| March 24, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Howard Lutnick, billionaire and current U.S. Secretary of Commerce, is under fire after saying his 94-year-old mother-in-law wouldn't complain about a missed Social Security check, and that those who do are likely "fraudsters." His remarks, made on the All-In Podcast, sparked widespread outrage, especially as more than 7 million seniors depend on Social Security for at least 90% of their income, Business Insider reported.
The Wall Street Journal published a story titled "Dealing With Social Security Is Heading From Bad to Worse" with the subtitle "The agency that administers benefits is cutting staff and restricting services as part of a Department of Government Efficiency review."
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spearheaded by President Trump and Elon Musk, has introduced sweeping changes to the Social Security Administration that critics say are eroding public trust and dismantling critical services. The agency is cutting staff, closing field offices, eliminating phone services for key tasks, and forcing more retirees-many without internet access-to rely on delayed or inaccessible in-person services. Despite claims of fraud prevention, the impact on millions of Americans, especially vulnerable seniors, is severe. Wait times have skyrocketed, only 47% of callers reach an agent, and those needing help are often left stranded, as illustrated by 64-year-old journalist Holly Lawrence, who spent weeks trying to file her claim.
What DOGE is doing has nothing to do with efficiency or improving lives. It's about dismantling a foundational safety net under the guise of reform. These changes don't streamline government-they sabotage it, placing undue burdens on those who need help the most. Gutting services, dehumanizing support systems, and vilifying vulnerable people as "fraudsters" reflects a system more interested in ideology than real public service.
23andMe, a consumer genetics and biotechnology company that provides at-home DNA testing kits to help individuals explore their ancestry, genetic traits, and health predispositions, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and its co-founder and CEO has resigned, the Associated Press reported. Another co-founder and initial co-president for a year was Nodal Exchange CEO Paul Cusenza, according to Cusenza's LinkedIn profile and a story about in Forbes. At 23andMe, customers submit a saliva sample, and in return, receive detailed reports on their ethnic background, potential genetic health risks, inherited conditions, and wellness traits. The company also offers DNA relative matching and allows users to opt into research studies that contribute to scientific and medical discoveries. In situations like this there is some concern that the DNA data could fall into the wrong hands. The board chair, Mark Jensen, is quoted in the AP story saying, "We are committed to continuing to safeguard customer data and being transparent about the management of user data going forward, and data privacy will be an important consideration in any potential transaction."
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: Nasdaq lists Swedish, Danish single stock derivatives - FOW Data, Gulf Mercantile Exchange live with crude basis platform, ANALYSIS: Marex details growth plans in first annual report, Japanese clearer links to Tradeweb's Japanese swaps venues, ANALYSIS: Financial firms operating in AI governance 'vacuum' - ZISHI webinar and Plus500 agrees takeover to expand futures offering to India.
Gary DeWaal announced on LinkedIn the formation of GD Mountain Insights, LLC, and his formal availability to serve as an expert witness for litigation involving exchange-traded derivatives and crypto-related disputes.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- J.P. Morgan Redesigns Short Volatility ETNs from Traders Magazine.
- CME to Launch New Venue for Cash Treasuries Trading in Chicago from Bloomberg.
- Dubai Weighs Major Regulatory Changes to Lure Hedge Funds from Bloomberg. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Nodal Exchange Expands Workforce Amid Record Growth in Power, Environmental Markets
JohnLothianNews.com
BOCA RATON, Fla. (JLN) - Nodal Exchange, a leader in North American power and environmental markets, continues to experience significant growth in 2024 and 2025 with record trading volumes across multiple asset classes, according to Chairman and CEO Paul Cusenza.
"We've continued to grow significantly on the exchange in 2024, had record volumes across all of its asset classes - power, natural gas and environmental," Cusenza said in an interview at the FIA Boca50 conference.
Watch the video »
Brad Levy - Symphony
Watch Video »
Caroline D. Pham - CFTC
Watch Video »
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Kari Lake Isn't Telling the Truth About the VOA; She says a new headquarters is a waste of taxpayer funds, but the lease saved the government more than $150 million.
Amanda Bennett - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump recently selected Kari Lake as his top adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, the country's biggest international broadcaster. On March 14 she tweeted-and Elon Musk retweeted-a blistering video from USAGM's new headquarters in Washington. "I'm horrified by some of the things I'm learning about this agency," she says. "I'm sitting here on the 13th floor of a shiny, brand-new, beautiful skyscraper building that is costing you, the taxpayer, a fortune." Officials from the Biden administration, she said, had just signed a 15-year lease on this building "that's going to cost the taxpayer nearly a quarter of a billion dollars." Shortly after she tweeted, USAGM pulled out of the lease.
/jlne.ws/4iOv6Hj
***** With the amount of gaslighting coming out of Washington, we are going to have an energy crisis.~JJL
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These People Found Fame and Money-on LinkedIn; The site, once known for wonky posts and career congratulations, is getting the influencer treatment as more workers mix the personal with the professional
Ann-Marie Alcantara - The Wall Street Journal
April Little's rise to internet stardom began three years ago with a post about layoffs and recruitment services. People who lose their jobs in high-profile cuts, she wrote, often get showered with offers for help at the expense of millions of others who have been out of work for longer. "Do they need a big event or company tied to them to get recognition?" she asked. A post like this might have garnered a few likes on Instagram or TikTok before quickly disappearing into the ether. But on LinkedIn, it's the kind of frank talk that can turn you into a celebrity. Little soon had 100,000 followers on the site, and her fan base continued to swell.
/jlne.ws/4iTtI5M
***** Someone at Boca called me the original Finfluencer. Quite frankly, I don't know that many Finnish people, so I am not sure what he meant.~JJL
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IRS nears deal with ICE to share addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants; The move toward information-sharing comes as President Donald Trump pushes his administration to use every resource to conduct what he hopes will be the largest mass deportation of immigrants in U.S. history.
Jacob Bogage and Jeff Stein - The Washington Post
The Internal Revenue Service is nearing an agreement to allow immigration officials to use tax data to confirm the names and addresses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, according to four people familiar with the matter, culminating weeks of negotiations over using the tax system to support President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign. Under the agreement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement could submit names and addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants to the IRS to cross-reference with confidential taxpayer databases, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of professional reprisals.
/jlne.ws/4iytD7L
*****First they came for the undocumented immigrants, and I did not speak out-Because I was not an undocumented immigrant.~JJL h/t to Martin Niemoller.
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Friday's Top Three
Our top clicked item Friday was ETD Volume - February 2025, from the Futures Industry Association (FIA). Second was SEC Announces Agenda, Panelists for Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence, from the SEC. And third was The next four years: The outlook for FCMs under the second Trump administration, a downloadable white paper from ION Group
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| Lead Stories | Coinbase Is in Advanced Talks to Buy Derivatives Venue Deribit
Ben Bartenstein, Anna Irrera, Matthew Monks and Suvashree Ghosh - Bloomberg
Coinbase Global Inc. is in advanced discussions to acquire crypto derivatives exchange Deribit, the world's largest trading platform for Bitcoin and Ether options, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The companies have notified regulators in Dubai about the discussions as Deribit holds a license there, which would be taken over by any acquirer, some of the people said. Coinbase is the biggest US-based crypto exchange, according to data platform Kaiko.
/jlne.ws/4c6j1L3
ION's Pignataro Plans EUR2 Billion Technology Hub on Greek Coast
Daniele Lepido, Sotiris Nikas, and Luca Casiraghi - Bloomberg
Italian fintech tycoon Andrea Pignataro is developing a plan for a EUR2 billion ($2.2 billion) technology hub on the Greek coast that would host as many as 3,000 people. Pignataro is working with architect Renzo Piano on the campus for ION Group in Anavyssos, a seaside town south east of Athens, according to people familiar with the matter. The site would let ION centralize its research and development operations, which are currently spread across countries including the US, the UK and India.
/jlne.ws/4kWt616
He Was Apollo's Mr. Fix-It. Now He's Trump's Pick to Police Wall Street; After steering Apollo out of turmoil tied to Jeffrey Epstein, Jay Clayton is now gearing up to lead the crown jewel of the DOJ rattled by Trump.
