| December 10, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
During FIA EXPO, Chris Edmonds of ICE posted a video to LinkedIn (that I missed) where he showed a video clip of FIA Board Chair Alicia Crighton of Goldman Sachs receiving a package with a large envelope. There is music and then a voiceover by Chris in the manner of a "Mission Impossible" opening scene. Crighton accepts the mission by opening a box that holds a T-shirt with the message "Got Kilt" on it. As reported in JLN earlier, Chris and Alicia are the first duo accepting the FIA's Futures For Kids gala fundraiser Kilt Challenge, following in the footsteps of the historic efforts of SGX's Rama Pillai last year. I have already made my donation to their campaign and I encourage you to join me and help them get off to an early start. You can see the Mission Impossible invitation video HERE and donate HERE.
CFTC Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson will participate in a panel discussion titled "Navigating the Global AI Landscape: Striking a Balance Between Regulation and Innovation" at The AI Summit New York 2024. The event is scheduled for Thursday, December 12, 2024, at 1:20 p.m. EST and will be held at the Javits Convention Center, located at 655 West 34th Street, New York, NY.
Parmy Olson's Supremacy, which explores the rivalry between AI pioneers Demis Hassabis of DeepMind and Sam Altman of OpenAI, has won the prestigious Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award, the Financial Times reported. The book explores the tension between the founders' lofty goals for AI and the commercial pressures from backers like Google and Microsoft. Olson received the £30,000 prize at a London event marking the award's 20th anniversary. Judges praised the book's insights into AI's transformative impact, with FT editor Roula Khalaf calling it a "thrilling race to master technology." Other finalists included works on corporate evolution, tribalism, modern warfare, longevity, and societal priorities.
The Financial Times has published a Special Report on North America Innovative Lawyers, highlighting the evolving landscape of the legal profession. The report examines how law firms are adapting to technological advancements and changing client needs with "Law firms lean into the business of prediction." It explores the emerging challenges in AI-related legal disputes with "Lawyers navigate novel AI legal battles," and the impact of recent Supreme Court rulings on regulatory practices, in "US Supreme Court rulings usher in era of regulatory caution." The report also covers the changing dynamics in healthcare deal advisory, with "US healthcare deal advisers seek lighter supervision," and the legal complexities involved in promoting green initiatives in the shipping industry, in "Legal hands pilot launch of green shipping deal." Additionally, it addresses the potential implications of a second Trump term on civil rights and pro bono legal work, in "Pro bono lawyers braced for impact of Trump's second term."
The Financial Times' Special Report on North America Innovative Lawyers also highlights the evolving landscape and covers various aspects of innovation in law, including how young lawyers are developing tech skills to prepare for AI's impact, "Young lawyers build tech skills to prepare for AI impact" and how law firms are carefully implementing AI while prioritizing jobs and safety, "US law firms prioritise jobs and safety in AI rollout". It also explores how AI is enabling the creation of bespoke legal tools, "AI adds bespoke features to ready-made tools" and how law firms are expanding their services to cover new areas of legal risk, "Law firms adapt to cover expanding legal risk". The report profiles ten types of legal pioneers, "Practitioners: ten types of legal pioneer" and examines the role of 'intrapreneurs' in driving change within law firms, "Intrapreneurs: the insiders on a mission to change law firms"). Additionally, it presents case studies on innovative legal services, [[https://jlne.ws/3Zt3Yov|"Practice of law: case studies" and how law firms are reinventing their management and service delivery models, "Business of law: case studies". Finally, the report discusses how in-house lawyers' roles are broadening in response to technological change, "In-house lawyer role broadens in response to technological change".
If you thought New York City was expensive, as reported by The Wall Street Journal in yesterday's most popular story, think twice about buying a cup of coffee. Bloomberg today reports "Coffee Reaches Record With Brazil Crop Woes Adding to Crunch."
It is often said that the world is getting smaller. Well, the universe is getting bigger and bigger. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has confirmed that the universe is expanding about 8% faster than expected, corroborating findings by the Hubble Space Telescope, Reuters reported. This discrepancy, known as the "Hubble Tension," challenges current cosmological theories based on the universe's initial conditions and its evolution over billions of years. Published in the Astrophysical Journal, the study, led by Nobel laureate Adam Riess, suggests gaps in understanding dark matter and dark energy, which together account for 96% of the universe. Researchers propose that unknown factors, possibly involving exotic properties of gravity, dark radiation, or neutrinos, might explain the anomalous expansion rate.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: ANALYSIS: Momentum builds in offshore Renminbi ahead of Chinese reforms, Euronext volumes up 3% in November driven by commodities, UK asset manager backs 'much needed' ICE Euro bond future, ANALYSIS: Futures market 'weighed by hard realities' - Liquidnet, DTCC taps Cantor marketing chief as firms face changes and Eurex sees various components behind Middle East, Asian strategy.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
*****
Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- This Fund Manager Raised Billions in a Bet on MicroStrategy. Can He Keep It Going? from The Wall Street Journal.
- Options Giant Optiver Bets Japan's Market Is About to Boom from Bloomberg.
- Levered China ETF Bullish Bets Net $138 Million Paper Gain from Bloomberg. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Chris Edmonds: ICE Enhances User Experience with ICE Connect Platform
JohnLothianNews.com
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has unveiled significant improvements to its ICE Connect platform, according to Chris Edmonds, president of fixed income & data services at ICE. In a recent interview with John Lothian News at FIA EXPO 2024, Edmonds highlighted the platform's evolution and its competitive edge in the market.
Watch »
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Former Prosecutor Shares Insights at FIA EXPO Event on CFTC's Future Enforcement Approach
JohnLothianNews.com
Renato Mariotti, a former prosecutor and defense attorney, collaborated with Eventus to host a gathering of industry participants and legal experts at the W Hotel in the financial district on the Monday of FIA's EXPO in Chicago. Later in the week, John Lothian News spoke with the Paul Hastings attorney at FIA EXPO to hear his insights on the event, the topics discussed, and the perspectives shared.
Watch »
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Trading Technologies expands energy offering with connectivity to European power market Nord Pool; New connection will give market participants access to Europe's top two intraday physical power market alongside energy futures on a single platform
Trading Technologies International, Inc.
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology platform services provider, announced today that it will offer access to the European power market Nord Pool for intraday trading starting in December. The new connection will give clients the ability to leverage the TT platform to trade the physical intraday markets of the top two European power spot exchanges: Nord Pool and the European Power Exchange (EPEX SPOT), which has been tradable through TT since February. Access to these markets was developed in collaboration with a large European energy supplier active in both.
