First Read
Star-studded Robin Hood Foundation galas raise $101M
By James Covert, New York Post
The Robin Hood Foundation raised a jaw-dropping and record-setting $101 million at its gala Tuesday night — and now it’s bent on raising a new generation of philanthropists as well. For the first time, the Big Apple’s biggest charity hosted two additional fundraising parties alongside its annual bash at the Javits Center, with both of them aimed at the next generation of New Yorkers who want to battle poverty in their city.
jlne.ws/1AWhZru
***** A record $101 million raised, but some came in nice $25 million chunks. Nice work!
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FIA Response to the 2015 Leap Second Event
FIA
A leap second1 is the addition of an extra second at the end of a day to realign the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) standard with mean solar time. UTC – based on International Atomic Time (TAI) – is the accepted standard for international time synchronization, taking the place of Greenwich Mean Time in 1960.
jlne.ws/1F6E8r5
***** Leap second will occur during trading hours. Are you ready?
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What If Lehman Brothers Had Been Lehman Sisters?
Mayra Rodriguez Valladares – American Banker
How can we reform banks so they better serve society? It’s telling that it took a conference organized by women and featuring an all-female lineup of speakers to focus on this question. The 18 women speakers at the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s conference in Washington, D.C., encouraged people in the field to think creatively about bank reform.
jlne.ws/1dZfAHz
****** How many times are we going to use this headline? It is starting to rival “Back to the Futures.”
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Big Picture: Sandor Says Look Beyond US For Air And Water Markets
JohnLothianNews.com
Richard Sandor is one of the pioneers in financial derivatives and the environmental markets world as founder of the Chicago Climate Exchange. Now with his second book, Sustainable Investing And Environmental Markets, Sandor says this asset class has come a long way over the past 12 years but has a long way to go from here.
“I think we’ve made enormous progress,” he says. “You wouldn’t necessarily believe it was true because of the lack of federal action in the the United States. But I think that would be naive. In fact, you have proposals pending by the EPA that suggest there may be cap-and-trade.”
Watch the video »
***DA: We published this video last week, sandwiched in between our coverage of OIC and the WFE conferences. It is a great interview with Doc Sandor, so we want to make sure it gets its day in the sun.
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Commodity markets wary of false alarm as El Niño blows back
Emiko Terazono, FT
After a five-year absence, El Niño is back. The last time the weather event emerged in 2009-10, droughts damaged crops in Southeast Asia and Australia sending agricultural commodity prices soaring.
jlne.ws/1HdoJpD
****** Welcome back, little one.
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Number of quitting workers at a seven-year high
By RUTH MANTELL, ECONOMICS REPORTER
In a show of economic confidence, March saw the most workers quit in seven years, according to government data released Tuesday. About 2.78 million workers quit their jobs in March — the most since April 2008 — up 15% from a year earlier, the U.S. Labor Department reported. More workers quitting is a sign that employees feel confident enough in their prospects to give up some career stability.
jlne.ws/1KIx1WU
****** Johnny Paycheck is making a comeback as well.
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North Korea executes minister by anti-aircraft gun, says Seoul
Simon Mundy in Seoul, FT
North Korea has executed its defence minister by anti-aircraft fire for crimes including falling asleep at a meeting in front of Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader, Seoul’s intelligence agency has reported.
jlne.ws/1IxmMr3
****** I believe you could characterize this as an excessive use of deadly force. Wow!
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Lead Stories
Finra Strengthens Broker Penalty Guidelines; Brokers can now be permanently disbarred in cases of ‘aggravated’ circumstances
By MATTHIAS RIEKER, WSJ
Wall Street’s self-regulator has stiffened some of its penalties and issued more aggressive guidelines for dealing with brokers and firms that violate securities rules or commit fraud.
jlne.ws/1F6DsBQ
Banks Rethink Common Sales Tricks; Long-acceptable trading tactics on Wall Street become potential criminal offenses
By JUSTIN BAER and JULIE STEINBERG, WSJ
It is the age-old art of sealing a deal: Making your product seem more desirable than it may actually be. But on Wall Street, where traders for decades have tried to cajole clients into buying or selling, the question of how far they can go has become pivotal. Ever since former Jefferies Group LLC trader Jesse Litvak was sentenced in July 2014 to two years in prison for lying to customers about how much he had paid for securities, Wall Street executives have been rethinking the rules of engagement. Long-acceptable trading tactics—pretending to have paid more for a bond than one had, for example, or embellishing how many potential buyers may be interested in a particular security—have become potential criminal offenses.
