| November 19, 2018 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
JLN Staff
There is an episode of "The Spread" to be released later this morning. Stay tuned. ~SD
Nodal Exchange listed its first North American environmental contracts on Friday with its partner IncubEx. Day one volumes totaled 950 contracts in carbon and renewable energy credit futures.~SD
Who likes the polyester market? Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange announced that overseas investors will be able to trade purified terephthalic acid (PTA) futures starting November 30. PTA is the chemical needed to make the stuff we see every day in clothes and plastic bottles.~SD
Trend followers have had a rough go. Cantab Capital Partners is apparently down 30 percent on the year, adding to the pressure on Cantab's owner, GAM Holdings. GAM already made news for all the wrong reasons when it suspended a star bond fund manager, had to liquidate a huge fund and then its CEO departed.~SD
The New York Times has an article about an AI project Google (for one) is working on. It's titled, "Finally, a Machine That Can Finish Your Sentence." Just what we need. No wonder Google got rid of its slogan, "Don't Be Evil." ~SR
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New Evidence Emerges of Steve Bannon and Cambridge Analytica's Role in Brexit
Jane Mayer - The New Yorker
For two years, observers have speculated that the June, 2016, Brexit campaign in the U.K. served as a petri dish for Donald Trump's Presidential campaign in the United States. Now there is new evidence that it did. Newly surfaced e-mails show that the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and Cambridge Analytica, the Big Data company that he worked for at the time, were simultaneously incubating both nationalist political movements in 2015.
bit.ly/2zeDUCs
**"Anyone, anyone, Mueller, Mueller, Mueller - Bannon."~JK
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Market turmoil will not save the Brexit deal (Opinion)
Wolfgang Munchau - The Financial Times
Sometimes financial markets change the course of political events. More often they do not. A market panic persuaded the US Congress to legislate in favour of the troubled asset relief programme during the financial crisis in 2008. Four years later, turmoil on the trading screens extracted a commitment by Mario Draghi to do "whatever it takes" to safeguard the bond markets of eurozone countries. But these were the grand exceptions.
Brexit is not one of those.
/goo.gl/ncrjwE
***Just who will save the Brexit deal? Name one person.~JK
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Illinois Now Second Largest Producer of Computer Science Graduates In the U.S.
Katherine Davis - Americaninno.com
As Chicago's innovation scene continues to grow, tech employers should have plenty of fresh talent to choose from, according to a new report, which shows the number of local STEM graduates, and computer science grads specifically, is skyrocketing.
bit.ly/2FuGDNs
****I'm sticking my tongue out in the direction of either coast. Nana nana boo boo!~SD
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Trump's attack on retired admiral who led bin Laden raid escalates a war of words
Paul Sonne, Philip Rucker - Washington Post
President Trump has long put the American military at the center of his presidential brand, tapping retired officers to serve as advisers, touting increases in defense spending, and citing support from troops and veterans as a sign of his success.
/wapo.st/2Fsk2B5
****Generally, taking on Navy SEALs isn't a great move.~SD
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Bridging the Week: November 12 - 16 and November 19, 2018 (New Employee Orientation; Whistleblowing; ICOs and SEC Path Forward)
Gary DeWaal - Bridging the Week
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Division of Enforcement issued its annual report last week; it said the purpose of its enforcement program was to engender a "true culture of compliance." The Division suggested the measure of success for such culture would be evidenced by a company's chief executive officer threatening new employees during orientation that the company itself would advise law enforcement authorities if they ever violated the company's internal control requirements. Not exactly the warmest and fuzziest welcome aboard message! Separately, the SEC fined two companies for engaging in initial coin offerings without registration. The SEC also obligated the companies - and they agreed - to pay back initial investors, upon request, the amount of their ICO purchases as well as to file registration statements for their digital tokens. In contemporaneously issued guidance, the SEC said these settlements offered a path forward for other companies previously involved in ICOs.
/goo.gl/Zxt2LR
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Friday's Top Three
Our top story of the day on Friday by far was Crain's Chicago Business' CME effort to jettison directors faces opposition among Class B. Second was Bloomberg's Einar Aas: Trader Who Blew the Nordic Fuse Gets to Keep House. Third was Bloomberg's Two Words That Sent the Oil Market Plunging: Negative Gamma. Do you know your negative gamma?
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MarketsWiki Stats
135,708,413 pages viewed; 23,313 pages; 215,499 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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| Lead Stories | The Oil Price Is Now Controlled By Just Three Men; Bin Salman, Trump and Putin are calling the market shots. The prince may struggle to defend output cuts against a hostile Trump and indifferent Putin.
Julian Lee - Bloomberg
OPEC has lost what control of the oil market it ever had. The actions (or tweets) of three men  Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman  will determine the course of oil prices in 2019 and beyond. But of course they each want different things.
/bloom.bg/2FsPaQY
The Environment and Economy Have Become Great-Power Pawns; The new Cold War has spread far from the geopolitical arena.
