A Messy Battle Brews in the Options Market

First Read

Hits & Takes
By JLN Staff

Whenever CME Group and Nex Group close their deal, it is expected to boost to CME’s international revenues 35 percent, according to a Q1 report from the exchange.~JK

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Tom Scanlan and NEX Group ran a Trading Tech 300 merit badge workshop yesterday in Chicago, featuring the geocaching merit badge. Thank you to Tom and NEX for their great contributions to Boy Scouts.

More data on the problem with overfitting: according to a recent study covering 215 alternative beta strategies from 17 investment banks (which included both backtest and live data), only 18 of the strategies had a live Sharpe Ratio equal or greater than the backtested one.~SD

Check out this finding from Pew Research – “The audience for nearly every major sector of the U.S. news media fell in 2017 – with the only exception being radio.” ~SD

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MWE World of Opportunity – How to Take The Wheel and Drive Your Own Career Path

JohnLothianNews.com
“One of the best pieces of advice I could share is get involved with an industry activity.”

Networking is essential for any career, but after a handshake and an exchange of business cards, what do you do? Do you follow up with those individuals?

In this video from MarketsWiki Education’s Chicago event, Jessica Darmoni, founder of The Title Connection, shares some tips for how to establish yourself and take control of your career narrative.

Watch the video here »

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Facebook Says It Removed Influence Efforts From Iran, Russia
Sarah Frier – Bloomberg
State-directed actors tried to mislead on politics, elections
Facebook Inc. for the first time named a country other than Russia that has been using fake accounts to manipulate global politics: Iran.
The social network said it removed 652 pages, groups and accounts for “inauthentic behavior” that originated in Iran and targeted people with news and information including political content in the U.S., U.K., Middle East and Latin America.
/goo.gl/TurtTi

***** How did something that started to connect college students come to this?~JJL

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Venezuela pulls ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’, top prize meaningless
Newshub
Venezuela has pulled the TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? after devaluing its currency, which is now worth so little, the top prize was meaningless.
bit.ly/2nX52j4

**** If the show wanted to give a $1 million (US) prize to the winner they would have to come up with over 248.5 billion Bolivars at the current exchange rate.~JB

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Tuesday’s Top Three
Our top read stories on Tuesday were about crypto, crypto custody and Jump. The most read piece was the FT’s CME pulls ahead in race to control bitcoin futures. Second was Jim Kharouf’s column for JLN, Custody Battle Brewing Over Crypto Assets, and That’s a Good Thing about the big names moving into the custody services space. Third was the FT piece Jump Trading joins challenge to banks in Treasury market making

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MarketsWiki Stats
131,590,554 pages viewed; 23,256 pages; 214,670 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

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Lead Stories

A Messy Battle Brews in the Options Market; Craig Donohue, CEO of the only U.S. options clearinghouse, is clashing with traders over his plans
Gunjan Banerji – WSJ
Craig Donohue’s turnaround plan for the nation’s options clearinghouse has hit a roadblock. Mr. Donohue has boosted the prominence of Options Clearing Corp., which acts as a guarantor for every trade in the U.S. listed options market. Clearinghouses—critical parts of the financial system—came under greater scrutiny after the last financial crisis and are responsible for preventing potential defaults from rippling through markets.
/jlne.ws/2PvwDVh

JPMorgan to launch low-cost digital trading platform; US bank hopes to attract a younger generation of customer with the new venture
Laura Noonan in London and Danielle Verbrigghe in New York – FT
JPMorgan Chase is launching a new low-cost digital trading platform, throwing down the gauntlet to online brokerages such as Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade.
/jlne.ws/2PtQO5O

CFTC Unanimously Adopts Rule Amendments Simplifying Chief Compliance Officer Duties and Annual Report Rules for FCMs, Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved final amendments clarifying and simplifying its regulations governing chief compliance officer (CCO) duties and annual compliance reporting requirements for futures commission merchants (FCM), swap dealers and major swap participants.
/goo.gl/hahNqE

