| August 23, 2022 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Today's lead story about Hidden Road Partners is an important one, only because it involves JLN friend John McPartland, formerly of the Chicago Federal Reserve. John is the director of research at Hidden Road Advisors and a senior advisor.
Kate Day, formerly of the London Metal Exchange, is now a marketing communications manager at Trading Technologies. She has a very big fan club.
Jay A. Biondo reported on LinkedIn that he is starting a new position at Trading Technologies as head of surveillance.
Cathryn Lyall is starting a new position as non-executive director at Redbelly Network, a consortium of Australia's leading government, academic and business institutions committed to building the infrastructure of the Prosumer Economy.
London Metal Exchange Head of Product Development and Research Alex Shaw joined his brother for the Nasdaq Bell Ringing Ceremony celebrating the listing of his co-founded company, Virax Biolabs.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to President Joseph Biden during the pandemic, is stepping down in December from his position, Bloomberg reported.
How bad is Europe's drought? According to a Bloomberg story, this may be the continent's worst drought in 500 years, according to a preliminary analysis by experts from the European Union's Joint Research Center.
LinkedIn has a fake employment problem where people are claiming to work for companies they never worked for. The CEO of Binance said LinkedIn has 7000 profiles of "Binance employees," and only 50 of them are real.
Hong Kong is trying something new to help prevent pedestrian accidents by lighting up street crossings with red lights on the street where what the Scottish call "smombies," smartphone-obsessed zombies, can see the red warning light. Other countries likewise are taking steps to protect pedestrians who are too glued to their phones to pay attention to traffic around them. Bloomberg has the story.
OK, the Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday that was the second story in leads was not a reply to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's late Friday opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. I got that wrong. Apologies.
There is a great story in the San Francisco Chronicle about a Boy Scout Troop founded four years after the start of BSA in the US. The story, which I found via Apple News, is titled "A Chinatown Boy Scout troop has endured against all odds for 108 years. Can it survive today?"
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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Friday, August 19 was PR pro Laura LaBarbera's last day as head of communications at the American Financial Exchange. She tells us she is hanging out her freelance shingle before she lands her next permanent gig. LaBarbera has also been a media relations representative at the Chicago Federal Reserve and was communications manager at the Chicago Board of Trade for seven years. ~SR
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MWE Short: Lisa Dunsky - Hit By A Brick: How Setbacks Shape Your Career
JohnLothianNews.com
"Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith." - Steve Jobs, at the commencement speech at Stanford in 2005. It's sometimes hard to see what challenges and setbacks will do for your career, but in this very personal and articulate presentation, Lisa Dunsky, senior compliance officer at OCC, describes how tragic events can transform your skill set and your career.
Watch the video »
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Some US Corn Plants Are So Dry They're Not Producing Ears of Grain; Corn stalks are withered, browning and short in the drought-stricken Western crop belt.
Kim Chipman, Tarso Veloso Ribeiro, and Michael Hirtzer - Bloomberg
It's been so dry in parts of Nebraska and South Dakota that corn plants are doing something truly strange: they're not producing ears of grain. The stalks, which should be about 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall by this time of year, are withered, browning and short — some are only standing at about 5 feet. Crop scouts set out this week to analyze yields, and in some isolated patches, they actually had trouble finding enough corn ears to measure.
/jlne.ws/3clIjdk
****** Crop tour time is fun. You get all kinds of results and good images.~JJL
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America's Office Glut Started Decades Before Pandemic; Federal tax breaks dating to the Reagan years, and low interest rates, spurred developers to build too many office towers
Konrad Putzier - The Wall Street Journal
A surplus of empty office space threatens to hollow out U.S. business districts. Don't blame the pandemic. America's office glut has been decades in the making, real-estate investors, brokers and analysts say. U.S. developers built too many office towers, lured by federal tax breaks, low interest rates and inflated demand from unprofitable startups. At the same time, landlords largely failed to tear down or convert old, mostly vacant buildings to other uses.
/jlne.ws/3ccXsOj
****** Trends start before we can see them and sometimes when we see them it is too late.~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our top story Monday was The Gensler Bid to Control Trading, an opinion piece from The Wall Street Journal's editorial board. Second was SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, The SEC Treats Crypto Like the Rest of the Capital Markets (subtitled "Securities laws that protect investors continue to apply even when new technologies come along.") Third was the ad for "The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 1" DVD on sale at Amazon, which John referenced in his remarks about his upcoming surgery.
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
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| Lead Stories | Wall Street, Crypto Giants Line Up to Back Startup Prime Broker; Hidden Road offers financing for funds to trade crypto, FX; Citadel Securities, Coinbase, FTX joined in July funding round
Yueqi Yang - Bloomberg
Some of the world's biggest trading houses and cryptocurrency firms are backing a small startup that aims to ease Wall Street's entry into crypto trading by tackling counterparty risks and conflicts of interest. Hidden Road Partners, a prime brokerage focused on digital assets and foreign exchange, completed a $50 million funding round last month that included Citadel Securities, as well as the investment arms of cryptocurrency exchanges FTX Trading Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. Now it's in discussions with hedge funds and many of the top 20 global banks about providing access to trade or hedge their crypto risks, executives at the firm said.
/jlne.ws/3QECZ3M
The Covid-19 Financial Crisis That Wasn't; Four lessons from global financial authorities' successful response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Adam Kulam and Lily Engbith - Bloomberg
The sudden realization in mid-March 2020 that Covid-19 was going to be a once-in-a-century pandemic created the kind of disruption that financial crises are made of. Pundits predicted an unprecedented triple shock: lockdowns would decimate demand, travel bans would devastate supply, and the "dash for cash" would freeze financial activity. Stock markets plunged and bond yields jumped. But despite the disastrous human toll and the inevitable economic downturn, the financial crisis didn't happen. To understand what went right, our research team at the Yale Program on Financial Stability compiled a database of some 9,000 government actions in 180 countries. The lessons: Go big, go early, and prepare for next time.
/jlne.ws/3Afe2ov
European Power Prices Surge to Records Yet Again on Wind Dearth; Record-breaking energy prices are adding pressure to inflation; France is also struggling with low nuclear availability
Will Mathis - Bloomberg
Power prices for Wednesday soared to records around Europe, heaping further pressure on governments to accelerate plans for how to shield households from devastating bills and rising inflation. Fresh highs are becoming a nearly daily occurrence for Europe's power markets, with prices now many times higher than the average for the past few years as the energy crisis is only getting worse. The latest jump comes as wind power is forecast at extremely low levels throughout the region, leaving grids more reliant on expensive fossil fuels.
