November 28, 2018 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | John Lothian Publisher John Lothian News | |
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Consensus: Invest recap Chuck Mackie - John Lothian News In May 2018, Coindesk held its three-day Consensus conference in New York with huge and enthusiastic crowds going crazy over all things blockchain. This week, Coindesk reconvened the cryptocurrency crowd in Midtown Manhattan for Consensus:Invest in the face of very different market fundamentals. What a year it's been for cryptocurrencies. The raging bull market that saw Bitcoin rise above $10,000 for the first time almost exactly one year ago today has turned into a monumental rout, with prices down nearly 75 percent since the beginning of the year. In this environment, what could be expected from the conference? Not surprisingly, the number of attendees was down by at least 50 percent but, on the other hand, the level of positive and constructive attitudes was, if anything, higher than it was in the spring. What was going on at Consensus:Invest? To read the rest of this article, go here ++++ Saliba's Execution Fight Gears Up Spencer Doar - John Lothian News Anthony Saliba returned to the broker-dealer business in September 2017 by starting Matrix Executions. He had sworn he would never would come back to the space. Saliba had already conquered the challenge as CEO of LiquidPoint - which at its peak handled a fifth of U.S. options flow. Liquidpoint would eventually become apart of Dash Financial Technologies in 2017. Saliba competes with Dash, fighting a battle with a company that can trace part of its history directly back to him. Now, he has another vote of confidence in his year old venture as Mishkin, Anderson and Gray Securities (MAGS), operator of market making firm Simplex Trading, "made [him] an offer [he] couldn't refuse" to become minority owners in Matrix. The deal is pending FINRA approval. For the rest of the story go here. ****The press release about the deal can be found here. ++++ Hits & Takes JLN Staff The Wall Street Rides FAR charity event has raised roughly $1 million in just four years. (Just because Giving Tuesday was yesterday doesn't mean you should stop thinking about charitable giving.) ~SD Who did you donate to on Giving Tuesday? If I get enough responses, I will publish the list of all the charities readers donated to yesterday.~JJL The CFTC and K-State will host their 2nd annual Agricultural Commodity Futures Conference on April 11-12 in Overland Park, Kansas.~JJL At FIA Asia, FIA Head of Asia-Pacific Bill Herder paid tribute to UBS and FIA Asia Regional Advisory Board member David Strachan, who passed away earlier this year.~JJL Leaders from @CMEGroup? ?@EurexGroup? ?? ?@SGX? ?@CBOE? ?@LME_news all participated in the exchange leader panel at FIA Asia.~JJL At the FIA Asia conference, the audience was polled about Brexit. The view of 42% of the audience at FIA's Asia conference in Singapore regarding the impact of Brexit on markets is..."The U.K. will reject the Withdrawal Agreement and there will be total chaos." An ABC News story on the effect of climate change on the U.S. economy discusses a new report by 13 U.S. Federal agencies that says the Midwest will be particularly hard-hit, "with higher temperatures, drought and flooding contributing to a decline in soybeans and corn -- two of the Midwest's main commodities... As a result, the region could potentially produce less than 75 percent of the corn it currently produces, and lose more than 25 percent of its soybean yield." ~SR ++++ Leading Financial Firms to Create Code of Conduct for Digital Asset Markets; Association for Digital Asset Markets Promotes Fair and Orderly Digital Asset Markets BusinessWire Today, ten industry-leading financial services and technology firms launched the Association for Digital Asset Markets (ADAM) to establish a code of conduct for emerging digital asset markets. ADAM is the first broad-based organization of its kind in the United States to proactively seek comprehensive standards for digital asset market participants. /goo.gl/WWL3uU ***Duncan Niederauer is an ADAM advisory board member. ~SR ++++ Farm bankruptcies surpass Great Recession levels in upper Midwest Michael Sykes - Axios An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis found that 84 farm operations in the upper Midwest filed for Chapter 12 bankruptcy from June 2017 to June 2018. bit.ly/2FG2v8K ****** Tariffs have casualties.~JJL ++++ CFTC's LabCFTC Releases Primer about Smart Contracts; The Primer Helps to Explain Smart Contract Technology and related Risks and Challenges CFTC The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's LabCFTC today released, "A CFTC Primer on Smart Contracts." This primer is part of LabCFTC's effort to engage with innovators and market participants on a range of financial technology (FinTech) topics, and follows on a 2017 primer on virtual currencies and the agency's recent FinTech Forward conference. bit.ly/2FKVfbH ***** The LabCFTC continues to be a bright light and leader in the regulatory world.~JJL ++++ Adena Friedman Elected as a Class B Director to New York Fed Board of Directors Federal Reserve Bank of New York The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that Adena T. Friedman, president and chief executive officer of Nasdaq, Inc., has been elected a Class B director representing Group 2 which consists of banks with capital and surplus between $40 million and $2 billion. Ms. Friedman will fill the unexpired portion of David Cote's term that ends December 31, 2019. /nyfed.org/2FJoKuo ****** Adena is Class A in my book.