The Man Who Triggered a $10 Billion Commodity Collapse Finally Speaks; Big Ag Firms Face New Threat

First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Bailey Kessing of Trillium is the focus of today’s video from our MarketsWiki Education World of Opportunity series in New York. I believe Bailey is the youngest person we have had as a speaker at our MWE programs. Bailey was also the 2018 winner of the women’s longest drive contest at FIA Boca, which is a first for us too.~JJL

One of the highlights of The Voice of Blockchain event next week will be a presentation from Brittany Kaiser, the whistleblower who helped expose the abuse of Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica. The event is August 24 and 25 at Navy Pier in Chicago and readers of the John Lothian Newsletter can receive $50 off of registration with this link. Go here for more information.~SR

Eric Dugan of 3D Capital Management had this data point – the S&P 500’s daily trading range is 130 percent greater than last year and 75 percent greater than its 20-year average.~SD

FINRA has changed its arbitration rules to involve penalties for late cancellations of prehearing conferences. FINRA said “late cancellations … have negatively impacted its roster of arbitrators by creating scheduling inconveniences for, and uncompensated work [read: prehearing preparation] by, arbitrators.” FINRA said arbitrators in the past have resigned because the current setup doesn’t provide any cancellation compensation. Now there will be a $100 honorarium for arbitrators if there is a cancellation.~SD

The Economist released its Global Liveability Index for 2018. The top five most liveable cities are Vienna; Melbourne, Australia; Osaka, Japan; Calgary, Canada; and Sydney. The bottom five are Damascus, Syria; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Lagos, Nigeria; Karachi, Pakistan; and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.~SD

Last week’s JLN piece Tech firms looking to change the technology stack was a top read article. For more on the topic, check out Steve Grob‘s six-part series Buy v Build.~JK

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MWE World of Opportunity – The Challenges of Crypto Market Trade Surveillance
JohnLothianNews.com

“So what type of trouble can crazy, 85-year-old Aunt Zelda – who’s now a honed market manipulator – get into in the crypto world?”

Do you have an aunt named Zelda? Do you own cryptocurrency? Ever had an awkward conversation at Thanksgiving dinner?

In this video from MarketsWiki Education’s event in New York, Bailey Kessing, head of business development for Trillium, uses a few examples to demonstrate how market manipulation in cryptocurrencies could occur.

Watch the video here »

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Newspaper editorials across U.S. rebuke Trump for attacks on the press
Alex Dobuzinskis, Brendan O’Brien – Reuters
Hundreds of U.S. newspapers devoted print space on Thursday to a coordinated defense of press freedom and a rebuke of President Donald Trump for saying some media organizations are enemies of the American people.
/jlne.ws/2Mkph9g

***** We would add our names to this list. I believe you can’t have free markets without free press. And don’t mess with my free markets!~JJL

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Future FinTech Launches New Line of Enzyme Drink Products
PRNewswire via MarketWatch
A financial technology company and an integrated producer of fruit juice related products, today announced the release of its first product line of enzyme drinks under the Company’s Hedetang brand called Xian Mei Duo, featuring healthy enzyme drinks made from high-quality seasonal fruits.
/on.mktw.net/2MPvS7C

****A beverage company (formerly Skypeople Fruit Juice) pivots to fintech and rebrands, while remaining primarily a beverage company? Where have I seen this before?~SD

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Wednesday’s Top Three
People want to know what other people are doing. So our top read piece of the day by a few miles was the RJO announcement R.J. O’Brien Names Stephen Brodsky to New Role of Chief Strategy Officer. Second was the Marketwatch article A team at Northwestern think they have solved one of bitcoin’s biggest problems. Third was the piece on waste, as in, how much garbage we all produce. The US topped the list in Visual Capitalist’s Infographic: Visualizing What the World Thinks About Waste

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MarketsWiki Stats
130,926,855 pages viewed; 23,234 pages; 214,520 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

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Lead Stories

The Man Who Triggered a $10 Billion Commodity Collapse Finally Speaks
Javier Blas and Andy Hoffman – Bloomberg
Arnaud Vagner has been a mystery for more than three years. Noble Group, once one of the world’s biggest commodity trading houses, characterized him as a disgruntled former junior employee behind a series of reports by Iceberg Research, an anonymous group that began attacking its accounting practices in 2015.
/jlne.ws/2PcZttt

