[00:00:06] Welcome to the John Lothian News daily Update podcast for January 29, 2024. I am your host John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's JLN ukrainian president floated mayor Zelensky has expressed concerns that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a third World War if russian aggression is not restrained with support of western allies, the Independent reported. During an interview with the german state broadcaster ARD, Zelensky emphasized the potential gravity of the situation, stating that any russian attack on a NATO member would mark the beginning of the Third World War.
[00:00:58] Today, alumni leaders and long tenured employees of TMX Group joined Luke Fortin, the president and CEO of Montreal Exchange and global head of trading TMX Group, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Montreal Exchange by opening the markets. Montreal Exchange officially began in January 1874, becoming Canada's first chartered stock exchange through an act of the Quebec legislature. TMX shared on LinkedIn Lynn Martin, the president of the New York Stock Exchange NYSE, said in a Bloomberg television interview that companies are proceeding with their plans for initial public offerings despite the ongoing market volatility, which is expected to persist throughout the year. Martin mentioned a substantial number of companies actively pursuing ipos and emphasized that when these firms decide to go public, they will need to exhibit a clear path to profitability and reassure investors of their capability to thrive even in uncertain periods. Meanwhile, London's stock market has witnessed a significant decline in the number of listed companies over the past decade, dropping by 25%, according to recent data, Bloomberg reported. The report, sourced from the London Stock Exchange and provided by the UK trading platform XTB, reveals that the total number of listings decreased by 6% to 1836 in 2023 alone. In 2013, the market boasted 2448 firms listed. This trend is attributed to companies opting for New York's more extensive pools of investor capital and technology hubs. The decline is expected to continue in 2024 as takeover activities arise and new share listings struggle, as indicated in a report by brokerage Peel Hunt, the Sunday Times published its estimated list of the highest UK taxpayers for the year, which highlights some prominent figures, including billionaire quant trader Alex Gerko of XTX Markets. Gerko, originally from Moscow, secured the top spot on the index by contributing around 487,000,000 pounds to public finances. This places him ahead of former Formula one chief executive Bernie Ecclestone and Denise Coates, the head of gambling firm Bet 365, who came in second and third respectively. Sir Chris Hahn came in number 13. He is the hedge fund king and son of a jamaican car mechanic who donated more than 2.1 million pounds to charity last year. Also, Peter Hargraves, the fund manager of Hargraves, Lance down, came in 30 eigth despite his funds losing 100 million pounds last year. American Stephen Schwartzman, the private equity baron, paid a big stamp duty bill on a 2500 acre Wiltshire estate for 82.2 million pounds.
[00:04:36] Jeremy Grant, writing for the Scotsman, explored the challenges and opportunity in Scotland's offshore wind sector, highlighting the significance of harnessing the North Sea's wind resources under the wind project. In a story titled Re Industrialization of Scotland faces Turbulence, ICE's fixed income forum brought together industry leaders to discuss the latest developments and challenges within the fixed income sector. The event provided a platform for sharing best practices related to enhancing efficiency and automation across various aspects of fixed income operations, spanning from front to back offices. Attendees also engaged in discussions concerning the regulatory landscape and evolving influence of ESG factors on fixed income investments. Key industry figures such as Chris Edmonds, president of fixed income and data services at ICE, and Jim Craig, chief investment officer of Stone Harbor Investment Partners, among others, contributed their insights to this important dialogue. You watch their videos with the link in today's newsletter. ABACS Singapore Pte Limited, the owner of Abex Exchange and Clearinghouse, has joined the Futures Industry Association, ABACs shared in a press release.
[00:06:02] Gil Mendeldesis, the founder and CEO of Capital Olis and former CEO of Triana, has written a commentary shared on themessenger.com titled the Harvard Board is still there, and so is anti Semitism. Vermiculous financial technology has opened the summer intern application process and is searching for students that have finalized their third year in computational mathematics, computer science, engineering, physics or similar programs to join the swedish technology firm. This summer, in a bizarre incident in Paris, two women affiliated with an environmental group tossed pumpkin colored soup at the iconic artwork the Mona Lisa displayed within bulletproof glass at the Louvre, the New York Times reported. Fortunately, the painting did not appear to sustain any damage from the unusual protest action. No word on how the soup tasted. After sharing my latest bad medical experience with my readers, I am joining Oversharers Anonymous. I guess I should not have shared that the Financial Asset Management Derivatives Forum 2024 anticipates drawing 350 members from the Futures Industry association and the securities industry and Financial Markets Association SIFMA from February 7 to 9th, 2024 to the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Nagal, Dana Point, California. Sessions will center on emerging products and strategy in today's business and macroeconomic landscape, offer insights into the regulatory pipeline and examine trends in technology, including AI and blockchain. The opening day will include a luncheon featuring a Washington update sponsored by women in financial markets WiFM. Learn more and register with the link in today's newsletter.
[00:08:11] Nine green shoots 2024 latest Trends and Innovations in Nature Finance is a webinar presented by the UN Environment Program Finance initiative, UNepFi, January 30, 2024.
