First Read
Hits & Takes
JLN Staff
This is the second to last edition of the John Lothian Newsletter for 2017. Tomorrow we will publish JLN, but not JLN Options or JLN Asia Pacific News.~JJL
Eurex‘s trading calendar for the new year can be found HERE.~JJL
There were a couple of commodity related explosions this week. First, a Libyan crude oil pipeline was blown up by suspected terrorists, helping move prices. It is believed it will take a week to get the pipeline back online. Then there was an explosion at an Argentinian grain terminal owned by COFCO that killed one employee and injured others. Reuters reports the blast “could have an outsized impact on the flow of food exports from Argentina as unions representing grains inspectors and crushing workers said they would go on strike on Thursday to demand better safety conditions.”~SD
Gary Flagler of MexDer says they are “Looking for Liquidity Providers & Market Makers in our Contrato de Futuros de MaÌz Amarillo (Corn Futures Contract).” Via Twitter~JJL
According to Bloomberg, this year’s worst performing currency is the Uzbekistani soum, down 60 percent, while the best is the Mozambique new metical, up 21 percent. Speaking of less commonly traded commodities, anybody been following the lumber rally? ~SD
Yesterday’s JLN Options covered Nasdaq’s proposed VIX rival, a lookahead to volatility in 2018 and the group behind a $1 million bitcoin options bet. ~SD
The Wall Street Journal has published an article on the answers to your best questions about the new tax law.~JJL
Cinnober has published a year in review piece about 2017 and Cinnober.~JJL
An update on everybody’s favorite “pharma bro” – Martin Shkreli’s former lawyer was convicted of helping Shkreli defraud one of his pharmaceutical companies.~SD
DRW has a blog post titled “What we learned about applying sports journalism to risk taking.”~JJL
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Most Bitcoin Exchanges Start Refusing New Investors
Timothy Olagoke – Cryptona.co
A great influx of new investors pleading with exchanges to take their money is the best kind of problem any bitcoin exchanges could dream of having. However, bitcoin exchanges now cope with such situations by finding means of reducing the load. As a result, new investors are left with fewer options as exchanges have been closing their doors to customers.
/goo.gl/kF8F8u
***** This story comes from a new crypto news source in Nigeria, one I had not seen before.~JJL
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A Walking Tour of London’s Most Literary Quarterówith Pub Stops; A step-by-step guide to Bloomsbury’s storied sights and worthy newcomers
Kate Maxwell – WSJ
The intellectual heart of London has been beating faster of late. North of Soho, the Bloomsbury neighborhood, with its orderly garden squares of soot-blackened-brick Georgian townhouses, was the stamping ground of the Bloomsbury Group, a maverick set of writers, artists and philosophers that included Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell and E.M. Forster. Dorothy Parker famously quipped that they “lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles.”
/goo.gl/gNm92A
***** Literature and drinking have a long history of collaboration.~JJL
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Don’t Quote Churchill on That; Many aphorisms attributed to him turn out to be fake.
Lee Pollock – WSJ
More than 50 years after his death, Winston Churchill is everywhere. John Lithgow’s performance as the great prime minister enlivened the first season of “The Crown” on Netflix. Gary Oldman is earning praise for his portrayal in “Darkest Hour.” A Google alert for Churchill’s name returns at least 50 citations daily, many beginning with “Winston Churchill once said . . .”
/goo.gl/Q1HXbW
***** Churchill is reported to have said, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”~JJL
***Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill also said, “The first part of my hyphenated name is the greatest.”~SD
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Wednesday’s Top Three
Our top story was a slam on blockchain from CNBC – Ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain. Second went to The Reformed Broker’s 50 Phrases to Run From when dealing with financial types. Third was an update on Brexit migration from Bloomberg – Frankfurt Is the Big Winner in Battle for Brexit Bankers.
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Lead Stories
Chicago trading firms gear up for European rules
Lynne Marek – Crain’s Chicago Business
Trading firms in Chicago and elsewhere have been scrambling for months to prepare for new European regulations that take effect Jan. 3.
/goo.gl/gCKRQR
European exchanges clash with customers over fees rise
Philip Stafford – Financial Times
Europe’s largest stock exchanges have antagonised some of their biggest customers with price rises for vital trading information only days before the arrival of rules that monitor market data costs. Banks, high-frequency traders and alternative trading venues have been angered that BME, Nasdaq, Euronext and Deutsche Bˆrse are collectively raising their prices from January 1.
