
Gold gets all the glory, but silver prices have surged nearly as much this year, up 27% to the highest levels in more than a decade. As with gold, jittery investors are scooping up the precious metal, but silver prices are getting an extra jolt from strong industrial demand, especially from solar-panel makers. Unlike gold, which is used mostly as a store of wealth and in jewelry, the bulk of silver demand, about 80%, comes from manufacturers. That was supposed to be a problem for silver prices this year. Analysts expected silver demand to be hurt by President Trump's trade war and his unwinding of renewable-energy incentives. That forecast looked prescient in April, when Trump launched his tariff barrage. Silver prices tumbled alongside stocks and other assets such as oil while investors gobbled up gold. But prices have come roaring back this month, spurring a rise in silver sellers who are flocking to coin shops, metals dealers and jewelers to cash in coins, silverware and bars.
/jlne.ws/3HIGZkn
****** Did you know that you can buy fancy-looking plasticware and spray paint the spoons, forks, and knives with silver to resemble the silverware you sold to a metal dealer? It will fool your wife until she picks up a fork.~JJL
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MIT brain scans suggest that using GenAI tools reduces cognitive activity; AI users displayed shorter memory and significantly fewer connections between regions of the brain
Daniel Sims - TechSpot
WHY IT MATTERS: As the use of generative AI becomes increasingly common in education, law, politics, media, and other fields, many worry that reliance on the technology may reduce cognitive independence. A recent study from MIT strongly supports this concern, indicating that the use of digital tools significantly alters brain activity. The newly published paper explains that as participants in an experiment wrote a series of essays, electronic brain monitoring revealed substantially weaker connections between regions of the brain in those who used large language models (LLMs). This correlated with poorer memory and more derivative output.
/jlne.ws/445gT2f
***** It should come as no surprise that if you do not exercise your mind it atrophies. Use it or lose it. ~JB
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top clicked item on Thursday was the JustGiving page for the FIA's Good Karma With Rama Kilt Challenge from 2024, which raised £61,391. Second was a tie between FOW's ICE to clear Euro rates futures in Europe to mitigate regulatory impact and The Atlantic's Baby Boomers' Luck Is Running Out. Third was a tie among FOW's UK to review this year post-Brexit clearing house regulation, Bloomberg's Morgan Stanley to Shutter Electronic Equity Market-Making Unit and FOW's CFTC commissioner calls for regulatory collaboration on AI roll-out.
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| Lead Stories | Trump SEC chair scraps proposed market rules as he charts new path; Paul Atkins bludgeoned more than a dozen outstanding proposals from his predecessor's regulatory programme
Stefania Palma, Harriet Clarfelt and Eric Platt - Financial Times
The new chair of the US securities watchdog is signalling an about-face in the agency's approach to regulation, throwing out more than a dozen rules proposed by his predecessor in his first major policy move. The decision comes as the Trump administration has embraced a laissez-faire stance on securities and investing, reversing the aggressive style of Gary Gensler, the Biden administration's top cop on Wall Street. Paul Atkins, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, withdrew 14 rules last week that had not been finalised by the time Gensler left office, ranging from climate disclosures to cryptocurrency exchanges and artificial intelligence.
/jlne.ws/3HN64dT
Swiss central bank cuts interest rates to zero; Surge in value of Swiss franc amid US-driven trade war and lagging inflation has complicated policymaking
Mercedes Ruehl, Ian Smith and Richard Milne - Financial Times
The Swiss National Bank has cut interest rates by a quarter point to zero but did not go so far as negative rates, as it battles to restrain its currency, which has surged on global trade tensions. It is the first time that the Alpine country, which is one of the few globally to experiment with negative rates, has an interest rate of zero as it tackles lagging inflation and a surging Swiss franc, a haven currency that investors have bought up amid US President Donald Trump's trade war.
/jlne.ws/407oOLm
Regulators' plans for US bank leverage relief may underwhelm US Treasury market
Davide Barbuscia and Pete Schroeder - Reuters
U.S. Treasury market participants hoping for a long-awaited shift in bank leverage rules may be in for a letdown if U.S. regulators choose to ease capital requirements rather than exclude U.S. government bonds from leverage calculations. The Federal Reserve said this week it would weigh proposals to ease leverage requirements for large banks at a June 25 meeting, launching what's likely to be a wider review of banking regulations. The agenda includes potential changes to the "supplementary leverage ratio," a rule that mandates banks hold capital against all assets, irrespective of risk.
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London Didn't Relax Its Governance Rules for Dan Loeb's Benefit; Eased listing standards are helping the activist merge his UK investment trust with an insurance venture. Ordinary shareholders deserve an alternative.
Chris Hughes - Bloomberg
Last year's relaxation of the UK listing regime left investors more reliant on company boards to protect them from dominant shareholders. That safety mechanism is now being tested at the London-listed investment vehicle of hedge fund manager Dan Loeb. Third Point Investors Ltd. (TPIL) invests shareholder capital in the main strategy of Loeb's US-based hedge fund Third Point LLC. The idea is that UK investors get access to Loeb's expertise, with the daily liquidity of a tradable stock. But like other "closed-end funds," TPIL trades at a discount to its net asset value. The gap's recently been around 20%.
/jlne.ws/3HIyy8H
SoftBank Pitches $1 Trillion US AI Hub to TSMC, Trump Team
Min Jeong Lee, Mackenzie Hawkins, and Anto Antony - Bloomberg
SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to team up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to realize what could be his biggest bet yet - a trillion-dollar industrial complex in Arizona to build robots and artificial intelligence. Son envisions a version of the vast manufacturing hub of China's Shenzhen that would bring back high-tech manufacturing to the US, according to people familiar with the billionaire's thinking. The park may comprise production lines for AI-powered industrial robots, they said, asking not to be named as the plan remains private.
/jlne.ws/46ajnyW
Credit Specialist NorthWall Taps Into Hot Demand for Europe
Edward Clark - Bloomberg
Alternative credit investor NorthWall Capital is seeking to make the most of renewed demand for exposure to Europe, more than doubling its assets under management since the start of the year. The London-based firm's investors, known as limited partners, are seeking stable jurisdictions to allocate money as the often unpredictable decision-making style of President Donald Trump is pushing them away from the US, its chief investment officer Fabian Chrobog said in an interview.
