First Read

Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff

This has been a hard year, losing men who helped shape my early adult years and beyond. In the spring, my mentors Thomas J. Cashman and John J. Ruth died within a week of each other. Yesterday, I learned that Connie Hawkins had passed away; his services are today in Rockford, IL. Connie was a carpenter, not the famous basketball player, and the father of a Little League player I coached. I recruited him as my assistant coach when I was 18 and he was in his 40s. He later became my first employer after Purdue, offering me work as a carpenter’s assistant when the job I had pursued at Commodity News Service in Chicago went to Suzanne Cosgrove. He was a good teacher, and working beside him gave me skills I have carried ever since.

Connie also became a trusted friend to my family, repairing and improving our Wisconsin home after a flood, building a new kitchen, and helping the whole family put up a garage one weekend. His craftsmanship earned him work with our Loch Vista neighbors, too, some of which I helped with. Carpentry was his second career. He had been a chemist developing candy, including some of my childhood favorites, but he told me he lacked the patience for projects that took years. Weekend garage-building with friends led him to become a master craftsman. He was also an excellent golfer and a dedicated Williams Bay Lion, returning to volunteer at the Corn & Brat Roast even after moving to Rockford. The world has lost another good man, but I bet a couple of carpenters in heaven will enjoy comparing notes.

After this newsletter is published, I will be heading to Rockford for Connie’s services, then back to Chicago for the LaSalle Street Driving Futures Forward event for the Pathway to Adventure Council of Scouting America, held at the Wintrust Bank Building across from the CBOT.

This year’s honoree for the A. Stamford White Award is former RJO O’Brien CEO Gerry Corcoran, who was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame earlier this year. Gerry follows Craig Donohue, who received the award last year, and Advantage Futures CEO Joe Guinan, who was the inaugural winner. A. Stamford White was a two-time president of the Chicago Board of Trade, a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America, the first president of the Chicago Area Council, and the founder of the Owassipe Scouting Reservation, originally called Camp White.

DRW Founder and CEO Don Wilson will be the guest on Bloomberg’s Odd Lots Live at the City Winery, 1200 West Rand Road, Chicago, IL with Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal on October 15. Topics for the discussion are sure to include tokenization and compute trading. Tickets are $75 and you can register HERE.

On 9/28/2026, Coinbase Clearing LLC and Quanta Clear, Inc. were registered by the CFTC as Derivative Clearing Organizations, or DCOs.

Trading Technologies (TT) announced it had secured two Editors’ Choice Awards for Derivatives Solutions Excellence at the GlobalCapital Derivatives Awards 2026, earning top recognition for its platform across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. These cross-continental honors follow TT’s recent win at the FOW Asia Pacific Awards, bringing the firm’s total to 22 industry awards for its multi-asset trading solutions this year.

John Sodergreen, publisher of The Desk, decided to revive an old column he used to run in his magazine, Energy Metro Desk, many years ago. This was prompted by the rise of prediction markets. From this week’s The Desk:

For all you long-term subscribers to The Desk, you may recall a column we ran for many years in an earlier publication, the weekly magazine Energy Metro Desk. The column was called, “Drums Along the Potomac,” and focused almost entirely on FERC and CFTC actions and policy, and energy sector-related Hill shenanigans. We reread an old column recently (from October 2012), which fo­cused on Chairman Gary Gensler’s epic, Fri­day night, 11th hour blitz of market-chang­ing rules. It concerned Dodd-Frank-related, no-action and interpretive letters, and other energy sector guidance covering position limits, hedging exceptions, the de minimus threshold for swaps, and on and on. I often found myself at odds with GG, as he was sometimes called, and his many rulings, ratio­nalizations and generally imperious approach. I was hardly alone in that. It’s with heavy irony that I find myself nowadays agree­ing with much of what GG has to say about prediction markets and the CFTC’s role or lack thereof in defining or regulating these dynamic markets. Who decided it was a good idea for the CFTC to potentially (and literally) oversee the veracity of state or federal elections or Red Sox games or equity-linked markets? The broader question’s current path to the U.S. Supreme Court looks like a slow-motion train wreck. We were pointed to an analysis of a proposed rule (91 FR 35806) from the commission, which one lawyer describes as offering “prediction markets something more than just minimal oversight or a light touch; instead, it aims to prevent a future commission – perhaps under new leader­ship – from reversing course.” Huh? What? What would GG say? Or Walt Lukken? Or Chris Giancarlo? Or Jim Newsome? I know what Russ Behnam would say. More on this next week …

Rothera, the partnership of Robinhood and Susquehanna, has been an instant success. During the World Cup, they traded 3.44 billion contracts and now have just surpassed 5 billion total contracts traded, according to a Rothera LinkedIn post.

Here are the headlines from in front of FOW’s paywall from some recent stories:

• Kalshi sees institutions combining event contracts with traditional derivatives
• BoE Governor calls for rigorous testing as he lays out frontier AI strategy
• JPX derivatives volume surges in September as fixed income and micro contracts drive trading
• FCA appoints Paterson, Tobin and Pritchard to board
• Bloomberg expands terminal crypto data with new stablecoin dashboard
• Oil and rates reconvergence raises derivatives risk: TraditionData
• Tokenovate taps BMLL’s L’Heveder for revenue role
• ESMA pushes for MiCA changes as crypto markets evolve
• NSE’s September equity derivatives trading declines 2.7%
• LSEG expands Snowflake partnership to bring financial data into AI workflows
• ProphetX taps Plaee’s tech stack to scale distribution network
• NSE receives SEBI nod to launch credit index futures in fixed income push
• StoneX expands Asia FX trading footprint with new Singapore hub
• Kaiko joins DTCC working group to standardise tokenised asset pricing
• FCA targets tokenisation amid reform push

Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality, and justice.~JJL

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Our most-read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:

• Trading Technologies Acquires TRAFiX, Expanding Multi-Asset OEMS Coverage to Global Equities and Equity Options from Trading Technologies.
• OCC Strengthens Security Operations with an Agentic AI Investigation Solution Built on AWS from OCC.
• OptionMetrics Launches IvyDB TradeFlow, Giving Institutions Insights on Buying and Selling Order Flow, Retail Trading Behavior, Participation in 0DTE Options Trading from Businesswire. ~JB

Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it’s free).

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AI Discovery: Can LossDog’s AI Balance Your Portfolio?
JohnLothianNews.com

In this episode of AI Discovery, we explore using artificial intelligence to level the playing field between everyday retail investors and institutional giants. Retail traders have long faced structural disadvantages in data access, speed, and market mechanics, often leaving them on the losing side of market asymmetry.

Watch the video »

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Americans are growing tired of CEOs lecturing them on social issues
Phil Wahba – Fortune
Good morning. Phil Wahba here, writing from New York. A few years ago, the general public expected American CEOs to chime in on the social issues of the day, from gun control to racial diversity to gay rights. Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously attacked DEI efforts, while Levi’s former CEO was vocal about curbing gun violence, and Starbucks’ founder once encouraged customers to ask baristas about race relations.
/jlne.ws/4rDkdgo

***** Personally, I always listen to janitors. They know the real (word deleted).~JJL

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Hegseth Tells Troops Reporting on Iran Is a ‘National Betrayal’
Courtney McBride and Roxana Tiron – Bloomberg
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called press coverage of the Iran war “a national betrayal,” and described journalists as anti-American traitors for reporting on the actions of the Pentagon. Delivering a speech at a Marine Corps base just outside Washington in Virginia, Hegseth touted his push to scrap what he called “woke” policies but began with a series of accusations against the media.
/jlne.ws/3Vcog7w

****** Somewhere, Ernie Pyle is rolling over in his grave.~JJL

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Trump Says Powell Should Be Forced to Resign From Fed Board
Jeff Mason and Enda Curran – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump said former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should resign from the central bank’s Board of Governors over findings the central bank mismanaged the renovation of its headquarters. “The Building is over budget, at a Record Setting rate and, at a minimum, ‘Too Late’ Powell should be forced to resign from the Board,” the president posted Wednesday on social media, using a derisive nickname he’s long used for Powell.
/jlne.ws/4AX4jlw

****** President Trump does not know what real character is. If Powell could be forced to resign from the Fed, you would think the president would have the power. Maybe it is a janitor who has it.~JJL

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Wednesday’s Top Three
Our most clicked story on Wednesday was Cboe and S&P Dow Jones Indices Sign 25-Year Extension of Exclusive Licensing Agreement, Through 2051, from Cboe Global Markets. Second was Cboe and Robinhood plan company KPI prediction contracts, from FOW. Third was the CME Group’s page for the new CME FSPI SPORTS INDEX FUTURES.

 

Lead Stories

US oil industry warns diesel prices will not return to normal for a year; Dallas Fed survey finds energy executives believe high cost of fuel will persist
Stephanie Findlay – Financial Times
Diesel prices will not return to normal for more than a year, according to US oil and gas executives surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Almost half of those polled expect diesel prices will take more than four quarters to return to 2025 levels, according to the anonymous survey of 100 oil and gas companies. The Dallas Fed quarterly survey tracks the sentiment in the oil industry, with its anonymous format often giving a candid view of US energy policy and politics.
/jlne.ws/4dirXyx

US government debt rout triggers ‘vicious loop’ of selling; Yields on 10-year Treasuries soar half a percentage point in worst month in four years
Peter Wells, Emily Herbert and Kate Duguid – Financial Times
US government bonds have posted their worst month in four years as investors warned the world’s most important debt market has been gripped by a “vicious loop” of selling. US 10-year Treasury yields surged more than half a percentage point in September to 5.3 per cent, leaving them at the highest mark since 2007 and a whisker away from levels last seen in 2002. The scale of the move is unusual for a $32tn market that acts as an anchor for global finance. The sell-off, initially driven by worries over US public debt and inflation, has now triggered waves of selling by funds, according to big investors and traders. They said a feedback loop had taken hold this week: yields rose to levels at which certain funds were obliged to sell Treasuries, setting off further bouts of bond sales that pushed borrowing costs higher.
/jlne.ws/3U20GKf

CFTC Tees Up New Prediction Market Rules for White House Review
Lydia Beyoud – Bloomberg
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is teeing up two new prediction market-related rules that could impact litigation over the agency’s jurisdiction over sports-related event contracts. The CFTC sent the pair of rules, one of which would go into effect immediately, to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget earlier this week for review.
/jlne.ws/4ypqMFY

Chinese hackers impersonated ex-US official to steal emails from AI experts
Raphael Satter and A.J. Vicens – Reuters
Chinese hackers have been impersonating US AI experts, including ‌a former government official, to try to steal emails from experts in AI at think tanks, universities, and other organizations, the cybersecurity company Proofpoint said on Thursday. In a report, Proofpoint said that it had watched the hackers — which it dubs “TA419” — regularly try to steal ​passwords from people working for US or Japanese think tanks, defense contractors, universities, and law firms since ​as far back as 2025.
/jlne.ws/4ADjYX3

Investors thought they were buying pre-IPO OpenAI and SpaceX shares. Their cash went to strip clubs, Bloomingdale’s, and shopping on Amazon, SEC alleges
Amanda Gerut – Fortune
The Securities and Exchange Commission is dropping the hammer on private fund advisers who allegedly mishandled millions in investor assets under the guise of granting them lucrative pre-IPO shares in coveted startups such as OpenAI, SpaceX, and others. According to two separate cases announced on Wednesday, the SEC claims multiple fund advisers allegedly deceived mom-and-pop investors—including Navy veterans—about where the millions they thought they invested actually went. One adviser raised money for funds meant to hold OpenAI and SpaceX shares, while the other pair pitched investors on SandboxAQ and Kraken while falsely claiming to hold stakes in SpaceX and xAI. None of the actual companies or the executives who lead them are alleged to have engaged in wrongdoing.
/jlne.ws/4e9pYwO