Hal Brands - Bloomberg
In recent years, we have seen the renewal of a phenomenon that seemed to have passed into history with the end of the Cold War: fierce and potentially violent competition between the most powerful countries on the globe. Yet as dangerous as that competition is in its own right, it is also worsening prospects for solving many of the world's other problems, from migration to economic crises to climate change.
/bloom.bg/2FwiJ4q
City firms step up Brexodus plans amid political turmoil
Financial News
The City's biggest institutions have accelerated plans to decouple from London after a week of political turmoil over Brexit that has left UK Prime Minister Theresa May fighting for her job. - Banks and asset managers across the capital are preparing for the harshest possible exit from the European Union after May's cabinet ministers approved a controversial 585-page Brexit agreement that triggered a flurry of ministerial resignations and prompted sharp falls in the value of the pound.
bit.ly/2Qd2vkU
US stock market surveillance system goes live; Long-awaited 'CAT' system to track orders and trades launched despite 'bugs'
Nicole Bullock - FT
A long-awaited surveillance system for the US stock market launched on Thursday even as "bugs" remained to be ironed out. Known as CAT, the consolidated audit trail is designed to compile detailed information of orders and trades for the US equity and options markets. It has been dubbed by one regulator as a "Hubble Telescope for securities markets".
/on.ft.com/2FwAMqY
Furious Traders Slam Crypto Exchange for Fiddling With Contracts
Benjamin Robertson - Bloomberg
'OKEx is losing credibility': trader who took a $700,000 hit; Exchange says it acted to protect clients from volatility
An unorthodox move by one of the world's biggest cryptocurrency platforms to change the terms on $135 million of derivative contracts has infuriated some traders and saddled several with losses, underscoring the risks of using unregulated virtual currency exchanges.
/bloom.bg/2FwCUyY
LSE Group looks to shift debt trade to Italy in Brexit hedge; A fifth of EUR13bn-a-day sovereign bond business could leave London
Philip Stafford - FT
London will no longer be the first stop for European governments selling bonds, as the bulk of business on a key platform switches to Milan ahead of the deadline for the UK's departure from the EU next year.
/on.ft.com/2FwFF3o
As the climate changes, ESG investing powers into the mainstream; BlackRock's Larry Fink says sustainability will become core but doubts persist
Attracta Mooney and Peter Smith - FT
When Larry Fink, BlackRock chief executive, outlined plans for the $6tn fund house to become a leader in sustainable investing, he was outspoken about the prospects for funds that use environmental, social and governance criteria.
/on.ft.com/2FuUvHN
Bond Traders Have a Bad Case of Wishful Thinking; Fed officials aren't dovish; they're just stating facts. Also, Theresa May suffered a Brexit setback, but she probably isn't going anywhere.
John Authers - Bloomberg
The bond market can be a bit like a dog. You can have long and detailed conversations with it, but in the end all it will hear is its name. And if you fail to get your message across, you're prone to getting bit, or at least have mud shaken all over the kitchen floor.
/bloom.bg/2FulXoR
Former LSE boss Rolet close to joining CQS as co-CEO - report
Samuel Agini - Financial News
Xavier Rolet, the former chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, is edging closer to joining Sir Michael Hintze's $17bn hedge fund, CQS.
/goo.gl/en2o7w
Will Machines Run The World? Steve Wozniak Gives His Thoughts
Blu Putnam - CME Group OpenMarkets
Not to worry, according to Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. Machines guided by artificial intelligence (AI) do not wake in the morning and ask: "What should I do today?" That is what humans do. AI will allow for amazing advances in how machines can handle specific tasks, including very complex and inter-related tasks.
/goo.gl/Y7mHfR
Global bond and equity markets shrink $5tn in 2018; Rare parallel declines in capital markets could result in biggest contraction post financial crisis
Robin Wigglesworth in New York - FT
Financial markets are headed for an unusually bad year, with the overall global bond and equity universe shrinking by a cumulative $5tn since the start of 2018 Â the biggest contraction of capital markets since the financial crisis.
/on.ft.com/2FwzFaM
No Experience? No Problem. Private Equity Lures Newbie Bankers With $300,000 Offers; Annual recruitment drive starts earlier this year as firms try to get a jump on preferred candidates
Liz Hoffman and Miriam Gottfried - WSJ
Private-equity titans are used to competing for billion-dollar buyouts. Now they are squaring off for 22-year-old spreadsheet crunchers. An industrywide scramble is under way this week to hire young investment bankers.
/on.wsj.com/2FwzzQy
Switzerland gives green light to first cryptocurrency ETP; Launch comes as bitcoin drops to lowest level for more than a year
Chris Flood - Financial Times
Switzerland's main stock exchange has given a green light to the world's first exchange traded product tracking multiple cryptocurrencies, just as the price of bitcoin, the most popular digital coin, has dropped to its lowest level for more than a year. The Amun Crypto Basket ETP, which will start trading next week on the Six exchange in Zurich, has been designed to track an index based on the movements of five leading cryptocurrencies.