FCA brings charges over alleged futures-trading scheme
Caroline Binham in London – FT
Investors were lied to as part of a criminal unauthorised futures-trading scam, the UK’s financial watchdog has alleged in court.
/jlne.ws/2w4cnC2

Germany calls for global payments system free of US; Foreign minister seeks European autonomy on issues such as Iran
Guy Chazan in Berlin – FT
Germany’s foreign minister has called for the creation of a new payments system independent of the US as a means of rescuing the nuclear deal between Iran and the west that Donald Trump withdrew from in May.
/jlne.ws/2Pt0kGx

***Reuters on the same story here.

Exclusive: Britain extends lead as king of currencies despite Brexit vote
Andrew MacAskill, Tommy Wilkes – Reuters
Britain has extended its lead in the global currency trading business in the two years since it voted to leave the European Union, in another sign London is likely to continue to be one of the world’s top two financial centres even after Brexit.
/reut.rs/2nW9AGs

An Independent Asset Manager Takes on Volatile FX Markets
Paul Golden – CME Group
The ever-changing investment environment places considerable demands on asset managers. Clients with long term liabilities – such as pension funds, endowments and insurance companies – have had to diversify their investments more internationally in recent years. That introduces an element of currency risk that tends to increase a portfolio’s volatility without increasing its return.
bit.ly/2nUWkSr

Competition is not the only problem for bankers at Jackson Hole
Robin Harding – Financial Times
Rampant corporate mergers have led to falling competition, higher profits, lower investment and a decline in the share of US national income that goes to workers. This may be the most important hypothesis in economics today. If correct, it explains many of the economic ills plaguing America, and suggests a simple solution. Fire up competition policy, smash some monopolists and make the world a better place. So popular has the theory become, it is on the agenda for this week’s confab of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
/on.ft.com/2Lf2kyL

A Case for Asymmetric Speed Bumps in U.S. Equities
Richard Johnson – Greenwich Associates
A key driver of success in trading the modern U.S. equities markets is speed.
When all market participants have access to the same information, the winners are those who can analyze and interpret this information effectively, but also those who can implement their ideas before the market re-prices and the alpha is lost.
/goo.gl/nwaExz

SEC Could Face Backlash if Elon Musk Is Exonerated
Matt Robinson and Benjamin Bain – Bloomberg
Agency is said to feel pressure to bring case over CEO’s tweet; Investigation is highest-profile of Chairman Clayton’s tenure
For months, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had been quietly and methodically scrutinizing Tesla Inc.
/jlne.ws/2PuFBlK

Ten years after Lehman collapse few lessons have been heeded; Rating agencies still wield huge influence and investment executives remain unaccountable
Arturo Cifuentes – FT
Anniversaries call for reflections. And 10 years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the largest bankruptcy in American history, some inexplicable issues linger unresolved.
/jlne.ws/2w4oBe1

Coinbase Publishes Its Institutional Strategy, as the US Competition Rises; The new principle follow the exchange’s launch of a range of institutional products and solutions
David Kimberley | Finance Magnates
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, released a statement this morning regarding its institutional service offering. The statement lays out five core principles that the firm says will guide its institutional service offering.
/jlne.ws/2w5A3Gi

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

CME Group SONIA interest rate futures to launch in October; CME Group will launch two SONIA interest rate futures contracts on 1 October pending regulatory approval.
By Hayley McDowell – The Trade
US exchange group CME Group is set to launch Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) interest rate futures contracts on 1 October.
/jlne.ws/2PuL4Ji

***The press release is here.

Options Clearing Corp.’s Ratings Are Unaffected By Risk-Management Developments
S&P Global Ratings
S&P Global Ratings today said that two recent developments in Options Clearing Corp. (OCC)’s risk management practices have no immediate impact on our ‘AA+’ rating on the company.
On July 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its approval of OCC’s updated financial safeguards framework. OCC will size its clearing fund to formally provide enough resource to cover the simultaneous default of its largest two clearing members (“cover 2”) versus a default of its single largest clearing member (“cover 1”) in the current framework.
No Link