/jlne.ws/3dEhKQW
As Crypto Slumps, Goldman Sachs Aims for a Wall Street Built on Blockchain; Goldman, JPMorgan are already processing some trades using the technology behind cryptocurrency markets
Paul Vigna - The Wall Street Journal
Wall Street's biggest banks have largely avoided investing directly in cryptocurrencies. But many are quietly working to integrate blockchain, the technology behind crypto, into trading and other businesses. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is already trading some bonds and other debt securities for clients on blockchain-based networks such as Ethereum, and the bank is building its own blockchain-based trading platform. JPMorgan Chase & Co. already has a platform in place, called Onyx. Big Wall Street firms help make the economy run, connecting buyers and sellers of securities and lending money to businesses. But their sophisticated trades are often run on creaky old systems. Goldman and others hope they will be able to run faster, less-costly and ultimately more-profitable systems based on blockchains.
/jlne.ws/3ccz4MJ
Harvard's Status as Wealthiest School Faces Oil-Rich Contender in the University of Texas; The Texas university system is unlike other colleges because of its oil-rich land that's driving record revenue this year.
Janet Lorin and Sergio Chapa - Bloomberg
Every day, the University of Texas System makes about $6 million off a mineral-rich swath of land it manages in the US's largest oil field. Crude and natural gas, not fundraising or investing prowess, have positioned the school's endowment to overtake Harvard University's as the richest in US higher education. The University of Texas oversees 2.1 million acres—almost the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined—in the Permian Basin. While other universities are shedding their fossil fuel holdings in the name of eco-consciousness, the Texas college system is leasing its land to drillers including ConocoPhillips, Continental Resources, Inc. and nearly 250 other operators.
/jlne.ws/3R0s4RM
Their Crypto 'Bank' Failed and They Lost Six Figures Overnight - What Now?
Yaёl Bizouati-Kennedy - Yahoo Finance
On Sunday, June 12, at 10:20 p.m., George — like thousands of other customers using crypto lending exchange Celsius — received an email reading: "Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap and transfers between accounts." "I knew they had exposure but never thought they would lock up our assets," George, who wished to publicly divulge only his first name for reasons of privacy, told GOBankingRates. George was shocked at first, but within minutes he went to Voyager, another platform he was using, and converted his assets there to cash.
/jlne.ws/3PHad1k
Crypto May Get Its Own Legal Lane in the UK; Britain's Law Commission has proposed that crypto be considered a separate category in English property law, a move that could pave the way for setting an international standard.
Victoria Vergolina - Bloomberg
If you've ever found yourself outside of Bank Station on a rainy day in Central London, you'll have a feel for exactly how the city came to be one of the world's top financial centers. London's convenient time zone, bustling city atmosphere, and impressive set of financial regulations have made it a top destination for banks and financial services companies to operate over the years. But when it comes to crypto, there's an international gap in setting legal standards on digital assets, and the UK is no exception. The Law Commission of England and Wales — an independent regulatory body that advises the UK government on reform — has been tasked with rectifying that situation and getting London ahead of the pack.
/jlne.ws/3PHmQcz
Methane hunters: what explains the surge in the potent greenhouse gas? Levels of the gas are growing at a record rate and natural sources like wetlands are the cause, but scientists don't know how to curb it
Leslie Hook and Chris Campbell - Financial Times
Every year, 6,000 flasks arrive at a laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Inside each is a sample of air, taken from one of a chain of 50 monitoring stations that spans the globe. Together, these samples could help answer one of the most important questions facing the planet: why is there so much methane in the atmosphere? Blue and black canisters filled with air from Algeria, Alaska, China and Samoa are lined up ready for testing. "We collect these flask samples, then they come back here," says Ed Dlugokencky, a chemist at the Global Monitoring Laboratory, run by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
/jlne.ws/3R5hCIE
Why Decentralization Cultivates Community
Jodie Gunzberg - CoinDesk
In December 2021, CoinDesk Indices launched its Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS) to set the standard for defining the industries of digital assets. Every one of the top 500 digital assets by market capitalization is assigned to an industry, defined by DACS, then at least one industry is assigned to an industry group, and finally, at least one industry group is assigned to a sector. Currently, there are six sectors defined by DACS including Currency, Computing, DeFi (Decentralized Finance), Digitization, Culture & Entertainment, and Smart Contract Platform. The Culture & Entertainment sector is the fourth-largest sector in DACS with 86 assets representing 2.0% of the digital asset market, worth approximately $34 billion in market capitalization as of April 30, 2022.
/jlne.ws/3pAXQJq
China Lithium Prices Near Record as Power Cuts Squeeze Market; Lithium carbonate has jumped to highest level since April; Disruptions, low inventories may impact cathode makers: Rystad
Annie Lee - Bloomberg
Prices of lithium in China are close to a record high as a power crisis in the nation's major hub for the vital electric-vehicle battery ingredient threatens an already-tight market. Sichuan, home to more than a fifth of China's lithium production, extended industrial power cuts this week amid the most intense heat wave in more than a half century. The supply disruptions in the province are set to add fuel to the battery metal's stunning rally in the past year, with lithium carbonate prices on Monday reaching the highest level since April at 484,500 yuan ($70,610) a ton.
/jlne.ws/3PCTKLq
Binance's CEO said thousands of people are falsely claiming to be his employees on LinkedIn. Experts warn it's an example of the platform's growing problem with fake accounts.
Samantha Delouya - Bloomberg
For the past several months, the public dialogue about fake accounts on social media has centered around Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter, but experts warn another social networking platform is filled with potentially malicious fake accounts: LinkedIn. This month, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, tweeted that "LinkedIn has 7000 profiles of 'Binance employees', of which only 50 or so are real." He called some of these accounts "scammers" and warned his followers to "be careful."
/jlne.ws/3ceoTal
The power of capital markets can be harnessed to drive the green transition; But this requires high-quality, transparent international disclosure standards
Emmanuel Faber - Financial Times
Government action is essential if we are to tackle climate change. However, no single jurisdiction can succeed by only imposing rules on its local market participants. There must be a global approach but multilateral policymaking is currently at a low ebb.