/jlne.ws/4l7x9H4
It's Raining Deals, But no Signs of Market Euphoria in India
Ashutosh Joshi - Bloomberg
Good morning, this is Ashutosh Joshi, an equities reporter in Mumbai. Indian stocks look set for another quiet session this Friday morning. It's the end of the week, and traders are ready to wrap things up. Across Asia, markets are trading in a narrow range as investors keep an eye on geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. A dip in oil prices and a slightly softer dollar could offer some support to the broader Indian market that's still on track for a modest weekly gain.
/jlne.ws/4kOxcYq
Why Big Tech cannot agree on artificial general intelligence; It has been tipped as the next big breakthrough out of Silicon Valley, but is it a scientific goal - or a marketing buzzword?
Melissa Heikkila - Financial Times
On the front cover of their initial business plan for DeepMind, the AI lab they set up in 2010, Sir Demis Hassabis, Mustafa Suleyman and Shane Legg wrote a single sentence: Build the world's first artificial general intelligence. Their view, which remains true today, is that traditional AI technologies were too "narrow", able to perform brilliantly, but only after humans had laboriously trained them using vast data sets. That made AI excellent at tasks such as analysing spreadsheets or even playing chess. But artificial "general" intelligence, known as AGI, had the potential to go even further. Fifteen years on, technology CEOs are united in the belief that AGI is the next big breakthrough and are waxing lyrical about its potential.
/jlne.ws/44aMlfO
China's bet on Iranian oil and Middle East influence turns sour; President Xi is likely to double down on energy independence drive as Strait of Hormuz risks rise
Edward White - Financial Times
Israel's attacks on Iran threaten to cut China off from critical oil trading partners, highlighting its need for greater energy independence and disrupting Beijing's hopes for a bigger role in the region. For years, China has used its relationship with Iran to expand its influence in the Middle East, while making cheap Iranian crude, and Gulf supplies more broadly, a bedrock of the energy mix for the world's biggest buyer of oil.
/jlne.ws/45vYZbx
ETFs have transformed European markets - but choose one carefully; There are a number of guidelines investors should use before picking an ETF
David Stevenson - Financial Times
It was 25 years ago that the world of investment and funds in Europe experienced a revolution, with the arrival of the continent's first exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The choice available now is staggering and, as with all transformative changes, there is a mix of hype, extremely useful stuff, and frankly, scary elements. I wrote my first book about ETFs for the FT back in 2009. Even I find the pace of change incredible. The story began on April 11 2000, with the listing on the Deutsche Borse of the LDRS DJ Stoxx 50 and LDRS DJ Euro Stoxx 50, sponsored by Merrill Lynch. Shortly after, on April 28 2000, the iShares FTSE 100 ETF was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
/jlne.ws/4kPp8Xx
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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. | I'm an Economist: 4 Questions To Ask About Tariffs (and 2 Not To Worry About)
Kerra Bolton - Nasdaq
President Trump's tariffs has been dominating headlines for months now, prompting concerns about how they may affect everything from grocery bills to investment accounts. While it's tempting to react to every trade policy shift, not all impacts are immediate or relevant to everyday consumers.
/jlne.ws/3GcnUX4
Canadian tariffs on US steel and aluminum could rise depending on trade talks, Carney says
Rob Giles - AP
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday he will impose new tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports on July 21 depending the progress of trade talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. Carney, who met with Trump at the Group of Seven meetings in Alberta this week, reiterated Thursday that Canada and the U.S. "agreed to pursue negotiations toward a deal within the coming 30 days."
/jlne.ws/4ljVNEC
Japan's trade negotiator says US tariff talks are 'in a fog'
Reuters
Japan's top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Friday that trade negotiations with the U.S. "remained in a fog" despite efforts by both sides to seek an agreement. Tokyo has failed so far to clinch a trade deal with Washington and fulfil its goal of convincing President Donald Trump to scrap a 25% tariff on Japanese cars as well as a 24% reciprocal tariff on other Japanese imports that has been paused until July 9.
/jlne.ws/466Zedd
How Weight-Loss Drugs Blew Out the U.S. Trade Deficit; Shipments have propelled Ireland, a country of 5.4 million, to the second-largest goods-trade imbalance with the U.S., behind China
Chelsey Dulaney and Jared S. Hopkins - The Wall Street Journal
Planes have been jetting from Ireland to the U.S. this year carrying something more valuable than gold: $36 billion worth of hormones for popular obesity and diabetes drugs. The frantic airlift of those ingredients-more than double what was imported from Ireland for all of last year-reflects the collision of two powerful forces: tariff-driven stockpiling and weight-loss drug demand.
/jlne.ws/4k4Pnbl
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
Putin's Ability To Attack Ukraine Damaged By Iran's War With Israel, UK Says
Kevin Schofield - Huffington Post
Vladimir Putin's ability to keep attacking Ukraine will be damaged by Iran's war with Israel, according to UK intelligence. Moscow and Tehran signed a so-called "comprehensive strategic partnership agreement" in January, strengthening military and security ties between the two countries. That has seen Iran provide Russia with weapons which have been used to attack Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/4lbSVcu
Ukraine's Zelenskiy: Russia's defence of Iran shows need to tighten sanctions
Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia's defence of Iran's authorities underscored the need for intensified sanctions against Moscow. Zelenskiy said Russia's deployment of Iranian-designed Shahed drones and North Korean munitions was proof that Kyiv's allies were applying insufficient pressure against Moscow. "Now Russia is trying to save the Iranian nuclear programme. There cannot be any other possible explanation for their public signals and their non-public activity on this," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
/jlne.ws/3I6mhuA
Russian Overnight Drone Barrage Hits Ukraine's Kharkiv and Odesa
Aliaksandr Kudrytski - Bloomberg
The cities of Odesa and Kharkiv were hit by massive Russian drone attacks overnight as Moscow continues its daily air attacks against Ukraine. In total, Russian forces sent a barrage of 86 drones and decoys overnight, 16 of which managed to evade air defenses, Ukraine's Air Force Command said on Telegram on Friday morning. The attack killed one person and injured at least 14 in Odesa, a port city on the Black Sea in Ukraine's south, the Prosecutor General's Office said on Telegram. Drones damaged several apartment buildings, including a 23-storey block from which 600 people had to be evacuated due to a fire.
