Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Welcome to the John Lothian News daily Update podcast for September 26, 2024. I am your host, John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News, the home of Marketswickie and Marketswickie Education. Thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's GLN Joe Guinan, the CEO of Advantage Futures, was presented with the inaugural A Stanford White award for living up to the spirit of the Scout oath and Scout Law and the leadership of White. A two time president of the Chicago Board of Trade and one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, White was also the first chairman of the Chicago Council and founder of Camp Ossipee, which was originally called the A Stamford White Ouasapee Scout camp. Guinan was presented with the award shortly after surprising the attendees of the LaSalle street fundraiser in support of the Scouts last night by announcing that even though no one matched his $50,000 donation challenge, he would donate another $50,000 for a total of $100,000 to the event. The event raised over $171,000, which is a record high since I have been involved with the event.
[00:01:39] Joe's son Joe was among the top three winners in the Pinewood Derby race. My car was dead last.
[00:01:48] I will have more details about the event and pictures on Monday. Thank you to all who contributed to the event and attended exchanges don't trade. They provide a platform for others to trade. But if someone was trying to send a message to the market on Thursday about where there is the best liquidity, it came through clear as a bell. A record breaking trade occurred in the short term interest rates market on Wednesday at the CME involving 100 815 thousand futures contract linked to the secured overnight financing rate, Bloomberg reported. This massive block trade, the largest ever recorded for sofer, surpassed the previous record of 75,000 contracts set in April. The trade, executed at 09:38 a.m. new York time, may represent either a bet on less Federal Reserve easing than expected or an investor taking profits by unwinding a long position. As the contract neared its yearly highs following the trade, the December 2024 Sofa price dropped sharply, indicating a seller initiated transaction. The CME group confirmed the trade's record size. The deal, equating to about $3 million in risk per basis point move, suggests a potential $60 million profit from a 20 tick price increase. Preliminary open interest data indicated a modest rise, hinting at the possibility of a new position being established.
[00:03:34] Meanwhile, yesterday, FMX traded one of the three month SOFR futures September 24 contracts and four of the three month SOFR futures December 24 contracts with two and three contracts open, respectively. See their daily trade report page for details.
[00:03:57] Former Hong Kong Exchanges and clearing CEO Charles Lee has launched a new exchange in Macau through his company Microconnect Limited, aimed at listing small chinese businesses. The micro Connect Macau Financial Assets Exchange, which already lists 39 firms, targets microbusinesses with at least 5 million yuan in annual revenue and one year of operating history, Bloomberg reported. Lee envisions eventually listing 100,000 to 200,000 such firms annually. The exchange connects institutional capital with smaller firms functioning as a mini HkE.
[00:04:43] It also introduced 25 funds, including those managed by Hopu Fund and Bloom Ventures. Micro Connect, launched in 2021, initially invested 4.4 billion yuan in over 13,000 small shops, but has since scaled back, recovering 2 billion yuan so far, despite criticism lightening the business model to peer to peer lending, the firm was valued at $1.7 billion after its 2023 funding round.
[00:05:19] My plans to start my trip driving to Florida are on hold because of the hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and its impact on the southern states. I would be driving through to get there. Also. I dont know what to expect when I get there. Will I have power? Should I bring a generator? Hurricane Helene is set to make landfall on Floridas Big Bend coast as a category four storm on Thursday evening with winds of up to 135 life threatening storm surges reaching 20ft, the Wall Street Journal reports. The storm is expected to hit south of Tallahassee and then move rapidly north, potentially causing unprecedented damage in the area, including winds over 110 miles an hour and up to eight inches of rain. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in most counties, with mandatory evacuations ordered in several areas. The storm has already caused flooding in Cuba and is expected to bring heavy rainfall and flooding risks to part of Georgia and the Carolinas. Helene could be a once in a generation event, with a widespread power outages and severe flooding expected.