/jlne.ws/3pD7mvD
ISDA provides new guidance on emerging and developing derivatives markets; Trade association highlights close-out netting as the most critical legal issue that needs addressing, while also pinpointing risk governance and management as areas to improve.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has released new guidance which sets a path for emerging and developing economies to build safe and efficient derivatives markets.
/jlne.ws/3AGExF1
Citadel makes plans to replace departing international equities trading head; Hong Kong-based equity trader has been selected to replace retiring head; former Lombard Odier equity trader will also step in to plug the gap.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Hedge fund Citadel has selected an internal candidate to replace retiring international equities trading head, Paul Donnelly, The TRADE can reveal. Hong Kong-based Citadel equity trader Roshan Rummun is set to replace retiring international trading head Paul Donnelly when he steps down, according to a source close to the company.
/jlne.ws/3ccA2bF
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Soldiers Are Refusing To Take Part In Russia's Latest Offensive Against Ukraine, Says UK; British officials believe Moscow is struggling to "motivate" its forces, six months into the war.
Kate Nicholson - HuffPost
Soldiers from Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia are refusing to join in with Moscow's latest offensive, UK officials claim. The Ministry of Defence revealed that clips on Ukrainian social media channels show parts of a military unit from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic "delivering a declaration outlining their refusal to be deployed as part of offensive operations in Donestk Oblast". The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) announced it was independent from Ukraine in May 2014, at the same time as its neighbour Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), led by Russian-backed separatists. Both of these territories border with Russia and the majority speak Russian - meaning it's pretty significant that soldiers there are refusing to fight.
/jlne.ws/3Kfu1rp
Crimea, Once a Bastion of Russian Power, Now Reveals Its Weakness; Ukraine has used drones, sabotage teams to hit targets in the strategic peninsula, weakening Russia's hold on the south of the country
Thomas Grove - The Wall Street Journal
For generations, Crimea has anchored Russia's military power in the Black Sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that it would remain Russian forever after he annexed it in 2014. But a spate of explosions and drone incursions in recent days also shows the extent of its vulnerability on the peninsula, and how it is now part of Ukraine's own war goals. The strikes deep inside the Russian-occupied territory, including on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, have disrupted Moscow's plans to drive further into southern Ukraine, military analysts and officials said, potentially forcing a rethink of its broader strategy.
/jlne.ws/3R4B3S8
People are paying to have personal messages painted on Ukrainian artillery shells.
Emma Bubola - The New York Times
Artem Poliukhovych, a 32-year-old Ukrainian, had been thinking for a year about how to propose to his girlfriend. He considered kneeling on a beach on a tropical island or asking her to marry him on a hot-air balloon ride. In the end, he decided to have the proposal written on a Soviet-era shell targeting the Russian military. "It can be considered in some way an aggressive proposal," he said. She said "yes." Her enthusiasm is matched by other people around the world. Several hundred have paid thousands of dollars to have their words written on shells used by the Ukrainian Army. War is often pervaded with gallows humor, and soldiers have long scrawled graffiti on munitions meant for the enemy. Selling such messages marks an inventive, if macabre, twist on the practice, another way Ukrainians have found to raise money for their underdog resistance to Russia's invasion.
/jlne.ws/3R4pLxa
Almost 9,000 Ukrainian military killed in war with Russia - armed forces chief
Reuters
Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in the war with Russia, the head of Ukraine's armed forces said on Monday. The toll given by General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi appeared to be the first provided by Ukraine's military top brass since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24. Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's armed forces, told a conference held to honour military veterans and the families of those killed that children needed protection in several parts of the country including the capital Kyiv.
/jlne.ws/3Kl1QY3
Ukraine warns of powerful response to Russian attacks
Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Moscow on Tuesday of a powerful response if Russian forces carry out attacks on or around Ukraine's Independence Day. Zelenskiy has warned that Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, could try "something particularly ugly" in the run-up to Wednesday's Independence Day, which marks Ukraine's break from Soviet rule
/jlne.ws/3QZGXEx
Ukraine Latest: Germany Takes In 1 Million Refugees From the War
Bloomberg News
Germany has taken in about 1 million refugees from Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February, according to the German interior ministry. And while a portion of those have traveled on to other European countries or returned home, the influx is still at about 700 a day.
/jlne.ws/3R4R3TU
In Ukraine, a Nuclear Plant Held Hostage; Five months after Russian forces took over the Zaporizhzhia plant, all that stands between the world and nuclear disaster are dedicated Ukrainian operators working at gunpoint.
Marc Santora and Andrew E. Kramer - The New York Times
In the winter darkness, tracer rounds from Russian armored vehicles streaked past nuclear reactors and high-tension electrical lines. A fire broke out. Shrapnel sprayed a reactor containment vessel. In the control room of Reactor No. 3, operators were horrified.
/jlne.ws/3PJlDkU
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Episode 315: ICE's Brookly McLaughlin Builds Bridges Between ESG Idealism and ESG Pragmatism (video)
NYSE
Brookly McLaughlin, Vice President for Corporate Affairs and Sustainability for Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), guides ICE's ESG efforts and its Employee Development, part of ICE's focus on human capital. Brookly shares how ICE built a strategy to target the top ESG concerns of the company's stakeholders, and uses its own data and products to convert those goals into action. In her work with listed companies of the NYSE Community, Brookly also helps peers across industries determine the best mix of action and reporting to develop strong and sustainable ESG governance systems.
/bit.ly/3AG6pcf
CME Group Opens Registration for its 19th Annual Global University Trading Challenge 2022
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, is calling on global college students interested in pursuing careers in finance and markets to register for its annual University Trading Challenge which will be held during October 2022. Registration for the global educational competition opens today. Now in its 19th year, the CME Group University Trading Challenge allows teams of undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to experience the excitement, energy and decision-making required of real-time futures trading in a number of CME Group's markets across multiple asset classes on a simulated, professional trading platform provided by CQG. Educational content and market commentary are also provided to all participants. Throughout the four week-long challenge, participating students will receive live market updates through Dow Jones newsfeeds and The Hightower Report.
