| November 22, 2017 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Why ISPs Are About To Spoil Your Thanksgiving Dinners
Food For Thought on Net Neutrality Repeal
By Jeff Bergstrom, JLN
Yesterday it was announced the F.C.C. plans a net neutrality repeal. This is not a particularly new story. The telecoms have been working towards this for years. But now it seems they are about to achieve their goal and that is not a good thing unless you are a major investor in telecom stocks.
It is a truism that the last thing anyone should talk about over Thanksgiving dinner is politics. We all have that crazy uncle who goes off on some tirade about how Bhutan is ruining the vegetable oil market. That said, this is a topic well worth bringing up because it affects all of us. (Protip: If you scan the table and cannot find the crazy uncle you are probably the crazy uncle...I speak from experience.)
The John Lothian Newsletter wades infrequently into politics, but sometimes keeping silent is clearly wrong and this is one of those times.
On the face of it this may not seem like that big a deal but this ruling will have broad implications and affect everyone in the country, and I do mean "everyone."
The short version of net neutrality is internet service providers such as AT&T, Comcast or Time Warner Cable must treat all internet traffic the same. Your email to your sister is routed with the same alacrity as an email between Elon Musk and NASA planning the colonization of Mars. Put another way, the ISP cannot give preference to some data over other data. It is all the same to them.
Ending net neutrality means your ISP can start picking who gets internet fast lanes, who gets slow lanes and perhaps who gets any lanes at all.
Read more HERE
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Hits & Takes
A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO) hosted record breaking Rocktoberfest events in New York and Chicago this year, raising a total of $900,000. The net proceeds from the events will go to the organization's programs which provide prosthetic limbs to children in Asia, Africa and Latin America. You can visit ALTSO's web site HERE. ~SR
Valued at more than $1 billion, Robinhood, the commission-free stock-trading company/app, just announced it would allow stock transfers from other brokerages. At the beginning of the month it announced its new web platform. ~SD
CME Group is offering a webinar Tuesday, November 28 from 11:00am - 12:00 noon Central Time on Trading the New Fed Funds-Eurodollars Spread. CME Group plans to list a Fed Funds-Eurodollars spread on CME Globex in the first half of 2018.
You can register HERE. ~SR
NFA's Annual Review is now available. ~JJL
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is hosting an Economic Outlook on January 17, 2018 to learn where the economy is headed 10 years after the financial crisis.~JJL
FIA Asia is next week on November 28-30 in Singapore. ~JJL
ICE Data Services President & COO Lynn Martin won the Excellence in Exchange Data category at the Markets Media 2017 Women in Finance Awards. ~JJL
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New York Stock Exchange Celebrates 94th Annual Christmas Tree Lighting on Nov. 30
Business Wire
The 94th annual lighting of the NYSE Christmas Tree to celebrate the holiday season. Z-100 on-air personality DJ Nico will emcee this year's tree lighting ceremony which will feature musical performances including the Rockettes, Chilina Kennedy and The Drifters of Broadway's Beautiful and many more. The Closing Bell will be rung by performing artists and notable guests participating in the Tree Lighting ceremony. The NYSE Christmas Tree will be illuminated at 5:00 p.m.
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***** No word if Nasdaq is setting up an unadorned aluminum Festivus pole. I love the annual airing of the grievances.~JJL
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The World Federation of Exchanges publishes position paper on international regulatory dissonance
World Federation of Exchanges
The World Federation of Exchanges ("The WFE"), which represents more than 200 market infrastructure providers including exchanges and CCPs, today published a position paper discussing the implications of international regulatory dissonance, supported by a series of policy recommendations to promote better regulatory coherence.
/goo.gl/QZMFmh
***** I don't believe in dissonance.~JJL
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Opinion: Bitcoin rally may continue  but is it driven more by high-school dropouts than fundamentals?