Ava Benny-Morrison and Sridhar Natarajan - Bloomberg
His resume is formidable: Power lawyer, Washington regulator, Wall Street whisperer. It was that Jay Clayton who stepped into the fray when Leon Black's entanglement with Jeffrey Epstein set off a bare-knuckled power struggle atop Apollo Global Management Inc. The veteran lawyer was called on to restore peace, mend fractures and steer the mighty investing house back to normalcy. Now he has to do it all over again at another prized New York institution.
/jlne.ws/4kUDVka
A Crypto Coder's Invention Was Used by North Korean Hackers. Did He Commit a Crime? Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm is set to go on trial for conspiracy to commit money laundering
Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
Early one morning in August 2023, federal agents swept into Roman Storm's home in a wooded suburb of Seattle to arrest him at gunpoint. The 35-year-old software developer is set to go on trial this summer in a case that cryptocurrency advocates consider a key test for the legal treatment of blockchain technology. The crypto industry has rallied behind Storm, and some of his allies have called for President Trump to intervene and drop the prosecution, which began during the Biden administration.
/jlne.ws/4j0aX0x
The Online Casinos That Can Operate as Long as They Say They Aren't Actually Casinos; Policing loopholes in gambling law can be challenging, and most states have been slow to adapt.
Ben Blatt - The New York Times
In most states, playing slot machines online for real money is illegal. But a group of companies known as sweepstakes casinos has found a way around the law to let users play classic casino games online. Their revenues have grown 10-fold in the last five years, and they're now large enough to feature ads with Ryan Seacrest, Drake and Michael Phelps. Only recently have states like New York and Maryland contemplated restricting them, with billions of tax dollars at stake. But the loophole used by sweepstakes casinos complicates the states' ability - and desire - to take action.
/jlne.ws/4iSjYso
SEC to Lose About 500 Staffers to Buyout, Resignation Offers
Lydia Beyoud and Nicola M White - Bloomberg
About 500 staffers at the Securities & Exchange Commission have agreed to leave the agency in response to its $50,000 buyout and deferred-resignation offers, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The divisions of enforcement, exams and the office of the general counsel will experience some of the more significant departures, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing non-public information. The number may climb even higher as additional people accept the buyout ahead of Friday's deadline for the $50,000 incentive. Some of the departures may not take place until later this year.
/jlne.ws/4kPiVLG
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick pummeled over Social Security 'fraudster' comments
Katherine Li - Business Insider
Howard Lutnick, the billionaire Secretary of Commerce, is being pummeled online over his comments on Thursday that his 94-year-old mother-in-law would not complain about a missed Social Security check and that someone who would is a "fraudster." "Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month - my mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain," Lutnick told All-In Podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya. "A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining."
/jlne.ws/4hFZ1Qt
Barclays beats two lawsuits in US over $17.7 billion issuance blunder
Reuters
Barclays won the dismissal on Friday of two U.S. securities fraud lawsuits stemming from the British bank's unauthorized sale of $17.7 billion more securities than U.S. regulators allowed. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan said investors who acquired Barclays' iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Future exchange-traded notes ("VXX") could not sue over general assurances the bank made about its internal controls even as it issued the notes without the required regulatory approval.Liman also dismissed similar claims by investors who got caught in a market squeeze when Barclays suspended VXX sales in March 2022, causing the price of VXX securities they had sold short to soar 140% above their so-called indicative value.
/jlne.ws/4ipUp29
Inside the company that helped build China's equity options market; Fintech firm Bachelier Technology on the challenges of creating a trading platform for China's unique OTC derivatives market.
Chris Davis and Wei-Shen Wong - Risk.net
Ten years ago, a group of friends, working as traders and quants at different investment banks in New York, were chatting about some big markets news breaking in their home country. It was February 2015. The Shanghai Stock Exchange had just launched options on an exchange-traded fund, the SSE China 50 ETF, China's first listed options contract. Stocks were entering a bull run. "We were talking about Chinese capital markets," says Tuohua Wu, vice-president at Bachelier Technology, at the time a
/jlne.ws/4hsVipd
Turkey Bans Short Selling, Eases Buyback Rules to Bolster Stocks
Ugur Yilmaz - Bloomberg
Turkey's capital markets regulator banned short-selling across all stocks and relaxed share buyback rules in a bid to prevent further equity losses after the country's benchmark index tumbled last week following the detention of a prominent opposition leader. The new rules, announced late Sunday, broaden a previous ban that limited short-selling to only the top-50 listed companies. In addition, the regulator has allowed listed companies to repurchase shares at prices above the last market close and reduced the minimum equity capital protection requirement for margin trading to 20% from 35%.
/jlne.ws/4kTZWQ2
Tax revenue could drop by 10 percent amid turmoil at IRS; Staff cuts and disruptions related to the U.S. DOGE Service have officials bracing for a sharp loss of revenue.
Jacob Bogage - The Washington Post
Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, as an increasing number of individuals and businesses spurn filing their taxes or attempt to skip paying balances owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to three people with knowledge of tax projections. Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic data. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year.
/jlne.ws/4hDXD0G
DOGE's plans for social security are a 'backdoor' way to cut payments, experts warn: 'This is the most serious threat I've ever seen to it'
Beatrice Nolan - Fortune
Elon Musk's Department for Government Efficiency has a new target in its quest to eliminate government waste: Social Security. Musk and the DOGE team have accused the agency of being engaged in widespread fraud, most notably claiming that tens of millions of dead people are erroneously receiving payments.
/jlne.ws/4kPIvQJ
Hedge fund Elliott says it may take further action on LME voided nickel trades
Pratima Desai - Reuters
Elliott Associates is considering further action against the London Metal Exchange (LME) following a fine on the exchange by a watchdog last week for allowing nickel prices to surge out of control three years ago, the U.S.-based hedge fund said on Monday. Elliott lost a lawsuit against the exchange for cancelling billions of dollars of nickel trades after the price hit a record above $100,000 a tonne in March 2022, prompting the LME to suspend nickel trading.
/jlne.ws/4hEeW1E
SAP Topples Novo to Become Europe's Biggest Listed Company
Henry Ren - Bloomberg
German software developer SAP SE (SAP) unseated Danish weight-loss drug maker Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) as Europe's most-valuable public company. Shares of SAP, which have surged as the Walldorf, Germany-based firm boosts cloud sales with a range of new artificial intelligence offerings, rose as much as 2.3% on Monday. They were up 0.9% at 10:57 a.m. in Frankfurt, valuing the firm at about EUR312 billion ($338 billion). That tipped it past Novo Nordisk, whose shares have declined 18% this year due to disappointing trials of its next-generation weight-loss shot CagriSema.
/jlne.ws/4c0fe1E
Paul Weiss chair says Trump executive order could have destroyed law firm; Chair Brad Karp defends decision to cut a deal with White House in note to colleagues
Amelia Pollard - Financial Times
The head of Paul Weiss defended his decision to strike a deal to end a dispute with US President Donald Trump on Sunday, arguing that the survival of the elite law firm was at risk. Brad Karp, the chair of Paul Weiss, wrote in a note to colleagues that Trump's executive order targeting the firm posed an existential threat and left him no choice but to negotiate. "Only several days ago, our firm faced an existential crisis," Karp wrote in the email on Sunday, which was circulated on social media. "The executive order could easily have destroyed our firm. It brought the full weight of the government down on our firm, our people and our clients."
/jlne.ws/41W6i92
The Oil Oligarch Who Wants to Take Us Back to the 1990s
Russell Gold - The New York Times
In 2015, the Oklahoma oil magnate Harold Hamm got a glimpse of the future and didn't like what he saw. Renewable energy, he realized, was a threat to the long-term dominance of oil and natural gas. At the time, Oklahoma was facing a budget crisis and lawmakers wanted to increase taxes on oil and gas. To protect a lucrative tax break for his company, Continental Resources, Mr. Hamm waged a brutal campaign against the wind industry to convince lawmakers and the public that the tax breaks it received were the real problem.