CFTC Moves to Define Prediction Markets After Kalshi Loss – Robinhood Markets
Daragh Thomas – Benzinga
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is moving to clarify whether prediction market contracts are financial products or gambling, sending two new rules to the White House for review. The agency submitted both rules Monday, according to White House regulatory filings. One would treat event contracts as swaps, putting them under federal derivatives law. The other would exclude “casino-style gambling products” from the swap definition.
/jlne.ws/4xVJgNg

CFTC Secures $30 Million Judgment Tied to Alleged Crypto Scam
Nicola M White – Bloomberg
A federal judge in Florida ordered two individuals to pay more than $30 million in restitution and penalties for allegedly defrauding more than 9,000 people in a scam involving crytocurrencies and precious metals, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a statement Wednesdsay. Default judgments were entered against Brian Early and Alisha Ann Kingrey, the CFTC said. The two were defendants in a 2023 lawsuit the CFTC filed against a trading website called Fundsz and its founder, Rene Larralde.
/jlne.ws/4ztg2Xx

SEC proposes performance fees for retail funds in private markets push; US securities regulator seeks to widen access to alternative assets and overhaul fund fee rules
Harriet Clarfelt – Financial Times
The US securities watchdog is proposing an overhaul to rules governing access to private markets for individual investors, including allowing retail funds to charge performance fees, as part of the Trump administration’s effort to bring alternative assets to the masses. If adopted, the new rules would change the structure of private investment vehicles to offer expanded retail access to markets long dominated by institutional investors, while allowing the kind of fee arrangements that have been normally off-limits in mutual funds and other traditional investments. The Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously voted to propose the rule amendments during a meeting on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/4j48XaV

Exclusive | Tech CEOs Privately Questioned Amodei for Sounding AI Alarm Bells
Amrith Ramkumar and Josh Dawsey – The Wall Street Journal
After agreeing to sign a statement of principles to keep artificial-intelligence models safe Tuesday, AI chief executives surrounded President Trump outside the White House to present the image of a unified industry addressing the public’s fears. Behind the scenes, industry leaders including Jensen Huang of Nvidia had just questioned Anthropic’s Dario Amodei about his warnings about the dangers of AI, people familiar with the matter said. The executives asked Amodei why he was being so extreme in public about the capabilities of AI models and risks they posed following a lunch in the East Room with about two dozen CEOs. Amodei told the other executives that it is important to be honest with the public about model capabilities and not play down risks, some of the people said.
/jlne.ws/4xTpJgs

What Was Revealed at Robinhood’s HOOD Summit
David Feld – Bankless
Robinhood shipped a long list at HOOD Summit yesterday, including weekend stock trading, expanded margin, new order types, and longer options hours, though not much explicitly about crypto. While Robinhood Chain and tokenization played a lesser role, three announcements stood out and landed on developments we’ve tracked closely: agents, perpetuals, and social trading.
/jlne.ws/4AHuVGN

Charles Schwab to Begin Dual Listing on Texas Stock Exchange
Joe Lovinger – Bloomberg
Charles Schwab Corp. said it will start listing its shares on the Texas Stock Exchange as well as in New York, giving a boost to an upstart marketplace in which the financial-services provider has invested. The dual listing of the common stock will begin Oct. 7, Charles Schwab said in a statement Thursday. The primary listing of the Westlake, Texas-based company will remain on the New York Stock Exchange.
/jlne.ws/47tor0V

An AI sovereign wealth fund isn’t progressive — it’s techno-imperialism; Accruing income at home from land and power abroad has an old name: empire
Evgeny Morozov – Financial Times
A growing number of Americans dislike AI so Washington is trying to change their minds the old-fashioned way, with a stick and a carrot. The stick was on full display on Tuesday. President Donald Trump, with tech executives at his back, told voters that if they refuse data centres, companies will “be forced to go overseas” — and, as he put it, “whoever wins superintelligence wins… you’re probably not gonna have a second place” implying that detractors would be handing China victory in the AI race.
/jlne.ws/3Vd3EMq

UBS pushes back against investor call to leave Switzerland; Pressure grows on country’s largest bank amid political calls for tougher capital requirements
Ortenca Aliaj and Mercedes Ruehl – Financial Times
UBS has pushed back against demands by a major shareholder to leave Switzerland, highlighting growing investor pressure on the bank amid political calls for tougher capital requirements. Artisan Partners, which manages more than 60mn UBS shares and ranks among the bank’s top shareholders, said in a letter to the bank’s board published late on Wednesday that Switzerland was “no longer an attractive or desirable location” for the country’s largest bank.
/jlne.ws/4hzTDQW

EU questions Binance over continued operations despite wind-down order; Securities regulators looking at use of legal exemption by world’s biggest crypto exchange
Nikou Asgari, Martin Arnold and Eleni Varvitsioti – Financial Times
EU officials are questioning crypto platform Binance over its use of a legal exemption to continue serving customers in the region, according to people familiar with the matter, despite its failure to secure a licence and an order to wind down its business in the bloc. Binance is the world’s biggest crypto exchange but suffered a setback after it failed to obtain a licence this summer to be regulated under the EU’s new crypto rules. Under the rules, unlicensed crypto companies should have taken “immediate steps” to wind down their EU businesses from July 1 and stopped serving customers other than to help them transfer or sell their crypto holdings.
/jlne.ws/4ylmHTb

Trading Technologies Expands Multi-Asset Push with TRAFiX Acquisition
Anna Lyudvig – Traders Magazine
Trading Technologies International (TT) has acquired TRAFiX, adding global equities and equity options to its platform as the company continues to expand beyond its futures and options business. The transaction, announced September 30, brings TRAFiX’s order and execution management systems and FIX connectivity capabilities into TT. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. TT said the acquisition extends its coverage from futures and options, foreign exchange, fixed income, commodities and digital assets into global equities and equity options.
/jlne.ws/4yvhoAM

Trading Technologies Buys TRAFiX to Fill Its Equities Gap
Koen Vanderhoydonk – FinanceX
Trading Technologies has acquired TRAFiX, the equities and equity options order and execution management specialist, buying its way into the one major asset class its platform did not cover and squaring up against multi-asset incumbents such as Bloomberg, ION Group and BlackRock’s Aladdin. The deal closed on 30 September and hands an exit to Marlin Equity Partners, the private equity firm that took a growth stake in TRAFiX in 2023. Terms were not disclosed.
/jlne.ws/4xVmmWq

Federal Watchdog Investigates Adam Kinzinger for Kalshi Bets on His Pardon; The inquiry by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission centers on bets the former congressman made on Kalshi in the weeks before he was pardoned in January 2025.
Sharon LaFraniere – The New York Times
A federal financial watchdog is investigating former Representative Adam Kinzinger for bets in a prediction market on whether President Joseph R. Biden Jr. would pardon him before leaving office. Mr. Kinzinger, a Republican critic of President Trump’s, was a member of the House select committee that investigated the January 2021 attack on the Capitol. He was pardoned by Mr. Biden on Jan. 20, 2025, after Mr. Trump, who had been re-elected, declared that members of the select committee “should go to jail.”
/jlne.ws/4dOHK8t

 

NOVEL PRODUCTS

Prediction Markets

CFTC Readies Action on Prediction Market Promos, Expected This Week
Luci Kelemen – Bitcoin News
The CFTC is sweeping incentive programs offered by prediction market platforms over concerns that some promotions are misleading, Front Office Sports reported on Sept. 29, citing sources. The review covers incentives for both traders and market makers, and could lead to targeted examinations or enforcement investigations. Chairman Michael Selig has not settled on an approach, but an “action” of some kind is expected by the end of this week, per the reporting. The CFTC declined to comment to FOS, and as of Wednesday, no announcement had appeared on its website.
/jlne.ws/4iT4gk1

CFTC seeks to redefine “swap” as courts split over Kalshi
Erik Gibbs – NEXTPredict
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sent two rules to the White House for review this week. Both would redefine “swap,” a term at the center of the fight over prediction markets jurisdiction. The filings reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on September 28. One, a proposed rule, would extend the definition to cover event contracts. The other, an interim final rule, would exclude casino-style gambling products. Neither is classified as economically significant. The agency hasn’t published the text of either. The definition matters because swaps fall under the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction. Platforms cite that status to fend off state gambling regulators.
/jlne.ws/3VmL9Fi

Mattress Mack uses a prediction market to wager on the Astros’ postseason hopes
Chad Washington – KTSM 9 News
“Mattress Mack” is once again putting big money behind the Houston Astros, and another big promotion for his business. But this time, he’s going to use a prediction market instead of a casino.
/jlne.ws/4xQHKMn

Kalshi, Polymarket trading volumes on some products raise questions amid massive growth
Davis Giangiulio and Ananya Chetia – CNBC
Trading volumes for certain products on prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket are raising questions from some industry observers, who fear the numbers may be inflated. On Polymarket, observers have flagged a quirk on the company’s international exchange, which is not overseen by U.S. regulators: Markets that feature multiple contracts will see greater activity on those with lower odds of occurring versus those with higher probabilities. It’s seen on markets related to elections, sports and central bank decisions.
/jlne.ws/4hFZPqF

Kalshi leads prediction markets’ $3 million effort to fight off state regulations
Claire Cleary – OpenSecrets News
As prediction markets have exploded in popularity over the past two years, they have also become increasingly controversial – setting off a lobbying-fueled power struggle for regulation of the platforms. Amid allegations of insider trading, bets on military operations, and deceptive marketing practices, some states are seeking to sue or ban prediction markets. But the federal government has taken an unusual role in the legal battle, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission suing states that seek to enforce their gambling laws against prediction-market platforms.
/jlne.ws/4yrQQjX

Wabanaki Nations raise concerns over the rising popularity of prediction markets; The Wabanaki Nations, which oversee gambling in Maine, raise concerns over federally regulated prediction markets taking away from Tribal revenue.
Bailey Korinek – WCSH
On prediction markets, you can put money on virtually anything, like the temperature on a given day or what the president might say during a speech. It also means you can put money on sports, which has prompted a legal battle across the country between the states and the federal government.
/jlne.ws/4hUZ6mC

Kalshi Finalizing New Funding at $40 Billion Value Ahead of IPO
Natasha Mascarenhas and Denitsa Tsekova – Bloomberg
Kalshi Inc. is finalizing a new financing round that would value the prediction market platform at around $40 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal is expected to be the startup’s last round before an initial public offering, which is anticipated as soon as next year, the people said. Kalshi is set to almost quadruple what it was worth last December, when investors gave it a value of $11 billion. It last raised money in March at a $22 billion valuation. The New York-based company has continually hit record new trading volumes, in large part due to wagers on the football games, the World Cup and other sporting events.
/jlne.ws/4AX48Xo

Sports & Gaming

Jaime Costello Explains NCPG Exit Amid Leadership Shake-Up
Adam Roarty – Gaming America
Director of Programs Jaime Costello left the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) last week, with many speculating that her exit was in response to Kalshi’s joining. Gaming America spoke to her to find out. The NCPG controversially accepted Kalshi as a member in May this year, which was followed by several member organizations withdrawing amid concerns over the relationship. The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, the Ohio Casino Control Commission, the Michigan Gaming Control Board, and the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling (ECPG) have all left. Since Costello, Executive Director Heather Maurer has also resigned. The automatic assumption has been that they are taking a stance against the NCPG’s acceptance of Kalshi and its $2 million two-year investment/commitment.
/jlne.ws/4yrECYE

The Social Sportsbook: How the Group Chat Is Moving Into Betting Apps
Lynnae Williams – Gambling Insider
From ancient Romans gambling on chariot races to today’s sports fans sharing wagers in group chats, sports betting has always been a social experience. At Rome’s Circus Maximus, spectators watching the races could root for one of four racing factions: Red, White, Green, or Blue. And if they were feeling lucky, they could also bet on their favorite team. Fast-forward almost two millennia, and while the setting has changed, the social behavior looks a lot like it did in ancient times. Friends trade picks in group chats, share bet slips, and follow other bettors on platforms like Discord, X, and Reddit.
/jlne.ws/4ymeRc5