jlne.ws/1FjZGnc
U.S. Set to Rip Up UBS Libor Accord, Seek Conviction
by Tom Schoenberg, Bloomberg
The U.S. Justice Department is set to rip up its agreement not to prosecute UBS Group AG for rigging benchmark interest rates, according to a person familiar with the matter, taking a new step to hold banks accountable for repeat offenses.
jlne.ws/1HdrIyh
U.S. Said to Seek Guilty Pleas From Parent Companies of Banks
by Hugh Son, Dakin Campbell, Greg Farrell, Tom Schoenberg, Bloomberg
The U.S. Justice Department is seeking criminal guilty pleas from the parent companies of banks that are poised to admit to rigging foreign-exchange markets, said people briefed on the negotiations.
jlne.ws/1Ixz0QF
Europe Likely to Recognize U.S. Clearinghouses, LSE’s Rolet Says
By John Detrixhe and Jim Brunsden, Bloomberg
The U.S. and Europe are going to find a way to get along, at least when it comes to regulating
clearinghouses meant to protect financial markets, according to London Stock Exchange Group Plc’s chief executive officer.
(No Link)
SunGard listing shows buyout companies scraping bottom of the barrel
By Henny Sender in New York, FT
Ten years after SunGard Data Systems was bought by seven private equity groups for $11.4bn just as the buyout boom was gathering momentum in 2005, the owners plan to list it as they take advantage of high stock market valuations to offload some of their weakest performing investments.
jlne.ws/1Fk7nKe
Hiring a New York Fed Chief Could Take a While
By KATE DAVIDSON, WSJ
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) wants to add one more name to the long list of financial agency nominees the Senate has the power to approve or reject: the president of the New York Federal Reserve.
jlne.ws/1FdDVDH
DoJ ratchets up pressure on UBS over Libor scandal
Gina Chon in Washington, FT
The US justice department is considering scrapping a 2012 agreement to not prosecute UBS for allegedly manipulating Libor in the latest sign that US authorities are ratcheting up pressure on global banks.
jlne.ws/1PGgHHJ
Brokerage industry lobbying dollars dwarf investment advisers'; DOL fiduciary rule was a primary focus in first quarter
By Mark Schoeff Jr., Investment News
Interest groups that represent the brokerage side of the financial advice industry once again spent by far the most money lobbying for their policy agenda this year.
jlne.ws/1IxmjoU
Justice Department may go back on deal not to prosecute UBS: Bloomberg
Reuters
U.S. Justice Department may reverse its agreement not to prosecute Swiss bank UBS Group AG over manipulation of benchmark interest rates, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
jlne.ws/1cwahOK
Cross-border issues continue to plague derivatives market
By Renee Caruthers, Fierce Finance IT
Last Thursday, EU and U.S. regulators met to try to harmonize rules regarding central clearing in the derivatives market. Despite the optimistic nature of the joint statement regulators released after that meeting pledging to work toward a summer full of resolutions on issues, most reactions seemed less upbeat.
jlne.ws/1e0Tq7K
CFTC Eyes New Trading Rules After ‘Flash Crash’ Bust
By Ed Beeson, Law360
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is considering whether to impose new controls on automated trading following both the recent enforcement action against the so-called flash crash trader and the broader migration of the commodities and derivatives markets to electronic trading, agency Chairman Timothy Massad said Tuesday.
jlne.ws/1Pinxs3
Lehman Just Won’t Die as London Cases Delay Final Reckoning
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by Kit Chellel, Bloomberg
Two court cases in one day show that nearly seven years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., London lawyers are still fighting over deals that blew up in September 2008.
jlne.ws/1E5cxT4
Regulatory
FINRA’s NAC Strengthens Sanction Guidelines for Fraudulent Conduct
FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced that the National Adjudicatory Council’s (NAC) review of its Sanction Guidelines has resulted in a number of significant revisions. In particular, the NAC is amending the overarching principles that apply to sanctions determinations and is revising the Sanction Guidelines to call for tougher sanctions against those who commit fraud or make unsuitable recommendations to customers. The revised Sanction Guidelines now advise FINRA adjudicators to strongly consider barring an individual respondent, or expelling a firm, for cases involving fraud. For individuals who violate FINRA’s suitability rule, the range of the suspension has increased from one year to two years, and adjudicators are advised to strongly consider barring an individual respondent where aggravating factors predominate over mitigating ones.