/jlne.ws/4kZ9tFG
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| Trade War and Tariffs | | A roundup of today's trade war and tariff news and the global economic ripple effects shaping markets, industries, and investment strategies. | Canada aims for free internal trade that can offset any US tariffs, Carney says
Reuters
Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday said Canada could offset the effects of any U.S. tariffs by removing internal trade barriers and that he aimed for free trade within the country by July 1, after meeting provincial and territorial leaders. "We are committing to table legislation by the 1st of July for goods to travel across the country ... free of federal barriers," Carney told reporters. "We can more than offset the effects of any U.S. tariffs by eliminating internal trade barriers alone."
/jlne.ws/4iZsDJH
White House Narrows April 2 Tariffs; Tariffs on industrial sectors no longer expected to be unveiled on that date, though major trading partners will still be hit with reciprocal tariffs
Gavin Bade, Josh Dawsey and Meridith McGraw - The Wall Street Journal
The White House is narrowing its approach to tariffs set to take effect on April 2, likely omitting a set of industry-specific tariffs while applying reciprocal levies on a targeted set of nations that account for the bulk of foreign trade with the U.S. President Trump has declared his April 2 deadline to be "Liberation Day" for the U.S., when he will put in place what is called reciprocal tariffs that seek to equalize U.S. tariffs with the duties charged by trading partners, as well as tariffs on sectors like automobiles, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors he repeatedly said would be enacted on that day.
/jlne.ws/4kVm3pk
US retailers haggle with suppliers after Trump tariffs
Timothy Aeppel, Jessica DiNapoli and Siddharth Cavale - Reuters
U.S. retailers Walmart and Target are bickering behind the scenes with their suppliers over proposed price hikes on everything from cake pans, tote bags and toys to other merchandise.
The outcome of their talks will determine when and by how much merchandise prices rise - and even which products retailers will keep on store shelves. Major retailers say they can't just raise retail prices without losing market share and alienating American shoppers. Their stance is leading to acrimonious discussions about pricing with goods suppliers whose costs have shot up following President Donald J. Trump's tariffs.
/jlne.ws/4iyIDTa
Wealthy Americans seek refuge from Donald Trump in Swiss banks; Private bankers and investment managers report large increase in clients wanting to shift assets to Switzerland
Mercedes Ruehl and Josh Spero - Financial Times
Wealthy Americans both in the US and abroad are drawing up contingency plans to move assets to Switzerland amid uncertainty caused by the Trump administration. Private bankers, multi-family offices and asset management groups said they had seen a large increase in clients wanting to set up Swiss-based bank and investment accounts, especially ones that are compliant with US tax rules.
/jlne.ws/41T2t4p
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
Trump Says Efforts to Contain War in Ukraine 'Under Control'
Natalie Choy and Hadriana Lowenkron - Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump said efforts to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine from escalating further are "under control." Trump cited his "good" relationships with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as key to negotiating an end to the war. He was speaking in an interview with Outkick, a website that combines sports talk with conservative politics and which is owned by Fox Corp.
/jlne.ws/4iUaiO7
Austria says it has uncovered a Russian-steered campaign to spread disinformation about Ukraine
Associated Press
Austrian authorities said Monday that they uncovered a Russian-steered campaign aimed at spreading disinformation about Ukraine following the detention in December of a Bulgarian woman accused of spying for Russia. Austria's domestic intelligence agency unearthed evidence of the operation as it analyzed devices found in a search of the woman's home, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It said the investigation showed that a few weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a cell working for Russian intelligence was set up and planned a large-scale disinformation campaign in German-speaking countries, particularly Austria.
/jlne.ws/4hzEddi
As Russia retakes Kursk, Ukrainians ask, 'Was it worth it?'
Manuel Ausloos and Olena Harmash - Reuters
When Mariia Pankova last exchanged messages with her close friend Pavlo in December, she had no idea that he was among the Ukrainian troops fighting in Russia's Kursk region. She found out when a fellow soldier told her several days later that her friend, Pavlo Humeniuk, 24, a combat engineer in Ukraine's 47th Magura brigade, had gone missing near the village of Novoivanivka in Kursk on December 6.
/jlne.ws/4iT1sjB
Middle East Conflict
Gaza death toll passes 50,000 in Israel's war with Hamas, Health Ministry says; Gaza's Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Experts say the official death toll is probably an undercount.
Susannah George, Claire Parker and Abbie Cheeseman - The Washington Post
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the enclave's Health Ministry said Sunday - a grim indicator of the conflict's continued lethality less than a week since Israel shattered a nearly two-month-old ceasefire, launching airstrikes and ground incursions into the territory. Israel launched the war in Gaza in response to the deadly Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people and took roughly 250 people hostage. Most of those hostages have been released through negotiated exchanges, and of the 59 Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, 24 were believed to be alive before the conflict resumed.
/jlne.ws/4hLNj72
Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill scores in Gaza as Egypt offers new ceasefire proposal
The Associated Press
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed more than 60 Palestinians, including women and children, the Gaza Health Ministry said Monday, nearly a week after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas with a surprise bombardment. Meanwhile, officials say Egypt has introduced a new proposal to try and get the Israel-Hamas ceasefire back on track.
/jlne.ws/4kUQ1d0
Other Conflicts
Trump's expansionism threatens the rules-based order in place since second world war
Peter Beaumont - The Guardian
The post-second world war taboo on acquiring territory through force or by the threat of force is being unravelled by a generation of political leaders, led by expansionist threats from Donald Trump that are unprecedented for a US president. Experts are warning that a combination of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and Trump's comments explicitly pushing for the US to acquire Greenland, Canada, the Panama canal and Gaza is fuelling a permissive environment that threatens long-recognised borders and the international rules-based order that has existed since the end of the war. The norm, enshrined in article 2 of the UN charter of 1945, states that "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state".
/jlne.ws/4iTxYCi
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | In a First, LNG Cargo Trade Indexed to Abaxx LNG Futures
Abaxx
Abaxx Technologies Inc. (CBOE:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) ("Abaxx" or the "Company"), a financial software and market infrastructure company, majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd., the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, "Abaxx Exchange" and "Abaxx Clearing"), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, today announced the first over-the-counter ("OTC") trade of an LNG cargo indexed to Abaxx LNG futures. Two Asia-based counterparties have agreed to trade an LNG cargo to be exported from the Gulf of Mexico ("GOM") with the transaction price indexed to Abaxx GOM LNG futures. The adoption of Abaxx physically deliverable LNG futures as the price index for an OTC LNG cargo trade represents a significant milestone and advances their potential to become benchmarks in global LNG markets. On Friday, March 21, 2025, the Abaxx GOM LNG futures (May delivery) settled at $12.46/mmBtu¹, the Abaxx NWE LNG futures (May delivery) settled at $13.37/mmBtu, and the Abaxx NPA LNG Futures (May delivery) settled at $13.59/mmBtu.
/jlne.ws/4kVbDpG
Euronext STAR Conference: the 2025 edition kicks off
Euronext
The 24th edition of the Euronext STAR Conference, the annual event for companies listed on Euronext STAR Milan, will kick off tomorrow at Palazzo Mezzanotte. State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Finance, Federico Freni, and Fabrizio Testa, CEO of Borsa Italiana, will officially open the conference with the traditional ring the bell ceremony during the market opening on the morning of 25 March. The event will provide an opportunity to discuss the ongoing initiatives, developed across various institutional forums, aimed at strengthening the competitiveness and attractiveness of the Italian capital market. Over the course of the three-day event, companies listed on STAR will have the opportunity to meet national and international investors, fostering dialogue between businesses and the financial community. It will be a moment for discussions on STAR companies annual results, as well as an opportunity to share growth objectives and strategies.
/jlne.ws/4iYx8nU
HKEX Welcomes Asia's First Single Stock L&I Products
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pleased to welcome today (Monday) the listing of Asia's first Single Stock Leveraged and Inverse Products (L&I Products) in Hong Kong, further enriching the city's product ecosystem and reinforcing its role as the region's leading ETP marketplace. HKEX Head of Exchange Traded Products, Jean-Francois Mesnard-Sense, said: "The newly-launched Single Stock L&I Products mark a significant development in HKEX's ETP universe, and underpin our commitment to product innovation. This exciting product addition will support the breadth and depth of our markets and further enhances the competitiveness of Hong Kong as an international financial centre. We look forward to continue working closely with our stakeholders to welcome more innovative products to Hong Kong's premier markets."