Constantin Gurdgiev - MarketWatch
There is a much-discussed in the crypto-sphere chart making rounds these days, plotting bitcoin price dynamics against the historical bubbles of the past:
/goo.gl/u7ijcw
****** This is just a funny headline.~JJL
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28 More Rules of Thanksgiving Family Touch Football; A Journal tradition is backÂwith beer, doughnuts and loosened rules on touchdown celebrations
Jason Gay - WSJ
Holy Moly! This is the 7th edition of The Wall Street Journal's Rules for Thanksgiving Family Touch Football, which must mean two things:
/goo.gl/u9PBnC
***** I will be publishing 28 rules for the after Thanksgiving Dinner nap.~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our top read piece yesterday was a rebuke to John Lothian's Bitcoin column by Bill Mallers Jr., in Coindesk's FUD on All Sides: In Defense of CME's Bitcoin Plan. Second finally went to something other than a Bitcoin story, Reuters' Deutsche Boerse says about 20 banks join its clearing programme. Third was, yep, another Bitcoin piece, CME says bitcoin futures coming this year, but date not set from Reuters. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
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| Lead Stories | Warning Signs About Another Giant Bitcoin Exchange
Nathaniel Popper - NY Times
As the price of Bitcoin has soared, the virtual currency has edged toward the mainstream. Square, the fast-growing payments company run by the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has begun selling Bitcoins to ordinary consumers, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will soon allow banks to trade on the value of Bitcoin. But if you want to see where the price of Bitcoin is actually determined in round-the-clock bidding, you have to go to a number of unregulated exchanges that often fly in the face of American and European laws.
/goo.gl/kMwQ8T
Wealth Managers Are Being Inundated With Calls About Bitcoin
Suzanne Woolley - Bloomberg
Advisers say recover principal investment, brace for losses; Some advisers buy bitcoin to learn about the cryptocurrency
At 74, Cumberland Advisors' David Kotok has guided wealthy clients through a long career's worth of bubbles and crashes. Now he's being inundated with questions about the latest soaring asset to confound investors -- bitcoin.
/goo.gl/EPPXxq
LSE lines up interim chief in case of abrupt Rolet exit; Finance director David Warren ready to step up if exchange head leaves early
Philip Stafford - FT
The London Stock Exchange Group's board is lining up its finance director as an interim head to prepare for the potential sudden exit of its chief executive Xavier Rolet.
/goo.gl/LR6guR
Hedge fund calls on the Bank of England to remove the chairman of the London Stock Exchange
Lucy Burton - Telegraph
One of the London Stock Exchange's top investors has urged the Governor of the Bank of England to step in and remove the exchange's chairman, in a significant escalation of one of the most bitter City spats in recent memory.
/goo.gl/VN1tGn
EU and UK aim to strike Brexit divorce deal within 3 weeks; Negotiators target week of December 4 as Theresa May looks to settle bill
Alex Barker in Brussels and George Parker in London - FT
Britain and the EU are targeting a Brexit divorce deal within three weeks, with negotiators drawing up a political road map that seeks to overcome the toughest unresolved issues on a financial settlement and Northern Ireland.
/goo.gl/6NTymp
LME proposes new fee on OTC trade
Henry Sanderson - FT
The London Metal Exchange said it would crack down on over-the-counter trading of its contracts by some of its largest financial customers, in a bid to boost revenues.
/goo.gl/h81By4
Tech Rally Goes Global, Powering Major Stock Indexes to Fresh Records; U.S. and Asian stock exchanges have benefited from rally in tech stocks, but others have been left behind
Riva Gold - WSJ
Shares of global technology companies are outpacing other sectors this year by the widest margin since the height of the dot-com era, with a handful of key players dictating how markets are performing around the world.
/goo.gl/WjmnQg
Ripple Appoints Former New York State Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky to Its Board and Ron Will as CFO
BusinessWire
Ripple today announced the appointment of Benjamin Lawsky, the former New York superintendent of Financial Services, to its Board of Directors (BoD), as well as Ron Will as chief financial officer (CFO). Lawsky and Will will play central roles in Ripple's mission to achieve frictionless cross-border payments through the increased use of the digital asset XRP by financial institutions around the world.
/goo.gl/n3Vn4g
On the end of LIBOR: preliminary reflections on its implications for derivatives
White & Case LLP - Lexology
The financial crisis brought considerable changes to the entire financial regulatory environment and the way many financial instruments, especially derivatives, are traded. It also impacted LIBOR. LIBOR is an unsecured interbank rate used in the London lending and borrowing market. In 2012, regulatory investigations began to reveal manipulation of published LIBOR rates. This prompted a regulatory debate on benchmarks and the related regulatory and legal developments.
/goo.gl/CciQzJ
Saudi Arabia: Turbulence on the Horizon?
Erik Norland, CME Group - OpenMarkets
There is considerable change underway in Saudi Arabia, from how the country is governed and managed to an even more activist role in the politics of the volatile Middle East. Options markets, however, appear to be almost entirely unconcerned about recent developments in the country, the world's largest exporter of crude oil and a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.