[00:08:28] One 1400 to 1515 CET. That's 08:00 a.m.. EST adoption of cunning Montreal Global Biodiversity framework GBF in 2022 and the launch of Task Force on Nature related financial disclosures TNFD framework that have heightened awareness of biodiversity loss. Among those in finance, the webinar looks at emerging trends in nature finance from the past year and highlights innovative products and mechanisms with high potential to scale the market. Learn more and register with the link in today's newsletter. Our most read stories from our previous edition of GLN options were ADM's CEO Legacy clouded by accounting probe at commodity trader from the Financial Times, traders bid up newest VIX contract to hedge Trump Biden risk from Bloomberg and ether options monthly trading volume hits all time high in January from the block subscribe to the free JLN Options newsletter with the link in today's JLN. Here are more stories from the first read section of today's JLN, first from Reuters the headline shunned in computer age cursive makes a comeback in California. Starting this year, California grade school students are required to learn cursive handwriting after the skill had fallen out of fashion in the computer age assembly bill four four six, sponsored by former elementary school teacher Sharon Quirk Silva and signed into law in October, requires handwriting instruction for the 2.6 million Californians in grades one to six, roughly ages six to twelve, and cursive lessons for the appropriate grade levels, generally considered to be third grade and above. My comment cursive the kids of today should learn how to swear properly.
[00:10:30] Here's another story, this one from the New York Times. The headline a famed analyst final forecast is the fall of the US economy. Dick Bovet, the ubiquitous banking expert, is going out swinging after more than a century in the business. Over his 54 years as a financial analyst, Richard X. Bovet perfected the art of grabbing attention. Through thousands of newspaper interviews, cable appearances and radio segments, Mr. Beauvais turned what can be a dull by the numbers career into a more showy one. Weighing in on the economy and the inner workings of Wall street, he often bucked conventional wisdom and made enemies along the way. By his own recollection, he never turned down a media request. American Banker once called him the country's most quotable bank analyst. My comment one last hurrah for Dick Bovet. Here's a story from Bloomberg. The headline billionaire quant trader Alex Gerko named UK's biggest taxpayer. Sunday Times estimates Gerko contributed 487,000,000 pounds. Gerko replaces gambling mogul Denise Coates. At top of ranking. Alex Gerko built a quantitative trading firm over the past decade that handles almost $300 billion in daily volume across equities, commodities, currency and fixed income. It made him a billionaire several times over, and it's now earned him the status of the UK's biggest taxpayer. My comment my father always said paying a lot of taxes was a good thing because it meant you made a lot of money. Alex Gerko made a lot of money here are the top three stories from Friday's JLN. Our top story Friday was the release new report repo trading and clearing 2023 2024 is out from eurox. Second was FCA statement on judicial review of debt packager measures from the UK Financial Conduct Authority FCA. Third was Jamie Dimon shakes up JP Morgan's leadership once again from the Wall Street Journal about a change in roles for Daniel Pinto, Jennifer Peepzak and Troy Rorbaugh. Here are the top five stories from the lead section of today's JLN. The first story is from Bloomberg. The headline Wall street has a dire warning about green investments under new endgame rule senior Wall street bankers are warning that a plan by U. S. Regulators to rewrite the rules of tax equity investing will deliver a major blow to a market dominated by Morgan and Chasen Company and Bank of America Corp. At issue is the perceived risk of tax equity investments, which are a form of financing in which banks provide capital to green projects in exchange for tax credits. It's a market in which J. P. Morgan and B of A have been estimated to do more than 50% of the roughly $2 billion worth of annual transactions. Here's another story from the Financial Times. The headline the financial system needs more capital and less complexity. As the Fed ponders the Basel three rules, we should aim for a regulatory structure that is simple and boring.
[00:14:00] Have we learnt anything from the great financial crisis of 2008 or any number of banking crisis that came before or since, right up to the collapse of Silicon Valley bank and others last year? Sometimes I think not. To me, the core lesson is that too much debt and leverage, combined with too little high quality capital on hand always ends in tears. And yet, as the massive lobbying by us banks pushing back against the Fed's attempt to implement Basel three rules shows, we are still arguing about the basics of what makes the financial system safer.
[00:14:40] Here's another story from the Financial Times. The headline UK looks increasingly isolated in its anti crypto ETF stance. Spot bitcoin exchange traded products are already available in the US, Europe, Australia, Brazil and Canada. The UK is becoming increasingly isolated as one of the few major global markets to continue to hold back from approving retail access to cryptocurrency exchange traded products. Continental Europe has them, as do Australia, Brazil and Canada. The US has followed suit, most recently with spot bitcoin etfs, prompting Hong Kong to say it will also jump on board. Yet the UK will not even let small investors buy those listed elsewhere, even though Prime Minister Rishi Sinak has championed the UK as a crypto hub and has advocated for a regulatory framework that allows the sector to flourish in Britain.
[00:15:42] Here's another story from the Financial Times. The headline crypto may have become boring, but it still isn't legit. The SEC's approval of eleven bitcoin etfs is not as meaningful as aficionados would like to think.
[00:15:59] It was easy to poke fun at crypto back in late 2022. The market had tanked by about two thirds in the space of a year. Many of the industry's biggest companies and coins had collapsed into oblivion, their flagrant practices exposed, and the bubble that had driven receipts for pixelated images of apes. Remember NFTs to sell for millions of dollars had burst. Longtime critics like me were being encouraged to take virtual victory laps while the crypto crew had egg clearly all over their laser eyed faces.
[00:16:39] Here's another story from the Financial Times. The headline chinese regulators curb short selling as market downturn deepens. Measures come in effect Monday and are designed to create fairer market order. China has moved to officially limit short selling after informal efforts fail to stop a worsening stock market selloff. Investors who buy shares will not be allowed to lend them out for short selling within an agreed lockup period, the Shenzhen and Shanghai borses said on Sunday. The measures, which will come into effect from Monday, are designed to create a fairer market order, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said. Further limitations on securities lending will be introduced from March 18, the regulator added.
[00:17:33] Welcome to the John Lothian News Daily update podcast for January 30, 2024. I am your host, John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's JLN Bloomberg reported that Ray Bradbury has become the president of ADM investor Services this month during the shakeup of ADM management after the firm disclosed it had suspended its CFO.
