First Read
Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
IDX is in full swing today after the opening co*cktails yesterday at Goldsmiths’ Hall. The ornate hall in which we chatted and drank has been used in many movies and television series, including The Crown, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton and A Very British Scandal. Movies using Goldsmiths’ Hall as a backdrop have included Transformers: The Last Knight, Phantom Thread, and Red, White & Royal Blue.
This is my first IDX that is not held at The Brewery, so I am on the other side of the river and across the river from Big Ben.
Walt Lukken in his opening comments was very positive about the industry, saying, “There are so many reasons to be optimistic about our industry. There is a real opportunity to grow our markets and make them more competitive in Europe and beyond.”
Rama Pillai has set a new all-time record high for fund-raising for the Kilt Challenge with a total just short of 60,000 British pounds. He sat for an interview for me at IDX, which we will produce in a print interview in a question and answer format. He did say the hardest part of the challenge is wearing the kilt and the rest of the uniform itself in the sweltering Singaporean and Florida heat, the two places where he has shown up to promote the challenge in the kilt.
He had a custom made kilt, picking out the colors himself. He chose a purple to reflect the corporate colors of SGX. Rama followed the very successful campaign of Robert Booij, who himself set a new record high for fundraising with the kilt. Booij also followed Rama today in the interview chair at IDX and reflected on Rama’s success in answer to the first question we asked him. Booij is poised to replace Michael Peters as the CEO of Eurex on July 1 and seems ready to go.
Trading Technologies is out with a press release today about broadening its product line with new offerings for futures TCA. I always have to look up what TCA stands for, as do many futures people, I am told. Transaction Cost Analysis. TT also has new offerings in multi-asset trade surveillance. Both of these offerings trace their origins to the Abel Noser deal, and JLN interviewed Peter Weiler and Ted Morgan, who came over to TT in the Abel Noser deal.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Ernst and Young’s 63rd Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) highlights the growing demand and investment opportunities in battery energy storage systems (BESS) amid grid volatility. The US, China Mainland, and Germany top the RECAI rankings. Despite a record US$1.8 trillion investment in clean energy in 2023, which is expected to boost global renewables capacity by 2.5 times by 2030, this is still short of the COP28 goal to triple capacity. Read the full summary and download the report HERE. ~SAED
Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
– Investors Fear Long Stretch of Calm in Markets Can’t Last from The Wall Street Journal.
– Europe Traders Look for Cover on Surprise Call for French Vote from Bloomberg.
– Days To Expiration Vs Implied Volatility from tastylive. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it’s free).
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Regulatory Uncertainty Clouds Options Market Innovation
JohnLothianNews.com
David Dooman, head of options at Dash Financial, a subsidiary of ION Group, expressed concerns about the impact of regulatory uncertainty on the options markets during an interview at the Options Conference in Asheville, NC. Dooman highlighted several key issues stifling innovation and offered recommendations to address the industry’s challenges.
Watch the video »
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Trading Technologies broadens product line with new offerings for futures TCA and multi-asset trade surveillance; TT Futures TCA and TT Trade Surveillance announced at FIA International Derivatives Expo in London
Trading Technologies International, Inc.
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology platform provider, today announced the introduction of TT Futures TCA and TT Trade Surveillance, two new offerings that significantly enhance its Data & Analytics and Compliance lines of business. TT Futures TCA, a comprehensive transaction cost analysis (TCA) tool for futures trading, leverages the largest collection of anonymized, millisecond-level futures market and trade data with a vast array of metrics and measures. TT Trade Surveillance, powered by the proprietary SCORE machine learning algorithm, combines new multi-asset coverage and dozens of new configurable models with the machine learning-driven models from TT Score, the company’s first-generation trade surveillance platform. The firm plans to upgrade and shift all TT Score users to TT Trade Surveillance in the second half of this year.
/jlne.ws/3KLEJXR
***** TT Score, I hardly knew you. But you left your mark.~JJL
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What Is Juneteenth? How Did It Become a US Holiday?
Ella Ceron and Donald Moore – Bloomberg
Juneteenth is a celebration of Black history and freedom that went relatively unnoticed by White Americans for many years. It rose in prominence following the sweeping protests against racial injustice in 2020, when dozens of corporations moved to give their employees the day off. In 2021, Congress designated it a federal holiday. The New York Stock Exchange and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association began observing Juneteenth as a market holiday in 2022.
/jlne.ws/3Xn6r4B
***** Juneteenth is an important day. All our freedom should be celebrated every day. And we should not forget those who help defend and preserve it.
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Russia Sets Hearing as It Moves Toward Secret Trial of Falsely Accused WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich; U.S. citizen has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison for more than a year
Ann M. Simmons and Georgi Kantchev – The Wall Street Journal
A Russian court said judicial proceedings in the case of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia for over a year, would be held in secret, with the first hearing in a regional court beginning on June 26, the country’s state media reported. The 32-year-old journalist, a U.S. citizen who was accredited to work in Russia, was falsely accused of espionage in an indictment approved by prosecutors last week. Gershkovich was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service while on a reporting trip for the Journal in March last year.
/jlne.ws/4euTD2m
***** The headline says it all about the truth of the situation.~JJL
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‘Poo in the Water’: How Financial Engineering Sullied Britain’s Most Famous River; Critics say the U.K.’s largest water utility, Thames Water, loaded up on debt to pay investors dividends while failing to upgrade London’s Victorian-era sewers
Chelsey Dulaney
On a spring day this year, spectators gathered on the banks of the River Thames to watch Oxford and Cambridge universities compete in the annual Boat Race. Rowers were urged to avoid coming into contact with the water, which had earlier tested with high levels of E. coli. The Cambridge men shunned the traditional victory celebration of throwing their coxswain into the water, with their coach instead promising to find a bucket of clean, sanitized water to douse him. “It would have been ideal not to have so much poo in the water,” one rower told the BBC after the race.
/jlne.ws/4b70Ja8
****** This story does not involve an adorable bear or his sad donkey.~JJL
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Monday’s Top Three
Our top read item Monday was Opinion: Class-Action Lawsuit Against CME Group Holds Disruptive Potential to Membership Prices, Future Deals and CME Leadership, a piece John Lothian wrote in December of 2023 that he mentioned in Hits & Takes yesterday. Second was the online form for submitting nominations for the FIA Hall of Fame Class of 2025, from the FIA. Third was the FIA’s post on LinkedIn announcing that nominations are now open for the 2025 FIA Hall of Fame.
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Lead Stories
Milan stock exchange workers set to strike over Euronext’s ‘divestments’; Trade unions accuse bourse operator of moving jobs out of Italy
Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli and Nikou Asgari – Financial Times
Italy’s banking sector trade unions have called the first ever strike at Borsa Italiana, the national stock exchange, accusing French owner Euronext of massive divestments from the country. The banking arms of Italy’s two big trade union confederations, as well as bank workers’ union Fabi, said workers would strike for two hours on June 27. The unions said they were aiming to halt trading during those hours, but it would be up to the company to decide whether dealing continues during the strike. The action was prompted by Euronext’s “constant, systematic and overall divestments from Italy and the emptying of [its] structures from within”, said the unions.
/jlne.ws/3KMECep
Trafigura pays $55mn US fine in case alleging market abuse; Commodities trading house was accused of manipulating a fuel oil benchmark and possessing ‘improperly obtained’ inside information
Myles McCormick – Financial Times
Trafigura has agreed to pay a $55mn fine in a settlement with US regulators over charges of fraud and manipulation in the latest blow to the trading house. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged the company with offences alleged to have taken place between 2014 and 2020 including trading petrol while in possession of non-public information, manipulating a fuel oil benchmark and impeding whistleblower communications.
