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☆ Market overhaul pits perfect against good-enough
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

At present, more than 90% of individual investors’ trades are sold to a small group of market-makers, according to the agency. The profit that middlemen make from handling retail stock trades suggests Gensler has a point. The trouble is that retail investors have, in some ways, never had it so good. The changes reflect the largest overhaul of market rules since the agency introduced the Regulation National Market System framework in 2005. The proposals range from new disclosures on execution quality to an auction system for individual investors’ stock trades.

☆ Following Griner's release, U.S. lawmakers want a "National Hostage" day
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Days after the release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner from imprisonment in Russia, Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers will introduce legislation on Tuesday to establish March 9 as an annual day to remember Americans detained abroad. The bill, according to text seen by Reuters, seeks to make March 9 "National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day," to call increased attention to Americans unjustly held abroad and add urgency to the push to bring them home. "Brittney Griner's release and unjust imprisonment has only underscored the need for Congress to continue working to safeguard the lives of wrongfully detained Americans," said Democratic Senator Chris Coons, a lead sponsor of the bill, in a statement. The measure's sponsors also include Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Representatives Haley Stevens, a Democrat, and French Hill, a Republican. The administration has been unable to secure the release of former Marine Paul Whelan, who was jailed in Russia on 2020 on spying charges.

Technology stocks rose 3.1% as all sectors and major bourses climbed. The British pound and euro both gained around 1% against the dollar, with sterling hitting a six-month high of 1.242 against the greenback shortly after the announcement. The euro also reached a six-month high of 1.0659. U.S. stocks also moved higher and the 10-year Treasury yield fell below 3.5% after the reading came in. Thursday will also see monetary policy decisions from the Bank of England, European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.

HONG KONG, Dec 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hong Kong’s bankers and officials fantasise about the moment China finally ditches its Covid-19 restrictions. Mainland Chinese firms account for eight of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing’s (0388.HK) ten largest ever IPOs. It remains faster for Chinese companies to list in Hong Kong, rather than join the long queue on the mainland. Hong Kong could also host more offerings from places like the Middle East and Southeast Asia, as Cha envisions. IPOs on the Hong Kong exchange have raised $7.1 billion so far in 2022, according to Refinitiv data for the year up to Dec. 7.

☆ Sinema widens gap between Democrats and Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Big finance has lost an ally in the U.S. Democratic Party. Some of the biggest names on Wall Street have similarly tied themselves to the Republican Party’s leaders. But the gap between Democrats and the financial sector has been growing for years. Sinema’s exit, while it won’t change much in Washington, gives Wall Street one more reason to come off the fence. Follow @BenWinck on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSSenator Kyrsten Sinema said on Dec. 9 that she will change her party registration from Democrat to political independent.

☆ Sinema widens gap between Democrats and Wall St
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Thursday's release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for a convicted Russian arms dealer has resurfaced an old question: Do prisoner swaps do more harm than good? The details of Griner's release highlight the painful trade-offs confronting the Biden administration. In one such case in 2016, North Korea detained American college student Otto Warmbier during a dispute with the international community over that country's missile launches. Many of the families argue that the U.S. should be willing negotiate and discount the argument that prisoner swaps lead more countries to grab Americans. Those hard choices meant Washington could either leave Whelan in Russian custody or else return empty-handed after months of negotiations.

☆ Blackstone gets a slap from efficient markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Private markets seemed, for a while, the perfect antidote to the weirdness of public markets. Those models typically move much more slowly than the rapidly changing prices served up by public markets. These charms became much more potent during the stresses of Covid-19, when it became clear that public markets are not always a ruthlessly efficient price-discovery mechanism. RESILIENCE OR INTRANSIGENCECovid briefly scrambled the world, but bigger changes are coming that may scramble the calculus for private markets. During Covid, public markets seemed backward-looking, overreacting to the present moment while private markets were able to focus on the future.

☆ U.S. labor market softens, slowly
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The Federal Reserve is getting what it wants, but probably more slowly than it wants. That marked the highest count for so-called continuing jobless claims since early February. While bad for the claimants themselves, this is positive for the economy, because it means labor demand is finally cooling off. Wage growth was twice what economists had forecast in November, and continuing jobless claims remain below the average from before the coronavirus hit the United States. The Fed will need to see a much softer labor market before it brings rates back to earth.

☆ Dollar to rebound, accumulate safe-haven strength in 2023: Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Indradip Ghosh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

BENGALURU, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The dollar will rebound against most currencies over the coming months, with the growing threat of recession in the U.S. and elsewhere keeping it firm in 2023 through safe-haven flows, according to market strategists polled by Reuters. Nearly two-thirds or 33 of 51 strategists who answered an additional question said the greater dollar risk over the coming month was that it would rebound rather than falling further. "We foresee volatility levels remaining high in the coming months and expect it is too early for USD bulls to fully capitulate." Most major central banks, including the Fed, are expected to end their tightening campaigns in early 2023. An overwhelming 80% majority, or 42 of 51 respondents, said there was not much scope for dollar upside based on monetary policy.