[00:06:39] Our most read stories from our previous edition of jail in options were weather derivatives grow as risks intensify from the Wall Street Journal SEC hits pause on Ethereum ETF options following bitcoin nod from decrypt and Justice Department pushes companies to consider AI risks from the lost returnal 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.
[00:07:13] Here's a story from the Financial Times. The headline news publishers and broadcasters warn over advertising blacklists, perceptions that brands are damaged when displayed close to certain stories is unfair, says study.
[00:07:29] Media groups have warned that advertisers have been blacklisting news over ill founded fears that their brands are damaged by being displayed close to certain stories, leading to concerns about the effect on future funding for important journalism. A study carried out by us based marketing group Stagwell said that news has been systematically demonetized and faces significant bias compared with more favorable advertising environments such as sports and entertainment. My comment human psychology is a difficult thing. Here's another story. This is a press release from Trading technologies the headline trading technologies recognized as Trading Vendor of the Year TT platform honored as Trading System of the Year in Fow Asia Pacific Awards Trading Technologies International Inc. Or TT, a global capital markets technology platform provider, announced that it won two major categories at the Fow Asia Pacific Awards 2024. The firm received the award for Technology Vendor of the year, while its TT platform earned the honor of Trading System of the Year at ceremony yesterday in Singapore. Hosted by Futures in Options world, or Fow, the awards are designed to recognize the best and the brightest innovations in the derivatives industry, and the winners in the two categories were decided by a specialist panel of experts from across the Asia Pacific, or AiPAC region. TT's Alice Pocklington, EVP head of APEc, and Alan Green, EVP managing director, futures and options, accepted the awards on behalf of the firm at the ceremony following FOW's trading Singapore conference. My comment to just memorialize the award in their name and be done with it, here are the top three stories from Wednesday's JLN our most read story Wednesday was Justice Department pushes companies to consider AI risks from the Wall Street Journal. Second was daily FMX futures exchange prices, volume and open interest from FMX futures and third was high speed traders made $7 billion in indian options market boom from Bloomberg here are the top three stories from the lead section of today's JLN. The first story is from Bloomberg. The headline biggest futures trade on record notched in sofa market 118,000 sofa block beats prior record sized trade from April market has been debating the size of the Fed's next rate cut.
[00:10:38] A massive trade was made in the short term interest rates market Wednesday, if not an outright bet on less Federal Reserve easing than currently priced for the year. The transaction could also be an investor taking profits and unwinding their long position as the contract traded close to its yearly highs. Some 118,000 contracts changed hands at 09:38 a.m. new York time in the futures market. It was the largest such transaction on record. The block trade was linked to the secured overnight financing rate, where performance is closely attuned to the immediate path of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.
[00:11:28] Here's another story, this one from Bloomberg. The headline Nasdaq divides listing business into regions to capture demand.
[00:11:36] Nasdaq Inc. Is reorganizing its listing business into three regional divisions to be led by senior executives amid efforts to capture demand for initial public offerings at a local level. The exchange business will have an east coast region, a West coast segment and a Texas, southern US and Latin America division, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg and confirmed by a spokesperson. Rachel Raz, who previously worked at Nasdaq before taking senior leadership roles elsewhere, will rejoin the company as head of listings for Texas, southern US and Latin America operation, the company said in the memo. Jack Castle, who joined Nasdaq in 2018, will head the western segment.
[00:12:28] Here's another story from Bloomberg. The headline Yellen defends regulation role in bolstering financial stability treasury chiefs set to speak to Treasurys forum in New York Yellen says Dodd Frank regulations proved good for us economy US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended the role of regulation in supporting a resilient financial system as she touted her departments focus over the past few years on securing stability.
[00:13:00] A resilient financial system is critical to a strong economy, Yellen said in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday, excerpts of which were released by the treasury.
[00:13:12] And strengthening it requires insisting on thoughtful regulation, including in the face of challenges from those who advocate to roll back policies and regulations.
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[00:13:57] Thank you for your valued support. 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 Andrew Lothian.