Perpetual Futures

PERPTools raises $5M seed to build AI agents for perpetual futures trading
Dealroom.co
What’s the deal? PERPTools, an AI-native perpetuals trading platform built by the team behind DEXTools, has raised a $5 million seed round at an $80 million fully diluted valuation. BigBrain Holdings, NEAR, Animoca Brands, Sfermion, and Shima Capital joined as backers, bringing total funding to $8 million across two token rounds.
/jlne.ws/4jhAE03

CFTC charts a path forward on perpetuals and 24/7 derivatives markets
Mark Highman, Stephan Ariyan, Sebastian Souchet, Gage Raju-Salicki – Norton Rose Fulbright
Over the course of the last few months, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has taken a number of significant actions that clarify the CFTC’s regulatory framework regarding both perpetual contracts and trading in derivatives markets on a 24/7 basis.
/jlne.ws/4jxMHGj

Hyperliquid Co-founder Jeff Yan says 24-hour clock is not onchain finance’s true differentiator; Instead, Yan said onchain’s lasting advantages come from self-custody and transparency offered to users.
Danny Park – The Block
Hyperliquid HYPE+5.85% Co-founder Jeff Yan said at Korea Blockchain Week that around-the-clock trading is not what sets onchain venues apart from traditional exchanges. Speaking in a fireside chat at Korea Blockchain Week 2026, Yan pointed out that crypto never needed conventional market hours because the asset class is inherently international, and that traditional exchanges have begun extending sessions.
/jlne.ws/4dfSuwr

 

World Conflicts

Ukraine Invasion

Russian drones strike Kyiv school, pupils escape unhurt
Dan Peleschuk – Reuters
Russian drones smashed into a school in ‌Kyiv and set it ablaze on Thursday morning, but all pupils were in a shelter at the time and no injuries were reported, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said. A bridge over the Dnipro River was also struck in Russia’s intensifying attacks on the city, ​Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. The Southern Bridge did not suffer major damage but metro traffic over it ​was temporarily halted.
/jlne.ws/3W0tOSF

Russia Plans Three Years of Record War Spending Under New Budget
Mark Gurman – Bloomberg
Russia’s military spending will remain elevated for at least three years forcing the government to scour everything from mining windfalls to proceeds from the sale of seized assets for new revenue as the war on Ukraine continues to reshape the country’s finances. Russia plans to keep military spending near record levels over the next three years as its war in Ukraine, now well into its fifth year, continues to demand vast resources, according to a bill submitted by the government to parliament on Thursday. War outlays are set at about 17 trillion rubles ($205 billion) in 2027, 27% above the previous target, and will decline only slightly to 16.6 trillion rubles in 2028.
/jlne.ws/46WnxtB

Ukraine’s Stealthy Drone Warriors
Jillian Kay Melchior – The Wall Street Journal
The scene resembles the Ukrainian flag: yellow fields of corn, sunflowers and wheat, a crisp blue September sky. We park on the perimeter of a field, in the shade of a row of lindens. “These trees are quite inhabited,” says my guide—call sign Leon—a soldier in a brigade of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces known as Magyar’s Birds. Under the dense foliage, soldiers on the ground work in what looks like a pumpkin patch. Instead of tending squash, they are rigging 12 fixed-wing drones with 22 pounds of explosives. “Agriculture in Ukraine,” Leon says with a smile.
/jlne.ws/4dbnXjw

Middle East Conflict

Trump Says Ramped Up Bombing of Iran ‘Possible’ After Midterms
Catherine Lucey – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump said ramped up military strikes against Iran were “possible” after the November midterm elections, as his administration struggles to find an exit plan for a war now in its eighth month. Trump has indicated in recent weeks that he believed Iran was stalling on diplomatic talks until after the elections, in which his Republican Party faces a tough path to retain control of Congress. The US president rejected a recent proposal from Iran that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for US concessions such as ending a blockade on Iranian ports or easing oil sanctions.
/jlne.ws/4AJUXJF

Iran readies harder retaliation if attacked as diplomacy faces long odds
Parisa Hafezi – Reuters
Iran is preparing a broader and more forceful response if the United States resumes large-scale military attacks, sources said, while continuing a diplomatic push that Iranian officials privately see as unlikely to succeed. The planning reflects a conviction within Iran’s ​leadership that any renewed US campaign must be met with a stronger response than before, even as Tehran seeks to avert escalation through talks.
/jlne.ws/46UMzcI

Iran says it receives US response to latest proposal as Washington pulls out of Iraq
Ahmed Rasheed, Jana Choukeir and Andrew Mills – Reuters
Iran said on Wednesday it had received a US response to its latest proposal to resurrect the ​collapsed ceasefire in the Gulf, days after President Donald Trump said he had rejected it. Iran’s allies were celebrating on Wednesday after Washington withdrew the last of its forces from neighbouring Iraq, ‌where 4,500 US troops died in the biggest US war of the century. More than 200,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in chaos unleashed after US forces toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
/jlne.ws/4hGumEH

U.S. Pressure Campaign Leaves Iranian Tankers Stranded in Asian Waters
Jon Emont – The Wall Street Journal
Some 15 miles off the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, around 20 empty Iranian oil tankers are stranded, drifting with their engines idled as food, fuel and fresh water run short. They are the most visible consequence of the new pressure campaign by the U.S. to bring Iran to heel. Dozens of Iranian or Iranian-linked tankers that had participated in the shadowy trade of getting sanctioned oil to China have been stuck in the waters near Asian countries like Sri Lanka and Malaysia since July, when the U.S. reimposed its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
/jlne.ws/4xWj6Ki

Other Conflicts

US sees Chinese invasion of Taiwan unlikely next year despite 2027 timeline, sources say
Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali – Reuters
US officials believe a Chinese invasion of Taiwan before 2028 is increasingly unlikely despite Chinese President Xi Jinping’s instructions for his military to be ready by 2027 to take the ​democratically governed island by force, if needed, people familiar with US thinking said. The main reasons include delays in military readiness amid the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-corruption campaign as well as Beijing’s eagerness to see the results ‌of Taiwan’s 2028 election, which some Chinese officials hope could usher in a government more amenable to bringing the island under Chinese control, according to two current US officials, one former US official and a person familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/4rLdjpI

 

EXCHANGES OTC CLEARING

TXSE Group Raises $430 Million Following Third Funding Round
TXSE
TXSE Group, the parent company of the Texas Stock Exchange, today announced the successful completion of its third-round financing, expanding its capital position to $430 million. The milestone falls on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of TXSE’s Form 1 application to operate as a national securities exchange. TXSE is the first national securities exchange established in Texas, and the only exchange in the state with operations, infrastructure and active primary listings.
/jlne.ws/4ddGuvr

Nasdaq to roll out AI capabilities on Calypso
Natasha Cocksedge – The TRADE
Nasdaq is set to incorporate AI capabilities into its Calypso platform, specifically to support capital market and treasury operations. The new offering provides clients with an agentic operating environment within the Nasdaq Calypso platform, which enables a contained and governed space for financial institutions to run, connect and scale AI agents across the trading lifecycle. Moreover, the capabilities are expected to address bottlenecks which have previously prevented scaled institutional AI adoption.
/jlne.ws/4zaeeSZ

Proxy adviser calls for Australia’s ASX shareholders to reject pay report
Christine Chen – Reuters
Influential proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services has urged Australian Securities Exchange (ASX.AX) investors to vote against its ‌pay plans, saying executive bonuses were “misaligned” with its recent performance. ISS said that the ASX’s short-term variable remuneration, or STVR, failed to reflect its financial results and shareholder returns.
/jlne.ws/4e5RBa0

Binance Launches Incentivized Learning Program ‘Academania Skill-Up’ Across South Asia, Rewarding Users for Blockchain Learning
Binance – PR Newswire
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and users, announced ‘Academania Skill-Up’, a free, six-month learning campaign for users across South Asia. Each month, participants can complete a selected Binance Academy course, earn a certificate and enter a draw for rewards. The campaign aims to support beginners in building foundational knowledge of blockchain and digital assets through accessible, self-paced courses.
/jlne.ws/4hxwMp7

Binance Pay Enables Payments at PayPay Merchants via HIVEX® in Japan
Binance – Cision PR Newswire
Binance today announced that eligible overseas Binance Pay users visiting Japan can now make payments at PayPay-supported merchants nationwide through HIVEX®. Available from September 30, 2026, this interoperability enabled through HIVEX® allows approximately 48 million eligible Binance Pay users across more than 100 countries and regions to make purchases at millions of merchant locations in Japan with PayPay-supported merchants continuing to receive settlement in Japanese yen.
/jlne.ws/3TUvhJI

Boerse Stuttgart Records September Turnover Of Around EUR 16 Billion – Increases In All Asset Classes Compared To The Same Month Of The Previous Year
mondovisione.com
Boerse Stuttgart is the German exchange of Boerse Stuttgart Group. The European group also operates exchanges in Sweden and Switzerland. Based on the order book statistics, Boerse Stuttgart generated turnover of around EUR 16,1 billion in September, around 68 percent more than in the same month of the previous year. Structured securities made up the largest share of the turnover. The trading volume in this asset class was around EUR 9,1 billion – an increase of around 105 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. Leverage products generated turnover of around EUR 7,7 billion. Investment products contributed around EUR 1,4 billion to the total turnover.
/jlne.ws/4hy41bM

Bybit Releases Latest Proof-of-Reserves Report, Adding 10 Tokens as Mainstream Asset Value Hit $19.6 Billion
Bybit – PR Newswire
Bybit, the New Financial Platform trusted by more than 80 million users worldwide, has added new 10 tokens to its Proof-of-Reserves (PoR) coverage with the release of its 40th PoR report, which reflects asset balances as of September 23, 2026. The report shows the reported value of mainstream assets reaching $19.6 billion, up from $18.1 billion in the 39th report in August. The tokens joining Bybit’s September PoR report are SUI, PUMP, LIT, CAP, SPX, ZEREBRO, XPL, USDTB, PENGU, and ZRO. Bybit selects tokens for its PoR disclosures based on meaningful assets under management (AUM), with the current report covering the 50 highest-AUM tokens on the platform. This approach keeps the disclosure aligned with where user assets are concentrated.
/jlne.ws/3TuZWNE

Cboe and Robinhood Announce Planned Launch of New KPI Contracts, Further Expanding Prediction Market Offerings
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading global markets operator and pioneer in equity and index derivatives, today announced at Robinhood’s third annual HOOD Summit in Houston, Texas, that it plans to launch a new category of binary contracts tied to company-specific key performance indicators (KPIs), expected in October 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Robinhood will be the first retail broker to offer these products to its clients at launch. The KPI binary options will provide investors with a new way to take positions on specific company metrics and corporate events through Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-regulated products traded on Cboe’s registered U.S. securities exchange. This proposed framework differentiates Cboe’s products from similar event-based contracts currently traded on designated contract markets (DCMs) and reflects its view that these securities products should be traded within the transparency, oversight and investor protections of the U.S. securities markets, including the benefits of federal preemption of state securities registration requirements.
/jlne.ws/4zbEMU1

ICE launches service changing how lenders handle whole loans
Colin McNamara – National Mortgage News
A structured price infrastructure is coming to the residential whole loan market, prompting lenders to adapt their risk management, valuation and trading strategies. The Intercontinental Exchange announced Wednesday the launch of Residential Whole Loan Evaluations, which extends ICE’s evaluated pricing process to individual, unsecuritized loans. The service aims to fill the gap between securitized and unsecuritized markets, providing the same pricing to the whole loan market.
/jlne.ws/4dPShAj

JSE and TIA launch Technology Development Programme to strengthen innovation ecosystem
JSE
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) together with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, mandated to advance innovation by supporting the commercialisation of new technologies, have launched a Technology Development Programme focused on market and funding access. The programme is designed to strengthen South Africa’s innovation ecosystem and accelerate the growth of innovative businesses. Through a four-month pilot programme, 10 technology and innovation-led SMEs operating in the health, agriculture, and financial technology sectors will receive structured support to strengthen their investment readiness and accelerate growth. The cohort was selected based on its proven service offerings, operating maturity and commercial potential.
/jlne.ws/46XuMl4