/jlne.ws/4bWrWOY
Reitway Global Debuts First Income-Focused ETF on the JSE
JSE
Trading under the alpha code, RWINC, the fund is structured to mitigate capital loss relative to market movements, as the ETF was built to balance income generation with market resilience. The ETF is designed to give investors exposure to global properties by replicating and tracking the Reitway Global Property Index. Reitway Global is a niche investment management firm, providing products dedicated to Global Listed Property. The company has a concentrated approach that emphasises the global sector perspective aiming to create and preserve wealth over the medium and long term. By focusing on REITs, Reitway provides investors with an opportunity to diversify their portfolio, providing access to listed property stocks in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.
/jlne.ws/4kY7dhW
Athens Exchange Group Response to Media Reports Regarding the Closing Prices of the Alternative Market
Athex Group
In response to recent media reports referring to alleged inaccuracies in the closing prices of the Alternative Market, the Athens Exchange Group (ATHEX Group) would like to offer the following clarifications: We categorically affirm that at no time was there any deviation or distortion of the official market closing prices on the part of the ATHEX Group.
/jlne.ws/4iTIR70
Maria Santos, new Head REGIS-TR, SIX as of 1st April 2025
BME-X
Maria Santos has been appointed as Head REGIS-TR, SIX as of April 1st, replacing Thomas Steimann, who has decided to retire. María Santos has been working at REGIS-TR since March 2024 as Managing Director and she was responsible for the client, regulatory, business development, and product departments. She has also led the REGIS-TR's migration to the SIX Group.
/jlne.ws/4ixLbkn
CME Direct Software Enhancement Coming March 30
CME Group
/jlne.ws/4kT4mqn
Date Extension Planned: Mandatory Update Required for CORE API Service and CORE UI Service Users
CME Group
/jlne.ws/4bWqNHa
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Analysis-Klarna IPO filing spurs hope of British fintech listings
Charlie Conchie - Reuters
Klarna's upcoming U.S. initial public offering could help unlock a pipeline of British fintech flotations after a barren period for new technology listings, investors, lawyers and an executive told Reuters. Stockholm-headquartered Klarna, best known for its buy-now pay-later products, publicly filed to float on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month in its second attempt at listing on the public markets in four years.
/jlne.ws/4iAhizW
Finding AI unhelpful? Reid Hoffman says you're not trying hard enough.
Robert Scammell - Business Insider
Reid Hoffman has some advice for anyone not finding AI useful: try harder. "Frankly, if you haven't found something where it's useful to you, about something you care about, then you're not trying hard enough, you're not being original enough," Hoffman told The Economist podcast in an episode that aired this week. While the LinkedIn cofounder regularly uses AI tools in his personal and professional life, not everyone appears to be embracing it. A Pew Research Center survey found last month that 81% of US workers are "non-AI users."
/jlne.ws/4hFklFR
AI's Rise Rekindles Memories of the Dot-com Bubble
Jeran Wittenstein, Ryan Vlastelica, and Carmen Reinicke - Bloomberg
Happy anniversary. A revolutionary new technology comes along and infatuates investors with its seemingly limitless possibilities. Euphoria sparks a stock market rally. Eventually things get overheated and share prices become ridiculous. Then it all collapses. Sound familiar? It happened exactly 25 years ago when the roughly five-year dot-com bubble popped, leaving trillions of dollars of investment losses in its wake. On March 24, 2000, the S&P 500 Index posted a record level it wouldn't see again until 2007. Three days later, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 also closed at an all-time high, the last time it would do that for more than 15 years.
/jlne.ws/4iWYs5L
AI Chip Startup FuriosaAI Rejects Meta's $800 Million Offer
Yoolim Lee and Riley Griffin - Bloomberg
Korean chip startup FuriosaAI has turned down an $800 million takeover offer from Meta Platforms Inc. (META), choosing instead to grow the business as an independent company, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Meta had been in discussions about acquiring Seoul-based FuriosaAI since the start of this year, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the matter is private. A representative for FuriosaAI declined to comment. Meta officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment outside regular business hours on Sunday.
/jlne.ws/41SsPU9
Tencent launches T1 reasoning model amid growing AI competition in China
Yelin Mo and Andrew Silver - Reuters
Chinese tech giant Tencent on Friday night launched the official version of its T1 reasoning model, stepping up competition in China's increasingly crowded artificial intelligence sector. The upgraded T1 model offers faster response times and enhanced capabilities for processing extended text documents, the company said in a post on its official WeChat account. T1 can "keep the content logic clear and the text neat and clean", the post said, while the hallucination rate is "extremely low".
/jlne.ws/4iHrYg7
Fidelity Files for Onchain U.S. Treasury Fund, Joining the Asset Tokenization Race
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
Asset manager Fidelity Investments has filed paperwork to register a blockchain-based, tokenized version of its U.S. dollar money market fund, aiming to join the tokenized asset race. According to a Friday filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company seeks to register an "OnChain" share class of its Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX) and use blockchains as transfer agent. FYHXX holds cash and U.S. Treasury securities and was launched late last year.
/jlne.ws/420lSQX
Vermiculus First Six Month in Umea
Vermiculus
About six months ago, Nils-Robert Persson, Chairman and Founder of Vermiculus, shared on LinkedIn that we had welcomed our first employee and partner in Umeå. This milestone was later officially announced in both Vermiculus' newsletter and in Västerbottens-Kuriren, a Swedish daily newspaper from Umeå. Since then, the office has expanded significantly, quickly becoming an integral part of the company's operations and reflecting both the progress made and the dedication of our team.
/jlne.ws/4hOSZ04
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | 21,899 Bank Customers Affected As US Lender Suffers Cybersecurity Breach, Hacker Taps Social Security Numbers and Other Sensitive Information
Mark Emem - The Daily Hodl
A billion-dollar bank is warning customers after a cybersecurity breach affecting thousands of customers. In a filing with the Office of the Maine Attorney General, Western Alliance Bank says an unauthorized actor exploited a vulnerability in a third-party file transfer software system it uses.
/jlne.ws/41VWvji
EU cybersecurity legislation takes center stage at 9th Standardisation Conference
Industrial Cyber
The European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs) CEN, CENELEC, ETSI, together with ENISA, the EU Agency for Cybersecurity, co-hosted the 9th Cybersecurity Standardisation Conference on 20 March 2025 in Brussels. The hybrid event brought together policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, and experts to discuss the evolving landscape of EU cybersecurity legislation and its implications for standardisation. Continuing the tradition of success from previous years, the ninth edition of the conference attracted over 200 on-site attendees and 1500 online participants.
/jlne.ws/4hB5k7X
Threat of state-sponsored cyber attacks could make UK terror insurer 'obsolete'; Sector is unprepared to handle growing sources of systemic risk, Pool Re chief says
Lee Harris - Financial Times
Pool Re chief executive Tom Clementi has warned that the UK's specialist insurer against terrorism could become "obsolete or irrelevant" amid the growing threat of state-sponsored attacks. In an interview with the Financial Times, Clementi said that the evolution of terrorist activity had left the insurance sector unprepared to handle key sources of systemic risk, particularly from state-backed cyber groups.
/jlne.ws/4kUtKfr
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Cantor Leads a New Boom in Lending to Debt-Hungry Crypto Firms
David Pan - Bloomberg
The last major bear market nearly wiped out the entire crypto-lending industry. Now, it's staging a major comeback, with a new breed of creditors looking to step into the void and satisfy the market's perennial appetite for debt. Lenders ranging from traditional banks to crypto native firms have either begun or are in the process of providing capital, facilitating an uptick in a range of market activities from amplifying bets with leverage to providing short-term liquidity needed for trading.