/jlne.ws/3VvVb40
****** This is sure to generate some trading interest in the power markets?~JJL
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Google says it has cracked a quantum computing challenge with new chip
Stephen Nellis - Reuters
Google on Monday said that it has overcome a key challenge in quantum computing with a new generation of chip, solving a computing problem in five minutes that would take a classical computer more time than the history of the universe. Like other tech giants such as Microsoft and International Business Machines, Alphabet's Google is chasing quantum computing because it promises computing speeds far faster than today's fastest systems. While the math problem solved by the company's Santa Barbara, California quantum lab does not have commercial applications, Google hopes quantum computers will one day solve problems in medicine, battery chemistry and artificial intelligence that are out of reach for today's computers. The results released Monday came from a new chip called Willow that has 105 "qubits," which are the building blocks of quantum computers. Qubits are fast but error-prone, because they can be jostled by something as small as a subatomic particle from events in outer space. As more qubits are packed onto a chip, those errors can add up to make the chip no better than a conventional computer chip. So since the 1990s, scientists have been working on quantum error-correction.
/jlne.ws/4iwwXRk
****** If you think the world is smaller, just wait until it is smaller and faster with quantum computing powering it.~JJL
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US aim to lead on AI threatened by land shortage; Power-hungry high-tech industries are driving demand for sites with ready access to the power grid
Amanda Chu - Financial Times
The US bid to lead the world in artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing is facing a critical hurdle: a shortage of development-ready industrial sites. Nearly two-thirds of the people involved in securing US industrial sites cited their scarcity as the top factor impeding new projects, in a 2024 survey by the Site Selector's Guild. And 87 per cent of respondents said resource shortages - including a lack of land, labour and utilities - had affected or compromised project timelines.
/jlne.ws/3OLS0Bw
****** God does not make any more land. Investment advice given through the ages.~JJL
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Now You Can Avoid Taxes Like the Rich and Famous; Technology such as AI widens access to tax-optimization strategies, including the launch of funds that explicitly seek to defer tax payments
Jon Sindreu - The Wall Street Journal
The buzzword on Wall Street is to "democratize" everything that was once exclusively for sophisticated investors, be it hedge-fund strategies, options trading or private markets. It was only a matter of time until the list included tax avoidance. This is the time of year when legal ways to avoid paying income tax are top of mind. Income taxes are levied on interest from bonds and bank deposits, as well as on preferred dividends and the sale of investments for a gain. Qualified dividends and long-term capital gains get a lower rate. Even if you receive cash from your fund and invest it right back, you owe the taxman.
/jlne.ws/3Vw3ixA
****** Can I not go to jail like the rich and famous too?~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our top story Monday was The Wall Street Journal's It Has Never Been More Expensive to Visit New York City. Second was a tie between two Financial Times stories, 'Special situations' funds hit by retreat from active investing and Active ETFs gain ground on more passive benchmark trackers. Third was yet another Financial Times story, Investors weigh if meetings or selling out most influences green goals.
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| Lead Stories | Firms Outperform When There Are More Women on Boards, BI Says; Gains in female representation on boards driven by quotas; Overboarding and DEI backlash remain a risk to female gains
Jeff Green - Bloomberg
Female representation in the boardroom almost tripled since 2010, with the most gender-diverse companies delivering higher shareholder returns compared to male-dominated boards, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Women made up 26% of boards in 2023, up from 9% in 2010, highlighting how regulations in Europe, US and Asia that compel change are impacting global corporations, a Bloomberg Intelligence report released Monday showed.
/jlne.ws/3OL1XiP
India to Bring Top 500 Stocks Under Same-Day Settlement Regime; SEBI allows investors with custodians to use new system; India among few economies to offer same-day trade settlement
Chiranjivi Chakraborty - Bloomberg
Investors in India will have the option to settle cash trades in the 500 biggest stocks by market capitalization on the same day starting next year. The optional settlement system, also referred to as T+0 in market parlance, will first be available for 100 stocks with the lowest market value among the top 500 companies from Jan. 31, the regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India said in a circular on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3VxfD4q
Wall Street's complex debt bonanza hits fastest pace since 2007; Banks sell bonds backed by revenues from chicken wings, music catalogues and oil wells
Stephen Gandel and Eric Platt - Financial Times
Investors' "relentless" appetite for juicy returns has triggered the biggest boom on Wall Street in complex financial products since the lead-up to the global financial crisis in 2007. The global volume of structured finance transactions has hit $380bn this year, according to data from LSEG, which excludes real estate and traditional corporate loans. The figure is up by more than a fifth from the same period a year ago and about $1bn more than all of 2021, which had been the previous post-financial crisis peak.
/jlne.ws/3ZJdsgK
ICE Move to Limit Gene-Edited Sugar in US May Hurt Brazil Flows; Exchange's rule for 2026 will require non-GMO certifications; Top grower Brazil approved world's first GMO cane in 2017
Ilena Peng - Bloomberg
A new Intercontinental Exchange rule restricting the delivery of genetically modified cane sugar could restrict the flow of Brazilian supplies to the US. Traders will be required to certify that the sugar being delivered under the US futures contract is "entirely from sugar cane varieties which have been developed by the traditional plant method of hybridization and selection," according to a Dec. 6 statement from the exchange. The new rule comes after US companies expressed concerns over potentially receiving genetically modified supplies.
/jlne.ws/41qo8lS
How Crypto Insiders Turned 'Debanking' Into a Political Storm; Concerns that crypto companies are being purposely cut off from the global banking system have become a political cudgel at an opportune moment for the industry.
Erin Griffith and David Yaffe-Bellany - The New York Times
Early last year, Ryne Saxe started fielding demands from banks that worked with his San Francisco-based start-up, Eco. They laid out a litany of new compliance and reporting requirements that Eco had to follow. The problem? Eco was a cryptocurrency company, part of an industry facing heavy scrutiny from regulators. The banks said they were under pressure from government agencies to follow new guidance about crypto clients. Then Bill.com, Eco's payroll provider, canceled the company's account, citing a new policy, Mr. Saxe said.
/jlne.ws/49tYQVQ
Jane Fraser Stares Down Skeptics Ahead of Citi's Critical Year; After a tough stint and major changes at the bank, the CEO says the payoff is coming
Todd Gillespie - Bloomberg
Jane Fraser said she needed five years to pull off Wall Street's most elusive turnaround. More than halfway in, the Citigroup Inc. boss has ditched storied businesses, brought in fresh leaders and shaken up sprawling operations from Mexico City to Singapore. For all the progress, new challenges have sapped momentum - regulatory fines in July, a $45 million block trading loss this month, and repeated public battles with Wall Street's skeptical analysts.
/jlne.ws/49rF25B
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Admits $204M Crypto Super PAC Wouldn't Exist If Gary Gensler Wasn't The SEC Chair
Aniket Verma - Benzinga via Yahoo Finance
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said on Sunday that the establishment of Fairshake, a cryptocurrency-focused super political action committee, was a direct response to the SEC's approach toward the industry under Gary Gensler. What Happened: During an interview with CBS News that aired on Dec. 8, the head of the blockchain-based payments company stated, "People are like, why did these companies come together and organize and say, 'This matters'? And it's a reaction to a war on crypto."