/goo.gl/nE47RT
South Korea Considers Shuttering Bitcoin Exchanges
Steven Russolillo and Kwanwoo Jun – WSJ
South Korea’s government announced tougher measures to crack down on cryptocurrency trading in the country and said it is considering shutting down the nation’s bitcoin exchanges, stepping up its attempts to curb widespread investor speculation fueling the market.
/goo.gl/xtCkZV
****SD: NY Times here.
Nomura Targets U.S. in Push That Could Include Acquisitions
Takahiko Hyuga – Bloomberg
CEO open to hiring entire teams of U.S. investment bankers; At the same time, Nomura could reduce headcount in Europe
Nomura Holdings Inc. is getting serious about shedding its perennial underdog status in the U.S.
/goo.gl/zQXbNf
Bitcoin Trading Volume at Retail Exchange Rises 22-Fold: Chart
Bloomberg
Bitcoin’s surging price has driven private-investor demand for derivatives tracking the virtual currency. Trading in so-called participation notes has skyrocketed this year on Boerse Stuttgart GmbH, Europe’s largest exchange for retail derivatives. The number of executed orders jumped 22-fold from 436 in January to almost 10,000 in December.
/goo.gl/BXGrMy
Stocks, commodities to trade on single exchange from October 2018: Sebi; The union of stock and commodity bourse will help product cross-listing; move will allow bourses like NSE and BSE to launch commodity products.
Press Trust of India – Business Standard
In a major step towards a simpler securities market trading infrastructure, regulator Sebi today announced much-awaited integration of stocks and commodities trading on a single exchange from October next year.
/goo.gl/SgW3ey
The Growing Peril of Index Funds: Too Much Tech; Surging sector has driven gains in major U.S., Asia indexes; Apple, Amazon, Facebook lead weighting of tech shares in S&P 500
Kenan Machado and Saumya Vaishampayan – WSJ
Being passive can leave you with too much of a good thing. Investors who loaded up on U.S. and Asian stock-index funds might be surprised to learn just what they own now: technology stocksóa lot of them.
/goo.gl/WLwq85
OTC Global Holdings Brokers first CME Bitcoin Futures Block
Resource Investor
Choice! Natural Gas, a portfolio company of leading independent interdealer broker OTC Global Holdings (OTCGH), announced it brokered the first CME Bitcoin Futures Block trade on Dec. 22, 2017. “While OTC Global Holdings has traditionally been known as an energy-focused firm, in recent years we’ve grown to cover the entire spectrum of commodities to meet the expanding needs of our clients,” said Eric Scharf, Director of Sales and Marketing, EOX Holdings, who drove the company’s efforts to bring on the product. “We anticipate brokering more of the fix price commodity like we did with this trade as well as to supporting the options market when it becomes listed.”
/goo.gl/tBw38o
JPMorgan pays $2.8 million fine over improper safeguards for customers
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) will pay $2.8 million to settle charges that a broker-dealer unit lacked sufficient controls to safeguard customer securities from several countries over more than eight years, a U.S. regulator said on Wednesday.
/goo.gl/Rji173
Global M&A exceeds $3tn for fourth straight year; US maintains its position as most active region, with $1.4tn of deals
Arash Massoudi, James Fontanella-Khan and Don Weinland – FT
Worldwide mergers and acquisitions activity has exceeded $3tn for the fourth consecutive year, extending an unprecedented wave of dealmaking that bankers say is set to accelerate in 2018.
/goo.gl/f5mLBq
Billion-Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters: 15 and Counting for 2017
Brian K Sullivan and Jim Efstathiou Jr – Bloomberg
Hurricanes, floods, fires dominated coast-to-coast events; ‘This is one of the worst years on record for U.S. damages’
In the year that President Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris accord and downplayed global warming as a security threat, the U.S. received a harsh reminder of the perils of the rise in the planet’s temperature: a destructive rash of hurricanes, fires and floods.
/goo.gl/dZd4en
Dollar Touches 1-Month Low as It Heads for Worst Year Since 2003
Anooja Debnath – Bloomberg
Sliding Treasury yields, waning dollar funding demand weigh; Thin year-end liquidity exaggerates volatility in currencies
The dollar reached its lowest level in a month versus the euro on Thursday as an earlier slide in Treasury yields and year-end rebalancing flows weighed on the currency that’s heading for its worst year in more than a decade.