/goo.gl/kJbbrm
Extreme Short-Selling Gets Even More Dangerous
Stephen Gandel - Bloomberg
Short-sellers' favorite stocks to hate have been getting a lot of love lately.Consider Bristow Group Inc., which provides helicopter transportation services to offshore oil rigs. As of the end of June, 12 million of Bristow's shares, or slightly more than half of its traded stock, were sold short, making it the ninth-most bet-against company in the Russell 2000 Index.
/goo.gl/oT55oR
Net Neutrality Repeal: What Could Happen and How It Could Affect You
Steve Lohr - NY Times
For you and me, the Federal Communications Commission's plan to repeal net neutrality rules can be boiled down to two questions: What might happen? And whom do you trust?
/goo.gl/rss36Y
How Big Sugar Killed a 1968 Study That Pointed to a Heart Disease Link; Industries have been trying to influence the scientific debate around products for decades, a tactic that can sometimes have unintended consequences.
Deena Shanker - Bloomberg
It's no secret that big industries have long devoted tremendous resources to shaping scientific debates that may threaten profits, from Big Oil countering how fossil fuels cause climate change to Big Tobacco pushing back on how smoking will kill you.
/goo.gl/opCBxc
Asian American Executives Are Missing on Wall Street; The group makes up less than 15 percent of upper management at four of the biggest U.S. banks
Laura Colby - Bloomberg
Asian Americans get hired at a much higher rate than their proportion of the general U.S. population but that doesn't mean they're climbing the executive ranks at the same pace. Across corporate America, Asians make up 12 percent of professionals and 5 percent of executives, according to Equal Opportunity Commission data. In finance, four of the biggest U.S. banks have less than 15 percent of their Asian workforce in C-suites or upper management.
/goo.gl/PZGyJu
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Nasdaq to Deliver Blockchain e-Voting Solution to Strate
GlobeNewswire
Nasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and Strate (Pty) Ltd, the South African CSD, announced today an agreement for Nasdaq to deliver a new blockchain solution that would bring electronic voting to the South African capital markets. The solution will allow Strate, in conjunction with key stakeholders in the market, to provide general meeting services and give shareholders an easy, user-friendly and secure tool for voting remotely. The solution is based on the successful proof of concept (PoC) developed for Nasdaq's Estonia market. In addition, Strate will contribute to the ongoing market development of e-Voting technology.
/goo.gl/Q9ZMma
LSE warned against 'character assassination' of CEO Rolet
Fareed Sahloul - Financial News
The activist investor waging war with the London Stock Exchange has warned the City institution against undertaking a "character assassination" of outgoing chief executive Xavier Rolet ahead of a key vote on his future.
/goo.gl/SVNSYQ
TCI asks regulators to appoint new London Stock Exchange chairman
Huw Jones - Reuters
The Bank of England and Britain's markets watchdog should step in to appoint a new chairman at the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L), Christopher Hohn, founder of activist hedge fund TCI said on Tuesday.
reut.rs/2B1ekPT
TCI calls for regulators to intervene at LSE; Activist investor wants Bank of England and FCA to appoint new chairman
Philip Stafford - FT
Activist investor The Children's Investment Fund has called for the UK financial regulators to intervene at the London Stock Exchange Group by appointing a new chairman to end its corporate governance crisis.
/goo.gl/zEuG8T
SGX welcomes RE&S Holdings to Catalist
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) today welcomed RE&S Holdings to Catalist under the stock code "1G1".
/goo.gl/1k4YTp
Bursa Malaysia sees promising year ahead for IPOs
The Star
Bursa Malaysia is expecting a promising year ahead for initial public offerings (IPOs), says chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan.
/goo.gl/fe1vzZ
FastMatch opens up FX tape to general public; Global consolidated tape for FX spot market to improve transparency for investors
Euronext
FastMatch, Inc., the fastest growing FX spot market operator, which has operated as a Euronext company since August 2017, announced today that individuals may now purchase FX Tape data from its website at a cost of EUR40 a month, using their credit cards.
/goo.gl/XsVXGA
Randolf Roth on MiFID II: "It's keeping us all busy"; "It's keeping us all busy"
Eurex
An interview with Randolf Roth, Member of the Eurex Executive Board and responsible for the Market Design
/goo.gl/qeDY8p
Fixed Income Highlights - November 2017 Edition
Eurex
October proved to be a challenging month for European Fixed Income markets. The lack of event risk, together with low levels of realized volatility saw volumes come under pressure across the board.