/jlne.ws/3ZDA4Px
Inditex chief says conditions for Russia return 'certainly not' in place; Latest sign multinationals that withdrew from market after assault on Ukraine are not rushing to re-enter
Barney Jopson and Courtney Weaver - Financial Times
Inditex's chief executive has declared that the conditions for the Zara owner to return to Russia are "certainly not" in place, more than two years after it sold its local business following the invasion of Ukraine. Asked what the right circumstances would be for the group to re-enter the market, Ã"scar GarcÃa Maceiras told the Financial Times: "An environment that is not the current one, of course."
/jlne.ws/4ekGRnm
Middle East Conflict
Russia Warns World Is 'Millimeters' Away From Nuclear Catastrophe
Miranda Jeyaretnam - Time
A U.S. attack on Iran, which President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing for the possibility of, would "radically destabilize the entire situation," warned Russia's deputy foreign minister, as the war between Israel and Iran continues to escalate. Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax news agency on Wednesday that Russia has advised the U.S. against direct involvement in the conflict, which has already killed hundreds in Iran and dozens in Israel since it erupted less than a week ago.
/jlne.ws/45xkOaK
Trump warns Iran: 'I will make my decision whether or not to go within two weeks'
Andrew Feinberg - The Independent
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he'll decide on whether to order U.S. warplanes to strike Iranian nuclear facilities within the next two weeks depending on whether or not Tehran engages in talks over ending their nuclear weapons program. In statement relayed through White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump said: " Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks."
/jlne.ws/4k4Enut
Hypersonic missiles are stirring fears in the Iran-Israel conflict. Here's why
Sam McNeil - Associated Press
Iran is boasting that it has hypersonic missiles and says it already has begun firing the cutting-edge weapons at Israel. There is no evidence that Iran has unleashed the missiles, and experts are skeptical of the claim. But the use of these fast-moving projectiles could test Israel's vaunted missile-defense system and alter the course of the fighting between the two bitter enemies.
/jlne.ws/45rHGbu
Trump may authorize strikes against Iran. Can he just do that?
Zachary B. Wolf - CNN
The question being projected by the White House as President Donald Trump mulls an offensive strike against Iran is: Will he or won't he? It has blown right by something that should come earlier in the process, but hasn't gotten much attention: Can he? Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle - but mostly Democrats at this point - have proposals to limit Trump's ability to simply launch strikes against Iran. "We shouldn't go to war without a vote of Congress," Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead" Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/44qoYjm
Iran 'launched cluster missile' at Israel
Iona Cleave - The Telegraph
Israel accused Iran of dropping a cluster-type bomb on civilians on Thursday in what would mark Tehran's first known use of such a warhead since the 1980s. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said at least one of the missiles that broke through its air defences and exploded in a densely populated area was carrying multiple warheads.
/jlne.ws/3HQzOGL
Trump Signals He'll Hold Off Iran Strike to Give Diplomacy Time
Akayla Gardner, Alisa Odenheimer, and Eltaf Najafizada - Bloomberg
President Donald Trump will decide within two weeks whether to strike Iran, his spokeswoman said, as Israel hit more Iranian nuclear sites and warned its attacks may bring down the leadership in Tehran. "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in a dictated message, according to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
/jlne.ws/463M3tv
The implosion of Iran's 'no war, no peace' strategy; Hubris and miscalculation blew apart Tehran's decades-old deterrence doctrine as Israel's appetite for risk grew
Andrew England and Mehul Srivastava - Financial Times
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | LCH plans Q4 launch for FCM-style clearing; UK clearing house will be first to offer Europe's new agent model as Eurex faces tax hold-up
Luke Clancy - Risk.net
LCH plans to start offering a new industry-developed European client clearing model by the end of the year, beating Frankfurt-based rival Eurex Clearing, which continues to be held up by a tax snag.
/jlne.ws/4kMgJ75
Bursa Malaysia Establishes Industry Working Group To Strengthen Cyber Resilience Across The Stockbroking Sector - Timeline Set For Industry-Wide Recommendation Paper
Mondovisione
Bursa Malaysia Berhad ("Bursa Malaysia" or the "Exchange") today announced the formation of a dedicated industry working group to enhance cyber resilience across the Malaysian stockbroking ecosystem. The establishment of the industry working group is a coordinated action, moving forward from the unauthorised trades incident on 24 April 2025.
/jlne.ws/4ebhTGX
Fireside Friday with ... 24 Exchange's Dmitri Galinov; The TRADE catches up with Dmitri Galinov, founder and chief executive of 24 Exchange, to unpack the realities behind his vision for the around-the- clock equities trading platform - set for launch September 2025 - discussing market reaction, the current state of play, and the key considerations when it comes to implementation.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
How did the plan come together for an around-the-clock equities trading platform?
We started our business with foreign exchange when I created the company in 2019. We specialise on FX in the currencies of emerging market countries, such as Korea, India, Brazil etc. and with that I was traveling the world and spending a lot of time in Asia and the Middle East. What struck me was that across those different time zones, in all those countries, you have Apple stores and McDonald's and Tesla dealerships and these American companies have a definite interest from the local people. They want to invest in American companies and participate, but exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ at the time did not offer the service that meant they could do it in real time and at their convenience.
/jlne.ws/3HQ30h0
HKEX Celebrates 25 Years of Progress and Market Vibrancy
HKEX
From a local exchange to a global capital-raising marketplace, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pleased to celebrate 25 years of connecting capital with opportunity -marking a silver jubilee of innovation, resilience, vibrancy and growth. HKEX hosted a commemorative event today (Friday) at HKEX Connect Hall to mark this special occasion, hosted by HKEX Chairman, Carlson Tong, and HKEX Chief Executive Officer, Bonnie Y Chan, and kicked off with a special recorded address by Hong Kong Chief Executive, John Lee, congratulating HKEX on its important milestone. Distinguished guests of honour including Hong Kong Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, were in attendance, as well as current and former members of HKEX's Board of Directors and senior management.
/jlne.ws/4637j2w
HKEX Welcomes Government's Re-Appointments to HKEX Risk Management Committee (Statutory)
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) welcomes the Hong Kong Government's re-appointments of Miranda Kwok and Sun Yu to its Risk Management Committee (statutory) (RMC). The re-appointments were in accordance with the Securities and Futures Ordinance. They are for a term of two years with effect from 1 July 2025.
