| April 20, 2020 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
By JLN Staff
Miracles do happen! John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. did successfully receive a loan/grant from the SBA for the CARES Act Payroll Protection Plan on Friday. I was told by my bank on Thursday the program had exhausted its resources when attempting to finish the closing process for the loan, but I tried again on Friday to complete the loan and was successful. I was able to sign and the funds arrived on Saturday.
I want to thank our insurance consultant Robert Slayton and JLN's finance and administration head Nancy Ashburn for help with the process and application. This will help us navigate the uncertainty that is the present economic situation and protect the jobs of the journalists at John Lothian News.
However, it does not remove all uncertainty. Hardly. Who knows the twists and turns this pandemic will take. My goal is to find revenue and funding to successfully operate for the rest of 2020 and if JJLCO can end the year with a surplus, to pay some or all of the loan/grant back.
The Payroll Protection Plan is a grant disguised as a loan. If I use the money for payroll and allowed expenses during the next eight weeks, I don't have to pay it back. But I would like to anyway. So now that we have some short-term insurance/assurance we need to be creative, innovative and profitable. Later this week I will share some of the opportunity to leverage John Lothian News to help promote your enterprise.
Last night, we finally had something interesting to watch in the world of sports. The Michael Jordan ESPN documentary series "The Last Dance" kicked off with its first part. Michael Jordan and the Bulls were so big back in the 1990s that the name of the first person my son Tim knew outside of the family was Michael Jordan.
WTI crude just fell below $12 a barrel. This is the lowest level since 1999, and is the result of decreasing storage capacity for U.S. crude oil. Demand for crude has dropped precipitously from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic; I am currently getting three weeks to a gallon of gas for my Chevrolet Suburban. ~JJL
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If you missed the Weekend Update from JLN, you can find it here.
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Why Economics Is Really Psychology on Steroids; Why economists are so often wrong
Jonathan Rowe - Evonomics.com
What is called "economics" is really psychology on steroids. It starts with a model of human nature and extrapolates an entire scenario for how the world works from that. The model is homo economicus,the myopic protoganist of the economics texts. This hypothetical person has no social affinities, no lapses of judgment or hang-ups, no capacity even for thinking about anyone besides him or herself. He goes through life with an unfailing and relentless calculus of personal loss and gain.
/bit.ly/2RUAYUV
******Homo Economicus is near-sighted?~JJL
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Stay Home! Back to Work! A Dog and Cat Debate Reopening America
Jason Gay - WSJ
Enough is enough. American business has taken a historic plunge over the past month. It's time to consider a practical plan for protecting public health—while also allowing for a return to work and, hopefully, a revival of the economy. Oh, who am I kidding? On behalf of cats everywhere, I'll just say it: We want everyone out of the house.
/on.wsj.com/2yq7HKO
*****Who cares what cats think? Dogs rule!~JJL
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10 Of The Best Coffee Subscription Services
Camryn Rabideau - Forbes Personal Shopper
Many people start each morning with a cup of coffee—or several—to get the energy to power through the day. If you're a coffee enthusiast and love trying out new varieties of java, you may want to look into a coffee subscription, which will deliver coffee beans directly to your door on a recurring schedule.
/bit.ly/3cJsAQb
*****When Nasdaq's Allan Schoenberg recommends a coffee service, I listen.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story for the fourth or fifth time was How Ronin Capital fell from Grace as COVID spread, from Crain's Chicago Business. Second was This Isn't the Flattened Curve We Were Promised, from Bloomberg Opinion. Third was Trump's Coronavirus CEO Death Panel Backfires Hilariously, from New York Magazine.
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MarketsWiki Stats
176,138,292 pages viewed; 24,105 pages; 223,884 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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| Lead Stories | NYSE and Nasdaq challenger MEMX delays launch due to coronavirus crisis
John McCrank - Retuters
The Members Exchange (MEMX), a new bourse backed by major Wall Street firms looking to take on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Inc through lower fees, said on Friday it delayed its planned launch date due to the coronavirus crisis.
/reut.rs/2VH5y5w
What It Looks Like When the World Stands Still; With OPEC++ behind us, let's take a moment to marvel at just how completely our lives have come to a screeching halt.
Julian Lee - Bloomberg
Easter weekend? What Easter weekend? I spent the entire time following the twists and turns of the extraordinary attempt by oil producers to cobble together the biggest output cut in history, only to see the price fall when commodity markets opened on Monday. Lockdown? I was glued to my computer all weekend and wouldn't have noticed if all restrictions had been removed. Of course, they weren't, and that got me thinking about just how our lives have come to a screeching halt.
/bloom.bg/2RUfSWB
Hin Leong Failed to Declare $800 Million Losses
Serene Cheong, Alfred Cang, and Joyce Koh - Bloomberg
Futures losses omitted from financial statements: affidavits; Oil trader has accounting deficit of about $3.34 billion
Fabled Singapore oil trader Hin Leong hid about $800 million in losses racked up in futures trading on the orders of its founder Lim Oon Kuin, suggesting a much bigger hole in the company's finances than thought, according to affidavits seen by Bloomberg.
/bloom.bg/2xKyJMP
London, Gold Hub for Centuries, Eyes Delivery 'Around the World'
Jack Farchy and Elena Mazneva - Bloomberg
More travel curbs might necessitate new locations, LBMA says; No coronavirus cases reported in London vaults so far
The London gold market will need to allow delivery outside of the city if the coronavirus pandemic leads to more stringent travel restrictions, the chief executive of the London Bullion Market Association said. The U.K.'s capital has been a key hub for global gold trading since at least 1732, when the Bank of England first established a vault in the city. As the coronavirus snarls global logistics, traders are being forced to consider what would happen if gold could no longer be shipped in and out of London.