/jlne.ws/4eum0xm
***** Here is The Wall Street Journal’s version of this story.~JJL
The Deadly Mining Complex Powering the EV Revolution; Nickel is pouring into the supply chain from an Indonesian industrial park with a history of fatal accidents.
Matthew Campbell and Annie Lee – Bloomberg
Early in the morning last Christmas Eve, Chinese and Indonesian workers prepared for a maintenance operation at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park. A complex of factories, smelters and power plants on the island of Sulawesi, IMIP erupts in a tangle of pipelines and smokestacks that belch particulates into the tropical air. The bulk of the tens of thousands of employees live just outside its walls, migrants to a hastily built city of plywood and sheet metal shanties that shelter motorbike shops and dingy rooming houses.
/jlne.ws/3z42EiD
CFTC Orders Trafigura to Pay $55 Million for Fraud, Manipulation and Impeding Communications with the CFTC; First CFTC Action Against an Entity for Impeding Whistleblower Communications
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued an order simultaneously filing and settling charges against Trafigura Trading LLC, a global commodities merchant with its principal place of business in Houston, Texas, for multiple violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and associated CFTC regulations. The order requires Trafigura to pay a $55 million civil monetary penalty and implement certain remedial measures to ensure future compliance with the CEA.
/jlne.ws/3VrwGUW
Elon Musk and the SEC Are on a Collision Course Again; Testimony provided to regulators suggests Musk and an adviser brushed off compliance with a rule about disclosing his purchases of Twitter stock
Dave Michaels and Alexa Corse – The Wall Street Journal
Regulators once accused Elon Musk of fraud over a possible buyout that never happened. Now they are positioned to make similar allegations over one that did. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating Musk’s late disclosure of his purchases of Twitter stock before he took over the company. Excerpts of Musk’s testimony provided to the SEC, which came to light last month through a separate lawsuit, suggest Musk and his adviser brushed off compliance with a rule that required him to reveal his ownership once it passed 5% of Twitter’s shares.
/jlne.ws/3Vwiry2
William H. Donaldson, Wall St. Lion Who Led the S.E.C., Dies at 93; He co-founded D.L.J., the first securities firm to offer shares to the public. As S.E.C. chairman, he pressed for a stronger watchdog role after a series of accounting scandals.
James R. Hagerty – The New York Times
William H. Donaldson, who made an early fortune as a co-founder of the innovative securities firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and later pushed for tighter financial regulation as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals, died on Wednesday at his home in Westchester County, N.Y. He was 93. The cause was leukemia, his son Adam said.
/jlne.ws/3VMsel6
China Launches Anti-Dumping Probe Into Pork Imports From EU, Commerce Ministry Says; The Chinese commerce ministry’s announcement came just days after Brussels last week announced extra levies on Chinese electric vehicles
The Wall Street Journal
Beijing launched an anti-dumping probe into pork imports from the European Union, in possible retaliation against the EU’s recent tariff moves, as trade tensions mount between China and the 27-member bloc. The trade investigation into imported pork products that include offal from the EU will start Monday, China’s commerce ministry said in a statement Monday. The probe could run for a year and be extended for another six months, the ministry added.
/jlne.ws/3xiBdkx
Hot Funds and the Curse of ‘Self-Inflated Returns’; When billions of dollars gush into an ETF that just reported big gains, more gains can soon follow. The problem: The investors themselves are driving those gains-and will suffer when their impact fades.
Jason Zweig – The Wall Street Journal
What your exchange-traded fund owns is important. Who else owns your ETF might be even more important. That’s because a fund’s returns often don’t depend merely on the behavior of the investments it buys, but also on the behavior of the investors who buy the fund. Hot money-a sudden influx of cash from people trying to get rich quick-can overheat an ETF and create what new research calls “self-inflated returns.” The result, sooner or later, is self-inflicted losses. Fortunately, you can protect yourself with some common sense.
/jlne.ws/3z8PlgQ
Midsize Companies Are Big Business for Wall Street’s Megabanks; With fewer large deals, banks including JPMorgan are earning more fees from smaller outfits
Miriam Gottfried and Alexander Saeedy – The Wall Street Journal
America’s biggest bank has a thing for midsize companies. Known for financing and advising megamergers, JPMorgan Chase is spending more of its resources on doing deals for companies valued at $2 billion or less. The goal is to leverage the relationships it has with the roughly 30,000 U.S. businesses-names such as fast-casual restaurant chain Cava Group and virtual driving-range operator Topgolf-that get their checking accounts, lines of credit and payment processing from JPMorgan’s commercial bank. JPMorgan wants to provide them with investment-banking products and services when they need a loan, decide to go public or are acquired by a private-equity firm.
/jlne.ws/3XrSQc3
Citigroup facing new regulatory knock on its living will, WSJ reports
Reuters
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp’s five-member board plans to vote on Thursday to downgrade its rating on Citigroup’s data-management systems to a “deficiency” from a “shortcoming”, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The U.S. Federal Reserve and the FDIC in 2022 had identified a shortcoming in Citi’s so-called “living will” that details how the firm would be unwound in the event of bankruptcy.
/jlne.ws/3xbhHGJ
‘Bogus Offer’ for Virgin Orbit by Man With $1 Triggers SEC Suit
Sabrina Willmer – Bloomberg
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a fraud lawsuit against a self-proclaimed venture capitalist for making a “bogus offer” of $200 million to acquire Richard Branson’s now-defunct Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc. Matthew Brown “made false and misleading statements and omissions about his investment experience and funds available to make such an offer,” the SEC said in the complaint filed Monday in Texas federal court. The regulator claimed Brown sent Virgin Orbit a fabricated screenshot of his company’s bank account claiming it held $182 million when in reality it had a balance of less than $1.
/jlne.ws/4b93sjB
‘Implicit biases’ are impacting VC funding for Black founders
Yahoo Finance
Venture capital funding for black business owners is disproportionately low, with a mere 0.48% of funds raised in 2023 ultimately allocated to Black founders. With funding for Black founders on a steady decline, Illumen Capital founder and managing director Daryn Dodson joins Wealth! to discuss this disparity in more detail. Dodson attributes the dwindling funding to the “implicit biases” that persist in the industry, noting that “a lot of people are overlooking and underestimating this really important market.” He advises minority business owners to invest in fund managers who can “address biases in financial markets,” thereby creating economic value and unlocking opportunities within this segment.
/jlne.ws/3zeTEHb
Stop debating carbon markets and start building them; The prize is huge if we can agree on standards and get this right
Mark Carney – Financial Times (opinion)
The writer is UN special envoy on climate action and finance and a former governor of the Bank of England. The brutal reality of climate physics is that the carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5C will be exhausted within a decade if the world remains on its current trajectory. That makes emissions reductions today especially crucial because they create time for the enormous investments needed in clean technologies, while extending the horizon to commercialise such innovations.
/jlne.ws/4elX9fj
Oil and corn groups team up against Biden’s tailpipe emissions rules
Reuters
The top U.S. oil and corn industry lobby groups said on Tuesday they were suing the administration of President Joe Biden over its plans to slash planet-warming tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks, arguing the regulations will cause economic harm. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this spring finalized new rules for models of semi-trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles released from 2027 to 2032 in a bid to cut 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions through 2055.