~JJL ++++ Special Report: Little known to many investors, cryptocurrency reviews are for sale Anna Irrera, Elizabeth Dilts - Reuterts When cryptocurrency issuers want positive coverage for their virtual coins, they buy it. /reut.rs/2FLEk8S ****** This is one reason we launched CryptoMarketsWiki.com, to help weed out the BS and find and share the truth.~JJL ++++ Friday's Top Three Our top three stories of the day were led by Bloomberg's Nasdaq Plans to Pursue Bitcoin Futures Despite Plunging Prices, Sources Say. Sometimes futures are there to help participants with falling prices. Second went to Craig Pirrong's column in the Streetwise Professor, This Is What Happens When You Slip Picking Up Nickels In Front of a Steamroller about OptionSellers.com. Third was the press release from RJO, RJO Futures Named 2018's Most Trusted Financial Brokerage Firm by Wealth & Finance Magazine - First Futures Brokerage to Win Award ++++ MarketsWiki Stats 136,312,106 pages viewed; 23,321 pages; 215,550 edits MarketsWiki Statistics ++++
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Lead Stories | Former NYSE CEO to head up crypto code of conduct group Aaron Hankin - MarketWatch The digital currency market took another step toward shoring up its reputation on Tuesday with the announcement that a group of crypto-related and financial firms have joined forces to create an industry code of conduct. /on.mktw.net/2FLB8KH ***** Duncan Niederauer is an excellent choice to lead this. It gives the effort and the whole market much needed credibility.~JJL To Sniff Out Insider Trading, Follow the Options Market; How algorithmic sleuths use artificial intelligence to expose suspicious activity related to mergers and acquisitions. Matthew A. Winkler - Bloomberg Insider trading involves illegal profiting from nonpublic information by people buying and selling shares. It typically increases whenever companies are busy acquiring each other. The 42 percent rise in the Russell 3000 index during the 24 months through September included the most mergers and acquisitions in 12 years. Now the technology that created artificial intelligence is getting good at detecting stock market fluctuations that can only be explained as abnormal, sophisticated and nefarious. /bloom.bg/2FY7UZd Cleared British traders put US justice on trial; Staff in London and elsewhere are vulnerable to legal forays, lawyers for trio warn Katie Martin and Caroline Binham - FT When they returned to the New York courtroom on October 26, the three British former currencies traders were not expecting a verdict. Their two-week trial, brought by the US Department of Justice, had wrapped up only the previous day. /on.ft.com/2FNqhQc The Dangerous Rise of Sponsored Stock Research; Equity research paid for by the companies being analyzed is a big beneficiary of new European regulations Jon Sindreu - WSJ New securities-trading rules are having one pernicious side effect on European stock markets: Research is increasingly paid for by those being researched. So-called sponsored research has long been common in the bond market, where ratings firms are paid by firms to grade their credit risk. The European Union's catchily-named second Market in Financial Instruments Directive, or Mifid II, is helping extend the problem to equities. /on.wsj.com/2FJnF63 Bitcoin ETFs Roadblocked by Lack of Safeguards, SEC's Chief Says Benjamin Bain - Bloomberg Clayton comments on agencies rejection of bids for listings; Agency staff has expressed concern over potential manipulation The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that concern over a lack of investor protections makes it unlikely that his agency will approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund anytime soon. /bloom.bg/2FLtUq3 Nasdaq, VanEck Partner to Launch 'Crypto 2.0' Futures Contracts Christine Kim - Coindesk The second-largest stock exchange in the world is partnering with investment management firm VanEck to bring a host of new cryptocurrency financial products to market. bit.ly/2FLzOXY Goldman Still Can't Hold Clients' Crypto Assets Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg Digital asset head Justin Schmidt comments during conference; Crypto sell-off is 'healthy' for ecosystem, Schmidt says Goldman Sachs Group Inc. isn't any closer to offering one the key services sought by clients still intrigued by cryptocurrencies amid this year's collapse in digital-asset prices. /bloom.bg/2FMBS24 China to designate more financial groups as 'too big to fail'; Central bank cites international frameworks as model for national regulation Gabriel Wildau in Shanghai - FT Chinese regulators are to designate more financial institutions as "systemically important" in their latest move to limit financial risk following a decade-long debt build-up. /on.ft.com/2FJsb4g Special Report: Little known to many investors, cryptocurrency reviews are for sale Anna Irrera, Elizabeth Dilts - Reuters When cryptocurrency issuers want positive coverage for their virtual coins, they buy it. /goo.gl/VRhFhK ****Beware - it's not just consumer goods being hawked by social media influencers! This special report is well worth the 15 minute read. (Btw, Reuters fintech correspondent Anna Irrera was a speaker at our MarketsWikiEducation event in NY two years back.)