/bit.ly/3AI3tfo
JPX Market Innovation & Research raises value of Japan's exchange market infrastructure and strengthen its resilience supported by AWS
JPX
JPXI, a strategic data and business unit of Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) announced today that it will raise the global attractiveness and competitiveness of the Japanese financial products exchange market supported by Amazon Web Services Japan, LLC (AWS). JPXI will enhance the stability and resiliency of the financial instruments market infrastructure, while also developing a hybrid environment to develop and provide services to meet changing customer needs in a timely and convenient manner.
/bit.ly/3ccU4D5
SEOCH Reserve Fund Variable Contributions
HKEX
Please be advised that The SEHK Options Clearing House Limited (SEOCH) has re-calculated the Reserve Fund Requirement pursuant to SEOCH Rule 407 and Clearing House Procedures. The new market total Variable Contribution ("VC") of HK$785 million after the recalculation will be shared by all the SEOCH Participants based on their daily average total margin requirement and net premium paid during the period from 27 May 2022 to 22 August 2022 in accordance with Chapter 11 of the Operational Clearing Procedures for Options Trading Exchange Participants of SEOCH.
/bit.ly/3KfskKn
ASX Limited Annual Report 2022
ASX
We refer to our market announcement on 19 August 2022 regarding a correction to footnote 12 on page 66 of the Remuneration Report in ASX's 2022 Annual Report. We enclose the corrected Annual Report which has also been published on the Financial Results page of our website.
/bit.ly/3CnzRFh
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Musk Seeks Dismissal of Twitter Investor Suit as 'Hypothetical'
Jef Feeley - Bloomberg
Elon Musk asked a judge to throw out a Twitter Inc. shareholder's lawsuit over the billionaire's effort to cancel his $44 billion buyout of company, already the subject of a high-profile legal battle. The suit is flawed because it casts the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer as controlling Twitter and seeks to recover "purely hypothetical" losses on behalf of all Twitter investors, Musk's lawyers argued.
/jlne.ws/3QHs0qg
Meta Learned of FTC's Surprise Suit to Block VR Deal on Twitter
Alex Barinka, Leah Nylen and Sarah Frier - Bloomberg
Meta Platforms Inc. learned that the US Federal Trade Commission was suing the company over one of its smaller acquisitions via a Twitter post. The Facebook parent company had provided hundreds of pages of documents, data and other details to the FTC as part of a routine disclosure before its acquisition of Within Unlimited, a virtual reality fitness app maker, could be approved, according to people familiar with the matter. But the regulator made no indications it was about to challenge the deal, and didn't send its legal complaint to the company, the people said.
/jlne.ws/3PO5lHr
NFL's Dak Prescott Signs Multiyear Deal With Blockchain.com; The Dallas Cowboys quarterback will do ads and appearances as the crypto industry gets deeper into sports
Kim Bhasin - Bloomberg
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has signed a multiyear endorsement deal with cryptocurrency firm Blockchain.com as the crypto industry boosts its presence in sports to lure more users. As part of the agreement, the two-time Pro Bowler will appear in advertisements on television, radio and social media and will make appearances at events. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
/jlne.ws/3cgvRf6
Investment trust Chrysalis forecasts boost in fortunes for start-ups; London-listed group says tech rally will help fintech companies such as Klarna and Starling after brutal start to year
Joshua Oliver and Adrienne Klasa - Financial Times
UK investment trust Chrysalis has hailed the rebound in tech stocks this summer as a sign that the fortunes of high-growth start-ups will improve over the coming months after a brutal start to the year. Richard Watts and Nick Williamson, managers of the London listed trust that has bet heavily on growth stocks such as fintech groups Klarna and Starling, think the worst is over for the tech companies in their portfolio, hit hard by inflation and interest rate rises.
/jlne.ws/3dOHydg
New chief steers growth at AxeTrading with introduction of non-standard interest rate swaps; Raiffeisen Bank International was the first participant to execute the new instrument on AxeTrading earlier this month.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Fixed income trading software provider AxeTrading has expanded its suite of products to include interest rate swaps. AxeTrading said the news signalled its "new direction" following the appointment of Greville Lucking as its new chief executive in April. Former CEO Ralf M Henke stepped down from the role in January alongside founders Mark Watters and Dinos Daborn to support the company's "next stage of growth".
/jlne.ws/3Kef7Bz
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | The Sleuths Who Protect Crypto From Hackers Are Raking in Money; VC investment in crypto security firms has surged this year; 'We have spent sooooo much money on audits,' Crypto CEO says
Olga Kharif and Anna Irrera - Bloomberg
At a time when many crypto companies have seen their fortunes plummet, one corner of the industry is thriving. With criminals including North Korean hackers increasingly targeting the sprawling software infrastructure underpinning the cryptosphere, firms that sift through code for weaknesses and run bug-hunting sites are finding themselves with more business than they can handle. As mass firings become the norm elsewhere in crypto, they're boosting hiring, raising prices and taking in fresh funding. Their rising fortunes underscore how the industry is waking up to the threat of sophisticated hackers who have stolen roughly $2 billion from digital-asset protocols this year, according to researcher Chainalysis, which says such attacks show few signs of slowing.
/jlne.ws/3Cpvs4t
Famed hacker blows whistle on Twitter, claims app is risk to national security
Ariel Zilber - NY Post
A well-known "ethical hacker" who was hired by Twitter to overhaul its cybersecurity alleged that the social media giant has become a security risk for the US after it reneged on a deal with the federal government to set up a system that adequately protects user data. Peiter "Mudge" Zatko — a software engineer who became a star in the hacker community after leading a 1990s-era group called "Cult of the Dead Cow" — filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging widespread dysfunction at Twitter.
/jlne.ws/3cfwS76
Twitter whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko raises concerns over security threats at platform
Donie O'Sullivan, Clare Duffy and Brian Fung - CNN
Twitter has major security problems that pose a threat to its own users' personal information, to company shareholders, to national security, and to democracy, according to an explosive whistleblower disclosure obtained exclusively by CNN and The Washington Post.
The disclosure, sent last month to Congress and federal agencies, paints a picture of a chaotic and reckless environment at a mismanaged company that allows too many of its staff access to the platform's central controls and most sensitive information without adequate oversight. It also alleges that some of the company's senior-most executives have been trying to cover up Twitter's serious vulnerabilities, and that one or more current employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service.
