Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Welcome to the John Lothian News Daily Update podcast for May 8, 2024. I am your host, John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News, the home of markets Wiki and Marketswicky Education. Thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's JLN today, JLN added a skyscraper advertisement from author Robert Currie for his two books, how to intern insight and actions to optimize your experience and intern principles for designing an exceptional internship.
[00:00:46] Robert this morning shared with me a story he said reflected a recent conversation we had. The story comes courtesy of Payol Kasula, the head of marketing for VentocFD. The story goes like a university professor posed a challenge to his students. Each of them had a balloon with their name. The balloons would fall from the ceiling and they would have five minutes to find theirs. If everyone found the one with their name, they won. If not, they lost. Although they tried with all their energy to find them, no one succeeded. The teacher put the balloons back and told them, when you catch a balloon, give it to its owner. The test took less than three minutes to complete. The teacher finished by saying, happiness is like these balloons. If each of us looks only to our own, we will never find it. But if we look for others, we will also find ours. Exactly the same happens with teamwork in companies. If you help others achieve their goals, others will do the same with you.
[00:01:58] Several publications, including the Financial Times and the New York Times, are reporting that FTX customers will get their money back, plus interest. The FTX equity holders are still getting nothing, as in zilch, the FT reports. FTX said it had gathered roughly 15 billion, mostly from selling venture capital investments made by the exchange and its trading affiliate, Alameda Research. The sum is enough to pay 100 $0.18 on the dollar to the 98% of creditors who hold $50,000 or less in claims.
[00:02:40] The story is kind of like the Titanic returning to port after sinking.
[00:02:47] Speaking of sinking companies, do you remember all those companies that soared in value during the pandemic? The Financial Times is reporting that pandemic era winners suffer $1.5 trillion fall in market value.
[00:03:05] The FT reported that Zoom, a video conferencing company, saw its stock rise by 765% in 2020 due to the shift to remote working, but has since dropped about 80%, losing over $77 billion in market value. Similarly, RingCentral, another company that benefited from the remote working trend, has lost about 90% of its value amid competition from tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft. Peloton known for its exercise bikes, has also seen a dramatic decline, with its shares falling more than 97%, equating to a $43 billion loss in market value since the end of 2020.
[00:03:54] The 11th annual Conference on Financial Market Regulation, hosted by the SEC's division of Economic and Risk Analysis in partnership with Lehigh University and the University of Maryland, will take place from May 9 to May 10, 2024. The event aims to facilitate discussions among academics, industry professionals, government representatives and SEC members on issues important to the commission. URX, in partnership with FTSE Russell, is set to launch features on the FTSE all World Index on June 3. This addition enhances Eurex's growing range of FTSE derivatives, providing investors with a broad product suite that includes FTSE 100 index futures and options, total return futures, dividend futures, FTSE Bitcoin index futures and options, and FTSE Naret index futures. The FTSE All World Index, featuring around 4000 mid to large cap stocks, offers extensive diversification options the Boy Scouts of America announced yesterday it will rebrand as Scouting America on February 8, 2025, coinciding with its 115th anniversary to better reflect its commitment to inclusivity. This change marks five years since girls were welcomed into its program, with over 176,000 female participants now involved, including more than 6000 who have achieved the Eagle Scout status.
[00:05:41] Our most read stories from our previous edition of Jail and Options stock market disaster hedges are the cheapest in nine years. From Bloomberg Exchange operator CBO launches push to attract retail investors in Europe from Reuters and BNP Paribas targets hedge funds with equity volume carry options from risk.net Dot subscribe to the free JLN Options newsletter with a link in today's JLN. Here are more stories from the first read section of today's JLN. Here's a video I shot with the story.