~SD Russia broker BCS targets 'broader church' with synthetic prime plan Marc Jones - Reuters Russia's largest stockbroker BCS hopes to open the country's financial markets to a "broader church" of foreign investors, from hedge funds to retail buyers, with a new trading product. /goo.gl/nW1eHe ****As BCS' leadership notes, clients' activities under this plan are still subject to the whims of global sanctions. So it seems only right that this was announced right as the situation in Ukraine flares back up again...~SD Equity Derivatives: Buyside Usage in Asia-Pacific Survey data shows use of strategies and products in the region Patrick Fay - MarketVoice Each year, EQDerivatives conducts a "market mapping" analysis of the global equity and volatility derivatives market, including its potential for growth in the coming years. The analysis is based on the views of buyside firms around the globe: asset managers, hedge funds, pension funds, private banks, family offices and insurance companies. The findings and analysis provide a map of how equity and volatility derivatives are deployed by managers globally, as well as the types of listed and over-the-counter derivatives that they tend to use most frequently. /goo.gl/wEzqKK Corners of Wall Street remain undeterred by crypto crash; Mainstream finance is experimenting with digital tokens despite bitcoin tumble Philip Stafford in London - FT A student tower block near the University of South Carolina's campus in Columbia makes for an unlikely monument to the confidence some still harbour that digital currencies will eventually loosen Wall Street's grip on financial services. /on.ft.com/2FNEHjn Exclusive: China not seriously considering U.S. Treasuries as trade war weapon - envoy Reuters China's ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday he does not believe Beijing is seriously considering using its massive U.S. Treasury debt holdings as a weapon in the U.S.-China trade war, citing concerns that such a move would destabilize financial markets. /reut.rs/2FUPUim Exclusive: China envoy warns of dire consequences if U.S. hardliners hold sway David Brunnstrom, David Lawder, Matt Spetalnick - Reuters China is going to this week's G-20 summit hoping for a deal to ease a damaging trade war with the United States, Beijing's ambassador to Washington said on Tuesday, while warning of dire consequences if U.S. hardliners try to separate the world's two largest economies. /reut.rs/2FIojAv Paul Volcker's Wisdom for America's Rigged Economy John Cassidy - The New Yorker If the United States continues on its current course of division, dysfunction, and decline, Paul Volcker won't be to blame. Since retiring, in 1987, from his position as the chairman of the Federal Reserve, where he had engineered a painful but successful effort to bring down inflation, the six-foot-seven-inch native of Teaneck, New Jersey, has spent much of the past thirty-odd years devoting his formidable energy to public service, most recently as a proponent of stricter regulation of banks. Now, at the age of ninety-one, Volcker has published a memoir that is ultimately a cri de coeur from a patriotic American. bit.ly/2TQzMBm Day trader denies friend at UBS leaked insider information; Court hears Walid Choucair made £1.4m profit trading in Kabel Deutschland before takeover Caroline Binham in London - FT A day trader has denied that there was any connection between his friend at UBS accessing confidential deal information and his trading in the stock some minutes later. /on.ft.com/2FLF1iI Biggest Pay Raise on Wall Street Goes to Stock Derivatives Traders; Increasingly choppy markets are proving to be a boon to these traders at the biggest banks Telis Demos and Gunjan Banerji - WSJ As markets get wilder, some Wall Street traders are getting richer. The return of volatility might be making many rank-and-file investors queasy, but it is proving to be a boon to some trading desks at the biggest banks. /on.wsj.com/2FMYteL
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Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Euronext appoints Isabel Ucha as CEO of Euronext Lisbon and CEO of Interbolsa Euronext Euronext announced today that the Supervisory Board has nominated Isabel Ucha as CEO of Euronext Lisbon, CEO of Interbolsa and member of the Managing Board of Euronext N.V., starting 1 January 2019, subject to formal appointment by an Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Euronext N.V. and the usual regulatory non-objections. This decision follows Paulo Rodrigues da Silva's resignation from his position as CEO of Euronext Lisbon. Paulo Rodrigues da Silva will leave the company at the end of this year to pursue personal projects, in the field of entrepreneurship and academia. bit.ly/2FLBhOf Ice changing margin model for move into options; CCP aims for Q1 2019 roll-out of new Monte Carlo-based methodology as it plans launch of index swaptions Tom Osborn, James Ryder - Risk.net Ice Clear Credit has received regulatory approval to switch from its stress-based initial margin methodology to one based on Monte Carlo simulations - a step, the clearer says, that paves the way for it to launch clearing for options on credit default swaps (CDS) indexes. /goo.gl/qSjQ1w The World Federation Of Exchanges & African Securities Exchanges Association Sign MoU World Federation of Exchanges The World Federation of Exchanges ("WFE"), the global industry group for exchanges and CCPs, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), aimed at supporting the development of the wider African capital market. bit.ly/2FVyT7k