/goo.gl/6S7cT5
****International Business Times with the story here.
Goldman Sachs Star Dismissed 15-Year Veteran on Maternity Leave
Sabrina Willmer - Bloomberg
Dispute illustrates broader job worries around pregnancy bias; Elite companies offer paid leave. Some women fear taking it
Two years ago, Tania Mirchandani, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. vice president in Los Angeles, told her boss she was pregnant with her third child. He was skeptical she could balance a large family with her demanding job, she recalled. That's "a lot of mouths to feed," she quoted him as saying.
/goo.gl/VHQ2CK
A Hedge Fund's Marriage of Convenience; The world of fund management is changing, and that creates an opportunity for smaller, specialist companies.
Mark Gilbert - Bloomberg
The appetite for low-cost passive funds is driving evolution at both ends of the scale in the asset management business. The biggest firms need to add more exotic products which can still command higher fees than their vanilla funds. And that means there's an opportunity for smaller specialist managers to sell themselves to their larger brethren.
/bloom.bg/2Fsdy5y
Deutsche Bank Is Said to Be Drawn Deeper Into Danske Scandal
Steven Arons and Christian Wienberg - Bloomberg
Whistleblower gives testimony on European bank in Danish case; Deutsche Bank is lender named in testimony: person familiar
Deutsche Bank is being drawn deeper into the money-laundering scandal surrounding Danske Bank.
/bloom.bg/2FuJOom
When Stocks Crash, China Turns to Its 'National Team'
Moxy Ying - Bloomberg
It rose to prominence when China's stock market imploded in 2015, spending billions of dollar on equities as the authorities scrambled to stem the losses. Media and market watchers regularly refer to it, but it's rarely mentioned by Chinese officialdom. There were even questions this year about the desire to keep it going. But worry not, Chinese stockholders, the "national team" is here to (try to) save the day.
/bloom.bg/2FsU804
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Wild gas price swings spur CME 'emergency action'
Gregory Meyer and Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
The largest US futures exchange took "emergency action" to maintain orderly trading in natural gas contracts as wild price swings gave rise to fears of forced selling.
/on.ft.com/2DIgOrt
Nodal breaks into environmental markets sector
Global Investor Group
Nodal Exchange has made its first move into the environmental markets sector with the launch of more than 250 North American environmental contracts on Friday. The European Energy Exchange (EEX) Group's US-based exchange, which until now had primarily focused on the energy markets, has introduced futures and options on a suite of emission and renewable contracts.
bit.ly/2QaWGEg
MCX sets up gold delivery centres in Kolkata, Bengaluru, 3 other cities
Business Standard News
Leading commodity bourse MCX Friday said it has set up five additional delivery centres, one each at Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Bengaluru and Kolkata, for Gold and Gold Mini contracts traded on the bourse.
bit.ly/2DJujHo
BSE to cut ties with S&P Dow Jones; develop own in-house indices; The deal with BSE came after the expiry of the licensing arrangement between India Index Services & Products (IISL), a joint venture of NSE and S&P-owned Crisil
Press Trust of India
Asia's oldest bourse BSE has decided to snap ties with S&P Dow Jones, which manages and operates benchmark Sensex, and plans to develop indices through its own in-house development team, exchange's officials said.
bit.ly/2FwhXEy
The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) Monthly Statistical Report October 2018
Mondovisione
Total number of listed companies on the main market amounted to 222 at the end of October 2018. Meanwhile, the number of listed companies on Nilex reached 32 at the end of the month.
bit.ly/2Fx0Y53
Why FX is Still "Under-Futurised"; Deutsche Boerse 360T Futures Derivatives credit
Profit-Loss.com
The FX market is still "completely under-futurised" right now, according to Carlo Koelzer, CEO of 360T and global head of FX at Deutsche Boerse Group. Deutsche Boerse announced plans to buy 360T in 2015 and this deal can subsequently be viewed as part of a broader trend of large exchange groups buying OTC FX platforms.
bit.ly/2FwhPVA
SARON Futures: Transitioning the Swiss-denominated market smoothly to the new risk-free rate
Eurex
Following the introduction of the Three-Month SARON® Futures to help the Swiss market transition to a new risk-free rate, Eurex spoke with Martin Bardenhewer, Head of Financial Institutions & Multinationals, Zürcher Kantonalbank and Co-chair of the Swiss National Working Group on Reference Rates (NWG), Pascal Anderegg, Interest Rate Derivatives Trader, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and Michel Erni, Head of Market Rates & Director at Basler Kantonalbank.
bit.ly/2FuMWR8
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Startup Acorns Is Said to Seek Funding at $700 Million Valuation
Julie Verhage - Bloomberg
The fintech company has more than $1 billion under management; Existing investors include BlackRock, PayPal and Kevin Durant
Acorns Grow Inc. is in talks with investors for a new funding round that would give it a valuation north of $700 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
Acorns, which is part of a growing list of startups offering digital wealth management services, is looking to raise more than $100 million in the new round, though that number could change, said one of the people, who all asked not to be identified because the deal is private.