/jlne.ws/4eaaF65
Japan Exchange Group: Additional Contribution Associated With Extension Of Trust Period For Stock-Granting Trust In Stock Compensation Plan For Executives
Mondovisione
Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) decided today at the meeting of its Compensation Committee that it will extend the trust period for and make an additional contribution to the stock-granting trust (hereinafter, the "Trust") in the stock compensation plan for executives (meaning executive officers and those equivalent thereto, excluding persons such as outside directors, directors who are members of the Audit Committee, and audit & supervisory board members; hereinafter the same) of JPX and its subsidiaries that provide the core businesses of JPX Group (hereinafter, the "core subsidiaries"; JPX and the core subsidiaries are hereinafter collectively referred to as the "implementing companies"; and this plan shall hereinafter be referred to as the "Plan"). The Plan itself has been in place since fiscal year 2018.
https://jlne.ws/4lixvuA
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | The investment case for European software companies is strengthening; The region is very different from Silicon Valley but there is a growing ecosystem of durable companies
Irina Hemmers - Financial Times
Many global software investors are still treating Europe as an afterthought to their core strategies. I believe this represents a significant misallocation of investment attention. The numbers reveal a growing ecosystem that has been hiding in plain sight: in 2024 alone, software spending in Europe grew 11 per cent, according to Gartner research. The firm expects this to slow to just under 9 per cent this year but the increase still far outstrips the EU's economic growth.
/jlne.ws/4n63hg9
Social Media Ban Moves Closer in Australia After Tech Trial
Angus Whitley - Bloomberg
Australia's world-first social media ban for under-16s moved closer to implementation after a key trial found that checking a user's age is technologically possible and can be integrated into existing services. The conclusions are a blow to Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc., TikTok and Snap Inc., which opposed the controversial legislation. Some platform operators had questioned whether a user's age could be reliably established using current technology.
/jlne.ws/4kZcncX
Telegram boss to leave fortune to over 100 children he has fathered
Peter Hoskins - BBC News
The founder of instant messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, says the more than 100 children he has fathered will share his estimated $13.9bn (£10.3bn) fortune. "They are all my children and will all have the same rights! I don't want them to tear each other apart after my death," Mr Durov told French political magazine Le Point. Mr Durov claimed he is the "official father" of six children with three different partners, but the clinic "where I started donating sperm fifteen years ago to help a friend, told me that more than 100 babies had been conceived this way in 12 countries."
/jlne.ws/4lgK61j
Artificial Intelligence
SoftBank's Son pitches $1 trillion US AI hub to TSMC and Trump team, Bloomberg News reports
Reuters
SoftBank Group Corp founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to team up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co for a trillion-dollar industrial complex in Arizona to build robots and artificial intelligence, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. SoftBank officials have spoken with U.S. federal and state government officials to discuss possible tax breaks for companies building factories or otherwise investing in the industrial park, including talks with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Bloomberg said.
/jlne.ws/4kTOqDS
BBC threatens legal action against AI start-up Perplexity over content scraping; British broadcaster makes first move to clamp down on alleged infringement of copyright by tech groups
Daniel Thomas and Cristina Criddle - Financial Times
The BBC is threatening legal action against artificial intelligence search engine Perplexity, in its first effort to clamp down on tech groups scraping its vast troves of content to develop the cutting-edge technology. In a letter to Perplexity chief Aravind Srinivas seen by the Financial Times, the British national broadcaster says it has evidence that the US start-up's "default AI model" was "trained using BBC content".
/jlne.ws/4k0Cfnx
NTT Secures Backing for $16.3 Billion Deal to Take Over AI Arm
Kanoko Matsuyama - Bloomberg
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. said it has secured enough bids to buy NTT Data Group Corp., with the deal worth ¥2.37 trillion ($16.3 billion) expected to boost its AI ambitions and simplify the corporate structure. The Japanese company will start the settlement on June 26, it said in a statement Friday. NTT, which owns about 58% of NTT Data, had last month offered ¥4,000 for every share it doesn't already own in the company with plans to take it private.
/jlne.ws/3TuGj4y
Microprocessors
UK chipmaker considers breakup as it is rocked by Trump's tariff assault; Imagination Technologies races to complete $1bn sale as it struggles with trade war chaos
Matthew Field, James Titcomb - The Telegraph
One of Britain's leading microchip businesses is racing to complete a $1bn (£740m) sale as it grapples with the impact of Donald Trump's trade war. Imagination Technologies, which designs graphics processor technology for customers such as Apple, has held sale talks with two US rivals. Bosses of the Chinese-owned company are also considering a potential break-up to get a deal over the line, which could include selling its valuable patent portfolio.
/jlne.ws/3T0bzs0
Blockchain
Every Fintech Firm Will Run Its Own Blockchain 'in Next Five Years:' Optimism
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
It's only a matter of time until every cryptocurrency exchange and fintech firm is running its own blockchain, according to OP Labs, builder of Ethereum overlay protocol Optimism. The logic is straightforward and simple, says OP Labs head of product, Sam McIngvale, pointing to the runaway success of Coinbase's layer-2 (L2) network Base since its debut in 2023.
/jlne.ws/3FM2gsR
Syntax Data and Prometheum ATS Partner to Deliver Indexing Services into Blockchain Securities Infrastructure
Prometheum
NEW YORK, NY (June 10, 2025) - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Syntax Data, a financial data and technology provider offering data-optimized index solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Prometheum ATS, a FINRA member and SEC-registered broker-dealer and trading platform for blockchain-based securities. Prometheum ATS is a subsidiary of Prometheum Inc. ("Prometheum"), a market infrastructure provider for blockchain-based securities.
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Payments
Analysis-Under shadow of Trump warning, Africa pioneers non-dollar payments systems
Duncan Miriri - Reuters
Africa's push for local currency payments systems - once little more than an aspiration - is finally making concrete gains, bringing the promise of less costly trade to a continent long hobbled by resource-sapping dollar transactions. But efforts to move away from the dollar face strong opposition and the threat of retaliation from U.S. President Donald Trump, who is determined to preserve it as the dominant currency for global trade.
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Iran Hijacking Home Security Cameras to Spy Within Israel
Marissa Newman - Bloomberg
Iran is tapping into private security cameras in Israel to gather real-time intelligence about its adversary, exposing a recurrent problem with the devices that has emerged in other global conflicts.Earlier this week, after Iranian ballistic missiles tore through high-rise buildings in Tel Aviv, a former Israeli cybersecurity official went on public radio to issue a stark warning: Turn off your home surveillance cameras or change the password.
