| May 15, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
|
| | | | First Read | | |
| | 2023 Newsletter Subscriptions: | |
Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The Financial Times today published a Special Report Risk Management: Financial Institutions. The description of the report is: "Bank collapses prompt liquidity rethink; hackers get more 'hands on'; generative AI redefines tactics; interest rate rises bring greater risks; industry awaits fresh 'green guides'; strategic risk failure unites Credit Suisse and SVB; geopolitical guidance sought."
The stories include:
- How should regulators react to the new banking risks? The recent run of bank collapses has prompted global policymakers to review standards
- Cyber risk: Can banks win the arms race? Constantly under threat from cyber criminals, the sector needs to be alert and react to new challenges
- Is artificial intelligence the right technology for risk management? Despite regulatory issues and doubts over reliability, many believe AI will become more common in financial institutions
- SVB failure highlights the need to manage interest rate risk carefully After rapid deposit outflows at several US lenders, banks need to review their business models
- Strategic risk failure is what unites Credit Suisse and SVB Toxic culture and strategic risk mismanagement are significant contributing factors to bank failures
- Appetite for geopolitical risk management is growing Consultancies are offering access to former top military and government officials to provide guidance on volatile events
- Industry awaits update to FTC's 'green guides' Consultation on how to market sustainability comes amid a global push against greenwashing
The Washington Post has a story titled "7 doomsday scenarios if the U.S. crashes through the debt ceiling" that I think somehow lacks imagination.
HKEX today launched Swap Connect, allowing investors to access Mainland China's interbank interest rate swap markets.
ICE published a discussion by Michelle Wong and Dr. Xiao Xiao titled "The LIBOR endgame - term rates in the spotlight."
Purdue University had its "largest commencement in history with 9,776 bachelor's, master's, professional & doctoral degrees walking individually across stages over 9 ceremonies."
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
++++
Little-Noticed Part of GOP Bill Could 'Make It Impossible to Regulate'
Margot Sanger-Katz - The New York Times
Government agencies have proposed dozens of major regulations so far this year. One specifies the kinds of operating cords that can be used on custom window coverings, and another would effectively require carmakers to transition two-thirds of all new passenger cars to electric technology. Under a little-noticed provision in a House bill that passed this month, all of those regulations would need to come before Congress for a vote before they could go into effect.
/jlne.ws/3LWL7eI
****** Every regulation would need to be approved by Congress. Nothing would be approved. Welcome to chaos.~JJL
++++
How El Nino Could Scramble Commodity Markets; Climate pattern's forecast is pushing up sugar prices and could threaten some U.S. farmers
David Uberti and Kirk Maltais - The Wall Street Journal
El Nino hasn't even landed yet. That hasn't stopped it from moving commodity markets around the world. The hard-to-predict climate pattern, when powerful, can usher in intense drought or rainfall, upend output from the world's breadbasket regions, and whipsaw the prices of commodities. Brazilian sugar producers, American grain farmers and international traders are bracing for the phenomenon. But the cyclical shift in ocean temperatures can just as easily be a dud.
/jlne.ws/3MrXpgB
****** Little boys can cause so much damage.~JJL
++++
Bean Shortage Drives Up Cost of Even the Cheapest Cup of Coffee; Cheaper robusta in high demand amid cost-of-living crisis; Variety is used in instant coffee, espressos and ground blends
Mumbi Gitau, Dayanne Martins Sousa and Mai Ngoc Chau - Bloomberg
The global cost-of-living crunch has pushed coffee drinkers to get their fix from cheaper brews. But a shortage of robusta beans is making it increasingly difficult to find a budget-friendly cup. While many coffee lovers prefer the high-quality arabica beans sold in cafes, robusta is normally less expensive because the tree is hardier and requires less care, making it easier to produce in large quantities.
/jlne.ws/3o1R2Y5
****** This is one Venti problem.~JJL
++++
Friday's Top Three
Our top story Friday was Fake Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Ran Ponzi Scam, US Says, from Bloomberg. Second was John Lothian's video compilation Gary Gensler ISDA AGM Speech Facial Expressions, which was also in the top three on Thursday. Third was CME Group's LinkedIn post showing Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy at CME's Belfast office.
++++
MarketsWiki Stats
27,317 pages; 244,778 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
++++
|
| | | | |
| Lead Stories | US crypto tsar promises crackdown on digital platforms; Justice department steps up scrutiny of industry wracked by scandal and volatility
Stefania Palma - Financial Times
The top US cryptocurrency enforcement tsar is promising a crackdown on illicit behaviour on digital platforms, saying the scale of crypto crime has grown "significantly" in the past four years. The Department of Justice is targeting crypto exchanges along with the "mixers and tumblers" that obscure the trail of transactions, said Eun Young Choi, who was appointed director of the agency's national cryptocurrency enforcement team last year. The DoJ is targeting companies that commit crimes themselves or allow them to happen, such as enabling money laundering, she said.
/jlne.ws/3O8XdnM
RIP, Lumber-Futures Contract That Jumped During Covid-19; New, smaller contracts aim to boost trading and reduce price volatility
Ryan Dezember - The Wall Street Journal
The lumber-futures contract that soared during the pandemic and heralded the Covid building boom, broken supply chains and inflation will trade in its final session on Monday. The longtime barometer of wood prices and building activity is being retired and replaced with a new lumber-futures contract in an effort by exchange operator CME Group to boost trading.
/jlne.ws/4531Rty
EU gas derivatives market becoming less transparent, watchdog warns; ESMA says Russian invasion of Ukraine pushes more deals off-exchange
Shotaro Tani and Alice Hancock - Financial Times
More deals in Europe's EUR4tn natural gas derivatives market have moved off-exchange since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as squeezed companies try to save trading costs, the European Union's securities watchdog has warned. A report on Friday by the European Securities and Markets Authority found the share of trades on the opaque over-the-counter market had jumped from 15 per cent last summer to 27 per cent this year, shifting from the regulated futures exchanges.
/jlne.ws/3pBUh9f
Algorithms prop up the market as fretful humans sit out the uncertainty; Quant funds have been piling into US equities in response to falling volatility
Nicholas Megaw - Financial Times
While human portfolio managers fret over economic uncertainty and the health of the US banking system, some algorithmically driven hedge funds have been buying stocks at one of the fastest rates in a decade, according to bank trading desks. Quant funds have been piling into US stock markets in response to falling volatility, helping to prop up the market as active managers sit on the sidelines.
/jlne.ws/3pItbxe
EU under pressure to extend access to London clearing houses; Bosses warn post-Brexit restrictions from mid-2025 could undermine financial stability
Laura Noonan, George Parker, Sam Fleming and Philip Stafford - Financial Times
The EU is coming under mounting pressure from Europe's biggest derivatives houses to radically rethink its plans for wresting euro-denominated clearing from the City of London. Clearing houses - which reduce market risk by standing between two parties in a trade - have been a key battleground since Brexit, with the EU intent on moving the clearing of strategically important European trades to the continent as soon as it is practical to do so.