CME Group to Streamline Short-Dated Standard and E-mini S&P 500 Options Strike Prices
CME Group
CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, plans to reduce the number of listed strike prices for Standard and E-mini S&P 500 options, pending regulatory review. This change is designed to offer a more relevant mix of strike prices for short-term investors. It will apply to Monday, Wednesday and Friday weekly expirations that are listed after Oct. 1, 2018. This change will exclude Standard and E-mini S&P 500 options that expire on the third Friday of every month, as well as end-of-month and quarterly E-mini S&P 500 options.
bit.ly/2w2RIhQ

SGX partners M-Daq to roll out prototype for multi-currency securities trading
Claudia Chong – The Business Times
THE Singapore Exchange (SGX) is looking into a new service that will allow investors to view, trade and settle in multiple currencies in addition to exchange-listed ones.
/jlne.ws/2MHRzd9

Tel Aviv exchange gets green light for stake sale to hedge fund Manikay
Steven Scheer – Reuters
The newly privatised Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) has won approval from Israel’s securities regulator for a deal to sell nearly 20 percent of the exchange to investment fund Manikay Partners and another 19 percent to four other foreign investors.
/reut.rs/2ByHcE6

South Korea exchange ups scrutiny of Merrill Lynch trading; Local investors allege big losses due to high-frequency trades causing ‘market disruptions’
Song Jung-a in Seoul and Emma Dunkley in Hong Kong – FT
South Korea’s stock exchange has stepped up its monitoring of high-frequency trading by the Seoul branch of Bank of America Merrill Lynch after local investors complained about alleged unfair stock trades by the US brokerage.
/jlne.ws/2w5UEtZ

Eurex loses key Asia head who spearheaded expansion throughout the region; Roland Schwinn, head of Asia at Eurex, has resigned due to personal reasons and will leave the exchange at the end of this month.
By Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The regional head for Asia at derivatives exchange operator Eurex has resigned from his position due to personal reasons and will leave the firm on 31 August.
/jlne.ws/2Pv4hu7

The art of designing markets. Part IV; Exchange participant connectivity
Eurex
Market design recognizes that well-functioning markets are more than the confluence of supply and demand. They depend on detailed rules. Market designers try to understand the rules and procedures as well as the workings and requirements of particular markets well enough to fix problems or to build completely new markets when they seem promising.
/jlne.ws/2w1J6rO

Fintech

Fintech Eyes Opportunity in $15 Billion Title-Insurance Business
Katherine Chiglinsky and Julie Verhage – Bloomberg
Tech-focused startups are knocking on the door of a $15 billion industry that’s dominated by just four companies: Title insurance.
A California regulator announced Tuesday that, for the first time, it gave approval to a tech-focused startup title insurer to operate in the biggest U.S. state by population. States Title Inc. joins newcomers including OneTitle National Guaranty Co. and Spruce Holdings Inc. that have gained footholds in other U.S. regions to enter the complex and closely regulated world of title insurance.
/bloom.bg/2MLcf3K

Mexico’s new government wants fintech, banks to help financial inclusion
Stefanie Eschenbacher – Reuters
Mexico’s next government will look to fintech companies and large corporate banks to increase financial inclusion in the country, where only one-third of adults have a bank account, senior officials said on Tuesday.
Arturo Herrera, one of two future deputy finance ministers, said in an interview that the lack of financial inclusion was one of the biggest obstacles in the new government’s fight against poverty, inequality and slow economic growth.
/reut.rs/2MGO06R

Lawmaker Questions FinTech Industry Over Lending Practices
Kate Patrick – Government Technology
Financial technology (fintech) companies are increasingly lending to minorities and consumers with subprime credit scores, drawing attention from regulators who worry that the lack of oversight and transparency are allowing unfair or discriminatory practices to proliferate.
bit.ly/2o1vyrM