/jlne.ws/3z3Hl0t
Millions face record-high temperatures as heat dome intensifies over US; Cities in midwest and north-east brace for heatwave with some to experience highs of 105F – 25 degrees above normal
Edward Helmore and Erum Salam – The Guardian
Extreme heat has begun to hit the US, delivered by a high-pressure weather pattern that the federal weather prediction center says will be “potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations”. According to meteorologists with WeatherBELL Analytics, about 265 million people in the US are forecast to see air temperatures reach or exceed 90F (32C), with many of them experiencing heat indices of about 105F by next Sunday.
/jlne.ws/3KMHeJi
How an Austrian Minister Saved the EU’s Most Hated Climate Law; Europe must now restore 20% of its land and sea by 2030; Landmark policy is a key milestone for global biodiversity
John Ainger – Bloomberg
Of the more-than 50 European Union laws that have been passed since President Ursula von der Leyen first put forward the bloc’s green deal in 2019, none have been as controversial as the plan to re-wild a fifth of the continent’s land and sea. The Nature Restoration Law was approved on Monday after Leonore Gewessler, Austria’s climate minister, defied Chancellor Karl Nehammer, her boss, to cast the deciding vote. It now requires the EU to return 20% of its habitats – from forests to wetlands – to good status by the end of the decade.
/jlne.ws/45t9ytI
Ukraine Invasion
Ukraine launches new high-powered sea drone to terrorise Russia’s Black Sea Fleet
Joe Barnes – The Telegraph
Ukraine has unveiled a new high-powered version of its naval sea drones that have been used to devastating effect against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. The new version, named Stalker 5.0, features a 60-horsepower speedboat engine and can carry explosive payloads of up to 150 kilograms.
/jlne.ws/4c5bRWf
co*ke-and Dozens of Others-Pledged to Quit Russia. They’re Still There; Even companies that have tried to leave are having trouble cutting ties to the country.
Dasha Afanasieva and Brett Pulley – Bloomberg
After Vladimir Putin’s troops surged over the Ukrainian border in February 2022, the Coca-Cola Co. was among the first multinationals to pledge it would quit Russia in protest. Aiming to avoid the inevitable headaches of complying with expected Western sanctions on the Kremlin, co*ke asked its partners there to pull its cans and bottles from stores, cease deliveries of syrup to soda fountains and stop producing its drinks.
/jlne.ws/4euKR48
Israel/Palestine Conflict
U.S. Envoy Holds Talks on Israel-Hezbollah Tensions in Bid to Avert Wider War
The New York Times
A top Biden adviser says the conflict on Israel’s border with Lebanon can end ‘if the sides agree.’ Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Biden, met Tuesday with senior Lebanese officials in Beirut, where he pressed for a diplomatic solution as increasingly deadly skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia, have made the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border dangerously volatile. For the past eight months, as the war has raged in Gaza, another battle has unfurled along Israel’s northern border. In that time, Hezbollah, a well-armed and battle-tested fighting force, and the Israeli military have played a risky game of tit-for-tat, carrying out attacks that have flexed their muscles but avoided full-blown war. Despite the seemingly measured approach the sides have taken, civilians in both countries have been killed and more than 150,000 people have fled their homes along the border.
/jlne.ws/3xujG8U
Netanyahu dissolved his war Cabinet. How will that affect cease-fire efforts?
Julia Frankel and Jack Jeffery – AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disbanded his war Cabinet Monday, a move that consolidates his influence over the Israel-Hamas war and likely diminishes the odds of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip anytime soon. Netanyahu announced the step days after his chief political rival, Benny Gantz, withdrew from the three-member war Cabinet. Gantz, a retired general and member of parliament, was widely seen as a more moderate voice. Major war policies will now be solely approved by Netanyahu’s security Cabinet – a larger body that is dominated by hard-liners who oppose the U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal and want to press ahead with the war.
/jlne.ws/4caogbB
Exchanges, OTC and Clearing
Cboe Global Markets to launch US Treasury market volatility index; Named VIXTLT Index, the new offering will enable market participants to track future expected volatility in the US Treasury market.
Wesley Bray – The Trade
Cboe Global Markets has announced plans to launch the Cboe 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF Volatility Basis Point Index (VIXTLT Index) in the third quarter of this year. The new index will be calculated using listed options on the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) and will enable market participants to track future expected volatility in the US Treasury market. VIXTLT Index will be available in both percentage price volatility and basis point volatility terms. The new offering expands Cboe’s volatility index suite and adds to Cboe’s current offering of more than 450 derivatives-based indices, covering various strategy benchmarks and asset classes.
/jlne.ws/3KMSbdS
Excellence in Sell-Side Trading: Serene Cai, SGX
Markets Media
Markets Media spoke with Serene Cai, Head of Securities Trading at SGX, who won Excellence in Sell-Side Trading at the 2024 Women in Finance Asia Awards. What was your reaction to winning the award? Winning this award is both an immense honour and a delightful surprise. I am deeply humbled to be acknowledged among such distinguished company. At the same time, I am also proud that my experience and contributions have been recognised by the advisory board. This award is extra meaningful as it not only highlights my efforts but also signifies the broader recognition of the valuable role exchanges play in the financial ecosystem.
/jlne.ws/3RyMxzU
KSM Will Issue A Series Of Tracking Funds On Exclusive Indices That Will Be Launched By Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Mondovisione
New Exclusive Indices As Part of TASE’s Collaboration with KSM, a Member of Phoenix Investment House, KSM Will Issue a Series of Tracking Funds on Exclusive Indices that will be Launched by TASE The indices were developed at TASE in cooperation with experts from KSM, Israel’s largest fund company. The indices will create access to a wider range of professional, smart and transparent investment products. The indices will also enhance liquidity on TASE. TASE announces today a collaboration with KSM Funds, a member of Phoenix Investment House, as part of which TASE will exclusively launch new indices for KSM. KSM plays a key role in Israel’s indices’ sector, and the launch of the new exclusive indices is designed to facilitate the issuance of dedicated tracking mutual funds by KSM.
/jlne.ws/3z24sbE
Abaxx announces investor call
Abaxx
Abaxx Technologies Inc. (NEO:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) (“Abaxx” or the “Company”), a financial software and market infrastructure company, indirect majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd. (“Abaxx Singapore”), the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, “Abaxx Exchange” and “Abaxx Clearing”), and producer of the SmarterMarketsâ„¢ Podcast, announces that it will be hosting an Investor Update call and presentation on Wednesday, July 3rd at 10:00 a.m. EST, with details outlined in this release.
/jlne.ws/3Xu45Rt
SIX Launches New Global Equity Indices
SIX
The global financial information provider SIX has launched today a family of global equity indices designed specifically for the retail, private banking, and asset management sector. This marks the company’s latest move in its push to further strengthen its position as a global index and data provider. The new indices come in response to the growing appetite from financial institutions to gain a clearer view of the stocks and markets in which their clients’ money is invested, as well as their performance. Beyond empowering financial institutions to provide customers with a simple, digital portal through which to view their equities investments, the new offering will significantly reduce the administrative burden for many existing clients of SIX. Rather than subscribing to several sources, SIX can provide access to equivalent indices with reduced administrative overhead.