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Hackers are still trying to break into my accounts 12 years later -how I managed to stop them
James Frew - Tom's Guide
I have a confession to make: I used to reuse passwords. It's the number one security sin, but it was the early 2010s, I'd just left college and I couldn't use one of the best password managers as I didn't know about them yet and they were just starting to become popular. In truth, I didn't pay much attention to securing my digital life. This was a huge mistake. In 2013, Adobe was hacked and the attackers got a list of 153 million usernames and passwords. These passwords weren't encrypted which allowed people to read them - they were stored in plaintext - so once the list was out, attackers had all they needed to target unfortunate Adobe users like me.
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This new ransomware could be deadly for your most precious files - here's how to stay protected
Sead Fadilpadic - techradar
Anubis, a relatively new Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) operation, added a new feature to its encryptor that irreversibly destroys all encrypted files on the compromised system. Cybersecurity researchers Trend Micro has published a new in-depth report about the operation, revealing the group is currently working on adding new features to the encryptor, among which is the file-wiping ability.
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What to do if your mobile phone account is hacked or number stolen
Samuel Gibbs - The Guardian
Your mobile phone line is the artery through which data, calls and texts flow. It is also used to prove you are who you say you are for a plethora of accounts, from banks to messaging services. But if it gets hacked or stolen, in what is known as a "sim swap" or "simjacking", the consequences can be far worse than just being cut off from mobile data or calls. Unfortunately it is the kind of hack you don't see coming. It happens in the background, with hackers using your personal data such as date of birth and address to con your network provider into swapping your phone number to a new sim in their possession.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Crypto Going Mainstream in the Nordics; 28% of Population Expected to Own Coins by 2035
Jastra Kranjec - Crypto Presales Logo
Crypto adoption is rapidly gaining momentum in the Nordics, turning the region into a key hub in Europe's crypto future. In 2024, nearly 2.2 million Nordic people owned crypto, up 635,000 from a year before, representing 10% of the adult population. However, this figure is expected to almost triple in the next ten years. According to data presented by CryptoPresales.com, crypto is going mainstream in the Nordics, with 28% of the population expected to own coins by 2035.
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KuCoin Allows Institutional Clients to Trade Without Having to Pre-Fund Wallets
Jamie Crawley - CoinDesk
Crypto exchange KuCoin is now allowing institutional clients to trade without having to pre-fund wallets, recreating a trading experience that they would recognize from the traditional finance (TradFi) world. The Seychelles-based exchange teamed up with BitGo Singapore and will use the crypto custodian's Go Network for off-exchange settlement (OES), KuCoin said. "KuCoin's full suite of products - spot, margin, options, and perpetual futures - can now be accessed through Go Network, ensuring assets remain protected," the exchange said in Thursday's announcement. As crypto companies seek to cash in on increasing crypto institutional adoption, they're faced with having to introduce tools that a familiar in TradFi. In this case, institutional clients' assets remain in BitGo Singapore's storage, following the model of separating custody and execution to mitigate counterparty and systemic risk.
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Coinbase Derivatives, Nodal Clear Plan to Use USDC as Collateral for Futures Trades
Francisco Rodrigues - CoinDesk
Coinbase Derivatives and Nodal Clear are working to integrate the USDC stablecoin as collateral in regulated U.S. futures markets, aiming to launch the new framework in 2026. If approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the plan is expected to mark the first time a stablecoin is formally accepted as collateral for margined futures in the U.S. Coinbase Custody Trust would hold the USDC. Nodal Clear, a CFTC-regulated and part of the Deutsche Börse-owned EEX Group, would handle clearing.
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US seizes record $225 million from crypto investment scammers
Sean Lyngaas - CNN
US law enforcement has seized over $225 million in cryptocurrency allegedly stolen from dozens of American victims as part of a sophisticated investment scam, the Justice Department said Wednesday. It's the largest-ever seizure of funds stolen in so-called "crypto confidence" scams, which dupe people into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes, the department said. The scam affected more than 400 people worldwide, including dozens of Americans, and caused millions of dollars in losses, according to a complaint unsealed Wednesday. The scammers conducted "hundreds of thousands" of transactions in an effort to launder the stolen cryptocurrency, according to the Justice Department.
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Bitcoin
Crypto Exchange Kraken Adds Bitcoin Staking Via Babylon as BTC Driven DeFi Picks Up
Will Canny - CoinDesk
Crypto exchange Kraken has launched bitcoin BTC staking through a new integration with Babylon, as decentralized finance on BTC picks up. Babylon is a Bitcoin-native protocol that enables BTC to secure proof-of-stake (PoS) networks without leaving the blockchain. The service allows Kraken users to stake their bitcoin directly, locking it in a custodial vault on the native chain. The staked bitcoin is then delegated to PoS networks via Babylon, and rewards are paid in BABY, the token of Babylon Genesis, a bitcoin-secured Layer 1, Kraken said.
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Who are the companies hoarding bitcoin? Corporate treasuries now hold more than 3% of the world's biggest cryptocurrency, a stash worth $87bn
Philip Stafford - Financial Times
Companies around the world are on a bitcoin buying spree, as executives - often in industries that have nothing to do with cryptocurrency - mimic a stockpiling strategy that has produced explosive share price growth. Over the past year, the number of bitcoin held by companies has jumped nearly 170 per cent. A total of about 130 listed firms hold a combined $87bn of bitcoin, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net, equivalent to about 3.2 per cent of all the bitcoins that will ever exist.
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | U.S. Administration
Thawing of relations between Pakistan and US raises eyebrows in India
Penelope MacRae - The Guardian
After years in the diplomatic deep freeze, US-Pakistan ties appear to be quickly thawing, with Donald Trump's effusive welcome for Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, signalling a possible major reset. Once snubbed so badly that former prime minister Imran Khan had to board an ordinary airport shuttle after arriving in the US rather than being whisked off in a limousine, Pakistan is now enjoying top-level access in Washington, including a White House lunch for Munir on Wednesday and meetings with top national security officials. Trump's perceived friendliness with Munir, coupled with what India considers to be a glossing over of Pakistan's record on terrorism, has raised Indian eyebrows, especially amid sensitive trade negotiations with the US.