You've reached your free
/bloom.bg/2DIdTPx
Refinitiv unveils MiFID II bond data aggregator
Hayley McDowell - The Trade News
Refinitiv has launched a data aggregator for fixed income trade data available due to MiFID II requirements in a bid to remove the complexity of consuming data feeds from individual reporting and trading venues.
/goo.gl/p3uJrg
Nordic fund manager employs Refinitiv for buy-side workflow overhaul
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
A Nordic fund manager has turned to Refinitiv to deploy an end-to-end buy-side workflow solution for its investment management business.
The agreement will see E. Ãhman J: or Fonder (Ãhman) implement Refinitiv's desktop, trading, data and analytics, and will cover everything from pre- to post-trade workflow across the firm.
bit.ly/2DFSnek
Billionaire-Backed Hong Kong Fintech Firm Plans U.S. IPO
Alfred Liu, Manuel Baigorri, and Crystal Tse
TNG FinTech Group Inc., a Hong Kong-based digital wallet operator, plans to seek as much as $300 million in a U.S. initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/p4AcbH
Duco opens new office in Singapore
InstitutionalInvestor.co.uk
Duco, a provider of enterprise data quality and reconciliation services, has opened a new office in Singapore to cater to customers across Asia Pacific.
bit.ly/2FyhhOP
BlackBerry to buy cybersecurity firm Cylance for $1.4 billion
Reuters
BlackBerry Ltd raised its bets on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity on Friday with the $1.4 billion purchase of California-based machine-learning specialists Cylance.
/reut.rs/2Fsleo3
Billionaire-Backed Hong Kong Fintech Firm Plans U.S. IPO
Alfred Liu, Manuel Baigorri and Crystal Tse - Bloomberg
Digital wallet operator TNG aims to start trading next year; TNG is profitable, has valuation close to $1 billion
TNG FinTech Group Inc., a Hong Kong-based digital wallet operator, plans to seek as much as $300 million in a U.S. initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
/bloom.bg/2Fu0nAX
Japan and France sign fintech pact
FSA
Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) has signed two cooperation frameworks, respectively with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) of France to promote innovation in their respective markets.
bit.ly/2Fu0cFN
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Nvidia's Crypto Burn Will Take Time to Heal; Chip maker has shed 43% of its market value in just six weeks
Dan Gallagher - WSJ
For Nvidia, cleaning out months worth of inventory may prove to be the easy part. The hard part for the once-highflying chip maker will be winning back the trust of investors. That trust took what was once a niche PC-gaming company and turned it into one of the world's most-valuable semiconductor names. At its peak just six weeks ago, Nvidia was worth about $176 billionÂnearly five times its value from just two years earlier. Thanks to last month's marketwide selloff and a disappointing forecast from Nvidia for its current quarter, the company is worth just under $100 billion now.
/on.wsj.com/2Fu2BjN
****Also from the WSJ - Nvidia Grapples With Cryptocurrency Miners' Exit
France hopes to lure crypto-issuers with Gallic stamp of approval
Inti Landauro - Reuters
With hundreds of cryptocurrencies being issued every month, countries face a choice: ban them, leave them unregulated, or come up with rules to tame them.
/reut.rs/2FwzUTk
Banks employ more chefs than cryptocurrency experts
Yolanda Bobeldijk and Becky Pritchard - Financial News
Banks employ fewer cryptocurrency experts than they do chefs, according to Financial News research that exposes a deep reluctance to enter the fast-growing sector. Only 29 UK executives working at the world's top 10 banks have the term 'crypto', 'bitcoin' or 'digital assets' in their job titles or within a description of their job, an analysis of LinkedIn profiles has found. This compares with 40 chefs, 78 people who work on "diversity and inclusion" and 85 who manage social media accounts for the same institutions.
bit.ly/2zjFQcI
Bank of Thailand Governor: We're Still Far Away From Central Bank Crypto
David Kimberley - Finance Magnates
Cryptocurrencies are unlikely to be widely adopted by central banks in the near future. That's according to the Governor of Thailand's central bank - the Bank of Thailand - Veerathai Santiprabhob. A report by local outlet, the Chiang Rai Times, indicates that Santiprabhob made the claims on Monday. The report says he was responding to comments made by Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, last week.
bit.ly/2qWeQeV
A Former Blockchain Believer Explains Why It Will Never Benefit Corporations
Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway - Bloomberg
Every week, hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway take you on a not-so-random walk through hot topics in markets, finance and economics.
/bloom.bg/2FvikPE
Bitcoin's repeated splits undermine its long-term value; More than $600bn in cryptocurrency 'market capitalisation' has evaporated this year
Jemima Kelly - FT
Cryptocurrencies have been crashing again. Bitcoin has slumped to its lowest price in more than a year. More than $600bn in claimed "market capitalisation" has vanished from the universe of pse
/on.ft.com/2Fsq6tl
Bitcoin sinks to new 13-month low
Tom Wilson and Helen Reid - Reuters
Bitcoin slumped to a new 13-month low on Monday, with the biggest cryptocurrency touching $5173.23 on the Bitstamp platform BTC=BTSP. Bitcoin was last down 5.2 percent at $5270. The cryptocurrency, and other lesser coins including ethereum and XRP, endured a sell-off last week, with some blaming fears that a "hard fork" in bitcoin cash, where the smaller coin that split into two separate currencies, could destabilize others.