/jlne.ws/4bQzNxt
An OG crypto founder on the triumph of Bitcoin-and rejection by San Francisco liberals
Jeff John Roberts - Fortune
Jesse Powell has a lot on his plate. He is helping the crypto industry flex its newfound influence in Washington, DC, and Kraken, the crypto exchange he founded in 2011, is planning to go public next year. But as he pulls up a chair at a San Francisco coffee shop, what's top of mind for Powell is not politics or business. It's real estate. He wants to talk about the gorgeous white tower known to locals as 'Susie's Building' that was built in the 1920's-and whose residents don't want Powell to live there.
/jlne.ws/4218tIu
Cryptocurrency firm founder pleads guilty in US to market manipulation scheme
Nate Raymond - Reuters
The founder of a cryptocurrency financial services firm pleaded guilty on Friday to U.S. charges that he participated in a wide-ranging scheme to manipulate the market for digital tokens on behalf of client companies. Aleksei Andriunin, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency "market maker" Gotbit, and his company entered guilty pleas in federal court in Boston to charges that they conspired to commit market manipulation and committed wire fraud.
/jlne.ws/4iUcAwE
Saylor's Strategy Buys More Bitcoin After Preferred Shares Sale
Dave Liedtka - Bloomberg
Michael Saylor's Strategy bought $584.1 million of Bitcoin after raising more than $700 million last week through the sale of so-called perpetual strife preferred stock. The purchase, the latest in a series of almost weekly acquisitions since late October, increased the dot-com-era software maker turned leveraged Bitcoin proxy's holding of the cryptocurrency to around $44.3 billion.
/jlne.ws/4lc2cT5
US Ether ETFs Suffer Longest Outflow Streak as Token Lags Rivals; The Ethereum blockchain faces questions over its direction; Funds tracking the Ether token suffered 13 days of outflows
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
US exchange-traded funds investing directly in Ether have been hit by their longest run of daily withdrawals since launching in July 2024, underscoring shaky demand for the second-largest cryptocurrency. The group of nine ETFs have shed about $415 million across 13 straight days of net outflows, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bitcoin ETFs in the US, by contrast, have rebounded from a period of waning investor demand to post six consecutive days of net inflows up until March 21.
/jlne.ws/4hFbLqC
Systemic 'Bank Run' Risk Hangs Over Stablecoin Bills in Congress
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
The current excitement about one of the safest corners of the cryptocurrency markets is bringing up bad memories of previous crises. The Trump administration and Congress are both pushing to cement the growing importance of stablecoins, the digital tokens that are supposed to maintain a steady value with backing from traditional assets.
/jlne.ws/4hEIPis
Solana's Memecoin Cabals Take Shine Off Hottest Crypto Frontier
Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4kZyi4m
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump Toys With the Supreme Court; Taunting John Roberts is a lousy strategy to persuade the Justices.
The Editorial Board - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump downplayed Chief Justice John Roberts's statement Tuesday in defense of the judiciary, but the President had better be careful. The White House strategy of bashing judges and jamming the Supreme Court could backfire in spectacular fashion. Guessing the thinking at the High Court is a fraught exercise. But if there's one thing we've learned about the Chief Justice in his nearly two decades at the Court it's that he hates being dragged into political fights. He prizes the reputation of the Court as a neutral arbiter of the law and protector of the Constitution.
/jlne.ws/4kRpcX9
Voice of America journalists sue Trump officials for dismantling the outlet; The lawsuit asks a federal judge to order Trump administration officials to restore the outlet.
Tobi Raji - The Washington Post
Six Voice of America journalists - including the outlet's former White House bureau chief - sued members of the Trump administration Friday, accusing officials of unlawfully shuttering a federally funded media outlet that has delivered news coverage to millions across the globe since its founding during World War II. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, asks a federal judge to order officials to restore the outlet, effectively reversing part of President Donald Trump's executive order issued earlier this month that dismantled the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The agency oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and Radio Free Asia.
/jlne.ws/4bSMec5
A spotlight on Elon Musk's conflicts of interest; The president at least declined to share China war plans with his special employee.
Editorial Board - The Washington Post
Ahead of a Friday visit to the Pentagon, Elon Musk, along with President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, rushed to deny news reports that the billionaire businessman would receive a top-secret briefing on U.S. plans for a hypothetical war with China. They first downplayed, then downgraded, the meeting - perhaps because it would obviously look bad to share commercially valuable war plans with the chief executive of a major defense contractor, SpaceX - or with the CEO of Tesla, which is deeply reliant on China for manufacturing and sales.
/jlne.ws/4hyrpE9
Russia and the US Both Want to Finlandize the World; "Finlandization" is about weaker countries having to cede sovereignty to appease stronger bullies, such as Russia and, now, the US.
Andreas Kluth - Bloomberg Opinion
As president of the United States, Joe Biden kept using a peculiar phrase that showed two of the many ways in which he was a foil for his successor, Donald Trump: The 46th president was a bad communicator but a good geopolitical strategist; the 47th is the opposite. Over and over again, Biden all but gloated that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted "the Finlandization of NATO" but instead got "the NATOization of Finland." Finlandization and NATOization each have five syllables and mean little to ordinary Americans, who might have pictured generals and admirals spending more time in the sauna. You won't hear such stilted oratory from Trump, who prefers punchy monosyllabic Anglo-Saxon words. As a way of communicating grand strategy to voters, Biden's phrase failed.
/jlne.ws/4iFpbnS
Concerns about espionage rise as Trump and Musk fire thousands of federal workers
David Klepper and Eric Tucker - Associated Press
As President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk work to overhaul the federal government, they're forcing out thousands of workers with insider knowledge and connections who now need a job. For Russia, China and other adversaries, the upheaval in Washington as Musk's Department of Government Efficiency guts government agencies presents an unprecedented opportunity to recruit informants, national security and intelligence experts say.
/jlne.ws/4ixKRCb
Tourists detained at U.S. airports prompt travel warning updates across Europe; U.S. immigration enforcement policies cause uncertainty for international travelers
Alexandrea Sumuel Groves - Yahoo
In recent weeks, several European governments-including the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, and Finland-have updated their travel advisories for citizens visiting the United States following a series of detentions involving European tourists at U.S. ports of entry. These actions reflect growing concern over the consequences of U.S. immigration enforcement policies and highlight increasing uncertainty for international travelers-even those with valid documents.
/jlne.ws/4jeYPcf
US Small Business Administration to cut 2,700 jobs
Nathan Layne and Tim Reid - Reuters
/jlne.ws/4iUDFQn
Secret Biden Deal Allowed Chevron to Pay Venezuela Millions
Bloomberg News
/jlne.ws/4jf2RBp
Canada's Mark Carney Calls a Snap Election; Race against Conservative Pierre Poilievre for April 28 vote revolves around who can best fend off Trump
Vipal Monga and Paul Vieira - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/4bZx8Sk
EIB steps up financing for European security and defence and critical raw materials; EIB Group further expands eligibilities for security and defence investments; EIB to double investment into Critical Raw Materials, under new initiative
European Investment Bank
/jlne.ws/4kM0jMy
An American Helped Build Russia's Economy. He Was Jailed on Bogus Charges.; As President Trump promotes renewed business ties with Russia, an American investor has a warning: Anyone there can become a pawn.
Neil MacFarquhar - The New York Times
/jlne.ws/41WX5NG
BlackRock's Fink made Trump happy with Panama Canal deal. The cost may be an unhappy China
David Hollerith - Yahoo Finance
/jlne.ws/41XYKT3
China, US need to cooperate in AI, says US-China relations committee head
Reuters
/jlne.ws/41VjGdy
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Exclusive-Interim SEC chief cast sole vote against suing Musk
Chris Prentice - Reuters
Days before Republicans took the helm of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January, the agency's five commissioners held a closed-door vote on whether to sue Elon Musk. Since 2022, the agency had been investigating whether the billionaire, a close ally of incoming President Donald Trump, had violated securities laws by disclosing too late his purchase of shares of Twitter, now known as X, prior to acquiring the company that year. Four of the five commissioners, including Republican Hester Peirce, voted yes, three sources said. The fifth - Republican Mark Uyeda, now the acting head of the SEC - voted no, the people said. The week after the 4-1 vote in favor, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk on January 14.