[00:18:04] John P. Stott, the previous president of AdMis, was promoted to group vice president, CFO AG Services and oil seeds at ADm. Flutter Entertainment plc, which owns 15 global gaming brands, including Fanduel Sports, BeT and Patty Power Limited, among others, inaugurated its us listing and rang the opening bell on NYSE yesterday, punctuated by the flag waving four time Super bowl champion Rob Gronkowski, trailed by NYSE president Lynn Martin, flutter CEO Peter Jackson, a racist marching band and a chorus of company employees. Chief communications Officer Ice and head of corporate affairs NYSE Josh King reported on LinkedIn.
[00:19:01] Abex Technologies Inc. Today announced the successful closure of Abax Singapore's equity private placement, raising $27,323,013 in us dollars in gross proceeds. The offering included preferred shares for strategic partners like CbOE, TLW and Traxxas, along with ordinary shares and warrants. This funding will support the launch and growth of Abex exchange and clearinghouse, facilitating smarter markets for energy transition related commodities in Singapore. Nancy Se, CEO of Abex Exchange, expressed her gratitude for the support of these strategic partners. The World Federation of Exchanges WFE announced its key priorities for 2024, aiming to enhance corporate governance across the financial ecosystem. The WFE will also focus on ensuring the stability of central clearing, addressing issues related to procyclicality, recovering and resolution, and transparency in capital rules. Additionally, the WFE plans to take a leading role in promoting ESG standards and reporting frameworks similar to the creation of the WFE green equities principles. Furthermore, the organization aims to expand its educational initiatives, including the market infrastructure certificate, and explore emerging technologies such as crypto, market design and AI's role in regulated exchange markets.
[00:20:50] CME Group reported it achieved all time high average daily volume and open interest records in 2023 for its mexican, peso and brazilian real FX futures contracts, with increased client participation contributing to deeper liquidity and enhancing the CME's role as a primary source of price discovery in the broader FX market.
[00:21:18] Jason Morris, a trading technology industry veteran and former president of infusion, has been appointed the president of Liquidity Book, a provider of cloud native buy and sell side trading solutions. Today, CbOE is holding a 60 minutes webinar titled New Report Buffer Protect indices and risk reduction, looking into a white paper on Sibo buffer protect indices for smoother returns it features Olag Bandarenko, director of International center for Futures and Derivatives at the University of Chicago Dmitri Muriev, professor of finance at Michigan State University Bill O'Keefe, director of derivative sales at Sibo Global Markets and Matt Moran, head of index insights at Sibo Global Markets. Register with a link in today's newsletter an article co authored by CME Group's Adila Mchitch and Premier research's hillary till on the topic of oil indexation and natural gas pricing was referenced by S and P Global insights. The updated version of their article was also published in September 2023 by Bay's business School CID Commodity Insights Digest. You can access the article with a link in today's newsletter Euronext 2024 ipo ready program for executives preparing for initial public offerings, ipos has launched. It provides valuable insights and networking opportunities with 160 plus companies from 15 european countries participating since 2015. More than 900 companies have joined this Preipo training program. Jim Esposito, the co head of Goldman Sachs Global banking and markets unit, who announced he was leaving the bank after 29 years last week, has published a reflection of 2023 and his career on LinkedIn. The veteran CBOT trader Tommy Grassafi has been filling in for Scott Chaladay in the studios of RFD TV in Nashville, Tennessee to shoot the Cowguy clothes.
[00:23:43] The six state coalition Great Lakes Renew was named one of ten inaugural regional Innovation engines by the National Science Foundation NSF, a project of current Chicago water innovation hub. Great Lakes Renew could now bring up to $160,000,000 to the Great Lakes region to accelerate technologies to extract valuable minerals and toxic forever chemicals from the region's wastewater. Read the announcement and watch a short video with the link in today's newsletter. Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN options were adapting to climate change and central clearing risks, environmental footprint and enabling transition from Urex hedge funds lap up China stocks at fastest pace in five years. Goldman from Reuters and a popular option trade returns in 2024 as hedge funds short volatility from the tokenist. 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.
[00:24:59] Here's an interview I did IMX CEO Jim Plant discusses the path forward after CFTC approval this is a story and a video. Jim Plant, the CEO of IMX in a recent interview with John Lothia News, discussed the next steps for the healthcare focused futures exchange. After receiving approval from the CFTC, IMX Target launch is in the second quarter of 2024, and Plant said the next challenge is the ongoing process of onboarding Futures Commission merchants to the exchange. IMX is also working on finalizing its initial product offerings, which will undergo regulatory approval. Watch this video on johnlothiannews.com. We have an episode of Futures Discovery Futures discovery fundamentals of margin calls in episode five of Futures Discovery, we're peeling back the layers of the ever important world of margin calls, a topic that can shape the flow of your futures trading journey. In this episode, we're not just scraping the surface, we're delving deep into the fundamentals of margin calls. It's not just about the numbers on a screen. It's about deadlines, volatility and potential lifelines. Watch this video on johnlothiannews.com. Here's a story from CNN the headline ticket prices for this year's Super bowl might even make a billionaire like Taylor Swift blush. Ticket prices for this year's Super bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49 ers might even make billionaire Taylor Swift blush. As of Monday, the February 11 game is the most expensive Super bowl on record, according to Tickpick, the average price hovering around $9,800, which is 70% more expensive than last year's big game. My comment the big questions are, will Taylor Swift make it to the game from a gig in Japan? And how is she going to swing the election to Joe Biden? Evidently, that is the latest right wing conspiracy theory. Here's another story, this one from Reuters. The headline Encyclopedia Britannica publisher files US IPO Britannica group, the company behind the 250 year old Encyclopedia Britannica and the Miriam Webster dictionary, said on Monday that it had confidentially filed for an initial public offering IPo in the United States. The number of shares to be sold in the ipo and the price range have not been determined, Britannica said. My comment Doug Ashburn's employer is going public. Does he get another bite at the apple? Here's another story, this one from Bloomberg. The headline Reddit flirts with Wall street and potential disaster. Public markets are where good social networks go bad. Can the last big holdout survive an ipo? The earliest mention I can find of Reddit Inc's ambitions for an initial public offering comes from a variety report. In 2017, the online community's cofounder and chief executive officer, Steve Huffman, told a conference audience that taking the site public was the only responsible choice, but that the timeframe was pretty far out. More than six years later, with an ipo finally looking imminent. He was certainly right on that second point. That first one, however, is still in doubt. There's a reason the social network has taken so long to go public. There's a good chance it might all fall apart. My comment, things fall apart, was one of my favorite books when I was in school.