/reut.rs/2QaWmp2
Stablecoins are crypto sector's next big bet; 'Hybrid' cryptocurrencies are often pegged to real assets, including fiat currencies
Hannah Murphy in London - FT
When Elizabeth White set up a company in early 2017 to help new-found bitcoin millionaires buy luxury goods such as Lamborghinis and yachts, she quickly encountered a major problem: crypto price volatility.
/on.ft.com/2FsBoxX
Traders Claim Losses After OKEx Suddenly Settles Bitcoin Cash Contracts
Yogita Khatri - Coindesk
Traders have reportedly incurred losses after Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx settled bitcoin cash futures contracts almost without warning ahead of last week's hard fork. According to a Bloomberg report Monday, the decision by OKEx resulted in significant losses for some investors, including Qiao Changhe, founder of a firm called Consensus Technologies, who said his fund was down $700,000 because the exchange closed the contracts at a level that did not reflect market prices at the time.
bit.ly/2TtY43Z
Leap in the Blockchain Development: What Will be in Demand on the Decentralized Market in 2019?
Gerald French - Forbes
2017 had the most robust crypto market ever seen. In comparison, 2018 has had quite an unimpressive run within the crypto space with almost all coins careening down by at least 80% from their all-time highs. We closed last year with both November and December seeing the highest in crypto market growth rate; Bitcoin alone made a staggering $600 billion in Market Capitalization. Consequently, its price shot up to $20,000.
bit.ly/2FuwsZj
Deloitte Blockchain Chief: Bad Crypto Headlines Making Clients 'Nervous'
Anna Baydakova - Coindesk
"Can we stop talking about my bad brother?" That's how Linda Pawczuk, leader of Deloitte Consulting's financial services industry blockchain group, describes the conversations she often has these days with executives and board members of client companies.
bit.ly/2A9X6ke
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Pence's Sharp China Attacks Fuel Fears of New Cold War
Jason Scott, Dandan Li, and Isabel Reynolds - Bloomberg
Since the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990s, Southeast Asia has sought to avoid getting caught in a fight between major powers. The Trump administration is making that position look increasingly untenable.
Vice President Mike Pence sharpened U.S. attacks on China during a week of summits that ended Sunday, most notably with a call for nations to avoid loans that would leave them indebted to Beijing. He said the U.S. wasn't in a rush to end the trade war and would "not change course until China changes its ways" -- a worrying prospect for a region heavily reliant on exports.
/goo.gl/QJNgU4
Grassley to Lead Senate Finance Panel; Veteran Iowa senator to switch from Judiciary Committee next year
Richard Rubin - WSJ
Sen. Chuck Grassley is expected to lead the Finance Committee next year, giving the veteran Iowa Republican more sway over tax, trade and health policy.
/on.wsj.com/2Fu3XLp
'Trump Effect' or No, Tourists Are Coming Back; The president's words and policies may have scared some students and visitors away from the U.S., but this country still exerts great attractive force.
Justin Fox - Bloomberg
The story line goes something like this: Dislike and/or fear of President Donald Trump, tougher visa rules and border enforcement, and reports of hostility to foreigners are discouraging people with brains and money from coming to the U.S.
/bloom.bg/2FET5uq
Soros Discusses Relocating Embattled College With Austria's Kurz
Boris Groendahl - Bloomberg
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz met George Soros in Vienna to discuss the billionaire's plans to move parts of Central European University to the Austrian capital from Budapest, where the government has targeted the institution for closure.
/bloom.bg/2Fwy1G8
Cheap Power Matters More to Australians Than Climate Change, Poll Shows
James Thornhill - Bloomberg
A new poll shows Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's focus on getting power bills down may be starting to pay dividends. But it also suggests his failure to establish a coherent narrative on tackling climate change could hurt his government at the ballot box.
/goo.gl/v2RfKG
A Haven for Money in the Middle East, Dubai Is Losing Its Shine
Zainab Fattah - Bloomberg
Switzerland model is undercut as U.A.E. enters regional fray; With oil spenders retrenching, who'll fill all the new malls?
Ever since the first gleaming towers sprang out of the desert, Dubai has gotten used to rapid change. It's no stranger to boom-and-bust. What's happening now is different: a slow bleed.
/bloom.bg/2FvLPkp
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | U.S. regulator settles with tech startups over token sale violations
Katanga Johnson - Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges on Friday with two technology companies for improperly offering digital tokens, mandating that they register their offerings as securities and reimburse investors.