/jlne.ws/41EtxSO
North Korean hackers stole $721 million in cryptocurrency from Japan - Nikkei
Reuters
Hacker groups affiliated with North Korea have stolen $721 million worth of cryptocurrency assets from Japan since 2017, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday, citing a study by U.K. blockchain analysis provider Elliptic.
/jlne.ws/3nUjIlX
Robyn Grew: the 'force of nature' named Man Group chief executive
Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
When Robyn Grew was working for Lehman Brothers in London in 1999, Japanese regulators raided the bank as part of an investigation into accusations that it and others had helped financial institutions conceal losses. Grew was quickly dispatched to Tokyo by Lehman's top brass to help deal with the bank's response. She spent the next year flying back and forth between the two capital cities, eventually moving there with her wife for a stint.
/jlne.ws/42BRECU
'France Is for the French': Brexit Expats Adjust to Life in Paris; Thousands of finance jobs are moving to the French capital, forcing bankers moving from London to adapt.
Alice Kantor - Bloomberg
Paris is rapidly establishing itself as the leading finance hub in the European Union, attracting thousands of banking jobs as Brexit reverberates across the continent. For many of those who've relocated to the City of Light, it's an opportunity to embrace all the things that make Paris famous: art, fashion, food and that certain je ne sais quoi that captures the hearts of so many visitors.
/jlne.ws/42C0voa
Dimon Warns of Market Panic as Default Draws Closer
Jacob Sonenshine - Barron's
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon says the unresolved debt ceiling situation could wreak havoc on the stock market. Dimon said on Bloomberg television that if a debt ceiling agreement isn't reached, it would be "potentially catastrophic," adding that as a government default on credit draws closer, there will be panic. There are alrady signs of concern.
/jlne.ws/41AMfuC
Crypto Exchange Binance Withdraws from Canada
Caitlin Ostroff - The Wall Street Journal
Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, said it will no longer serve Canadian users, citing changes in regulatory policies. In February, Canadian securities regulators told crypto-trading platforms they wouldn't be allowed to offer margin, credit or other forms of leverage to Canadian users and would be required to follow tougher policies on segregating customer assets.
/jlne.ws/42WnTwh
Chinese Brokerage Head Resigns After Reported Missing for Weeks
Jacob Gu - Bloomberg
Chinese brokerage Zheshang Securities Co. said it received a resignation letter from its President Wang Qingshan, reported by local media as missing since late March. Wang is stepping down from all positions at the company for unspecified "personal reasons," it said in a stock exchange filing Friday. Operations remain normal, it added. Speculation has surrounded Wang and the brokerage since March 31, when he "fell out of contact," Caixin reported.
/jlne.ws/3W7KEvc
Sam Bankman-Fried's Ties to George Santos Are Just the Beginning
David Z. Morris - CoinDesk
This week saw the charging and arrest of George Santos, the comically inventive Long Island Congressman. Almost unbelievably, Santos is connected to another apparently inveterate liar: Sam Bankman-Fried, the multiply-indicted founder and former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried's ties to Santos were just a footnote to Bankman-Freid's sprawling political influence campaign, seemingly funded in large part with stolen customer funds.
/jlne.ws/3Bs0R4K
Austin Russell became the youngest self-made billionaire in 2021; now he owns Forbes
Connie Loizos - TechCrunch
Austin Russell is on quite a run. The 28-year-old founder and CEO of Luminar, which develops vision-based lidar and machine perception technologies primarily for self-driving cars, told The Wall Street Journal earlier today that he is buying an 82% stake in Forbes Global Media Holdings in a deal that values the company at nearly $800 million.
/jlne.ws/3IbEoNf
'It's essentially a game of chicken.' The debt limit standoff has no real winners and potentially one big loser: The U.S. economy
Tristan Bove - Fortune
The White House and Congress are fighting over whether to raise or cap the nation's debt limit, the amount the government can borrow to pay its bills. If they can't reach an agreement, it could be catastrophic for the economy. This is far from the first debt ceiling standoff in recent years, but the difference this time, experts say, is that lawmakers are dangerously close to a deadline of as early as June that would trigger a default.
/jlne.ws/3M5npNx
Scientists warn an El Nino is likely coming that could bring scorching heat to Earth
Dinah Voyles Pulver and Doyle Rice - USA Today
Buckle up. The world's most influential natural weather feature is shifting gears. An El Niño is building along the equator in the eastern Pacific Ocean. And, there's above-normal chances it will be a strong El Nino, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this week. That could have dramatic impacts in the United States and around the globe later this year and into next year.
/jlne.ws/3Mp4Zc2
Why financial crashes happen - and China could be next
Ben Wright - The Telegraph
My favourite financial crisis, if you can have such a thing, is the "Japanese rabbit mania" of 1873. Following the Meiji Restoration, in which the shogunate was dissolved and power returned to the emperors, Japan's warrior class, the samurai, was effectively disbanded. They received some compensation, and many decided to plough their money into rabbits imported from Europe; apparently those with yellow ears were particularly highly prized.
/jlne.ws/42We01K
Newmont Seals $19 Billion Newcrest Deal to Dominate Gold Mining; Takeover will be gold sector's biggest-ever transaction; Combination also boosts Newmont's exposure to copper
Harry Brumpton and Dinesh Nair - Bloomberg
Gold giant Newmont Corp. secured a A$28.8 billion ($19.2 billion) deal to buy Australian rival Newcrest Mining Ltd., consolidating its position as the world's biggest bullion producer with mines across the Americas, Africa, Australia and Papua New Guinea. The transaction, now unanimously approved by Newcrest's board but pending regulatory approval, is the gold mining sector's largest deal to date, surpassing Newmont's purchase of rival Goldcorp Inc. in 2019.
/jlne.ws/43e7fZp
Major banks cling on to research market share as regulatory uncertainty shifts UK, EU and US landscape; Upcoming regulatory upheavals mean the research market is wide open for firms that can act "quickly and decisively", Substantive Research told The TRADE.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley held on to their top market share spots in broker research, according to a Substantive Research report, but upcoming regulatory changes in the UK, Europe and the US could see the league tables shift.
/jlne.ws/3MutIfb
|
| | | |
|
| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukraine's Zelensky Asks Pope Francis to Condemn Russian Aggression, Support Restoration of Ukrainian Territory
Francis X. Rocca and Margherita Stancati - The Wall Street Journal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Pope Francis to support Kyiv's formula for peace-based on returning Ukraine's territory-in a pointed message to the pontiff, who has refused to explicitly condemn Russia's invasion. The pope, who met with Mr. Zelensky at the Vatican on Saturday, has offered to serve as an intermediary in negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow but his neutral stance, and his suggestions that the West provoked the war, have raised skepticism in Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3o6p39B
Four Russian Military Aircraft Crash Near Border With Ukraine
Stephen Kalin and Georgi Kantchev - The Wall Street Journal
Two Russian jet fighters and two military transport helicopters crashed in southern Russia on Saturday, while Ukrainian forces struck deep into Russian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, moves that suggest Kyiv's military capabilities are growing. The crashes are the worst losses for Russia's military aviation since the first week of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when Moscow mistakenly assumed that Ukrainian air defenses had been destroyed. It has lost more than 70 planes since then.