/bloom.bg/2KkHJLm
Hin Leong Trading files for bankruptcy protection; Group founded by one of Singapore's richest men will seek to restructure debts of nearly $4bn
Neil Hume, Stephen Morris and Stefania Palma - FT
Hin Leong Trading, the oil trader founded by one of Singapore's richest men, has filed for bankruptcy protection as it seeks to restructure debts of almost $4bn.
/on.ft.com/2KlTEsh
Bets Against the Stock Market Rise to Highest Level in Years; Among the companies short sellers have targeted in recent weeks are travel-related firms
Karen Langley - Bloomberg
Short sellers have revived their wagers against the stock market in recent weeks, taking their most aggressive positions in years. Bets against the SPDR S&P 500 Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund tracking the broad index, rose to $68.1 billion last week, the highest level in data going back to January 2016, according to financial analytics company S3 Partners. That was up from $41.7 billion at the beginning of 2020 and $41.2 billion a year ago.
/on.wsj.com/2yssKfS
Mitsui chief warns coronavirus will upend global supply chains for years; Head of Japanese trading house expects temporary backlash against globalisation
Kana Inagaki and Leo Lewis - FT
The coronavirus pandemic will redraw supply chains, unravel years of globalisation and make national economies more insular, the head of one of Japan's most influential companies has warned.
/on.ft.com/2Vl7j9u
Hin Leong founder says $800m of losses not recorded; Inventory sale proceeds alleged to have been used as general funds even though they were part of bank deals
Neil Hume and Stefania Palma - FT
Hin Leong Trading, the Singapore oil trader that has filed for bankruptcy protection, suffered $800m of losses that were not reflected in its financial statements on the instruction of its founder Lim Oon Kuin.
/on.ft.com/2Kim8TR
ABN Amro Files Claims Against Singapore's Troubled Oil Firm
Chanyaporn Chanjaroen and Jack Farchy - Bloomberg
Dutch bank among bank creditors that include HSBC, DBS; Hin Leong Trading seeks creditor protection as oil plunges
ABN Amro Bank NV has become the latest lender to make a claim against a Singapore oil trading giant that filed for protection from creditors amid a plunge in oil prices. The Dutch bank filed applications for charges related to irrevocable letters of credit tied to assets of Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd., according to filings with Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.
/bloom.bg/34NNgn4
The Money Taboo That Central Banks Have Shied Away From So Far
Ben Holland - Bloomberg
Direct financing of budgets is Rubicon they have not crossed; But some say it could be next innovation in pandemic slump
The coronavirus economy is shredding records for government borrowing and for central-bank lending. Soon it may also smash the taboo that's supposed to keep those two things apart.
/bloom.bg/2RUzBFL
Bond Traders Signal the Path to Reopening Will Be Long and Bumpy
Liz McCormick - Bloomberg
For 10-year Treasuries, April has turned into a range-trade; Hopeful signs are offset by grim reality of economic collapse
After the mayhem of March, Treasuries have entered a period of fragile calm as traders balance hopes that U.S. businesses will start to reopen against the devastatingly weak economic backdrop that's likely to prevail for months.
/bloom.bg/2VGlg0M
Oil in New York Plunges Below $15 as Storage Sites Fill
Elizabeth Low and Alex Longley - Bloomberg
Texan buyers offering as little as $2 a barrel for some crudes; WTI plummets as much as 22%, though futures expire on Tuesday
Oil plunged below $15 a barrel in New York, a fresh 21-year low, as inventories soar because of the supply-demand mismatch that's been created by the coronavirus.
/bloom.bg/2VmF4Y1
Paul O'Neill, Treasury Secretary Who Clashed With Bush, Dies at 84; He was "fearless," a former colleague said, in pressing ideas based on facts and evidence. His independence cost him his job.
Robert D. Hershey Jr. - WSJ
Paul H. O'Neill had just presided over a celebrated revival of the aluminum giant Alcoa and was about to begin his retirement in late 2000 with a long drive across the back roads of America in a new Bentley Flying Spur.
/nyti.ms/2VIkuAf
Lessons learnt from a career of investing through crises; GQG Partners founder reveals how to adapt quickly and thrive in the face of challenges
Laurence Fletcher - FT
Rajiv Jain is used to a crisis. The founder of boutique GQG Partners made his name as a star emerging markets trader during a long career at Vontobel Asset Management, the Swiss group where at the peak he ran about $50bn in assets. Trying to survive the financial crises common in those markets has, he feels, helped him prepare for the current one.
/on.ft.com/3bjKyrY
CLO Reckoning Arrives: Downgrade Wave Tests $700 Billion Market
Lisa Lee - Bloomberg
CLOs made it through the financial crisis relatively unscathed; Rapid pace of loan downgrades may mean this time is different
As U.S. financial markets have rebounded feverishly this past month from the worst of the coronavirus-induced sell-off, one asset has been conspicuously absent from the rally: the collateralized loan obligation.
/bloom.bg/3aoh4I0
The CFTC Velociraptor Has Escaped the Fence That Dodd - Frank Built to Contain It; "Can an independent federal agency that is supposed to regulate commodity futures assert power over every single purchase or sale of a commodity?"