JSE Clear secures regulatory approval to expand central clearing to JSE-listed bonds
JSE
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, JSE Clear, has received approval from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) for the amendment of its licence conditions to permit central counterparty (CCP) clearing services for JSE-listed bonds. JSE Clear is South Africa’s sole licensed Central Counterparty (CCP) and independent clearing house. Granted by the FSCA with the concurrence of the Prudential Authority (PA) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the approval is a significant milestone in the evolution of South Africa’s post-trade market infrastructure and extends JSE Clear’s trusted clearing and risk-management capabilities across a broader range of JSE markets.
/jlne.ws/4yH5DYh

TSE Holds First Meeting of the “Working Group on Further Promotion of Small-Size Investments”
Japan Exchange Group
Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. held the first meeting of the “Working Group on Further Promotion of Small-Size Investments” on October 1, 2026. For details, including the materials distributed for the meeting, please refer to the link below.
/jlne.ws/4jxVRCO

Trading Overview in September 2026& First Half of FY2026 (April to September)
Japan Exchange Group
Japan Exchange Group released Trading Overview in September 2026 & First Half of FY2026 (April to September).
/jlne.ws/4hIPIkW

LSEG Board Appointment
LSEG
London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG) today announces that Amit Zavery will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director on 1 December 2026. He will also join the Risk, Remuneration and Nomination Committees.
/jlne.ws/46ZxiY2

LSEG and Snowflake expand collaboration to connect trusted financial data with cloud-native AI workflows
LSEG
Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the AI Data Cloud company, and LSEG announced an expanded five-year enterprise-wide collaboration at the Snowflake World Tour today. The relationship brings together LSEG’s trusted financial data and resilient financial market infrastructure with Snowflake’s cloud-based data and AI technology. By combining these strengths, the two companies aim to build a more open data ecosystem that makes high-quality financial information simpler and safer to access and share. As a result, customers will be able to use LSEG’s financial intelligence directly within the platforms and applications they already rely on.
/jlne.ws/4hmDEXB

Miami International Holdings Announces Date of Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Release and Conference Call
MIAX
Miami International Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MIAX), a technology-driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes, will release its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026 after the close of market trading on Thursday, October 29, 2026. A conference call with remarks by the company’s senior management will begin at 5:00 p.m. ET.
/jlne.ws/3VdH2LN

Saudi Exchange Announces Enhancement To Market Order Behavior
mondovisione.com
The Saudi Exchange announced an enhancement to Market Order behavior in the Main Market and Nomu – Parallel Market, as part of its continued efforts to develop the Saudi Capital Market. Effective Sunday, 4 October 2026, the updated mechanism will allow Market Orders to execute against available liquidity across multiple price levels within a maximum range of five ticks. Following the change, a Market Order may continue executing against available liquidity across multiple price levels, within a maximum range of five ticks from the best price. Once the five-tick boundary is reached, or where no further liquidity is available within the range, any remaining unexecuted quantity will be converted into a Limit Order at the last executed price.
/jlne.ws/3Tx233w

Swiss Cloud Pioneer Infomaniak Joins SIX Swiss Exchange
SIX Group
Today, Infomaniak SA (Ticker “INFO”), a Swiss sovereign cloud and digital collaboration provider, started trading on SIX Swiss Exchange. Based on an opening price of CHF 56.00 per share, the market capitalization of the listed B-Shares stood at approximately CHF 262 million. The listing marks a significant milestone in Infomaniak’s more than thirty-year growth journey and provides access to the public capital markets to support the company’s next phase of development.
/jlne.ws/4rISDP4

The world’s best FX exchange 2026: SGX
Boris Dechev – Euromoney
Throughout the past year, Singapore Exchange (SGX) has consolidated its position as the principal international venue for managing Asian currency risk, broadening both the range of instruments it offers and the types of participants that use them. It has combined product expansion, partnerships beyond Asia and continued investment in trading and clearing infrastructure. SGX has built the world’s leading regulated marketplace for Asian FX futures, operating close to 24 hours a day and drawing roughly 40% of its volumes from outside Asia – a signal that the exchange now functions as a global price discovery venue rather than just a regional one.
/jlne.ws/46Qb2Qm

SGX Group and Vietnam Exchange to work towards mutual issuance of Depository Receipts
SGX
SGX Group (Singapore Exchange) and the Vietnam Exchange (VNX) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen their collaboration and jointly explore the establishment of a Depository Receipt (DR) linkage, taking a significant step towards deeper capital markets ties between Singapore and Vietnam. The signing was witnessed by Bui Hoang Hai, Vice Chairperson of the State Securities Commission of Vietnam; and Lim Tuang Lee, Assistant Managing Director (Capital Markets) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
/jlne.ws/4hzuy8J

SGX Group named World’s Best FX Exchange by Euromoney for second consecutive year
SGX
SGX Group (Singapore Exchange) has again been named the “World’s Best FX Exchange” at the Euromoney Foreign Exchange Awards 2026, reinforcing its position as a leading global marketplace for managing currency risk. As Asia plays an increasingly influential role in global capital flows and currency markets, SGX has become the exchange where market participants worldwide come to manage Asian FX risk. Amid heightened market volatility, investors turned to SGX round the clock, concentrating liquidity and driving record trading activity.
/jlne.ws/4xZus0a

SGX Stock Exchange welcomes Amova Asia Credit Index ETF, broadening access to Asian credit
SGX
SGX Stock Exchange today welcomed the listing of the Amova Asia Credit Index ETF, expanding the suite of fixed income ETFs available to investors. The listing forms part of SGX Stock Exchange’s broader strategy to put in place a range of ETFs that can form low-cost building blocks for portfolio diversification. Managed by Amova Asset Management Asia Limited (Amova), the ETF tracks the Bloomberg Asia Ex-Japan USD Credit Index and offers diversified exposure to more than 1,000 US dollar-denominated bonds issued by corporates, sovereigns and government-related entities across Asia ex-Japan. Investment-grade credit accounts for more than 80% of the underlying index.
/jlne.ws/46VpiqZ

SIX Exchanges Figures: September 2026
BME Bolsas y Mercados Espanoles
In September 2026, combined trading turnover for SIX Swiss Exchange and BME Exchange rose by a third (33.8%) compared to August, reaching CHF 168.5 bn while the number of transactions rose by 17.6% to 8,190,386. Equities reported the strongest performance on SIX Swiss Exchange, rising 33.8% month-on-month (MOM) and 30.3% year-on-year (YOY). This contributed to an overall increase in trading turnover on the Swiss market to reach CHF 111.9 bn, constituting growth of 28.2% compared to the previous month.
/jlne.ws/4xZz7PU

JSCC’s cash securities division chalks up biggest-ever stress breach
Joshua Walker – Risk.net
The Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) reported its largest ever stress loss at its cash securities division in the second quarter, amid elevated trading volumes. The division recorded a peak stress loss over initial margin in the event of a single clearing member defaulting of ¥57.8 billion ($373 million). The equivalent figure for the default of two clearing members was ¥80.8 billion
/jlne.ws/4xREosJ

 

FinTech

Trading Technologies Wins Two Editors’ Choice Awards for Derivatives Solutions Excellence in GlobalCapital Derivatives Awards 2026
Trading Technologies – Cision PR Newswire
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology provider, announced that the firm won two Editors’ Choice Awards for Derivatives Solutions Excellence in the GlobalCapital Derivatives Awards 2026. The TT® platform won the category at both the Americas awards in New York in mid-September as well as the Europe & Asia Awards announced last night in London. The GlobalCapital Derivatives Awards recognize leading banks, brokers, service providers, law firms, exchanges and other key players for their contributions to the derivatives market. The awards focus on innovation, growth and work to improve the derivatives industry, as well as extraordinary effort on behalf of clients.
/jlne.ws/4AHS6Rv

New Regional FinTech Partnership Brings Together Jordan FinTech Academy And MENA FinTech Association
mondovisione.com
Reflecting Jordan’s growing role in the regional fintech ecosystem, the Jordan FinTech Academy (Jordan FTA) at the Institute of Banking Studies (IBS) and the MENA Fintech Association (MFTA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a framework for cooperation, knowledge exchange, professional development, and stronger connections between fintech professionals and institutions in Jordan and across the MENA region. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the Jordan FinTech Festival 2026, held on 23–24 September at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre at the Dead Sea. The festival was organised by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) in partnership with the Association of Banks in Jordan and in cooperation with GIZ, bringing together regulators, financial institutions, fintech companies, investors, and industry experts from Jordan, the region, and international markets.
/jlne.ws/4zcm5Q4

Tokenovate appoints William L’Heveder as Chief Revenue Officer to accelerate growth
Tokenovate
Tokenovate, the UK financial technology company providing post-trade workflows-as-a-service and programmable settlement solutions, has appointed William L’Heveder as Chief Revenue Officer. L’Heveder brings more than a decade of experience across capital markets, strategy and commercial leadership. He spent over seven years at BMLL, a provider of historical market data and analytics to global capital markets, where he helped scale the business and drive its commercial growth through to its acquisition in 2025, following earlier experience at Boston Consulting Group and as a derivatives trader.
/jlne.ws/4z9ykg5

Teciem names new chief technology & customer officers
Sofiah Nichole Salivio – IT Brief UK
Teciem has appointed Stefano Maestri as Chief Technology Officer and Strath Lanyon as Chief Customer Officer. Both will be based in London and report to Chief Executive Officer Wissam Khoury. The appointments add two C-level roles to the leadership team at the financial services technology company, which sells treasury and capital markets software to banks and other institutions. The changes come as financial institutions seek newer systems that can be deployed more quickly and updated more regularly.
/jlne.ws/4hzusOp

Artificial Intelligence

Google announces Gemini 4 flagship AI model after months of delays
Kenrick Cai – Reuters
Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) on Wednesday announced a new top-tier artificial intelligence model to ​anchor its Gemini 4 generation of models in a fresh bid ‌to catch up to rivals Anthropic and OpenAI in the AI race. The new model, “Argon”, is larger in size than Google’s previous line of advanced “Pro” models, a company spokesperson ​said.
/jlne.ws/4rKNYMv

AI adoption stalls as companies struggle to scale projects despite strong returns, study shows
Reuters
Only 13% of companies were on track with their AI initiatives, as regulatory ​hurdles and integration with legacy IT systems ‌slowed large-scale adoption, a BearingPoint study found. Nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed reported positive financial results from ​AI but less than a third could ​move beyond pilot projects, the consultancy firm ⁠said on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4z7FLnZ

The AI telling farmers when to harvest
Chris Baraniuk – BBC News
When the first day of the apple harvest rolled around in Washington State last year, the fruit was ripe and the pickers were ready – but the weather had other ideas. “It was like 38C… it’s not safe for people to work in that heat,” recalls Joel Carter at Okanagan Specialty Fruits. “We had to stop at 10 o’clock in the morning.” He says that artificial intelligence (AI) models that forecast ideal harvest dates, taking into account the weather, would be useful. “You need to know more than just when your fruit is going to be ripe. How long do you have to pick it?” he says. “That’s where these models are really helpful.”
/jlne.ws/4hXM7QY

AI ‘godfather’ Yann LeCun has ‘zero concerns’ about human extinction, says Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is ‘deluded’
Emily Forlini – Fortune
Yann LeCun won the 2018 Turing Award—computer science’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize—along with fellow AI researchers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio for their work on deep learning, the neural network technology that underpins today’s AI boom. But today, nearly a decade later, LeCun is the only one of the three AI “godfathers” who is not deeply concerned about the risks of artificial intelligence. In fact, he thinks many of those risks are overblown, and that the constant warning about them from executives at some of the leading AI companies is misguided and counter productive.
/jlne.ws/4hphcgj