/jlne.ws/4gsMSOI
*****Here is The Block's take on the story.
Quantum Computing Inches Closer to Reality After Another Google Breakthrough; Google unveiled an experimental machine capable of tasks that a traditional supercomputer could not master in 10 septillion years. (That's older than the universe.)
Cade Metz - The New York Times
In 2019, a team of Google researchers said they had built a machine capable of performing tasks that were not possible with traditional supercomputers. They described this machine, called a quantum computer, as a turning point in the evolution of information technology. Some scientists disputed the claim. In the years since, as traditional supercomputers grew more powerful, they matched the feats of Google's quantum computer. On Monday, Google unveiled a new quantum computer that may end this back-and-forth race with traditional machines and that points to a future in which quantum computers could drive advances in areas like drug discovery and artificial intelligence.
/jlne.ws/3ZJADrn
Trump's Pick for SEC Chair Blamed the US for FTX Crypto Disaster
Monique Mulima - Bloomberg
Paul Atkins, Donald Trump's pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, once blamed an unusual suspect for the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX crypto exchange: The US government itself. Atkins, 66, had a front row seat to the FTX disaster that still resonates through the digital-asset world. His Washington-based consulting firm Patomak Global Partners is listed as a creditor in the FTX bankruptcy for a board-advisory consulting agreement dated January 2022, about 10 months before Bankman-Fried's firm blew up. It also served as an FTX lobbyist, according to court documents. "The collapse of FTX was this international debacle that happened because, I think, the US didn't make our rules accommodating to this new technology," Atkins said on a podcast last year, while acknowledging that fraudulent behavior by Bankman-Fried was at the center of the exchange's demise.
/jlne.ws/3D2QlVy
Wall Street Wealth Chiefs See Hottest Money in Private Markets
Benjamin Stupples - Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. wealth executives are seeing private markets increasingly shape their businesses, marking a major shift from liquid assets that historically drove financial markets. Morgan Stanley has boosted offerings for rich clients investing in closely held businesses in recent years, largely as companies prolong their paths to initial public offerings, according to Elizabeth Dennis, Morgan Stanley's head of private wealth management. Citigroup's rich clients typically now have more than a quarter of their portfolios allocated to private markets, according to Ida Liu, global head of the New York-based firm's private bank.
/jlne.ws/3ZMGHiM
Money Managers Cast Doubt on Economic Impact of Trump's Tariffs; Guggenheim's Anne Walsh says tariffs are 'negotiating gambit'; Economists still expect Trump's agenda to have negative impact
Simone Foxman - Bloomberg
Some of the world's most powerful and influential money managers said they're not convinced that President-Elect Donald Trump's potentially wide-ranging tariffs are much more than a negotiating tactic. That was a key take-away from Franklin Templeton Chief Executive Officer Jenny Johnson and Guggenheim Partners Investment Management Chief Investment Officer Anne Walsh, who spoke at Bloomberg's Women, Money and Power event in London on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3ZoaFIy
Euroclear Warns of Liability Risk in Confiscating Russian Assets; Move may spur new clearing rivals, CEO Urbain tells Bloomberg; Bloc discussing funding for Ukraine after Trump's victory
Jorge Valero - Bloomberg
The Belgian-based clearinghouse that's holding the bulk of frozen assets from Russia's central bank said that it shouldn't be held liable if the European Union decides to confiscate the assets to help Ukraine. Valerie Urbain, the chief executive officer of Euroclear Ltd., told Bloomberg in an interview that any plan to seize the underlying assets should also transfer all the liabilities.
/jlne.ws/4fa4gqq
AllianceBernstein to sue Switzerland over $17bn Credit Suisse debt wipeout; US asset manager will join case over decision when UBS took over struggling rival
Simon Foy and Ortenca Aliaj - Financial Times
US asset manager AllianceBernstein is preparing to sue Switzerland for $225mn over the decision to wipe out $17bn of debt when the country's government orchestrated the takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS last year. The group, which manages about $800bn in assets, is set to be added next month as a plaintiff in a case brought by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan on behalf of Credit Suisse bondholders, according to people familiar with the details.
/jlne.ws/4f5fBb6
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Kremlin says Ukraine war will go on until Putin's goals are met on battlefield or by negotiation
Reuters
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the Ukraine war would continue until the goals set by President Vladimir Putin were achieved by military action or by negotiation. Putin has demanded that Ukraine abandon its ambition to join NATO and withdraw fully from four regions of the country that Russia has claimed as its own - terms Kyiv has rejected as tantamount to surrender.
/jlne.ws/4gvOVl3
China Is Cutting Off Drone Supplies Critical to Ukraine War Effort; Equipment squeeze follows sanctions on US military contractors; Beijing expected to set tighter drone curbs as soon as January
Mark Bergen, Mackenzie Hawkins, and Gian Volpicelli - Bloomberg
China's escalating conflict with the US over trade is now extending to the drones that have become a vital part of Ukraine's defense. Manufacturers in China recently began limiting sales to the US and Europe of key components used to build unmanned aerial vehicles, according to multiple people with knowledge of the developments, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information.
/jlne.ws/3OPahOs
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Unprecedented Israeli Strikes on Weapons Sites Shake Syria; Hundreds of sorties, explosions and fire around Damascus; US partners hope to keep chemical arms away from insurgents
Sam Dagher and Dan Williams - Bloomberg
Fighter jets and bomb blasts are hitting Syria again as Israel, determined to keep former President Bashar al-Assad's abandoned arsenals out of rebel hands, conducts unprecedented rounds of preemptive strikes. More than 300 such sorties have been carried out since the weekend, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, in what Israeli military commentators described as the biggest operation ever mounted by their air force. The Israeli military has declined to comment.
/jlne.ws/4iwgw7c
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Aquis VWAP Match service set to go live in Q1; New service is an extension of the exchange's conditional orders launched in February and will rival similar launches announced by competitors such as Cboe in recent months.
Annabel Smith - The Trade News
Aquis Exchange's new VWAP matching service is set to go live in the first quarter of next year, The TRADE can reveal. Named Aquis VWAP Match, the new service will initially launch in Q1. It will use conditional indication of interests (IOIs) and use a VWAP period of five minutes. Members will be able to submit IOIs at a volume weighted price using all the major reference markets for that calculation.
/jlne.ws/3ZKt5EC
CME Group Announces 2025 Annual Meeting Date
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced it will conduct its 2025 annual meeting of shareholders at 10:00 a.m. Central Time on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Additional information will be provided in the company's proxy statement.
/jlne.ws/49zMhbx
Product modification Summary: Delist CBL Core Global Emissions Offset (C-GEO) Futures - Effective December 09, 2024
CME Group
/jlne.ws/3DhPoJ2
SPAN 2 Framework Equity Pod Parameter Changes - Effective December 09, 2024
CME Clearing
As per normal review, CME Clearing has undertaken a review of the parameters within the SPAN 2 framework's market risk component for the equity pod. Following this review, CME Clearing has determined it will implement adjustments to these parameters to further align with current market conditions.