jlne.ws/1K5Xil7
CFTC releases final interpretation on forward contracts with embedded volumetric optionality
By Andrew Saks-McLeod, LeapRate
In providing its interpretation, the CFTC was guided by and sought to reconcile agency precedent regarding forward contracts containing embedded options with the statutory definition of “swap” which provides that commodity options are swaps, even if physically settled
jlne.ws/1JcwqP5
CFTC Releases Final Interpretation on Forward Contracts with Embedded Volumetric Optionality
CFTC
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today released its Final Interpretation on Forward Contracts with Embedded Volumetric Optionality. The interpretation identifies when an agreement, contract, or transaction would fall within the forward contract exclusions from the “swap” and “future delivery” definitions in the Commodity Exchange Act, notwithstanding that it allows for variations in the delivery amount (i.e., contains “embedded volumetric optionality”). The unanimous vote was conducted via seriatim.
jlne.ws/1Jcv6vB
US SEC’s Gallagher to resign from his post -Bloomberg
Reuters
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Republican member Daniel Gallagher is expected to resign from his post at the agency, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous people familiar with the matter.
jlne.ws/1FdGTrU
Securities Industry Divided On SEC’s Trade-Through Rule
By Stephanie Russell-Kraft, Law360
Securities industry participants remain deeply divided over the value of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s so-called trade-through rule, the planned subject of debate at Wednesday’s inaugural meeting of the agency’s Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee.
jlne.ws/1F6DYzQ
EU, US aim to ease capital impact – FIA Europe
Cian Burke, Futures & Options World
European and US regulators are looking to amend the Basel III bank capital rules to take into account the risk reducing effects of segregated margin a move that would bring much needed relief to the clearing industry, according to FIA Europe. Simon Puleston-Jones, chief executive of FIA Europe, told the FOW Post Trade Event on Monday, the Basel III leverage ratios were damaging the clearing industry and that European and US markets regulators needed to work with their banking counterparts to ensure the sustainability of the industry.
jlne.ws/1E5buTc
Democrats Greet Shelby Banking Bill With Skepticism; Administration fears erosion of Dodd-Frank protections
By RYAN TRACY and VICTORIA MCGRANE, WSJ
An opening gambit by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) to ease regulatory restrictions on smaller banks and increase scrutiny of the Federal Reserve was met with skepticism by Democrats, portending a rough road for a bill that would make the most significant changes to financial regulation since the 2010 Dodd-Frank law.
jlne.ws/1e0UhFB
Finra toughens its sanctions on suitability violations; The self-regulator suggest barring offenders, expelling more firms, upping suspensions to two years
By Alessandra Malito, Investment Week
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. is tightening the screws on its disciplinary responses to violations of the suitability standard by brokers.
jlne.ws/1AWcRn6
Remarks Of CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad Before The Energy Risk Summit USA
CFTC
Thank you for inviting me today, and I thank Paul for that kind introduction. It’s a pleasure to be here. I say that in particular because I lived here as a child and still have family here. My father worked in the oil industry, and so we lived in many of the well-known oil towns in this country, including Midland, Texas and Morgan City, Louisiana, in addition to Houston. We eventually moved to Connecticut when he started working in New York. And while my parents in their retirement and my siblings all migrated back to Texas, I was the black sheep of the family who mostly stayed in the Northeast.
Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) Rulemaking and National Market System (NMS) Plans
SEC
CBOE: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change Related to Floor Broker Errors and the Use of Floor Broker Error Accounts (Release No. 34-74923; File No. SR-CBOE-2015-030; May 11, 2015)
DTC: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change to Make Technical Revisions to the DTC Custody Service Guide and the DTC Deposits Service Guide (Release No. 34-74926; File No. SR-DTC-2015-005); see also Exhibit 5
ICEEU: Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change Relating to Finance Procedures to Add Clearstream Banking as a Triparty Collateral Service Provider (Release No. 34-74922; File No. SR-ICEEU-2015-009; May 11, 2015)
NASDAQ: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change Relating to NASDAQ Options Market Fees and Rebates (Release No. 34-74931; File No. SR-NASDAQ-2015-047); see also Exhibit 5
NYSE: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change Amending the Constituent Documents of Its Intermediate Parent Companies NYSE Holdings LLC., Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., to Eliminate Certain Provisions That by Their Terms Have Become Void and Are of No Further Force and Effect as a Result of the Sale by ICE of Euronext N.V. in June 2014 and Make Conforming Changes to the Independence Policy of the Board of Directors of ICE (Release No. 34-74928; File No. SR-NYSE-2015-18); see also Exhibit 5
NYSE Arca: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change Amending the Constituent Documents of Its Intermediate Parent Companies NYSE Holdings LLC., Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., to Eliminate Certain Provisions That by Their Terms Have Become Void and Are of No Further Force and Effect as a Result of the Sale by ICE of Euronext N.V. in June 2014 and Make Conforming Changes to the Independence Policy of the Board of Directors of ICE (Release No. 34-74929; File No. SR-NYSEArca-2015-33); see also Exhibit 5
NYSEMKT: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change Amending the Constituent Documents of Its Intermediate Parent Companies NYSE Holdings LLC., Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., to Eliminate Certain Provisions That by Their Terms Have Become Void and Are of No Further Force and Effect as a Result of the Sale by ICE of Euronext N.V. in June 2014 and Make Conforming Changes to the Independence Policy of the Board of Directors of ICE (Release No. 34-74930; File No. SR-NYSEMKT-2015-32); see also Exhibit 5
jlne.ws/1eCTnOv
Exchanges & Trading Facilities
FIA Asia Conference – TAIFEX, Eurex and FIA Asia hold RMB seminar
Automated Trader
Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX), Eurex and FIA Asia have jointly held a seminar on topics of RMB movement, RMB FX futures, and the future development of exchanges. More than 200 representatives and industry professionals from USA, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and domestic financial institutions attended the event.
jlne.ws/1E5d5Z1
ENTERNEXT WELCOMES TINC TO EURONEXT BRUSSELS
Euronext
EnterNext, the Euronext subsidiary designed to promote and grow the market for small and mid-cap companies, today welcomed TINC, a Belgian infrastructure investment company, on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels.
jlne.ws/1bP3hM5
TMX CEO says wants to differentiate with data
Reuters
Markets operator TMX Group Ltd plans to better integrate its disparate units and make more use of data amid rising competition in the domestic exchange industry, the Toronto Stock Exchange operator’s chief executive said on Tuesday.
jlne.ws/1G5SfyN
TMX Group Announces Election of Directors
TMX
TMX Group today announced that the nominees listed in the management proxy circular for the 2015 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders were elected as directors of TMX Group Limited. Detailed results of the vote for the election of directors held at the Annual and Special Meeting on Tuesday, May 12, 2015 in Toronto are set out below.
jlne.ws/1L1HYn9
HKEx profits surge on stock connect as ‘core market’ status beckons
Reuters
Bumper trading volumes boosted Hong Kong’s exchange operator’s first-quarter profits by a third, in a sign the exchange is moving to a ‘new normal’ level of activity that could cement its place among the world’s top stock markets. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd (HKEx) has seen its shares soar 65 percent so far this year, as a landmark trading link with Shanghai recovered from a sluggish start to send trading volumes and revenues through the roof.
jlne.ws/1zZZk36
Hedge Funds & Managed Futures
Wealth Adviser: Trust Design Key to Keeping Wealth a Secret
By KEVIN NOBLET, WSJ
Trusts offer the wealthy a lot of advantages, including a way to keep the world from knowing just how wealthy they are when money gets passed on to beneficiaries. But that secrecy can get pierced when angry heirs go to court, as the children of the late Pittsburgh billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife recently discovered. Trustees disclosed that his son and daughter, unhappy about the handling of one family trust, were getting millions of dollars from another, Wealth Adviser at WSJ.com recounts. There are ways to design trusts to minimize the possibility of an eventual dispute, estate planners say. Among them: Creating separate trusts if there are multiple beneficiaries, and custom-tailoring each one.
jlne.ws/1F6Irme
ETF Assets Set to Overtake Hedge Funds This Year; ETFs at $3 trillion means they’ll eclipse hedge funds
by Trista Kelley, Inyoung Hwang, Lorcan Roche Kelly, Bloomberg
They’re cheap, easy to use, and they’re winning over more investors than ever.