/goo.gl/j6Zuqd
Equity Index Highlights - November 2017 Edition
Eurex
Entering the final quarter of 2017, we experience multi-year lows in realised and implied volatility. Foreign-exchange (FX) and fixed-income volatilities remain range-bound, whereas equity market volatility has continued to track lower as the broad benchmarks edge higher. The dominant theory seeking to explain this malaise is the concentration of gamma which has increased as implied volatilities mark lower. This creates larger close-on-close delta rebalance hedging that pins the market in a narrow trading range. Secondary to this is the increased dispersion among stock returns which is similarly driving realised and implied correlations to multi-year lows.
/goo.gl/dShFmZ
STOXX expands its presence in Asia; Strong demand for smart beta strategies among investors in Taiwan; Rick Chau new Head of Asia Pacific in Hong Kong
Deutsche Börse Group
STOXX Ltd., operator of the index business of Deutsche Börse Group and leading provider of innovative and tradable index concepts, is expanding its presence and business activities in the Asia-Pacific region. Among other things, this serves the growing demand for smart beta strategies among Asian investors.
/goo.gl/v1W3EK
ELITE WELCOMES 21 NEW INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES TODAY, BRINGING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ELITE COMPANIES TO 683
London Stock Exchange Group
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) today welcomes 21 new international companies to its successful global business support and capital raising ecosystem, ELITE. This brings the total number of companies in the ELITE community to over 680.
/goo.gl/7PrXKM
LME CONSULTS ON FINANCIAL OTC BOOKING FEE AND ENHANCED TRADING REGULATIONS IN SUPPORT OF MARKET FAIRNESS
LME
LME consults on financial OTC booking fee and enhanced trading regulations in support of market fairness; Financial OTC booking fee intended to rebalance current fee disparity; Fee waivers, offsets and discounts proposed based on market feedback; New rules in respect of third-party platforms to support LME pricing and liquidity; Technical rules to protect LME pricing and data integrity
The London Metal Exchange (LME) today issued a market-wide consultation regarding the introduction of an over-the-counter (OTC) booking fee for financial participants and new trading regulations for contract creation and execution.
/goo.gl/SdiJtw
MOEX announces the effective date for new index calculation methodology
MOEX
The updated methodology for the calculation of Moscow Exchange's indices new index to come into force in 27 November 2017. The document details were disclosed on MOEX website on 10 November 2017.
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | A Hacker Warning for Bitcoin
Lionel Laurent - Bloomberg
Saying Bitcoin is un-hackable is of small comfort to those who've lost money through cracks in its ecosystem of exchanges, intermediaries and money-raising schemes.
/goo.gl/8FgdXP
Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs
Tatyana Shumsky - WSJ
Adobe Inc.'s . finance chief Mark Garrett says his team struggles keeping track of which jobs have been filled at the software company. The process can take days and requires finance staff to pull data from disparate systems that house financial and human-resources information into Microsoft Corp.'s Excel spreadsheets. From there they can see which groups are hiring and how salary spending affects the budget.
/goo.gl/gyCxzk
Trader who tried to bet against tech changes his tune
Annie Pei - CNBC
The Nasdaq 100 just entered its longest bull market ever, rallying for nine years without a 20 percent decline, and that has one trader changing positions on his former bet against big tech.
/goo.gl/e5pn3q
A bitcoin trading firm that's taking calls about $50 million deals just made 3 big appointments
Frank Chaparro - Business insider
B2C2, a UK-based bitcoin trading firm, appointed three finance veterans to its board; The firm hopes the appointments will help "bridge the gap" between the crypto-world and traditional finance.
UK-based bitcoin trading shop B2C2 thinks of itself first and foremost as a capital markets firm, not a crypto-company.
/goo.gl/j15sGk
Bitcoin has unusual relationship with volatility; Too much hype could be the sign of a cryptocurrency bubble
Business Standard
Cryptoassets are showing the signs of a bubble. Market capitalisation is $222 billion, 16 times as much as a year ago, with no significant change in tangible economic value. The virtual currencies elicit investment excitement and breathless news coverage; sober analysis treating both technical issues and economic fundamentals is rarer.