/jlne.ws/3IcMdlL
'We'll get there': the Ukrainian drone unit quietly knocking out Russian targets
Luke Harding - The Guardian
At a secret location in southern Ukraine, Roman Kostenko watched a drone rise into the sky. It ascended to a height of 100 metres, buzzing above a field of yellow rapeseed. The drone dropped a dummy anti-tank grenade on to a pile of tyres. The test worked. That night Kostenko's team repeated the exercise over occupied territory. Two bombs fell on a Russian armoured fighting vehicle. It blew up, smoke pluming into the darkness.
/jlne.ws/42DibzA
Zelenskiy: Ukraine, West can make Russia's defeat 'irreversible' this year
Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Kyiv and its Western supporters could make Russia's defeat in the war in Ukraine "irreversible" this year, as he thanked Germany for its military support. The Ukrainian leader told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin that Kyiv would always be grateful to Germany for its support during Russia's full-scale invasion.
/jlne.ws/3Ib2iIA
Russia Loses 27 Artillery Systems, 12 APVs and 6 Tanks in a Day: Ukraine
James Bickerton - Newsweek
Ukraine's military destroyed or captured 27 Russian artillery systems, 12 armoured personnel vehicles (APVs) and six tanks on Friday, according to the country's general staff. The claims were made on social media as part of a daily update released on Saturday. Over the past few days, Ukrainian forces have made gains around the embattled Donbas city of Bakhmut, which Moscow has spent the past few months trying to seize.
/jlne.ws/3BrF6SD
Russia says two commanders killed as Kyiv wages Bakhmut offensive
Reuters
/jlne.ws/3BrtRJL
Russia Launches Fresh Wave of Attacks Against Ukraine
Ian Lovett and Thomas Grove - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3W6rju0
Wagner chief offered to give Russian troop locations to Ukraine, leak says
Shane Harris and Isabelle Khurshudyan - The Washington Post
/jlne.ws/3Bs5eNc
Putin Repeats Napoleon's Mistake: Strategy Wins, Not Power; Having more tanks and planes is important, yes, but the key is good leaders willing to adapt plans to meet changing conditions on the ground.
Hal Brands - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/44ZsCz0
Amid feud with Putin, Wagner mercenary leader offered Ukrainians the locations of invading troops in exchange for sparing his for-hire army, leaked documents reveal
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert - Business Insider
/jlne.ws/3ObBsEa
|
| | | |
|
| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Swap Connect launches as first derivatives trading link between Mainland China and Hong Kong; New programme initially launches with a Northbound channel, offering Hong Kong and international investors access to Mainland China's interbank interest rate swap markets.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
The People's Bank of China (PBOC), Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and Hong Kong Monetary Authority have launched Swap Connect, a new mutual access programme between Hong Kong and Mainland China's interbank interest rate swap markets.
/jlne.ws/44VN3gx
Dream Exchange, the first majority black-owned stock exchange in the US, gears up for launch
Dream ExchangeFinextra
Dream Exchange, the first majority black-owned stock exchange in America's history, is gearing up for launch amidst a rapid decline in public companies, with smaller and mid-sized IPOs being almost non-existent. Research in the USA published in 2019 and 2021 which investigated the profiles of founding teams receiving venture capital financing from the most active funds in the U.S., found that VC-backed start-ups were still disproportionately men (89.3%), white (71.6%), based in Silicon Valley (35.3%) and Ivy League-educated (13.7%), with very little change in data in two years.
/jlne.ws/3Mpm0ll
Thai Bourse President on Election, Economy, Stock Market (Video)
Bloomberg
Stock Exchange of Thailand President Pakorn Peetathawatchai discusses what the outcome of Sunday's parliamentary vote means for the economy and the market. Pro-democracy parties notched a resounding victory in the election, setting up the biggest challenge to the royalist-backed establishment since the military seized power in a coup nearly a decade ago. Pakorn speaks with Haslinda Amin on "Bloomberg Markets: China Open."
/jlne.ws/42QlHGy
DTCC Appoints Kevin Kessinger as Non-Executive Chairman of Board of Directors Upon Planned Retirement of Robert Druskin at the End of 2023
DTCC
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced that DTCC Board member Kevin M. Kessinger has been appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the DTCC Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board Executive Committee, effective January 1, 2024. Kessinger assumes the Non-Executive Chairman position from Robert Druskin, who is retiring from the DTCC Board at the end of 2023 after serving twelve years.
/jlne.ws/3Ob8G6l
Hong Kong Securities And Futures Commission: Swap Connect Commences Today
HKEX
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) welcomes the launch of Swap Connect, the latest mutual access programme between Hong Kong and the Mainland. Swap Connect commenced trading today starting with Northbound Trading which allows investors from Hong Kong and other jurisdictions to participate in the Mainland interbank interest rate swap market (Note 1). "Swap Connect marks the first mutual market access programme for financial derivatives products that allows global investors holding Mainland bonds to manage renminbi interest rate risks," said Ms Julia Leung, the SFC's Chief Executive Officer. "It deepens connectivity between Mainland and overseas capital markets and bolsters Hong Kong's position as a risk management hub."
/jlne.ws/3O8W4fY
HKEX Celebrates Launch Of Swap Connect
Mondovisione
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) today (Monday) celebrated the launch of Swap Connect, the new mutual access programme between Hong Kong and Mainland China's interbank interest rate swap markets, with a ceremony held at HKEX Connect Hall and in Beijing. HKEX, through its clearing subsidiary OTC Clear, has been working with China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) and Shanghai Clearing House (SHCH) to support the trading and clearing of Swap Connect, which is launching initially with a Northbound channel.
/jlne.ws/3Oc9bxc
LME to Require Warehouses to Feel Their Nickel Bags After Heist; Exchange is mandating more checks for nickel stored in bags; Market was rocked in March by discovery of bags of stones
Jack Farchy and Archie Hunter - Bloomberg
The London Metal Exchange is tightening rules for handling nickel by its network of warehouses, following the shock discovery earlier this year that some of its nickel contracts were instead backed by bags of stones. The LME will now require warehouse companies to carry out additional checks in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the scandal, according to people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/3LWZf7W
Nasdaq Announces 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders
Nasdaq
Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq: NDAQ) has scheduled its 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders for June 21, 2023, at 8:00 AM ET. Shareholders of record will be able to vote and ask questions online during the meeting. The virtual meeting website will be accessible 15 minutes prior to the meeting start by visiting: www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NDAQ2023.
/jlne.ws/3pAyT3X
Nodal Exchange Named Commodity Exchange of the Year by Energy Risk
Nodal Exchange - Business Wire
Nodal Exchange has been named 2023 Commodity Exchange of the Year by Energy Risk magazine. The prestigious Energy Risk Awards, now in their third decade, recognize excellence in financial risk management across the commodities sector.