/goo.gl/Jy7RPA
Where Are ETFs Headed?
Dan Weil – Wealth Management
“In five years, you’ll be able to have a full portfolio of ETFs for only 1 or 2 basis points. Good for investors, rough for the industry. You will also see stuff put into ETFs that you didn’t realize was stuff. Anything in Wall Street brain cells will be ETF-ized,” says Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.
/goo.gl/bTYj1z
White House Considers Former Bush-Era Economists for Fed No. 2 Job
By Nick Timiraos and Peter Nicholas – WSJ
The White House has interviewed two economists who served in senior positions in the George W. Bush administration to serve as the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, according to people familiar with the matter.
The two are Richard Clarida, a managing director at money manager Pimco who is also a professor of economics and international affairs at Columbia University, and Lawrence Lindsey, who runs an economic-advisory firm in Washington.
/goo.gl/XzR1Gt
Exchanges, OTC and Clearing
Bitcoin slips as South Korea threatens to shut exchanges; Seoul moves to address ‘irrationally overheated’ cryptocurrency speculation
Song Jung-a in Seoul and Emma Dunkley in Hong Kong – FT
Bitcoin tumbled again on Thursday after South Korea announced more measures to regulate bitcoin trading, including a potential shutdown of exchanges, amid fevered demand for the asset in the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency market.
/goo.gl/FeQTdz
Bitcoin Tumbles Over Exchange-Closure Fears
Kyungji Cho and Eric Lam – Bloomberg
Specter of losses for retail customers sparking concerns; Bitcoin has now dropped about 26% from last week’s record high
Bitcoin resumed its tumble on Thursday after South Korea said it was eyeing options including a potential shutdown of at least some cryptocurrency exchanges to stamp out a frenzy of speculation.
/goo.gl/CqhXTX
Fintech
Hunt for Next Bitcoin Will Spark Wilder Crypto Swings; New exchanges are creating a lottery for winners.
Ben Carlson – Bloomberg
A shot in the dark? Photographer: Scott Olson/Bloomberg
If you thought bitcoin has been on a wild ride, check what happened last week with litecoin.
/goo.gl/Ecv57o
Bitcoin Is an Implausible Currency; It’s not competitive as a payment system, so maybe its value is as money. But it makes terrible money.
Megan McArdle – Bloomberg
Is bitcoin money, or a payment system? Mounds, or Almond Joy? Great taste, or less filling?
/goo.gl/R5HfzC
Politics
Trump White House Saw Record Number of First-Year Staff Departures; Administration’s 34% first-year turnover rate is twice that of Reagan’s 17% in 1981óthe next-highest in the past 40 years
Eli Stokols – WSJ
President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired after 25 days on the job. Two high-profile campaign aides who followed him into the White House, Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, were gone before summer’s end. And his third communications director’s tenure is still remembered around the West Wing as “Scaramucci Week.”
/goo.gl/H2YuV7
Trump’s stock market cheerleading could be a risky bet
Stephen Collinson – CNN
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump seems determined to ignore the small print disclaimer that brokers use to warn investors eying a bumper return — stocks can go down as well as up.
/goo.gl/eCmZjv
How the banks won over Washington again; A decade out from a cataclysmic Wall Street meltdown, banks are winning again in Washington.
Zachary Warmbrodt – Politico
Less than a decade after being blamed for fueling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, banks are winning again in Washington.
/goo.gl/mxgZoG
A new poll reveals more Americans disapprove of Trump’s tweeting than his presidency
Grace Guarnieri – Newsweek
Americans approve even less of President Donald Trump’s use of Twitter than they do his presidency, according to a new poll.
/goo.gl/Nrb4gk
Echoes of 1990s Scandal Roll Across Capitol Hill; Remember when congressmen used taxpayers’ money to cover bounced checks? Now it’s sexual harassment settlements.
Stephen Mihm – Bloomberg
The Senate Office of Compliance rebuffed a request this month by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine to release data on how much taxpayer money has been paid to settle sexual harassment suits against lawmakers. Kaine’s request was probably prompted by the recent revelation that Republican Representative Blake Farenthold settled a suit using federal funds.
/goo.gl/dkAHH9
Regulation
Bitcoin ‘doesn’t pass the smell test,’ says Massachusetts securities regulator
Evelyn Cheng – CNBC
Massachusetts’ top securities regulator said his office is qualified to issue a warning on bitcoin because the digital currency is “entirely speculation.”