/jlne.ws/3AGEl8L
Norwegian sovereign wealth fund chief says he's more worried about cybersecurity than markets, even after $174 billion loss
Anviksha Patel - MarketWatch
That's from Nicolai Tangen, the chief executive of Norway's sovereign wealth fund, who has warned that cyber security has overshadowed any other concerns about the markets in recent years.
Tangen told the Financial Times that Norges Bank Investment Management, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund with $1.2 trillion in assets, faces an average of three serious cyber-attack attempts every day.
"We're seeing many more attempts, more attacks [that are] increasingly sophisticated," he said.
/jlne.ws/3QM8WXU
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Blockchain and Cryptocurrency CPAs—Evolution of the Profession
David Canedo - Bloomberg Tax
Blockchain is doing for money what the internet did for information. As a result, accountants must evolve to help their clients navigate through the revolution or else their clients will look elsewhere, says David Canedo, head of tax and compliance strategy at Accointing.com. The irony about needing accountants who understand digital assets is that blockchains themselves are transaction ledgers with automated record-keeping—a blockchain is a giant check register. The technical properties of blockchains means data can never be deleted, only added or read, while transactions and balances can be instantly verified with 100% certainty through the protocols themselves. Because of this, blockchains can disrupt the accounting and tax industries by automating the accounting, bookkeeping, and data entry, and eventually forcing accountants to evolve. While the industry isn't quite there yet, today's complexities of taxation and reporting of digital assets are creating a need for a new breed of accountant: the crypto CPA who is good at working with limited data, being a forensic investigator, understanding new protocols, and applying old frameworks to new technologies while steering clear of any regulatory risk.
/jlne.ws/3wnBQpo
Former CFTC Chair: Stablecoins similar to Terra's UST Need 'Very Strict' Regulation and Consumer Protection
CoinDesk
Former CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad comments on the Terra LUNA fiasco and why he suggests "very strict" regulation and consumer protection on similar algorithmic stablecoins. Plus, the impact of Tornado Cash's sanctions on future regulation.
/jlne.ws/3wqpFYS
Crypto Investment Scams Fall With Market Downturn, but DeFi Hacks Surge: Report
CoinDesk
Crypto investment scams are down along with the rest of the market, Chainalysis Director of Research Kim Grauer tells "First Mover," citing macroeconomic headwinds and law enforcement actions. But, at the same time "the hacking of DeFi protocols is way up," she explains.
/jlne.ws/3Aj2ZdV
Former CFTC Chair 'Very Concerned' About Funding for Crypto Regulation
CoinDesk
Former Chairman Timothy Massad discusses his concerns over CFTC's insufficient funding for crypto regulation. "We didn't have the resources to do the things we really needed to do," Massad says. Plus, insights into his proposal for stablecoin regulation.
/jlne.ws/3QZHpC8
Is Ethereum's Merge Priced-In?
Daniel Kuhn - CoinDesk
Katie Talati, the director of research at investment firm Arca, thinks traditional finance institutions are at risk of missing out on a once-in-a-decade trade. Right now, she said, ether (ETH) is woefully underpriced and there's a catalyst around the corner. Next month, Ethereum will have billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies, millions of users and thousands of apps transferring to a new and improved blockchain. This follows years of R&D that will culminate in the so-called Merge, the actual technical deployment of Ethereum's proof-of-stake chain.
/jlne.ws/3pD1Fhh
Price of Cardano's native cryptocoin, ADA, plunges after test failure of major blockchain upgrade
Christiaan Hetzner - FORTUNE
A failed test of Cardano's highly anticipated blockchain upgrade last week has founder Charles Hoskinson fuming that his very own community unwittingly committed a "self-inflicted wound." Its native ADA coin fell by close to a fifth since Friday's session, amid fears over more potential delays to improve the chain's scalability with faster transaction speeds and throughput. "It's incredibly corrosive and damaging, and it's got to stop," warned Hoskinson in a 24-minute video response posted to YouTube on Saturday. A previous key member of the Cardano community broke ranks and sounded the alarm over a "catastrophic" failure in a test of the new upgrade, dubbed "Vasil," which had already suffered various hiccups.
/jlne.ws/3R7Qd9f
What Is an NFT Video, and How to Earn With It?
Coin Rivet
NFT is a certificate guaranteeing the ownership of a digital asset. It could be an image, music, video, or even a virtual world object. The certificate cannot be forged because it is based on blockchain technology.
/jlne.ws/3pBV46z
Cryptoverse: A mixer with your crypto cocktail?
Lisa Pauline Mattackal - Reuters
The DeFi dream is shaken. And stirred. The grand crypto project has declined in 2022: total user funds deposited in decentralized finance has shrunk to about $61 billion from over $170 billion at the start of the year, according to figures from data aggregator Defi Llama. In a fresh jolt, the U.S. Treasury has sanctioned one of the industry's biggest "mixers", tools that pool and scramble crypto from thousands of addresses to boost anonymity, saying it was used by hackers to launder their gains.
/jlne.ws/3KdQjcS
Crypto Exchange Coinbase Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Lapses in Security
Sandali Handagama - CoinDesk
Coinbase failed to properly secure customers' accounts, leaving them vulnerable to theft and unauthorized transfers, a putative class action lawsuit filed against the crypto exchange last week alleges. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, also accuses the company of causing financial harm to users by locking them out of their accounts permanently or for long periods of time, as well as violating federal law by listing securities on its trading platform.
/jlne.ws/3Cu0591
Episode 2: A Sceptic's Guide to Crypto; Our new podcast series asks whether crypto and its supporting technology — the blockchain — have a future following a market crash
Jemima Kelly - Financial Times
We are in the midst of a digital revolution, where the line between our physical world and cyber space is blurring. Tech Tonic is a show that investigates the promises and perils of this new technological age. Even after the crypto markets crashed this year, there are still a number of people who believe there's a future for digital assets and blockchain technology.
/jlne.ws/3cco9Tk
Crypto.com Completes SOC 2 Type II Compliance; Latest certification further positions Crypto.com as the most secure and reliable virtual asset service provider
Crypto.com
Crypto.com, the world's fastest growing cryptocurrency platform, today announced it has successfully completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type II Compliance audit, further demonstrating its best-in-class security and data privacy practices. The audit was conducted by globally recognised audit and consulting firm Deloitte, affirming that Crypto.com's information security practices, policies, procedures, and operations adhere to AICPA Trust Services Criteria in Security, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy.