/jlne.ws/3BqqYZN
NSE launches WTI Crude Oil and Natural Gas futures contracts
NSE
/jlne.ws/42BU58x
NSE's standalone Q4 operating revenue up by 32% YoY to annual Rs 3,295 crores
NSE
/jlne.ws/3Mru9GO
Traded Bonds - Change In Clearing Status - 05/15/2023
NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange, Inc. has been advised that the following securities have been changed from Ex-Clearing to NSCC Eligible:
/jlne.ws/3OgORLb
NYSE Bonds - Addition to the List of Traded Bonds
NYSE
The following bonds will be added at the opening of trading on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. These bonds have been added as "NYSE traded bonds" pursuant to an SEC exemption that allows the NYSE to trade certain non-convertible debt of NYSE listed companies and their wholly owned subsidiaries, without the issuer having listed those securities on the NYSE.
/jlne.ws/3Iz5HRR
NYSE, NYSE AMERICAN, NYSE ARCA EQUITIES, NYSE CHICAGO, NYSE NATIONAL
NYSE
NYSE Group Equities Exchanges in conjunction with other UTP exchanges, have ruled to bust all trades in TOP - TOP Financial Group Limited, executed between 9:30:00 - 10:09:00 ET today. This ruling is not eligible for appeal.
/jlne.ws/42UMp0F
SGX Group reports market statistics for April 2023
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) today released its market statistics for April 2023. Uncertainties over the path for global interest rates slowed activity in a shortened trading month, alongside mixed sentiments on the impact of China's reopening on domestic consumption.
/jlne.ws/3MlUR3R
|
| | | |
|
| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Overbond expands automated bond trading service with Deutsche Börse European fixed income data; The integration aims to plug data gaps in the fixed income space that remain a challenge for traders in Europe in the absence of a consolidated tape.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
AI quantitative analytics provider for institutional fixed income capital markets Overbond has entered into an agreement to integrate European fixed-income transaction data from Deutsche Börse into its AI-aggregated data feeds and automated bond trading.
/jlne.ws/3o07p7w
Binance's VC Arm, With Over 200 Investments, Focuses on 'Explosive' Potential for Web3
Brandy Betz - CoinDesk
Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume, may have found itself in the crosshairs of the U.S. regulators, but its venture capital (VC) arm, Binance Labs, continues to invest across the Web3 ecosystem. Despite the looming U.S. regulatory uncertainties and a continued bear market, Binance Labs has been able to grow its assets to $9 billion at the end of the first quarter from $7.5 billion last August.
/jlne.ws/3pJFKsc
|
| | | |
|
| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Fired ByteDance Exec Says China Exerted 'Supreme' Data Control; Former US engineering boss cites copyright theft, phony users; Company says it will vigorously contest 'baseless' allegations
Joel Rosenblatt - Bloomberg
A former executive at TikTok parent ByteDance Inc. who was fired in 2018 said in a lawsuit that the Chinese Communist Party had a special office within the company that gave it "supreme access" to all data, a backdoor channel that he said persisted even after US user data was walled off from individual engineers in China.
/jlne.ws/3MpniwH
Ex-ByteDance Executive Accuses Company of 'Lawlessness'
Thomas Fuller and Sapna Maheshwari - The New York Times
A former executive at ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, has accused the technology giant of a "culture of lawlessness," including stealing content from rival platforms Snapchat and Instagram in its early years, and called the company a "useful propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party." The claims were part of a wrongful dismissal suit filed on Friday by Yintao Yu, who was the head of engineering for ByteDance's U.S. operations from August 2017 to November 2018.
/jlne.ws/3O4vhBE
|
| | | |
|
| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | How did Sam Bankman-Fried get away with peddling FTX?
Nate DiCamillo - Quartz
As FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried prepares to go on trial for several of the 13 charges against him, the crypto world is getting pressured by regulators around the globe to make sure they're not liable for another fraudulent scheme. With regulators mulling new rules and the industry thinking about its own self-regulation, Axios reporter Brady Dale (formerly of CoinDesk) offers a timely, compelling look at the elements behind Bankman-Fried's rise and FTX's dramatic fall in a new book, SBF: How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto's Very Bad Good Guy.
/jlne.ws/42WJDs4
OpenAI's Sam Altman nears $100mn funding for Worldcoin crypto project; Start-up plans to create global identification system through iris scans to enable access to free global currency
Ivan Levingston in London and George Hammond - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/44YPMpj
The DeFi world faces a jarring transition; Regulators are stepping up scrutiny of crypto marketplaces that operate without meaningful oversight
Jonah Crane - Financial Times
US regulators have been stepping up their scrutiny of decentralised finance, a burgeoning marketplace for crypto assets that operates without meaningful regulatory oversight. The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a revised proposal last month clarifying that DeFi crypto trading systems should be regulated like stock exchanges. And the US Treasury also issued a paper in April that pointed out the illicit finance risks in DeFi.
/jlne.ws/3M85pSE
What crypto can learn from traditional FX
Paul Golden - EuroMoney
It might be an exaggeration to suggest that cryptocurrency traders are going through an existential crisis, but there is no doubt that they have been shaken by the collapse of FTX and subsequent discussion of potential weaknesses in the structure of the crypto market. One of the most lively debates has been on the extent to which elements of spot FX market infrastructure could be usefully replicated in this environment. There are already a number of similarities between the crypto and FX markets, such as the decentralized nature of trading.
/jlne.ws/3BrJTUg
Crypto Firm Bakkt Delists Tokens as Regulatory Pressures Mount
Aidan Ryan - The Information
Bakkt, the new owner of a crypto custody and clearing provider that helps fintech companies like Public.com and Webull offer crypto trading, is removing support for 25 of the 36 tokens it offers, a spokesperson confirmed. The decision, which impacts popular tokens like uniswap and avalanche, marks the latest example of companies pulling back on crypto products in the U.S. as regulators closely scrutinize the industry.
/jlne.ws/42XIjVU
Perpetual Futures in Crypto Guide & Top Exchanges for Trading Crypto Perpetual Contracts
News Direct
/jlne.ws/453BJir
Binance pulls out of Canada amid new crypto regulations
Reuters
/jlne.ws/3Btb0Os
The view from the crypto summit; Plus, Coinbase's latest social media controversy
Scott Chipolina - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/45dxWPJ
Bitcoin Bulls Trip on a Frog as Pepe Memecoin Frenzy Signals Market Top; After Pepe token's FOMO-led boom and bust, Bitcoin tumbles; 'At the end of the day, it's a lottery ticket,' trader says
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3MrJN52
|
| | | |
|
| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters
David Klepper and Ali Swenson - AP
Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap, powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, video and audio that was realistic enough to fool voters and perhaps sway an election. The synthetic images that emerged were often crude, unconvincing and costly to produce, especially when other kinds of misinformation were so inexpensive and easy to spread on social media.
/jlne.ws/3W2vkzG
U.S. Congressional Democrats Working on Their Own Stablecoin Bill
Kyle Torpey - CoinMarketCap
A new bill proposal on stablecoins is being considered by House Democrats, according to a source familiar with the matter. The bill, which has not been officially introduced yet, would differ from the previous bipartisan effort led by Representatives Patrick McHenry and Maxine Waters in 2022. The McHenry-Waters bill aimed to create a clear regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, which are digital assets pegged to the U.S. dollar or other fiat currencies.