/goo.gl/PP7ZSZ
FINRA Fines J.P. Morgan Securities LLC $2.8 Million for Customer Protection Rule Violations and Supervisory Failures
FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined J.P. Morgan Securities $2.8 million for violating the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Customer Protection Rule and for related supervisory failures. The SEC rule creates requirements to protect customers’ funds and securities.
/goo.gl/Nhb3Kf
Firms to face action for WhatsApp leak of financial details: Sebi; Sebi chief Ajay Tyagi also said the regulator would amend and strengthen the insider trading norms if required
Press Trust of India – Business Standard
In a stern warning to companies for leakage of key financial details, market regulator Sebi on Friday said all those responsible, including auditors, would face action and the rules would be strengthened if required.
/goo.gl/x16F8X
Sebi to issue settlement notice to firms under lens for delayed disclosures; If remittance of the settlement amount is not made or any of the non-monetary terms are not complied with, then Sebi may initiate proceedings against the entity
Press Trust of India – Business Standard
To fast-track cases, markets regulator Sebi will issue settlement notice to entities undergoing probe against violations like delay in making shareholding disclosures and filing of returns and reports.
/goo.gl/abhS5F
Consider e-message for refunds, share allotments: Sebi to firms; As per present requirements, refund orders, allotment letters and share certificates are dispatched by way of registered post or certificate of posting
Press Trust of India – Business Standard
In a green initiative, markets regulator Sebi on Thursday asked companies to consider the electronic mode of communication for informing investors about refund orders, share allotments and other such messages.
/goo.gl/6qxFrS
Sebi eases FPI norms; allows listing of security receipts by ARCs; This will enhance capital flows into the securitisation industry and particularly be helpful to deal with bank non- performing assets
Press Trust of India – Business Standard
Markets regulator Sebi today decided to relax entry norms for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) willing to invest in the Indian markets.
/goo.gl/vtefnZ
Sebi caps 10% cross-shareholding cap in mutual funds; The new measure may have an impact on the shareholding pattern of UTI Asset Management Company
Press Trust of India – Business Standard
To avoid any potential conflict of interest, markets regulator Sebi on Thursday decided to put a 10 per cent cross-shareholding cap in mutual funds.
/goo.gl/REzPA5
Investing and Trading
From Bitcoin to Belize, Here Are Best and Worst Assets of 2017
Julie Verhage and Colin Simpson – Bloomberg
It was a great year for copper, Ukrainian stocks, palladium; Uzbekistan’s currency, Venezuelan bonds and sugar not so much
It was a great year to hold bitcoin, but a bad time to have been invested in the Uzbek soum.
/goo.gl/M1SPd6
Concerned About the ECB Taper? Britain’s Case Should Calm Nerves; The sterling corporate-debt market was revitalized when the BOE bought bonds, and continued after it stopped
Jon Sindreu – WSJ
For investors worried over the European Central Bank’s plan to taper corporate-bond purchases from January, the example of Britain makes the case for remaining calm.
/goo.gl/1XPSFz
Hidden gyrations underpin 2017 global fund flows; Investors poured $640bn into stock and bond funds, up more than tenfold
Eric Platt in New York – FT
Financial markets will be best remembered in 2017 for their lack of volatility. Global stocks never fell into the red and investors comfortably shook off the threat of higher interest rates.
/goo.gl/G2hgVL
Rio Tinto looks to beef up trading operation; Anglo-Australian miner wants better prices for commodities and sharper commercial focus
Neil Hume, Mining and Commodities Editor – FT
Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto has moved into physical commodities trading to get better prices for the metals and minerals it produces and sharpen its commercial focus.
/goo.gl/8DkTuw
Fed risks massive hangover as it begins ‘great unwind’; Only a strong economy can stop damage in Treasuries spreading to equities and credit
FT
In response to the global financial crisis, the US Federal Reserve took extreme but necessary measures to protect the American economy from collapse. It now faces a stark choice ó act promptly and potentially cause significant disruption in the US Treasury market or act later and risk greater disruption across all markets.
/goo.gl/8s7Fcf
Disney Reliance on Stock Keeps Powder Dry for Coming Battle; Disney didn’t borrow for Fox purchase, so balance sheet can be deployed when really needed.