/jlne.ws/4iCktXO
Better regulation depends on quality as well as quantity; Rather than cosmetic mergers, a central unit should insist on slimmed down, effective bodies - we've done it before
John Kingman - Financial Times
Make no mistake: the UK prime minister's commitment to cut the administrative costs of regulation by 25 per cent is, or could be, a big deal. But how to make sure this tantalising promise doesn't disappear like a mirage in Whitehall sands? The government has promised to establish a quantified baseline to measure progress and has set a timescale to meet the target (the end of this parliament). If it commits to independent verification of progress, the elements of a robust framework will be in place.
/jlne.ws/4iBebrv
UK watchdog to encourage more risk-taking by savers, says FCA chair; Financial regulator also aims to increase trust in markets by clamping down on fraud
Martin Arnold - Financial Times
Britain's financial watchdog will encourage retail investors to take more risk with their savings to tackle the challenge of an ageing population as a key part of a new five-year strategy it will present this week. Ashley Alder, chair of the Financial Conduct Authority, told the Financial Times its new plan is built around helping consumers to make higher returns from their savings and increasing trust in financial markets by clamping down on fraud.
/jlne.ws/41VgCOy
Federal Court Orders Recovery of Nearly $2.3M for Victims of an Online Romance Scam
Ruling Stems from a CFTC Complaint Against Debiex
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona issued a default judgment against Debiex, a purported digital asset platform. The order, issued March 13, finds Debiex liable for fraud in connection with digital asset commodity trading and misappropriating over $2 million in customers' funds. [See CFTC Press Release No. 8850-24.] The order bans Debiex from trading in any CFTC regulated markets or registering with the CFTC. It also requires Debiex to pay a $221,466 civil monetary penalty and over $2.2 million in restitution.
/jlne.ws/41OOqNa
Remarks at the Crypto Task Force's Inaugural Roundtable
Mark T. Uyeda, Acting Chairman - SEC
Good afternoon and welcome to the Crypto Task Force's inaugural roundtable, which will explore the complex legal issues involved in classifying crypto assets under the federal securities laws. In the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis, a person or group going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto released a white paper describing a new peer-to-peer electronic cash system called Bitcoin that helped form an entirely new digitally native asset class.[1] Seventeen years later, market participants, lawyers, academics, policymakers, and regulators are still grappling with critical questions related to the status of these novel crypto assets under the federal securities laws.[2] This disagreement is most pronounced when it comes to application of the investment contract test established by the Supreme Court in its 1946 opinion in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co.[3] (known as the "Howey test") to crypto assets.[4]
/jlne.ws/4ixHDyH
Remarks to Crypto Task Force Roundtable 1 - "Defining Security Status"
Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw - SEC
Good afternoon. It's great to see you all here. I anticipate discussion today around two big questions: one, are crypto assets securities subject to SEC jurisdiction under existing law; and two, should they be? Enhancing regulatory clarity is a laudable goal. So is reasoned policy debate. As long as our goal is to promote compliance with, and not avoidance of, a legal framework that is faithful to the SEC's mission to protect investors and the markets.
/jlne.ws/4bVxVUf
At the SEC: It Is Finally Spring
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce - SEC
Thank you, Acting Chairman Uyeda and Commissioner Crenshaw. I am delighted to welcome everyone to the inaugural roundtable of the Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity series. Thank you to our panelists, who bring years of experience and serious consideration of the topic at hand to the table. It is fitting that today's panel takes place exactly two months after Acting Chairman Uyeda announced the formation of the Crypto Task Force and just as D.C. is brimming with signs of spring. Spring signifies new beginnings, and we have a new beginning here: a restart of the Commission's approach to crypto regulation. The formation of the Crypto Task Force gave permission to staff in the building to work earnestly towards a workable framework for crypto regulation, and staff have responded with palpable enthusiasm. The enthusiasm in this room is also palpable, so let us seize the moment and have a meaningful conversation today.
/jlne.ws/4ixInUv
Full Federal Court finds in favour of ASIC in two appeals concerning Sunshine Loans
ASIC
The Full Federal Court of Australia has found in favour of ASIC in relation to two appeals concerning small amount lender Sunshine Loans. The first appeal was lodged by Sunshine Loans following the liability decision of Justice Derrington on 12 April 2024 that Sunshine Loans contravened the National Credit Code by entering into small amount credit contracts containing an unlawful fee and charging those fees to customers (24-074MR). Sunshine Loans appealed that decision.
/jlne.ws/4iVktlA
Press Conference by KATO Katsunobu, Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services
FSA
Today, three bills presented by the FSA were approved at the Cabinet meeting. The details are shown in the document delivered. The Bill Partially Amending the Insurance Business Act incorporates required measures to prevent a recurrence of cases of fraudulent billing for insurance payments and other cases of misconduct in the non-life insurance industry. The Bill Partially Amending the Trust Business Act incorporates such measures as excluding the undertaking of charitable trusts from the application of the Trust Business Act. Lastly, the Bill Partially Amending the Payment Services Act incorporates required measures to respond to the advancement of digitalization in payment services. We hope that these three bills are deliberated on at an early point during the current session of the Diet.
/jlne.ws/4kTqr8j
Consumer Price Developments in February 2025
MAS
This February 2025 report contains an update of the latest consumer price developments in Singapore, prepared by MAS and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
/jlne.ws/4iNp1dE
SFC reprimands and fines Enlighten Securities Limited $5 million and suspends its responsible officer for internal control failures over securities margin financing
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined Enlighten Securities Limited (ESL) $5 million for internal control failures over securities margin financing (Note 1). The SFC has also suspended the licence of Mr Denny Kua Kong Chak - a responsible officer and a manager-in-charge of ESL, and a member of the firm's senior management - for seven months from 21 March 2025 to 20 October 2025 (Note 2).
/jlne.ws/4iAW4Sz
SEBI Board Meeting
SEBI
The 209th meeting of the SEBI Board was held in Mumbai today. The SEBI Board, inter-alia, approved the following:
/jlne.ws/4hO5SaI
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Data-Hungry Investors Dive Deep for Economic Clues; Nervous about the economy, some seek clarity in job listings and jewelry sales
Owen Tucker-Smith - The Wall Street Journal
Anxiety about the U.S. economy is prompting traders to scour every economic report for nuggets of fresh information, at times diving into data they used to ignore. Along with studying the usual readouts on jobs, manufacturing or inflation for clues to the path of interest-rate policy, many now say they are dissecting a broader range of reports for any signs that trade restrictions and other Trump administration policies are slowing growth.
/jlne.ws/4iQPBm7
Roth IRAs Are All the Rage With the Young Crowd; More savers are embracing the tax-advantaged accounts, and many will contribute leading up to tax day
Ashlea Ebeling - The Wall Street Journal
Young savers are flocking to Roth IRAs. They are taking the advice of parents, workplace financial coaches and tax advisers, who have long preached the gospel of these accounts to save for retirement and even big purchases. By getting the money in early, the thinking goes, they are giving it time to grow tax-free. In the run-up to tax day, more savers are making last-minute contributions to max out their individual retirement accounts.
/jlne.ws/4kNrNS5
Risky Bonds Aren't So Risky in the Long Run; High-yield debt offers a stingy premium to US Treasuries at a time when the economy is shaky. But that's not the only thing to consider.
Jonathan Levin - Bloomberg Opinion
The world is a risky place, and high-yield debt spreads to safe US Treasury securities are close to historic levels of stinginess, signaling complacency in markets - at least on the surface. But legendary investor Howard Marks says that's the wrong way to look at it and long-term investors should consider allocations to credit. I am quite sympathetic to the handwringing about the policy environment. Investors are trying to absorb a bizarre - some might say stagflationary - mix of economic ideas from President Donald Trump, including 19th-century style tariffs and Silicon Valley "move fast and break things"-style government downsizing and layoffs. The former could provide a supply-side shock to prices at the same time that real economic growth may be wobbling. Consumers, businesses and investors don't know what to think, and that uncertainty is serving as a drag on the economy.