UK accuses China of using academics to spy on AI and other tech research
Reuters – South China Morning Post
Britain’s MI5 spy agency issued an unprecedented alert on Wednesday to warn that a Chinese organisation was involved in funding academic research into topics such as AI on behalf of Beijing’s state security service. In its “Espionage Alert”, MI5 said more than 100 UK-based academics had contributed to projects funded by the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI), which had “very strong ties” to ‌the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s civilian intelligence service.
/jlne.ws/4z8GPIq

AI boom could trigger market shocks, Bank of England boss warns
Mitchell Labiak – BBC News
/jlne.ws/3VcUrnk

Watch AI Could Lead to Societal Breakdown, Says Bridgewater CEO
Bloomberg video
/jlne.ws/4AOcmB8

Google releases most advanced Gemini AI model; Tech group hopes ‘Argon’ will help it re-establish itself at frontier of artificial intelligence
Stephen Morris – Financial Times
/jlne.ws/4rHL4Ip

US competition watchdog expands investigation of Anthropic and OpenAI; Federal Trade Commission will demand information and seek testimony from executives of leading AI companies
Joe Miller, George Hammond and Ella Lee – Financial Times
The US Federal Trade Commission is widening a probe into Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies over the harms posed by their products, following a spate of hacking incidents. The regulator will demand information and seek testimony from top executives, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The FTC is also looking into METR, an AI safety research group that White House advisers have accused of being intertwined with Anthropic’s investors and staff.
/jlne.ws/4xUKKHw

Is circular financing in AI a problem? Only if the wheel stops spinning
Toby Nangle – Financial Times
/jlne.ws/4hzEaAl

Microsoft’s Trillion-Dollar Quarter Shows AI Trade Won’t Quit
Ryan Vlastelica – Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4hoXvFA

Microprocessors

Broadcom to lend Anthropic up to $42 billion to lease its chips, filing says
Echo Wang, Milana Vinn and Max Cherney – Reuters
Anthropic’s IPO ​prospectus documents extensive partnerships with a handful of big tech firms. One stands out: chip maker Broadcom (AVGO.O). The company’s relationship with ‌Anthropic spans compute supply, equipment leasing and financing — giving the semiconductor company a central role in Anthropic’s infrastructure buildout. That differentiates it from other major partners and investors such as Amazon (AMZN.O), which primarily provide cloud infrastructure and distribution for Anthropic’s model Claude.
/jlne.ws/4y6ooDm

Micron’s AI-fueled revenue forecast blows past estimates, backlog swells
Anhata Rooprai and Max Cherney – Reuters
Micron Technology (MU.O) forecast quarterly revenue above estimates on Wednesday and said customers had increased commitments under its long-term supply agreements to $32 ​billion, signaling unabated demand for AI memory chips. The company’s stock has more than tripled so far this year, propelling ‌it into the $1 trillion valuation club in May on optimism about its AI-driven growth prospects. Shares ticked up less than 1% in extended trading on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3VKp6Zf

Infineon Eyes Thailand as Potential Semiconductor Production Hub
Satid Sutipanya and Anuchit Nguyen – Bloomberg
German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG sees the potential to eventually start making semiconductors in Thailand, following an investment of 48 billion baht ($1.44 billion) to expand its assembly and packaging footprint in the country. The expansion could be a first step toward setting up wafer fabrication, although such a move is unlikely in the next three years, Infineon Chief Operations Officer Alexander Gorski said in Bangkok Wednesday. Thailand’s position as an Asian logistics hub, its developed semiconductor supply chain and its neutral geopolitical stance all work in the country’s favor, he added.
/jlne.ws/4yp6KeG

Tokenization

SEC’s 5-Year Sandbox Is Supercharging Tokenized Stocks: Market Cap Jumps 33% in a Month
Giuseppe Ciccomascolo – CCN
Tokenized stocks are gaining momentum after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opened a five-year regulatory window for certain US equities to trade directly on blockchain networks. The market capitalization of onchain tokenized equities has climbed to roughly $3.5 billion, up 33% over the past month and about 860% year-over-year, according to data cited by The Kobeissi Letter. Trading activity is accelerating too, with Jupiter reportedly recording a 104% monthly increase in tokenized equity volume.
/jlne.ws/46UUaIg

CFTC clarifies futures brokers can invest customer funds in tokenized MMFs, Treasuries
Ledger Insights
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) updated its set of frequently asked questions clarifying aspects of the tokenized collateral and digital asset margin collateral framework. While the previous FAQ stated that the client funds of Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) and clearing houses may not be invested in stablecoins, which remains the case, the latest update says that certain tokenized money market funds (MMFs) and Treasuries are acceptable.
/jlne.ws/4jz5EZi

FMQ 2026: Panel Discussion – Tokenized Finance: Innovation, Liquidity, and Market Integrity
Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy – YouTube
/jlne.ws/4jw5mSX

Connectivity/Data Centers

When Data Centers Cluster Together, How Dirty Are They? One County Wants Answers.
Quinn Glabicki – The New York Times
Across the United States, thousands of data centers are seeking to break ground — sometimes forming clusters when several are planned near one another. How much pollution might big groups of data centers like these create? Typically, local zoning boards or planning commissions consider each data-center proposal individually, not as a group. But in one corner of Pennsylvania — where more than a dozen data centers and power plants are being proposed — officials are trying to change that by studying the total air-quality and health effects of all the proposed projects together, before approving them.
/jlne.ws/3Vklz3L

Data Center, Power Titans Push Back on Texas Development NIMBYs
Joe Carroll – Bloomberg
An alliance that includes Blackstone’s QTS, NextEra Energy Inc. and Siemens Energy AG is preparing to counter a wellspring of opposition to artificial intelligence and other infrastructure development that’s bubbled up across Texas. The Lone Star Infrastructure Coalition plans to tout the potential economic and employment benefits of projects, including data centers, by engaging with residents, mayors and county officials, said President Jimmy Glotfelty, a former Texas public utility commissioner and US Energy Department official.
/jlne.ws/46U2acs

Payments

Visa and Mastercard handle nearly half of Europe’s card payments. The digital euro aims to change that
Sam Birchall – Fortune
“Payment systems are not neutral; they are instruments of power,” Gilles Boyer, a French member of the European Parliament, said in June. “We Europeans have had many wake-up calls about our dependence on the U.S. We are fully awake now.” That same day, the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee voted 43 to 14 to back the digital euro.
/jlne.ws/4AIA3L0

The Payments Association Acquires TPA EU To Accelerate International Expansion – Acquisition Of European Sister Organisation Creates A 350+ Member Payments Community And Marks The First Major Step In The Payments Association’s International Growth Strategy
mondovisione.com
The Payments Association (TPA), the trade association representing the payments industry, has acquired its European sister organisation, The Payments Association EU (TPA EU), bringing the two communities under one umbrella and creating a combined network of more than 350 member organisations. The acquisition, which follows a unanimous vote by TPA EU members, marks the first major step in The Payments Association’s strategy to build an international footprint and extend the reach, capabilities and value of its membership proposition beyond the UK. TPA EU will retain its strong European identity and presence.
/jlne.ws/3Tuy78c

 

Cybersecurity

AI agents tried to hack a Canadian government website, research firm says
Kanishka Singh, Christian Martinez and Deepa Seetharaman – Reuters
An artificial intelligence research firm said on Wednesday AI agents tried to hack into a Canadian government website, casting the effort as a failed hacking attempt, while Canada said there were ​no indications its systems were compromised. AI research firm Transluce said the attempts exhibited tactics “consistent with prior observed ​agent activity that we have attributed to OpenAI in a similar timeframe.” But it added ⁠that it was not confidently attributing these attempts to OpenAI.
/jlne.ws/4xVMRes

OpenAI’s agents obscured hacking activity in government site breaches; New findings by Asymmetric Security provide further evidence of novel tactics AI tools use to conduct hacks
Rafe Rosner-Uddin – Financial Times
OpenAI’s software obscured efforts to scrape data from crucial government agencies as new evidence shows the scale and severity of AI hacks in recent months are far larger than known. Asymmetric Security, a digital forensics company, found OpenAI’s models pulled data from 55 websites belonging to businesses, non-profits and government agencies, according to a report seen by the FT. These ranged from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the International Energy Agency and the Mayo Clinic.
/jlne.ws/4AHP3Zz

A Hacking Competition Shows the Power of China’s Approach to A.I.; The winner of a cybersecurity contest prevailed by relying on an ‘open weight’ Chinese model — another sign that available A.I. systems could already be too powerful to easily regulate.
Cade Metz – The New York Times
This summer, a cybersecurity company called Tenzai entered a three-month-long hacking contest, racing to find vulnerabilities in computer networks operated by governments agencies, banks, hotels, airlines and other businesses. The contest, called HackerOne, has become a real-world proving ground for the latest artificial intelligence technologies, including Claude from Anthropic and GPT from OpenAI. Over the past year, these technologies have improved to the point where they can pinpoint holes in computer networks with stunning speed, fundamentally changing the nature of cybersecurity.
/jlne.ws/4jw9iTJ

 

CRYPTO

Crypto IPO Frenzy Heats Up as Blockchain.com Targets $6 Billion Valuation
Giuseppe Ciccomascolo – CCN
Blockchain.com is seeking to raise about $500 million in a US initial public offering this year at a valuation of $4 billion to $6 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. The crypto wallet and brokerage company could pursue a smaller offering if necessary.
/jlne.ws/4AA73F4

CME Nine-Asset Crypto Basket Is 86.29% Bitcoin and Ethereum
Ahmed Barakat – Cryptonews
Nine crypto coins are now traded inside a single, financially settled futures contract on CME Group’s platform, but Bitcoin and Ethereum together make up 86.29% of that basket. The Nasdaq CME Crypto Index (NCI) and its micro-sized companion give institutions a way to hedge or gain exposure to a nine-asset crypto basket through one trade instead of managing separate spot positions.
/jlne.ws/47voskW

Clarity Act’s failure gave crypto ‘faster’ regulatory wins, Bitwise CIO says
Kyle Baird – The Block
It’s a paradox that has puzzled both crypto naysayers and supporters alike: Why did the crypto market rally after the Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate? Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan took a stab at making sense of it in a new memo posted on Wednesday. He argues that crypto may not have gotten the certainty of federal law, but it also dodged certain compromises that would have stifled major parts of the industry.
/jlne.ws/3U1Yx1d

Binance Questioned Over Operations in Europe Without License, Report Says
Matt Haldane – Bloomberg
European Union officials are questioning crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. over its continued operations on the continent after it failed to acquire a license earlier this year, the Financial Times has reported. The inquiry comes weeks after Bloomberg News reported that Binance — after failing to secure a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation license in Greece — has continued to onboard European customers under a “reverse solicitation” provision that allows clients to independently seek out overseas financial providers.
/jlne.ws/46ZLOPw

Stablecoins

New stablecoin Open USD goes live as Coinbase, Mastercard, Stripe and Visa commit $1 billion to liquidity
Krisztian Sandor – CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/4xUt9zC

Other Crypto

DogeOS launches testnet to bring EVM smart contracts to Dogecoin; CEO Jordan Jefferson previously told The Block that DogeOS was building an application layer to expand the Dogecoin ecosystem beyond its historical reliance on billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Jason Shubnell – The Block
DogeOS, an application layer for Dogecoin, on Wednesday launched its public testnet as a zero-knowledge rollup designed to bring EVM-compatible smart contracts to the network, with DOGE serving as the native token for transaction fees. The project is designed to support applications including trading, lending, stablecoins, prediction markets, and games while settling its state to the Dogecoin network. DogeOS currently uses a trusted execution environment, validators, and a permissioned sequencer to secure the network, while a future proposed upgrade to Dogecoin Core would allow Dogecoin miners to verify its execution proofs directly.
/jlne.ws/4hV9Uky

 