PepsiCo to Transfer Listing of Debt Securities to Nasdaq MarketWatch PepsiCo, Inc. PEP, +0.50% today announced it will be transferring the securities exchange listing for its 2.500% Senior Notes due 2022, 1.750% Senior Notes due 2021, 2.625% Senior Notes due 2026 and 0.875% Senior Notes due 2028 (collectively, the "debt securities") from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq Bond Exchange effective December 7, 2018 after market close. The debt securities are expected to begin trading as Nasdaq-listed securities on December 10, 2018. Their respective trading symbols and CUSIP numbers are as follows: /on.mktw.net/2TRGSVZ IEX Group, Inc. Announces Senior Appointments to Drive New Ventures; Joe Hipps to develop new analytics business and Prerak Sanghvi to lead ventures technology as company expands into new growth areas IEX IEX Group, Inc. announced two senior appointments, Joseph (Joe) Hipps and Prerak Sanghvi, to help capitalize on strategic growth opportunities outside of the company's core stock exchange business. bit.ly/2TQap2v NSE and SGX may soon launch Nifty index from IFSC ETMarkets.com| The arbitration process involving the NSE and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has been deferred and the two bourses are a step closer to launching Nifty index from IFSC, Gift City, sources told ET Now on Monday. bit.ly/2FY9pqj Euronext welcomes SCISYS Euronext Euronext today welcomes the SCISYS Group PLC ("SCISYS" or the "Company"), a leading supplier of bespoke software systems, IT-based solutions and support services to the Media & Broadcast, Space, Government, Defence and Commercial sectors, on its admission to trading on our Enterprise Securities Market in Dublin[1]. bit.ly/2FNg1HM 360T sets sights on becoming FX one-stop shop Eurex This week, 360T has been awarded in the categories "Best professional e-trading venue" and "Best vendor for dealing technology" at the 2018 FX Week Best Banks Awards. On this occasion, FX Week conducted an interview with Carlo Kölzer, CEO of 360T and global head of FX at Deutsche Börse Group, about pushing forward his plans for 360T to become a one-stop shop for FX. bit.ly/2FGWQ2e The rise of TRFs - how funds use them to generate alpha Eurex Hedge funds and traditional institutional investors are increasingly turning to total return futures (TRFs) to get exposure to the repo market related to an underlying index such as the EURO STOXX 50® Index. Antoine Deix, Senior Equity Derivatives Strategist at BNP Paribas, discusses how firms are currently using TRFs, the benefits they gain compared with total return swaps (TRS) or index futures, and how he sees the space developing in the next year. bit.ly/2FOJSzx TMX Group Announces 2018 Investor Day TMX TMX Group today announced it will hold its 2018 Investor Day on Thursday, November 29, 2018 in Toronto. The agenda will include presentations from Lou Eccleston, CEO, and other senior leaders who will discuss TMX's "Roadmap for Growth". bit.ly/2FIOpDH MTS and BondCliQ launch liquidity visualization tool London Stock Exchange Group New tool on the BondTiQ platform allows users to map US corporate bond liquidity; Powered by MTS BondsPro's deep, real-time pricing information MTS Markets International, part of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), and BondCliQ, a corporate bond market data solution, have launched Liquidity Mapping for BondCliQ's BondTiQ platform. bit.ly/2FMZLX9 Exchange of the year/exchange innovation of the year: CME Group; Risk Awards 2019: FX Link, SOFR futures and Nex acquisition headline banner year for Chicago bourse Risk staff For most derivatives exchanges, the ability to navigate sudden volatility bursts constituted success in 2018. For CME Group, it was a year for reimagining the role of the world's largest derivatives trading venue against a changing regulatory backdrop. bit.ly/2FGXyMW
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Fintech | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | QuantHouse appoints new COO and CTO; Emmanuel Carjat joins as COO with Denery Fenouil returning as CTO to help drive continued global growth and transformation QuantHouse QuantHouse, the independent global provider of high performance systematic trading solutions including innovative market data services, algo development tools and global network infrastructure, today announced the appointments of Emmanuel Carjat as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Denery Fenouil as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). bit.ly/2FMGipM CloudMargin Named "Collateral Management and Optimisation Product of the Year" at Risk.net Markets Technology Awards 2019 CloudMargin CloudMargin, creator of the world's first and only collateral and margin management solution native to the cloud, announced today that its platform has been named Collateral Management and Optimisation Product of the Year at the Risk.net Markets Technology Awards 2019. CloudMargin Chief Operating Officer Steven Marconi accepted the award at a ceremony last night in London during the magazine's flagship Risk Awards event. bit.ly/2FLB39O Bloomberg Makes Real-Time Data Available On The Cloud; Efficient delivery of comprehensive market data enables front office to accelerate time to value Markets Insider Bloomberg announced today that its flagship real-time market data feed, B-PIPE, is now available on the cloud, offering customers a high-performance solution that delivers instant and reliable access to crucial trading