/jlne.ws/4nbUsRS
Washington cherry growers struggle to find pickers
Thomas Clouse - The Spokesman Review
The threat of federal immigration agents raiding orchards in central Washington is causing a labor shortage that has compelled some Washington producers to leave cherries unpicked or delay their harvests until the fruit overripens and is worth less money. At least one cherry grower in the Mattawa area has already lost about 300 bins, each weighing between 350 and 400 pounds, said Erik Zavala, a horticulturist and director of field staff for Wenatchee-based Blue Bird Inc., which is a grower-owned cooperative of hundreds of family farms. "People watch the news," Zavala said, referring to masked federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining persons off the street. "It's definitely having an impact.
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U.S. Congress
Republican Who Flip-Flopped on Energy Credits Risks Voters' Ire
Ari Natter - Bloomberg
In the weeks before the House of Representative's vote to gut clean energy tax credits in President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill, Virginia Congresswoman Jen Kiggans cast herself as the leading Republican champion of renewables. Yet in the end, she cast the deciding vote in favor of the bill despite its blow to wind and solar. Now the swift elimination of those subsidies, a rollback that also remains in the Senate version of the legislation, put Kiggans at odds with many in her district - already among the most competitive in the nation - as Democrats seize any opening to take Republicans' House narrow majority next year.
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United Kingdom
Most Britons want to be back in the EU
Kate Devlin - The Independent
Nearly nine years on from the narrow Brexit referendum result, which led to the UK leaving the European Union, most Britons want to see the UK return to the EU. A YouGov poll highlights the extent to which the UK public is "Bregretful" about the outcome of the vote, which ended David Cameron's term as prime minister. It found that 56 per cent want the UK to return to being part of the EU, while 61 per cent believe Brexit has been a failure. Of these, the overwhelming majority, more than eight out of ten, blame Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party, while more than two-thirds blame Nigel Farage.
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Britain's biggest bank to cut UK investments in snub to Reeves
Louis Goss - The Telegraph
Lloyds Bank (LLOY.L) is to pull billions of pounds from Britain's stock market in a major blow to Rachel Reeves's efforts to boost the UK economy. Scottish Widows, the bank's pensions division, plans to cut its exposure to the UK and move more money into better-performing markets such as the US. It is a blow to the Chancellor, who has been encouraging pension funds to invest more in British stocks to boost both the market and the economy.
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European Union
Europe's Arms Revival Pits Homegrown Wares Against US Stalwarts
Julie Johnsson, Aaron Kirchfeld, and Kate Duffy - Bloomberg
Europe's arms manufacturers are duking it out with American rivals to win their slice of the region's fast-growing military pie, as governments embark on an unprecedented expansion of defense spending. The jockeying between European and US firms was in the spotlight at the Paris Air Show this week, where talk of fighter jets, drones and missiles led the conversation, instead of the commercial aircraft orders that typically dominate the expo.
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A Cutting French Senator Becomes Trump's European Nemesis; In biting verbal assaults viewed by millions, Claude Malhuret has issued a scathing critique of the American president, bringing a lifetime of experience to bear.
Roger Cohen - The New York Times
At a recent ceremony in Vichy, France, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, a small, dapper man stepped forward from the crowd to place a wreath at the foot of a monument to the dead. He listened to students speak of endangered peace, the defense of French values and the fascist scourge that led to Hitler's gas chambers. The seemingly unremarkable face in the crowd was Senator Claude Malhuret, who has become President Trump's European nemesis. His barbed speeches, viewed tens of millions of times, have cast the president as an "incendiary emperor" and suggested that "never before has anyone so trampled on the Constitution."
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India
India is a perpetrator of foreign interference, Canadian intelligence agency says
Reuters
India is a perpetrator of foreign interference, Canada's intelligence agency said in a report published on Wednesday, just after India's and Canada's prime ministers vowed to strengthen ties at a global summit hosted by Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held what both sides called productive talks on Tuesday at the G7 summit in Alberta and agreed to reinstate top diplomats they had withdrawn last year.
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | SEC takes hatchet to payment for order flow, best execution proposals and 12 more rules
Etienne Mercuriali - GlobalTrading
The Trump-era Securities & Exchange Commission is scrapping fourteen rules proposed by the former administration's SEC led by chairman Gary Gensler. Of the fourteen rules not to be implemented, nine were related to trading, order flows and trading venues. Abandoned proposals include forcing disclosure of large equity swap positions, regulation of volume-based exchange transaction pricing, further best execution regulation, the order competition rule, further regulation of exchange self-regulation processes, and the amendments to improve the consolidated audit trail.
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Bessent's Top Bank Reform Is Good for Markets; The rule change would support trading in Treasuries without handing banks a capital giveaway.
Paul J. Davies - Bloomberg
US banks seem likely to get the changes they want to an obscure but important rule known as the supplementary leverage ratio. The leading reform proposal should cut the capital that banks need for this measure and help make the Treasury market more resilient, but not lead to a giveaway of shareholder capital that could undermine their safety. For the financial system, that's a win-and-not-lose outcome. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been pushing for this to be the first major financial reform since he took on the job. The Federal Reserve said on Tuesday that it will discuss the changes next week and hold an open meeting. Two main changes have been under discussion. The first is to take Treasuries out of tallies for the size of bank balance sheets, which would mean banks could lend to the government almost without using any equity. The second is to reduce the amount of capital banks need for their whole balance sheet, which would allow them to run a larger balance sheet for a wider variety of assets. The latter option is now the leading plan, Bloomberg News reported this week.
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Insider Trading Siblings Used Lockdown to Make £1 Million
Upmanyu Trivedi and Lucca De Paoli - Bloomberg
Before the market opened on Feb. 4, 2020, traders were watching Swiss testing company SGS SA, waiting for its shares to drop. Overnight it had been announced that the Von Finck family were going to sell 2.3 billion francs ($2.8 billion) of their holding. That's a huge chunk of stock for buyers to absorb, and the price fell the most in nearly five years. "Stay ready," Janus Henderson Group Plc analyst Redinel Korfuzi wrote in a message to his sister Oerta in their native Albanian, 55 seconds after the bell that day.