Politics

Leading Democrat asks AI firms for data on any Chinese access to sensitive code
Alexandra Alper – Reuters
A Democratic lawmaker is warning that Beijing could steal AI model weights ‌developed by OpenAI, Anthropic and other top US firms, erasing the US edge over China in the AI race and posing a risk to US national security. OpenAI and Anthropic have reported multiple instances of Chinese AI firms like Moonshot or DeepSeek “distilling” their AI models, or training their own ​tools from the output of leading Western models. But there are few known cases of any bad actor ​stealing model weights, the exact parameters and code that make an AI model operate.
/jlne.ws/4xOLfCZ

White House weighs new CFTC event contract rules in growing prediction market power struggle; The CFTC filed two proposals with the White House to “further” the definition of swap to include event contracts and to “exclude casino-style gambling products.”
Sarah Wynn – The Block
This week, the White House is weighing two proposed rules from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission tied to prediction markets as the agency seeks to assert its jurisdiction, despite pushback from states. The CFTC filed two proposals with the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a division within the Office of Management and Budget that reviews federal regulations before publication, to “further” the definition of swap to include event contracts and to “exclude casino-style gambling products.”
/jlne.ws/4zd7iEN

Second judge blocks Trump’s $100,000 fee for new H-1B worker visas
Daniel Wiessner – Reuters
A second federal judge on Wednesday blocked an unprecedented $100,000 fee ​that US President Donald Trump has imposed on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers. US ‌District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, California, ruled that US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department failed to follow necessary rule-making processes before implementing Trump’s fee.
/jlne.ws/3VJbLQS

Justice Dept. Tries to Rebuke Federal Judges for Speaking to The Times
Mattathias Schwartz and Devlin Barrett – The New York Times
The Justice Department on Wednesday accused two of Minnesota’s federal judges of engaging in misconduct for comments made to The New York Times about how their court handled the administration’s immigration surge in Minneapolis this winter. In a six-page complaint filed with the Judicial Council of the Eighth Circuit, which includes the Minnesota district, the department alleged that the judges’ comments violated ethics rules that limit what judges are allowed to say publicly, particularly on pending cases. It singles out Judge Patrick J. Schiltz and Judge John R. Tunheim, both of whom were quoted in the Times article.
/jlne.ws/46VRpq0

Alaska LNG’s $54 Billion Political Pitch Is Its Undoing
Liam Denning – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that South Korea would invest $54 billion in a giant liquefied natural gas project in Alaska had a touch of the miraculous — as in, wondrous but tangential to reality. On Trump’s reading, Alaska LNG, having been little more than a pipe dream for decades, is now not only getting built, and with foreign money, but also secures its future just ahead of midterm elections by happy coincidence, and in a state with a tight, crucial Senate race, no less.
/jlne.ws/4zdJCA9

Trump Laments Lack of Loyalty From His Supreme Court Appointees
Catherine Lucey – Bloomberg
resident Donald Trump expressed frustration with his Supreme Court picks, complaining about votes against his policies and lamenting what he said was a lack of loyalty. Asked in a Time Magazine interview if he regrets nominating Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Trump said, “Yeah. What can I do? I put them in. They voted against me too often. I was very — I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often.”
/jlne.ws/4d9KpJO

Donald Trump says Jay Powell should quit Fed board despite being cleared of misconduct; Watchdog cites ‘deficiencies’ in management of $2.5bn renovation project but finds no evidence of criminal wrongdoing
Myles McCormick – Financial Times
Donald Trump said former Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell should be forced off the central bank’s board even after an investigation into a $2.5bn renovation project found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. The president on Wednesday said Powell, who remains a member of the Fed board after stepping down as chair in May, should “be forced to resign, IMMEDIATELY”, resuming his attacks on the central banker after a hiatus.
/jlne.ws/4AJV4ox

Trump ETF Brand, Dan Ives Mark Yorkville’s Push on Wall Street
Isabelle Lee – Bloomberg
The Yorkville financial group was once little known on Wall Street. Now though, it is harder to miss: its affiliates help manage Donald Trump’s Truth Social-branded ETFs, have taken over the MAGA and YALL funds, and recently hired retail-investor favorite Dan Ives to co-build an investment-banking arm.
/jlne.ws/46WoBhb

U.S. Administration

Bessent Settled Tax Issue That Had Put Him at Odds With I.R.S.
Andrew Duehren – The New York Times
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this summer settled a dispute over a strategy he used as a hedge fund manager to avoid paying thousands in taxes, according to a person familiar with the matter. Before joining President Trump’s cabinet, Mr. Bessent led a hedge fund and relied on a tax maneuver common on Wall Street that allowed him to avoid paying the 3.8 percent tax that funds Medicare. The tax strategy involved channeling earnings through a limited partnership and then designating much of the income as business earnings exempt from the Medicare tax. For years, the I.R.S. has argued that people like Mr. Bessent owe the Medicare tax on all of their income earned at their funds, not just a small slice of it.
/jlne.ws/4e2j7Fl

Trump Launches America.gov, an AI Chatbot That Contradicts Some of His Claims
Chris Cameron – The New York Times
A new A.I.-powered search tool that President Trump unveiled Tuesday to help Americans get information from the federal government provides facts that contradict false claims he has made about topics such as election fraud and immigration. In an event announcing the website’s launch, Mr. Trump said the tool was “damn good” and would be “one front door for every single question” someone could ask of the federal government. “With America.gov, the entire government will fit in the palm of your hand,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “everything will be answered easily and quickly.”
/jlne.ws/4hAck6Z

Fed’s Watchdog Finds No Misconduct or Illegal Activity in Costly Renovations
Colby Smith – The New York Times
The Federal Reserve’s internal watchdog found no evidence of illegal behavior or administrative misconduct associated with the central bank’s nearly $2.5 billion project to overhaul its headquarters in Washington, D.C., even as it concluded that the renovations were poorly managed and lacked sufficient budget constraints.
/jlne.ws/3TCrkJr

Trump’s Voluntary A.I. Policing Echoes What Biden Did. But Is It Enough Today?
David E. Sanger – The New York Times
If there was something familiar about the voluntary safety guidelines that President Trump signed on Tuesday with the nation’s frontier artificial intelligence companies, this may be the reason: It closely echoed a previous agreement that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. struck with many of the same firms three years ago. But the question now is whether the kind of voluntary framework that seemed plausible in 2023 is sufficient in 2026.
/jlne.ws/4AJoPpp

Hegseth says US slashed number of generals and admirals by 20%
Agence France-Presse – South China Morning Post
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that the United States has slashed the number of its generals and admirals by 20 per cent, in a move he said is aimed at “accountability”. Hegseth suggested the cuts targeted officers who failed to get on board with his efforts to ensure the military is focused on war-fighting rather than the “woke” policies of previous administrations, describing the reductions as an “accomplishment”.
/jlne.ws/4hwxFht

Trump Says Preemptive Pardons for Administration Are Possible
Magan Crane – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump said he would consider giving preemptive pardons to members of his administration before leaving office, offering them wide-raging protection from prosecution. The president has said that if Democrats win control of the House or Senate, lawmakers would use oversight powers to attack his administration.
/jlne.ws/3VnzdmL

U.S. Congress

Exclusive | Democratic Senators Challenge Trump Officials on Pentagon’s Venezuela Oil Deal
Collin Eaton – The Wall Street Journal
Senate Democrats are challenging the legality and prudence of the Pentagon’s plan to take a stake in a Venezuelan oil company, laying the groundwork for a potential probe into the arrangement. The Pentagon’s deal for a position in North American Blue Energy Partners—Venezuela’s second-largest oil producer—stands on shaky legal ground and undermines the Latin American country’s pursuit of a democratic transition, four high-ranking Senate Democrats said in a letter sent to President Trump’s top lieutenants.
/jlne.ws/3TyBBGw

Democrats Block Stock-Trading Bill, Denying the G.O.P. a Pre-Midterm Win
Annie Karni – The New York Times
Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked legislation that would limit the ability of members of Congress to trade stock, dismissing it as an empty G.O.P. effort to appeal to widespread voter distrust of public officials ahead of the November elections without actually addressing it. The Stop Insider Trading Act, which the House passed in July, would bar lawmakers and their spouses and family members from buying individual stocks but allow members of Congress who already own them to keep trading with new notice requirements. It places no restrictions on the president or the vice president.
/jlne.ws/3VkopFX

Winklevoss Twins Pour Millions Into Fighting Populist Democrat
Emily Birnbaum – Bloomberg
Crypto billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss poured more than $2.9 million in just one day into advertising to fight Senate Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown, adding to the escalating financial firepower the crypto industry is training on the Ohio populist. The crypto industry spent roughly $40 million just two years ago to defeat Brown, who was then the Senate Banking Committee chair, only to see Brown bounce back this year to take the slight lead in polling in his campaign against Republican Senator Jon Husted.
/jlne.ws/4hF6Nw0

Congress Set to Leave Washington for the Midterms With No A.I. Progress
Michael Gold and Cecilia Kang – The New York Times
Facing a growing backlash over the boom in data center construction and widespread concern over the safety of artificial intelligence, Congress is set to depart Washington this week ahead of the midterm elections having accomplished nothing to address either issue. Eager to show they hear the public alarm over A.I. as they fight to keep their majority, Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday attempted to bring up a bill intended to insulate Americans from rising electricity costs tied to data centers. But Democrats blocked it, noting that the legislation was not enforceable and arguing it would do little to significantly curb energy prices.
/jlne.ws/46PAFRn

Other U.S. Politics

Crypto industry gave $8 million to Clarity Act lobbyists who didn’t close the deal
Jesse Hamilton – CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/4zdCROJ

The mayor continued his attacks on the business community and his City Council opponents during a City Club speech
Justin Laurence – Crain’s Chicago Business
Mayor Brandon Johnson defended his record and previewed his campaign stump speech today before a packed room at the City Club of Chicago, where he touted reduced crime numbers and investments in neighborhoods while attacking his City Council opponents and business leaders.
/jlne.ws/4AXILoS

JPMorgan Strategists See Higher Volatility Into US Midterm Vote
Bernard Goyder and Matthew Griffin – Bloomberg
Options traders seem unperturbed by the US midterm elections, creating a potentially precarious setup for a stock market already dealing with a rout in bonds and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path. The S&P 500 Index is expected to move 0.8% in either direction on Nov. 4, the day after the vote, data compiled by Barclays Plc show. Bookmakers see a 62% chance of a Democratic sweep in Congress, according to Kalshi data, while the odds of a split Congress, where the Republicans retain the Senate while Democrats win the House, hover near 29%.
/jlne.ws/4rK5q3R

Trade_War and Tariffs

How Japan and South Korea Plan to Invest $900 Billion in US
Yoshiaki Nohara and Heesu Lee – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump last year capped tariffs on Japan and South Korea at 15% in exchange for pledges by the two nations to invest a combined $900 billion in the US. The deals were part of Trump’s push to narrow US trade deficits with both countries that have long drawn the ire of the president. In the first half of 2026, Japan’s trade surplus with the US was $20 billion. The US trade shortfall with South Korea was much wider, at $50 billion.
/jlne.ws/4iYo3i7

In Focus | US sanctions forced Xinjiang cotton to adapt, but survival comes at a cost
Xinlu Liang – South China Morning Post
The fields in Xinjiang’s Awati county – a cotton hub hit by US sanctions – were nearly ready for the October harvest. Yusup Molamaiti, a 36-year-old technician, recalled what it was like manually planting and harvesting 37 mu (about 2.5 hectares or 6 acres) of scattered plots of land. “Planting a single mu took up to three hours with two people laying plastic film by hand,” he said. Harvesting would lock his family into year-round labour, yielding just 250-300kg (551-661lbs) per mu.
/jlne.ws/4hzxHFz

Canada

Defying Trump Has Given Carney a Popular Mandate to Transform Canada
Amanda Coletta – The Wall Street Journal
Overhauling environmental reviews and accelerating approvals of oil pipelines and mines. Massive increases in military spending. Mending ties with China, India and Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Mark Carney is barreling forward with a rewiring of Canada’s economic, national-security and foreign policies that, in some cases, would once have been unthinkable and unpopular. A political novice until he won the premiership last year, Carney has vanquished opposition that might have felled his predecessors thanks to a confrontation with President Trump that has given him highflying popularity.
/jlne.ws/4xRBhRz