☆ Dollar gains broadly as upbeat U.S. data muddles Fed rate hike views
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( John Mccrank | Seher Dareen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The survey followed on the heels of stronger-than-expected job and wage growth data for November released last Friday. "The ISM services PMI data highlighted a U.S. economy that's still showing some strength, despite tighter financial conditions," said Priscilla Thiagamoorthy, an economist at BMO Capital Markets. "While that's good news for the growth outlook, it's not so great for the Fed trying to dampen demand and ease inflation." Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last week the U.S. central bank could scale back the pace of its rate increases "as soon as December." "I think this issue about 'peak inflation, peak rates, peak dollar' - I think - is slowly turning into a 'persistence of inflation, a persistence of higher-for-longer interest rates," said Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank.

☆ Circle’s SPAC flop does the public market a favor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The firm run by Jeremy Allaire planned to go public through a marriage with a special-purpose acquisition company, valuing it at $9 billion. USD Coin is regulated by a New York financial watchdog, unlike rival Tether, but lacks the secure trust-company structure of peers Gemini and Paxos. Concord, a listed special-purpose acquisition company chaired by former Barclays chief Bob Diamond, agreed to buy Circle in July 2021. The circulating supply of USD Coin was $43 billion on Dec. 5, according to CoinMarketCap, compared with $53 billion in February. At that time, Circle estimated there would be $110 billion of USD Coin in circulation by the end of 2022.

☆ IPO market nearly paused, but exchange leaders expect 2023 boost
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( John Mccrank | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 15, 2022. Proceeds raised by IPOs this year are down around 93% versus 2021, said Lynn Martin, president of Intercontinental Exchange Inc's (ICE.N) New York Stock Exchange. "The reason companies aren't coming to market isn't because the public market currency isn't strong," she said in an interview on Wednesday. Increased scrutiny over the accounting practices of Chinese companies listing in the United States has been another factor in the slowdown in IPOs. "I am quite confident that the IPO market activity will return very quickly in the new year," she said.

☆ Blackstone’s BREIT slump looks nasty but not fatal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Investors knocked around $8 billion off Blackstone’s (BX.N) market capitalization on Thursday after it said investors were fleeing a flagship real estate fund. But it’s a nasty black eye for the $125 billion Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust, one of the private-equity giant’s star earners. The real-estate fund only allows withdrawals of 5% of its net asset value - which stood at $69 billion in November- per quarter. So based on some simple math, the erasure of $8 billion of Blackstone’s market value suggests investors think perhaps half of BREIT’s profit might go up in smoke. BREIT’s terms allow for investor redemptions equivalent to 2% of its net asset value a month, or 5% per quarter.

☆ After FTX collapse, pressure builds for tougher crypto rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX was the biggest in string of big crypto-related failures this year. Some crypto investors share these concerns. "Regulators could have posted a lot more guidance for crypto," said Brian Fakhoury at crypto venture capital fund Mechanism Capital. India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the collapse of FTX underscored the need for greater visibility on often-anonymous crypto transactions. The FTX collapse "shows the importance of a well-framed regulation," Sitharaman said, "so that countries can be clearly aware of by whom, for what for these transactions are happening.

☆ Nasdaq CEO hopeful IPOs will pick up in 2023, calls for more crypto regulation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nasdaq had 143 IPOs in the first nine months of 2022, versus 557 over the first three quarters of 2021. Friedman also said she anticipates Nasdaq's cryptocurrency custody business, Nasdaq Digital Assets, which it announced in September, to launch in the first half of 2023, pending regulatory approval. Nasdaq has also made a big push into anti-financial crimes software, with its $2.75 billion acquisition of Verafin, announced in December 2020. Friedman said she believes Nasdaq's fast-growing anti-financial crime unit could become a $1 billion-a-year business, three times its current revenue. To view the Reuters NEXT conference live on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, please click here.

☆ U.S.-Backed Researchers Use AI to Probe for Weaknesses in Drug Supply Chains
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has approved research that will use artificial intelligence to delve into drug supply chains and probe for weaknesses, including foreign influence. Any overreliance on foreign inputs in drug supply chains could leave the U.S. open to dire shortages in the event of conflict or natural catastrophe. PREVIEWThe DHS-backed dive into drug supply chains will examine to what extent the supply of drugs might be susceptible to disruption. The new DHS-backed study will try to map out supply chains several layers deep, and potentially uncover previously hidden issues, Mr. Tuchman said. Consultant Steven Lynn says the pandemic opened people’s eyes to issues inherent in far-flung pharmaceutical supply chains.