Firms That Bossed Agriculture for a Century Face New Threat: Farmers; Running expanded, consolidated operations, farms are pushing Cargill and ADM for better prices and are sometimes competing with them directly
Jacob Bunge – WSJ
Across the U.S. Farm Belt, the balance of power is swinging away from multibillion-dollar agribusinesses.
/jlne.ws/2MmgvY6

Banks Say No Thanks to Volcker Rule Changes; A proposal by Trump-appointed regulators to ease restrictions on trading could hurt large banks, firms say
Lalita Clozel – WSJ
Trump-appointed financial regulators set out to ease the Volcker ruleóa controversial postcrisis restriction for banksóand instead have drawn the industry’s ire.
/jlne.ws/2Pd1t4X

U.S. Pursues One of the Biggest Mortgage-Fraud Probes Since the Financial Crisis; At issue is whether income from apartment complexes was falsified to support larger loans–which often became part of mortgage securities.
Cezary Podkul – WSJ
Owners of an apartment complex near Pittsburgh, who wanted to take out a mortgage on the buildings, allegedly made vacant units look occupied by turning on radios, placing shoes and mats outside doors and in one instance having a woman tell inspectors her boyfriend was asleep inside.
/jlne.ws/2PdA9mU

In eye of the storm, Turkey’s new finance chief faces credibility test
Humeyra Pamuk – Reuters
Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak faces a key credibility test on Thursday when he hosts a conference call with global investors to reassure them that policy makers can contain the country’s worst currency crisis since 2001.
/jlne.ws/2PeE0jS

Emerging market stocks in bear territory after 20 percent drop since January
Marc Jones – Reuters
A leading emerging market stock index extended its slump since January to 20 percent on Wednesday in a fresh wave of selling which took it into territory commonly regarded as a bear market.
/reut.rs/2MPc6cy

Bitcoin Bulls Regain Upper Hand as Extinction Concern Subsides
Olga Kharif – Bloomberg
Bitcoin recovered from the lowest level since June and scores of smaller digital tokens rallied as concern eased that investors are giving up on the virtual alternatives to cash after this year’s collapse in prices.
/jlne.ws/2MhMcCb

Tesla subpoenaed by SEC over Elon Musk tweet; Regulator raises questions after founder says ‘funding secured’ for take-private plans
Shannon Bond and James Fontanella-Khan – FT
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed Tesla, said a person familiar with the matter, as part of an investigation into a tweet by founder Elon Musk over plans to take the electric carmaker private.
/jlne.ws/2PfBqtE

***** Here is the WSJ version.~JJL

Replacing the IBORS: A Mammoth Global Effort
George Bollenbacher – TABB Forum
The replacement of the various interbank offered rates is one of the largest and most difficult transitions ever done in the capital markets. It touches a wide variety of markets and instruments, and utilizes new rates that differ significantly from the old ones, as well as from each other. TABB Group’s new head of fixed income research George Bollenbacher looks at the challenges and implications of the IBOR replacement effort as well as an approach that maximizes the chances of success.
/goo.gl/i6ygQb

Erdogan and Trump battle it out in the lira blame game; Thanks to US sanctions, the Turkish leader can claim there is an effort to sabotage him
Katie Martin – Financial Times
“Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!” Donald Trump tweeted last week. In fact, on the economic front at least, the US president is really his Turkish counterpart’s best friend.
/jlne.ws/2P85TKp

MiFID II: not all doom and gloom
Jamie Powell – FT Alphaville
If you bothered to read the news over last Christmas you may have heard about something called Mifid II. The European legislation, the second iteration of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, came into force on January 3.
/jlne.ws/2PcUg4T

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

USD Spreadovers and SEF Market Share
Chris Barnes – Clarus Financial Technology
We last looked at Asset Swaps back in May 2017 and looked in detail at USD Spreadovers in January 2017. That means we’ve got 18 months of history to catch up on in this blog, so read on to find out what’s been happening.
/goo.gl/vUuhpP

How are Futures on Bitcoin doing?
Amir Khwaja – Clarus Financial Technology
We last looked at Bitcoin Futures in January 2018, shortly after their launch by CBOE and CME, so high time to re-visit these to see how volumes have performed.
/goo.gl/oBYRxr