Adi Dynar - Reason.com
Like the velociraptors testing the perimeter of their enclosure in Jurassic Park, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has begun probing the weaknesses in the statute that is supposed to fence the agency's authority. The case of Monex Deposit Company v. CFTC gives the Supreme Court a chance to keep one such fence-testing effort contained. (Louis Carabini, the founder of Monex and a petitioner in this case, is a donor to the Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this website.)
/bit.ly/3eAxBfj
U.S. banks seek term changes as Fed finalizes Main Street Lending ProgramThe clean-up of the non-bank sector needs to begin now; Financial system is failing its first real stress test after the 2008-09 crisis
Mark Sobel - FT
Regulatory reforms after the global financial crisis were supposed to have created a more robust and more resilient financial system. But the suddenness of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent lockdowns to contain it, have created meltdowns, volatility and squeezes on liquidity. The system is failing its first real stress test, and the international community needs to start getting to the bottom of it.
/on.ft.com/2yv7FkG
U.S. banks seek term changes as Fed finalizes Main Street Lending Program
Michelle Price - Reuters
U.S. banks are pushing the Federal Reserve to change the terms of a $600 billion lending program for small and medium-sized businesses, including reducing minimum loan sizes and allowing more flexibility on underlying reference rates, industry groups said.
/reut.rs/3cyMCwE
Lawyers pick holes in Libor statutory fix; US 'tough legacy' contracts open to legal challenge even if proposed New York law is passed Robert Mackenzie Smith - Risk.net
Legislation designed to switch financial contracts referencing US dollar Libor to a replacement benchmark without exposing users to litigation could be challenged in the courts, legal experts say. The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), the Federal Reserve-sponsored group overseeing US benchmark reform, released a legislative proposal on March 6 to address the problem of 'tough legacy' contracts that are most stubbornly welded to Libor.
/bit.ly/3eBqp2J
Banks see demand for outsourced trading desks surge during pandemic; The global pandemic is likely to cause a spike in outsourcing and according to custodian banks the biggest trend so far has been towards their outsourced trading services.
Jon Watkins - The Trade
Major custodian banks have highlighted outsourced trading as one of the most in-demand services from buy-side clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
/bit.ly/3aojXZm
Trading desk of the year; Following a major win at The TRADE's Leaders in Trading awards ceremony, Hayley McDowell sits down with Jeremy Ellis, head of European equity trading at T. Rowe Price, and the trading desk to discuss the biggest market structure changes impacting execution.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Racing across the trading floor of T. Rowe Price's London office on a drizzly Friday morning, Jeremy Ellis, head of European equity trading, is anticipating the impact that the spread of coronavirus around the world was about to have on global markets. By the end of the day, it would be official that stock markets would had suffered their worst week since the global financial crisis in 2008.
/bit.ly/3bpUEaH
Coronavirus has shaken our laid-back attitude to financial risk;
The present flap would not have surprised economist Hyman Minsky
Jonathan Ford - FT
The coronavirus epidemic has been accompanied by sharp declines in equity values. Share prices have slumped by about 20 per cent around the world since its severity became known.
/on.ft.com/2yv8BFI
BoE's Bailey orders banks to 'put their backs into it' on COVID-19 loans
William Schomberg - Reuters
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told Britain's banks on Friday to "put their backs into it" and speed up lending to small companies, saying the coronavirus crisis was likely to deliver a historic blow to the economy.
/reut.rs/3cyHo3Y
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| Coronavirus | | Stories relating to the COVID-19 pandemic | U.S. Not Testing Enough for States to Reopen, Experts Say
Emma Court - Bloomberg
Testing should reach 500,000 daily to avoid new outbreaks; President Donald Trump says current testing levels are enough
There is no argument that testing is the key to reopening the nation's virus-shuttered schools and businesses. But a gap is opening over how much testing is enough -- and many public-health experts worry the current level could cost lives and even set back efforts to reopen.
/bloom.bg/2VH4izk
Antibody Treatments May Be the Best Hope Against the Virus Until a Vaccine; Regeneron's drug cocktail could be tested in humans by summer and be saving lives by fall.
Robert Langreth, Susan Berfield - Bloomberg
The novel coronavirus is devious, persistent, and, according to some scientists, not even alive. But, as the world has had to learn, this tiny bundle of genetic material is a highly efficient invader. Each particle is armored with roughly 100 protrusions, or spikes, perfectly evolved to latch onto an enzyme on the surfaces of throat and lung cells, then slip into them and replicate millions and millions of times. Older coronaviruses, such as the one that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, operated similarly. The spikes of the new coronavirus, though, clasp human cells much more tightly, which appears to be one reason it spreads more easily. In the three months since scientists in China identified it, the coronavirus has infected more than 2.4 million people around the world and killed at least 165,000.
/bloom.bg/2Vl4bKM
Coronavirus Testing Needs to Triple Before the U.S. Can Reopen, Experts Say
Keith Collins - NY Times
As some governors consider easing social distancing restrictions, new estimates by researchers at Harvard University suggest that the United States cannot safely reopen unless it conducts more than three times the number of coronavirus tests it is currently administering over the next month.
/nyti.ms/2xIRcJP
How Millions of Women Became the Most Essential Workers in America
Campbell Robertson and Robert Gebeloff - The New York Times
Every day, Constance Warren stands behind the cold cuts counter at a grocery store in New Orleans, watching the regular customers come and go.