/jlne.ws/3QWxvBq
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Walker, criticizing climate law, asks: 'Don't we have enough trees around here?'
John Wagner - The Washington Post
Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker is criticizing the sweeping climate, health-care and deficit-reduction bill signed into law by President Biden, arguing that it includes wasteful spending to combat global warming and asking, "Don't we have enough trees around here?" The former NFL football player, who was encouraged to run by former president Donald Trump, has made head-scratching comments that have drawn ridicule. In a July 9 appearance, he spoke about climate change, suggesting that Georgia's "good air decides to float over" to China, replacing China's "bad air," which goes back to Georgia, where "we got to clean that back up."
/jlne.ws/3c9HiFr
Saudi Prince Says Oil's Disconnect May Force OPEC+ Action
Will Kennedy and Grant Smith - Bloomberg
Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said "extreme" volatility and lack of liquidity mean the futures market is increasingly disconnected from fundamentals and OPEC+ may be forced to cut production. "The paper and physical markets have become increasingly more disconnected," he said in response to written questions from Bloomberg News. Prince Abdulaziz represents the largest oil producer in OPEC+ and is arguably the most important player in the 23-nation alliance. He said futures prices don't reflect the underlying fundamentals of supply and demand, which may require the group to tighten production when it meets next month to consider output targets.
/jlne.ws/3Cn1EWn
Belgian Prime Minister Warns of 10 'Difficult' Winters for Europe
Lyubov Pronina - Bloomberg
The next "5 to 10 winters will be difficult," Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo warned on Monday as energy prices in Europe soared to new records. "The development of the situation is very difficult throughout Europe," De Croo told reporters. "Some sectors are facing serious difficulties with these high energy prices."
/jlne.ws/3QJAhu1
All Points South for crypto-backed festivals; Luno sponsors a London day party
George Steer - Financial Times
"Hedge Fund Festivals Kill Electronic Music" might not be the catchiest title for an EP, but it's hard to disagree with the sentiment. Artists Blawan and The Analogue Cops sadly never replied to my request for an interview on the financialisation of fandom back in 2018. And they probably weren't in attendance at Saturday's All Points East — a London day party organised by US conglomerate the Anschutz Entertainment Group and sponsored this year by crypto platform Luno. Music fans who don't already know may be disappointed to learn that The Anschutz Corporation (which owns AEG, which also runs Coachella) gave $75,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association five days after Roe v. Wade was overturned, according to Rolling Stone.
/jlne.ws/3PXOgeB
Russia calls Britain hypocritical for questioning its right to sit at G20
Reuters
Russia's embassy in London on Monday called Britain hypocritical for a statement by its foreign ministry last week that questioned Russia's "moral right" to sit at the Group of 20 nations. Britain said Russia had no moral right to sit at the G20 while it presses on with its invasion of Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3QKgNFz
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | SEC Charges Denver Real Estate Developer with Securities Fraud
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Denver real estate developer WDC Holdings LLC d/b/a Northstar Commercial Partners and its owner and chief executive officer, R. Brian Watson, alleging that they misrepresented their own investments in securities offerings to fund ten separate real estate projects.
/jlne.ws/3Akq53Q
FCA looks for external experts to help shape its work on ESG issues
FCA
Earlier this year the FCA Board decided to establish a brand new ESG Advisory Committee to help execute its ESG-related responsibilities. This includes meeting the Government's expectation that we 'have regard' to the UK's commitment to achieving a net zero economy by 2050, when considering how to advance and achieve our objectives and functions.
/jlne.ws/3AdXkG5
Banks and insurers have work cut out with CoFI
Clare Bolingford - Financial Markets Authority (New Zealand)
It is the job of financial institutions to manage financial risks and provide suitable products and services to customers. Most are good at this and recognise that balancing broad stakeholder interests is important to remain sustainable and for our financial system to function properly.
The way they do that is crucial, though, and we know some haven't always been focused on ensuring the customer is getting a fair deal.
Our reviews of conduct and culture at banks and insurers in 2018/19 found a number of conduct issues and a lack of proactivity in identifying and fixing them.
/jlne.ws/3QZSl3f
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | 'Limited' oil and gas capacity could send prices higher in 2023, analyst says
Ines Ferré - Yahoo! Finance
Oil prices could spike again by the beginning of 2023, says one analyst. "Domestically, whether it's oil or it's gas, these companies have very very limited incremental capacity at this time," Truist Securities Managing Director of Energy Research Neal Dingmann told Yahoo Finance Live. U.S natural gas prices rallied on Monday to new 14-year highs over reserve concerns and the energy crisis in Europe. Oil prices declined during the session amid worries of a global slowdown and the prospects of a nuclear deal with Iran, which would translate into more crude entering the market.
/jlne.ws/3cbaWtZ
Active ETFs manage to shine even as mutual funds take a battering; Strong inflows help assets rise even as active mutual fund holdings plunge 20%
Steve Johnson - Financial Times
Exchange traded funds are proving a rare ray of light for under-fire active fund managers as mutual funds are decimated by a toxic cocktail of investment losses and unprecedented outflows.
/jlne.ws/3AGtpb1
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Analysis: As drought risks rise, investors eye thirsty companies, solutions
Cole Horton, Ross Kerber and Simon Jessop - Reuters
As droughts worsen across the world, investors are turning up the heat on companies wasting water and trying to pick winners from a sparse crowd of specialist listed companies looking to address the problem. From Kenya to California and nearly half of Europe, a shortage of fresh water has grabbed the attention of policymakers and given millions of citizens a fresh window into the stressed state of the planet. Against that backdrop, a group of investors managing nearly $10 trillion on August 16 said they planned to step up efforts to pressure boards to better manage the critical resource and could vote against directors of laggard firms. read more
/reut.rs/3dQaVvE
Comment: To tackle the global water crisis, companies must be made to reveal their water impacts
Cate Lamb - CDP via Reuters
The world is facing a water crisis, and it is growing with each passing year. The planetary boundary for freshwater has now been passed, posing "a threat to life support systems on Earth", according to researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Planetary boundaries are safe zones that allow humanity to thrive and continue to develop. But crossing these boundaries is not like crossing the Rubicon. We are depleting the world's supply of freshwater at an alarming rate, but we can still turn back. How we make that journey from the cliff edge back to safe ground will be the defining story for our planet over the coming years. The starting point for this urgent work must be transparency and data, and lots of it.