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Malaysia Court Discharges Najib From One of His 1MDB Cases
Kok Leong Chan and Anisah Shukry - Bloomberg
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak succeeded in setting aside another one of his court cases involving troubled state fund 1MDB, in a rare victory for the jailed politician. The Kuala Lumpur High Court granted Najib a discharge, a reprieve that doesn't amount to an acquittal, on three counts of money laundering breaches related to SRC International Sdn Bhd., a former unit of 1Malaysia Development Bhd. A discharge is a ruling that leaves room for the prosecution to lay the same charges in the future.
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ESMA launches CTP selection for shares and ETFs; Interested parties have until 25 July to submit requests to participate in the selection procedure.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has today launched the first selection procedure for the shares and ETF consolidated tape provider (CTP). Interested parties have until 25 July to submit requests to participate in the selection procedure. Following this, the watchdog will assess these against the exclusion and selection criteria before inviting successful candidates to submit their applications.
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FCA secures convictions for insider dealing and money laundering worth £1 million
FCA
The FCA has secured convictions against two individuals, Redinel Korfuzi and Oerta Korfuzi, for insider dealing and money laundering offences which netted them over £1 million. Redinel Korfuzi worked as a research analyst at an asset management firm. He regularly obtained confidential, price-sensitive information for publicly traded companies as part of his role.
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The eighth meeting of the Working Group on Disclosure and Assurance of Sustainability-related Financial Information (of the Financial System Council)
FSA
The Working Group on Disclosure and Assurance of Sustainability-related Financial Information (of the Financial System Council) will hold its eighth meeting on June 27, 2025, as follows.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Australian Funds Cut US Treasury Holdings on Trump Policy Risks
Richard Henderson and Amy Bainbridge - Bloomberg
A number of Australia's biggest investors say they are cutting their holdings of US Treasuries, citing concern over President Donald Trump's tariff and tax plans. State-owned Funds SA, which oversees the equivalent of $30 billion, has switched to an underweight position in US sovereign debt, while government-run Queensland Investment Corp., with assets of $86 billion, said some of the clients whose money it manages are reducing their Treasury exposure. Fiscal uncertainty in the US and the fact that Treasury yields aren't high enough to reflect the risk of holding them is making the securities less attractive, said Con Michalakis, chief investment officer at Funds SA in Adelaide. The money manager is underweight Treasuries by "a couple of percentage points" versus its target allocation, he said.
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SNB Policy Setup Means Big FX Interventions Unlikely, UBS Says
Bastian Benrath-Wright - Bloomberg
Large-scale interventions in the franc by the Swiss National Bank are unlikely even though the currency's strength pushed interest rates to zero, according to economists at UBS. "The way how the policy rate is implemented is not adapted for persistent foreign currency purchases," Maxime Botteron, Florian Germanier and Alessandro Bee said in note after the SNB's rate decision on Thursday. "Systematic foreign currency purchases are unlikely at this stage."
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A $6.5 Trillion 'Triple Witching' Heralds Return to Volatility
Bernard Goyder - Bloomberg
Investors are bracing for $6.5 trillion of notional US options expiring on Friday, in a move that could free stocks to swing more wildly than the subdued changes seen in recent weeks. Every quarter, a cluster of different exchange-traded derivatives contracts all terminate on the same day, leading to what is sometimes dubbed a "triple witching" event by market watchers. The event isn't expected to add additional volatility on Friday itself, but could open a path to more sudden stock market moves next week.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Scientists warn that greenhouse gas accumulation is accelerating and more extreme weather will come
Seth Borenstein - Associated Press
Humans are on track to release so much greenhouse gas in less than three years that a key threshold for limiting global warming will be nearly unavoidable, according to a study to be released Thursday. The report predicts that society will have emitted enough carbon dioxide by early 2028 that crossing an important long-term temperature boundary will be more likely than not. The scientists calculate that by that point there will be enough of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere to create a 50-50 chance or greater that the world will be locked in to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of long-term warming since preindustrial times. That level of gas accumulation, which comes from the burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal, is sooner than the same group of 60 international scientists calculated in a study last year.
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The Future of Weather Forecasting Is Hyperlocal; Researchers and companies are tapping into new sources of data to predict conditions in an area as small as a backyard or a city block.
Thomas E. Weber - The Wall Street Journal
On a sunny spring afternoon in Virginia Beach, Va., I'm waiting on a package delivery from a big-box retailer. But today, I'm not looking for a truck or the neighborhood postal carrier; I'm watching the sky. I see a small dark dot in the distance, and as it nears the object reveals itself clearly as a quadcopter-style drone. While it hovers nearby, a small box detaches from underneath and is lowered on a thin tether until it touches the ground, with surprising gentleness. The box sports an orange-and-white logo for DroneUp, the startup that's sending these packages flying through the air.
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Three years left to limit warming to 1.5C, leading scientists warn
Mark Poynting - BBC News
The Earth could be doomed to breach the symbolic 1.5C warming limit in as little as three years at current levels of carbon dioxide emissions. That's the stark warning from more than 60 of the world's leading climate scientists in the most up-to-date assessment of the state of global warming. Nearly 200 countries agreed to try to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C above levels of the late 1800s in a landmark agreement in 2015, with the aim of avoiding some of the worst impacts of climate change. But countries have continued to burn record amounts of coal, oil and gas and chop down carbon-rich forests - leaving that international goal in peril.
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How Black Lung Came Roaring Back to Coal Country; Once nearly eradicated, the "old man's disease" is back and suffocating younger miners. Federal cuts risk putting a solution further out of reach.
Kate Morgan - The New York Times
Denver Brock and his son Aundra used to spend early mornings hunting rabbits in the wooded highlands of Harlan County, Ky. But they don't get out there much these days. They both get too breathless trying to follow the baying hounds. Instead, they tend a large garden alongside Denver Brock's home. Even that can prove difficult, requiring them to work slowly and take frequent breaks. "You get so dizzy," Denver Brock said, "you can't hardly stand up."
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EDF May Curb French Nuclear Output From June 25 Due to Heat Wave
Francois De Beaupuy - Bloomberg
Electricite de France SA said a heat wave that's spreading across the country may force it to curb nuclear output from June 25 due to the rising temperature of the Rhone river that's used for cooling some of its reactors. Due to the high temperature of the Rhone, production restrictions are likely to affect EDF's nuclear output from June 25, particularly the Bugey power station, the state-owned utility said in a regulatory filing Thursday. The forecast will be reviewed on June 24.