/jlne.ws/4hB2UpO
Faith-based investing is having a moment
Jennifer Sor - Business Insider
A corner of the exchange-traded and mutual fund market has seen a quiet surge in recent years, which investing pros say has come alongside the rise of Donald Trump and a reinvigoration of religious sentiment during his two terms as president. Faith-based investments are a relatively small part of the ETF world, but investors - typically of Christian or Catholic faith - piled into these vehicles in the last year, many of which promise to keep money out of anything with links to things like abortion, tobacco, or gambling. The value of faith-based investments swelled to at least $130 billion last year, but the total size of the market is likely larger than that, according to a study from the faith-based investment advisory Brightlight.
/jlne.ws/4kXTace
Investors Who Were All In on U.S. Stocks Are Starting to Look Elsewhere; American exceptionalism was this year's big trade. Now some are hedging their bets.
Owen Tucker-Smith - The Wall Street Journal
Keith Moffat was born in Canada, lives in the Netherlands and has an Irish passport. But until recently, his stock portfolio was (almost) all-American. At one point, around 90% of Moffat's investments were in U.S. stocks. He sold all of his American holdings in the past few weeks and piled into exchange-traded funds that hold shares of European and other international companies, alongside European defense stocks. Moffat said the U.S. market is overpriced. But President Trump's rhetoric referring to Canada as the 51st state has also stung.
/jlne.ws/4hGRHEf
Private Equity Pushes for Two-Letter Tax Change to Save Billions
Dawn Lim - Bloomberg
The giants of private equity are preparing to fight for two little letters. The $5 trillion industry is embarking on a campaign to change the way taxes for indebted businesses are tallied. Leading lobbyists want to tack two letters - DA - back to an earnings formula used to help calculate tax deductions, a change potentially worth billions. The idea is to account for depreciation and amortization when determining the tax deductibility of a company's debt payments. The maximum amount any company can get in such tax write-offs is calculated as a percentage of earnings. That's why using Ebitda - which is typically bigger than Ebit - in this process would generate heftier tax deductions.
/jlne.ws/4iyoHjj
UK Set to Sweeten £302 Billion Bond Plan With Fewer Long Gilts
Naomi Tajitsu and Greg Ritchie -Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4c27L2e
The Dumbest Investment in the World Was Better Than Owning Safe Treasurys; Argentina's century bond defaulted but ended up a winner, an important lesson for investors
James Mackintosh - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/4iyRpR7
Clearlake Agrees Deal to Buy Dun & Bradstreet for $4.1 Billion
Liana Baker and Ryan Gould - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4kVaezn
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | The E.P.A. vs. the Environment; With the help of the agency, the Trump Administration is doing everything it can to make emissions grow again.
Elizabeth Kolbert - The New Yorker
The first person to head the Environmental Protection Agency, which was created by President Richard Nixon, in late 1970, was an up-and-coming Republican politician named William Ruckelshaus. Ruckelshaus, known to his friends as Ruck, came from Indiana, where, during a single term in the state's House of Representatives, he had managed to get elected majority leader. On being chosen to lead the E.P.A., he moved quickly to establish the new agency's credibility. Just a week into his tenure, he warned the cities of Cleveland, Detroit, and Atlanta that they could be sued for polluting their own waterways, and over the next few months he took action against several major corporations, including U.S. Steel. In an interview with Time a year into the job, Ruckelshaus described his strategy as focussing on the "violators with the greatest visibility in order to get the message across." He likened the task of getting the agency organized while at the same time pursuing polluters to "trying to run a hundred-yard dash while undergoing an appendectomy."
/jlne.ws/4hDpDS9
A Piece of Glass Thinner Than a Credit Card Could Solve America's $25 Billion Energy Problem; New windows can insulate better than most walls, and some can even survive being hit with a two-by-four shot from a cannon
Christopher Mims - The Wall Street Journal
Here's one more thing we owe to the restless mind of Steve Jobs: hyper-efficient, ultra-tough windows for homes. This new kind of window could save American households billions of dollars in wasted energy each year, while allowing expansive views of the outdoors and making our homes quieter, more comfortable and able to survive even the most violent weather. The key enabling technology is thin panes of glass-sandwiched between thicker standard glass-which exist because of the same manufacturing and chemistry breakthroughs that made possible the light, strong, scratch-resistant screens on our smartphones, tablets and watches.
/jlne.ws/4bXgYIY
Morgan Stanley Says Defense Could Get $119 Billion ESG Boost
Lisa Pham - Bloomberg
ESG funds in Europe could substantially increase their allocations to the defense industry should existing restrictions be fully removed, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. Funds registered as Article 8 and Article 9 - the European Union's two main ESG disclosure categories - would have the potential to drive between $53 billion and $119 billion in flows into the aerospace and defense sector, Morgan Stanley analysts including Arushi Agarwal and Rachel Fletcher wrote in a note on Monday.
/jlne.ws/4iAeIKe
A $1.8 Trillion ESG Market Is Being Driven by US Government
Ishika Mookerjee - Bloomberg
A $1.8 trillion corner of the sustainable debt market is defying the wider downturn, as investors snap up bonds largely sold by US government agencies even as Donald Trump leads a green retreat. Sales of so-called social bonds, which direct proceeds to areas like health, housing and education, jumped about 130% to $657 billion globally last year, and continued at a similar pace in the first quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. Issuance now rivals the traditionally larger market for green bonds, the data show.
/jlne.ws/4hINrUF
Indonesia Confirms $20 Billion Climate Deal Despite US Exit
Grace Sihombing and Aaron Clark - Bloomberg
The Indonesian government confirmed a $20 billion commitment from rich nations to help it shut polluting coal plants and transition to cleaner energy sources remains in place, despite the US exit from the agreement. Although the US had pledged to contribute billions of dollars according to investment plans drafted for the Just Energy Transition Partnerships, which included deals for Vietnam and South Africa, it withdrew amid the Trump administration's wider retreat from climate action. Analysts said this month the US exit could add further delays, but they expected the deals to survive.
/jlne.ws/41VI2nl
China's Energy Transition at Odds With Solar Glut, Cheap Power
Bloomberg News
The green energy transition in China is at a critical juncture, as oversupply in the solar sector, declining power prices, and continued reliance on fossil fuels threaten to derail progress. Chinese spending on renewable energy dwarfs its rivals, with over $800 billion - or 4.5% of its GDP - invested last year, according to BloombergNEF. But the country still faces significant hurdles in balancing its ambitious climate goals with delivering energy security, according to experts at BNEF's summit in Beijing last week.
/jlne.ws/4c0EZim
Americans Are Rushing to Get Off the Grid
Kyle Stock - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41VVpUI
South Africa Adds 800-Megawatt Capacity Unit to National Grid
Adelaide Changole - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4iHHbOf
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | US Banking Rule Reform Is Too Important to Rush; The Fed's banking tests still need to be stressful.
Paul J. Davies - Bloomberg Opinion
Banks' businesses don't change radically year to year so nor should their capital requirements. In the US, however, the Federal Reserve's annual stress tests have been volatile, unpredictable and one of the main determinants of how much equity big banks need in the 12 months after the results come in. No other country uses this approach. Now as the Fed and other regulators prepare to tackle this and other banking rules under a biddable and deregulation-friendly White House, watchdogs need to ensure they don't hastily give too much away.
/jlne.ws/4iDPWZQ
Ex-Citigroup Asia Managing Director Shaw Sues Bank in Hong Kong
Cathy Chan - Bloomberg
Philip John Shaw, a former head of Pan-Asia Execution Services at Citigroup Inc., sued the US bank to contest his summary dismissal in March 2019, after other ex-sales traders filed similar claims with the city's employment tribunal earlier this month. Shaw has filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong's High Court against Citigroup Global Markets Asia Ltd. for contract and employment tort, according to a writ of summons. He is seeking monetary compensation, including retirement and other financial benefits he was deprived of when he was fired, and for reputational damage he suffered as a result of the alleged wrongful termination. A Citigroup spokesman declined to comment.
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Deutsche Bank Plans Euro AT1 Sale With a 7.75% Coupon
Ronan Martin and Esteban Duarte - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.DE) is selling a euro-denominated Additional Tier 1 bond, with the initial pricing indicating it will pay a coupon of around 7.75%, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. The lender will have an option to call the notes after six years, the person said. The sale is coming on the heels of Deutsche Bank's decision Friday not to redeem $1.25 billion of AT1 debt, opting instead to let the coupon nearly double. The unusual decision was at least in part due to the bank standing to lose around EUR240 million ($260 million) if it redeemed the debt because of a weaker euro, according to CreditSights' Simon Adamson.