/jlne.ws/3o9Ow1U
G7 to vow diversifying of supply chains, filling bank regulatory gaps -draft
Reuters
Finance leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies set a year-end deadline for launching a new scheme to diversify global supply chains, and vowed to address regulatory gaps in the banking system, according to a final draft of their communique seen by Reuters. In the draft communique, the G7 central banks said they remained "strongly committed" to achieving price stability and ensuring inflation expectations stayed well-anchored.
/jlne.ws/3Iylm3R
G-7 Leaders Expected to Take Aim at Chinese 'Economic Coercion'; Beijing says the G-7 nations throw their own economic weight around
Annie Linskey, Ken Thomas and Yuka Hayashi - The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. and its allies are poised to increase pressure on China at this week's Group of Seven summit in Japan, with an expected joint statement rejecting use of economic retaliation against nations over policy disputes and other disagreements, according to people familiar with the situation. The anticipated statement isn't expected to mention any country by name, the people said, but comes as concerns mount among the U.S. and its allies over Beijing's increasing use of what its critics call "economic coercion" to show its displeasure with other countries.
/jlne.ws/3nVix5N
US agency warns of 'significant risk' of debt default by mid-June; Congressional Budget Office report piles pressure on political negotiators to agree a deal on raising debt ceiling
Lauren Fedor - Financial Times
The Congressional Budget Office has warned there is a "significant risk" that the US government will be unable to "pay all of its obligations" in the first two weeks of June if the debt ceiling is not raised. The intervention by the government spending watchdog reinforces US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen's warning that the federal government could be heading towards an unprecedented default as soon as June 1.
/jlne.ws/3pJwPXn
A Debt-Ceiling Catch-22 for Investors; Will markets need to start sounding alarm bells for Washington to act?
Justin Lahart - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3MpolwD
Yellen expects US regulators to be open to mergers among midsize banks
Andrea Shalal - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3IbE01f
Treasury Has Just $88 Billion of Measures Left to Avoid Debt Cap
Benjamin Purvis and Michael Mackenzie - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41EgjFo
Some U.S. Solar Makers Criticize Biden's Tax Credits as Too Lax on China
Ana Swanson, Alan Rappeport and Ivan Penn - The New York Times
/jlne.ws/3BqsLOx
The Business Nightmare of Dealing with Government; The rise of populism is testing corporations' relationships with policymakers, but it's hard for C.E.O.s to engage without getting clobbered.
Matthew Gwyther - The New York Times
/jlne.ws/42Q8woY
Biden to Nominate Philip Jefferson for Fed's No. 2 Job; President will also tap economist Adriana Kugler for Fed board seat
Nick Timiraos and Andrew Restuccia - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3OaGMYk
The Danger of Donald Trump Has Only Grown Since 2020
Eric Lutz - Vanity Fair
/jlne.ws/3BrFMHF
How the Supreme Court might view the debt limit fight
Betsy Woodruff Swan - Politico
/jlne.ws/3pAXrdf
How to end the US debt ceiling stand-off; We need to separate the surface argument from the underlying one in order to move forward
Glenn Hubbard - Financial Times
To "hit the ceiling" is to be frustrated enough to be mad. Just last week, Treasury Secretary Janet https://jlne.ws/3BJR3U1
How to fix Britain's water industry; Privatisation has not delivered on its promises, but it is not clear that the state would be a more reliable custodian
Martin Wolf - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3MoS6Pd
EU Deputy Looks to Cap Windfall Profit in Power Price Crisis
John Ainger - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3MqNQhY
How Sanctioned Western Goods Are Still Flowing Into Russia
Georgi Kantchev, Paul Hannon and Laurence Norman - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3MBHug9
|
| | | |
|
| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Commissioner Mersinger to Participate in a Fireside Chat at the BattleFin Discovery Day New York Digital Assets - Regulatory Session
CFTC
Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger will participate in the fireside chat on Regulation through Enforcement: Impact of Funds and Allocators at the BattleFin Discovery Day New York Digital Assets.
/jlne.ws/3ObfaCj
Commitments of Traders; Special Announcement
CFTC
The respective Consolidated Reports combine their associated e-micro contracts S&P 500 (13874+), Nasdaq100 (20974+), DJIA (12460+).
/jlne.ws/3OaJYmF
Commissioner Pham Announces Proposed Work Program for CFTC Global Markets Advisory Committee and Seeks Input by May 30
CFTC
Commissioner Caroline D. Pham announced today the 2023-2025 proposed work program for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), including the Global Market Structure Subcommittee, the Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee, and the Technical Issues Subcommittee. Commissioner Pham is the sponsor of the GMAC and is seeking input to the proposed work program. The deadline for input is May 30, 2023.
/jlne.ws/3MsYsNB
US Chamber of Commerce sues securities regulator over new share buyback rule
Chris Prentice - Reuters
A powerful U.S. business lobby group sued the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday over a new regulation requiring publicly traded companies to disclose more information about share buyback programs. The Chamber of Commerce says the new requirements, which SEC commissioners approved last week in a 3-2 vote, will hurt public companies and their investors.
/jlne.ws/42zR8W4
Kraken's Top Lawyer Says Signs of Progress in U.S. Congress Put SEC in Legal Bind
Jesse Hamilton - CoinDesk
While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to rain enforcement fire onto the crypto industry, Kraken's chief legal officer, Marco Santori, says a specific legal doctrine could undermine the regulator's authority.
/jlne.ws/42Ahzeh
Business Groups Sue SEC Over Stock Buyback Rules; Agency says the rules will make buybacks more transparent
Paul Kiernan - The Wall Street Journal
A trio of business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday to block new rules requiring public companies to disclose more information about their stock buybacks. The lawsuit, filed in a conservative appeals court favored by industry groups fighting government regulation, is one of the first legal challenges to SEC Chair Gary Gensler's rule-making agenda.
/jlne.ws/3IbgBwW
|
| | | |
|
| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | The Greatest Wealth Transfer in History Is Here, With Familiar (Rich) Winners
Talmon Joseph Smith - The New York Times
An intergenerational transfer of wealth is in motion in America - and it will dwarf any of the past. Of the 73 million baby boomers, the youngest are turning 60. The oldest boomers are nearing 80. Born in midcentury as U.S. birthrates surged in tandem with an enormous leap in prosperity after the Depression and World War II, boomers are now beginning to die in larger numbers, along with Americans over 80.
/jlne.ws/3pwkMg4
The Daughter Who Got the Government to Cancel Her Mother's Debt
Ron Lieber - The New York Times
"I am going to get my mother's loans forgiven," read the email that landed in my inbox 10 months ago. "So if by May, 2023, when I turn 28, you need a success story, feel free to reach out." In the many years I've been chronicling the sorry state of the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, I've heard from plenty of student loan debtors in their 20s who couldn't hack their way through the thicket of complex rules and red tape.