/goo.gl/hwgiJP
Bitcoin Leaves Two Tech Giants In Its Dust
Lionel Laurent - Bloomberg
Bitcoin pushed beyond $8,000 this week, a boon to those willing to pour money into a risky and speculative piece of code that's hoarded more than spent.
/goo.gl/1fXKPY
Bitcoin's Growing on Jamie Dimon
David Fickling - Bloomberg
Six weeks can be a long time in the world of bitcoin.Last month, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon staked out a position for himself as one of the financial market's most prominent bitcoin skeptics, saying he'd fire any trader who dealt in it.
/goo.gl/iMNRc4
****SD: WSJ here.
Blockchain Makes the World Interested in Finance's Dullest Parts; Back-office technology upgrades aren't so boring after all.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
Am I too mean to the idea of closed trusted blockchains run by consortia of banks? Really this is a perfectly heartwarming story:
/goo.gl/qnnSNQ
The Tech Giants' Secret War Against Fake News Is Too Secret; We know the internet companies can make more progress against lies and terror through transparency. Look at what they just did with their algorithms.
Paul Barrett - Bloomberg
Facebook, Google, and Twitter have a problem with harmful content. And the consequences of the twin online scourges of political disinformation and terrorist incitement have been on full display lately. During three congressional hearings in Washington, lawmakers and the rest of us learned that as many as 126 million Facebook users may have seen divisive content posted by Russians seeking to interfere with the 2016 election.
/goo.gl/4VHCDe
Thomson Reuters introduces APA Connectivity for MiFID II trade reporting
First Published 22nd November 2017; Clients will be able to utilize Thomson Reuters connectivity for customizable access to the Approved Publisher Arrangement of their choice
Automated Trader
Thomson Reuters has introduced APA Connectivity, a customizable solution to enable compliance with trade reporting requirements for Approved Publisher Arrangements (APAs) under MiFID II, set to be implemented on January 3, 2018.
/goo.gl/K2diza
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | A World Without Merkel; After the collapse of coalition talks, the German chancellor is looking weaker than ever.
Marc Champion - Bloomberg
Angela Merkel used to tell Germans "we can do it" when addressing the question of integrating the million-plus refugees who have come to Germany since 2015. That pragmatic attitude and her liberal approach haveÂafter the election of Donald Trump and his "America First" agendaÂspurred many politicians and pundits to hail Germany's motherly chancellor as the de facto leader of the free world. But after a narrow election victory in September and the collapse of coalition talks on Nov. 19, it's beginning to look as if she may not be able to "do it" after all.
/goo.gl/Us526t
Dear EU: There's More to Europe Than Paris and Amsterdam; Nothing against Paris and Amsterdam, but the EU could have sent a message by choosing less central cities for relocating its agencies.
Ferdinando Giugliano - Bloomberg
The European Banking Authority and the European Medical Agency will leave London and relocate, respectively, to Paris and Amsterdam. There was the usual ferocious lobbying, but ultimately the choice was open and transparent; it just wasn't particularly clever. The EU could have been more strategic about its future.
/goo.gl/Zvi3ft
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | True investing is not the same as gambling
Izabella Kaminska - Financial Times
Just when you thought the proliferation of gambling adverts on British TV, billboards and cyber space couldn't get any worse, it did. The breaking point for me came after coming across an advert for Foxy Bingo. This features American actress Heather Graham contorting awkwardly as she lip syncs to a broad English accent inviting people to place a £5 bet.
on.ft.com/2hRW5Zl
Long Island Town and Former Top Official Charged With Defrauding Municipal Investors
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Oyster Bay, New York, and its former top elected official with defrauding investors in the town's municipal securities offerings by hiding the existence and potential financial impact of side deals with a businessman who owned and operated restaurants and concession stands at several town facilities.
/goo.gl/EfGGgN
FINRA fines JPMorgan $1.25 million for failures in employee background checks
Reuters
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said on Tuesday it fined JPMorgan Chase & Co's (JPM.N) securities division $1.25 million for failing to conduct adequate background checks on 8,600 employees, including four people whose criminal convictions automatically disqualified them from working there.
reut.rs/2hWpvVX
Citi hit with $6.5 million in U.S. fines over student loans
Reuters Staff
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said on Tuesday it had ordered Citibank to pay $6.5 million for allegedly harming borrowers with student loan servicing failures.