/reut.rs/2DJrZAa
CFTC and State of Utah Charge Salt Lake City Precious Metals Dealer and His Company with Engaging in $170 Million Precious Metals Ponzi Scheme
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Utah Department of Commerce, Division of Securities, through its Attorney General, jointly filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division, against Defendants Gaylen Dean Rust (Rust) and Rust Rare Coin, Inc. (RRC) of Layton, Utah and Salt Lake City, Utah, respectively. The Complaint charges Rust and his company RRC with defrauding at least 200 individuals - from Utah and at least 16 other states - and fraudulently obtaining more than $170 million from investors since May 2013 in a precious metals Ponzi scheme.
bit.ly/2DIWHJZ
A Call for SEC to Lead in Proxy Vote Overhaul
Vito J. Racanelli - Barron's
The Securities and Exchange Commission must take the lead in proposingÂif not compellingÂcooperation and new approaches to improve the accuracy and reliability of the U.S.'s outdated and expensive proxy voting system. That was the consensus of a roundtable held at the SEC's Washington D.C. headquarters on Thursday. Without the agency's active involvement, improvements will take much longer to implement, given that business interests may be threatened by change.
bit.ly/2FHzgmf
The SEC Hands Out MiFID II Lifelines, But US Firms Are on the Clock
Shaun Lin, Smartkarma - TABB Forum
A trio of no-action relief notices from the SEC temporarily saved US financial markets from MiFID II's research unbundling provisions. But those exemptions won't be in place forever. How long is too long for a temporary fix? The industry now stands at the crossroads. Market participants either can capitalize on the opportunity to plan an appropriate competitive response to MiFID II or use the temporary measures as an excuse to prolong inaction.
/goo.gl/PbPZkY
FIA offers recommendations for CFTC and SEC harmonization
FIA
The Futures Industry Association ("we" or "FIA") is submitting this letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "CFTC" and, together with the SEC, the "Commissions") to propose several areas in which the Commissions could coordinate and harmonize their regulatory programs. We believe that the proposals support the goals of the CFTC, SEC and U.S. Department of the Treasury to promote coordination, harmonization and efficient regulations.1 We also believe that these proposals will provide clarity to regulated markets and reduce unnecessary costs for regulators and market participants.
/goo.gl/uH1yFd
SIFMA Comments On Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security Proposed Rule
SIFMA
In a comment letter filed today with the Federal Housing Finance Agency on potential rulemaking on the implementation of the Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security (UMBS), SIFMA offers suggestions to strengthen three aspects of the proposed rulemaking for the benefit of investors and mortgage borrowers.
/goo.gl/YXHHmk
U.S. regulators ease banking rules in light of California fires
Reuters
Banks that operate in fire-blasted regions of California will not be punished if they ease loan terms or miss some federal reporting requirements, federal banking regulators said on Thursday.
/reut.rs/2FsRTdp
Nissan Moves to Oust Iconic Chairman Ghosn After Shock Arrest
Jie Ma - Bloomberg
Carmaker says Ghosn under-reported income, misused its assets; Renault, also led by Ghosn, plunges as much as 15% in Paris
The arrest of Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn has thrown the auto industry's largest global alliance into turmoil, with the Japanese carmaker saying it will seek to remove him. Ghosn, a towering figure who saved Nissan from collapse and brought it together with Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., was detained Monday in Tokyo over a suspected breach of Japanese financial laws, according to NHK. He and Director Greg Kelly have been under investigation at Nissan for several months, and the company said that it's seeking to oust them both. Nissan is set to a hold a media conference in Tokyo this evening.
/goo.gl/hcbd9H
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Tech Rout Puts Silicon Valley on Edge
Sarah Ponczek and Jeran Wittenstein - Bloomberg
Signs start to emerge that it's no longer business as usual; Investors get pickier, startups get anxious, home prices drop
Steve Hoffman grabs the mic and, at once, beams Silicon Valley optimism. Decked out in his trademark purple-and-blue plaid shirt, his high-pitched voice echoing off the concrete walls, he touts his start-up incubator's track record and rattles off the names he helped propel: Instagram, Etsy, Change.org, Foursquare.
/goo.gl/SLtaYc
'Go anywhere' bond funds spark debate around liquidity risk; Investors' race for the exit added to GAM's absolute return fund crisis
Robert Smith - Financial Times
At the end of July, Zurich-based asset manager GAM shocked the staid world of Swiss asset management when it suspended a star bond fund manager. This came after an internal investigation found flaws with risk management and record-keeping. The outflows that followed led GAM to bar investors from making withdrawals from its flagship absolute return bond funds. The company then liquidated the SFr7.3bn ($7.2bn) fund range.
/goo.gl/CHCjLt
S&P 500 Range This Year Belies Index's Recent Volatility - Chart
David Wilson - Bloomberg
This year has been less volatile for U.S. stocks than the ups and downs of the past few weeks would suggest. The gap between the S&P 500 Index's Sept. 20 high and Feb. 8 low is 13.6 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
/goo.gl/sbJDfi
Invesco: The state of fixed income ETFs in Europe (Video)
The Trade News
Tom Digby, Head of EMEA ETF Client Trading, Invesco, talks to TRADE TV at the Fixed Income Leaders Summit 2018 about the trends around trading fixed income ETFs in Europe.