data. /read.bi/2TNq6aC Facebook faces threat of tough international regulation MPs from nine countries criticise Mark Zuckerberg for refusing to be questioned Aliya Ram in London and Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco - FT Facebook is facing threats of co-ordinated regulation after it was attacked by lawmakers from nine countries on Tuesday and accused of having lost public trust. /on.ft.com/2FJqi7V Revolut, a $1.7 billion UK fintech, has big plans to enter US market Callum Burroughs - Business Insider A UK app-based banking alternative valued at $1.7 billion has plans to grow even bigger. Just three years old, it's hitting the US early next year to continue its rapid expansion. Revolut, founded in 2015 by a developer, Vlad Yatsenko, and former trader Nikolay Storonsky, already has 3.2 million customers and the company boasts that it has long waiting lists outside Europe. Dubbed "the Amazon of banking," Revolut's success has reportedly lured a potential $500 million investment from Japan's SoftBank. /read.bi/2FMFQru Fintech Compliance Officer Lexology (Mexico) Rules issued by the National Banking and Securities Commission ("CNBV") require fintech companies to appoint a compliance officer to establish procedures to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This compliance officer must be an employee of the fintech company and must be certified by the CNBV. This certification must be renewed every 5 years. bit.ly/2FMx5Od TD Ameritrade announces three finalists in its first fintech competition Sarah Min - InvestmentNews TD Ameritrade Institutional announced three finalists Tuesday in its first fintech competition, called Innovation Quest, spotlighting new tools in risk assessment, financial literacy and voice-activated assistance. The three finalists, chosen from 135 eligible submissions, each won $25,000 and a trip to TD Ameritrade's National LINC conference in February 2019, where the top winner will be announced. The finalists will have to present video and live proof-of-concept presentations in front of a panel of judges and approximately 2,000 registered investment advisers at the San Diego event. bit.ly/2FMZ3sX
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Cryptocurrencies | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | The Death of Exchange 1.0 and Advent of Digital Exchange 2.0: More Than Just the Matching Engine Hirander Misra, GMEX - Tabb Forum It seems like every other day there is a new announcement about yet another initiative wanting to become the next game-changing institutional crypto exchange. But the majority of these exchanges, while advocating decentralization, are still centralized, and the exchange construct essentially is no different now than it was decades ago. A matching engine does not make a digital exchange solution; managing wallets securely and ensuring trusted custody and settlement of these digital assets is the real innovation. /goo.gl/AmGDpw Breakingviews - Crypto disruptors want a hug from Wall St Tom Buerkle - Reuters "Do you have a state ID?" That's the first question you hear when picking up credentials to enter Consensus: Invest, a cryptocurrency conference where the sector's libertarian, anti-establishment ethos used to reign. After an 80 percent collapse in the price of bitcoin over the past year, digital currency enthusiasts are rethinking old assumptions and looking for support wherever they can find it. /reut.rs/2FLEBJ8 Top US financial regulator pours more cold water on the one thing Bitcoin investors need right now Sam Jacobs - Business Insider A Bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF) looks unlikely to be approved by US regulators anytime soon. bit.ly/2FJ4dGs Coinbase Quietly Opened Its OTC Crypto Trading Desk This Month Yogita Khatri - Coindesk U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase opened its over-the-counter (OTC) crypto trading desk earlier this month. bit.ly/2FLuO5V Fidelity's once-dormant crypto VC fund is back in action Frank Chaparro - The Block Crypto Fidelity Investments' crypto venture fund is back in action. The $2.5 trillion money manager made a big splash in the cryptocurrency world recently when it announced it was launching Fidelity Digital Assets, a custody and execution services business for digital assets. However, it turns out that's not the firm's only cryptocurrency operation. bit.ly/2FKVjbr Andreessen Horowitz-backed Harbor kicks off security token platform | 10 crypto firms are forming a new group to bring order to the digital asset market | Nasdaq is preparing to launch futures for bitcoin next year The Block Crypto Harbor has officially launched its platform to tokenize private securities, the firm announced Tuesday. And it's kicking things off with the sale of a tokenized real estate investment trust representing a stake in a $20 million mega-dorm. bit.ly/2FJ2np2 Crypto Fraudsters' Friend? Treasury's Top Lawyer, Congressional Blockchain Caucus Leader Diverge Ted Knutson - Forbes The Treasury Department's Top Lawyer Brent McIntosh put out a warning to the cryptocurrency industry today: "We are not going to sit by while crypto becomes a safe haven for illicit finance. It is not a place where you should feel free to rip off mom and pop investors." bit.ly/2FNcr0t Cryptocurrencies to survive sell-off - Allianz's El-Erian Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss - Reuters Cryptocurrencies are here to stay despite a prolonged slump this year, and will gain wider acceptance after the recent entry of more institutional investors in the space, Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, said on Tuesday. /reut.rs/2FKYOi5 Mike Novogratz's Crypto Trading Desk Lost $136 Million in Nine Months Eric Lam - Bloomberg The bad year for traders at Mike Novogratz's cryptocurrency merchant bank got even worse in the third quarter -- and that was before the market fell out of bed this month. /bloom.bg/2FJ6QIk Winklevoss twins' push for SEC's bitcoin fund approval in limbo Kevin Dugan - NY Post The Winklevoss twins probably won't be getting a bitcoin boost this year. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the Harvard-educated brothers who claimed to have helped invent Facebook, have been looking to launch the world's first exchange-traded fund, or ETF, backed by bitcoin. /nyp.st/2FKkL0P Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley go live with CLS blockchain service; CLSNet operates on a distributed ledger technology platform for automated bilateral payment netting of FX trades. Hayley McDowell - The Trade US investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have gone live with CLS's automated bilateral payment netting service that operates on a blockchain technology platform. bit.ly/2FNidzb
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Politics | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump on climate change: 'People like myself, we have very high levels of intelligence but we're not necessarily such believers.'; 'I don't believe it': Trump reacts to report that says climate change impacts economy Josh Dawsey, Philip Rucker, Brady Dennis, Chris Mooney - Washington Post President Trump on Tuesday dismissed a landmark report compiled by 13 federal agencies detailing how damage from global warming is intensifying throughout the country, saying he is not among the "believers" who see climate change as a pressing problem. /wapo.st/2FLDDwu Donald Trump may come to regret cheap oil; Lower prices discourage US companies from drilling new wells in West Texas shale Brendan Greeley - FT The day before Thanksgiving, US president Donald Trump thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for making oil cheaper. "Like a big tax cut for America," is how he described it. /on.ft.com/2FKTkE1 U.S. envoy to Britain says Brexit is for the British to decide: The Times Reuters The U.S. ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, said that Britain's exit from the European Union is for the British people to decide, but the United States remains keen to work out a trade deal with the UK, The Times reported on Tuesday, citing an essay written by Johnson for the newspaper. /reut.rs/2FMDoBi Trump says 'not even a little bit happy' with Fed's Powell: report Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday kept up his criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, saying rising interest rates and other Fed policies were damaging the U.S. economy, the Washington Post said. /reut.rs/2FOHQzp America is facing a leadership crisis. It's on us to fix it General Stanley McChrystal for CNN Business Perspectives We're facing a leadership crisis in America. We've become increasingly obsessed with what national leader we're for or against. President Trump is just the most bombastic example of this phenomenon, which has been playing out for decades. Our affiliation, or opposition, to a particular leader (and especially our current leader) is the closest thing we have to a common experience. /cnn.it/2FL0xUB Brussels buoyed by built-in advantage in future Brexit talks; Political cliff-edges threaten disruption to UK unless it gives up key bargaining chips Alex Barker in Brussels - FT With EU leaders' representatives gathered around him, the European Commission's top civil servant offered a frank assessment of trade talks with Britain after Brexit. /on.ft.com/2FJ7s0A
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Regulation & Enforcement | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | French watchdog calls for rethink of research rules David Keohane and Philip Stafford - The Financial Times The French markets watchdog is calling for a rethink of the European markets rules that split share trading from analyst research earlier this year. Robert Ophèle, chairman of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, told the Financial Times it was "absolutely clear" that some rules introduced in the EU's recent investor protection law would have to be reviewed to account for Brexit. /goo.gl/agrVTH Danske Bank scandal spurs UK crackdown on limited partnerships; Legislation on way to control structures dubbed money-laundering vehicle of choice Caroline Binham and George Parker in London - FT The British government is to tighten century-old rules around corporate structures blamed for facilitating "money-laundering on an industrial scale" and for playing a key role in the world's biggest dirty-money scandal. /on.ft.com/2FVDrdU CFTC opposes eFloorTrade's attempt to convince NY Court to reconsider summary judgment; The CFTC argues that eFloorTrade's attempt to make the Court reconsider its judgment is totally meritless. Finance Feeds The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has opposed a motion by introducing broker eFloorTrade and the firm's owner John Moore for reconsideration of a summary judgment against the defendants. bit.ly/2FNFfWt CFTC and K-State to Host 2nd Agricultural Commodity Futures Conference AgCon2019 set for April 11-12 CFTC