Draghi Backs Calls for Fiscal Union to Bolster Eurozone – Financial Times
European Central Bank president Mario Draghi has thrown his weight behind French president Emmanuel Macron’s call for fiscal transfers between eurozone member states to bolster the long-term future of the single currency.
Boris Johnson Defiant on EU Departure Date – Financial Times
Boris Johnson has remained defiant he will not delay the UK’s departure from the EU, giving his strongest hint to date that he might provoke another EU member state into blocking a further Brexit delay.
Northern Ireland’s DUP Leader Foster Backs Johnson’s Brexit Push – Reuters
Arlene Foster, leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said on Sunday she supported Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but could not accept leaving the EU on different terms to the rest of the country.
China Says Will Open More Sectors of Economy to Foreign Investors – Reuters
China will open up more sectors of the economy to foreign investors, and its policy of protecting foreign companies’ rights in the country will not change, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said on Sunday.
Sterling Ticks Up After Enduring Worst Week Since Early August – Reuters
Sterling inched higher on Monday after a week of hefty losses, showing little reaction to data showing a quarterly contraction in the UK economy as the focus remained squarely on Brexit news from the ruling Conservatives’ annual party conference.
ECB to Start Disclosing Forex Interventions – Reuters
The European Central Bank said on Friday it would start publishing quarterly data about any intervention in the foreign exchange market, adding that the only instances to date dated back to 2000 and 2011.
Regulatory News
CFTC Announces Approximately $7 Million Whistleblower Award – Mondovisione
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it will award approximately $7 million to a whistleblower. Relevant information from the whistleblower’s account of the misconduct led the CFTC to investigate and ultimately find a violation of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
White House Weighs Limits on U.S. Portfolio Flows into China – Bloomberg
Trump administration officials are discussing ways to limit U.S. investors’ portfolio flows into China in a move that would have repercussions for billions of dollars in investment pegged to major indexes.
Crypto News
Asian Institutions are Finally Warming to Crypto Hedge Funds – Coindesk
Asian institutional investors, mostly high-net-worth individuals and family offices unfamiliar with digital assets, are increasingly showing interest in allocating a small portion of their portfolios to crypto hedge funds.
LedgerX Cries Foul; CFTC Says There’s No Favoritism – The Block
Regulatory drama in the cryptocurrency derivatives market reached a fever pitch this weekend. Executives at U.S.-based cryptocurrency options exchange LedgerX are claiming that their primary regulator, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has acted unfairly, favoring their legacy rival Bakkt over the Chicago-based crypto-native firm.
Gov’t-Backed Digital Currencies on Horizon, ING Exec Says – Law360
Digital currency projects like Facebook-led Libra are putting pressure on central banks to move faster, making them likely to launch government-backed digital currencies within three years, according to Dutch bank ING Group’s chief economist.
Company News
HKEX Seeks Up to $9.8 Billion Loans to Fund LSE Offer – Bloomberg
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. is in talks with banks for a loan to back its proposed takeover bid for London Stock Exchange Group Plc, people familiar with the matter said.
The bourse has been discussing borrowing between 7 billion pounds and 8 billion pounds ($9.8 billion), according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It’s seeking to form a syndicate of several lenders, the people said.
Financial Companies Ignore Tech at Their Own Peril, Deutsche Says – Law360
The marriage of technology and financial services will have wide-ranging impacts on financial markets and existing business models and must be embraced, Deutsche Bank said in a report, noting that regulation will play a crucial role in how the fintech market develops.
Flash Boys at Jump Trading Set Their Sights on the Credit Market – Bloomberg
Chicago-based Jump Trading has quietly become one of the giants in modern finance, a dominant presence in derivatives trading and a major reason why markets operate close to the speed of light. It’s now got the credit market in its sights.
Angela Knight to Step Down as a Director from TP ICAP Board – Finance Magnates
Interdealer broker TP ICAP plc revealed this Friday that it is making some changes to its Board of Directors. Namely, Angela Knight CBE, who has spent almost nine years on the company’s Board, will not seek re-election.
Market Savvy
Don’t Blame Market Makers for Volatility, a New Study Says – Barron’s
Whenever markets suffer a bout of volatility, someone blames high-frequency traders. In the bumpy last months of 2018, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged a government investigation of high-speed trading. After the recent August chop, some said the exit of traditional dealers from market-making had hurt stock-trading liquidity.
U.K. Experience Suggests an Inverted Yield Curve Isn’t All Gloom and Doom – The Wall Street Journal
A widely watched U.S. recession signal has been blinking red for months now. Yet the performance of that gauge, the yield curve, in Britain suggests it is less worrisome than the American experience indicates.
Are Investors Ready for the ‘Doomsday Dollar’ Scenario? – Financial Times
For decades, global savers, and American retirement savers in particular, have been taught that you should put most of your money in an S&P index fund – one that tracked the fortunes of the largest US companies – and then forget about it until you were close to retirement.
Emerging Markets-Stocks, FX Eye Worst Quarter in 2019 as Trade Tensions Linger – Reuters
Emerging market stocks and currencies were set for their biggest quarterly declines of 2019 on Monday, with renewed concerns on the U.S.-China trade front driving Shanghai shares to their lowest in nearly a month.
CEE Markets-Currencies Gain as Investors Await Polish FX-Mortgage Verdict – Reuters
Central European currencies strengthened on Monday, at the beginning of a week when a
European Union court ruling could have serious implications for Poland’s financial markets.