/jlne.ws/3Vz4vEl
Eurex Clearing expands its ESG Compass to cover Cash Market and Repo Transactions
Eurex
Eurex Clearing further enhances its ESG Clearing Compass offerings, initially launched in April 2023. As of 11 December 2024, Eurex Clearing will introduce the possibility to analyze equity and bond positions. These new enhancements are in response to market participants' needs. Eurex Clearing aims to promote transparency, which is critical for decisions like portfolio decarbonization or integrating ESG factors into counterparty assessments.
/jlne.ws/4go6ROi
Setting the benchmark
Andreas Stillert and Vassily Pascalis - Eurex
Eurex's EURSTR Futures, referencing the new Euro-denominated risk-free rate, show significant growth throughout 2024, with increased participation and trading volume. As institutions shift toward adopting EURSTR, several factors, including margin efficiency and enhanced order transparency, drive growth and further Eurex's ambition to build out the home of the Euro yield curve. With inter-product spread functionality available between EURSTR and Euribor, investors are better equipped to manage risks and execute their orders.
/jlne.ws/3OSqx0U
Euronext announces volumes for November 2024
Euronext
Euronext, the leading European capital market infrastructure, today announced trading volumes for November 2024.
/jlne.ws/3D8tM1S
ICE Launches Long European Union Bond Index Futures
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data today announced the launch of Long European Union (EU) Bond Index futures along with the first trades in the contract. The cash-settled futures contract references the ICE 8-13 Year European Union Index (Ticker: G0EU8T13) which tracks the performance of long-term debt issued by the EU.
/jlne.ws/3Bm76KW
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | BlackRock to streamline Aladdin operations through Saphyre tie-up; The partnership aims to streamline investment operations through AI-driven onboarding and automation.
Sophia Thomson - The Trade News
Saphyre has partnered with BlackRock to integrate services with the firm's end-to-end asset management platform Aladdin. This collaboration aims to streamline operations, mitigate risks, and simplify workflows for shared clients in the financial services industry. "Our partnership with Aladdin represents a pivotal evolution for Saphyre, building on our already extensive network of top-tier investment managers and financial institutions," said Ray Shivers, COO of Saphyre. "By seamlessly integrating our AI-powered onboarding and data management solutions with the Aladdin platform, we are not only addressing critical operational challenges but also enhancing the experience for our clients at scale."
/jlne.ws/49teZuA
EDX Markets deploys Eventus' Validus platform for trade surveillance on its institutional digital assets marketplace
Eventus
Eventus, a leading provider of comprehensive, at-scale trade surveillance and financial risk solutions, and EDX Markets, a leading digital asset technology firm that combines an institution-only trading venue with a central clearinghouse, today announced that EDX has deployed the Eventus Validus platform for trade surveillance on its marketplace. Backed by a consortium of prominent Wall Street firms, EDX was founded in 2022 to facilitate secure and efficient institutional digital assets trading. EDX Markets went live in 2023, providing clients with access to better liquidity that minimizes risk through its marketplace and central clearinghouse. With EDX on board, nearly 20 digital asset venues across the globe now rely on Eventus for their trade surveillance.
/jlne.ws/3ZvmtIV
The Secrets of the Man Who Made Nvidia the World's Most Valuable Company; They're called T5T emails. They're essential to Jensen Huang's success.
Ben Cohen - The Wall Street Journal
Every morning, the man who built one of the world's most valuable companies scrolls through his inbox and looks at 100 of the most important emails that he'll see all day. And on Sunday nights, he pours himself a glass of his favorite Scotch and reads even more of them. For decades, Nvidia employees have been sending notes known as T5Ts, or Top-5 Things-things they're working on, things they're thinking about, things they're noticing in their corners of the business. And for decades, Jensen Huang has been reading them. All of them.
/jlne.ws/3DaoTW8
Kaspi-Led Fintech Lending Draws Kazakh Watchdog's Scrutiny; Fintech firm's marketplace offers popular delayed-payment plan; Regulator frets over impact on rising consumer debt, inflation
Nariman Gizitdinov - Bloomberg
Kazakhstan's booming online marketplaces are thriving thanks in part to a popular financing offer that's now drawing regulator scrutiny over worries about inflation and a growing consumer debt burden. The short-term financing has become a lucrative source of revenue for lenders, such as fintech group Kaspi.kz JSC and Halyk Savings Bank JSC, that get a commission. At the same time, shoppers paying up front often don't get a discount, according to the country's financial regulator.
/jlne.ws/3Vz8C3f
Moonshot AI founder's dispute with 5 investors up for arbitration in Hong Kong
South China Morning Post
Moonshot AI founder Yang Zhilin, a rising star in China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry, finds himself locked in a legal dispute with GSR Ventures China and four other firms that invested in his last venture, Recurrent AI. GSR Ventures China managing director Allen Zhu Xiaohu claims that Yang has uncleared liability when he launched Moonshot AI. GSR and the four other firms that helped fund Yang's previous start-up have filed their case against the entrepreneur with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre.
/jlne.ws/3BnB9lu
Oracle misses quarterly results estimates on stiff cloud competition
Zaheer Kachwala - Reuters
Oracle's second-quarter revenue grew less than Wall Street expected on Monday, hit by stiff competition among database and cloud services providers, sending its shares down more than 7% in extended trading. While seeing healthy growth in its cloud segment, Oracle competes with cloud heavyweights such as Microsoft and Amazon, which have established a large presence in the field.
/jlne.ws/4gcWrBt
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | EU cybersecurity rules for smart devices enter into force
Natasha Lomas - TechCrunch
Rules for boosting the security of connected devices have entered into force in the European Union. The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) puts obligations on product makers to provide security support to consumers, such as by updating their software to fix security vulnerabilities. Although the deadline for compliance with the main obligations of the law is still three years out - December 11, 2027 - to allow device makers time to comply.
/jlne.ws/49yyr9C
You can boost your cybersecurity skills for free with this new initiative; Need to improve your cybersecurity skills but don't know where to start (or have much budget)? This network connects public-interest community organizations with a volunteer professional - entirely free.
Radhika Rajkumar - ZDNet
Lately, it seems like each day brings a new security threat or data leak. According to cybersecurity company Check Point, Q3 of 2024 alone logged a 75% increase in cyberattacks over Q3 of 2023, with the research noting that organizations in education and research were targeted most -- 3,828 per week. Many actors use artificial intelligence (AI) to complete increasingly sophisticated attacks.
/jlne.ws/3BnhMZJ
Trump 2.0: What cybersecurity shifts lie ahead?