A Major Shift Is Coming in How Advisors Use Fintech
Joe Elsasser – ThinkAdvisor
Full integration will overtake open architecture as the theme of the next decade. For years, financial advisors have looked for solutions that integrate, but have been provided with open architecture, which is simply the ability to connect multiple external systems to each other and transfer common information from one system to another without double entry. If we wanted to call this type of connection “integration,” we’d have to call it “loose integration,” at best.
bit.ly/2nXmcNH

Connectivity Provider BSO Links with Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Finance Magnates
BSO of London has signed a partnership with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange which will provide a direct trading connection between London and Israel.
/goo.gl/QcXbyL

Titan launches its mobile ‘not a hedge fund’
Josh Constine – TechCrunch
What Robinhood did to democratize buying individual stocks, Titan wants to do for investing in a managed portfolio. Instead of being restricted to rich accredited investors willing to pour $5,000 or even $500,000 into a traditional hedge fund that charges 2 percent fees and 20 percent of profits, Titan lets anyone invest as little as $1,000 for just a 1 percent fee on assets while keeping all the profits. Titan picks the top 20 stocks based on data mined from the most prestigious hedge funds, then invests your money directly in those with personalized shorts based on your risk profile.
/tcrn.ch/2nUVJjN

Thomson Reuters Provides QUICK Market Commentary Services Through Eikon For Global Customers – QUICK Offers Equity And Derivatives Commentary In Japanese
Mondovisione
Thomson Reuters today announced that it is providing paid market commentary services on Japanese equity and derivatives through a new collaboration with Japanese financial information firm, QUICK. The services are available now to global clients outside of Japan using Thomson Reuters Eikon.
bit.ly/2Ljo3pu

Thomson Reuters joins forces with the Singapore FinTech Association to fight financial crime
Reuters
Thomson Reuters and the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) have committed to join forces on projects and initiatives contributing to the development of the FinTech industry in Singapore. The collaboration will involve working closely with financial institutions, local universities and startups, focusing on leveraging emerging technologies to solve issues around financial crime.
/tmsnrt.rs/2MGf5XU

Fintech Eyes Opportunity in $15 Billion Title-Insurance Business
Katherine Chiglinsky and Julie Verhage – Bloomberg
California’s approval of new title insurer a first for state; Upstarts work in other regions too, facing web of oversight
Tech-focused startups are knocking on the door of a $15 billion industry that’s dominated by just four companies: Title insurance.
/jlne.ws/2PvXh0g

Cryptocurrencies

Here’s How Blockchain Technology Is Changing Commercial Banking
Thirtyk.com
Blockchain technology has made significant inroads into commercial banking, with systems entering production in three vital areas: cross-border payments, trade finance and syndicated lending.
That’s a key takeaway from research recently conducted by Celent, which focuses on the viability of present-day use cases and identifies the consortia and technology providers bringing blockchain to commercial banking.
bit.ly/2nWTGvs

Newsflash: Bitcoin Price Spikes Near $6,900 as BitMEX Goes Offline
CCN
The bitcoin price took a major leap on Wednesday morning, spiking nearly $300 in less than a minute to break out of what had been two days of mostly sideways trading for the flagship cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/DGceca

Inside the bluster and lies of Petro, Venezuela’s cryptocurrency scam
Katia Moskvitch – Wired U.K.
For Jorge Farias, boss of Venezuelan startup Cryptobuyer, the Petro is personal. Anything in the crypto world is.
/goo.gl/oJ11na

Ethereum Scam App Appears on Google Play Store, Malware Researcher Reports
Helen Partz – Cointelegraph
Android’s Google Play Store has recently become a spot for hosting another reported Ethereum (ETH) scam application, The Next Web reports August 21.
/goo.gl/wjZrtL

China’s Social Media Giant WeChat Blocks a Number of Crypto Media Accounts, Sources Say
Marie Huillet – Cointelegraph
WeChat, the 1 billion-user Chinese social media platform developed by Tencent, has reportedly blocked a number of crypto and blockchain related accounts, local financial news outlet Lanjinger reported August 21.
/goo.gl/yA8JFQ