For The First Time – The Israeli Public Will Be Able To Compare Trading Fees -TASE Will Publish Trading Fees Comparison Table For Investors On Its Website
Mondovisione
For the First Time, the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) has started publishing on its website trading and clearing fees that TASE members charge their clients, in a manner that enables comparison between fees charged by different TASE members.
/goo.gl/yBFcCg

AITE Group report (part 1): MSCI exchange-traded derivatives and recent trends in the market structure
Eurex
For us at Eurex, MSCI is a major strategic focus point. That is why we constantly explore market developments and continuously expand our MSCI offering. To research MSCI exchange-traded derivatives (ETDs) in today’s market structure, we teamed up with AITE Group. The first part of the three-piece study focuses on MSCI ETDs and explains recent trends and changes in the market structure.
/jlne.ws/2MhTKEN

Single Stock Dividend Futures: Fee classification from 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2019
Eurex
For the period from 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2019, Eurex Clearing will introduce a fee classification for each individual Single Stock Dividend Future (SSDF).
/jlne.ws/2PdOsYM

Appendix 4E and Annual Report
ASX
/www.asx.com.au/documents/investor-relations/Appendix4EandAnnualReport2018.pdf

Fintech

CEO CHAT: AIR’s Stephenson Discusses Initiatives, Buy Side Tech and Market Structure
John D’Antona Jr. – Traders Magazine
Bill Stephenson spent 20 years at Franklin Templeton Investments, ultimately becoming Global Head of Trading and one of the most recognizable figures in the buy side trading community. After leaving the firm in 2017, he’s now leading the AIR Summit, a buy-side only event focused on showcasing the companies with the most innovative new solutions to help drive alpha.
/goo.gl/5omT9W

Move Over FANGs, FinTech ETF is Hot Now
Neena Mishra – Nasdaq
Investors love tech stocks and ETFs as tech continues to be the best performing sector this year, up about 15%. Some niche tech ETFs have done much better. One of them is the Global X FinTech ETF ( FINX ) that focuses on the emerging financial technology industry. It has risen about 24% this year.
/goo.gl/4npxWa

What The Treasury Department’s FinTech Report Means For Advisors
Samuel Steinberger – Wealth Management
Aggregated data today is far more robust than a table of transactions or the odd portfolio report. Information funneled between fintech firms, custodians, advisor portals, banks, server storage centers, even mobile phones, with powers systems that turn data into cues for when an advisor should reach out to a client provide financial context to voicebots like Amazon’s Alexa and are fueling speculation about the role of artificial intelligence in financial services.
bit.ly/2P9u2jA

U.S. Treasury: Regulators should back off FinTech, allow innovation
Lucas Mearian – Computerworld
The Treasury Department recently released a report urging state and federal regulators to revamp outdated statutes and support technological innovations such as AI, machine learning and blockchain that could make the U.S. financial system more nimble and competitive.
bit.ly/2PcWgtV

Thomson Reuters Eikon Brings Leading Minds to Investment Managers’ Desktops with Content from Financial Streaming Platform Real Vision
Business Wire
Thomson Reuters has taken another step to inform investment managers, announcing that it will now offer clients access to in-depth content from Real Vision, the premiere video-on-demand service for financial and business media. The agreement will enable banks, brokerage houses, asset managers, hedge funds and other Thomson Reuters clients to purchase Real Vision subscriptions for employees, and for retail investment customers to gain insight and make more informed investment decisions. Real Vision video content will be available on the Reuters Insider online platform, which delivers interviews, financial data and other information to subscribers.
/goo.gl/9QgDKW

Senior Bloomberg staff leave after internal probe; Investigation finds handling of third-party information should have been escalated through appropriate internal channels
Samuel Agini – Financial News
Three of Bloomberg’s electronic trading team have left the financial data provider after an internal probe into their handling of third-party information, which was prompted by a whistleblower.
/jlne.ws/2vCSgui

Intapp acquires DealCloud
Finextra
Intapp, a leading provider of industry solutions for the $2 trillion global professional services industry, today announced the acquisition of DealCloud, which specializes in CRM and deal management for investment banking and private equity firms.
/jlne.ws/2Mk2o5T

