[00:00:00] Foreign welcome to the John Lothian News Daily Update podcast for January 30, 2025. I am your host, John Lothian. If you're not subscribed to the John Lothian Newsletter, you can do
[email protected] Follow us on MarketsWiki.com, linkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky. Lets dive in. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's JLN Things are moving faster in the Big Apple New York City's morning commute has improved since the introduction of congestion pricing on January 5, with travel times down significantly on major crossings, Bloomberg reported. The Holland tunnel saw a 48% drop, while the Queensborough and Williamsburg bridges improved by 30%, according to MTA data. The toll, which charges most vehicles $9 during peak hours to enter Manhattan below 60th street, has reduced weekday traffic in the area by 5%, or about 33,000 fewer vehicles per day. The policy aims to cut congestion, improve air quality and generate $15 billion for much needed transit upgrades as traff public transit usage has risen with subway ridership of 7.3% on weekdays and 12.2% on weekends, while express bus usage increased by 15.8% on weekdays and 21% on weekends. However, not all streets have benefited. 42nd street westbound is 16% slower and 9th Avenue southbound has seen a 28% delay. Evening commutes within the tolled zone have generally become faster, and the MTA plans to release revenue figures next month.
[00:02:13] The Event Exchange Kalshee wants to know if Donald Trump will say a secret word in an address. The Kalshi event contract will word be said by Donald Trump in address presents a clear risk of market manipulation and should be withdrawn from certification by the exchange. Unlike contracts tied to to broader economic, political or sporting events, this contract relies on a single, easily controlled action. Whether a specific word is spoken, a speechwriter, advisor or even Trump himself could effortlessly insert or omit the word based on personal or financial incentives, creating an opportunity for manipulation that undermines market integrity. For event contracts to serve the public interest, they must be tied to unpredictable or wide dispersed outcomes, such as election results, I'm still not sure, or economic indicators. However, the decision to say a particular word is too narrow, falling under the influence of a small group with direct control over the outcome. This contract does not meet the standards of fairness or transparency required in regulated prediction markets and should not be permitted by the cftc.
[00:03:34] CFTC Commissioner Kristen N. Johnson will moderate a fireside chat with the Honorable Sharon Bowen at the Financial Service Professionals the FSP 10 Year Anniversary Celebration on February 6, 2025. The event will take place at 5:30pm EST at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, dc. The discussion will highlight key insights from Bowen's career and contributions to financial services.
[00:04:08] Maybe Doge is really short for Dodge as in Dodging sanctions Billionaire Suleiman Karimov, sanctioned in 2018, secretly held a SpaceX stake via Heritage Trust administered by Citigroup, Bloomberg reported. The trust acquired the stake in 2017 and Citigroup chose not to freeze its assets despite US sanctions. By 2022, treasury had block the $1 billion trust after uncovering hidden ownership structures. The SpaceX stake had already been sold, but Citigroup is now under Justice Department investigation. The case underscores gaps in sanction enforcement and raises questions about Musk's ethics and ties to Russian officials.
[00:05:02] Bill Gross, the co founder of Pimco, has written a commentary for the Financial Times reflecting on his career as an investor titled Lessons from My Investing Career with the sub headline the combination of leverage and time is a critical one to recognize in any portfolio blueprint. Drew Mauk, the founder and principal of Three Points Communications, has endorsed the confirmation of former Senator Kelly Loeffler as head of the Small Business administration. In a LinkedIn post, Mauk, citing personal and professional experiences, worked with Lefler during her tenure at Intercontinental Exchange, known as ice. In his endorsement, he highlights her work ethic, integrity and strategic mindset, noting her hands on approach, prompt payments and disciplined spending. Leffler's leadership helped ICE grow into a global powerhouse, and her experience running businesses like Bakkt and the Atlanta Dream further solidifies her qualifications, he wrote. Her commitment to cutting red tape, increasing transparency and combating fraud aligns with small business interests, leading the author to believe that if confirmed, she will be a strong advocate for American entrepreneurs, Mauk says.