/goo.gl/BJAxu3
Paris watchdog win bolsters its fight for Brexit banks
Maya Nikolaeva, Huw Jones - Reuters
The surprise decision to move the European Banking Authority to Paris will boost its chances of attracting London banks after Brexit, French officials said on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/y2UhEs
FCA lands ex-BAML trader with market abuse fine; The FCA has fined the BAML broker over £60,000 for creating a "false and misleading impression" of supply and demand.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has handed a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) bond trader a fine for engaging in market abuse.
/goo.gl/vCPDvb
ASIC acts against Superfunded and the Goldenbergs SMSF scheme
ASIC
ASIC has commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia and obtained interim injunctions against Perth-based Superfunded Pty Ltd (ACN 617 328 588) (Superfunded) and its sole director, Mr Max David Goldenberg, of Currambine and its sole shareholder Mr Mark Travis Goldenberg of Claremont (the Goldenbergs). The proceedings concern their promotion of a business that encourages people to set up self-managed super funds to invest in the Superfunded Loan Investment Trust, which lends money to home buyers for their house deposits.
/goo.gl/chWgdq
ASIC delivers on commitment to help limited AFS licensees understand their obligations
ASIC
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has today released new webpage guidance and information sheets to help limited Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensees and their representatives understand their key obligations.
/goo.gl/Lf9gMm
ASIC cancels AFS licence for failing to cooperate with an ASIC surveillance
ASIC
ASIC has cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of Financial Stewards Pty Ltd (Financial Stewards) for failing to co-operate with an ASIC surveillance.
/goo.gl/rgsbvN
ASIC obtains orders against Gold Coast company, DanFX Trade and Daniel Ali
ASIC
On 14 November 2017, the Supreme Court appointed Anthony Castley of William Buck as receiver and manager over the assets of DanFX Trade Pty Ltd, Daniel Farook Ali and associated entities. Freezing orders were also made restraining the disposal of any property (including money and securities) by Mr Ali, DanFX Trade, DanFX Investments Holdings Pty Ltd and D&S Properties Pty Ltd.
/goo.gl/AhKxYx
FINRA Introduces New Functionality and Design to Fund Analyzer; Investors can research and compare more than 30,000 products
FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has introduced a new and improved Fund Analyzer tool to help investors and financial professionals understand the impact of fees and potentially discounts on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded notes and money market funds.
/goo.gl/68VGN1
The Lifecycle of an Online Trade
FINRA Staff
Investors make millions of online stock trades each day. Once you click, tap or hit enter to buy or sell a stockÂwhat happens next? It's likely more than you realize.
/goo.gl/pdJK74
FCA fines ex-Bank of America trader £60k for manipulating algos; Experienced bond trader fooled algos into buying loans at inflated prices on 12 occasions
By Becky Pritchard - Financial News
The Financial Conduct Authority has fined a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch trader £60,090 for manipulating markets by fooling algorithms into buying loans at inflated prices.
/goo.gl/fffDKU
Former BofA trader fined £60,000 for 'algo baiting'
Caroline Binham - FT
A former Bank of America Merrill Lynch bond trader has been fined £60,000 for manipulating the price of Dutch state loans in a case of so-called algo baiting  the first time the UK's financial watchdog has issued a fine for the practice in fixed income markets.
/goo.gl/WhPbKb
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | A New Conundrum in the Bond Market?
Michael D. Bauer - Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
When the Federal Reserve raises short-term interest rates, the rates on longer-term Treasuries are generally expected to rise. However, even though the Fed has raised short-term interest rates three times since December 2016 and started reducing its asset holdings, Treasury yields have dropped instead. This decoupling of short-term and long-term rates is reminiscent of the "Greenspan conundrum" of 2004 - 05. This time, however, evidence suggests compelling explanationsÂa lower "normal" interest rate, the risk of persistently low inflation, and fiscal and geopolitical uncertaintyÂmay account for the yield curve flattening.
bit.ly/2hQmKp9
Commodities Facing Another Tough Year in 2018, JPMorgan Says
Lynn Thomasson - Bloomberg
Overall commodity returns have been lackluster this year, and face more poor performance in 2018, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
/bloom.bg/2hUbtUO
Report: Almost all asset managers will offer ETFs within five years
Tom Eckett - Investment Week
The report, entitled Global ETF Research 2017: reshaping around the investor, found 67% of the surveyed 70 ETF promoters, market makers and service providers believed most asset managers would launch ETF products over the next five years.