Stephanie K. Pell - Brookings
Cybersecurity and cyber defense challenges don't go away with the change of administrations. A new Trump administration is likely to reject aspects of the Biden administration's cyber strategies, while continuing others. In March 2023, the Biden administration released its National Cybersecurity Strategy, which came in the wake of a series of significant cyber intrusions and ransomware attacks, including SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, Colonial Pipeline, and JBS Foods. To push the United States toward a more cyber-secure future, the Biden strategy aimed to produce two "fundamental shifts." The first sought to "rebalance the responsibility to defend cyberspace by shifting the burden for cybersecurity" onto "organizations that are most capable and best-positioned to reduce risks for all of us." The second looked to "realign incentives to favor long-term investments," balancing between the need to "defen[d] ourselves against urgent threats today" while "simultaneously strategically planning for and investing in a resilient future."
/jlne.ws/4gv5iOP
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Marathon Digital Shifts Strategy with $1 Billion Convertible Notes Offering to Expand Bitcoin Holdings
WOLF Financial via The Street
On November 21, 2024, MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), a prominent player in the digital asset space, announced the successful completion of a $1 billion offering of 0% Convertible Senior Notes due 2030. This funding marks a pivotal shift in the company's strategy, with a focus on expanding its Bitcoin holdings and repurchasing existing convertible notes due in 2026.
/jlne.ws/4ivcUmc
Crypto Volatility Picks Up as Trump-Fueled Rally Starts to Fray; Index of smaller coins posts one of its worst drops of 2024; Bitcoin has whipsawed since scaling the key $100,000 level
Sunil Jagtiani - Bloomberg
A bout of selling buffeted crypto as the optimism sparked by President-elect Donald Trump's embrace of the sector begins to cool. Bitcoin fell below $95,000 at one point on Tuesday, while an index of smaller digital assets slid as much as 15%, one of its biggest intraday drops of 2024. Speculators plowed into crypto after the US election on Nov. 5, spurred by Trump's pledge to create a supportive regulatory backdrop and his controversial backing for a national Bitcoin reserve. At the same time, the notorious volatility of digital assets leaves investors prone to exiting bets quickly.
/jlne.ws/4f8thC9
GFO-X names ABN AMRO Clearing, IMC, Standard Chartered Bank and Virtu Financial as strategic partners ahead of launch; Scheduled to launch in Q1 2025, GFO-X is the UK's first regulated and centrally cleared trading venue dedicated to digital asset derivatives.
Wesley Bray - The Trade News
ABN AMRO Clearing, IMC, Standard Chartered Bank and Virtu Financial have been named as strategic partners for GFO-X ahead of its launch in Q1 2025. GFO-X is the UK's first regulated and centrally cleared trading venue dedicated to digital asset derivatives. The trading venue stated that it has been working closely with these partners to deliver the requirements necessary to grow the institutional digital asset index futures and options market.
/jlne.ws/49tHc4q
Behind Bitcoin's Rally Is a Simple Fact: Supplies Are Limited; Bulls argue that the token's scarcity will fuel rising prices, with buyers scrambling to acquire the last new coins to come online
Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
Bitcoin investors celebrated last week after the price of the world's largest cryptocurrency hit $100,000 for the first time. Believers say the rally will continue because of a key technical feature of bitcoin: There is a limit to the number of bitcoins that can ever be created. The computer code behind bitcoin imposes a hard cap of 21 million bitcoins. So far, about 19.8 million bitcoins have been created, and it will take more than a century to create the rest, a process that will become increasingly difficult over time.
/jlne.ws/4gLrhBh
Why Bitcoin Is in Short Supply
Alexander Osipovich - The Wall Street Journal
Bitcoin is limited by design to just 21 million coins, and 19.8 million have already been created. What's more, big institutions have amassed a growing stash of bitcoin in recent years. Those buyers range from public companies such as MicroStrategy-which bought another $2.1 billion's worth last week-to financial firms and governments. Dig deeper:
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Putin and I are the only significant world leaders left, Erdogan says
Liz Cookman - The Telegraph
Turkish-backed rebels claim to have seized a city in northern Syria from US-backed Kurdish militants. In a separate offensive to the one that saw rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) sweep south and topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian National Army (SNA) said it had claimed Manbij from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
/jlne.ws/3Zs4IKQ
Who Is David Sacks, Trump's Pick for AI and Crypto Czar? Tech investor made his money through early bets on Uber and other startups; he built his reputation as a conservative provocateur
Rolfe Winkler and Angel Au-Yeung - The Wall Street Journal
Tech investor David Sacks has built a reputation as a combative contrarian. With his appointment as White House AI and crypto czar, he suddenly finds himself near the center of political power, with an opportunity to shape policies key to Silicon Valley and himself. Sacks, with more than a million followers on X, has been one of the loudest Silicon Valley voices supporting Republicans, putting his money, contacts, home and social-media muscle behind President-elect Donald Trump.
/jlne.ws/3ZNrHB6
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Swiss prosecutors demand 4-year jail sentence for former Trafigura COO; Michael Wainwright accused of being 'linchpin' of scheme to bribe Angolan official
Sam Jones in Bellinzona - Financial Times
Swiss prosecutors are seeking a four-year jail sentence for Trafigura's former chief operating officer and $156mn in compensation and penalties from the company over an alleged "textbook" conspiracy to corrupt a public official. Trafigura and Michael Wainwright have been on trial at Switzerland's federal criminal court for the past week, in a landmark case centred around Trafigura's lucrative push into Angola between 2009 and 2011.
/jlne.ws/4iqFsNF
MPs should quiz 'finfluencers', says Treasury select committee chair; Meg Hillier highlights concern over people turning to 'some random on TikTok' for financial guidance
Sam Fleming, Martin Arnold and George Parker - Financial Times
MPs should look into the phenomenon of social media "finfluencers", as they seek to protect consumers from ill-advised investments, the new chair of the Treasury select committee has said. Dame Meg Hillier, a Labour MP, wants to invite social media personalities who peddle investment schemes or offer financial advice online for an evidence session, to understand how they operate within existing regulation.
/jlne.ws/4grtTE5
Federal Reserve Board provides technical clarification that its account access guidelines apply to excess balance accounts
Federal Reserve Board
The Federal Reserve Board on Monday provided a technical clarification that its account access guidelines also apply to excess balance accounts, known as EBAs. An EBA is a limited-purpose account at a Federal Reserve Bank established for maintaining the reserve balances of eligible institutions. An EBA is managed by an agent on behalf of the participating institutions. The Board's account access guidelines establish transparent, risk-based, and consistent factors for Reserve Banks to use in reviewing requests for access to accounts and services.
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Remarks before the Financial Stability Oversight Council: 2024 Annual Report
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Thank you, Secretary Yellen, for your leadership of this council these last four years. I also want to thank my fellow council members and their staffs for the collaborative efforts we've all put in to ensure that the risks in our financial sector don't spill out and hurt everyday Americans. Today's formal agenda includes a vote on the 2024 annual report, which I am pleased to support. As today's open meeting, though, is likely to be the last of this Administration, I'd like to share some reflections about this Council and our financial system.