The Trick to Selling Blockchain Solutions? Don’t Say ‘Blockchain’
Ian Allison – Coindesk
When Adrian Patten, co-founder of FX blockchain project Cobalt, pitches to banks these days, he chooses his words carefully.
/goo.gl/YEqXFe

China shuts down blockchain news accounts, bans hotels in Beijing from hosting cryptocurrency events
Zheping Huang – South China Morning Post
China has shut down numerous blockchain-related news accounts on the WeChat social app, and banned hotels in downtown Beijing from hosting events promoting cryptocurrencies, in a renewed crackdown on activities related to the digital money.
/goo.gl/vb9zG7

What Vitalik Buterin’s tweetstorm means for the future Ethereum blockchain
Lucas Mearian – ComputerWorld
It took 75 tweets, but Ethereum blockchain founder Vitalik Buterin has clarified the roadmap for implementing a new consensus mechanism that promises to greatly increase the speed with which new entries can be added to the distributed electronic ledger technology.
/goo.gl/W6iUQd

How Bitcoin’s Crash Compares to History’s Biggest Bubbles
Eric Lam and Adrian Leung – Bloomberg
Bitcoin’s dramatic rise and fall has left many investors wondering whether the cryptocurrency is destined to enter the history books as one of the world’s biggest bubbles. After an almost 60-fold increase over the past three years to nearly $20,000 in December, Bitcoin has tumbled by about 70 percent from its peak on concern that regulatory and security hurdles will prevent widespread adoption. By comparison, the Nasdaq Composite Index recorded a 78 percent peak-to-trough decline after the dot-com bubble burst in 2000.
jlne.ws/2FyF7oY

Two Things That Don’t Mix Well: Bitcoin Rehypothecation And Chain Forks
Caitlin Long – Forbes
Several astute readers asked follow-up questions about the risks facing Wall Street amid a Bitcoin chain fork, a topic that I introduced in a recent Forbes.com piece (here). Put simply, chain forks and rehypothecated bitcoins don’t mix well and could cause the financial system to experience losses if it has any uncovered exposure to bitcoins amid a hard fork.
/jlne.ws/2w4mqal

Politics

Elizabeth Warren proposes banning Congress from owning stocks as part of sweeping anti-corruption bill
Joseph Lawler – Washington Examiner
Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday proposed banning members of Congress from owning individual stocks as part of what she described as the “most ambitious anti-corruption legislation” since Watergate.
/washex.am/2nVkpJ5

If Trump Can Strong-Arm the Fed, U.S. Assets May Not Be So Great
Liz McCormick and Aline Oyamada – Bloomberg
Dollar may weaken as desired, but Fed credibility may be hit; Long-term yields at risk of rising on inflation concerns
Donald Trump may want to watch what he wishes for. If Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell does what the president wants, American assets could lose their appeal as a global haven.
/jlne.ws/2w64LyT

Wall Street Isn’t Ruling Out a Trump Move to Weaken the Dollar
Katherine Greifeld – Bloomberg
Deliberate move to weaken dollar isn’t so far-fetched anymore; Pitched trade war with China puts U.S. intervention into focus
The United States of America, a currency manipulator? It’s a label more frequently slapped on developing export economies and one that President Donald Trump took up just this week to browbeat China and Europe in his increasingly pitched trade war.
/jlne.ws/2vZgI9F

Cohen Has ‘Knowledge’ of Russia Campaign Conspiracy, Lawyer Says
Shannon Pettypiece , Jennifer Jacobs , and Terrence Dopp – Bloomberg
Lawyer for Cohen says he’s willing to tell Mueller of hacking; Manafort guilty verdict came at same time as Cohen plea deal
President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has “knowledge” about computer hacking and collusion that may interest Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Cohen’s lawyer said.
/jlne.ws/2PvWyMr

U.K. Says Putin Is Testing the West, Urges EU to Boost Sanctions
Thomas Penny – Bloomberg
Britain’s top diplomat accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of testing the resolve of Western nations, and praised President Donald Trump as he appealed to the European Union to step up sanctions against Moscow.
/jlne.ws/2w3ViYZ