[00:29:07] Here are the top three stories from Monday's JLN our most read item on Monday was adapting to climate change and central clearing risks, environmental footprint and enabling transition from Eurex. Second was chinese regulators curb short selling as market downturn deepens from the Financial Times. Third was banker bonuses are down again, but it stings this time. From the Wall Street Journal here are the top five stories from the lead section of today's JLN. The first is from John authors of Bloomberg the headline Doctor Strangelove or how I learn to love markets. There's an awful lot of talk about World War II at the moment. A look at markets could help deescalate it. World War II is drawing near. Is Dr. Strangelove really back with us? The attack in Jordan that left three us soldiers dead, apparently perpetuated by Iran backed forces, has ratcheted global fears to a new level. Retired Admiral James Stavardist's column for Bloomberg opinion makes clear that A-U-S. Response of some kind is now unavoidable. Former president Donald Trump has proclaimed on social media that, quote, we are on the brink of World War Three.
[00:30:32] Here's the next story, this one from Bloomberg. The headline ADM shuffles leadership of its crop and biofuel trading unit Archer Daniels Midland company is making leadership changes at its legacy crop trading business. Ray Bradbury, who has worked at the company for about two decades, became the president of ADM investor services this month, according to a company website and people familiar with the moves. He previously was president of ADM's renewable fuels solutions unit and responsible for global commodity risk management.
[00:31:10] Here's another story, this one from Biden thinga the headline mother of all data breaches, 26 billion records leaked users on LinkedIn X, Venmo and more panic over increased cybercrime risk.
[00:31:26] If you use a computer, your data likely got leaked. In what researchers have called the mother of all data breaches, 20 brands have had over 100 billion leaked records, with the largest being Tencent's 1.5 billion brands more familiar to western consumers such as LinkedIn X, Venmo, Canva, Apollo and Adobe, have also been hit. Cyber news head of security research Montez Saznakas summed up the scale of the shocking breach, saying probably the majority of the population have been affected. Here's another story, this one from Bloomberg. The headline ion markets delays $1.8 billion leverage loan sale to Friday commitments on the leverage loan deal originally due Tuesday transaction with lower rate on existing debt pay dividends. Ion Markets, a unit of Andrea Pignatero's ion group, has extended the deadline for a new $1.825 billion leverage loan sale by three days, giving investors more time to decide whether to participate in the deal, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The delay comes at a time when borrowers have generally seen strong demand for new loan sales. It brings the official deadline for investors to submit their orders to Friday at 10:00 a.m. New York time, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing a private transaction. Here's another story, this one from Reuters. The headline Ice global and commodities derivatives open interest hits record high Intercontinental Exchange said on Monday that its global futures and options markets, along with its derivatives in the commodities and energy segments, logged all time high open interest last week. ICE, which operates various stock and futures exchanges, said its global futures and options markets reached a record open interest of 87.2 million contracts on January 25. Its commodity futures and options markets hit record open interest of 61.5 million contracts welcome to the John Lothian News daily update podcast for January 31, 2024. I am your host John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes kevins from today's JLN the Kilt challenge has achieved new prominence today as the last kilt wearer. Robert Bougie has been named the new chief executive of Urex, replacing Michael Peters. The Financial Times has the story of the former ABN Amro clearing bank CEO taking over for Peters, who is retiring. Bougie led the most successful kilt challenge fundraising operation to date, leading up to last year's FIA IDX gala dinner. Congratulations to Robert on his new role and to the URex team on garnering a terrific new leader. Today, we published a two part interview with former KCG and Getgo CEO Daniel Coleman, who is currently the president of Birmingham Southern, a struggling liberal arts college in Alabama. The interview was prompted by a Wall Street Journal story about the college and Coleman titled this private college has been on its deathbed for 15 years with the sub headline Birmingham Southern seeks new Alabama lifeline as city pushes to avoid closing of campus. The first part of our video interview covers Coleman's career in the financial services industry, which saw him graduate from Yale and be hired by O'Connor and Associates. He traded in Philadelphia before coming to Chicago to get an MBA from the University of Chicago. While continuing with O'Connor, his career weaved its way through O'Connor's various deals, mergers and acquisitions until the financial crisis, when he decided it was time to find something new. General Lanick connected him with Getgo and he became its new CEO. Watch the video and get the whole story. The second video seems to have been produced for Citadel's Ken Griffin, who today is in the news saying he is not giving more money to Harvard because it produces whiny snowflakes instead of future leaders, Bloomberg reported. Coleman left KCG after it was acquired by virtue and headed home to Alabama. He reconnected with a local college, started teaching investments, joined the board and was asked to become its president. That's the short version. The long version is that the college has long standing financial problems, and Coleman jumped into the breach by trying to solve them. He needs some help from people who are interested in education and the potential to create a contemporary program that provides students with the skills and knowledge necessary for today. Watch the video to learn more. And if you're a friend of Ken Griffin, forward him the video and the story. I messed up yesterday with the Abex news. The press release I mentioned here in the hits and takes section was actually released back on January 10. I grabbed the wrong press release yesterday. The one I should have mentioned is Stonex becomes Abex exchange first clearing and trading member to expand market offering. My apologies for the error.