/jlne.ws/3xqK43B
CME Group FX Futures and FX Link Reach All-Time Volume Records
CME Group
CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, today announced its foreign exchange (FX) futures reached an all-time single-day volume record of 3.26 million contracts (equivalent to $314B notional) on June 12. The previous record of 3.15 million contracts ($296B notional) was set on March 8, 2023. In addition, FX Link, CME Group’s anonymous, all-to-all spot-futures spread trading tool reached a single-day volume record of 113,662 contracts ($10.5B notional ) on June 12, which represents a 37% increase over the previous record of 82,900 contracts ($7.2B notional), set on June 16, 2022. Year-to-date, FX Link volumes are up over 52% versus the same period in 2023.
/jlne.ws/3VrNmeR
NZX Dark – NZ’s first midpoint orderbook – has positive first trading week
New Zealand Exchange
NZX Dark – NZX’s new trading venue – is demonstrating value and price improvement to investors a week after going live.As New Zealand’s first midpoint orderbook, NZX Dark is an exchange-delivered anonymous orderbook, providing Trading Participants and their clients an alternative to existing trading venues. It is an addition to the two current trade venues, NZX Central (the central limit orderbook) and offmarket trade reporting.
/jlne.ws/3VrNP0B
NSE Indices launches Nifty India Tourism Index
National Stock Exchange of India
NSE’s index services subsidiary, NSE Indices Limited today launched a new thematic index -Nifty India Tourism. The Nifty India Tourism Index aims to track the performance of stocks from the Nifty 500 Index which represent the travel and tourism theme. The Government of India has always been at the forefront of framing policies related to tourism adoption in the country to promote India as a leading country in terms of international tourism expenditure. Travel and tourism are two of the largest industries in India, with a total contribution of about US$ 199.6 billion to the country’s GDP (Source: IBEF)
/jlne.ws/3VLI92P
Analysis: Taifex eyes overnight trading to boost international, retail flow
Radi Khasawneh – FOW (paywalled)
The Taiwan Futures Exchange (Taifex) is preparing to expand its suite of eligible contracts for its out of hours trading service, as volumes rise and client adoption increases
/jlne.ws/3Vmc2Fu
Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange and Montreal Exchange Closed for Canada Day
The Montreal Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange and Montreal Exchange will be closed on Monday, July 1, 2024, for the Canada Day holiday. The Exchanges will re-open and resume regular trading hours on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.
/jlne.ws/3RC3Ks7
Position Limits – Government Of Canada Bond Listed Products (All Months)
Montreal Exchange
The applicable position limits for the Government of Canada Bond futures and options on the Government of Canada Bond futures have been updated and are reflected in the position limit file. The position limit file is retrievable here. The position limits will apply as follows.
/jlne.ws/3XLXd2b
Special Change in KOSDAQ 150, etc. for Paradise
Korean Exchange
KRX will change the constituents of KOSDAQ 150 index and its subordinate indices since Paradise(034230) will move from the KOSDAQ market to the KOSPI market.
/jlne.ws/4evnY0s
Fintech
JPMorgan’s Latest Fintech Fight Highlights the Pain of Sellers’ Remorse; The US bank and a payments business it invested in sued each other over how to value the company. Both could end up losing.
Paul J. Davies – Bloomberg
The venture capital bubble of 2020-2022 left a lot of investors with buyers’ remorse. But overconfidence also hurt some sellers whose deals turned out much worse than they expected. That seems to be the case with the owner of a Greek payments business called Viva Wallet and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Viva Wallet’s backers sold a bit less than half of their company to JPMorgan for EUR800 million ($856 million), valuing it at EUR1.66 billion in 2022. The deal also gave the bank options to buy the rest of the business, which the sellers thought guaranteed them an exit valuation of at least EUR5 billion. It was a handsome payday to fit the times – but then fintechs crashed and a fight began to brew.
/jlne.ws/3VvxzLZ
Bloomberg selected by Banorte to support regulatory compliance for monitoring derivatives hedging; The adoption of Bloomberg’s MARS Hedge Accounting offering, alongside MARS Front Office and MARS Counterparty Risk, will provide the firm with a complete set of risk management capabilities.
Wesley Bray – The Trade
Mexican financial firm Grupo Financiero Banorte has adopted Bloomberg’s MARS Hedge Accounting solution to determine the effectiveness of hedges that are recommended to clients under various market conditions. In addition, Banorte uses MARS Front Office and MARS Counterparty Risk solutions, alongside MARS Hedge Accounting, which offer the firm a complete set of risk management capabilities.
/jlne.ws/45syCRG
Stripe Co-Founder Expects Another Employee Stock Tender Offer
Paige Smith – Bloomberg
Stripe Inc. expects to again let employees cash out some of their shares, the fintech’s co-founder said, reiterating that the company is in no rush for an initial public offering. Stripe, which helps online and brick-and-mortar merchants process customer payments, will probably again turn to investors and the firm’s own coffers for an employee tender offer – which would be its third, John Collison said in an interview with David Rubenstein for an upcoming episode of Bloomberg Television’s “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations.” “We did that last year, we did that this year, and we’ll probably do it again in the future,” Collison said.
/jlne.ws/3zhdguj
Trading Technologies to launch new offerings for futures; TCA and multi-asset trade surveillance; New offerings will provide a TCA tool made specifically for futures trading as well as an expanded set of asset classes – beyond listed derivatives – for trade surveillance.
Wesley Bray – The Trade
Trading Technologies (TT) has introduced two new offerings to enhance its data and analytics and compliance lines of business, TT Futures TCA and TT Trade Surveillance. TT Futures TCA is a transaction cost analysis (TCA) tool made specifically for futures trading, leveraging futures market and trade data with a range of metrics and measures. According to the firm, the new TCA for futures capability will enable users to choose from a range of customisable reports to analyse and improve their trading strategies while measuring the efficacy of their trading counterparties.
/jlne.ws/4c60BJt
200 top CEOs reveal how AI is already transforming their sectors at Yale summit
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian – Fortune
At a recent Yale CEO Summit we convened online to mark the 50th anniversary of the invention of the internet in 1974, top Fortune 500 CEOs revealed how they are reinventing their businesses around artificial intelligence (AI), clean energy, and other emerging technologies.
/jlne.ws/3VKT2Su
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity startup Huntress valued at over $1.5 billion after latest funding
Manya Saini – Reuters
Huntress, the small business-focused cybersecurity startup founded by former hackers for the U.S. government, was valued at over $1.5 billion after raising $150 million in its latest funding round.
/jlne.ws/4co42L3
Nine Takeaways From Our Investigation Into Microsoft’s Cybersecurity Failures; What you need to know about how a whistleblower repeatedly tried to get the software giant to fix a security flaw that left millions of Microsoft users exposed.
ProPublica
After Russian hackers exploited a flaw in a widely used Microsoft product during one of the largest cyberattacks in U.S. history, the software giant downplayed its culpability. However, a recent ProPublica investigation revealed that a whistleblower within Microsoft’s ranks had repeatedly attempted to convince the company to address the weakness years before the hack – and that the company rebuffed his concerns at every step.
/jlne.ws/3VOvSd5
New Study Finds Cybersecurity as Top Concern Among Automotive Manufacturers
Rockwell Automation – PR Newswire
Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, today announced the results of the 9th annual “State of Smart Manufacturing Report: Automotive Edition.” The global study encompasses the responses of 182 leaders from automotive manufacturers, automotive supply manufacturers, and electric vehicle manufacturers across 15 of the leading manufacturing countries. This year’s report emphasizes the evolution of the automotive industry, revealing a focus on harnessing emergent technology to reduce risk, generate growth, and maximize workforce potential. Automotive manufacturers are acutely aware of the industry’s evolution in the era of Industry 4.0, particularly as cyberattacks resulted in $1.99 billion in system downtime costs in the first half of 2023 alone.