Investment Association adds first FinTech member to boost buy-side engagement; Addition of RegTech firm ClauseMatch as IA member aimed at increasing buy-side engagement with FinTechs.
By John Brazier – The Trade
The UK’s Investment Association (IA) has added its first FinTech member in a move designed to encourage engagement between technology firms and its buy-side membership.
/jlne.ws/2Pgrlgq

Cryptocurrencies

U.S. investor sues AT&T for $224 million over loss of cryptocurrency
Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss – Reuters
U.S. entrepreneur and cryptocurrency investor Michael Terpin filed a $224 million lawsuit on Wednesday against telecommunications company AT&T (T.N), accusing it of fraud and gross negligence in connection with the theft of digital currency tokens from his personal account.
/reut.rs/2MR2k9Y

Bearish Cryptocurrency Market – SEC ETF Decision Triggers Extended Investor Panic
Malek Mezni – Blokt
The crypto market’s recent, and much-publicized, plunge had drawn plenty of theories and speculation regarding where prices are heading to next. Investor panic ensued, but it looks like some basic fundamentals are driving momentum in this young yet extremely volatile market.
bit.ly/2PeWFfb

With Bitcoin Sinking, Crypto Miners Just Dig Deeper
Justina Lee – Bloomberg
With Bitcoin falling, you might expect mining activity to follow. That hasn’t happened.
The combination of declining prices and a rising hash rate — which measures computing power — shows how complex the economics of cryptocurrency mining are. An increasing hash rate means Bitcoin mining is still profitable enough for many players to stay put, defying speculation that prices have fallen past break-even points.
/bloom.bg/2MsQeqs

Inside the Vegas nightclub that launched its own cryptocurrency
Jack Morse – Mashable
It’s 11:15 p.m. on a Friday night and a man in a white button-down shirt named Joey just ordered me a shot of Fireball. It’s a little hard to hear him over the music blasting from the other side of the velvet ropes, but the club’s director of services leans in close to make sure I can hear him.
/goo.gl/98FNSP

Ten experts debate bitcoin’s recent declines and the future of cryptocurrency
Thomas Catenacci – CNBC
Bitcoin’s price was above $8,000 at the end of July. Now, in the middle of August, the cryptocurrency is down to around $6,500.
/goo.gl/RRxppY

Cryptocurrency Startup Swarm Is Selling Tokens Backed by Robinhood Shares
CCN
Cryptocurrency startup Swarm has an ambitious plan to democratize venture capital, and it has today taken a major step toward that goal by listing tokens that allow investors to purchase fractional shares in privately-owned fintech darling Robinhood.
/goo.gl/nYSVDY

UK Watchdog: Summer’s Cryptocurrency Fraud Costs £2 Million in Losses
Samburaj Das – CCN
The UK’s national policing lead for fraud has revealed figures wherein victims have reported 203 instances of cryptocurrency fraud totaling a little over £2 million ($2.54 million) in losses.
In an announcement published this on August 10, Action Fraud – the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting center – warned the public of fraudsters pushing ‘get rich quick’ investment schemes related to mining and trading in cryptocurrencies.
bit.ly/2PeCLkr

Kurt Russell Stars in Cryptocurrency Thriller ‘Crypto’ – Exclusive Preview
Jake Kleinman – Inverse
Cryptocurrency values may have peaked in December 2017, but the cryptocurrency movie has nowhere to go but up ó at least, that’s what the producers of Crypto are hoping. The upcoming film, currently in post-production, tells a classic crime thriller set against the backdrop of shady cryptocurrency dealings (think “Michael Clayton meets Sicario”).
/goo.gl/4H3G1G

Tyler Winklevoss: ‘It Will Take Time’ for Wall Street to Make Crypto Jump
CCN
Crypto exchange Gemini CEO Tyler believes “it will take time” for the majority of Wall Street to enter the cryptocurrency sector.
/goo.gl/LkwYkw

CLS And IBM Launch Blockchain App Store With Banks And Fintechs
Tom Groenfeldt – Forbes
CLS, the global foreign exchange settlement bank founded to eliminate Herstatt risk ó the risk of one side in an FX trade will fail before paying its leg of a transaction ó is now partnering with IBM to offer a blockchain app store called CLS LedgerConnect.
/jlne.ws/2PfsTHt

Goldman Sachs leads $32M round into enterprise blockchain startup Axoni
BY DUNCAN RILEY – Silicon Angle
Enterprise blockchain startup Axoni Communications Inc. today said it has raised $32 million in new funding.
/jlne.ws/2PdCgXS