/reut.rs/3AE62ii
Why the ESG/Tech Combination Is Relevant
ETF Trends via Nasdaq
Experienced investors know that broad market environmental, social, and governance (ESG) exchange traded funds are usually heavily allocated to technology stocks. Some ESG ETFs really ratchet up exposure to growth stocks and the technology. Take the case of the Invesco ESG Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQMG). QQMG tracks the Nasdaq-100 ESG Index. As the ESG counterpart to the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX), it's not surprising that the ESG index features a significant tech weight. As of August 19, QQMG's tech weight is almost 62%, or more than quadruple the ETF's second-largest sector exposure. While some critics argue that ESG ETFs are too dependent on tech stocks, other experts argue that the marriage is a practical one.
/bit.ly/3ccnDED
ESG - A Defense, A Critique, And A Way Forward: An Evidence-Driven Pragmatic Perspective
Shivaram Rajgopal - Forbes
I am the Kester and Brynes Professor at Columbia Business School and a Chazen Senior Scholar at the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business. The evidence against claims related to "woke" capitalism is thin. Both sides of the ESG debate make valid points while being simultaneously guilty of overstating their case relative to the observed data. I present an agenda for inquiry that can hopefully further the debate to add value to companies and society. I often get asked about the ESG backlash that has been raging over the past month or so. The Economist recently declared that "ESG" amounts to "three letters that won't save the planet. I believe their call for a singular focus only on emissions is somewhat limiting. Michael Kahn, the Chief Economist of National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) was kind enough to invite me to give a keynote on ESG investing. I jumped on that opportunity to critically examine the objections against "woke" capitalism (part 1), highlight a few of my own questions about ESG (part 2 next week) and suggest an agenda of inquiry to move forward and make progress and if nothing to understand the world a bit better (part 3, a fortnight from now). Here are my thoughts. Feedback welcome as always.
/bit.ly/3T9UJWs
Europe's Drought May Be Continent's Worst in at Least 500 Years
Kevin Whitelaw - Bloomberg
Europe is currently in the throes of a drought that appears to be the worst in at least 500 years, according to a preliminary analysis by experts from the European Union's Joint Research Center. Some 64% of the EU is under a drought warning or alert, according to a new report from the European Drought Observatory. The bloc's experts said they expect the warm and dry conditions, which are fueling wildfires and reducing crop outputs, to continue in parts of the region until November.
/jlne.ws/3pBaDeS
Preparing Financially, Before the Storm Hits; With the cost and frequency of weather-driven disasters on the rise, taking steps to be ready is more crucial than ever.
Tara Siegel Bernard - The New York Times
As a lifelong resident of Lafourche Parish in southern Louisiana, Jeanne Gouaux knew the storms that cut through the region demanded preparation. She had wind and hail insurance, a solid savings account. But it wasn't until Hurricane Ida's 150-mile-per-hour winds peeled back part of her roof last August that she experienced the fury — and its aftermath — up close.
/jlne.ws/3AiAg97
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Citi FX Chief Tuchman to Depart as Staley Named Sole Head; Executive has been with the bank for more than two decades; Australia prosecutors dropped cartel allegations this year
Jennifer Surane - Bloomberg
Itay Tuchman, who spent the past five years running Citigroup Inc.'s sprawling foreign-exchange trading desk and successfully beat back allegations that he was part of an illegal trading cartel in Australia, is leaving after more than two decades at the firm. Tuchman, 43, will pursue opportunities outside the company, according to a memo to staff Monday that was seen by Bloomberg News. Stu Staley, who was named Tuchman's co-head earlier this year, will take over as sole chief of the currency division, according to the memo. "Itay has contributed to the success of our markets franchise and has occupied a variety of senior roles across products and regions, including most recently leading our best-in-class FX business," Andy Morton, who runs all of Citigroup's trading businesses, said in the memo.
/jlne.ws/3AHwism
Fidelity And BlackRock Are Creating More Alternative Investment Funds - Here's Why
Dalton Brewster - Benzinga
For decades, many retail investors allocated their portfolios among standard choices like stocks, bonds and mutual funds that have exposure to those traditional asset classes. Currently, many traditional rules of thumb, including the 60%/40% stock-to-bond portfolio, are becoming somewhat obsolete.
/jlne.ws/3AE4tkA
Credit Suisse Is Chasing a Broader Set of the Global Wealthy; Advisers to be assigned to Private Banking International; Credit Suisse seeking more business beyond the super-rich
Myriam Balezou - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG is shifting resources to win business from a broader range of rich clients, as the lender focuses more heavily on wealth management amid cuts to its troubled investment bank. The Zurich-based bank is reassigning advisers to its dedicated Private Banking International unit, led by Raffael Gasser, according to a memo sent to staff Tuesday seen by Bloomberg. The aim is to expand Credit Suisse's coverage of global high-net-worth clients in addition to the ultra-wealthy segment, the memo said.
/jlne.ws/3ACnlAl
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Hong Kong Weighs Quarantine Exemptions for Banking Summit, HKET Says; Officials unsure if travel quarantine can be further cut; Daily cases highest since March, hospitals under pressure
Felix Tam and Jinshan Hong - Bloomberg
Hong Kong is considering a series of travel and quarantine exemptions for participants in a November investment summit designed to trumpet the financial hub's revival, according to a local media report. The government is studying exemptions that would allow participants to skip mandatory hotel quarantine as part of its plan to ensure the summit can go ahead even if the city can't further ease Covid curbs for travelers by then, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported in a column, citing people it didn't identify. Several of Wall Street's biggest banks have made quarantine-free travel a precondition for senior executives to attend the conference, people familiar with the discussions said this month.
/jlne.ws/3KbMwgl
Japan Set to Allow More Tourists to Enter; Ease Covid Test Rule; Country is last remaining rich economy with strict controls; Businesses struggling after seeing pre-pandemic tourism boom
Reed Stevenson - Bloomberg
Japan is set to more than double the number of people it will allow into the country and may scrap the need for a negative Covid-19 test to enter, as the last rich economy with stringent entry requirements still in place looks to join the rest of the world in easing pandemic curbs. The daily limit on tourists will be raised to 50,000 people as soon as next month from the current 20,000, broadcaster FNN reported, citing unidentified government officials. Authorities are also considering a gradual easing of testing requirements, such as initially exempting fully vaccinated people, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier. Travelers currently need to submit negative results from a PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure to Japan.