/goo.gl/ssGfdg
A Quick Primer on Benchmark Regulation
Jamie Farmer - S&P Dow Jones Indices Indexology Blog
The Benchmark Regulation (BMR) is a key part of the European Union's (EU's) response to the LIBOR scandal and the allegations of similar manipulation of foreign exchange and commodity benchmarks. It is intended to protect investors by requiring greater transparency and stronger governance among firms that: 1) provide, 2) contribute to, or 3) use a wide range of interest rate, currency, securities, commodity, and other indices or reference prices.
/goo.gl/KZ6uRv
To hedge or not to hedge: for currencies, that's not the only question
Mary Fjelstad, senior research analyst - FTSE Russell
Many US-based investors seek the benefits of diversification through a portfolio of international equities. Leaving the foreign exchange exposures of such a portfolio unhedged, however, creates an embedded currency basket of long positions in foreign currencies coupled with a 100% short position in the US dollar (USD).
/goo.gl/KGgL86
Bull Market Has Long Memory of Bearish Times; The dark days of the financial crisis cast a long shadow over a key stock-market measure
Richard Barley - WSJ
In math, how you get the answer to a problem can be as interesting as the answer itself. For financial-market ratios that grab investors' attention, it may be even more important.
/goo.gl/upwWZ7
Why the hunt for yield is so desperate for bond investors, in 2 charts
By Sunny Oh - MarketWatch
Where has the high-yielding paper gone?
The lot of a bond fund manager is a tough one.
/goo.gl/ZPD3ue
There's a cheap way for traders to protect against tax reform failure
Joe Ciolli - Business Insider
Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms are bullish on US stocks for 2018, estimating that the index will continue to rise; A big part of that optimism centers around tax reform, for which expectations are being priced into forecasts; Goldman says that it's wise to hedge against tax reform failure, especially since one specific options trade is so inexpensive right now.
Strategists up and down Wall Street are bullish on stocks through the end of next year, and a big part of that stems from optimism around tax reform. But by that same token, if policy progress fails to materialize, that could spark a considerable sell off in equities.
/goo.gl/LmpHQT
Dairy producers shrug off lower auction prices
Edward White - FT
Shares in dairy producers listed in Australia and New Zealand rose on Wednesday despite global the price of milk products dipping to an eight-month low overnight.
/goo.gl/5tCAYo
Meg Whitman to step down as CEO of HP Enterprise
Richard Waters - FT
Meg Whitman is to step aside as chief executive officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, ending a turbulent six-year turnaround effort that eventually saw one of Silicon Valley's formative companies broken into four different businesses.
/goo.gl/KLwDpT
The Breadth of the Stock Market Shows It's Not 1999 All Over Again
Sarah Ponczek - Bloomberg
For the market bears trying to draw comparisons between today's bull market and that of the late '90s, here's a reason the link may be unwarranted.
/goo.gl/WyCtgA
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Goldman Sachs Faces Doubts About Loss Rates at New Online Lender
Dakin Campbell and Julie Verhage - Bloomberg
Marcus is targeting consumers as many brace for a downturn; Bank aims to produce $1 billion of revenue growth from push
As Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lends more money to Main Street, one question won't go away: How many borrowers will pay them back?
/goo.gl/tWmwmX
Ditching 'Too Big to Fail' Tag Only Solves Some Problems
Antony Currie - NY Times
Zions Bancorp chief executive Harris Simmons isn't betting that Congress will do bankers like him any favors. Just last week a bipartisan group of senators agreed to consider liberating midsize banks from the regulatory constraints of being officially regarded as too big to fail. On Monday, Mr. Simmons announced his Utah-based institution would lobby watchdogs to nix its status as a SIFI Â a systemically important financial institution.
/goo.gl/8cyRXU
Bitcoin goes institutional: First European mutual fund launches to try to attract big investors to the cryptocurrency
Jasper Jolly - City AM
Tobam claims it will manage operational risk around bitcoin (Source: Getty)
Bitcoin took another step towards mainstream financial acceptance today as a French firm launched the first European mutual fund offering exposure to the cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/MTwSQo
Mizuho to triple its square footage at former Time-Life building
By Steve Cuozzo - NY Post
In the latest mega-deal on the booming Avenue of the Americas, Mizuho Americas has signed for 270,000 more square feet at Rockefeller Group's 1271 Sixth Ave., the former Time-Life Building at West 50th Street, The Post has learned.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Battered Turkish markets separated from successes of emerging herd
Reuters
In a year when most emerging markets have enjoyed stellar gains, Turkey has been an outlier, pummelled by double-digit inflation, political concerns and the central bank's perceived inability to pursue independent monetary policy.