/jlne.ws/3za0M7V
Cryptocurrencies
Tether Announces a New Synthetic Dollar That Is Backed by Gold
Maria Paula Mijares Torres – Bloomberg
Tether Holdings Ltd., issuer of the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, has created a new synthetic dollar that is backed by gold, the company announced Monday. The token was created on the company’s new Alloy by Tether platform and will trade as aUSDT via smart contracts on the Ethereum Mainnet blockchain, where users can mint it through over-collateralization by depositing another Tether token that tracks the value of gold.
/jlne.ws/4cte7GV
‘Aggrieved’ FTX Customers Seek $8 Billion in Forfeited Assets
PYMNTS
A group of FTX customers say $8 billion of the company’s forfeited assets are rightfully theirs. As Coindesk reported Tuesday (June 17), these customers are seeking a ruling that those forfeited assets do not belong to the failed cryptocurrency exchange’s bankruptcy estate. This latest legal action comes weeks after the estate unveiled a reorganization plan that would give 98% of creditors 118% of their claims – in cash – within 60 days of court approval. “FTX has achieved this recovery level by monetizing an extraordinarily diverse collection of assets, most of which were proprietary investments held by the Alameda or FTX Ventures businesses, or litigation claims,” the company said last month.
/jlne.ws/3Rx5dA4
Politics
Corporate Tax Rate Spurs Political Fight With More Than $1 Trillion at Stake; Biden wants to raise current 21% rate to 28% while Republicans consider further cuts
Richard Rubin – The Wall Street Journal
The 21% U.S. corporate tax rate is the biggest single variable in the sprawling 2025 tax debate, and the two parties are trying to turn that dial in opposite directions with major consequences for companies’ profits and federal revenue. The rate could climb as high as 28% if Democrats sweep November’s elections and move as low as 15% if Republicans gain full power.
/jlne.ws/4bfZgP6
How Crypto Money Is Poised to Influence the Election; The industry’s political awakening – and enormous pool of cash – is already affecting high-profile races across the country.
David Yaffe-Bellany, Erin Griffith and Theodore Schleifer – The New York Times
Ryan Selkis, a cryptocurrency executive, was eating dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month when he got an unexpected invitation: Former President Donald J. Trump wanted him to come to the stage and say a few words. Mr. Selkis, who runs the crypto data firm Messari, was one of a couple hundred attendees at an event celebrating Mr. Trump’s series of nonfungible tokens, the digital collectibles known as NFTs. When he reached the lectern, Mr. Selkis turned to face the former president. “There’s 50 million crypto holders in the U.S.,” the executive declared. “That’s a lot of voters.”
/jlne.ws/4c4T79y
Wind Energy Is Starting to Revive. The Election Could Throw a Wrench in the Works.
Avi Salzman – Barron’s
A moribund industrial pier on the Brooklyn waterfront sprang to life this month as renewable-energy executives and politicians broke ground on an assembly station for wind turbines. The pier will soon be buzzing with workers preparing 952-foot high turbines before they’re shipped to the Atlantic Ocean near Long Island. The power from those turbines will be zapped back to the mainland through transmission lines carrying enough juice to keep lights and air conditioners on at some 500,000 homes.
/jlne.ws/4coZ5Sf
EPA chief vows to take on Republican-led states over pollution rules rollback; Michael Regan defends civil rights record and denies abandoning communities who face brunt of toxic pollution
Oliver Milman – The Guardian
Republican-led states attacking protections shielding disadvantaged communities from industrial pollution will be confronted by the Biden administration, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned. In a Guardian interview, Michael Regan, administrator of the EPA, also denied abandoning those who face the brunt of air and water contamination in the US.
/jlne.ws/3KMIjRh
Labour Pledges Banking Hubs to Restore Face-to-Face Services
Alex Wickham – Bloomberg
Labour plans to create 350 new banking “hubs” across the UK in the next five years in an effort to reverse the decline in face-to-face services if it wins next month’s general election. The program would mark an 8-fold increase in current voluntary arrangements in place between banks and the government, the poll-leading opposition said late on Monday in a statement. The policy promises bricks-and-mortar premises shared by major banks and building societies, giving customers access to cash withdrawals, deposits and advice in areas where individual branches have been shuttered.
/jlne.ws/4cpFNvY
Private Equity Managers Risking Own Capital Will Avoid Labour Tax Hike, Reeves Says
Tom Metcalf and Katherine Griffiths – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3KU1Yi9
ECB Vice President Says ‘Personally’ Concerned by Far-Right Rise
Rodrigo Orihuela and Jorge Zuloaga – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3xloAoN
Why Russia’s Bond With North Korea Is a Danger to the World
Jon Herskovitz and Soo-Hyang Choi – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3zh9gde
China targets Europe’s farmers, and not its automakers, in response to EU tariffs on electric cars
Associated Press Finance
/jlne.ws/45u3C3A
Malaysia Is Planning to Join BRICS, Anwar Says Ahead of Li Visit
Philip Heijmans and Anisah Shukry – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3Xpzh4b
Regulation
Innovation In The Financial System, Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman, At The Salzburg Global Seminar On Financial Technology Innovation, Social Impact, And Regulation: Do We Need New Paradigms?, Salzburg, Austria
Mondovisione
It is a pleasure to be back in Salzburg again for the next chapter in the Global Seminar, focusing on financial technology innovations and the developing financial regulatory framework.1 At this same gathering last year, we discussed the potential evolution of the bank regulatory framework in response to the banking stress during the spring of 2023. At that time, we were taking stock of the regulatory reforms implemented after the 2008 financial crisis and evaluating whether those reforms-and the resulting bank regulatory and supervisory framework we have now-were effective and efficient, and whether improvements may be appropriate.
/jlne.ws/4c21FxO
Sick of scams? Stop answering your phone. Experts and family members are begging you: Send any unknown call to voice mail.
Heather Kelly – The Washington Post
The first rule of avoiding scam calls is to never answer unknown numbers, and even some known ones. Curious? Bored? Worried it’s an emergency? Wait the extra minute it takes for the call to go to voice mail, then decide if it’s legitimate. Unfortunately, every year hundreds of thousands of people in the United States either ignore that golden rule or are tricked into answering. According to the Federal Trade Commission, people lost $851 million to phone scams in 2023. After email, phone scams are the most common fraud method reported to the FTC.
/jlne.ws/4epxHWf
FTC to Take Action Against Adobe, Executives for Hidden Fees; Adobe says it would refute the FTC’s claims in court
Chris Wack – The Wall Street Journal
The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that it will be taking action against software maker Adobe and two of its executives, Maninder Sawhney and David Wadhwani, for allegedly deceiving consumers. Adobe said it would refute the FTC’s claims in court.
/jlne.ws/4cr1Yly
Ex-Pioneer CEO Accused of OPEC Collusion Taps DC Lobbying Firm; Scott Sheffield hires firm for “issues related to the FTC”; Trade officials blocked Sheffield from joining Exxon board
Ari Natter – Bloomberg
Scott Sheffield, the former head of Pioneer Natural Resources Co., has hired a powerful Washington, DC lobbying firm after the US Federal Trade Commission said he tried to collude with OPEC. Sheffield hired Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP to lobby on “issues related to the FTC,” according to a recently filed disclosure report.