Now exchange-traded funds — investment tools that seek to replicate the performance of a portfolio of securities — are growing at such a clip that their assets are poised to overtake those of hedge funds.
jlne.ws/1cSzhAD
Why multi-factor funds are smarter beta
John Authers, FT
Smart beta is getting smarter. In the process, while at risk of becoming more esoteric and harder to sell, it may be putting itself on a firmer footing when it comes to claims that it can beat the market in the longer term.
jlne.ws/1cSkxSk
Moody’s downgrades Chicago to junk
Robin Wigglesworth, Neil Munshi and Eric Platt in New York, FT
Moody’s has stripped Chicago of its investment grade rating over its yawning pension plan deficit, potentially triggering up to $2.2bn of claims and setting back mayor Rahm Emanuel’s efforts to turn around the finances of America’s third-biggest city.
jlne.ws/1JGXkMS
Banks & Brokers
Quantitative Brokers Delivers Best Execution Algos Via REDIPlus
Traders Magazine Online News
Traders who use the REDIPlus trade management platform will now have access to futures algorithms and DMA tools from Quantitative Brokers. REDI Global Technologies has integrated a suite of futures algorithms and DMA tools from Quantitative Brokers into its trade management platform, REDIPlus, providing its more than 5,000 active users direct access to the award-winning algorithmic broker.
jlne.ws/1H1aH7O
Goldman, BofA Among Banks Said to Face Fresh Swaps Scrutiny
Bloomberg Business
The European Union is re-evaluating its antitrust probe into whether 13 of the world’s biggest banks conspired to shut exchanges out of the credit-default swaps market after a series of mishaps nearly derailed the four-year-old case, according to people familiar with the matter.
jlne.ws/1zZZqYB
ABN Amro chairman apologises after executive pay reversal
Martin Arnold in London, FT
The chairman of ABN Amro has apologised for the uproar over executive pay that is disrupting the Dutch bank’s planned privatisation.
jlne.ws/1cSkndC
Bringing Too-Big-to-Fail Banks to Heel – WSJ
It is one thing to have the tools to do a job, quite another to be willing and able to use them. When it comes to too-big-to-fail banks, regulators now have the tools to put a struggling one out of its misery. That was the message from Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg in a speech Tuesday.
jlne.ws/1A01bF2
Citi may end up pleading guilty to currency market manipulation
Business Insider
Citi warned, in a regulatory statement filed in the United States, that it is could plead guilty to Department of Justice allegations over currency market manipulation.
jlne.ws/1L1NBSy
Clearing & Settlement
Euro Banking Association Publishes Report on Cryptocurrencies
CoinBuzz
Yesterday the Euro Banking Association (EBA), a conglomerate of over 200 banks and financial organizations from within the European Union, published a paper titled “Cryptotechnologies, a major IT innovation and catalyst for change”. Below are the highlights of the 25 page paper, which focuses on the practical applications of cryptotechnology in the short to medium term with an emphasis on banking and payments processing.
jlne.ws/1zZWDOT
Nomura exits swaps clearing for US and European customers
Joe Rennison in London, FT
Nomura has become the latest mid-tier investment bank to abandon a key part of its derivatives services for customers in Europe and the US, blaming delays to incoming regulations for its decision.
jlne.ws/1IADcgO
Mooted clearing of options on credit indices raises concern
Joe Rennison, FT
Intercontinental Exchange is aiming to expand its role in safeguarding derivative products, a key objective of post-crisis regulation.
jlne.ws/1bOSUrT
Clearing house stand-off to cause fragmentation, says ISDA chief
The Trade
The chief executive of Wall Street’s derivatives trading body believes a failure to agree on clearing house equivalence and margin rules between European and US regulators could cause further fragmentation in the swaps market.
jlne.ws/1JH0xwa
Clearstream’s April 2015 Figures – 14 Percent Increase In Settlement Transactions Compared To April 2014 – Monthly Average Outstanding In Global Securities Financing Reached EUR 628.4 Billion – Investment Fund Services Processed 26 Percent More Transactions Than In April 2014
MondoVisione
jlne.ws/1Ixs8Tk
Indexes & Products
BM&FBOVESPA And S&P Dow Jones Indices Sign Index Agreement –
PRNewswire
BM&FBOVESPA (BVMF), the largest equity and futures exchange in Latin America, and S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI), one of the world’s leading providers of financial market indices, announced today the signing of a strategic agreement to create and launch new, co-branded equity Brazilian indices. The signing, as well as a bell ringing commemorating the event, took place at BVMF earlier this morning.