[00:37:11] Corporate climate validations by science based Targets initiative SBTI have doubled in one year to 4204 companies. The demand for corporate decarbonization standards and target validation services provided momentum for the scale up of the SBTI into a freestanding organization, previously a collaboration among CDP, we mean business coalition, World Resources Institute, WRI, and the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the UN Global Compact. The SBTI's independent launch was enabled by a $36 million donation package, half from the Ikea foundation and half from the Bezos Earth Fund. Priorities for 2024 include updating the SBTI corporate net zero standards and the SBTI financial institutions net zero standards. Learn more about the SBTI on its website.
[00:38:21] There's a link in today's newsletter. Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN options were banks are hawking us recession hedges tied to both stocks bonds from Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance traders price in Trump win by piling into currency hedges from Bloomberg and Sibo exchange withdraws application to list global x spot bitcoin ETF from Cointelegraph subscribe to the JLN Options newsletter with the link in today's JLN. Here are more stories from the first read section of today's JLN. Here's that first video, the journey of Daniel Coleman from english literature to financial markets part one Daniel Coleman's path to success in the financial markets is a tale of a chance encounter that led him to a career he never anticipated. Born in Alabama, Coleman embarked on a journey that took him from the Ivy League halls of academia to the high stakes world of trading in Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York, and back home in academia's highest level. You watch this video on johnlothiannews.com. The second video is titled reviving Birmingham Southern Dan Coleman's journey to save a struggling college. Dan Coleman left KCG after it was acquired by Virtu Financial and moved back to Birmingham, Alabama, to contemplate his future. He reached out to a local college, Birmingham Southern, whose board he once served on. Little did he know he would soon end up as its president. You watch this video on johnlothiannews.com.
[00:40:11] Here's a story from Bloomberg. The headline Griffin rips Harvard says colleges spawn whiny snowflakes Ken Griffin, one of the largest donors to Harvard University, said he won't support the school financially unless it makes significant changes and accused elite U. S. Colleges of producing whiny snowflakes instead of future leaders. Quote, I'm not interested in supporting the institution, Unquote, Griffin said of Harvard at the MFA Network conference in Miami on Tuesday. The billionaire said the university must make clear that it will, quote, resume its role educating young american men and women to be leaders and problem solvers, unquote. My comment I dislike the use of the word snowflakes here. Snowflakes are all unique. Here's another story, this one from Tim Babcock, vice president and head of TSX Venture Exchange, via LinkedIn the future of financial markets what Canada must do now to win with the support of a robust financial ecosystem, canadian companies continue to grow and compete in a global environment rather than fully formed, mature companies bursting onto the world stage. The majority of our companies start out as small enterprises nurtured from inception by their founding entrepreneurs and the powerful interconnected network of investors, advisors and other stakeholders that make up our public market ecosystem. This community plays a critical role in the success of the groundbreaking companies that will position Canada as a global, competitive economy into the future. My comment remember, it is not where the puck is now. But where the puck is going to be, that matters. Here are the top three stories from Tuesday's JLN. Our top story Tuesday was Hong Kong eye's move to attract ipos of mainland chinese Middle Eastern firms to spur stock market, Paul Chan says from South China Morning Post. Second was global clean energy spending surges to $1.8 trillion. It's not enough. From Bloomberg. Third was J. P. Morgan Quant's warn of.com style concentration in us stocks. Also from Bloomberg. Here are the top three stories from the lead section of today's JLN. The first story is from the Financial Times. The headline german derivatives exchange Urex to appoint ABN Amros Bougie as chief dutch banker set to be named head of Europe's largest futures marketplace. Eurex, Europe's largest derivatives exchange, will name dutch banker Robert Bouge as its new chief executive, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Bouge is currently chief executive for Europe at ABN Amro Clearing Bank, a division of the dutch bank that connects trading firms and hedge funds with exchanges such as Eurex. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, the people said. Here's another story from the financial Times. The headline BGC settles lawsuit with ex partner over alleged $35 million fraud New York based group settles case that was due to go to trial in London BGC Partners has reached a settlement with a former senior partner following allegations that he took part in a $35 million scheme to defraud the broker. The New York based broker, led by billionaire Howard Lutnick, had sued Xavier Alken, who was a long serving partner at the group's London office alongside tax advisor called Michael Vinney. BGC accused the pair of orchestrating a scheme to divert tax payments into their own pockets. Court officials said BGC had reached a settlement with Alken ahead of proceedings that were due to begin in London's high court this week. The group had previously discontinued proceedings against Vinny. Here's another story, this one from Bloomberg. The headline Swiss bors CEO eyes sizable acquisition in next three years six reportedly has shown interest in platform all funds investments needed to stay competitive amid consolidations the head of the swiss stock exchange said the company must invest to stay competitive and he expects to do a sizable acquisition in the coming years. Quote, I would be disappointed if in the next three years we don't acquire something of size, unquote. Six group AG chief executive officer Jose Diselhoff said in an interview. Quote, it does not have to be within the next twelve months, unquote. Six already owns Bolsa de Mercados Espanoles SA, the operator of Spain's exchange. This month it was reported to be considering a bid for all funds Group plc. Last year, Bloomberg reported that all funds was working with advisors on a strategic review that could lead to a sale.