[00:06:20] By Sarah Rudolph Pan Exchange founder Julie Lerner never gave up trying to deliver a commodity benchmark product. Product Julie Lerner, the creator and CEO of Pan Exchange Inc. Was forced to shut down the US commodities platform in December 2023 after she was unable to secure the seven figure balance expected from the funder. Lerner spoke with John Lothian about the inspiration for pan exchange and her struggles and successes launching several different commodity benchmark products, including sugar, hemp, frac, sand and carbon credits. You can watch the whole video on johnlotheanews.com.
[00:07:08] Heres a story from Fortune the headline Warren Buffett saw an AI deepfake video of him that was so good, he says he could imagine it tricking him into sending money overseas. Warren Buffet cautioned the tens of thousands of shareholders who packed an arena for his annual meeting that artificial intelligence scams could become the growth industry of all time.
[00:07:37] Doubling down on his cautionary words from last year, Buffet told the throngs he recently came face to face with the downside of AI, and it looked and sounded just like him. Someone made a fake video of buffet, apparently convincing enough that the so called Oracle of Omaha himself said he could imagine it, tricking him into sending money overseas. The billionaire investing guru predicted scammers will seize on the technology and may do more harm with it than society can ring. Good.
[00:08:16] My comment do you have a safe word? Double check everything.
[00:08:21] Here's another story, this one from WGN TV. The headline Forbe lists Chicago as the 7th worst city for drivers Chicagoans don't take criticism well regarding their driving skills, but Forbes recently ranked the worst cities to drive in. And like a shot of Mallart, it's not the best. Chicago ranks 7th nationwide because drivers spend the highest amount of time in traffic among the cities we analyze, and as a result, drivers spend the most on gas, thanks to traffic congestion.
[00:09:04] My comment our drivers are bad, but our irons and putters are terrific. Here are the top three stories from Tuesday's JLN our top item Tuesday was Robinhood's press release Robinhood response to receipt of Wells notice from US securities and Exchange Commission. Second was commissioner Goldsmith Romero to speak at World Economic Forum Industry Strategy meeting 2024, a notice from the CFTC about an event that takes place this morning. Third was a tie between Julie Kerr's announcement on LinkedIn that she is starting a new position as managing director at HSBC and the CFTC announcement. Commissioner Goldsmith Romero to participate on an artificial intelligence panel at the Asia Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Legislative Leadership Summit.
[00:09:59] That's a mouthful. Here are the top three stories from the lead section of today's JLN. Here's a story from Bloomberg. The headline Mastercard City JPMorgan tests ledger for settling bank Money Mastercard Inc. Is joining with some of the largest us banks to test shared ledger technology that would allow the common settlement of tokenized assets such as commercial bank money, as well as treasury and investment grade debt securities. The regulated settlement network proof of concept will simulate transactions in dollars, Mastercard said in a statement Wednesday. The goal is to make transactions across borders and systems faster and easier, and to reduce the chance of fraud and error.
[00:10:48] Here's another story, this one from Bloomberg. The headline FTX has billions more than needed to pay bankruptcy victims, cryptocurrency exchange FTX has amassed billions of dollars, more than it needs to cover what customers lost in its November 2022 collapse, setting them up to receive full recoveries plus interest, a rare outcome in us bankruptcy proceedings. Lower ranking creditors typically receive just pennies on the dollar for their holdings. But FTX benefited from a strong rally in cryptocurrencies, including Solana, a token heavily backed by convicted fraudster, and FTX founder Sam bankman Friedman. The company has also sold dozens of other assets, including various venture capital projects, like a stake in the artificial intelligence company Anthropic.
[00:11:46] Here's a press release from eDXM Global. EDX Markets launches Singapore based eDXM Global eDXM global platform to provide members with the most competitive and efficient settlement process. GSR and Virtu Financial are among the first adopters of EDXM Global.
[00:12:12] EDXM Global, a fast growing digital asset company for institutional customers, announced today the launch of its settlement platform. EDXM Global sets a new standard in the digital asset landscape, streamlining OTC transaction settlements with remarkable speed and reliability, marking a significant milestone. Industry giants GSR and Virtu Financial were the first firms to use the new platform for trade settlement.
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