/yhoo.it/2RQo9Ll
Pentagon extends travel restrictions through June 30
AFP
The US Defense Department said Saturday it would extend travel restrictions through June 30 in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but will allow for some redeployments and repatriation of troops serving abroad.
/yhoo.it/2xLLK8V
Who Would Have Predicted This? Americans Excel at Staying Home; An estimated 90% of citizens have complied with social distancing guidelines
Michelle Fay Cortez - Bloomberg
Americans, it turns out, are excellent at following social-distance and stay-at-home orders. It's an unexpected finding. When the coronavirus outbreak picked up steam in Wuhan in January, the Chinese government cracked down, forcing residents to stay in their homes. At the time, it was hard to envision independence-loving Americans would ever agree to behave with similar compliance. Skeptics said it would never happen.
/bloom.bg/2VL2e9c
The Food Chain's Weakest Link: Slaughterhouses; A relatively small number of plants process much of the beef and pork in the United States, and some of them have closed because workers are getting sick.
Michael Corkery and David Yaffe-Bellany - WSJ
The modern American slaughterhouse is a very different place from the one that Upton Sinclair depicted in his early-20th-century novel, "The Jungle."
/nyti.ms/2RUcgUq
Kentucky Reports Highest Coronavirus Infection Increase After a Week of Protests to Reopen State
Christina Zhao - Newsweek
Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced Sunday that the state had set a grim record with 273 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, the highest single-day rise to date. Kentucky's increase in infected individuals comes after protesters took to the streets throughout the week to call for the state to be reopened.
/bit.ly/3eD94GL
U.K.'s Johnson Resists Easing Lockdown on Fears of Second Wave
Robert Hutton and Alex Morales - Bloomberg
'Need to do it in a sensible way,' Culture Minister tells BBC; Restrictions have forced employers to furlough workers
Boris Johnson is resisting pressure to ease the U.K.'s coronavirus lockdown too soon, fearing a second wave of the pandemic could hit the country, a person familiar with the matter said.
/bloom.bg/2yrNvrV
Hyped Malaria Pill Doesn't Help Clear Coronavirus in Study
Marthe Fourcade - Bloombeerg
Hydroxychloroquine, the 65-year-old malaria drug that President Donald Trump has praised, appeared not to help patients get rid of the pathogen in a small study. The pill didn't help patients clear the virus better than standard care and was much more likely to cause side effects, according to a study of 150 hospitalized patients by doctors at 16 centers in China. The research, which hasn't been peer-reviewed, was released Tuesday.
/bloom.bg/3exyKo2
Recovery from coronavirus must be just and equitable, pope says
Philip Pullella - Reuters
Pope Francis called on Sunday for an all-embracing vision of the world after the Covid-19 crisis, saying moving on without global solidarity or excluding sectors of society from the recovery would result in "an even worse virus".
/reut.rs/2VBHRLC
How the Covid-19 crisis may impact cannabis legalization
Frank Holland - CNBC
U.S. cannabis CEOs say the chances for federal marijuana legalization will dramatically increase in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, after several states declared dispensaries essential businesses, allowing them to remain open during stay-at-home orders aimed at halting the spread of the virus.
/cnb.cx/3cCfu7b
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | MEMX launch hit with delays due to coronavirus disruption; Testing on the new MEMX exchange has been delayed due to disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but venue plans to launch in the third quarter.
Kiays Khalil - The Trade
US member-owned equities exchange MEMX has said its timeline for launch will likely be impacted due to the disruption seen across the industry amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
/bit.ly/34Oluqw
Nasdaq, Cboe Fix Feeds Facing Options Overload' Recent market volatility overwhelmed the Nasdaq BX and Cboe market depth feeds with so much activity that the exchanges did not have enough physical numbers to accurately represent it. Getty Images
Max Bowie - Waters Technology
Nasdaq's BX Options market and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) both implemented emergency updates to the software that runs their options market depth datafeeds last month after volatile markets stemming from the Covid-19 outbreak meant the exchanges literally ran out of sequence numbers to assign to orders in their systems.
/bit.ly/2zhoEaP
Clearing houses postpone euro discounting switch to July; Five-week extension agreed after ECB proposal for September delay fails to find consensus
Helen Bartholomew - Risk.net
The move to a new discount rate for euro interest rate swaps - initially planned for June 22 - has been delayed by five weeks in response to disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic. Clearing houses will now ditch Eonia and begin using the euro short-term rate, or EURSTR, to discount future cashflows and calculate interest payments on collateral - known as price alignment interest (PAI) - on July 27.
/bit.ly/3eyAHAx
MAS and SGX RegCo to Safeguard Interests of Unitholders of Eagle Hospitality Trust; Joint Statement by Monetary Authority of Singapore and Singapore Exchange Regulation
SGX
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that it has directed the Manager[1] of Eagle Hospitality REIT (EH-REIT), and its Trustee[2], to take steps to protect the rights and interests of EH-REIT's unitholders. MAS and the Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) are also looking into possible breaches of relevant laws and regulations as well as listing rules in relation to the issues surrounding EH-REIT.
/bit.ly/34OmJWI
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | #PutFinTechToWork
Charlotte Crosswell, CEO, Innovate Finance
An Open Letter by Innovate Finance CEO Charlotte Crosswell
I have been amazed at the response of the financial services innovation community to the COVID-19 crisis. It is at times like these that we really see the value of its out-of-the-box thinking, agility and bravery to try something new. Innovate Finance has been recognising and celebrating the incredible work of the ecosystem in the wake of Coronavirus. You can see some of these great examples of innovation on our dedicated web page.