[00:45:33] Welcome to the John Lothian News daily update podcast for February 1, 2024. I am your host John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes commandments from today's JLN Today is the 20th anniversary of the founding of crystal clear communication, Ellen Resnick's public relations firm providing communications counsel to and partnering with leading financial exchanges, clearing brokerage and trading firms, and fintech and reg tech companies across multiple continents. It's hard to believe that it has been 20 years since Ellen launched Crystal Clear. I first met Ellen when I called her to talk my way into the press conference to announce one chicago, when the John Lothia newsletter did not have a name and it was a viral marketing offshoot of my brokerage operations. As head of the electronic trading division of the Price Futures group, Ellen and I had a rocky start, complicated by my bifurcated role as a broker and blogger. I could get into CME meetings wearing my broker hat that journalists could not giving me an information advantage. Ellen needed to manage this with other journalists who covered the CME, which I understood. But it was also an advantage for the CME where she was head of corporate communications for me to create buzz for the exchange.
[00:47:06] After she founded Crystal Clear, we found ourselves on the same side often as she had clients who were John Lothian news or markets wiki sponsors. Needless to say, our relationship improved. I have always had the greatest respect for Ellen and her work as she is a brilliant communicator, strategist and writer. She is also one of the most ethical people I know, which is not a common trait in all public relations people. Ellen has thanked the many people who helped her during her 1st 20 years of running crystal clear in a LinkedIn post. You can read with a link in today's newsletter. The AFM conference in Bangkok has started and AFM chairman Pat Kenny is on the stage. There's a link for a picture in today's newsletter. JLN has published three video shorts on LinkedIn from our two part series with Birmingham Southern College president Daniel Coleman. The videos include one with Coleman talking about missing talking to people about the markets. Second is a video of Coleman talking about raising money for Birmingham Southern and how investors could turn around the college. The third video is Coleman on what college should be like and what classes that should be core. Today FIA published its FIA update with January 2024 highlights on LinkedIn, the MFA network Miami 2024 is going on right now and is the largest on record with over 900 attendees. The MFA shared on LinkedIn.
[00:48:54] I am starting to work on setting up video interviews for FIA's Boca Raton, Florida International Futures conference. If you or your firm are interested in participating in a video interview with John Lothian News, please contact me at
[email protected] the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiatives SSE launched a toolkit for exchanges to help guide markets on the new IFRS sustainability disclosure standards. The toolkit helps exchanges and market participants with model guidance that has been reviewed by the IFRS International Sustainability Standards Board. ISSB. Details on the toolkit, which is free to download, can be found with a link in today's newsletter. Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN options were if Trump wins, the market could skyrocket. Be ready for anything from Barron's fast, exact, joint S and P 500 VIX smile calibration in discrete and continuous time from risk net and China stock sink to five year low as traders unwind rescue bets from Bloomberg. 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 the video series that we had yesterday. The journey of Daniel Coleman from english literature to financial markets part one Daniel Coleman's path to success in the financial markets is a tale of a chance encounter that led him to a career he never anticipated. Born in Alabama, Coleman embarked on a journey that took him from the Ivy League halls of academia to the high stakes world of trading in Philadelphia, Chicago and New York, and back home in academia's highest level. Watch this video on johnlothiannews.com. And then here's a second video. Reviving Birmingham Southern Dan Coleman's journey to save a struggling college Dan Coleman left KCG after it was acquired by Virtu Financial and moved back to Birmingham, Alabama, to contemplate his future. He reached out to a local college, Birmingham Southern, whose board he once served on. Little did he know he would soon end up as its president. You can watch this video on johnlothiannews.com.
[00:51:33] Here's a press release from Fiatech. FIA Tech launches global client operations team for trade data network clients joint offering with e clerics to simplify client onboarding and resolve trade breaks. Fiatech, a leading futures industry technology provider, and eclerx, a market leader in business process management, today announced they have launched an integrated global client operations team to monitor trades and allocations being processed on Fiatech's trade data network, TDn. The jointly staffed team is designed to support and augment clients own operations teams to identify trade breaks and other risk events as they occur, instead of on t plus one. As is commonplace across the industry today, this service, a combination of automated exception management and 24 x five global operations support, will be available to all TDN brokers and clients at no additional cost. My comment I will be talking to FIA tech soon and sharing more details with you. Here is another story, this one from the Wall Street Journal. The headline the intelligence paradox AI may make markets less rational. Even the smartest algorithm has to operate within limitations on risk and capital.
[00:53:04] The evolution of artificial intelligence raises profound questions for financial markets. Will human portfolio managers become obsolete as AI algorithms become smarter? Will markets become perfectly efficient and reflect the ultimate equilibrium in which prices mirror economic reality without human distortion? Economists longstanding debate about market efficiency sheds light on these questions. In the 1970s, Eugene Fama argued in his efficient market hypothesis that asset prices reflect all available information and it is therefore impossible for an investor to outperform the markets consistently. This thesis shaped modern finance, only to be countered a decade later by Robert Schiller, who argued that stock prices are more volatile than would be expected if investors were making decisions based on strictly rational thinking. He processed instead that human irrationality drives market bubbles, crashes and overall inefficiency. Despite their opposing views, Mrs. Fama and Schiller were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in 2013. My comment who said the markets are rational? Here's another story, this one from the Financial Times. The headline Joe Biden appoints John Podesta as the US's top climate diplomat. Veteran of Clinton, Obama and Biden administration replaces John Kerry. Joe Biden has appointed his clean energy advisor, John Podesta, as the US's top climate diplomat, moving swiftly to fill the vacancy despite a looming presidential election. The appointment comes at a critical time for us climate and international energy policy, with allies concerned about the country's commitment to global climate goals if Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election. My comment the thing I like about presidential administrations is they are like old tires, lots of retreads. Here's another story, this one from the Telegraph. The headline a third world war would transform global finance beyond recognition. Given the risks, you might expect the ever more apocalyptic warnings of world War three, now almost daily trouted out by the politicians and the military to be more obviously reflected in the behavior of financial markets. Even comparatively, localized wars tend to be deeply damaging to the economies involved, though there are exceptions which I will come to. But world wars are on another scale entirely, hugely destructive events which take decades to recover from. If fought in the modern age, with its lethal nuclear arsenals, it might even prove existential.