Politics

Trump says his steel tariffs will save the U.S. industry: WSJ
Reuters Staff
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his tariffs on foreign steel are saving the U.S. industry and he predicted that in the future American steelmakers will mostly face domestic competition, the Wall Street Journal reported.
/jlne.ws/2MlGxe7

Documents Reveal Successful Cyberattack in California Congressional Race
Andy Kroll – Rolling Stone
FBI agents in California and Washington, D.C., have investigated a series of cyberattacks over the past year that targeted a Democratic opponent of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). Rohrabacher is a 15-term incumbent who is widely seen as the most pro-Russia and pro-Putin member of Congress and is a staunch supporter of President Trump.
/rol.st/2OFTj46

Trump, Seeking to Relax Rules on U.S. Cyberattacks, Reverses Obama Directive; It isn’t clear what rules the president is adopting to replace the existing ones
Dustin Volz – WSJ
President Trump has reversed an Obama-era memorandum dictating how and when the U.S. government can deploy cyberweapons against its adversaries, in an effort to loosen restrictions on such operations, according to people familiar with the action.
/jlne.ws/2PcDinb

Regulation

SEC Charges Ameriprise Financial Services For Failing To Safeguard Client Assets
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. will pay $4.5 million to settle charges that it failed to safeguard retail investor assets from theft by its representatives.
/goo.gl/D4y5m7

ICI, SIFMA offer recommendations on proposed Reg BI
Amanda Maine, J.D. – Wolters Kluwer
Several organizations have written letters to the SEC commenting on its proposed Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) and related proposals regarding investment advice professionals’ standards of conduct at the close of the comment period last week, including the Investment Company Institute (ICI) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Both organizations were largely supportive of the SEC’s proposals, but described areas in need of improvement or clarification.
/goo.gl/m51cun

Sebi sets eyes on commodity index derivatives, works on guidelines; Commodity contracts, instead of commodities, which are the underlying, will be components of the index. Second, it will be a future price index and not a spot price index
Rajesh Bhayani – Business Standard
Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman Ajay Tyagi has said in an annual report “there are plans to consider more commodity options contracts to be launched, besides working on guidelines for index products”. Sebi will have to first finalise guidelines, which, according to sources, will suggest common standards for preparing commodity indices and later there will be regulations regarding trading.
/jlne.ws/2MktJEL

Alberta Securities Commission panel denies order against short seller Cohodes
CBC
The Alberta Securities Commission has rejected a requested order to prevent American short-seller Marc Cohodes from trading shares in or providing misleading information about Calgary-based Badger Daylighting Ltd.
/goo.gl/1zNkpr

Monthly Disciplinary Actions August 2018
FINRA
/jlne.ws/2Mk4kvb

Proposed Rule Change to Amend FINRA Rule 7730 (Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE)) to Remove Computer-to-Computer Interface (“CTCI”) as a Technological Option for TRACE Reporting
FINRA
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) a proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rule 7730 to modify the technological connectivity options available to members for reporting transactions to TRACE.
/jlne.ws/2PeTuEn

Proposed Rule Change to Amend FINRA Rule 1220(a)(4) (Financial and Operations Principal and Introducing Broker-Dealer Financial and Operations Principal)
FINRA
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) a proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rule 1220(a)(4) (Financial and Operations Principal and Introducing Broker-Dealer Financial and Operations Principal) to: (1) reflect that certain firms remain exempt from the requirement to designate an individual as a Financial and Operations Principal (“FINOP”) or an Introducing Broker-Dealer Financial and Operations Principal (“Introducing FINOP”); and (2) provide that the individual designated as Principal Financial Officer and Principal Operations Officer of these exempt firms is not required to be qualified and registered as a FINOP or an Introducing FINOP.
/jlne.ws/2PfvtNF

Information for customers of Premier FX Limited
UK FCA
On 13 August 2018, on the application of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the High Court appointed administrators in respect of Premier FX Limited (Premier). Premier is authorised by the FCA under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 to perform money remittance services.
/jlne.ws/2PeJ7R6