/bit.ly/3eAIfCX
Google May Become New Fintech Giant, It Works on Smart Debit Card
Bhushan Akolkar - Coinspeaker
Google accelerates its work in the FinTech space as newly leaked images show that Google is working on a debit card of its own. Google has reportedly joined hands with CITI bank to handle all the financial infrastructure for its services.
/bit.ly/3apcv0n
Facebook, Three Indonesian Firms in Early Talks for Mobile Payment Approval-Regulator
Reuters (via The New York Times)
Three Indonesian digital fintech firms are working with Facebook Inc to apply for regulatory approval to launch mobile payments in the country, an official at the financial regulator said.
The plan, if approved, could be among the first such service under the social media firm's unified payment service Facebook Pay it unveiled in November, through which users across its various platforms including WhatsApp and Instagram can make payments without exiting the app.
/nyti.ms/34Qwfsm
Symphony to launch videoconference tool for finance executives homebound by Covid-19 pandemic and weary of Zoom's security troubles
South China Morning Post
Eric Ng and Chad Bray - South China Morning Post
Symphony Communications Services, backed by some of the world's largest financial institutions and Google, is to launch a video conferencing tool targeting finance executives homebound by the coronavirus pandemic and spooked by security flaws in the popular Zoom software.
/yhoo.it/3cwVBy9
Diginex partners with Itiviti to provide NYFIX connectivity for digital asset customers
Itiviti
Itiviti, a leading technology and service provider to financial institutions worldwide, today announced a partnership with Diginex, a digital asset financial services and advisory company. This partnership has been fueled by demand from institutional investors, who wish to include digital assets in their portfolios, while utilizing resilient and scalable connectivity based on FIX; the widely recognized industry messaging standard.
/bit.ly/3cvCPr0
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Crypto custody firm BitGo has laid off 12% of its workforce
Frank Chaparro - The Block
BitGo confirmed to The Block that it has laid off 12% of its workforce; "As we move into new markets with new products and services, we are making changes to strengthen the business and reorganize our teams," a rep said in a statement.
Crypto custody provider BitGo has laid off 12% of its workforce, the firm said Friday.
/bit.ly/3eFkVUO
BitMEX operator is donating $2.5M to coronavirus relief efforts
Yogita Khatri - The Block
HDR Global Trading Limited, the operator of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, is donating a total of $2.5 million to four organizations working to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
/bit.ly/3bosUDz
Facebook plans to hire 50 people in Ireland for its Libra project
Yogita Khatri - The Block
Facebook is planning to recruit up to 50 people in Ireland by the end of this year for its Libra project.
/bit.ly/350QHap
3 Things to Know About Stablecoins
FINRA Staff
Stablecoins are digital assets that aim to manage volatility by tracking the values of more stable assets, such as fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar. Though the name might imply otherwise, stablecoins are not without risks for investors. Here are three things to know about stablecoins.
/bit.ly/3aneC4L
Hong Kong's First Approved Crypto Fund Is Targeting $100 Million
Zheping Huang - Bloomberg
Arrano is the first to clear licensing hurdles with the SFC; Passive fund targets institutions investing in digital money
Venture Smart Asia Ltd. has launched Hong Kong's first approved cryptocurrency fund with a target first-year size of $100 million, offering an officially sanctioned window for institutional investors in Bitcoin.
/bloom.bg/2ywFl1G
Multicoin Capital-backed DeFi protocol dForce loses ~$25M total locked value in an exploit
Celia Wan - The Block
dForce, a Multicoin Capital-backed Chinese decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has been exploited. The total value locked in the dForce ecosystem was down by 100% to $6 over the past 24 hours, per DeFi Pulse data. A day ago, the total value locked in the system was $24.9 million. The Lendf.Me website, a lending platform within the dForce ecosystem, is also not accessible at press time.
/bit.ly/2xJ6xdm
Flagship Renaissance fund dabbles with bitcoin
Robin Wigglesworth and Ortenca Aliaj - FT
Renaissance Technologies' flagship hedge fund Medallion has dipped its toes into the wild world of cryptocurrency trading, in a sign that the computer-driven investment group is willing to play in more esoteric markets to generate its industry-leading returns. The $75bn hedge fund group disclosed in a regulatory filing that Medallion — a highly successful fund only open to Renaissance's own employees — was dabbling in bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency.
/on.ft.com/2VGl8yk
Make Sure to Include Digital Assets in Your Estate Plans
Cheryl Winokur Munk - WSJ
The internet opens a world of possibilities to store personal data, to manage assets, and to gather and create digital content. But too often that data gets forgotten when it comes to estate planning—and that can cause problems for family members and heirs. "We often forget the fact that we are usually the only ones that can access these accounts," says Tamara Telesko, director of wealth planning strategies at TIAA and a specialist in estate planning and income-tax issues.
/on.wsj.com/2RRzwlU
After record Q1, Binance has cumulatively burned 10% of BNB's supply
Yogita Khatri - The Block
Crypto exchange Binance has today completed the 11th quarterly burn of its BNB tokens. Binance has burned $52.5 million worth of BNB in Q1 of 2020, a 35.2% increase from $38.8 million in Q4 of 2019. The Q1 BNB burn is the largest burn Binance has ever made - both in terms of BNB and USD. Binance has so far burned a total of 20.12 million BNB (an equivalent of $298 million) in 11 burn events, which represent about 10.1% of the total supply of 200 million.