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SEC Charges Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for Policy Deficiencies that Resulted in Failure to Prevent and Detect its Financial Advisors' Theft of Investor Funds
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) with failing to reasonably supervise four investment adviser and registered representatives (hereafter, financial advisors) who stole millions of dollars of advisory clients' and brokerage customers' funds and for failing to adopt policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent and detect such theft. To settle the charges, MSSB agreed to pay a $15 million penalty and accept certain undertakings.
/jlne.ws/4gpRapL
SEC Announces Departure of Trading and Markets Division Director Haoxiang Zhu
Deputy Director David Saltiel to serve as Acting Director
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Haoxiang Zhu, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, will depart the agency effective Dec. 10, 2024. Upon Mr. Zhu's departure, David Saltiel, a Deputy Director who also heads the Division's Office of Analytics and Research, will serve as Acting Director.
/jlne.ws/4frwJbr
SEC Charges Ian Bell with Defrauding Professional Athletes and Others in Fraudulent Day-Trading Scheme
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Denver resident Ian G. Bell with securities fraud for lying to investors and misappropriating their funds in connection with a fraudulent day-trading scheme. The SEC's complaint alleges that, between July 2020 and March 2023, Bell raised more than $1.3 million from at least 29 investors, including professional athletes in Colorado, who are unidentified in the complaint. The SEC alleges that Bell lied to investors about his trading performance, including by sending many of them fabricated account performance screenshots. According to the complaint, several of Bell's investors then referred their family and friends to Bell because of the false statements. The SEC further alleges that Bell lost nearly all of the investors' money, kept hundreds of thousands of dollars for his personal use, and, to conceal his fraud, lied about his efforts to repay investors.
/jlne.ws/3ONSl6U
ASIC reissues Regulatory Guide 133 on funds management and custodial services
ASIC
ASIC has reissued Regulatory Guide 133 Funds management and custodial services: Holding assets (RG 133) to provide the latest guidance to asset-holding Australian financial services (AFS) licensees. Relevant AFS licensees include responsible entities of registered managed investment schemes and licensed providers of custodial services.
/jlne.ws/3BuETS8
ASIC proposes to remake relief instrument for 31-day notice term deposits
ASIC
ASIC is inviting feedback on its proposal to remake a legislative instrument that gives relief for 31-day notice term deposits, with a minor amendment to the current settings around pre and post-maturity notices. ASIC Class Order [CO 14/1262] Relief for 31-day notice term deposits gives 31-day notice term deposits of up to five years concessional regulatory treatment as 'basic deposit products' under the Corporations Act 2001.
/jlne.ws/4gvISwV
FMA's calendar of events
FMA
The FMA runs a programme of engagement throughout the year, including speeches, presentations, roundtable discussions and webinars, alongside bilateral engagement with the Boards and Executives of firms we regulate. The FMA also engages through industry bodies. If you would like any more details on the programme of events or would like the FMA to give a speech or presentation, please contact us.
/jlne.ws/4i3URU3
Accredited Body Report - CPA Australia
FMA
Under the Auditor Regulation Act 2011, the FMA is responsible for ensuring accredited bodies are effective in their role as frontline regulators of domestic licensed auditors and registered audit firms. This report covers the findings from our annual monitoring of the audit regulatory systems and processes of CPA Australia.
/jlne.ws/3ZLXUZK
FMA launches "regulatory sandbox" pilot for 2025
FMA
As part of our commitment to support financial services innovation, the FMA is launching a pilot "regulatory sandbox" and is asking for applications from interested parties. A regulatory sandbox is a concept which allows firms to test innovative products, services or business models. An initial pilot phase will run from January to July 2025, with a decision on the need for a permanent FMA regulatory sandbox to be made later in the year.
/jlne.ws/41xjZN7
Accredited Body Report - New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants
FMA
Under the Auditor Regulation Act 2011, the FMA is responsible for ensuring accredited bodies are effective in their role as frontline regulators of domestic licensed auditors and registered audit firms. This report covers the findings from our annual monitoring of the audit regulatory systems and processes of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA). For the purpose of the audit oversight regime, NZICA is the accredited body for Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) members who are resident in New Zealand.
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Overview of the Japanese regional banks' financial results for six months ended September 30, 2024
FSA
The FSA has compiled the regional banks' financial results for six months ended September 30, 2024, as attached below.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | The 'Wolves Were Guarding the Sheep' at Trafigura, Says Prosecutor; Prosecutors ask for prison sentence of four years for ex-COO; Trafigura, Wainwright and other defendants deny wrongdoing
Hugo Miller and Archie Hunter - Bloomberg
Trafigura Group's anti-corruption controls were compromised because senior executives dominated its compliance committee, Swiss prosecutors said, as they sought a four-year prison sentence for former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright. Between 2011 and 2019, the compliance body included Wainright and Trafigura's late founder and chief executive officer, Claude Dauphin. Those executives had a vested interest in delivering bigger profits, rather than rejecting suspicious business leads, the prosecutors said on Monday.
/jlne.ws/4g6A1BZ
A Sociologist Shines a Light on Traders, Flash Boys and Online Adtech; Donald MacKenzie talks to insiders and dives into history to explore how markets are shaped by ideas-and vice versa.
Justina Lee - Bloomberg
In 1972, Donald MacKenzie won a medal for being the best mathematics student at the University of Edinburgh. But the previous year, he'd taken a course on the sociology of science that changed his life. The young Scot had always preferred the self-contained truths of pure math, but the class sparked a pivot to something entirely different: the messy, morally ambiguous study of human society. Since then, the now 74-year-old sociologist has written about nuclear missile systems, mathematical proofs in computing, cryptocurrencies and online advertising.
/jlne.ws/3ZxyVbl
Coffee Reaches Record With Brazil Crop Woes Adding to Crunch
Celia Bergin and Mumbi Gitau - Bloomberg
Coffee hit a record high in New York, on mounting worries over a global supply crunch that have made it one of the year's hottest commodities. Futures for the arabica variety that's favored in specialty brews have surged more than 80% this year amid crop setbacks in key growers, threatening to further pinch consumers' pockets. They rose as much as 4.9% on Tuesday, touching the highest in data going back to 1972 and eclipsing a peak set that decade when a disastrous so-called Black Frost decimated Brazilian trees.
/jlne.ws/3Zx7WNb
Worried About Stocks? $1 Trillion in Buybacks Will Help; Record repurchases will be an important buffer to total returns if share price gains disappoint in the coming years.