[00:56:10] My comments I have a great idea. Let's not do this. Here are the top three stories from Wednesday's JLN. Our top story Wednesday was the Financial Times german derivatives exchange Urex appoints ABN Amrose Bougie as new chief. Robert Bouge was also our Marketswiki page of the day. Second was Bloomberg's millennium to back Goldman Sachs veterans Asia hedge fund. Third was the Financial Times should savers worry about compensation after HSBC? Fine. Here are the top three stories from the lead section of today's JLN. The first story is from the New York Times. The headline generative AI's biggest impact will be in banking and tech, report says for some companies, the new technology is an opportunity to enhance productivity and profit. Will their workers benefit as well? A new generation of artificial intelligence is poised to turn old assumptions about technology on their head. For years, people working in warehouses or fast food restaurants worried that automation could eliminate their jobs. But new research suggests that generative AI, the kind used in chatbots like OpenAI's chat GBT, will have its biggest impact on white collar workers with high paying jobs in industries like banking and tech. A report published Thursday by the Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit research center, and SHRM, formerly the Society for Human Resource Management, stops short of saying the technology will do away with large numbers of jobs. But it makes clear that workers need to better prepare for a future in which AI could play a significant role in many workplaces that until now have been largely untouched by technological disruption.
[00:58:16] Here's another story. This is the LinkedIn Post from Ellen Resnick, president at Crystal Clear Communications, commemorating the 20th anniversary of crystal clear Communications. Today marks 20 years since I founded Crystal Clear Communications. It's been quite a journey. I've been privileged to provide communications counsel to and partner with leading financial exchanges, clearing brokerage and trading firms, and fintech and regtech companies across multiple continents. Little did I know when I left what we now call CME group that I would remain closely associated with the futures industry and financial markets for two more decades and counting.
[00:59:01] And then here's a story from the Wall Street Journal. The headline Julius Baer, CEO, exits over 700 million dollar signal loss. Julius Baer put the spotlight back on risks at Switzerland's banks with the departure of its chief executive and a big writedown of loans extended to property magnet Renee Benko. The private bank took a full loss allowance on the roughly $700 million it lent to Benko, the austrian developer whose empire extended to a stake in the Chrysler building, and his Cigna Group. That halved its full year profit to 454,000,000 swiss francs, or about 527,000,000 U. S. Dollars.
[00:59:49] Welcome to the John Lothian News Daily update podcast for February 2, 2024. I am your host, John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News. Thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's JLN in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois Chancery division in the case of Sheldon Langer, Ronald M. Yurmack, Lance R. Goldberg, Robert Proze, Gerald Petro, Craig Rheingruber, Stanton Miller, Ray Larson, Daniel Ryan, Carol Jorason individually on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated plaintiffs versus CME Group, Inc. Delaware Corporation and the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, a Delaware corporation defendants a hearing took place on the morning of January 30 in the Cook County Circuit Court Chancery division concerning the status of the defendant's motion that were originally due by January 31. The defendants requested an extension of time and additional page limits for their filing motions. The presiding judge granted an extension allowing them to submit motions for summary judgment with a maximum of 85 pages and set a new deadline for filing these motions by February 16. The defendants will be submitting three motions simultaneously, while the first two motions, namely a motion for summary judgment and a motion to decertify a class, were expected. The third motion, a motion to strike our expert witness, came as a surprise to the court. A JLN source shared both parties intend to engage in mediation, but this will occur only after the aforementioned motions have been filed and thoroughly argued and if the CME loses the argument. Consequently, it appears that mediation will not commence until at least earliest May.
[01:02:04] CbOE Global Markets released its fourth quarter results and reported that it achieved remarkable results with a 33% increase in diluted EPS to $1.98. The full year was even more impressive as it saw a 226% surge in diluted EPS to $7.13. Adjusted diluted EPS for the third quarter and full year increased by 14% and 13%, respectively. Sibo also reported record net revenue for both the quarter at 499,000,000, up 9%, and the full year at 1.9. Billion, up 10%. Looking ahead to 2024, the company aims for organic total net revenue growth of five to 7%, with data and access solutions targeting seven to 10% growth. To support these goals, Sibo has set an adjusted operating and expense guidance range of $798 to $808,000,000, emphasizing its commitment to long term revenue and earnings growth through continued investment.
[01:03:22] Trading solution provider CQG announced it launched the new CQG profile charts and multileg Algo support, as well as an Algo builder in CQG one. You can see the latest updates from CQG with the link in today's newsletter Nicole Oskin announced on LinkedIn that she accepted a role as director Finops at the CME Group, moving from CME Data Services, where she was also a director. The World Federation of Exchanges announced on LinkedIn that US commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Summer Mercinger will be delivering a keynote address at the WFE clear conference. Defense acquisition University reached out to George Vukovtich to moderate a panel for the Department of Defense on AI. The panel is on February 21 at 12:30 p.m. Entitled Innovation Sparks episode six, building capability with DIU. George Vukutvich, PhD, is a visiting faculty member at DAU Fast Markets. Andrea Hotter will be on the Smarter Markets podcast tomorrow with host David Greeley to talk about what's going on.