jlne.ws/1E58dTJ
MSCI Equity Indexes May 2015 Index Review
MarketWatch
MSCI Inc. announced today the results of the May 2015 Semi-Annual Index Review for the MSCI Equity Indexes. All changes will be implemented as of the close of May 29, 2015. These changes have been posted on the Index Review web page on MSCI’s web site at https://www.msci.com/index-review.
jlne.ws/1zZXdw9
MSCI Sets Date for Decision on Chinese Stocks
WSJ
MSCI Inc. will announce next month whether it will add China A-shares, mainland-listed stocks whose purchase by foreigners has been limited, to its widely tracked emerging-markets index. Adding China A-shares into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index could supercharge a roaring rally in Chinese shares by boosting the weighting of Chinese stocks in an index currently tracked by some $1.7 trillion of assets.
jlne.ws/1zZXgIu
Foreign Investor Access to Onshore Chinese Bond Markets Grows
S&P Dow Jones Indices Indexology Blog
China continues to broaden foreign investor access to their onshore bond market. Luxembourg is the latest country being granted an RQFII quota by the People’s Bank of China, followed Canada, Germany, Qatar and Australia. According to the data published by State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) on April 29, 2015, the approved RQFII investment quota reached CNY 363 billion, representing a 22% increase from December, 2014. The number of the qualified institutions also rose from 93 to 121.
jlne.ws/1zZXqzj
Technology
Free Market Data APIs Introduced by Barchart OnDemand
Barchart.com
Barchart.com, Inc., a leading provider of market data and information, today announced the worldwide release of free financial market data, granting public access to their getQuote and getHistory APIs. Barchart OnDemand’s free service includes end-of-day U.S. equities, futures and forex, and intra-day BATS delayed data. Users will also be able to query historical market data at no cost. Barchart OnDemand is a cloud-based service developed for accessing and delivering market data and information using web services. Barchart OnDemand is built upon the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure and features the ability to easily access an extensive amount of market data and information.
jlne.ws/1Exvz5U
FinTech Could Be the Core NYC Needs to Differentiate Its Startup Scene
Xconomy
Consumer-driven startups tend to spread like wildfire in this town, from shopping for pet products to apps for finding hip nightspots—but tech ideas born from New York’s financial heritage have been something of a slow burn. It is about time that changed.
jlne.ws/1zZXA9V
How Google’s Top Minds Decide What to Forget; As ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling turns one year old, Google offers glimpse into its decision-making process
By LISA FLEISHER and SAM SCHECHNER, WSJ
On most Wednesdays, Google Inc.’s top minds in Europe get together and decide what to forget.
jlne.ws/1QITM0J
Macquarie Selects SunGard’s Fox River for US Electronic Trading
Macquarie Securities
SunGard to provide dedicated trading infrastructure and software to Macquarie Securities through its leading-edge Fox River products
In combination with Macquarie’s existing global execution platform, SunGard’s Fox River will help enhance Macquarie’s US offering to global institutional investor clients
Macquarie Securities, the institutional equities arm of Macquarie Group (“Macquarie”) (ASX: MQG; ADR: MQBKY), today announced it has selected SunGard’s Fox River Execution Solutions (“Fox River”) electronic trading software and infrastructure in the US. By integrating Fox River with Macquarie’s global execution platform and dedicated environment, Macquarie will provide its clients with an independent trading environment, giving them the ability to customize their trading strategies and differentiate their services.
(No Link)
Facebook to let nine news companies publish news to mobile feeds
Reuters
Facebook Inc tied up with nine news publishers to launch “Instant Articles” that will let them publish articles directly to the social network’s mobile news feeds.
jlne.ws/1L1EhxO
Enforcement
SEC Announces Fraud Charges Against ITT Educational Services
SEC.gov
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against ITT Educational Services Inc., its chief executive officer Kevin Modany, and its chief financial officer Daniel Fitzpatrick. The SEC alleges that the national operator of for-profit colleges and the two executives fraudulently concealed from ITT’s investors the poor performance and looming financial impact of two student loan programs that ITT financially guaranteed. ITT formed both of these student loan programs, known as the “PEAKS” and “CUSO” programs, to provide off-balance sheet loans for ITT’s students following the collapse of the private student loan market. To induce others to finance these risky loans, ITT provided a guarantee that limited any risk of loss from the student loan pools.