Tara Lachapelle – Bloomberg
Walt Disney Co. truly is a magical place. It’s managing to buy some $52 billion of assets without technically spending a dime. The how and why make it even more interesting.
/goo.gl/KtuKhQ
From Bitcoin to Belize, Here Are Best and Worst Assets of 2017
Julie Verhage and Colin Simpson – Bloomberg
It was a great year for copper, Ukrainian stocks, palladium; Uzbekistan’s currency, Venezuelan bonds and sugar not so much
It was a great year to hold bitcoin, but a bad time to have been invested in the Uzbek soum.
/goo.gl/M1SPd6
I used to think people made rational decisions. But now I know I was wrong
Deborah Orr – The Guardian
It’s been coming on for a while, so I can’t claim any eureka moment. But something did crystallise this year. What I changed my mind about was people. More specifically, I realised that people cannot be relied upon to make rational choices. We would have fixed global warming by now if we were rational. Instead, there’s a stubborn refusal to let go of the idea that environmental degradation is a “debate” in which there are “two sides”.
/goo.gl/XZYsH1
What Makes the U.S. Retirement System a Bad Example; A Q&A with a leading authority on the Netherlands’ retirement savings system, one of the world’s best.
Justin Fox – Bloomberg
The headline from the Dutch business newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad caught my eye on Twitter a few weeks ago: “America is the example of how not to do pensions.” 1 The quote was from an interview with Angelien Kemna, who stepped down on Nov. 1 from the top finance job at APG Groep NV, which manages the Netherlands’ biggest (and world’s fifth-biggest) pension fund.
/goo.gl/irjQX8
Municipal-Bond Supply Dries Up After Setting a Record December
By Michelle Kaske – Bloomberg
30-day visible supply down 40 percent from this time last year; States and cities set to issue $5.3B in the next 30 days
States and cities are set to issue about half the amount of debt at the start of 2018 compared with a year ago.
/goo.gl/jq7vmk
How One Mysterious Startup Is Riding the Bitcoin Wave
By Cory Johnson – Bloomberg
UBI Blockchain Internet has a soaring stock price, no revenue; Hong Kong-based company registered to sell 72.3 million shares
With hardly a year of operations under its belt and scant results to show for it, UBI Blockchain Internet is riding buzzwords to a stock boom.
/goo.gl/7tXtaq
Institutions
Goldman Sachs picks Dublin for asset management unit post-Brexit: source
Reuters Staff
Goldman Sachs (GS.N) has picked Dublin as a center for administrative staff in its asset management business following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, a source familiar with the matter said.
/goo.gl/jFk3iP
Activist investor says Brexit offers rich pickings; Cevian Capital has sold stake in Volvo Group to a Chinese company for EUR3.25bn
Richard Milne, Nordic correspondent – FT
Brexit is making the UK more attractive to investors by depressing valuations, according to Europe’s largest activist shareholder, flush with cash from the sector’s biggest-ever exit.
/goo.gl/ri3sCA
A Hedge Fund Gets $2.4 Billion for Hanging In There
Lionel Laurent – Bloomberg
Cage-rattling activist investors are not known for their patience. But Cevian Capital AB has waited more than a decade for its bet on trucks-to-construction group Volvo AB to pay off. That restraint has been worth it, with Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. paying a premium for Cevian’s stake.
/goo.gl/gYpzyE
Banks are actively headhunting for workers again, but they want specific skills; Banks want specialists who understand the digital and “fintech” realms; “Huge” shortages of people with the desired skills afflict some regions, especially Asia
Huileng Tan – CNBC
Banks are starting to headhunt actively again after years being fairly passive following the global financial crisis, a prominent recruiter said on Thursday.
/goo.gl/hFnYzw
MUFG Moves Financial Crime Compliance Unit to New York
By Gareth Allan and Yuki Hagiwara – Bloomberg
Japan’s biggest bank said to have 1,350 staff covering crimes; Scope of unit goes beyond that required in regulator’s order
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.’s main banking unit has shifted its global headquarters for financial crimes compliance to New York from Tokyo, as it steps up its drive to combat illegal transactions, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/ssKZee
Regions
Saudi Arabia’s reform drive is bold, yet fraught with risk; The crown prince’s liberalisation is breathing fresh air into a stifled society
David Gardner – FT
The Middle East’s most dynamic leader this year, albeit in a sluggish field, would be Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia. MbS, as the 32-year-old wunderkind is known, has seized the reins of power and set a dizzying pace for a ruling family that by habit coalesces slowly around low common denominators, with caution and consensus as its watchwords.