/jlne.ws/4eoJtA7
Ex-Glencore employees set to face charges over Africa corruption; UK attorney-general Victoria Prentis expected to make decision by July 31
Suzi Ring – Financial Times
The UK Serious Fraud Office is set to announce charges against former employees of Glencore as soon as next month, two years after the company pleaded guilty to bribery offences. The SFO has asked the UK attorney-general Victoria Prentis for her consent to bring charges against the individuals allegedly involved in the conduct, a London court heard on Monday. A decision should be made by July 31, according to a barrister for the SFO.
/jlne.ws/4c4HvDg
CFTC Awards Over $8 Million to Insider Whistleblower Who Aided CFTC and Other Agency Actions
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it awarded over $8 million to one insider whistleblower who provided significant information and assistance that led the CFTC and other agencies to bring multiple enforcement actions. The whistleblower helped the CFTC establish that one or more derivatives market participants deceived clients about key aspects of trades.
/jlne.ws/4b67CIT
CFTC to Hold a Commission Open Meeting June 24
CFTC
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam today announced the Commission will hold an open meeting on Monday, June 24 at 9:30 a.m. (EDT) at the CFTC’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. Members of the public can attend the meeting in person, listen by phone, or view a live stream at CFTC.gov.
/jlne.ws/3xmX6z6
Concurring Statement of Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger Regarding Settlement With Trafigura Trading LLC
CFTC
I respectfully concur on the Commission’s [1] enforcement action settling charges against Trafigura Trading LLC (“Trafigura”). But I cannot fully support it because once again, we are falling victim to regulating by enforcement, this time through a first-of-its-kind-charge under Regulation 165.19(b) of the Commission’s Whistleblower Rules. While I am a strong proponent of our whistleblower program, the Commission’s decision to bring this specific charge is inconsistent with the regulation’s text and prior Commission statements regarding the regulation’s intent.
/jlne.ws/3VNxrbd
Statement of Commissioner Caroline D. Pham Regarding Settlement Order with Trafigura Trading LLC
CFTC
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Caroline D. Pham released the following statement regarding the CFTC’s administrative order regarding Trafigura Trading LLC announced today: “While I commend the CFTC Division of Enforcement for their efforts to pursue manipulation in global markets, the Commission inappropriately tacks on an additional charge to fly under the radar with a wholly new interpretation of a 7-year-old rule that has never been the subject of a staff advisory or other notice to the public since it was issued. I’m incredibly grateful for those whistleblowers that report bad actors-often at great risk to their own wellbeing. Of course, we should always encourage open lines of communications and prevent whistleblowers from being silenced.
/jlne.ws/3VrhuHd
SEC’s New Public Service Campaign Emphasizes Investor Protection
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) today unveiled its new public service campaign, which highlights investor protection and encourages investors to explore the free tools and resources on Investor.gov. The campaign, “Is This Right?” takes a multi-generational knowledge-sharing approach to educating investors. It features two TV spots and resources pages in both English and Spanish focusing on fraud protection, including the importance of investors monitoring their investment accounts, conducting a background check on investment professionals, and avoiding unsolicited investment pitches that could be scams.
/jlne.ws/4eq6zX3
SEC Charges Texas Resident with Submitting Bogus Offer to Invest $200 million in Virgin Orbit
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Dallas-Fort Worth resident Matthew Brown and his company, Matthew Brown Companies, LLC, for engaging in a fraudulent scheme to submit and publicly tout a bogus offer to invest $200 million in Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc. (“Virgin Orbit”), formerly a public company listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol VORB.
/jlne.ws/3z8EJi1
ASIC appeals Court’s decision to relieve Block Earner from liability to pay a penalty
Published 18 June 2024
ASIC
ASIC has appealed the Federal Court’s decision to relieve Block Earner from liability to pay a penalty for contraventions related to unlicensed financial services when it offered its crypto-related Earner product.
/jlne.ws/4c3BE0Z
The Start of Financial Transparency Corridor (FTC) Initiative between Singapore and Cambodia
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) today announced the start of the Financial Transparency Corridor (FTC) initiative between Singapore and Cambodia. The FTC commemoration event was held at Istana, Singapore, and was presided over by His Excellency Lawrence WONG, Prime Minister of Singapore and Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei HUN Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, during the official visit by the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia to Singapore from June 18 to 19, 2024.
/jlne.ws/3Xq6Cfl
8th Bilateral MAS-CSRC Roundtable Fosters Greater Cooperation in Capital Markets Activities
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) affirmed their commitment to strengthen supervisory cooperation and enhance collaboration in capital markets at their annual supervisory roundtable held on 14 June 2024. The roundtable was co-chaired by MAS’ Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision) Ms Ho Hern Shin and CSRC’s Vice Chairman Mr Chen Huaping.
/jlne.ws/45wEKs6
Investing and Trading
S&P 500 Hits 30th Record of 2024 as Megacaps Rally: Markets Wrap
Rita Nazareth – Bloomberg
A rally in the world’s largest technology companies drove stocks to all-time highs, with some prominent Wall Street strategists rushing to boost their targets even as many hedge funds grow increasingly cautious. The S&P 500 hit its 30th record this year, defying concerns about narrow breadth that could make the market more vulnerable to surprises. As traders geared up for retail-sales data and a slew of Federal Reserve speakers, Treasuries fell amid a flurry of high-grade corporate bond sales that exceeded $21 billion, led by Home Depot Inc. That’s ahead of Wednesday’s Juneteenth holiday.
/jlne.ws/45qpY69
Ken Fisher’s Fortune to More Than Double on Private Equity Sale
Devon Pendleton – Bloomberg
Finance billionaire Ken Fisher’s net worth is poised to rise by $7 billion following the sale of a minority stake in his investment adviser, Fisher Investments. Private equity firm Advent International and a unit of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are paying at least $2.5 billion and potentially as much as $3 billion for a stake that values the entire business at $12.75 billion, according to a statement Monday.
/jlne.ws/4bZ5ljU
London gold body drops jurisdictional challenge in Tanzania labelling case
Alex Daniel – PA Media
The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has dropped a jurisdictional challenge in a case which claims it wrongly classified gold from a Tanzanian mine as responsibly sourced, despite allegations of human rights abuse. The LBMA is being sued by the families of two 23-year-old men killed at the North Mara Gold Mine. The families allege the LBMA wrongly classified gold from the mine as being free from serious human rights abuses.
/jlne.ws/3KPl0qg
What the price difference between ham and bacon tell us about inflation
Danielle Wiener-Bronner – CNN
Shoppers in the meat aisle may have noticed something weird last month: Bacon prices are sizzling, but ham’s not so hot. Bacon is more expensive than it was a year ago, with prices up 6.9% from May 2023 to May of this year, according to inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pork chops were up too, by 4.6%. But ham prices were lower, falling 5.4% overall and dropping 6.3% when you exclude canned varieties.
/jlne.ws/45qTlFv
The IRS wants to end another major tax loophole for the wealthy and raise $50 billion in the process
Josh Boak and Fatima Hussein – Associated Press
The IRS plans to end a major tax loophole for wealthy taxpayers that could raise more than $50 billion in revenue over the next decade, the U.S. Treasury Department says. The proposed rule and guidance announced Monday includes plans to essentially stop “partnership basis shifting” – a process by which a business or person can move assets among a series of related parties to avoid paying taxes.
/jlne.ws/3z9nrBh
Musk plans stock option grants to Tesla’s high-performers, sources say
Hyunjoo Jin – Reuters
Tesla CEO Elon Musk told employees on Monday that the electric vehicle maker is working on stock-based compensation for high-performing employees, according to two people who reviewed an internal memo. The plan comes just days after Musk won shareholder approval for his $56 billion pay plan consisting of stock options and two months after he announced job cuts affecting more than 10% of Tesla’s global workforce in the face of slowing demand for EVs and intensifying price competition from Chinese rivals.