[00:06:27] Here are the headlines from in front of fow's Paywall from some recent stories See me to add options exposure to Bitcoin Friday Futures Next month Analysis NASDAQ chief pledges innovation in dynamic crypto market analysis Trump regime likely to target Basel Bank Capital Rules WFE BGC's Lutnick says critics got it wrong on treasury futures clearing Robinhood starts rolling out flagship CME Futures and Miami International to list Bloomberg US Blue Chip Index Derivatives Ninja Trader today announced in a press release that Jennifer Marzalek has joined the company as chief people officer. The 50th anniversary FIA Boca conference is coming up on March 9 to 12, and John Lothian News will again be there with our video team conducting interviews. Our annual Industry Leader Video series is sponsored by the occ.
[00:07:35] If you have news you will be releasing during BOCA and want to share it in another format or want to share the views you are bringing to the conference with your industry colleagues, feel free to reach out to
[email protected] to set up an interview. We have also conducted interviews for our various historical video series at Boca. Additionally, in five years the FIA will be celebrating its 75th anniversary and JLN is working on something special for that occasion. If you have some thoughts on the FIA and its impact on the listed derivatives industry over the years and are willing to sit for an interview and share them, please reach out our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options Miami International holdings to list Bloomberg 500 index futures and options on MyX exchanges from MyEX CME Group to launch options on Bitcoin Friday Futures from CME Group how will Tesla stock react to earnings? What options markets say from Barron's? Subscribe to the free JLN Options newsletter with the link in today's jln. Here are more stories from the First Reads section of today's jln. Here's a sponsored content message from our friends at the recent upturn in Japanese stock markets has drawn attention from domestic and overseas investors. Originally listed in 1997, Japan's single stock options market is set for a dynamic revitalization. JSSOs are attracting both domestic and international investors. Together with Nikkei 225 and Topix Derivatives are poised to be an important part of the Japanese equity derivatives markets. In 2024, Osaka Exchange made groundbreaking changes, revised margin rules and dedicated SSO accounts to lower additional margin requirements for certain trades expanded the number of eligible underlying assets, including popular stocks favored by retail investors created an enhanced market making environment for individual stock SSOs and improved rules for setting strike prices, making trading more attractive in addition to the existing local and international brokers with many new brokerage firms, the JSSO market is becoming more accessible to retail investors. This wave of improvements is expected to significantly boost market participation and liquidity. Investors are encouraged to explore the exciting opportunities in Japan's revitalized SSO market, poised for substantial growth and offering diverse investment prospects. Join the momentum and capitalize on the emerging potential of Japan's single stock options market today. You can find out more with a link in today's newsletter. Here's a video from our FIA Expo coverage. BMLL expands global reach with unified market data and advanced analytics bmll, a data analytics provider for capital markets, emphasizes the ease of use and efficiency of its platform as it expands its global reach and diversifies its offerings, according to Rob Leibel, who spoke with John Lothian News at FIA Expo. Libel, head of Sales and North America at bmll, highlighted the platform's ability to quickly address client queries. It makes it so much easier for people to take a question from a client, do some quick market microstructure research and get an answer back, leibel said. He added that users can avoid legacy systems, stating you're not going into some kind of legacy system, trying to pull the data out and then kind of get back to the client tomorrow. You can actually get it much more efficiently.
[00:11:54] Watch this video on johnlothiannews.com you can also listen to a podcast that I did Injective Labs Leaders discuss Blockchain Innovation on John Lothian News Podcast Eric Chen, CEO of Injective Labs, and Mirza Uddin, head of Business development, recently joined John Lothian News for a podcast exploring the transformative potential of blockchain technology in financial markets. The discussion focused on Injective's efforts to create efficient, borderless trading environments, enhance exchange infrastructure and cater to the rising demand for digital assets, particularly stablecoins. Chen outlines Injective's strategy for modernizing financial systems by bridging tradition and decentralized finance. The company has prioritized upgrading exchange resilience and reliability while developing institutional grade tools and digital assets for building blockchain based financial applications. Recent advancements were highlighted, showcasing Injective's alignment with its long term vision to facilitate more accessible and robust markets. You can listen to this podcast on johnlothiannews.com and then there's also a video from my interview with Ali Brennan and Kevin Darby of cqg on johnlothiannews.com and also of Nick Johnson of imx on johnlothiannews.Com Here's a story from Bloomberg the headline After LA fires, climate experts say there is no safe, safe place in the U.S.