jlne.ws/1H17k0P
Environmental & Energy
Cargill introduces new range of sustainably sourced carrageenans; New blend of carrageenans offers improved suspension in dairy & non-dairy neutral protein drinks
Cargill
Beverage manufacturers looking to reach excellent mouthfeel and stability for their protein drinks can now rely on a new blend of carrageenans obtained from sustainably sourced seaweed.
jlne.ws/1JH1jsX
U.S. gives final approval to LNG exports from Corpus Christi
Reuters
The U.S. Energy Department said on Tuesday it has given final approval for Cheniere to export liquefied natural gas from its plant in Corpus Christi, Texas.
jlne.ws/1zZXjnn
Veolia CEO says EU companies could agree on robust carbon charge
By Geert De Clercq – Reuters
European companies should be able to reach consensus on ambitious plans for carbon emissions reduction at the business and climate summit in Paris next week, Veolia Chief Executive Antoine Frerot said.
jlne.ws/1RCHzwc
IEA: OPEC Battle for Oil Market Share Just Beginning; Paris-based watchdog maintains 2015 oil demand growth forecast at 1.1 million barrels a day
By SARAH KENT
A global battle for market share between OPEC and non-OPEC producers that has rocked oil markets and fed into the biggest price slump since the financial crisis is just getting started, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.
jlne.ws/1HdmXEI
International Energy Agency says oil market remains loose
Anjli Raval, Oil & Gas Correspondent, FT
The world’s leading energy watchdog said the battle for market share between Opec and its high-cost rivals has “just started” with little evidence to suggest the price crash has significantly curbed supplies.
jlne.ws/1cw7i8V
Amundi Starts Three Low-Carbon Funds in Europe
By Louise Downing – Bloomberg News
Amundi, an asset manager majority owned by Credit Agricole SA, started three European funds offering institutional investors a way to manage financial risks from climate change and carbon emissions.
jlne.ws/1Pi4Rsk
Asia-Pacific
China’s Stock-Market Boom Won’t Erase Bad Debts
WSJ
A booming stock market has the potential to lighten China’s groaning debt load. So far, though, the wrong types of companies are taking advantage. Chinese companies have been active of late issuing fresh equity. China Resources Land and Fosun International this week are working on plans to raise more than $1 billion apiece. This is undeniably a good thing in a country with a leverage problem: The more equity raised, the more debt can be paid back.
jlne.ws/1zZXEqf
Frontier Markets
Frontier investor Mohammed Hanif: bored by ‘normal’ markets
Katrina Manson, FT
Every time Mohammed Hanif finds himself in Heathrow Terminal 3, he steadies his eyes on the floor outside WH Smith. Nearly four decades ago, the high-risk investor, who now heads a company managing $200m on the “frontier” of emerging markets, spent the night there together with his three young siblings and mother, after they found themselves penniless and abandoned on arrival from Pakistan.
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Securities and Exchange Board of india Notices
SEBI
Order No.018 of 2015 – Prohibitory order against Mahesh Thanvi in the matter of E.Star Infotech Ltd
Order in the matter of Gulshan Nirman India Limited
Interim Order in the matter of RBX Land Developers India Limited
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Miscellaneous
Cargill helps cows avoid heat stress during hot summer months; Recent trials prove Cargill’s proprietary feeding solutions help dairy cows better endure stress while dealing with their heat load
Cargill
Cargill’s animal nutrition business today shared new data proving the effectiveness of its customized feeding solutions that help customers manage heat-stressed cows during heat waves. With summer in full swing in the northern hemisphere, heat stress generally begins to affect a cow’s performance when the Temperature Humidity Index (THI) reaches 68, and can significantly reduce their appetite, fertility and milk production levels.
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Why it pays to be charitable
By CARLOS DIAS JR., MarketWatch
With the closing of the 2014 tax deadline a few weeks ago, we will soon find out if there was an increase in charitable deeds by investors. Aside from pure generosity, the forces likely driving gift-giving the past year boil down to two key components — an increase in stock market gains and higher income taxes.
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READ MORE: John Lothian Newsletter: Finra Strengthens Broker Penalty Guidelines; U.S. Set to Rip Up UBS Libor Accord, Seek Conviction; Europe Likely to Recognize U.S. Clearinghouses, LSE’s Rolet Says.