United Kingdom

Second Brexit referendum is on the cards, says Burnham
Tony Diver, James Crisp and James Badcock – The Telegraph
Andy Burnham has said that a second Brexit referendum is a possibility as part of his review of Britain’s relationship with the EU. The Prime Minister said that the UK’s position in Europe “isn’t good enough” and that he would consider a “whole range of options” including rejoining the EU, returning to the customs union and a Canada-style “associate membership”.
/jlne.ws/3TF7CwP

European Union

France Is Ground Zero in the Global Bond Rout; The country’s finance ministry outlined tens of billions in cuts and cost savings
Stacy Meichtry and Chelsey Dulaney – The Wall Street Journal
The French government aims to cut tens of billions of euros in spending next year as it seeks to calm investor worries that have driven the country’s borrowing costs to their highest levels in decades. Whether the government manages to implement the planned cuts, however, is the question that has markets on edge.
/jlne.ws/4xTpYbu

France Seeks to Win Over Markets and Lawmakers With Deficit Plan
William Horobin – Bloomberg
France’s government unveiled plans to sharply narrow the budget deficit by restraining spending and raising tax revenues, kicking off a debate that risks toppling the prime minister and stoking investor concern over the country’s debt. In the final financial plan before next year’s elections, ministers presented €43 billion ($48.6 billion) of new measures to pare the fiscal shortfall to 5% of economic output in 2027 from 5.4% this year. Combined with other steps taken recently, the total effort in 2027 would amount to €54 billion.
/jlne.ws/3TjJv6O

 

Regulation & Enforcement

Wall Street Regulator Moves to Expand Access to Private Funds
Lydia Beyoud – Bloomberg
The Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing a series of moves to help expand retail investor access to private markets, so more individuals can access private equity, early-stage startups and other assets. A proposal approved by the agency Wednesday would let registered investment advisers charge a fee up to 20% based on a fund’s performance. That measure, if finalized, would bring the fee structures more in line with the traditional arrangement used by some hedge funds to help incentivize managers who normally wouldn’t want to work with retail investors, the agency said.
/jlne.ws/4hvSBW0

U.S. CFTC seeks event contract definitions that may defy states’ gambling claims
Jesse Hamilton – CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/4jrUPIw

FTC opens probe into AI giants including Anthropic and OpenAI
Jody Godoy – Reuters
The Federal Trade Commission is conducting an industry-wide probe into Anthropic, OpenAI ‌and other AI labs to uncover the potential dangers their technology poses to consumers, a senior FTC official told Reuters on Wednesday. The probe is the first official US enforcement action that delves into rogue AI agents, following a surge ​in incidents first reported in July that have stoked fears among the public that uncontrolled ​AI could one day harm humans.
/jlne.ws/4xX3hmN

EU Presses Binance Over ‘Reverse Solicitation’ Exemption for Users: Report
Decrypt Agent
European regulators are questioning how Binance continues to serve customers in the bloc months after failing to secure a license under its crypto rules, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The European Securities and Markets Authority and national watchdogs including those in France, Germany and Greece are examining the exchange’s reliance on reverse solicitation, the exemption under Article 61 of MiCA for services a firm outside the bloc provides at what the rules call the client’s “own exclusive initiative.” Some regulators have asked the company for information, and could move to enforcement, including fines, if they are not satisfied.
/jlne.ws/4rMV2bC

HDFC Bank Says India Regulator Approves Anup Bagchi as CEO
Siddhi Nayak – Bloomberg
India’s banking regulator approved the appointment of Anup Bagchi to head HDFC Bank Ltd., ending a closely watched succession process at the country’s largest private-sector lender by assets, and paving the way for an outsider to take charge. Bagchi, currently the CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co., has been appointed for a three-year term starting Oct. 27, HDFC Bank said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4s0D6KJ

CFTC Secures Court Order Directing Louisiana Man and Arkansas Woman to Pay Over $31 Million for Digital Assets, Precious Metals Fraud; Court Separately Enters Consent Orders Against Two Florida Defendants in the Scheme
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered a default judgment against defendants Brian Early and Alisha Ann Kingrey for their participation in a digital assets and precious metals fraud involving the unincorporated Fundsz entity and its website. Entry of the default judgment was preceded by the court’s entry of consent orders against two other defendants for their roles in the scheme: Rachel Larralde, as personal representative of the estate of Rene Larralde, and Juan Pablo Valcarce.
/jlne.ws/4y01ugx

SEC Proposes Amendments to Expand Responsible Retailization of Private Markets; Commission Seeks Public Comment on Additional Ways to Qualify as an Accredited Investor
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose rule amendments that would facilitate capital formation in the public and private markets by expanding retail investor choice and promoting innovation in regulated fund structures while preserving appropriate investor protections and safeguards.
/jlne.ws/47e6Gmp

SEC Charges Two Individuals With Orchestrating Fraud Scheme That Targeted Veterans
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Christopher Kenji Dinelli and Jacob David “Kobe” Frankel for allegedly orchestrating a fraud scheme that raised more than $8.7 million from 35 investors through their fund, Beyond Alpha Ventures LLC (BAV), and advisory firm, Beyond Equity LLC.
/jlne.ws/4hqcCyA

SEC Charges Meyer Global Management and Its CEO With Defrauding Retail Investors in Private Funds That Held Interests in SpaceX and Other Pre-IPO Securities
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged private fund adviser Meyer Global Management LLC (MGM) and its CEO, Owen E.H. Meyer, with defrauding investors and MGM-managed funds in connection with investments in SpaceX and other pre-IPO securities.
/jlne.ws/4rKSzyf

Mukesh Asudani; SEC Charges Former Pharmaceutical Company Executive for Allegedly Insider Trading Ahead of Acquisition Announcement
SEC
On September 30, 2026, the SEC filed charges against Mukesh Asudani, a former Senior Vice President of Human Resources at a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company (“Pharma Company A”), for allegedly insider trading ahead of the October 11, 2021 public announcement that Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. had agreed to acquire Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
/jlne.ws/3Vkon0N

Robert Bernardi and Sunil Chandra; SEC Settles Litigation with Former CEO and Vice President of Software Company Charged with Multimillion Dollar Fraud
SEC
On September 30, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed consents and proposed final judgments as to Robert Bernardi, founder and former CEO of GigaMedia Access Corporation (Giga), a private software company, and Sunil Chandra, Giga’s former Vice President of International Business Development, in the SEC’s civil enforcement action against them.
/jlne.ws/4hy64N0

Trevon Brown, Craig Grant, and Michael Noble; SEC Obtains Judgments Against Three BitConnect Promoters
SEC
On July 17, 2026, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment against Michael Noble for his involvement with BitConnect and the promotion of BitConnect’s “lending program.” The final judgment against Noble orders him to pay disgorgement in the amount of $731,281.00, prejudgment interest in the amount of $293,703.36, and a civil penalty in the amount of $50,000.00, for a total of $1,074,984.36. Previously, in a partial judgment on consent entered on August 12, 2021, the Court ordered permanent injunctions enjoining Noble from violating Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and conduct-based injunctions permanently enjoining him from offering, operating, or participating in certain marketing or sales programs and from participating directly or indirectly in a digital asset securities offering.
/jlne.ws/3VZSt9Y

Staff Statement on Trump Accounts; Divisions of Investment Management and Corporation Finance
SEC
On July 4, 2025, the law commonly referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the “OBBBA”) was signed into law.[1] Among other provisions, the OBBBA added new section 530A to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Section 530A provides for the establishment of a Trump account for an Eligible Individual[2] (each, a “Trump Account”) and authorizes the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) to prescribe rules for such accounts. A Trump Account is an individual retirement account (an “IRA”) subject to special rules on contributions, investments, distributions, and reporting during the period that begins when the initial Trump Account is established and ends on December 31 of the calendar year in which the account beneficiary attains age 17 (the “growth period”). After the growth period, most of the special rules no longer apply and the rules under Code section 408 applicable to traditional IRAs generally apply.
/jlne.ws/3Vr8NjU

Staff Statement on Affiliations Between National Securities Exchanges and Broker-Dealers; Division of Trading and Markets
SEC
The Staff of the Division of Trading and Markets (“Staff”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is issuing the following statement[1] regarding the affiliation between registered national securities exchanges and entities that engage in broker-dealer activities on those exchanges. This statement would also solicit public input regarding such affiliation, particularly in light of the growing market interest in listing novel products.
/jlne.ws/4hpkoIP

The Other AI: Remarks at the Open Commission Meeting on Accredited Investor Notices under Rule 501(a)(10) of Regulation D; Commissioner Hester M. Peirce
SEC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. These days when we talk about AI, we usually mean artificial intelligence. AI at the SEC, however, has a more sinister meaning—accredited investor. I have never been a fan of paternalistic limitations on how Americans can invest their hard-earned money, but the AI concept courses through the securities laws. We have to make the best of a bad situation. I am pleased to support today’s notices contemplating orders that would expand the ranks of accredited investors so that more Americans could decide for themselves whether they want to invest in private markets.
/jlne.ws/3VGomUY

Performance Interval: Statement on Proposals to Facilitate Retail Investor Access to Private Investments; Commissioner Hester M. Peirce
SEC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you also Brian [Daly] and Josh [White]. I happily support today’s two proposals to increase main street investors’ opportunities to access private investments through professionally managed, diversified funds. With the decline in the breadth of the public markets, retail investor access to private markets is important for the sake of portfolio diversification and investor choice.[1] These proposals would enhance retail investors’ ability to decide for themselves how to meet their financial goals.
/jlne.ws/4iZ6uyu

Statement at Open Meeting on Proposals to Expand Responsible Retailization of Private Markets; Paul S. Atkins, Chairman
SEC
We have three items on today’s agenda. First, the Commission will consider whether to issue a release proposing rule amendments expanding the circumstances under which a registered investment adviser may receive performance-based compensation. Second, we will consider whether to issue a release proposing amendments to the rule that allows regulated closed-end funds to make repurchase offers to shareholders at net asset value at periodic intervals. Finally, we will consider whether to issue five notices that the Commission is considering regarding whether to designate by order certain certifications, designations, or credentials as qualifying natural persons for accredited investor status.
/jlne.ws/4hDhzTx

Statement on Proposed Amendments to Adviser Performance-Based Compensation, Interval Fund Modernization, and Multiple Share Class Rules for Closed-End Funds and BDCs; Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda
SEC
Good morning and thank you to the staff for your presentations. Today, we consider two rulemaking proposals as well as several notices regarding accredited investor status under Regulation D. Together, these steps are part of an effort to allow more exposure to private investments as part of a retail investor’s portfolio.
/jlne.ws/3Vr9cTs

FCA announces new Board appointments; Three new appointments have been made to our Board, bringing additional experience in public policy, financial services, regulation and corporate leadership as we continue to deliver our strategy.
FCA
Lea Paterson CBE and Matthew Tobin have been appointed by the Treasury as non-executive directors, while deputy chief executive Sarah Pritchard has joined the Board as an executive member. Lea Paterson CBE has a career spanning economics, financial journalism, public policy and regulation. She is currently chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body, a Civil Service Commissioner and a board member of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
/jlne.ws/4rGolwd

FCA starts accepting crypto authorization applications ahead of 2027 regime; UK crypto firms have until Feb. 28, 2027, to apply for FCA authorization ahead of a new regulatory regime taking effect next year.
Brian Danga – The Block
A new regulatory clock has started for crypto firms operating in the UK, with the Financial Conduct Authority opening its authorization process ahead of a regime that will bring a broader range of digital asset activities under FCA oversight. Firms that want to continue operating in the country now have until Feb. 28, 2027, to apply ahead of the new rules taking effect Oct. 25, 2027, the regulator said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/4rJrhsb