[00:13:38] more than 200 NASA staff lost homes in the LA fires. Their tragedies bring a personal perspective to rising global climate risks. Climate scientists are acutely aware of the devastation that a warming world can wreak on communities. But when disaster shows up at their doorstep, it hits in a completely different way.
[00:14:01] This event for me has destroyed any boundary between my work as a climate scientist and the rest of my life. My family, my friends. Benjamin Hamilton, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, wrote in a LinkedIn post after his home in Altadena burned in the Los Angeles fires. My comment if gated communities were safe to start with, would they need to be gated in the first place? There is no safe place in the U.S. there are only places that are safer than others based on statistics and that does not mean it will be safe in the future. Here's another story, this one from Fox News. The headline Trump White House rolls out Social Media account to hold fake news Accountable.
[00:14:48] The plan will be bad news for the fake news media, A senior GOP strategist says the White House on Monday afternoon rolled out a new social media account aimed to hold fake news accountable. Welcome to the official rapid response account of the Trump 47 White House. We will supporting President Donald J. Trump's America first agenda and holding the fake news accountable for their lies. Let's make America great again. The newly formed x account Rapid Response 47 posted in its first message.
[00:15:27] Breaking news is called breaking for a reason. The whole story is not yet known to those reporting it. Calling out an organization for breaking a story that evolves or changes is fine as long as the firing squad shoots blanks. Here are the top three stories from Wednesday's Our Top Click story Wednesday was Donald Trump's commerce nominee Howard Lutnick accused of conflict of interest from the Financial Times. Second, Also from the Financial Times was Trump media targets crypto investments with push into financial services and third, rounding out the Financial Times trifecta was record number of CEOs leave roles amid activist pressure, research shows. Here are the top three stories from the Lead section of today's jln.
[00:16:17] The first story is from the Financial Times. They're on a roll.
[00:16:22] Norway's Government collapses over EU energy dispute Eurosceptic junior coalition partner quits after PM's push to implement energy directives from Brussels. A dispute over EU energy policies had led to the collapse of Norway's coalition government, just as US President Donald Trump's threats to impose tariffs and take over Greenland were set to reignite a debate on Oslo. Joining the bloc, Prime Minister Jonas Gar Storr's push to implement three EU energy directives led to the abrupt departure of his party's Eurosceptic partner, the Pro Farmer Center Party, on Thursday. The collapse of the coalition leaves the premier's Labour Party to govern alone until elections later this year. Here's another entry. This is a press release from Miami International Holdings Miami International holdings to list Bloomberg 500 Index futures and options on MyEX exchanges Miami International Holdings Inc.
[00:17:33] A technology driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes, today announced plans to list Bloomberg 500 index futures and options on its exchanges in the second half of 2025 subject to various regulatory filings and approvals. MyEx Bloomberg 500 index futures will be listed on MYX Futures Exchange pending certain regulatory filings with the Commodity Futures trading commission or CFTC. MyEX Bloomberg index options will be listed on MyEX options pending certain filings with and subject to approval from the securities and Exchange Commission or SEC.
[00:18:18] The Bloomberg US Large Cap Price Index Bloomberg Ticker B500 Index provides a transparent rules based benchmark of the 500 most highly capitalized US companies, resulting in a more representative benchmark for the large cap segment of the US Market compared to similar index compiled using discretionary Using a discretionary approach, then, here's another story, this one from the trade the headline CME Group set to introduce options on Bitcoin Friday futures in February. The launch represents the first CME Group cryptocurrency options to be financially settled. CME Group is set to introduce options on Bitcoin Friday Futures on 24 February with expiries available Monday to Friday. The launch, which represents the first CME Group cryptocurrency options to be financially settled, is subject to regulatory approval. Giovanni Viscioso, CME Group Global Head of cryptocurrency products, said, we are pleased to offer these new options that provide traders with even greater precision to manage short term Bitcoin price risk.
[00:19:40] If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on your preferred listening platform. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News, the home of Market Zwicky and Market Zwicky Education. Thank you for joining us. 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 Jon Lothian Goodbye. This podcast has been produced by Jon Lothian.