Investing and Trading

Barclays Trader Faces $19 Million Loss on Turkey Bonds
Donal Griffin and Alastair Marsh – Bloomberg
Senior trader Kirbay’s trade decline occurred over three days; Bank says Turkish trades are a small part of credit business
A senior Barclays Plc trader has faced losses of about 15 million pounds ($19 million) on Turkish bonds over the past few days, according to people familiar with the matter.
/bloom.bg/2MOO29K

Dollar has become the haven for investors seeking shelter; US economy seen powering along and expose comparatively weaker rivals
Roger Blitz – FT
“King Dollar” is that overused market terminology investors resort to any time the reserve currency is the dominant trading trend. And right now, such a term seems appropriate.
/jlne.ws/2Pc3E8J

Commentary: Dollar surge, EM turmoil echo Greenspan’s 1998 ‘oasis of prosperity’ warning
Jamie McGeever – Reuters
“It is just not credible that the United States can remain an oasis of prosperity unaffected by a world that is experiencing greatly increased stress,” opined Alan Greenspan almost exactly 20 years ago.
/reut.rs/2MSI2gk

Copper hits lowest level in more than a year
Fred Imbert – CNBC
Copper prices hit their lowest levels in 13 months on Wednesday, potentially signaling an economic slowdown is happening around the world.
/cnb.cx/2OFFYIR

Hedge Funds Are Losing Their Appetite for FANGs
Daren Fonda – Barron’s
Amazon aside, the FANGs appear to be losing some luster with big hedge funds. The FANGs refer to Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google’s parent Alphabet (GOOGL). The stocks have been hugely popular with hedge funds, many of which have made a killing as the stocks have surged.
/goo.gl/CtA4K1

Investors should not rely on the share buyback surge lasting
John Authers – Financial Times
Buyback derangement syndrome has us back in its grasp.
That is mainly because companies are buying back their own stock at a record rate this year, particularly in the US where repatriation flows have helped, but also in the rest of the world. But the fascination with the shrinking of public markets and the resulting growth of private markets has also been given extra piquancy by some shocking stories as managers and founders attempt to have the best of both worlds.
/on.ft.com/2MQ5RoX

Commodities Meet Their Wile E. Coyote Moment; A chasm just opened under metals.
David Fickling – Bloomberg
There comes a moment in every market where traders suddenly feel the ground dropping away beneath their feet. Like Wile E. Coyote, the Warner Bros. cartoon character who hovered in midair after running off the edge of a cliff before plummeting to the valley below, conditions can even feel weirdly normal for a while.
/jlne.ws/2Pj7s8q

***Wile E. Coyote always makes a great metaphor. ~SR

Institutions

R.J O’Brien appoints strategy chief in new role; US futures broker R.J O’Brien has hired industry veteran Stephen Brodsky as chief strategy officer in a newly created role.
By Hayley McDowell – The Trade
US futures broker and clearing house R.J O’Brien has appointed Stephen Brodsky as chief strategy officer in a newly-created role.
/jlne.ws/2MlrLE4

Let’s talk big bank capital
Victoria Guida and Aubree Eliza Weaver – Politico
Big banks are pushing to lower a capital surcharge that applies only to them and is becoming increasingly important in their rulebook. It’s still not politically easy for megabanks to push for looser regulation, with the wounds of the financial crisis fresh in people’s minds. But there’s at least one argument that banks hope will resonate with policymakers: The surcharge is hurting their international competitiveness.
/goo.gl/hXDFwn

Morgan Stanley’s new comp plan could pinch pay for some brokers
Bruce Kelly – InvestmentNews
The wirehouse will penalize advisers if they cannot sell enhanced services to clients with smaller accounts
When Morgan Stanley released its 2019 compensation plan for its 15,632 financial advisers and brokers late last month, it made a point of saying that any changes to the grid, as it is known in the industry, would all be positive.
/goo.gl/QmR7X3

Gotcha! 10 lessons from brokers gone bad
InvestmentNews
How many activities can regulators scrutinize to nab brokers and advisers? Let us count the ways.
/goo.gl/wwPAKC

Regions

Turkey’s new finance chief faces credibility battle with markets
Humeyra Pamuk – Reuters
Facing Turkey’s gravest currency crisis since 2001 in his first month in the job, Finance Minister Berat Albayrak has the daunting task of reassuring global investors that the economy is not hostage to political interference.
/reut.rs/2MO0x5s