reut.rs/2B1CGIX
Natgas exporting countries convene as global buyers' market rises
Marianna Parraga and Alexandra Alper - Reuters
Top officials of major gas producing countries are meeting this week in Bolivia to weigh how to shore up prices that have been hammered by expanding supplies of the fuel that are giving global buyers greater sway over purchase and contract terms.
reut.rs/2B1ZBE2
Japan plans first-ever cutback to 40-year bond floats
Persistently low rates seen sapping demand, prompting push to curb supply
Nikkei
Japan intends to reduce its annual float of 40-year bonds for the first time in fiscal 2018, expecting demand to slacken as changing consumer preferences and years of low interest rates send investors elsewhere.
/goo.gl/5BTczV
Russian Metals Billionaires Hope for Peace as 'Shoot Out' Looms
Jack Farchy and Yuliya Fedorinova - Bloomberg
A shoot out is looming in Russian metals.
That isn't a reference to the industry's blood-soaked history, but to a clause in a hard-won peace deal between two billionaire shareholders of MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, Russia's largest miner.
/goo.gl/zxzcug
Saudi Graft Suspects Are Said to Start Payments for Freedom
Matthew Martin and Glen Carey - Bloomberg
Detainees are said to work with officials to transfer assets; Kingdom could raise up to $100 billion from payments: offical
Saudi suspects being held as part of the kingdom's crackdown on alleged corruption are starting to make payments to settle cases in exchange for freedom, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
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| Brexit | | Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union | London sees business creation plummet as devalued pound hits importers
Patrick Scott - Telegraph
London has fallen into fourth place for business creation in the UK, its worst performance since the Office for National Statistics began compiling the annual survey.
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Where Brexit Hurts: The Nurses and Doctors Leaving London
Katrin Bennhold - NY Times
Tanja Pardela is leaving London. Her last day is Nov. 26. She wells up talking about it. She will miss jacket potatoes, and Sunday roasts, and her morning commute  past playing fields, small children in school uniforms and a red telephone box  to the hospital where she has been a pediatric nurse for 11 years.
/goo.gl/YuZCqT
Brexit Countdown: Key Dates on the Way to December's Deadline
Ian Wishart - Bloomberg
The U.K. and the European Union want negotiations on their post-Brexit relationship to start by the end of the year. For that to happen, the two sides must first overcome a stalemate over the financial settlement and the Irish border. If there's no breakthrough, the prospect of talks collapsing without a deal rises significantly.
/goo.gl/dDmvBc
What You Need to Know About the Irish Border's Role in Brexit
Peter Flanagan - Bloomberg
The boundary between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland was long the scene of tense checkpoints and violent protest. Nearly two decades after the end of a conflict that claimed 3,500 lives, the undulating border is once again caught up in a bitter division. Once British and European Union leaders carry out the split -- Brexit -- that British voters ordered up last year, the border between Ireland's north and south will regain significance as the only land crossing between two distinct jurisdictions, the U.K. and EU. With the two sides facing off over the fine print of their separation, Ireland's border is one of the key issues to iron out.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | A top hedge fund recruiter explains why your college major doesn't really matter
Graham Rapier - Business Insider
Ilana Weinstein is the founder of The IDW Group, which focuses on recruiting investment talent for all kinds of investment strategies; We asked Weinstein about the biggest trends in the hedge-fund business and how to get a senior-level job today; Here's her best advice for recent college graduates looking to land jobs at a hedge fund.
llana Weinstein, founder of the The IDW Group, is a tour de force within the hedge-fund industry.
/goo.gl/7wsEM6
Fake-Ad Operation Used to Steal From Publishers Is Uncovered; Adform says 'Hyphbot' scheme created fake websites, nonhuman traffic to scam advertisers of more than $500,000 a day
Lara O'Reilly - WSJ
An ad-tech firm says it has discovered a large and sophisticated advertising-fraud operation in which fake websites and infected computers were used to scam advertisers and publishers out of upward of hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.
/goo.gl/k3zX1e
Small towns left behind as exodus of youth to cities accelerates; More than 1m people aged under 25 depart while 2m over-65s move in
John Burn-Murdoch - FT
The emptying out of young people from Britain's small towns has accelerated over the past two decades, as the gap widens between the country's cities and university towns and everywhere else.
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