Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign welcome to the John Lothian News Daily Update podcast for December 26, 2024. I am your host John Lothian. In today's John Lothian Newsletter Update, where we are irreverent but never irrelevant, we'll explore highlights from the Christmas holiday. Don't forget to subscribe to the John Lothian Newsletter and Follow us on johnlothianews.com marketswiki.com, linkedIn, Facebook, Instagram X and threads. Let's dive in. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's JLN On Tuesday, I neglected to wish Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrated it as Hanukkah started late this year year and its start aligned with Christmas Day. Hanukkah runs through January 2, 2025. Happy Hanukkah. Also running from today December 26, 2024 to January 1, 2025 is Kwanzaa on one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa known as Nagu Sabae. Happy Kwanzaa. Another holiday for our friends the Brits and many under their cultural influence is Boxing Day. Boxing day, observed on December 26, is a public holiday in many countries with British influence traditionally associated with charity, giving and relaxation, and now widely celebrated with shopping, sales and sports events. Speaking of the uk, King Charles gave his annual King's Speech from a chapel of a former hospital rather than from the palace to praise and bring attention to the healthcare workers who helped treat him and his daughter in law, Catherine, Princess of Wales after their cancer diagnosis, the New York Times reported. Charles was not the only European royal to make news during Christmas. The Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henry announced he was abdicating from the throne, following in the footsteps steps of his father who had done the same thing in 1999, UPI reported. I start with the soft news instead of stories like Russia's attack on Ukraine's power grid system on Christmas Day across Several regions with 170 missiles and drones that Ukraine President Zelensky described as inhumane, according to afp. Ukraine. Even President Elect Trump's incoming Ukraine Russia envoy slammed the attack, according to a story in the Hill. Then there was the Azerbaijanian Airlines plane that crashed on Christmas Day. It was likely shot down by a Russian military air defense system after it took a detour of hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and crash landed with holes in the fuselage, the Telegraph reported.
[00:03:13] Euronext CEO Stefan Bujna shared the news on LinkedIn via video that as 2025 approaches, Euronext has launched a new book titled A European Success Story Chronicling its evolution from a visionary European exchange project to a cornerstone of the continent's capital markets. The book reflects on 25 years of milestones, emphasizing the organization's role in building the backbone of the savings and investments union across seven countries. The publication features insights from Euronext founders, employees, clients and stakeholders, highlighting the company's achievements in supporting diversified asset classes and advancing innovation in post trade services. Euronext's transformative journey underscores its commitment to fostering a unified European capital market infrastructure. The fine wine market has faced its second consecutive year of decline as demand from Chinese buyers wanes and higher interest rates reduced the appeal of non yielding assets like wine. Prices of Burgundy, vintage Champagne and Bordeaux fell sharply with Liv X Fine Wine 100 index down 9.2 by November 2024, the Financial Times reported. Top end names such as Chateau Lafitte Rothschild and Domaine Georges Romier saw significant price drops, with some vintages tumbling over 40%. Analysts attribute the downturn to overinflated pandemic era prices and economic uncertainty. Wine is not the only high end item to be impacted by a drop in Chinese demand. The beer is the world's largest diamond producer by revenue is grappling with its biggest diamond stockpile since 2008, valued at around $2 billion, driven primarily by a sharp decline in Chinese demand. The Financial Times reported that because of its economic slowdown, China, once a crucial market for luxury diamonds, has seen its domestic jewelers offload polished stones through exports to reduce oversupply, further disrupting the market. This significant drop in demand has led the beers to slash production by 20% and lower prices, contributing to a steep revenue decline to $2.2 billion in the first half of 2024 $2.8 billion the previous year. Neil Cavuto, a business journalist with Fox News since 1996, is leaving the network, but not the field of journalism, according to a story in the New York Times. Cavuto has also worked for cnbc, PBS and the Nightly Business Report.
[00:06:24] My son Robbie said on Christmas Day that he was talking to a colleague about the stock market two weeks ago, which had taken a sharp drop, so he decided to open his John Lothian newsletter. What did he see at the top of the newsletter, but a discussion of the length of his and his brother's hair and a story about how men in Utah with long hair and beards are being hired as models to portray Jesus in photos. Needless to say, it was an interesting family discussion about hair length and fame.
[00:06:56] Here are more stories from the first read section of today's jln. This is a story from the Wall Street Journal.