/bit.ly/2XRLpMG
Hong Kong's first regulated bitcoin fund gets launched
Yogita Khatri - The Block
Arrano Capital, the blockchain arm of Hong Kong-based asset manager Venture Smart Asia Limited, has launched the country's first regulated bitcoin fund. Announcing the news on Monday, Arrano Capital said the fund, which tracks bitcoin's price, provides institutional investors access to bitcoin through a traditional fund structure.
/bit.ly/2XRfk7Q
Coinbase Taps Ex-Barclays Markets Exec to Head Institutional Coverage
Ian Allison - Coindesk
Coinbase has hired former Barclays markets veteran, Brett Tejpaul, to head up institutional coverage at the San Francisco-based crypto exchange. Tejpaul spent 17 years at Barclays in various leadership roles including global head of sales (across all of fixed income and equities) and global head of credit and commodities. He also pioneered Barclays' first "head of digital" role, which included managing fintech venture investments.
/bit.ly/2Kjw67x
The man who sold fractional shares in himself
Robert Stevens - Decrypt
Alex Masmej dreams of being a Silicon Valley demi-god. And the 23-year-old Parisian sold himself via an ICO last week to reach that lofty goal. More specifically, Masmej is selling tokens—called $ALEX—so that true believers in Alex Masmej can buy fractional shares in him and his success. Thus far, 30 investors participated in the ICO for $ALEX, which generated $20,092 for his voyage across the Atlantic, he claimed. The token sale ended on April 12, after 5 days. According to CoinGecko, one $ALEX token is worth $0.01.
/bit.ly/2xMKimT
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump Announces a $19 Billion Bailout for Ailing Farmers
Mike Dorning - Bloomberg
Another $14 billion is scheduled for July, president says; Plan includes direct payment to farmers, purchases of products
President Donald Trump announced a $19 billion bailout package for farmers hurt financially by the coronavirus crisis.
/bloom.bg/3eD1fkk
Coronavirus Crisis May Keep the Sanders Revolution Rolling; He shifted the political center to the left when Covid-19 might make his policies more popular.
Noah Smith - Bloomberg
Now that Bernie Sanders has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed presumptive candidate Joe Biden, it's worth considering just how profoundly Sanders seems to have shifted the policy landscape. Despite the rise of inequality and other long-term economic problems, a majority of Democrats probably felt too comfortable with the current system to embrace revolutionary change. Although the Sanders insurgency is over, many of the progressive ideas he urged on the electorate may yet come to pass in some form -- thanks to the crisis unleashed by the coronavirus.
/bloom.bg/2RUcvyO
Bailing out the oil industry brings a fate worse than death; Zombie companies would be created that must be kept afloat with taxpayer dollars
Megan Greene - FT
Whenever things went wrong growing up, my dad would tell me, "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." Dying was supposed to be the worst-case scenario. He never mentioned zombies. But that's what a bailout for the oil industry would create: zombie companies that can't earn the cost of staying in business, kept afloat with taxpayer dollars.
/on.ft.com/3boIYVJ
Mnuchin, Democrats Close on Virus Aid Deal Nearing $500 Billion
Daniel Flatley, Billy House, and Saleha Mohsin - Bloomberg
Sealing agreement could get it through Congress this week; Plan would also boost aid for hospitals, add money for testing
Democrats and the Trump administration are near an agreement for Congress to act this week on a deal as large as $500 billion putting more funding into a tapped-out small business aid program and providing money for coronavirus testing and overwhelmed hospitals.
/bloom.bg/3borskl
Trump Is Asking Us to Play Russian Roulette With Our Lives; Are we really going to bet that we can go back to life as normal without proper coronavirus tracking in place?
Thomas L. Friedman - NY Times
"LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" "LIBERATE VIRGINIA." With these three short tweets last week, President Trump attempted to kick off the post-lockdown phase of America's coronavirus crisis. It should be called: "American Russian roulette: The Covid-19 version.''
/nyti.ms/2RRVfKI
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | FCA expectations for wet-ink signatures in light of coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions
UK FCA
We set out our expectations of firms when dealing with the need for 'wet-ink' signatures (i.e. signing a document by hand using a pen).
/bit.ly/3bmkUmo
New York Federal Court Orders Defendants to Pay More Than $595,000 for Forex Solicitation Fraud and Misappropriation
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered an order of consent judgment against Jason Amada and his company Amada Capital Management LLC, both of New York, finding they fraudulently solicited more than $680,000 from 18 clients to open individually managed off-exchange foreign currency (forex) accounts and misappropriated client funds.
/bit.ly/3amGypi
CFTC's Market Risk Advisory Climate Subcommittee Seeks Public Comments
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that it is inviting public comment on topics and issues being addressed by the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee (Subcommittee) of the Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC). Submissions must be received by May 14, 2020.
/bit.ly/3ah8gnu
SEC Orders Three Self-Reporting Advisory Firms to Reimburse Investors; Brings Total SEC Has Ordered Returned to Investors as Part of its Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative to More Than $139 Million
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against two advisers that self-reported as part of the Division of Enforcement's Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative, and a third adviser that self-reported within months of the initiative's self-reporting deadline. The Commission's orders today are the final cases the Division intends to recommend under the terms of the initiative. Including today's actions, the Commission has ordered more than $139 million to be returned to investors as part of the initiative.