The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Center for Risk Management Education and Research (CRMER) at Kansas State University will host AgCon2019, the 2nd annual agricultural commodity futures conference on April 11-12 in Overland Park, Kansas. bit.ly/2FLHf1y UK and IEA call for carbon capture push to meet climate targets; The world needs new CCUS solutions as carbon emissions set to reach historic highs Claire Perry and Fatih Birol - FT The recent report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provided a stark reminder about the need for action on climate change. /on.ft.com/2FUSLYC Firms must notify ASIC of their AFCA membership by end of November before late fees apply ASIC Financial firms who are members of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) must notify ASIC of their AFCA membership by Friday 30 November 2018. bit.ly/2FGX5ua Cybersecurity: Managed Money Needs to Be Supervised Money Thales.com Cybersecurity has quickly come to the forefront of the regulatory landscape. Both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have recently issued fines to commodity pool operators and investment advisors(ers) (collectively, along with commodity trading advisors, "Advisors") as well as a futures commission merchant relating to cybersecurity. Additionally, the CFTC has indicated that Advisors who rely upon third-party service providers to address their cyber security needs cannot take a hands-off approach to cybersecurity; they must diligently monitor and supervise their own systems and accounts, the provision of such third-party services and such third-parties' own defenses and vulnerabilities. bit.ly/2FUUoFI
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Investing & Trading | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | The Next Big Fee Trend? Julie Segal - Institutional Investor Fidelity's high-profile move to offer no-fee index funds is shaking up asset management, this time in the institutional market. Institutional investors are using Fidelity's recent launch of no-fee funds for retail investors to negotiate hard for their own fee deals. Quantitative firm Analytic Investors, which Wells Fargo Asset Management acquired in 2016, and other asset managers are feeling the pressure to eliminate base management fees  or keep them very low  and instead charge performance fees. /goo.gl/gWBU9w Methanol's U.S. Revival and Global Growth Scenarios Gregor Spilker - CME Group The methanol industry is an exciting phase of growth - U.S. production capacity is expanding rapidly, and global demand is set to increase over the coming years. With various uses across petrochemicals and energy markets, methanol economics are complex. Demand for methanol is influenced by many factors; and it competes against other feedstock for olefins production, as a maritime fuel, for blending in biofuels, etc. CME Group will support the market with the launch of financial contracts. European Methanol futures are already trading on NYMEX, and the exchange is now introducing an FOB Houston contract for the U.S. markets. /goo.gl/ZmxADt How to Profit From Wall Street Crash With ETFs Sanghamitra Saha - Zacks Probably nothing went right on Nov 20 with tech stocks tanking, each of the FAANG stocks slipping into bear market, global growth worries coming at the forefront, oil prices taking a dive and sharp selloffs in cryptocurrency market (read: Are We Headed Toward Bear Market? ETFs to Save Your Portfolio). bit.ly/2FNHwAZ Fed vice-chair says monetary policy must account for changing data; Richard Clarida backs gradual tightening while flagging uncertainty ahead Sam Fleming in Washington - FT The Federal Reserve will need to be especially attuned to fluctuations in economic data as it gauges how much further to lift short-term interest rates, a senior US central banker has said. /on.ft.com/2FMJfGS This Scholar Says the Government Should Buy Stocks When They Plunge; Economist Roger Farmer says "it's just a question of when" they start to do it. Peter Coy - Bloomberg Last week, my Bloomberg colleague Moxy Ying in Hong Kong wrote a fascinating QuickTake headlined, "When Stocks Crash, China Turns to its 'National Team.'" She explained that government-related entities in China, known informally as the national team, step in to buy shares of mainland-based companies on a large scale to stop market routs. "Worry not, Chinese stockholders, the 'national team' is here to (try to) save the day," she wrote. /bloom.bg/2FILCKJ Commodity trader Gunvor to adopt UN human rights principles Neil Hume, Natural Resources Editor - FT Geneva-based energy trader Gunvor Group is to adopt United Nations principles on human rights, the latest move by the industry to respond to criticisms about its environmental and social record. /on.ft.com/2FIqGmT