/goo.gl/baE5wb
LeEco Founder’s Assets Seized as China Pursues Absent Web Mogul
Bloomberg News
Court seizes Jia Yueting’s bank deposits of about $200,000; The seizure adds to the LeEco founder’s growing list of woes
A Chinese court has seized all the assets owned by LeEco founder Jia Yueting it could unearth, as the country’s legal bodies step up action against an internet entrepreneur who once declared war on Apple and Tesla Inc.
/goo.gl/Em3tq4
Cautious Danes Miss Out on $37 Billions in Returns, Study Finds
Frances Schwartzkopff – Bloomberg
Danish households are missing out on hundreds of billions of kroner because they keep their savings in bank accounts where they collect little or no interest thanks to negative central bank rates, according to an investment fund group.
/goo.gl/R6Uavy
Russia to Keep Its Grip on Europe’s Gas Market After Record 2017
Elena Mazneva – Bloomberg
Russian gas giant sees 2018 Europe exports at least at 180bcm; LNG imports may increase, yet not by cutting Gazprom share
Russia is working to keep natural gas exports to Europe near record levels in 2018 after the continent’s biggest supplier, Gazprom PJSC, said its deliveries this year signal it is achieving on its ambitions to expand.
/goo.gl/fTqLDG
India’s taxman is after your bitcoin gainsóand more
Nupur Anand – Quartz
Soaring bitcoin prices have now caught the attention of India’s taxman. The income tax department has been surveying cryptocurrency exchanges across the country to zero in on those who profited from the recent boom but skipped paying taxes on the money they made. Tax officials may also use this opportunity to take a closer look at the overall wealth accumulated by certain individuals, alongside the gains made in virtual currencies.
/goo.gl/z6Xz3P
In a country known for its “bitcoin zombies,” one-third of workers are crypto investors
Hailey Jo – Quartz
South Korea is one of the world’s biggest markets for bitcoinóso it’s no wonder that more than three out of 10 salaried workers in the country have invested in cryptocurrencies, according to a recent study (link in Korean) conducted by job portal Saramin.
/goo.gl/dziBth
Road ahead for Indian markets in 2018: What top global brokerages forecast
Puneet Wadhwa – Business Standard
With the S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty rising over 30% each in 2017, most global brokerages are of the view that the bull run would continue in 2018. They forecast the benchmark Nifty to deliver returns of 10-15% by December 2018 on supportive global economic growth, and gradual improvement in business sentiment. The returns will mostly be in line with growth in corporate earnings in the 2018 calendar year, they suggest.
/goo.gl/CSySno
Brexit
EU stance on deal for City of London is ‘manifestly absurd’, says former trade minister
David Reid – CNBC
The tough stance adopted by Brussels negotiators over the U.K.’s financial services industry does not make sense according to a former U.K. trade minister.
/goo.gl/QFi8cR
Labour voters could abandon party over Brexit stance, poll finds; Party urged to clarify policy as poll finds more than half of Labour voters oppose leadership backing Brexit
Patrick Wintour and Rowena Mason – The Guardian
Labour is coming under pressure from leading pro-remain campaigners to clarify its stance on Brexit, after polling showed that a quarter of its current voters could switch party by the next election and more than half would oppose Labour backing Brexit.
/goo.gl/26wcjY
Miscellaneous
19 Bitcoin Accounts You Should Follow on Twitter
Jeff John Roberts and David Z. Morris – Fortune
How much hype is there around Bitcoin? Just take a look at the recent flood of media coverage. It feels by now that every journalist and his or her dog has written at least one story about the cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/CSxsph
As World Eats More Meat, U.S. Soy Is Losing the Battle to Feed Animals
Jeff Wilson and Tatiana Freitas – Bloomberg
Crop protein content ties for lowest in decades on bad weather; Quality gap widens as Brazil sees soy exports surge to record
At a time when people around the world are eating more meat, poultry and dairy products than ever before, American farmers may be losing even more ground to Brazil in the race to feed all those animals.
/goo.gl/yHKJk5
The post Chicago firms gear up for MiFID II; EU exchanges clash with customers over fees; South Korea Considers Closing Bitcoin Exchanges appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).