Nir Kaissar - Bloomberg
December is a big month for stock buybacks, and by month's end, companies are expected to spend more money repurchasing shares this year than ever before. Not everyone is happy about it. Buybacks have been called everything from market manipulation and wage killers to a tax loophole and an executive compensation scheme. With US stocks widely expected to deliver lackluster gains in the years ahead, investors should call buybacks indispensable. That's because share repurchases have become a key component of total stock returns, although you might not know it based on recent buyback yields. Yes, companies in the S&P 500 Index spent $790 billion last year repurchasing shares, up from closer to $170 billion in 2000, based on the longest data compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimated in March that buybacks this year would be just short of $1 trillion and cross that milestone in 2025. But the S&P 500 is also more valuable than it was in 2000, and as a percentage of market value, buybacks are only modestly higher than they were at the time.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | BP's Chairman Needs to Put the Company Up for Sale; The UK oil company's future as a standalone entity is bleak.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
In the spring of 1998, with oil hovering near $10 a barrel, BP Plc reached a dismal conclusion: Its future as a standalone company was grim. So John Browne, its chief executive officer at the time, rang the chairman of US rival Amoco and proposed a merger. The deal, announced in August of that year, triggered a flurry of M&A activity that created the current Big Oil mob. Today, BP is at a similar juncture. Its future alone is bleak. Investors have lost faith in its strategy, its management and its board. Even sell-side analysts, typically deferential to the companies they cover, are out for blood: Take the headline of a recent report by veteran analyst Paul Sankey that read "BP Results: Beat? Miss? Who Cares, Fire the Board."
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Renewable electricity to overtake fossil fuels in UK this year; Wind closes in on gas as largest single generation source, study finds
Rachel Millard - Financial Times
Renewable energy from wind, solar and hydropower will account for more of the UK's electricity output this year than fossil fuels for the first time, according to think-tank Ember. The green trio will account for about 37 per cent of the electricity generated this year, overtaking 35 per cent from fossil fuels, according to the study that includes production data and forecasts for the remainder of the year.
/jlne.ws/41rZMYN
TotalEnergies and EDF CEOs Spar Over French Power Market Rules
Francois De Beaupuy - Bloomberg
The chief executives of TotalEnergies SE and Electricite de France SA sparred over how France should handle its power-market regulation while the country deals with its current political impasse. TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the government should consider extending an existing power-market regulation which makes EDF sell almost a quarter of its annual nuclear output to rivals at a steep discount to current wholesale prices until the end of 2025.
/jlne.ws/41ryoKH
Here's How Much Cleaner Energy Could Save America, in Lives and Money; Widespread adoption of heat pumps could prevent thousands of premature deaths and save billions on energy bills, according to a new analysis.
Cara Buckley - The New York Times
Electric heat pumps, the most affordable and energy efficient way to heat and cool homes, continue to outsell gas furnaces nationwide. They can also reduce outdoor pollution and, as a result, save lives, according to a report issued on Tuesday. The study, by Rewiring America, a nonprofit group that promotes electrification, calculated that if every American household got rid of furnaces, hot water heaters and clothes dryers powered by oil or gas and replaced them with heat pumps and electric appliances, annual greenhouse gas emissions could drop by about 400 million metric tons. Fine airborne particulate matter and other air pollutants could decrease by 300,000 tons, the equivalent of taking 40 million cars off the road.
/jlne.ws/41r5IkI
US supreme court hears oil railway case with environmental protections at stake; Backers of blocked Utah railway proposal want justices to narrow scope of 50-year-old environmental legislation
Nina Lakhani - The Guardian
The future of environmental safeguards protecting communities, wildlife and waterways from harm will be considered by the US supreme court on Tuesday, in a case about a proposed oil train that threatens to upend five decades of legal precedent. The case brought by Utah's Seven County Infrastructure Coalition and Uinta Basin Railway LLC is asking the supreme court to overturn a federal appeals court decision blocking the approval of an 88-mile railway through the Uinta Basin in north-eastern Utah. The railway's backers want the court to narrow the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa) - the country's landmark environmental legislation passed by Congress and signed by Richard Nixon in 1970.
/jlne.ws/4ir7SXM
A Carbon Capture Project Faces a New Delay in a Year of Slow Progress for Coal Power Plants Looking for Retrofits; Project Tundra has lost its lead contractor, which pushes back the timetable for a high-profile and controversial plan.
Dan Gearino - Inside Climate News
It's Do or Die Time for Philly Hydrogen Hub, and Some Green Groups Are Rooting for Death
Project Tundra, a plan to retrofit a North Dakota coal plant with carbon capture technology, has hit a snag following the departure of the lead contractor. Before that departure, the utility overseeing the project, Minnkota Power Cooperative, had said it would decide this year whether to move forward with the multibillion-dollar plan.
/jlne.ws/3OQjrKy
EU's largest political group pushes to weaken combustion engine ban
Kate Abnett - Reuters
/jlne.ws/3B9cVvm
Power-Hungry Canadian Province Tees Up $4 Billion of Wind Farms; Nine projects to yield 5,000 gigawatt hours per year; Initiative contrasts with fossil-fuel focus of Trump, Alberta
Thomas Seal - Bloomberg
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | BIS warns politicians to rein in spending or risk market turbulence; Chief economist Claudio Borio says governments will be 'too late' if they wait for investors to panic
Martin Arnold - Financial Times
Rising government debt levels will cause turbulence in the global economy and financial markets unless political leaders start tackling them soon, the body that advises the world's central banks has warned. High levels of sovereign borrowing were "one of the biggest threats, if not the biggest threat going forward for the global economy", Claudio Borio, head of the monetary and economic department of the Bank for International Settlements, told reporters this week.
/jlne.ws/3Zxe1sZ
Billionaire Harvard Dropout Powers Female Family Office Boom; Trendyol's Demet Mutlu among women opening own investment firm; Women gaining foothold in historically male corner of finance
Benjamin Stupples - Bloomberg
Demet Mutlu, who built Turkey's biggest e-commerce platform after dropping out of Harvard Business School, has joined a growing global wave: women gaining influence in the family office business. Mutlu, 43, set up an investment firm in London this year to manage her fortune from online retailer Trendyol and various venture bets, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified since the information isn't public.
/jlne.ws/49CNVJG
Apollo CEO Taps Cash on $431 Million Stake, May End Up Selling
Laura Benitez - Bloomberg
Apollo Global Management Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Rowan is putting up $431 million of the company's stock, and could end up selling it, as he looks to access some of his wealth tied to the firm. Entities affiliated with Rowan entered into a so-called prepaid variable forward contract for 2.5 million shares, or about 7% of his holding in the company, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. The slug of stock represents less than 0.5% of Apollo's total outstanding.
/jlne.ws/4fcCbif
Bold Call on Lebanon Bonds Pays Off for Danske Fund Manager
Kerim Karakaya - Bloomberg
Lebanon's defaulted dollar bonds have almost doubled in less than three months, and one trader who caught the surge from the beginning says they could double again after the overthrow of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad. Soeren Moerch, a Copenhagen-based portfolio manager at Danske Bank AS, started to purchase the bonds in September and has held onto that position ever since on a bet that Israel's attacks against Hezbollah would weaken the Iran-backed militia's influence over Lebanese politics.