/goo.gl/VUCju4
Foreign investors shed EUR 1.5bn of Italian government debt; Latest sell-off takes total drop in overseas holdings to EUR 68bn since May
Kate Allen - Financial Times
Foreign investors in Italy's bond market shed a net EUR1.5bn of government debt in September, in the latest evidence that the market jitters of the past six months have eroded their willingness to hold Italian paper.
/goo.gl/cbp4of
Energy Stocks Try to Shed Reputation as the 'Fifth Beatle'
Jessica Menton - WSJ.com
Investors have been quietly moving into shares of energy companies, lured by the firms' strong earnings growth and cheap valuations, as they aim to diversify beyond some of the big technology stocks that led the recent stock-market rout.
/goo.gl/HETXix
Green bonds' newer shades help investors meet social aims; After the first ever 'blue bond', the next evolution is sustainability across capital markets
Heike Reichelt - Financial Times
Investors who once thought little about what their portfolios were supporting have elevated purpose and impact towards the top of their agendas in recent years.
/goo.gl/4x599U
A $75 Billion Wipeout Should Scare Momentum Bulls
Arie Shapira - Bloomberg
It's no surprise that tech stocks haven't recovered as much as others ever since the market recovered in late October.
/goo.gl/e74qqf
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | RBS drops off list of world's most important banks
Stephen Morris and Nicholas Megaw - The Financial Times
Royal Bank of Scotland has been removed from a list of the world's most important banks, meaning it will no longer have to hold additional capital to offset the systemic danger it used to present to the global financial system.
The decision by the international Financial Stability Board means RBS escapes the requirement to maintain capital equivalent to an extra 1 per cent of its risk-weighted assets. This could boost the amount of cash the majority government-owned bank will be able to return to UK taxpayers and institutional shareholders.
/goo.gl/TDg4VJ
Voting advice on CEO pay is usually ignored by big asset managers; Data show that recommendations from proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis are rarely followed
Attracta Mooney - FT
Many of the US's biggest asset managers rarely take heed of recommendations to vote against CEO pay in the US, despite accusations that investors blindly follow the advice of Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis.
/on.ft.com/2FsRJ5G
Fast-food chains among winners of Wall St's securitisation machine; Taco Bell latest to have found way to lower debt costs and ease investor access
Joe Rennison and Alistair Gray - FT
It is not just ingredients being cut up by restaurant companies. Franchise chains serving everything from burgers to burritos are also offering sliced-and-diced debt to investors, as appetite for restaurant securitisations reaches record levels.
/on.ft.com/2FuovTX
Big Issue works with fund managers on impact investing push; Standard Life Aberdeen and Columbia Threadneedle products sold on blockchain-powered platform
Jennifer Thompson - FT
Standard Life Aberdeen, Columbia Threadneedle and AllianceBernstein have teamed up with the Big Issue, the magazine sold by homeless people, to create a blockchain-powered platform that offers impact funds to retail investors.
/on.ft.com/2Fq512O
ABN Amro says cannot verify authenticity of 'rebellious managers' letter
Reuters
ABN Amro (ABNd.AS) said on Monday it could not verify the authenticity of a letter sent to its chairman by people claiming to be a group of 40 managers at the Dutch bank dissatisfied with its current leadership and direction.
/reut.rs/2FsdN0s
As ETFs Get Cheaper, Wall Street Looks for Ways to Charge More; Complex strategies come with higher fees.
Rachel Evans - Bloomberg
Investors love exchange-traded funds because they're simple and cheap. With some index funds now charging zero fees, it's getting harder for asset managers to make money selling investors the basics. Watch ETFs get more complicated.
/bloom.bg/2Fu63ef
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Glencore's Misadventure in the Congo Threatens Its Cobalt Dreams
Franz Wild, Vernon Silver and William Clowes - Bloomberg
A dozen years ago the future of technology bounced out of a remote corner of Africa on the back of a truck, along with a world of potential trouble. Both, embodied in the same load of rock, landed in the hands of Ivan Glasenberg, chief executive officer of Glencore Plc, the world's largest middleman for the raw materials that fuel, feed, and underpin civilization. Glasenberg's obsession was copper, because China's appetite for it was insatiable, with copper wire electrifying the nation's rising cities and running through the appliances its factories sold to the West. The metal's price had quadrupled in less than three years, triggering a global frenzy. Miners blasted it from Chilean mountaintops and dug it from the African earth as fast as they could.
/bloom.bg/2DILU2w
Danske Bank whistleblower talking to US enforcement agencies; DoJ investigates biggest money-laundering scheme ever uncovered
Caroline Binham and Richard Milne - FT
The former Danske Bank manager who blew the whistle on a EUR200bn money-laundering scandal centred on the bank's tiny Estonian branch has talked to a multitude of US law-enforcement agencies, raising the stakes for Denmark's biggest lender as it faces investigations around the world.
/on.ft.com/2FvigiU
El Niño gives warm relief to China's soyabean importers; Switch to favouring Brazilian crops follows eruption of trade war with the US this year
Emiko Terazono - FT
Ahead of this month's G20 talks that could cool the Sino-US trade war, another issue on soyabean traders minds' is El Niño, the weather phenomenon that is poised to help Chinese importers.