/jlne.ws/45s8feE
More central banks to increase gold reserves within 12 months, WGC survey finds
Reuters
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China’s 10-Year Bond Futures See Record Close; Expectation for more stimulus and mixed growth buoy bonds; PBOC has repeatedly warned on risks in government bond market
Iris Ouyang – Bloomberg
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Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance
Ones to Watch; Get to know the investors, policymakers, scientists and activists who are shaping the future of the environment.
Bloomberg Businessweek
They didn’t break the climate, but they’re working hard to fix it. They’re investing in environmental startups (Tom Chi and Julie Pullen) and bringing cleantech to consumers (Ben Eidelson). They’re developing new ways to track flood risks (Bessie Schwarz) and methane emissions (Caroline Alden) and figuring out how to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Alex Gagnon and Julian Sachs). They’re cleaning up the apparel industry (Kim van der Weerd) and reinventing the motor for the electric age (Ben Schuler). They’re creating climate models for a warming world (Kate Marvel), building new systems for climate finance (Avinash Persaud) and rallying young people to the cause (Xiye Bastida and Vanessa Nakate). Reaching net zero is a tall order with a daunting timeline, but the people on this list are rising to the challenge.
/jlne.ws/4c4Xj9i
Amazon Union Workers Join Forces With the Teamsters; An affiliation agreement between the Amazon Labor Union and the 1.3 million-member Teamsters signals an escalation in challenging the online retailer.
Noam Scheiber – The New York Times
After years of organizing Amazon workers and pressuring the company to bargain over wages and working conditions, two prominent unions are teaming up to challenge the online retailer. The partnership was made final in voting that ended on Monday after members of the Amazon Labor Union, the only union formally representing Amazon warehouse workers in the United States, voted overwhelmingly to affiliate with the 1.3-million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The vote was overseen by the Amazon union.
/jlne.ws/3xdZFUe
EU regulators propose shake-up of sustainable investment labels
Huw Jones – Reuters
European Union regulators proposed sweeping changes on Tuesday to the bloc’s rules on labelling sustainable investments, to give investors simpler and clearer information and to stop “greenwashing” risks. The proposals include marking financial products that are not yet sustainable as ‘transition’ products and introducing a sustainability indicator that would grade investment funds. The EU’s executive European Commission is reviewing rules for asset managers, known as the sustainable finance disclosure regulation or SFDR, to curb greenwashing which refers to exaggerated climate-friendly claims.
/jlne.ws/4cr8fOk
States sue US to block rule that oil firms guarantee payment to dismantle old wells
Georgina McCartney – Reuters
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi on Monday sued the U.S. government to block the Biden administration’s proposed rule that would require the offshore oil and gas industry to provide nearly $7 billion in financial assurances to cover costs of dismantling old infrastructure. The rule, which would take effect later this year, will predominantly affect smaller companies that do not have investment grade ratings or sufficient proven oil reserves. Oil majors are more likely to meet the credit criteria or have large reserves.
/jlne.ws/3VLLCi0
EU approves nature law in face of Austrian legal threat; Vienna contests move by climate minister Leonore Gewessler to back environmental protection bill
Alice Hanco*ck and Sam Jones – Financial Times
EU ministers have approved a controversial law to preserve nature despite stiff opposition to the plans and threats by Austria that it would seek to annul the outcome of the vote. The Nature Restoration Law, which was passed by the bloc’s environment ministers on Monday, sets a legally binding target for EU countries to preserve a fifth of the bloc’s land and seas but has been heavily contested by conservative, rightwing and farming groups.
/jlne.ws/3RA0my6
Texas producing fossil fuels at record levels amid heat wave
Saul Elbein – The Hill
At the brink of what may be the hottest summer on record, the Texas oil and gas industry is pumping out planet-heating fuels at record levels, a new report has found. Estimates from the Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA) released Monday found the state umped out a record 5.7 million barrels per day of crude oil in May, and it sold a record 32 billion cubic feet of gas.
/jlne.ws/4cpyuod
AI can help shipping industry cut down emissions, report says
Reuters
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China’s Surge in Solar and Hydro Points to Early Carbon Peak
Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3xuJGRx
UK Could Beat Oil Output Forecast by 30% If Investment Secured; North Sea lobby group says production decline can be slowed; UK oil, gas production at a record low, seen falling further
Olga Tanas – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3VMNuqI
Carbon Removal Fund Backed By Meta, Alphabet Agrees Europe Deal; The group will spend nearly $49 million on carbon captured at a Swedish heating plant and stored under the North Sea.
Alexander Battle Abdelal – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4ct5DQ3
Shell to Buy Singaporean LNG Trading Firm Pavilion Energy; Seller Temasek expects transaction to be completed by 1Q 2025; Deal will boost LNG business for Shell, already largest player
David Ramli and Stephen Stapczynski – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3RycTlp
Institutions
Fisher Investments valued at nearly $13B as it sells stake to Advent, Abu Dhabi
James Franey – NY Post
Fisher Investments – the giant investment fund headed by billionaire Ken Fisher – has sold a minority stake in the firm that values it at nearly $13 billion. Under the deal, Boston-based private equity firm Advent International and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will invest at least $2.5 billion in Fisher Investments, a closely held firm that values itself at $12.75 billion, the company said in a statement on Monday.
/jlne.ws/3xdJvu2
Citi Pitches Money-Moving ‘Crown Jewel’ as Central to Revamp; Investor day to spotlight growing role of services business; It’s a ‘diamond in the rough’ at laggard bank, Mike Mayo says
Todd Gillespie – Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. is putting one of its least glamorous businesses front and center in its upgrade project, aiming to show how a sprawling system of moving money around the world can boost profitability. The services business – one of the bank’s five newly formed divisions – will take the spotlight Tuesday at the bank’s Manhattan headquarters, where investors will be pitched by Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser and Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason. The restructuring and presentation draw attention to a segment producing a growing share of the bank’s profits, accounting for almost half of the total last quarter.
/jlne.ws/4ctk1b3
HSBC Sees $250 Million of India Swap Deals Before JPM Inclusion
Saikat Das and Khushi Malhotra – Bloomberg
HSBC Holdings Plc has executed nearly half the volume of bond-derivative trades in India’s international finance hub over the last month, ahead of the sovereign bonds’ inclusion in a key global index. The British bank, via its unit in the International Financial Services Centres Authority, carried out the so-called total return swap deals worth more than $250 million with foreign investors who want onshore bond exposure, its head of India markets said. That compares with a total volume of about $510 million.
/jlne.ws/4cpYHD3
Dearth of Energy Stock Offerings Puts Calgary Bankers at Risk; Just C$270 million raised by Canada oil, gas firms this year; Problem is ‘nobody needs cash,’ Eight Capital’s Skolnick says
Geoffrey Morgan – Bloomberg
Stock offerings are rebounding across Canada’s equity market, except for oil and gas companies, where issuance has dried up to the point that investment banks are scaling back their activities in Calgary. Stifel Financial Corp. closed its office in the country’s energy capital last week, citing “current market conditions” as the St. Louis-based firm reduced staff in Canada. Raymond James closed its office in the city in 2023 and laid off staff elsewhere in Canada last week.