/jlne.ws/3LWK9PC
When Jamie Dimon speaks, Wall Street listens - and he just warned of catastrophe
Phil Rosen - Business Insider
Good morning to everyone except the fast-approaching debt ceiling. Phil Rosen here. Over the last week, the so-called "X-date" for a US default has commandeered conversations and headlines, with warnings coming from Janet Yellen, Goldman Sachs, and top CEOs. But on Thursday, the man with the most gravitas on Wall Street shared his take on the potentially catastrophic scenario that's just weeks away.
/jlne.ws/42UDn3R
Crypto ETFs Are Year's Best Performers But Only Lure $12 Million
Vildana Hajric and Katie Greifeld - Bloomberg
Not even 2023's eye-watering rallies can lure badly burned exchange-traded fund investors back to crypto after last year's beating. The top five best-performing non-leveraged ETFs in 2023 are all crypto-linked, led by the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (ticker WGMI)'s 119% rally. However, the group has attracted just $12 million of inflows so far this year - a fraction of the $118 billion that's poured into the industry overall
/jlne.ws/41Cw8N3
Trading platform Tradeweb in talks about US default contingency plans
Reuters
Bond trading platform Tradeweb is in talks with clients, industry groups and other market participants about contingency plans in case of a U.S. debt default, a spokesperson said on Friday. Financial markets are jittery about the possibility that the U.S. Treasury could miss debt payments as President Joe Biden and top lawmakers remained deadlocked in talks over raising the $31.4 trillion federal borrowing limit.
/jlne.ws/3Mtd9zW
Tradeweb Markets chairman, cofounder Olesky to retire
Seeking Alpha
/jlne.ws/3Ob65tl
Jeffrey Epstein Keeps Haunting Wall Street Long After His Death; Records show how executives across industry maintained ties; They sought to benefit from his wealth, Rolodex and influence
Sridhar Natarajan - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/42EBYPo
Platinum market expected to hit record deficit this year; Surge in industrial demand comes as South African supply hit by electricity shortages
Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3O9ye3O
Schrödinger's swap: the audacious plan to trigger Credit Suisse's CDS; So crazy it might just work?
Robert Smith and Sujeet Indap - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/44YSKKt
Ines de Tremiolles: How best to recruit for the future trading desk; Global head of trading at BNP Paribas Asset Management, Inés de Trémiolles, speaks to The TRADE about how best to recruit talent, the shortcomings of current approaches and what the future of the trading desk looks like.
Editors - The Trade
/jlne.ws/3W4hgWq
|
| | | |
|
| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | DRW Apprenticeship Program Wants People of Color in Tech
Tacuma Roeback - Chicago Defender
As one of the few Black men in his industry, Brawnski Armstrong counts his rise to become a software engineer as lucky yet unlikely. Armstrong came from meager beginnings, but he was one of those people who always knew what he wanted to do when he first touched a computer. He enrolled at the prestigious Cass Technical High School in Detroit, which has a computer curriculum, and he attended the University of Michigan on a golf caddie scholarship.
/jlne.ws/3BvGfIE
Lawsuit Targeting Shell Board Over Climate Failures Thrown Out
Will Mathis - Bloomberg
A London judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Shell Plc's board members of failing to manage climate change risks. In a decision published Friday the judge threw ClientEarth's suit out before a full hearing as there isn't a clear case against Shell. The environmental law firm now has the opportunity to request an oral hearing to ask the court to reconsider.
/jlne.ws/3pAWQbr
Why Some Companies Are Saying 'Diversity and Belonging' Instead of 'Diversity and Inclusion'
Jennifer Miller - The New York Times
Woodward is a 153-year-old aerospace company that required its male employees to wear bow ties into the 1990s. So Paul Benson, the company's chief human resources officer, knew that creating a companywide diversity, equity and inclusion program would require a seismic shift. "Look at our org chart online, and we're a lily-white leadership team of old males," he said. But employees were eager for a more inclusive culture.
/jlne.ws/3pCLgN4
The EPA has a plan to eliminate climate pollution from power plants, but will it survive in court?
Ben Adler - Yahoo! News
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed by far the largest-ever climate change regulation in U.S. history on Thursday, when it unveiled a proposal to require a 90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from the largest power plants by 2040. Electricity generation is the nation's second-largest source of those planet-warming emissions, after transportation, accounting for one-quarter of the total.
/jlne.ws/3MsiDv6
For a Stronger America, Make It Better for the Moms; Women carry most of the country's domestic load, whether they work outside the home or not. And they want your help.
Brooke Sample - Bloomberg
It's Mother's Day in America, and that means billions of dollars are being spent in an attempt to honor the maternal figures in our lives ... whether they want us to spend that money or not. My child's class created "bouquets" of coupons for their moms. Not to brag or anything, but my coupons are good for "sleeping in," "one hour of alone time" and "being told to do something and no complaining."
/jlne.ws/3pzWrpD
NYC Pension Funds Are Sued for Cutting Fossil-Fuel Stakes; City employee complaint latest in backlash over ESG investing; Retirement plans moved to shed $4 billion of assets, suit says
Saijel Kishan and Martin Z Braun - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41E3ivM
$14 Billion Deal to Create Mega-Pipeline Company; Energy deal combines Oneok and Magellan, forming the second-largest U.S.-based pipeline company by stock-market value
Collin Eaton - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/42VG7Ox
Rusty Old Oil Tankers Fetch Big Bucks Thanks to Russia; Shipping companies enjoy earnings bonanza even if they won't carry Russia's oil
Megha Mandavia - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3MtR7gP
|
| | | |
|
| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | HSBC, Scotiabank hit with US penalties over employees' use of personal devices
Chris Prentice - Reuters
U.S. regulators on Thursday slapped units of Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) with civil penalties for widespread recordkeeping violations through employees' use of personal devices and apps for work communications. The banks admitted they had failed to meet recordkeeping requirements for dealers registered with U.S. market regulators.
/jlne.ws/3BryCTN
Hedge Fund Trade With a History of Blowups Is Back Again
Garfield Reynolds - Bloomberg
Hedge funds looking to profit from dislocations in the US Treasury market appear to be playing with the very fire that burned them so spectacularly in the depths of the pandemic turmoil. A recent surge in leveraged positions betting that Treasury futures will fall - at a time when Wall Street is increasingly confident that a US recession will soon spur rapid central bank interest-rate cuts - smacks of so-called basis trading, market watchers say.
/jlne.ws/3pJeOsg
JPMorgan opposes class-action status for Epstein accusers
Jonathan Stempel - Reuters
JPMorgan Chase & Co on Friday asked a federal judge to deny class-action status to more than 100 women who said the bank helped enable the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse them. In a filing in Manhattan federal court, the largest U.S. bank said Epstein's accusers had too many differences to sue under an "oversimplified" theory that it was liable to all of them by having provided Epstein with banking services.