/on.ft.com/2Fq5a6m
China Plows Ahead With Modern Farming as American Tariffs Drive Up Crop Costs; The trade fight gives Beijing fresh incentive to beef up a sector dominated by small farms with low crop yields
Dominique Fong - WSJ
To keep bugs from spoiling her wheat and corn, Wei Junxia walks her plot of land spraying pesticide from a container on her back.
/on.wsj.com/2FEEpeq
Hong Kong 'Occupy' protest leaders deny public nuisance charges
James Pomfret - Reuters
Three leaders of Hong Kong's 2014 pro-democracy "Occupy" movement, which paralyzed parts of the Chinese-ruled city for nearly three months, denied public nuisance charges on Monday as international criticism of the erosion of civil liberties grows.
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'No more apologies': barrister tells Australian bank chiefs
Byron Kaye, Paulina Duran - Reuters
The CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) told a public inquiry into financial-sector misconduct on Monday that senior staff had felt powerless to stop wrongdoing including thousands of breaches of anti-money laundering laws.
/reut.rs/2FERchk
RBI board meets amid row with government, Indian markets on guard
Suvashree Choudhury - Reuters
A Reserve Bank of India board meeting began on Monday with investors waiting to see if central bank and government policymakers could bridge differences over several key issues.
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China investors dump once-acquisitive firms on write-down fears
Reuters
Chinese investors dumped stocks in acquisitive sectors such as entertainment, media and IT on Monday on concerns new regulatory demands and a slowing economy could force heavy write-downs for firms that overpaid for assets during the boom years.
/reut.rs/2FER5lU
Poland Vows Liquidity for Troubled Banks as Stocks Extend Losses
Adrian Krajewski, Maciej Martewicz and Konrad Krasuski - Bloomberg
Central bank is ready to help Getin Noble Bank and Idea Bank; Government struggles to contain bribery scandal behind selloff
Poland's finance minister and central bank chief pledged to provide liquidity for two lenders at the center of a corruption scandal as investors again sold battered bank stocks.
/bloom.bg/2FyjCt5
China Market Rescue Unleashes Hot Money Seeking Risky Stocks
Bloomberg News
Companies labelled as high risk have surged in recent weeks; Shift in regulatory tone seen to have encouraged speculation
China's drive to support its beleaguered stock market is helping pave a high-risk road for speculators chasing unlikely targets.
/bloom.bg/2Fu6qp9
Venezuela's exiled justice department calls for Interpol arrest of Maduro and 18 years for corruption
Alexandra Ma - Business Insider
Venezuela's justice department in exile requested an international arrest warrant, also known as a red notice, for its own president Nicolás Maduro. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) in exile accused Maduro of corruption in a letter to Jürgen Stock, the secretary-general of Interpol, dated on Monday. The exiled department, which calls itself the Legitimate TSJ, was established in 2017 amid a constitutional change.
bit.ly/2KgxLtE
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| Brexit | | Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union | You Do the Math: Can May Get Her Brexit Deal Through Parliament?
Robert Hutton - Bloomberg
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has got a Brexit deal, but now she needs to get it through Parliament. If we take politicians at their word, it will be impossible for her to get it passed.
/bloom.bg/2FsRGqD
Market pressure will not save the Brexit deal; There is a striking gap between analysis of investors and that of political commentators
Wolfgang Münchau - FT
Sometimes financial markets change the course of political events. More often they do not. A market panic persuaded the US Congress to legislate in favour of the troubled asset relief programme during the financial crisis in 2008. Four years later, turmoil on the trading screens extracted a commitment by Mario Draghi to do "whatever it takes" to safeguard the bond markets of eurozone countries. But these were the grand exceptions.
/on.ft.com/2FvJq9n
Michel Barnier proposes extending Brexit transition to 2022; Prolonging free movement and EU payments would fuel Eurosceptic ire
Mehreen Khan in Brussels and Sylvia Pfeifer and Laura Hughes in London - FT
Greg Clark, UK business secretary, has suggested that Britain would be open to a "maximum" extension of the Brexit transition period until 2022, to ensure a smoother path for business.
/on.ft.com/2FsR7Nq
Embattled May Asks Business Leaders to Back Her Brexit Deal
Robert Hutton and Nikos Chrysoloras - Bloomberg
Prime minister says Tories haven't triggered confidence vote; EU proposes any extension to transition should end in 2022
Theresa May will appeal to business leaders to help deliver her Brexit deal, as she fights implacable opposition in Parliament and a possible leadership challenge.
/bloom.bg/2FsPVcM
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Wall Street bankers are throwing excessive parties to dodge taxes
John Aidan Byrne - NY Post
Bankers and traders will be celebrating the prospect of massive, multimillion dollar payouts  and they'll use the mega-expenses of year-end blowouts as write-offs for their inflated tax bills, according to industry sources.
/nyp.st/2Fw98uk
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