/bit.ly/3aneGS3
#InThisTogether: Delivering "FINRA in a Box"
Bob Morris - FINRA
FINRA has been on a hiring spree, working to fill scores of open positions. But given that almost all employees are working remotely as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, how are these new hires getting the equipment to start work from home?
/bit.ly/3akv71n
Directors duties in the context of COVID-19
Commissioner John Price* - ASIC
The current evolving circumstances surrounding COVID-19 present many challenges to companies, boards, management and their stakeholders.
/bit.ly/34UciB1
ASIC reports on corporate finance regulation - July to December 2019
ASIC
ASIC has released the final report on its oversight of corporate finance activity between July to December 2019. Following the release of Report 659 ASIC regulation of corporate finance: July to December 2019 (REP 659), ASIC will shift to providing corporate finance updates through quarterly newsletters. This will improve stakeholder engagement and allow for timely guidance on regulatory issues.
/bit.ly/2VqhsBT
European regulators ramp up scrutiny of investment fund liquidity; Heavy redemptions during coronavirus-induced sell-off spark concerns
Chris Flood and Siobhan Riding - FT
Regulators across Europe are asking asset managers for reams of new information about their ability to meet investor redemptions as they seek to stave off a liquidity crunch sparked by the coronavirus market sell-off.
/on.ft.com/2Kipbvj
Ontario Securities Commission Temporarily Waives All Late Fees For Market Participants
Mondovisione
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is providing temporary relief to market participants by waiving all late fees that accumulate between April 17, 2020 and June 1, 2020. This is estimated to result in over $300,000 of relief to issuers, registrants and insiders during the relief period.
/bit.ly/2XROuw3
Federal Reserve Board Announces Rule Change To Bolster The Effectiveness Of The Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program
Mondovisione
The Federal Reserve Board on Friday announced a rule change to bolster the effectiveness of the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The change will temporarily modify the Board's rules so that certain bank directors and shareholders can apply for PPP loans for their small businesses.
/bit.ly/2XSj6xA
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Warmest Oceans on Record Could Set Off a Year of Extreme Weather
Brian K Sullivan - Bloomberg
Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans have reached record highs; Hurricanes, wildfires and severe thunderstorms all affected
The world's seas are simmering, with record high temperatures spurring worry among forecasters that the global warming effect may generate a chaotic year of extreme weather ahead.
/bloom.bg/2VHZGZx
The Stock Market Is Ignoring the Economy; The Dow enjoyed its best two-week stretch in more than 80 years, but the economy is still struggling
Gunjan Banerji - WSJ
The Dow Jones Industrial Average staged its best two-week performance since the 1930s, a dramatic rebound that has left many investors with a confounding reality: soaring share prices and a floundering economy.
/on.wsj.com/2RUbNlf
Big investors warn companies against backtrack on climate change; Businesses urged to maintain focus on global warming as they grapple with pandemic
Attracta Mooney - FT
Big investors have urged companies to maintain their focus on reducing carbon emissions, even as businesses grapple with the economic fallout of coronavirus.
/on.ft.com/2VnPGWp
Companies urged to hold virtual AGMs to give shareholders a say; Coronavirus moves meetings behind closed doors, but UK pressure groups argue now is 'not a moment to hide away'
Attracta Mooney - FT
British companies are being urged to allow shareholders to take part in annual meetings virtually after businesses ranging from BAE Systems to Next and HSBC announced plans to hold the events behind closed doors in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
/on.ft.com/2yv87iS
Dot-Com Prices in a Pandemic Make Fools of Us All; The stocks rally increasingly looks like it has legs; that doesn't make it any less detached from reality.
John Authers - Bloomberg
Lessons in Humility
Markets have the capacity to make fools of us all. Humility should always be our watchword. Therefore as we brace for another week of trading in global markets, which peaked exactly two months ago, I need to ask how I failed to see the extent of the rally that's underway.
/bloom.bg/3aogfPN
A $1.2 Trillion Fund Says Skip Earnings Season, Buy U.S. Stocks
Adam Haigh - Bloomberg
Northern Trust's McDonald looks for how Europe lifts lockdowns; McDonald favors U.S. equities after massive policy support
Jim McDonald is using all of his four decades of experience in financial markets to navigate the global pandemic's impact for wealthy and institutional customers at Northern Trust Corp. His main message: be bullish on U.S. stocks.
/bloom.bg/2XNJhFK
How Shell Can Become the First Net-Zero Oil Major
Akshat Rathi - Bloomberg
In the middle of a viral pandemic, a crash in the price of oil and an economic slump not seen in 100 years, Royal Dutch Shell has unveiled what is likely the most ambitious climate plan of any major oil company in the world. In doing so Shell seems to have one-upped BP, which released its blueprint in February.
/bloom.bg/34O6AAR
Auction Houses Postpone Live Sales and Pivot to Online; In response to Covid-19, Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips are stepping up digital selling, but the prices don't yet come close to those in the auction room.
Robin Pogrebin, Scott Reyburn and Zachary Small - WSJ
Francis Bacon's 1981 three-part oil painting, "Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus," was supposed to feature in Sotheby's marquee contemporary art evening auction in New York on May 13, where it was estimated to sell for at least $60 million.
/nyti.ms/2VI5T7N
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Renaissance's $10 Billion Medallion Fund Gains 24% Year to Date in Tumultuous Market; Jim Simons's algorithm-run firm has outperformed most funds so far this year
Gregory Zuckerman - WSJ
Investors are dealing with pain this year, but Jim Simons and Renaissance Technologies LLC are racking up such huge gains that 2020 could be one of the hedge-fund firm's best years ever.