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'Don't fight Bessent's Treasury' is new mantra in US bond market
Ye Xie and Liz Capo McCormick - Bloomberg
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent can't stop talking about 10-year bond yields. In speeches, in interviews, week after week, he states and restates the administration's plan to push them down and keep them down. Some of this is normal - keeping government borrowing costs in check has long been part of the job - but Bessent's fixation on the benchmark US note is so intense that he's forced some on Wall Street to tear up their predictions for 2025.
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Activist Hedge Fund Turns Prey as Spanish Media Fight Flares Up
Rodrigo Orihuela - Bloomberg
Amber Capital founder Joseph Oughourlian won control of Spain's most influential media group after a shareholder activism campaign a decade ago. Now he's the one fighting off an ouster. Oughourlian, a French hedge fund manager based in London, is clashing with pro-government Spanish businessmen that want him out of media company Promotora de Informaciones SA, owner of El Pais, the country's best-known newspaper. They're angry, in part, after his relations with the ruling Socialist party unraveled and he blocked the plan for a new pro-government TV station. The fight over the media firm, known as Prisa, pits a hedge fund manager backed by French billionaire Vincent Bollore against Spain's political establishment in a test of foreign ownership of media assets. It's also rapidly emerging as the nation's highest profile corporate drama since drugmaker Grifols SA came under pressure from short seller Gotham City Research last year.
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Unusual Spike in Equity-Funding Costs Squeezes Smart-Money Crowd
Yiqin Shen - Bloomberg
An unusual rise in funding costs tied to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of equity investments is squeezing some hedge funds and money managers, while presenting cash-rich market players with an opportunity to rake in profits. So-called financing spreads on S&P 500 Index futures - a cost embedded in the price of derivatives that allow investors to gain exposure to stocks without buying shares outright - have climbed markedly during the recent bull market. They spiked to a record late last year and have remained above historical levels even during the latest downturn.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | SmartSuite Launches Global Expansion with $38 Million in Funding to Transform Work Management
BusinessWire
SmartSuite, the next-generation work management platform, today announced a major global expansion fueled by $38 million in funding. The latest investment includes a new $13M Series A round led by Canapi Ventures, with participation from Sorenson Capital and High Alpha. The Series A funding follows a $25M founder-led seed investment, reflecting exceptional venture capital interest in SmartSuite's mission to redefine work management. In 2024, SmartSuite achieved 300% growth, with its user base surpassing 50,000 professionals across more than 5,000 businesses in over 100 countries. The company's platform is trusted by a diverse range of organizations, including Apple Bank, Credit One Bank, UCLA, Georgetown University, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Sunday Riley, Lyneer Staffing Solutions, Datawatch, and UC Berkeley. The investment will further fuel SmartSuite's mission to redefine work management, accelerate global adoption, scale go-to-market initiatives, and enhance its unified no-code platform.
/jlne.ws/4hJ4plV
Side hustles, Zoom waves and the Great Casualisation: how Covid shaped new ways to work; Five years after lockdown, what are the lasting effects and the forgotten pandemic trends?
FT writers
The upheaval of Covid lockdowns prompted a rethink not just of where we work but when and why. It sparked declarations that there could be no return to old working methods. As bosses ordered staff back to the office, this new order seemed to fade. Yet, changes have stuck, from how we communicate and manage, to our attitudes to work and health. FT writers and contributors assess what is different five years on - and where the missed opportunities lie.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Bayer hit with $2 billion Roundup verdict in US state of Georgia cancer case
Reuters
Bayer was ordered by a jury in the U.S. state of Georgia to pay about $2.1 billion to a plaintiff who claimed the company's Roundup weed killer caused his cancer, the plaintiff's law firms said late on Friday. The verdict, which Bayer said on Saturday it would appeal, is one of the largest legal settlements issued in a Roundup-related case and is the latest setback for the group, among the world's largest seeds and pesticides makers.
/jlne.ws/4kYeRsE
People don't want to go to parties anymore - and other signs the world is coming to an end; Americans' current obsession with social media and "therapy culture" isn't going to end well.
Brent Hartinger and Michael Jensen - Yahoo Creators
According to the Washington Post, parties are dead. When people do show up at social gatherings, things rarely take off anyway - too many folks sitting to one side staring at their phones. The Wall Street Journal adds that it's now socially acceptable - even something to brag about on social media - to cancel your plans with other people at the last second. Self-care and all that. The two newspapers blame these new social mores on America's political polarization - who wants to socialize with people on "the other side" anyway? They say it's also the lingering after-effects of Covid. Please. That's not it at all. Why are both newspapers pretending not to see what's really going on here?
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | PBOC Unveils New Method to Auction Its One-Year Loans to Banks
Bloomberg
China's central bank unveiled a new method for pricing its one-year loans to banks, the latest move in policymakers' efforts to revamp their monetary toolkit. The People's Bank of China announced in a statement that banks will be able to bid for different prices on its one-year loans, known as the medium-term lending facility. Qualified lenders will be able to pay different interest rates for the loan starting from Tuesday, and the loans will come in a fixed amount each month, according to the statement.
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China reassures Apple, Pfizer, Cargill, others of business potential
Liz Lee - Reuters
China sought to reassure foreign corporate chiefs of the country's business potential when Vice Premier He Lifeng met with the heads of Apple, Pfizer, Mastercard, Cargill and others on Sunday. He also met with pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, medical device company Medtronic and specialty glass maker Corning, a commerce ministry statement said.
/jlne.ws/4kWsBnK
Bullion Explorer Makes MAGA Pitch With New Name: Made in America Gold; Palisades Goldcorp makes adjustment to its Nevada subsidiary; Switch occurs as Trump asks companies to move operations to US
Geoffrey Morgan - Bloomberg
A Canadian investment firm changed the name of its US-focused subsidiary to Made in America Gold from NV King Goldlands. The switch comes as US President Donald Trump is encouraging firms to relocate operations to the country and threatening imports with escalating tariffs. Vancouver-based Palisades Goldcorp Ltd., which has stakes in small and micro-cap gold explorers, owns all of Made in America Gold and announced the change on Monday without providing a reason. Made in America is one of the largest landholders in Nevada with more than 10,000 mineral claim holdings, the company said.
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Greenland Needs US, EU Commitment to Buying Critical Minerals, Top Banker Says
Sanne Wass - Bloomberg
Greenland needs purchase commitments from either the US or the European Union to unlock investments into critical minerals, according to the head of the island's largest bank. Greenland's critical raw materials provide a "new opportunity" to bolster the territory's economy, and a chance for western powers to wean off dependence on China for key resources, said Bank of Greenland chief executive officer, Martin Kviesgaard.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Ex-WSJ bureau chief Camp dies at 83
Chris Roush - Talkingbiznews.com
Charles Camp, a longtime Wall Street Journal journalist, died Thursday at the age of 83. An obituary states, "He began his journalism career as a youngster, publishing a neighborhood newspaper. During college, he worked fulltime as a reporter for the Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard, and after a brief stint at the Buffalo (NY) Courier-Express, joined The Wall Street Journal in 1965, where he would remain for 25 years.
/jlne.ws/4kRofhB
Max Frankel, Top Times Editor Who Led a Newspaper in Transition, Dies at 94
Robert D. McFadden - The New York Times
Max Frankel, who fled Nazi Germany as a boy and rose to pinnacles of American journalism as a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for The New York Times and later as its executive editor during eight years of changing fortunes and technology, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 94.
/jlne.ws/4iz99fa
Yahoo sells TechCrunch for undisclosed amount
Chris Roush - Talkingbiznews.com
Yahoo sold the tech-news site TechCrunch to investment company Regent for an undisclosed amount, reports Todd Spangler of Variety. Spangler reports, "The announcement of deal comes a day after news that Regent acquired Foundry, home of PCWorld, Macworld, InfoWorld, CIO, TechAdvisor and other tech publications, from International Data Group (IDG).
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