/jlne.ws/44XZ5Wz
Why equity research fails over and over (and isn't coming back)
Rupak Ghose - Financial Times
When I joined Credit Suisse First Boston in the summer of 1999 I knew where the action was - equity research. Yes, really. There was legendary telecoms analyst Jack Grubman at Salomon and Internet analysts Mary Meeker at Morgan Stanley and Henry Blodget at Merrill Lynch, each feted by the media and taking home tens of millions of dollars a year.
/jlne.ws/3W7RJvx
The Pain of Silicon Valley Bank's Collapse Is Being Felt by These Depositors
Frances Yoon - The Wall Street Journal
Two months after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the lender's depositors in the Cayman Islands have been left out in the cold. The California-based bank's American depositors were protected when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took control of SVB on March 10 and guaranteed all of their funds. SVB's U.S. branches, as well as its loans and deposits, were acquired by First Citizens Bancshares in late March.
/jlne.ws/3IaYCXi
Ireland Central Bank Governor Makhlouf Calls for Action on Crypto 'Ponzi Schemes'; EU passed legislation in April setting out crypto regulations; Makhlouf urges rules to protect investors and consumers
Peter O'Dwyer - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3pJxB6J
Regional Banks Can't Catch a Break; Even as some indicators stabilize for midsize lenders, their shares remain under pressure
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3pAYObP
JPMorgan Targeted by Republican States Over Accusations of Religious Bias
Jathon Sapsford - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3W1rk2A
Fed Governor Philip Jefferson in His Own Words; Pick for Federal Reserve's No. 2 position has focused on monetary policy and poverty issues
/jlne.ws/3IdboEK
Tiger Seeks to Sell Private-Company Stakes Into Secondary Market; Firm would offload hundreds of millions of dollars in assets; Exit strategy sought with fewer companies going public
Hema Parmar - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3OsBBTR
What the Tea Leaves Won't Tell You at the Bank of Japan; New Governor Kazuo Ueda has made his stance clear, yet the narrative of imminent change at the central bank refuses to go away.
Gearoid Reidy and Daniel Moss - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/42WgDAE
China's Securities Regulator Cuts Total Staff Pay After Revamp; Budgeted staff salaries and benefits at CSRC fell 17% in 2023; China has warned bankers to abandon "hedonistic" lifestyle
Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/42ECTPQ
Japan Megabanks Set to Forecast Hefty Profits, Avoid Bond Losses; Net income in new fiscal year driven by pickup in business; Absence of losses from foreign bond holdings may boost profits
Taiga Uranaka - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3W60KFx
China Authorities Summon Banks to Clarify Probe Details: Cailian
Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3IaO7mP
Tiger Global looks to cash in part of $40bn portfolio of private companies; Technology-focused hedge fund aims to return money to investors by tapping secondary market
Ivan Levingston, Will Louch and Antoine Gara - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3LZrl2m
James Anderson returns to investing with Agnelli family backing; Former Baillie Gifford partner to launch innovation fund as part of new $3bn group to be chaired by George Osborne
Harriet Agnew and Arash Massoudi - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3nUkqQ9
FTSE Russell launches the FTSE UK ESG Risk-Adjusted Index Series
FTSE Russell
/jlne.ws/3pIkzGZ
|
| | | |
|
| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | I saw a quantum computer used by JPMorgan, with Microsoft and Nvidia as partners, and it was mind-blowing
Julie Bort - Business Insider
A drab, vinyl-floored, windowless office building just north of Denver houses one of the wonders of the computer industry. It's home to several wonders, actually: a data center where two commercial-quantum computers are operating for paying customers including JPMorgan, and a third prototype under construction.
/jlne.ws/42sSNfX
Beware the 'bad-ish' actor when it comes to AI; Commercial pressures will result in tech weapons being available to cause mayhem
Leo Lewis - Financial Times
During Google's big I/O showcase event for developers - a protracted, glistening flex of the company's new AI muscles - one of the keynote speakers dwelt on the risks posed by "bad actors". The phrase, in the context of an otherwise self-consciously optimistic event, came with a balance of real and abstract threat.
/jlne.ws/3W7MsV0
Inside the 'Great Race' at BlackRock: Who Will Replace Larry Fink?
Angel Au-Yeung - The Wall Street Journal
Larry Fink co-founded BlackRock in 1988 and has spent 35 years nursing it into the world's largest asset manager. Now, half a lifetime later, he has one big task left: deciding who will take it over. "That's the No. 1 priority," Mr. Fink said in a recent interview. At 70 years old, he is the only person to ever hold the title of BlackRock CEO.
/jlne.ws/41DZRFo
Who Would Want to Be a C.E.O.?; The challenges facing business leaders feel particularly acute right now. This week, DealBook delved into four of them.
Ravi Mattu - The New York Times
Who would want to be a chief executive? The pressure on global business leaders has always been intense. But the challenges feel particularly acute right now. Top leaders oversee companies that employ hundreds of thousands worldwide. They can no longer rely on old-style hierarchical management techniques that are increasingly ineffective. They have to manage technology as both a huge threat and a huge opportunity.
/jlne.ws/3nTHmz3
How AI Will Change the Workplace
Sean Captain - The Wall Street Journal
Artificial intelligence has been affecting how we work for some time-helping to craft job postings and evaluate applications, judging how efficiently we complete jobs and, for gig workers, determining assignments and pay. But in the past year, and especially the past six months, generative AI has supercharged the potential of technology to help, hinder or reorient how we work.
/jlne.ws/3Mr2GoR
Apple Begins Testing Speedy M3 Chips as It Pursues Mac Comeback
Mark Gurman - Bloomberg
As Apple prepares to launch its next M2 Macs, the company is already ramping up testing of M3 chips. Also: Meta shows its true feelings about the Apple Watch, and the executive in charge of the TV+ business is leaving. Lastly, Final Cut Pro is coming to the iPad - and what that may mean for Apple's mixed-reality headset.
/jlne.ws/3pAXwh3
|
| | | |
|
| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | What's the Point of Your 20s? Ask the Patron Saint of Striving Youth.
Emma Goldberg - The New York Times
Imagine you've been plunked into the ocean. You can't spot land. You're treading water, your arms are spaghetti-limp and all you see is blue. You get the sense that this could be it forever: you against the currents. It's a little dramatic. But it is one of the metaphors that the clinical psychologist Meg Jay has shared to describe being in your 20s in her cult classic book "The Defining Decade" - and it is the metaphor that persistently triggers the most explosive reader response.
/jlne.ws/3M5TDbv
TikTok Feeds Teens a Diet of Darkness; Self-harm, sad-posting and disordered-eating videos abound on the popular app
Julie Jargon - The Wall Street Journal
Calls to ban TikTok in the U.S. are growing louder. Government leaders are trying to keep the popular China-owned social video platform away from schools, public workers, even entire states, on the grounds that users' data could wind up in the wrong hands. Data privacy, though, might be less worrisome than the power of TikTok's algorithm. Especially if you're a parent.
/jlne.ws/3MBEEYx
Divorce Can Wreck a Woman's Financial Future. Here's How to Rebuild.