/jlne.ws/3AFlomE
Anthony Fauci, Biden's Chief Medical Advisor During the Covid Pandemic, to Step Down in December; President Biden, HHS Secretary applaud NIAID director's career; Top US infectious disease expert to pursue 'next chapter'
Jeannie Baumann and Riley Griffin - Bloomberg
Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert who rocketed to unexpected fame during the pandemic, will step down at the end of the year. Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, will wrap up a storied career in which he advised seven presidents. Instead of retiring, he's leaving his government posts to "pursue the next chapter of my career," Fauci, 81, said in a statement released Monday by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a branch of the National Institutes of Health.
/jlne.ws/3KcdqVs
Covid Incubation Gets Shorter With Each New Variant, Study Shows
Jason Gale - Bloomberg
The longer a virus can replicate inside a person before causing symptoms, the harder it can be to stop because of the greater potential for the infected to unknowingly spread it far and wide.
/jlne.ws/3R4YgDG
Pfizer's Shot Is 73% Effective Against Covid in Children Under 5
John Lauerman - Bloomberg
Pfizer Inc.'s Covid-19 vaccine was 73.2% effective against the disease in a trial of children 6 months through 4 years old, reinforcing results that led to the shot's authorization in young kids in June.
/jlne.ws/3CqKFSQ
Poor Heart Health Predicts Premature Brain Ageing, Study Suggests
Nina Massey - Press Association via Bloomberg
By estimating people's brain age from scans, researchers have identified multiple risk factors for a prematurely ageing brain. They found that worse heart - or cardiovascular - health at age 36 predicted a higher brain age later in life.
/jlne.ws/3pAbQmO
COVID has evolved to make you sicker quicker, new study finds
Erin Prater - Fortune
As the novel virus has evolved to become more transmissible and virulent, it's also shortened its incubation period, according to a study out of two Beijing universities published Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Association. That means those who have been infected will experience symptoms more quickly (if they're going to experience symptoms at all).
/jlne.ws/3PJdihj
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China to Waive Some Africa Loans, Offer $10 Billion in IMF Funds; Beijing to forgive 23 interest-free loans to 17 nations; Pledges to rechannel SDRs through two IMF trusts to Africa
Ana Monteiro and Tom Hancock - Bloomberg
China, the largest government creditor to emerging economies, said it will forgive 23 interest-free loans to 17 African countries and redirect $10 billion of its International Monetary Fund reserves to nations on the continent. Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the cancelations in a meeting last week of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, according to a post on the ministry's website. It didn't provide details on the value of the loans which it said matured at the end of 2021, nor did it state which nations owed the money.
/jlne.ws/3pEkOzy
Europe's Corn Crop Will Plummet By Almost a Fifth as Drought Bites
Megan Durisin - Bloomberg
The drought and heat waves marring Europe's summer will pare the corn crop at double the rate predicted just last month. Yields of the staple grain will fall 16% below the five-year average, the bloc's Monitoring Agricultural Resources unit said in a report Monday. That compares with a July forecast for a 7.8% decline. The plunge in local production likely will boost the cost of feeding livestock herds, adding to the hurdles for farmers grappling with bulging energy and fertilizer bills. Meat prices across the bloc leaped 12% in July versus a year earlier. Milk, cheese and eggs also are soaring at record rates.
/jlne.ws/3wLrz6D
Saudi Arabia's Possible Oil Supply Cut Rattles Refiners in Asia; SK Innovation predicts such action would drive up crude prices; Market disconnect may spur OPEC+ move, Prince Abdulaziz says
Sharon Cho and Serene Cheong - Bloomberg
A suggestion from Saudi Arabia that OPEC+ may cut oil output has startled refiners in Asia, with two warning such a move could lift prices and fan uncertainty at an already-difficult time for processors in the biggest crude-importing region.
/jlne.ws/3TcV1f2
Coal-rich Poland laments reliance on Russia as home supplies run short; Ban on trade with Moscow leaves residents fearing a winter heating crisis
Raphael Minder and Barbara Erling - FT
Like millions of Poles, Mateusz Szumlas would normally have coal delivered to his cellar by his local supplier in good time for him and his partner to heat their home for winter. But this year Szumlas has had to become something of a cross-border fuel trader, travelling to buy coal in the Czech Republic and lugging it back to his Polish home town of Swieradów-Zdrój. He only expects to receive a portion of the four to five tonnes he usually gets brought to his door, even after Poland's parliament approved emergency subsidies for the one-third of households that use coal to keep warm.
/jlne.ws/3Tcr3Yy
Venezuela Ordered to Pay ConocoPhillips $8.7 Billion Over Asset Seizures
Sabrina Willmer - Bloomberg
A judge in Washington, D.C., ordered Venezuela to pay about $8.7 billion to ConocoPhillips as compensation for seizing the energy company's interests in oil projects.
/jlne.ws/3KcE940
Dallas-Area Flooding Kills at Least One After Massive Downpour; Heavy rainfall deluged the region in a 'too fast, too furious' storm.
Josh Saul and David R Baker - Bloomberg
A massive rainstorm in North Texas drenched parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth area with more than a foot of water, swamping roadways, triggering flash flood warnings and killing at least one person in what experts call a once-in-200-years event. A 60-year-old woman died after flood waters fed by torrential rainfall swept away her car, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins reported on Twitter. He also declared a state of disaster in the county following an intense storm that dropped more than 9 inches of rain at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport — the second-wettest 24-hour period in the airport's history, according to the the National Weather Service.
/jlne.ws/3QCdG2l
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Red Lights at Hong Kong Crosswalks Are Helping Phone Zombies Cross the Street; City targets pedestrians glued to devices with new stop signal; More road deaths are linked to pedestrians disobeying rules
Hayley Wong - Bloomberg
With pedestrians increasingly glued to their mobile phones and deaths among inattentive jaywalkers rising, Hong Kong is trialing a novel approach to keeping its citizens safe at road crossings. Instead of just relying on traditional 'Red Man' stop signals, authorities have installed LED lights that bathe crossing points in a red glow. The hope is that people gazing down at their devices will see the sidewalk lit up, and be reminded to stop.
/jlne.ws/3AgsUmH
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