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Spanish Regulator Revises Rules for Power Grid Voltage Control
Thomas Gualtieri - Bloomberg
Spain's markets regulator approved a revision of rules aimed at keeping voltage on the country's power grid stable, many of which were 25 years old. The new rules adjust how voltage is controlled on the grid and will treat all types of generation sources in the same way, the regulator, known as CNMC, said in a statement Thursday.
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Electricity Is the New Eggs in a Power-Hungry US; Utility bills jumped 4.5% in the past year, almost double the gains for the broader consumer price index.
Josh Saul - Bloomberg
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China's Rare Earth Magnet Exports Slump in May, Especially to US
Bloomberg News
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China's Record Oil Stockpile Offers Buffer as Iran Crisis Builds
Bloomberg News
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No, Renewables Didn't Cause Spain's Grid Blackout; Shifting to clean generation might occasionally trip, but the effects are short-lived, and easily fixed.
David Fickling - Bloomberg
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IEA Sees Bargains in $100 Billion LNG Clean-Up Proposal
Aaron Clark - Bloomberg
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Scientists Stumble Upon Way to Reduce Cow Dung Methane Emissions; New Zealand farms are piloting a low-cost solution to reduce climate pollution from cattle.
Aaron Clark - Bloomberg
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Societe Generale Asks Staff to Return to Office Four Days a Week
Alexandre Rajbhandari and Claudia Cohen - Bloomberg
Societe Generale SA asked its employees who are on hybrid work schedules to return to the office four days a week, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. "I would like to inform you of the executive committee's decision to harmonize rapidly our working from home policy within the group, on the basis of a maximum of one day per week," Societe Generale Chief Executive Officer Slawomir Krupa wrote in the memo sent Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3HPOcyW
Bucking Japan megabank trend, Norinchukin's market RWAs spike 41%; Latest surge underscores challenge of adapting to FRTB
Lorenzo Migliorato - Risk.net
The Norinchukin Bank's market risk-weighted assets (RWAs) expanded 41.2% in the first quarter, even as similar charges fell at Japan's megabanks - in some cases by more than a quarter. Market RWAs surged from ¥2.47 trillion ($17 billion) to ¥3.49 trillion, the highest level since end-June 2023. Their share of Norinchukin's total RWAs rose from 9.4% to 13.4% - also the highest since that date.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | A Decade On, Has Japan's Corporate Revolution Worked Too Well? M&A activity is frenetic in Tokyo thanks to reforms initiated in 2015. But be wary of going too far.
Gearoid Reidy - Bloomberg
Japan wanted change in its corporate sector. It got it - for better or worse. A decade on from the introduction of the country's first Corporate Governance Code, there's so much M&A activity in Tokyo these days that it's tough to even keep track. From private equity to activist investors to consolidation among companies fearful they'll be targeted next, no acquisition seems beyond the pale. Consider just a handful of examples in recent weeks: A foreign company is making an exceptional unsolicited bid for Shibaura Electronics Co. Having seen off the advances of billionaire Shigenobu Nagamori's Nidec Corp., Makino Milling Machine Co. is selling itself to PE firm MBK Partners. Activists have scooped up stakes in everything from insurer T&D Holdings Inc. to tablet maker Wacom Co. and Final Fantasy creator Square Enix Holdings Co. The communications giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. is buying out its artificial intelligence unit NTT Data Group Corp. in a ¥2.37 trillion ($16.3 billion) deal, while its mobile unit Docomo is acquiring online bank SBI Sumishin Net Bank Ltd. - which only went public in March.1
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Heat wave's high humidity raises health risks in Chicago and across the country
Adriana Perez and Lily Carey - Chicago Tribune
Hot, steamy air blowing into Illinois from a heat dome moving east across the country has kicked off at least a week of dangerous heat, with humidity peaking Saturday through Monday. These kinds of sticky temperatures with little to no overnight relief can pose a major to extreme risk to the health of anyone without access to effective cooling or adequate hydration. The National Weather Service has forecast daytime temperatures in the Chicago area will reach highs in the low to mid-90s beginning Saturday and early into the week, while humidity will make several days in a row feel like at least 100 degrees. Nighttime temps will be in the low to upper 70s, but it might feel as hot as 90 degrees.
/jlne.ws/40aQE9u
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Xi's Giant Iron Ore Trader Is Shaking Up a $130 Billion Market
Katharine Gemmell and Alfred Cang - Bloomberg
Just three years after its founding, a Chinese government-run trader has become the single biggest force in the country's $130 billion market for iron ore imports. The rise of China Mineral Resources Group Co. has allowed it to tame one of the world's wildest commodities markets - sending volatility in iron ore futures to a record low. It's also playing a role in negotiations with global mining companies, potentially shifting the balance of power between China's vast steel industry and major suppliers like Rio Tinto Group and BHP Group.
/jlne.ws/44dwfBX
Sondakh's Rajawali Is Said to Put Sale of Indonesian Gold Miner Archi on Hold
Elffie Chew and Manuel Baigorri - Bloomberg
PT Rajawali Corp., an Indonesian conglomerate owned by tycoon Peter Sondakh, has halted a potential sale of its controlling interest in gold miner PT Archi Indonesia, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The decision to pause the process was made because Archi's financial position has improved following an increase in the price of gold, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.
/jlne.ws/4neOaB6
Record prices fuel surge in Sudan conflict gold smuggling; Much of the precious metal is transported through the UAE and used to finance warring parties
William Wallis and Leslie Hook - Financial Times
Record-high gold prices are fuelling a surge in mining in Sudan, unlocking a crucial source of revenue for the country's warring parties and allowing them to finance the conflict. The country's gold mining industry last year reached its highest output in six years, with swelling numbers of artisanal miners and readily available imported mining chemicals all contributing to the increase, according to two new reports.
/jlne.ws/3HNmMKa
Ex-Citi Wealth Management Executive to Buy Small Argentine Bank
Ignacio Olivera Doll - Bloomberg
Eduardo Savastano, a former veteran in Citigroup Inc.'s wealth management division, is preparing to acquire almost all of Banco Masventas, a small regional bank in northern Argentina, according to a person with direct knowledge. The transaction has already been submitted to Argentina's central bank, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing an ongoing transaction. The deal is expected to involve around 90% of the company, although the amount paid for the acquisition remains undisclosed, he said. Savastano and a spokesperson for Masventas didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, while the central bank's press office declined to comment.
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