Regulation

South Korea exchange ups scrutiny of Merrill Lynch trading; Local investors allege big losses due to high-frequency trades causing ‘market disruptions’
Song Jung-a and Emma Dunkley – Financial Times
South Korea’s stock exchange has stepped up its monitoring of high-frequency trading by the Seoul branch of Bank of America Merrill Lynch after local investors complained about alleged unfair stock trades by the US brokerage.
/on.ft.com/2nVeJ1B

IG Index fights claim it encouraged ‘risky’ trades
Hannah Murphy – Financial Times
IG Index, Europe’s largest online trading website, appeared in court on Tuesday to fight a claim that it encouraged a UK businessman to place “risky” trades that were “against his best interests”, wooing him with hospitality and gifts.
/on.ft.com/2LdxyXd

Ontario Securities Commission Announces Roundtable Agenda On Derivatives Registration And Business Conduct Regimes
Mondovisione
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today announced details for an upcoming roundtable it will host as part of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA)’s ongoing consultation process on the proposed derivatives registration and business conduct regimes.
/goo.gl/8fKQPj

Investor spoofed on HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’ settles SEC charges
By Nicolas Vega – NY Post
A hard-partying Silicon Valley investor has settled charges with the SEC that he bilked clients out of millions of dollars to fund his elaborate shindigs.
/jlne.ws/2PtbLht

Statement of CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo Regarding the Final Rule on Chief Compliance Officer Duties and Annual Report Requirements for Futures Commission Merchants, Swap Dealers, and Major Swap Participants
CFTC
As part of the CFTC’s Project Kiss efforts, this final rule will streamline and clarify a Chief Compliance Officer’s (CCO) obligations, as well as harmonize certain provisions with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) rules. Clarifying the role and responsibilities of the CCO should enable greater accountability and improve overall compliance, as well as reduce burdens on CCOs and uncertainty for registrants. The rule continues to impose a duty on CCOs to resolve matters but within the practical limits of their position at the CFTC-registered entity. The rule also continues to impose a duty for the CCO to undertake an annual review but reduces the burdens associated with the review, which will allow the CCO to devote more time and resources to compliance activities at the registrant. In addition, further harmonizing definitions and CCO duties of dual CFTC-SEC registrants should improve efficiency and further reduce the burdens on CCOs.
/jlne.ws/2PvDvSm

Investing and Trading

No Quant Is Safe as Global Stress Hits Risk-Parity Investing
Dani Burger – Bloomberg
Diversification method challenged as vol rose to 2-year high; Risk-parity managers fret investors to chase returns elsewhere
Choppy markets around the world are hurting one of Wall Street’s hottest quantitative trades, belying its status as a port in the storm.
/bloom.bg/2LdDJKQ

Volatility Trades Are Reborn as Two-Tier Market Spurs New Short
Yakob Peterseil – Bloomberg
Macro forces spur growing divergence across stocks, industries; Dispersion trade is advancing beyond hedge-fund investors
Call it the volatility trade, squared. As macro shocks hit global markets, a complex strategy that bets the gap between stock winners and losers will grow is spreading across hedge funds, real-money managers and even private banks.
/jlne.ws/2w1GgTG

S&P Dow Jones Indices Launches Index Family for Risk Parity Strategy
PRNewswire
S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”) today announced the launch of the S&P Risk Parity Indices, its first index family designed to replicate a multi-asset risk parity strategy. The indices will follow S&P DJI’s standards of transparent, rules-based methodologies for index construction, enabling a reflection of the risk and return characteristics of the investment discipline.
/prn.to/2nWJBip

The Bull Market Is Really Old. Does That Mean It’s at Death’s Door?
Sarah Ponczek and Elena Popina – Bloomberg
Age alone does not mean the bull market must be late cycle; Easy monetary policy, QE makes this cycle hard to compare
In nature, things are cyclical. If only it were as clear cut in stocks.
/jlne.ws/2w5MZMf