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Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Deutsche Bank mulls shake-up of high-level executives: WSJ Reuters Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) is planning a high-level shake up that could result in the departure of top executives central to its relationships with key regulators in the United States and Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. /reut.rs/2FIJjY5 EU trading rules drive consolidation for UK brokers; New rules mean equity research spending has fallen and smaller brokers are becoming acquisition targets David Wighton - Financial News London For the City's smaller brokers and research houses, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news for deal-starved brokers is that a wave of mergers and acquisitions is looming. The bad news is that they themselves are the targets. /goo.gl/Htwn6R Hedge Funds Got What they Wanted, to Their Cost; Volatility was supposed to be a boon for performance. It wasn't, and the industry has a problem. Mark Gilbert - Bloomberg This is turning out to be a year most hedge fund managers would prefer to forget, with the asset class on track for its worst performance in seven years. And if it fails to prove its mettle in what should be more favorable market conditions next year, the industry may lose any remaining credibility for its claim to deliver sufficient alpha in any market weather to justify its out-sized fees. /bloom.bg/2FNqKlq BGC Partners Announces Distribution Ratio for Spin-Off of Newmark BGC Partners, Inc. , Newmark Group, Inc. BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP) ("BGC Partners", "BGC", or the "Company"), a leading global brokerage and financial technology company, today announced that it had determined the final distribution ratio relating to its previously announced distribution of all of the shares of Newmark Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NMRK) ("Newmark") held by the Company to stockholders of BGC.1 The Company will distribute these Newmark shares through a special pro rata stock dividend (the "Spin-Off" or "Distribution"). /prn.to/2FLGntO
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Regions | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Chinese Metals Win U.S. Tariff Waivers With Little Resistance; Stacks of aluminum ingots in Wuxi, China. President Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs were aimed at reducing the flow of cheap imports from countries like China. Jim Tankersley - NY Times When Mandel Metals, an aluminum distributor outside Chicago, found its business threatened by President Trump's tariffs on foreign metals, it filed hundreds of requests with the administration to exclude its imports from the levies. /nyti.ms/2FVBQoq Could Australia Become Cashless Before The UK? Madhvi Mavadiya - Forbes Those of us who attended the LendIt conference this year in London would have heard former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne reveal that he regretted not pushing forward with a cashless economy initiative while he held the post. bit.ly/2FMVjYr Commodity Woes Run Deeper Than China; The commodity selloff should worry investors, but not because of China per se Just a China Problem? Nathaniel Taplin - WSJ China is the world's heavyweight consumer of most industrial commodities. So when things go wrong in commodity markets, it's always tempting to point the finger at it. This time, that might be a mistake. /on.wsj.com/2FIJ7Il Saudi Aramco eyes $150bn of gas investments; State energy group wants to more than double output and become exporter, chief says Anjli Raval, Senior Energy Correspondent - FT Saudi Aramco's drive to increase gas output and become an exporter will spur $150bn worth of investments over the next decade, according to the state energy group's chief executive. /on.ft.com/2FVzExc
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Brexit | Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union | U.K. GDP Would Suffer 10.7% Hit in Worst Case No-Deal Brexit Jess Shankleman and Tim Ross - Bloomberg Government publishes economic analysis of Brexit options; Report says U.K. will be poorer under all Brexit scenarios The U.K. will suffer a major economic hit if Parliament rejects Theresa May's Brexit deal and the country crashes out of the European Union with no new trade arrangements in place, according to official analysis. /bloom.bg/2FLCXas Britain clears trade hurdle ahead of Brexit; WTO members give 'provisional' support to UK membership of 47-country procurement pact Jim Brunsden in Brussels - FT The UK's efforts to prepare for post-Brexit trade received a boost on Tuesday, when nations at the World Trade Organization backed the country's continuing membership of a $1.7tn public procurement pact. /on.ft.com/2FNaqBg
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Miscellaneous | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | E. Matthew "Whiz" Buckley of Top Gun Options Honored as "Hero Among Us" at Florida Panthers Game PRNewswire The Florida Panthers honored retired Navy fighter pilot, Lieutenant E. Matthew "Whiz" Buckley during the Panthers' 7 PM home game versus the New Jersey Devils Monday, November 26th as part of their "Heroes Among Us" program. /on.mktw.net/2FLFIbO What a twinkly beard can teach you about investing; Investment value can be hard to find  but don't worry, the Santa Rally is on its way Moira O'Neill - FT This season's must-have accessory is multicoloured Christmas lights for your beard, or the beard of the man in your life. But at around £10, how do you determine if it is good value? It depends how much you want a twinkly beard in your life, and if there is a beard around to accessorise. /on.ft.com/2FLIw8Q Why Charities Do GoodÂbut Not WellÂWith Your Money; Nonprofits returned an average of 6.7% annually in 2009-16, study shows, underperforming even Treasurys; still, 'These portfolios aren't designed to beat the market' Jason Zweig - WSJ Charitable giving is on a lot of people's minds this time of year. It's worth noting that while many nonprofits promote great causes, few are great at managing money. /on.wsj.com/2FMKypg
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