/on.wsj.com/2XL6iZY
Virus Forces Deutsche Bank to Confront Old Fears
Steven Arons and Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
Lender has vowed to be part of the solution in pandemic; But questions about its strength linger after years of losses
The mood at Deutsche Bank AG's headquarters in Frankfurt was tense. It was late March, and clients were drawing down credit lines at such a rapid pace that the bank's treasury department was on alert.
/bloom.bg/3bjdhgB
Credit Suisse Boosts Employee Shares After Sharp Price Drop
Patrick Winters - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG compensated managers and employees with additional shares in the bank after the price dropped sharply during the depths of a market correction spurred by the coronavirus outbreak.
/bloom.bg/3euzfPE
Deutsche Bank investor files new motion to oust chair at shareholder meeting
Reuters
Deutsche Bank investor Riebeck-Brauerei on Friday filed a motion seeking a vote to oust the lender's chairman Paul Achleitner at this year's annual general meeting, according to a document prepared by the activist shareholder's lawyer.
/reut.rs/2VGJKGZ
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Humbled Greeks Show the World How to Handle the Virus Outbreak
Paul Tugwell and Sotiris Nikas - Bloomberg
Spread of deaths, cases lower than other Mediterranean nations; Prime minister credits success to restrictions on public life
Derided by European partners as a problem child during its decade-long financial crisis, Greece is setting an example for the world with a swift response to the coronavirus epidemic.
/bloom.bg/3cyMjln
For the EU, deciding how to fund the recovery is only half the battle; EU leaders gear up for debate over how to distribute cash among member states
Sam Fleming, Valerie Hopkins and James Shotter - FT
Europe's debate over ways of financing the post-corona crunch recovery has been bitter enough, but member states have hardly touched the vexed question of exactly who gets the money.
/on.ft.com/3bpEpul
Emerging Markets Have Never Experienced A Crisis Like This Before
Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal - Bloomberg
With major economies around the world coming to a screeching halt, emerging markets are in a squeeze of historic proportions. Not only are they being buffeted by a domestic health crisis, but export industries are getting clobbered at the same time as access to dollars is drying up. On this episode, we speak with Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations on the historic nature of this episode, which countries are particularly vulnerable, and what policies might allow for a way out.
/bloom.bg/2KpaIgZ
Britain's Star Stock Pickers Nurse Record Losses From Virus
Suzy Waite - Bloomberg
Terry Smith and Nick Train see record losses in first quarter; Assets plummeted across the biggest active equity funds
The U.K.'s most famous stock pickers are suffering record losses amid the coronavirus crisis. The biggest fund managers saw their steepest drop in assets ever in the first quarter, losing as much as 43%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Morningstar Inc. Seven of the top 10 actively managed equity funds had record losses as the pandemic tore through markets, including those managed by Terry Smith, Nick Train and Invesco Ltd.'s Mark Barnett.
/bloom.bg/3bose0J
Wall Street Bid to Conquer China Faces Same Snares as Before
Bloomberg News
Past China efforts snarled by regulations, strategy pitfalls; China opens its $45 trillion financial market to global banks
Wall Street banks have spent more than a decade chasing profits in China with scant success. Now, as the nation opens its doors to more competition, the global banks' renewed ambitions risk being stunted by the same strategy pitfalls, culture clashes, licensing and regulation hurdles that marred previous ventures.
/bloom.bg/2RUfBmx
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| Brexit | | Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union | UK will refuse any EU offer to extend Brexit transition; Downing Street says there will be no delay to 2020 departure despite coronavirus disruption
Sebastian Payne and Jim Brunsden - FT
The UK government will not accept any delay to the Brexit transition period beyond this year even if the EU offers an extension, Downing Street said on Thursday.
/on.ft.com/34X9oM4
Virus-Hit Brexit Talks Resume With Time for a Deal Running Out
Ian Wishart - Bloomberg
Negotiations slowed by pandemic, but U.K. won't move end-date; Officials will use video conference for discussions all week
Britain and the European Union will restart talks on Monday over their future relationship, with time running out to get an agreement after a six-week interruption caused by coronavirus.
/bloom.bg/3anbZzN
Britain's Brexit Divisions Are Never Far Away
Matt Singh - Bloomberg
Since the Coronavirus outbreak began, the U.K. has seemed more united than at any point in the last few years. The political logjam over Brexit has given way to solidarity against a common, invisible enemy. But beneath the surface, the divisions that defined the past four years persist and may grow as Britain's transition period runs out.
/bloom.bg/2XWUS5c
Let's get serious: we need to extend the transition period with the EU
Anand Menon and Angus Armstrong - The Guardian
Covid-19 has changed how we interact as a society. But it is harder to know what the repercussions will be for international trade. The prospectus for Brexit was based, in part, on the trading opportunities waiting to be seized by "global Britain". How does Covid-19 change the balance of risks and opportunities that face us?
/bit.ly/2VHCk6z
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Coronavirus Pushes Higher Education to the Brink; Long-simmering troubles at America's colleges and universities are about to boil over, consuming debt-ridden schools and redefining the campus experience.
Stephen Mihm - Bloomberg
The coronavirus has already dealt a vicious blow to key sectors of the U.S. economy. If the pandemic drags on into the fall, though, it's likely to devastate yet another area that has so far escaped with minimal damage: higher education.
/bloom.bg/2XNRJEY
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