Institutions

Gross’s fund lost more than 40% of its assets over the past year, Morningstar data show
Mark DeCambre – MarketWatch
Bill Gross’s signature fund at Janus Henderson has shed more than 40% of its assets, in a humbling period of redemptions and wrong-way bets for the fixed-income luminary, data from Morningstar show.
/jlne.ws/2w5Oxpx

Regions

Chinese traders ditch cheap U.S. coal for domestic supply as tariffs loom
Meng Meng, Josephine Mason – Reuters
Some Chinese coal traders handling U.S. imports have begun sourcing future supplies domestically, people with knowledge of the matter said, as they await delivery of the last U.S. cargoes to arrive before hefty tariffs kick in on Thursday in a deepening trade row between the world’s top two economies.
/jlne.ws/2w1Dkq8

Australia is devastated by drought, yet it won’t budge on climate change
Angela Dewan, CNN
Australia is suffering its worst drought in living memory, as dozens of bushfires are blazing out of control. It’s hard to believe that it’s winter “down under.” Summer is yet to come.
/jlne.ws/2w5cgX3

Pope’s Army Gets Help From Ex-Central Banker for Vatican Revamp
Catherine Bosley – Bloomberg
New barracks are needed for the Vatican’s Swiss Guards; Former SNB chief Roth estimates costs about 50 million francs
Pope Francis’s guards need a new barracks and they’re getting help from a different kind of power — a central banker.
/jlne.ws/2w66O61

Brexit

Banking is surprise item on list of Brexit ‘no-deal’ impact papers
Dan Sabbagh – The Guardian
A Brexit “no-deal” impact paper for financial services has been listed among the first batch of official assessments due to be published on Thursday, at a time when banks and insurers have been warning about the risks of a disorderly exit from the EU.
bit.ly/2nYP5cf

London’s Fight to Remain a Financial Hub After Brexit, Explained
Silla Brush and Alexander Weber – Bloomberg
Can the City of London survive Brexit? Banks are preparing for the worst and are pretty sure they will lose much of the freedom they now enjoy to trade with the European Union. But just how bad Brexit gets for banks hinges on the details that will be worked out in political negotiations, as well as in private talks between firms and supervisors. There are five battlegrounds that could spell the difference between a modest and a major hit.
/jlne.ws/2vZkIab

Brexit Talks Will Be Non-Stop From Now With Markets Jittery
Ian Wishart – Bloomberg
The U.K. and the European Union will negotiate on Brexit “continuously” from now on, the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said, with time running out to avoid Britain crashing out without a deal.
“The negotiations are now entering the final stage,” Barnier told reporters in Brussels after meeting Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab on Tuesday. “We can find common ground” but it will need Britain to “respect the single market.”
/bloom.bg/2MLcYSw

EU vows to get tough on UK’s market access after Brexit; Plan to step up oversight of ‘equivalence’ rules that finance sector will rely on
Jim Brunsden in Brussels – FT
The EU’s financial services chief has warned that Brussels will be strict in policing the Britain’s rights of access to the bloc’s market after Brexit.
/jlne.ws/2w6r3k5

Miscellaneous

Arctic’s strongest sea ice breaks up for first time on record
Usually frozen waters open up twice this year in phenomenon scientists described as scary
Jonathan Watts – The Guardian
The oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic has started to break up, opening waters north of Greenland that are normally frozen, even in summer.
/jlne.ws/2Psevvs

How the financial crisis changed our reading habits; From fantastical yarns to dystopian fiction, what type of books did we turn to?
Alex Clark – FT
When the global financial crisis struck a decade ago, there was no reason to think that publishing would be immune from its effects. The golden goose of the celebrity autobiography was on the wane; Amazon was gearing up to wreak its deep-discounting havoc on the traditional retail model. Despite the dictum that books are comparatively recession-proof — they don’t cost very much and yield an impressive bang for their buck in terms of entertainment — the future looked shaky. “The key,” as Britain’s Arts Council put it in its review of 2009, “is not to panic”.
/jlne.ws/2w3WtYp

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