/jlne.ws/4gu67am
Man Group Eyes Acquisitions, Sees 'Cracking' Credit Opportunity
William Shaw and Caroline Gage - Bloomberg
Man Group Plc is open to further acquisitions and sees "cracking opportunity" in the fast-growing credit space, according to the head of the world's biggest publicly traded hedge fund. Chief Executive Officer Robyn Grew would steer the firm away from deals where it already has a presence and any acquisition would need to add uncorrelated content or capabilities, she said at Bloomberg's Money, Women and Power conference in London on Tuesday. Any targets would need to have the right scale and right culture, she said.
/jlne.ws/4irleTT
US investors have saved $250bn by investing in ETFs, says BofA; The savings compared with mutual funds was mainly due to tax advantages rather than exchange traded funds' lower fees
Steve Johnson - Financial Times
US investors have saved $250bn by investing in exchange traded funds rather than traditional mutual funds, since their creation in 1993, according to calculations by Bank of America. The sum is equivalent to 2.5 per cent of the $10tn US-listed ETF market.
/jlne.ws/4g3QMOf
General Atlantic Bets Bigger on Gulf With New Abu Dhabi Office
Nicolas Parasie and Joumanna Bercetche - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4goAgYL
Vanguard Taps Ex-Fidelity Executive to Lead New Wealth Division; Joanna Rotenberg was most recently a president at Fidelity; Firm also hired new HR chief from Principal Financial
Loukia Gyftopoulou - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41sdaMO
Chasing 'Dumb Money': Hedge Funds Target Mere Mini-Millionaires; Viking, Elliott and Jain Global are among firms scouring private-wealth networks for fresh cash.
Hema Parmar and Katherine Burton - Bloomberg
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Why the Coolest Job in Tech Might Actually Be in a Bank; For tech and AI talent, jobs at financial services companies are more desirable than they have ever been. Banks have been working hard to make it happen.
Isabelle Bousquette - The Wall Street Journal
Working in a bank's technology department might finally be as cool as landing a job at Google. The market for tech talent is more measured than a few years ago, but big banks say they are still aggressively hiring. And talent is flocking to the sector, which can offer new hires the chance to file patents and work under researchers plucked from top academic departments. Job stability and the social cachet that comes with saying you work at JPMorgan Chase don't hurt either.
/jlne.ws/4f8o1OV
US Job Postings Requiring College Degree Decline in Indeed Data; Share of vacancies asking for degree fell to 17.6% in October; Meanwhile recent graduates have a harder time finding work
Alexandre Tanzi - Bloomberg
About one in six US job postings require at least a bachelor's degree, a share that's been declining since the pandemic in data from Indeed Hiring Lab. The share of vacancies requiring a college education fell to 17.6% in October from about 20% in 2019. That represents tens of thousands more jobs potentially available today for the more than 60% of Americans who didn't graduate from university, Indeed said in a report.
/jlne.ws/3ZqvTWl
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Wellness Potential Of Pantone's 2025 Color Of The Year: Mocha Mousse
Jamie Gold - Forbes
Every winter, the world's design authorities share their color choices for the upcoming year. One of the top firms in this space, Pantone, just announced that its 2025 Color of the Year is Mocha Mousse (17-1230) and described it this way: "A warming, brown hue imbued with richness. It nurtures us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort." And who couldn't use some comfort this season?
/jlne.ws/3D9d9mN
America's Best Fitness & Wellness Retreats 2025
Newsweek
Modern living often leaves little room for self-care, with stress, sedentary routines and hectic schedules taking a toll on overall well-being. According to the American Psychiatric Association, 43 percent of adults say "they feel more anxious than they did the previous year." As people increasingly try to prioritize their physical fitness and mental health, retreats offering holistic programs have become sought-after sanctuaries for renewal and transformation. To spotlight the destinations redefining self-care, Newsweek and Statista are proud to present America's Best Fitness & Wellness Retreats 2025. Our inaugural list honors 100 outstanding retreats a cross the country.
/jlne.ws/3VzzPCP
3-D Mammograms Are Overtaking Traditional Scans. But Are They Better? Here's how good the tests are at detecting cancer and preventing false positive results.
Nina Agrawal - The New York Times
Women going in for routine mammograms are increasingly being screened with a new type of imaging tool: digital breast tomosynthesis. The new technology, which is sometimes referred to as 3-D mammography or D.B.T., lets doctors look at the breast in greater detail. Some research has shown that it can detect slightly more cancers with fewer false positive results than conventional mammograms - though it's still too early to know whether these benefits will translate to fewer cancer deaths.
/jlne.ws/4fdsy2K
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Hong Kong Blank-Check Firm Suspends Trading After Scrapping De-SPAC; Vision Deal says may identify firm for a new transaction; Target company Quwan has yet to received CSRC approval
Dave Sebastian - Bloomberg
Blank-check firm Vision Deal HK Acquisition Corp. suspended trading of its shares and warrants in Hong Kong starting Tuesday after its combination with a target company failed to materialize. As certain conditions to close the transaction have not been fulfilled and no agreement was reached to further extend the date for the deal, the business-combination agreement will cease, Vision Deal said in a filing on Monday.
/jlne.ws/49st5N1
Central Bank of Nigeria taps Bloomberg BMatch solution for interbank FX trading; New development will enable spot matching functionality to the local interbank community for US dollar against the Nigerian naira.
Wesley Bray - The Trade News
The Central Bank of Nigeria is set to adopt Bloomberg's BMatch solution for interbank trading in the local foreign exchange markets. Bloomberg's foreign exchange electronic trading platform (FXGO) BMatch solution will provide spot matching functionality to the local interbank community for US dollar against the Nigerian naira. The solution allows anonymous orders to be placed into a central limit order book, which are displayed and then matched with counterparty orders based on mutual trading limits and other specificities from each bank.
/jlne.ws/4f5dwvO
Apollo lends Canary Wharf £610mn in crucial refinancing deal; London landlord has no major debts due before 2028 after securing £2bn of headroom in transactions this year
Joshua Oliver - Financial Times
US private capital group Apollo will lend Canary Wharf £610mn to pay off its bonds, in a deal that allows the London landlord to complete its refinancing race but will lock it into higher interest costs. The US group will provide a five-year loan in two tranches to refinance two of Canary Wharf Group's bonds when they fall due in 2025 and 2026, secured against the east London financial centre's underground shopping centres.
/jlne.ws/4faqAju
US Mulls Backing Brazilian Nickel Plant With Up to $550 Million; Amount would be almost 40% of project's financing package; US tries to reduce dependence on China for critical minerals
Mariana Durao - Bloomberg
The US government is considering whether to provide a loan of up to $550 million to help developing a nickel and cobalt mine in Brazil's Northeast. Brazilian Nickel Ltd. has received a letter from the US International Development Finance Corporation expressing its interest in backing the Piauà Nickel Project. The company expects to convert the letter of interest into a committed financing facility in early 2025. The amount represents almost 40% of the project's overall financing package, it said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/3OOBPne
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