☆ Jiang Zemin made China richer and more unequal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

NEW YORK, Nov 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Jiang Zemin, who died on Wednesday, catapulted China into the modern world. And his death comes at an inconvenient time for the current president, Xi Jinping. Chosen as party chief weeks before the violent 1989 suppression of Tiananmen Square protesters who demanded economic and political reforms, Jiang inherited a system riven by infighting. While numbers can deceive in a state-led economy like China’s, Jiang still notched up some encouraging stats. Follow @johnsfoley on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSJiang Zemin, the former president of China, died on Nov. 30.

☆ Musk’s Apple fight could be his Twitter legacy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Elon Musk doesn’t just want to force changes at Twitter. Musk isn’t the first to complain that Apple acts as a gatekeeper for companies distributing apps through its platforms. Losing a chunk of every $8 that a user pays to become a Twitter Blue subscriber makes that harder. Second, Musk attacked Apple’s policy of asking developers to moderate content in apps sold through its App Store. Videogame developer Epic Games sued Apple in part over this very issue, a fight Apple won.

☆ Greta Thunberg joins march as activists sue Sweden over its climate policies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Hundreds of activists, among them Greta Thunberg, marched through the Swedish capital to a court Friday to file a lawsuit against the Swedish state for what they say is insufficient climate action. They want the court to determine that the country has violated its citizen’s human rights with its climate policies. “Sweden has never treated the climate crisis like a crisis,” said Anton Foley, spokesman of the youth-led initiative Aurora, which prepared and filed the lawsuit. At a recent U.N. climate conference in Egypt earlier this month, leaders tried to keep that goal alive but did not ratchet up calls for reducing carbon emissions. Climate campaigners have launched numerous lawsuits against governments and companies in recent years, with mixed success.

☆ Automakers need way more plug-in stations to make their EV plans work. That has sparked a buying frenzy as big charging players gobble up smaller ones.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Alexa St. John | Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

EV charging has a newfound boost from government incentives and industry spending. The charging space has picked up momentum as automakers are pouring billions into EV development. Because of these struggles, not every company will make it — some smaller companies are betting that larger ones will gobble them up and take on their assets through mergers and acquisitions. "For the smaller companies, it's hard to scale up on their own. The auto industry's latest M&A frenzyGiven the long lead time on vehicle development, automakers have relied on consolidation to integrate expensive technology into their portfolios.

☆ Stablecoins fall few cents short of respectability
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

That will reignite the debate over how to regulate digital assets – especially when it comes to stablecoins, the most money-like part of the cryptoverse. Stablecoins are digital assets designed to have a steady value, usually by being pegged to a real-world currency like the U.S. dollar. For each dollar of stablecoin a user holds, there’s supposed to be a dollar, or something like a dollar, sitting in a metaphorical vault. And in the case of some so-called algorithmic stablecoins, what backs the stablecoin might be another digital token with no fundamental value. The total sum of major U.S. dollar stablecoins outstanding is just under $145 billion, according to CoinGecko.

☆ Trump's day of reckoning is overdue. Garland's special counsel move adds to the delay.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Michael Conway | Michael Conway Was Counsel For The House Judiciary Committee In The Impeachment Inquiry Of President Richard Nixon In In That Role | He Assisted In Drafting The Committee'S Final Report To The House In Support Of The Three Articles Of Impeachment Adopted The Committee. Conway Is A Graduate Of Yale Law School | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate former President Donald Trump is a miscalculation, with the main problem being timing. Despite assurances from Garland that a special counsel will not bog down the investigation, reality suggests otherwise. Not to mention that past practice demonstrates that the Justice Department has regularly shown that anyone can be held accountable — without resorting to a special counsel. No special counsel was used. I believe Trump’s day of reckoning is long overdue, and Garland’s overly cautious decision to appoint a special counsel may continue postponing that day.

☆ Big Tech layoffs are dystopian job-market fiction
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

After years of falling U.S. unemployment, it might seem like Silicon Valley is foreshadowing the beginning of a dystopian future for workers. Yet there’s a good chance that what happens in Silicon Valley won’t spill over into the rest of the economy. Silicon Valley is ahead of the curve on firing too. That’s particularly burdensome for tech firms that rely heavily on innovation to drive growth. Job listings for restaurant workers were up 38% from the pre-crisis levels as of Nov. 10, according to Indeed.

☆ Crypto watchdogs have a giant offshore problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The European Union’s mammoth crypto regulation would help. Known as MiCA and recently agreed by lawmakers, the rulebook forces custodians to segregate clients’ crypto holdings from the firm’s own assets. Security firm Chainalysis reckons almost three-quarters of stolen crypto in 2021 was taken from DeFi services. Take Binance, by the far largest crypto exchange. Reuters GraphicsFollow @liamwardproud on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSFTX suffered a “severe liquidity crisis” that led to its bankruptcy, according to court filings dated Nov. 14.

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