Lela Nargi - The New York Times
Twenty years ago, when I was pregnant with my daughter, a mom friend predicted my future: The baby will come and - from exhausted necessity - you and your husband will divide tasks, which will fall on either side of outdated gender lines. At the time, I smugly demurred, but eventually there was no denying she had been right.
/jlne.ws/3I7qOdy
Bats could hold secret to long life - and other health news you may have missed
Rebecca Corey - Yahoo! News
It's been a busy week in health news - from saying goodbye to COVID public health and mpox global health emergencies to ushering in a new era of over-the-counter birth control pills. But that's not all that happened in the wellness space. Here's what else you might have missed from Yahoo News partners. In a study published on Thursday, researchers identified a protein carried by bats that could explain their long lives and imperviousness to certain viruses - with possible "therapeutic potential" for humans.
/jlne.ws/42SUXoX
Remote Work Comes With Daytime Drug and Drinking Habits
Arianne Cohen - Bloomberg
On any given work day, Ray wakes up, brews coffee, smokes a cigarette, and then "takes a hit of pot" before sitting down to morning Zoom meetings. "Yeah, maybe my eyes are red, but no one can see that on Zoom," says Ray, a West Coast executive, who typically continues to take a puff of marijuana hourly while on the job - all the long tail of a methamphetamine addiction that he developed during pandemic lockdowns.
/jlne.ws/3Bp1JH8
|
| | | |
|
| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Chinese Don't Love SOEs. They Have No Choice; Shares of state-owned enterprises have been on fire as the market weighs ample liquidity and anemic corporate profits.
Shuli Ren - Bloomberg
Every capitalist wants to talk up the companies they hold, including the Chinese government. State-owned enterprises are back in the spotlight. Last November, the most senior securities regulator urged investors to explore stock "valuation with Chinese characteristics," in a key-note speech widely understood to be aimed at helping to boost sentiment for listed SOEs and reverse their losing trend.
/jlne.ws/42SMG4k
El Nino May Slash Thai Rice Crop and Spur Inflation Across Asia; Thai farmers asked to grow one crop this year instead of two; It's an early sign of the weather pattern hitting food output
Anuchit Nguyen and Jasmine Ng - Bloomberg
Thailand, the world's second-biggest rice exporter, is asking farmers to grow only one crop this year - instead of the usual two - as a likely El Nino looks set to reduce rainfall. Rice is highly water-intensive and is dependent on irrigation and enough precipitation. It's an early sign of how the disruptive weather pattern is threatening global food production.
/jlne.ws/3pDRIn8
Singapore's Temperature Soars to 37C, Highest in Four Decades
Tassia Sipahutar - Bloomberg
Singapore's already steamy heat revisited a 40-year record on Saturday, climbing to 37C (98.6F). The temperature at Ang Mo Kio in central Singapore tied with a record in nearby Tengah in April 1983, according to a statement by the National Environment Agency on Facebook. Singapore began recording temperatures in 1929.
/jlne.ws/3nTWvQR
Mysterious Killing of Chinese Gold Miners Puts New Pressure on Beijing; The massacre of nine workers in the Central African Republic and other recent attacks raise questions about China's ability to protect its citizens overseas.
Nicole Hong and Elian Peltier - The New York Times
The Chinese embassy in the Central African Republic had a stark warning for its compatriots in the landlocked nation: Do not leave the capital city of Bangui. Kidnappings of foreigners were on the rise, and any Chinese person outside of Bangui was to leave those areas immediately.
/jlne.ws/3O7068R
Goldman Sachs Moves Past 1MDB Scandal With New Abu Dhabi Office; Firm had been snubbed by Abu Dhabi following the 1MDB scandal Bank has since managed to claw back, win roles on key deals
Nicolas Parasie - Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is set to open an office in Abu Dhabi, marking a significant step for the US lender that was snubbed by the emirate for its involvement in the 1MDB scandal. Goldman Sachs's new outpost will open in Abu Dhabi Global Market, pending final regulatory approval, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. The office will add to the bank's hubs in Dubai, Doha and Riyadh and allow it to deepen relationships with clients, according to the memo.
/jlne.ws/41BquLc
Farmers Set to Abandon US Wheat Crops at Highest Rate Since 1917
Michael Hirtzer and Tarso Veloso - Bloomberg
America's wheat fields have become so plagued by drought that farmers are now poised to abandon crops at the highest rate in more than a century. Producers are expected to harvest about 67% of their planted acres, the US Department of Agriculture said Friday. If realized, that would be the lowest harvest ratio since 1917, the agency said in a monthly report. Years of dry conditions on the US Plains have taken their toll on America's famed fields of grain.
/jlne.ws/3IaGlt2
Conferences Are Back, Boosting City Economies
Austen Hufford - The Wall Street Journal
The thousands of construction workers, business owners and suppliers who thronged this city in March helped its conferences pass a major milestone: their biggest monthly attendance since before the pandemic. Nearly 140,000 of them flocked to ConExpo, the nation's largest construction industry event, where they could check out the latest excavators and cranes, network and eat barbecue together.
/jlne.ws/41GrjSK
|
| | | |
|
| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Austin Russell Acquires Majority Stake in Forbes Magazine
Christopher Palmeri - Bloomberg
Austin Russell, a 28-year-old automotive technology tycoon, acquired an 82% stake in Forbes Global Media Holdings, parent of the well-known business magazine. The deal values the company at close to $800 million, the parties said in a statement Friday. The seller, Hong Kong-based Integrated Whale Media Investments will retain a minority stake. The Forbes family will not, though Steve Forbes will remain involved.
/jlne.ws/3BoVnrg
Unknown Rembrandt portraits unearthed after 200 years; Rare works by Dutch master discovered by chance in UK family's private collection
James Pickford - Financial Times
Two exceptionally rare portraits by Rembrandt, unknown to art scholars and never placed on public display, have been unearthed after 200 years in a UK family's private art collection. While carrying out a routine valuation, experts at auction house Christie's came upon the paintings by the 17th-century Dutch master, whose works fetch millions at auction.
/jlne.ws/41BrE9i
Massive $196 Million Jewelry Auctions Set World Record in Geneva; Hundreds of pieces from the estate of the late billionaire Heidi Horten hit the block at Christie's.
James Tarmy - Bloomberg
Despite vigorous criticism about the Nazi-era origins of Heidi Horten's wealth, an auction of the late Austrian billionaire's jewelry became the most expensive public sale in history. Spread over the course of two live auctions in Geneva on May 10 and 12 (a third online auction ends on May 15), a treasure trove of necklaces, bracelets, earrings and tiaras carried a presale estimate of $150 million.
/jlne.ws/3BoVN0O
|
| | | |
|
Disclaimer: All John Lothian Newsletters, JohnLothianNews.com, MarketsWiki.com and MarketsReformWiki.com are products of John Lothian News, a division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. The opinions expressed in all John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. publications are strictly those of their respective editors. They are intended solely for informative purposes and are not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Security futures are not suitable for all customers. Futures and options trading involve risk. Past results are no indication of future performance. Nothing on any John J. Lothian & Company site should be considered an endorsement by any sponsor of any website or newsletter content.
© 2023 John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