[01:04:47] Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN options were traders pile into bets on VIX soaring to 50 as Fed risks mount from Bloomberg Regulatory nod for us spot bitcoin ETF options may take months sources from Reuters SGX Group reports first half fiscal year 2024 net profits of 251,000,000 Singapore dollars from SGX Group. 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 story from Bloomberg. The headline Chicago's wealthy raised $66 million to fight against crime. Donors include the Crown and Prisker Family foundations. The business community is all in, Hyatt CEO hop Lamazian says. Chicago's wealthy families and top business leaders have raised $66 million to help fund the city's fight against crime. Donors, including the Crown and Pritzker Family foundations, contributed just over 30% of the 200 million that's required for an initiative to reduce gun violence, representing more than half of the 100 million the business community has pledged. The civic committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, which includes senior leaders from companies including McDonald's Corp. Ulta Beauty Inc. And Morningstar Inc. Is leading the fundraising efforts. My comment nice to see Chicago leaders step up. That is the right direction. Here's another story, this one from the Financial Times. The headline chinese investors buy gold as property and stock markets fall. Blistering demand from central banks also helps keep yellow metal above $2,000 per troy ounce. Chinese investors and households have been buying gold as a refugee from local property and stock market mayhem, helping to support record prices for the haven asset. China was the principal bright spot globally for gold, jewelry and investment flows in 2023, according to industry group the World Gold Council's quarterly report, as local property and equity and currency markets disappointed following the country's exit from Covid-19 lockdowns. My comment chinese investors buy gold, not the new gold, but the old gold. You know, gold, the metal. Here are the top three stories from Thursday's JLN our most clicked item Thursday was the LinkedIn Post commemorating the 20th anniversary of crystal clear communications from Ellen Resnick, the president of Crystal Clear Communications. We wish her a very happy 20th anniversary. Second was US disrupted chinese hacking operation that targeted routers from Bloomberg. Third was it will take years for the oil and gas market to recover from the mother of all shocks, Harvard economist says from Business Insider here are the top five stories from the lead section of today's JLN. The first story is from Bloomberg. The headline pig butchering scam kits are for sale in underground markets. Defi savings, latest iteration of fraud targeting vulnerable pig butchering operations, started in China but now spreading cybercriminals are selling the latest evolution of pig butchering schemes in ready to go kits on the dark web, lowering the barrier to entry for scammers around the world, according to a report published Friday by cybersecurity firm Sophus. In traditional pig butchering scams, which originated in China and blew up during the pandemic, criminals pretend to cultivate a romantic or personal relationship with victims through dating apps or social media. After gaining their trust over weeks of virtual conversations, the fraudsters manipulate them into investing in phony cryptocurrency investments. Once the criminals squeeze as much digital currency as they can out of the victims, they take off with the funds, sometimes robbing innocent people of their life savings. My comment if you're wondering what pig butchering is, check out the pig butchering page on Marketswiki. Here's a story from Reuters. The headline LME Clearinghouse reshuffles management the London Metal Exchange LME Clearinghouse has reshuffled its management team with the appointment of a new chief operating officer, chief risk officer and head of clearing risk, it said on Friday, the clearinghouse of the world's largest and oldest metals markets appointed former Euroclear manager as chief executive officer in October. Here's another story, this one from Bloomberg. The headline markets don't know what to expect anymore, and that's good. A greater diversity of economic forecasts can lead to a richer discussion and help expose previously unseen risks and weaknesses. When it comes to financial markets, nothing is certain. For much of the last few decades, however, it was easy to convince yourself otherwise. Interest rates mostly went in one direction, down, and high inflation was a thing of the past. The pandemic economy and the policies in response to it changed all that. Not only did they bring back higher inflation and interest rates, they also altered expectations. And while the consensus is that the US economy will stick a soft landing, there is a wide variation among investors, consumers and professional forecasters about future inflation rates and bond yields. Here's another story, this one from Coindesk. The headline finance freezes 4.2 million in XRP tokens stolen from Ripple executives wallet over $120,000,000 in XRP was stolen from Ripple Labs executive chairman Chris Larson earlier this week.
[01:11:13] Crypto exchange finance froze $4.2 million worth of XRP tokens last week tied to this week's $120,000,000 exploit, CEO Richard Teng said in an X post. Teng said XRP ledger developers who maintain the blockchain that uses XRP had flagged the exploit to exchanges and asked them to look out for deposits related to exploiter wallets. We will continue to support ripple in their investigations and their efforts to retrieve back the funds, including closely monitoring the majority of the funds still in the exploiter's external wallets in case they deposit to binance, Teng said. Here's another story, this one from CNN. The headline chinese stocks are melting down again after worst week in years chinese stocks have had a very bad week. Despite recent attempts by Beijing to shore up confidence in the economy and stem a protracted stock market slump that has wiped out $6 trillion in value in three years, investors are still rushing for the exit. The Shanghai Composite index fell 6.2%, its biggest weekly loss since October 2018, while the Shenzhen Component index shed 8.1%, its largest drop in three years. The indexes have lost more than 8% and 15%, respectively, since the start of the year. We're grateful for your listening to the John Lothia news daily update. Please consider spreading the word about our podcast among your friends. Moreover, if you haven't done so already, we would greatly appreciate it if you could spare a moment to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or whatever platform on which you access this podcast. Your reviews play a crucial role in introducing our content to new listeners. Also, if you haven't subscribed to the Daily John Lo the newsletter email yet, you can enjoy a complimentary 90 day trial by visiting johnlothiannews.com trial. 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.