/jlne.ws/3Xwiahdx
As Wall Street pulls away from DEI, Goldman Sachs backs Black women: ‘Our commitment is strong’
Lauren Aratani – The Guardian
At a time when conservative legal activists are targeting diversity measures in corporate America, Goldman Sachs has announced it is expanding a component of one of its philanthropic equity programs. The One Million Black Women initiative, a program the company started in 2021, aims to dedicate $10bn in investment and $100m in philanthropic spending to address racial and gender inequality over the course of 10 years.
/jlne.ws/4bgwA8E
Private Equity Won’t Stop Gorging on Debt to Pay Investors
Sonali Basak and John Sage – Bloomberg
Private equity investors are clamoring for their payouts. A risky approach to meeting their demands is setting records – and getting more popular. Dividend recapitalizations, where owners of lower-rated companies raise debt in the firm’s name to hand cash to investors, have soared in the first half of 2024. Some $30.2 billion of leveraged loans to pay for these checks have been sold so far this year, according to PitchBook LCD data, matching the amount in 2021, which was the most in at least a decade.
/jlne.ws/4c40PRg
Work & Management
London dragging down UK productivity as office staff work from home
Tim Wallace – The Telegraph
London is dragging down Britain’s productivity growth as office staff continue to work from home, new figures show. Productivity in the capital tumbled in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics, taking output per hour worked – a key tool to measure each employee’s efforts – to its lowest level since 2009. London’s productivity dropped by 2.7pc between 2019 and 2022, the ONS said, with Wales the only other region to fall.
/jlne.ws/3xoGNlj
The ‘Coordination Tax’ at Work Is Wearing Us Down; Mismatched schedules, wasted commutes and too many ways to communicate. Getting in sync with co-workers isn’t getting easier.
Ray A. Smith and Anne Marie Chaker – The Wall Street Journal
Does getting hold of your co-workers ever feel like a scavenger hunt? Do you commute in and drop by their desks, only to find they are working remotely? Are some teammates only on email or Slack-or can you actually call them on the phone? There is a name for all of the time we spend on the job puzzling out who’s on Zoom, who’s coming from down the hall and who’s messaging from three time zones away: the “coordination tax.” The term used to refer to the logistical challenges of a growing enterprise. Now it is gaining traction among executives and workplace consultants to describe the increasing amounts of time workers spend getting in sync since millions began toggling between work-from-home arrangements and the office.
/jlne.ws/3XtTAxx
Wellness Exchange
Japan reports record spike in potentially deadly bacterial infection
Helen Regan, Junko Ogura and Rinka Tonsho – CNN
Cases of a dangerous and highly fatal bacterial infection have reached record levels in Japan, official figures show, with experts so far unable to pinpoint the reason for the rise. As of June 2, Japan’s Health Ministry had recorded 977 cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), which has a mortality rate of up to 30%. Some 77 people have died from the infection between January and March, the latest figures available.
/jlne.ws/3VvtkAp
The race against time to defeat mosquito-borne diseases; Researchers are trying to tackle the threat before nature’s ‘flying needles’ become more prevalent and resistant to prevention
Michael Peel – Financial Times
Deep in the bowels of Imperial College London’s main campus is a facility known as the insectary. The journey to it, via basem*nt corridors and an entrance that sounds an alarm upon opening, feels like something out of a horror film. Beyond two sets of double doors lies the reason for the security: thousands of the Anopheles mosquito that has long been humanity’s deadliest animal threat. The insects in these temperature-controlled chambers are central to pioneering efforts to use genetic engineering to stop them passing on life-threatening malaria.
/jlne.ws/45B33VW
Regions
Australia’s Betashares set to expand in Japan after Temasek takes stake; Investment by Singapore state-owned fund is expected to power international growth for the financial services company
Nic Fildes – Financial Times
A rising Australian financial services company is planning a potential takeover or alliance in Japan, after Singapore’s state-owned fund Temasek agreed to buy a stake in its business for up to A$300mn ($198mn). Alex Vynokur, founder and chief executive of Betashares, said the funds and pensions manager was looking to expand into Japan either by a partnership, a strategic investment or an acquisition. “Japan is a market of great interest to us,” he told the Financial Times. “We are assessing a number of options.” The 15-year-old Sydney-based company said on Monday that Temasek Holdings, one of the world’s largest and most active investors, had agreed to acquire a minority stake. The business was well-placed to take advantage of structural changes in the international financial services sector, it added. Temasek invested in online payments platform Stripe last year and has targeted Australia with investments ranging from venture capital funds to tech companies, energy and childcare.
/jlne.ws/3L7Y8T3
China Police Chief Stresses Food Security as Drought Lingers
Bloomberg News
The head of China’s police has vowed to crack down on agricultural crimes to safeguard food security, in an unusual move that underscores the Chinese leadership’s focus on stability ahead of a key party conclave next month. Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong on Monday said police should work closely with other agencies to clamp down on crimes such as selling fake farming products and destroying arable land, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. He also cited the threat of drought in the central province of Henan, a key grains hub, and called on authorities to respond to emergencies.
/jlne.ws/3z8mc5p
South Korea to Run Final Tests Before Won Trading Hours Extend; Simulations on Thursday, Friday will be last before the change; Extension to 2 a.m. close time is set to occur on July 1
Hooyeon Kim and Daedo Kim – Bloomberg
South Korea will simulate extended trading hours for the won during its final trial series before the official start of longer sessions next month. Trading will continue past the current 3:30 p.m. official closing time for the onshore won and last through 2 a.m. on Thursday, Korea’s FX Committee said in a statement emailed to local banks and obtained by Bloomberg. That will be the first time trading goes past 3:30 p.m. without a break.
/jlne.ws/3VJNAzt
China expanding nuclear arsenal ‘faster than any other country’
Katy Wong – The Telegraph
China is expanding its nuclear arsenal “faster than any other country” and could have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the US or Russia by the end of the decade. Beijing now has at least 500 nuclear warheads, up from 410 a year ago, according to an annual report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a Sweden-based think tank focused on conflict and arms control.
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UK Development Arm Funds Its First Tanzania Green Energy Project; BII to arrange up to $25 million debt for Rift Valley Energy; BII invests $1.5 billion on average in Africa every year
Loni Prinsloo – Bloomberg
British International Investment Plc, the UK government’s development-finance arm, is providing its first support for renewable energy in Tanzania. The firm has agreed to lend an initial $15 million to Meridiam SAS’s Rift Valley Energy to develop 7.6 megawatts of wind and small-scale hydro projects, said Nick O’Donohoe, BII’s chief executive officer, in an interview. That amount may rise to $25 million.
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Miscellaneous
Britain’s richest family spent more on pet dog than on servants, Swiss court hears
James Warrington – The Telegraph
Britain’s richest family spent more money on their pet dog than they did on one of their servants, a Swiss court has heard. Prosecutors have called for the billionaire Hinduja family to face jail time over allegations of trafficking and exploitation of staff at their Lake Geneva villa. Speaking at a hearing at Geneva’s criminal court on Monday, prosecutor Yves Bertossa said: “They spent more for one dog than one of their servants.”
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CNBC financial analyst-turned-fugitive arrested by FBI after 3 years on the run
Richard Pollina – NY Post
A former CNBC financial pundit and CEO-turned-fugitive accused of defrauding millions from his investors following a failed “bet against” the US economy in 2020 has been nabbed after being on the run for nearly three years. James Arthur McDonald Jr., 52, was arrested by the FBI in Port Orchard, Wash., on Saturday and will be extradited back to California to stand trial “in the coming weeks” for his alleged crimes, according to the United States Department of Justice.
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