[00:07:03] The global hunt for Putin sleeper agents. A quiet suburban mom, a hard drinking war correspondent and an Arctic researcher were hiding in plain sight. Championed by Kremlin's number one fan of spy fiction, MI6 had a secret so sensitive that Slovenia's spy chief needed to fly to London to hear it in person. Somewhere in his tiny Alpine nation, a pair of elite Russian spies were hiding under deep cover. But the British intelligence agency couldn't or wouldn't tell him their names. The CIA heard about them just days earlier. Jasko Katavnik, director of Slovenia's intelligence service Sova, meaning owl, felt his stomach sink. In its three decades of independence, Slovenia had never arrested such a spy. Now, just weeks after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he was being tasked with a mission that went far beyond Slovenia's point borders to the heart of a new Cold war. His small team of officers needed to capture two Russian sleeper agents.
[00:08:25] Fascinating story about spycraft in the age of Putin. Here's another story, this one from Benzinga. Michael Jordan sells his massive luxury mansion for $9.5 million. But it took 12 years to find a buyer and he spent $50 million building it. Michael Jordan's legendary Chicago area mansion has been on the real estate equivalent of a never ending shot clock. After sitting unsold for over a decade, the property has finally found a buyer. Public records confirm the deal has closed with the home selling for $9.5 million, a far cry from the $29 million it was originally listed for in 2012. In the world of luxury real estate, that's what you call a serious markdown.
[00:09:22] Michael Jordan took undeveloped property he bought in 1991 and poured $50 million into developing this 56,000 square foot mansion on seven acres it sold this year for $9.5 million. And he barely cares because he has made so much money. It is a rounding error. Here are the top three stories from Tuesday's jln. Our most read story Tuesday was Germany's own Magnificent Seven helped Dax defy Bleak growth outlook from the Financial Times. Second was Singapore pulls ahead of Hong Kong in race to Crypto hub from Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance. Third was Investment Advisors to supplant hedge funds to top BTC ETF holders in 2025. CF benchmarks from CoinDesk. Here are the top three stories from the lead section of today's JLN. The first story is from the Wall Street Journal. The headline jump Trading Raked in Crypto profits now it's paying a $123 million penalty. Regulators fine a unit of the high speed trading firm over its dealing with disgraced crypto tycoon Do Kwon.
[00:10:45] Jump Trading Group was a big winner during the last crypto bull market. Now a unit of the high speed trading giant has agreed to pay $123 million to settle an investigation stemming from its dealings with disgraced crypto tycoon Do Kwon. The unit, Tai Mo Shan negligently misled investors about the stability of TerraUSD, a so called stablecoin that imploded in 2022, hurting thousands of investors around the world, the securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a settlement last week.
[00:11:30] Stablecoins are digital currencies designed to maintain a price of $1. Kwon, the creator of the failed stablecoin, has been charged with fraud by New York federal prosecutors over the $40 billion crash of to TerraUSD and a related token, Luna.
[00:11:52] He is in detention in the Balkan country of Montenegro as both the US and his native South Korea seek his extradition. Kwon has denied committing fraud here's another story, this one from Bloomberg. The headline bank groups sue Fed over stress tests Seeking Transparency, Lenders claim secrecy and changing rules Whipsaw Capital results also affect the cost of financial services, bank say.
[00:12:28] Banking and business groups sued the Federal Reserve over the central bank's annual stress test, saying they're seeking more transparency and input into how the rules are adopted. The groups, including the Bank Policy Institute and American Bankers association, contend that the Fed's criteria for the tests are designed in secret and produce facilitating and unexplained requirements and restrictions on bank capital that's affecting the cost of financial services in the U.S. according to a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.
[00:13:07] And then finally another story, this one from the New York Times. The headline How AI could Reshape the Economy Geography of America as the technology is widely adopted, some once struggling mid sized cities in the Midwest, Mid Atlantic and South may benefit, new research predicts. Chattanooga, Tennessee, a mid sized southern city, is on no one's list of artificial intelligence hotspots. But as the technology's use moves beyond a few big city hubs and is more widely adopted across the economy, Chattanooga and other once struggling cities in the Midwest, Mid Atlantic and South are poised to be among the unlikely winners, a recent study found. The shared attributes of these metropolitan areas include an educated workforce, affordable housing and workers who are mostly in occupations and industries less likely to be replaced or disrupted by AI, according to the study by two labor Scott Abrams, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University, and Frank Levy, a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These cities are well positioned to use AI to become more productive, helping to draw more people to those areas.
[00:14:41] This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News, the home of Markets Wiki and Markets Wiki Education. Thank you for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on your preferred listening platform. Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated with respect, equality and justice. This has been John Lothian. Goodbye. This podcast has been produced by John Loth.