How Freaked Out Are Italian Investors? Very.; The information in the short-end selloff shows serious skepticism about the budget process.
Marcus Ashworth – Bloomberg
Italian bonds have been getting hit pretty hard lately, and it’s understandable, given the turmoil in Turkey and the serious worries about the nation’s budget. But when markets turn risk-off, as they did earlier this week, it can be hard to assess just how worried investors in Italy really are.
/jlne.ws/2MhoKok

Italy Needs to Wake Up and Fix Its Banks; The euro area’s most vulnerable economy is heading into a storm.
Ashoka Mody – Bloomberg
The renewed turmoil in financial markets should send Italy’s leaders an urgent message: They must speed up a costly and possibly disruptive repair of their fragile banks to prevent even greater costs and disruption later.
/jlne.ws/2P9rbam

Why financial market shocks will be the new normal as central banks tighten their liquidity belts; Nicholas Spiro says the volatility on Wall Street in February and the turbulence in Italy, China and Turkey are not isolated events but the outcome of quantitative tightening
Nicholas Spiro – South China Morning Post
One of the buzzwords in financial markets this year has been “idiosyncratic”. A series of shocks that began in early February with a sudden eruption of volatility in US stock markets and have since put Italy, China and now Turkey under strain have been treated by international investors as disparate sell-offs, each with their own causes and catalysts.
/jlne.ws/2Mmps3V

HKMA intervenes to support HK dollar for second day
Emma Dunkley – FT
Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has been forced to intervene to prop up the local currency for a second consecutive day after it slumped to HK$7.85 against the dollar.
/jlne.ws/2Mloogo

Israel’s Central Bank Wants Increased Regulation on Algorithmic Trading
John D’Antona Jr. – Traders Magazine Online News
There will be no “Algos Gone Wild” in Israel’s stock markets if its regulator gets its way.
As first reported in Calcalist Tech, the country’s leading regulator, Bank of Israel, said it wants to review the need to restrict HFT in all financial assets traded on the exchange. Since HFTs employ algorithms and hyper fast computer technology, the move is in line with the country’s desire to reduce the risk of trading and exchange failures and manipulation.
/goo.gl/p7jvi4

Brexit

Markets Should Stop Panicking Over Brexit, Duncan Smith Says
Thomas Penny – Bloomberg
Former Conservative Party leader says U.K. economy is ‘robust’; Defends Johnson’s right to freedom of speech over burqa jibes
Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party and a leading Brexiteer, urged investors to calm down as he accused financial markets of overreacting to negative forecasts in the run-up to Britain leaving the European Union.
/jlne.ws/2Mmh9Vw

E.U. Sees Real Brexit Talks at Last ó and Real Dangers
Steven Erlanger – NY Times
From the start of the torturous negotiations over Brexit, as Britain’s exit from the European Union is known, the talks have followed an all too familiar dynamic.
The Europeans set the agenda; the British push for concessions or special deals, while trying to work out among themselves what they really want. The Europeans say no, sticking to a pretty hard line.
/nyti.ms/2MvDS0A

EU rebuffs idea of escalating Brexit talks to leaders’ summit
Jennifer Rankin – The Guardian
European officials have poured cold water on hopes that Theresa May could negotiate Brexit with other EU leaders in September to break the deadlock over Britain’s departure.
Diplomatic sources have rejected suggestions that May could hold direct talks on Brexit with the 27 other EU heads of state and government at a summit in Salzburg next month.
bit.ly/2PbDOBI

This Pro-Brexit Seaside Town Is Starting to Fret; Bournemouth contemplates life as just another U.K. coastal resort.
Jill Ward – Bloomberg
On any given weekday in the British seaside town of Bournemouth, surfers can be found dragging in their boards from the sandy beach to get smoothies and beers. Retirees and office workers take midday strolls along a seaside path lined with busy seafood restaurants and ice cream stalls.
/jlne.ws/2PbDVNE

Miscellaneous

FT chief executive to return pay after staff criticism
Matthew Garrahan – Financial Times
John Ridding, chief executive of the Financial Times, is to return a portion of his 2017 pay to the company following staff criticism of a sharp jump in remuneration that took his total package to more than £2.5m.
/on.ft.com/2OFXk8t

The post The Man Who Triggered a $10 Billion Commodity Collapse Finally Speaks; Big Ag Firms Face New Threat appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).