MAS Announces Senior Leadership Changes
mas.gov.sg
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced changes to its senior management team, which will take effect on 1 November 2026. 2. Ms Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director (Corporate Development), will relinquish her current role and be appointed Principal Advisor in the Managing Director’s office. In this advisory capacity, Ms Loh will support the Managing Director across various areas of risk oversight, governance and leadership development, alongside her role as Chair of the Board of the Singapore Payments Network (SPaN).
/jlne.ws/4jw1ZLN

Ontario Securities Commission approves IntelligentCross Canadian expansion
Lucy Carter – Global Trading
While exchanges are looking for new ways to compete with alternative trading systems (ATSs), ATSs are taking more of those exchanges’ lunch. Canadian platform CIX Trading, backed by US ATS
/jlne.ws/4rJ2CUs

SEBI revamps its “Document Number Verification System”
sebi.gov.in
/jlne.ws/4hVpi0h

 

Investing & Trading

A Guide to Owning Bonds When They Are Selling Off
Veronica Dagher and Ashlea Ebeling – The Wall Street Journal
A bond-market rout pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to the highest since 2002, but it doesn’t erase the value of fixed income in a diversified portfolio. For those thinking of buying, the market ructions have made bond yields more attractive, financial advisers say. Over 80% of the global bond market now yields above 4%, according to BlackRock. The asset manager says the average yield in a bond portfolio it tracks has more than doubled from five years earlier.
/jlne.ws/4z7IoGn

CCC Debt Turns Distressed for First Time Since 2023 Crisis
Josie Reich – Bloomberg
The spread on the riskiest US corporate bonds has jumped above 1,000 basis points over Treasuries for the first time since the regional banking crisis in 2023. That level of risk premium typically implies high probability of default, restructuring or loss. Debt that is rated CCC — the lowest tier of junk — traded at a spread of 1,007 basis points on Wednesday, up from 860 basis points at the start of September. That’s the widest since March 2023, when investors dumped risky credit as a regional banking crisis took down Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse.
/jlne.ws/4ddpLbJ

Money Managers Are Asking Clients to Give the Bond Market Another Chance
Oyin Adedoyin and Miriam Gottfried – The Wall Street Journal
Wealth advisers and investment managers are trying to persuade their clients to embrace an asset class that many have grown to despise. They want investors to get back into bonds to take advantage of tempting yields. But it is a tall task after years of topsy-turvy returns. And it has only gotten harder with benchmark yields at the highest level in two dozen years, and prices inversely falling. “The biggest challenge is going to be psychological,” said Brian Spinelli, co-chief investment officer at wealth manager Halbert Hargrove. “When people think fixed income, they’re anchored to what it was when rates were near zero, but you’re in a different yield environment than you have been over the last 15 years.”
/jlne.ws/46Q9ndB

Opinion | How China became the world’s gold superpower
Chow Chung-yan – South China Morning Post
Perhaps no story illustrates the secret of China’s industrial success better than its rise as the world’s gold superpower. China has revered the metal for millennia, yet it has never had a gold-based economy. Its own deposits were simply too scarce. In 1975, as China began its economic modernisation, it desperately needed gold to fund reform and build up foreign reserves. Despite its best efforts, it produced a meagre 13.8 metric tons a year. South Africa, then the undisputed king of gold, produced many times that. Canada, the United States and Australia each comfortably outproduced China as well.
/jlne.ws/3TsXneZ

India Stock Futures Trading Slumps as Auction Disrupts Arbitrage
Savio Shetty – Bloomberg
Trading in single-stock futures on India’s largest bourse sank to a 34-month low as the new closing auction disrupted strategies used by arbitrage funds. Turnover in stock futures on the National Stock Exchange of India fell to about 21 trillion rupees ($219 billion) in September, the lowest since November 2023 and the second straight monthly drop since the auction system was launched on Aug. 3.
/jlne.ws/4hjC4pi

America’s Copper Hoard Stokes Fear of a Supply Crunch | Climate & Energy for Oct. 1; Plus: The mystery man in Guilfoyle’s European energy push, climate investors pivot to data centers and Switzerland’s rapidly shrinking glaciers
Ed Ballard – The Wall Street Journal
Copper is piling up in American warehouses, and it could stay there a while. That would have scary implications for buyers elsewhere. The copper market has been in limbo since July last year, when President Trump imposed tariffs on wire and other copper products but left out the refined metal used by manufacturers. He ordered a study of whether refined copper should face levies too but the administration hasn’t yet declared its intentions.
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Conagra drops Celeste pizza to focus on popcorn, meat sticks
Kristina Peterson – Crain’s Chicago Business
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Trading Technologies moves into equities with acquisition
John Pletz – Crain’s Chicago Business
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ESG

Heat Deaths in Western Europe Top 34,600 During Warmest Summer Ever
Laura Millan and Olivia Rudgard – Bloomberg
More than 34,600 people died in five Western European countries due to heat this summer as the region posted its hottest June, July and August on record, according to a Bloomberg compilation of mortality estimates from different agencies.
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Alito Says Recusal in Climate Case Is ‘Prudent’ But Not Required
Greg Stohr – Bloomberg
US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said his withdrawal from a high-stakes climate change case involving the oil and gas industry was a “difficult judgment call” he made even after the court’s legal office said he didn’t have to disqualify himself. In an interview Wednesday, Alito offered his first public explanation for a step that could prove pivotal as the court considers whether the city and county of Boulder, Colorado, can sue Exxon Mobil Corp. and Suncor Energy Inc. for the costs of coping with climate change. The court announced his recusal on Monday without any explanation.
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Pressure Is Piling Up for Europe to Release Diesel
Alaric Nightingale – Bloomberg
The US is piling pressure on the European Union to release diesel stockpiles to help contain soaring prices for the industrial fuel, and the bloc needs to tread carefully in its response. Government officials in Europe have told Bloomberg that they believe their release rates have been adequate for meeting the market’s needs and in line with what was agreed under efforts coordinated by the International Energy Agency. They’ve also pointed to lackluster take-up of the supplies that have already been offered to the market.
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South Korea to build 8 nuclear power plants in US, invest $120bn
KIM JAEWON – Nikkei Asia
South Korea said it will spend $120 billion in the U.S. to build eight nuclear power plants as part of an agreement to invest $350 billion in exchange for lower tariffs.
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Supreme Court Weighs Shield for Oil Companies as New Term Opens
Greg Stohr – Bloomberg
A yearslong legal campaign to hold the oil industry accountable for climate change risks running aground in the US as the Supreme Court takes up a case that threatens to undercut dozens of lawsuits. The justices open their new term Monday with a Colorado clash that could shield oil and gas companies from claims for billions of dollars being spent by cities, counties and states to adapt to rapidly changing weather patterns. The climate case will be one of the highlights of a nine-month Supreme Court term that will also feature fights over so-called assault weapons, religious school funding and rapid deportations of undocumented immigrants to countries other than their own. The conservative-controlled court could also be drawn more deeply into the 2026 midterms as Democrats seek to take control of Congress.
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Opinion | If You Think Rising Oil Prices Are Bad, Just Wait for the Inevitable Crash
Philip Delves Broughton – The New York Times
When the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February, a temporary surge in oil prices was a given. Seven months on, with the international price for a barrel of crude around $100 and tankers still cowering in the Strait of Hormuz, drivers seem resigned to paying $5 for a gallon of gas for the foreseeable future. They needn’t be: Oil’s big bust is coming. The stage is set for a price crash, and not the kind that would benefit President Trump before the midterm elections.
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China’s Coal Past and Solar Present Are Colliding in Pakistan
Lili Pike and Faseeh Mangi – Bloomberg
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Greece’s vanishing lake exposes rapid impact of climate change
Alexandros Avramidis – Reuters
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Korea Disputes Trump’s Claim It Agreed to Invest in Alaska LNG
Heesu Lee – Bloomberg
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Diesel’s Record Run Sidelines Truckers and Hits Voters’ Wallets
Cailley LaPara, Will Kubzansky and Lorelei Smillie – Bloomberg
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TotalEnergies to invest $10 billion in Argentina, CEO Pouyanne says
Reuters
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BANKS BROKERS MANAGED FUNDS

Nuveen completes Schroders takeover to create $2.6 trillion investment group
Reuters
U.S. asset manager Nuveen said ​on Thursday it ‌had completed its acquisition of British ​fund manager Schroders (SDR.L), ​creating a combined ⁠company with over $2.6 ​trillion in assets ​under management and a presence across more ​than 40 ​markets. Schroders will continue to operate ‌separately ⁠within Nuveen for the next 12 to 18 ​months, ​led ⁠by Group Chief Executive ​Richard Oldfield, ​who ⁠will report to Nuveen CEO William ⁠Huffman.
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King’s bank Coutts hit with new lawsuit after ‘debanking’; Shipping executive Philip Adkins sues lender over claims it kept dossier of inaccurate information that sparked US probe
Alistair Gray – Financial Times
A shipping executive is suing Coutts over claims the UK private bank kept a dossier of inaccurate information about him that triggered a US investigation into his finances and led to his daughter being detained. In the latest case related to “debanking”, Philip Adkins, the former chief executive of heavy-duty shipping company Red Box Energy Services, has brought a data protection lawsuit alleging the “false” records caused him “serious distress”.
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Australia’s banks show how to prepare for cable blackouts; The country is making its financial system resilient enough to withstand the cutting of undersea lines
Elisabeth Braw – Financial Times
Australia is connected to the rest of the world by a rather small number of subsea data cables. Those cables efficiently transmit all the connectivity the country needs; they even offer spare capacity. But if the cables were damaged, Australia would struggle. Now the country is creating a backup that would thwart the worst harm — and other countries should learn from the Australians’ pragmatic take.
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NIBA at 35: Looking back and looking ahead for Introducing Brokers
FIA
National Introducing Brokers Association founder Melinda Schramm reflects on 35 years of change in the IB community
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Bank of America to pay $39 million to settle customer claims over low interest rates on cash
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
Bank of America’s (BAC.N) Merrill Lynch unit will pay $39 million to settle a class ​action claiming it paid brokerage customers near-zero interest ‌rates instead of market rates on idle cash in their retirement accounts. Settlement papers were filed late on Wednesday in Manhattan federal ​court. The settlement requires approval by US District ​Judge Valerie Caproni, averting a trial that had been ⁠scheduled for mid-October.
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At bigger banks, enterprise risk owns scenario frameworks
Fabio Santos – Risk.net
This article is part of a series benchmarking bank enterprise risk management practices. Subscribers can view selected cuts of the underlying data here, and sign up for Risk Benchmarking emails here. Enterprise risk teams are responsible for running bank-wide scenario-analysis and stress-testing frameworks at a narrow majority of firms, according to the latest round of Risk.net’s Enterprise Risk
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How to ensure the next Credit Suisse or SVB fails ‘well’
Arthur Bautzer – Risk.net
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UBS Shareholder Calls for Bank to Leave Switzerland; Artisan Partners urges bank to part ways with its home country over new capital rules
Margot Patrick – The Wall Street Journal
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HSBC’s New Trading Floor Has Far Less Headroom Than Its Rivals
Harry Wilson, Jack Sidders and Natasha Voase – Bloomberg
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Barclays Expands Use of Anthropic’s Claude in Efficiency Push
William Shaw – Bloomberg
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Private Markets

Carlyle Warns Private Credit’s AI Push Raises Concentration Risk
Menghan Xiao and Scott Carpenter – Bloomberg
Private credit firms rushing to finance the artificial intelligence buildout risk encountering the same concentration problems that have plagued lenders exposed to software companies, according to Carlyle Group Inc. The industry may need to provide roughly $1 trillion to finance AI computing infrastructure, according to a Carlyle white paper published Thursday. That’s equivalent to more than half of private credit assets currently under management. Failing to put clear limits on concentration in AI compute could prove to be “the biggest mistake of all,” the white paper said.
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Apollo Debuts Daily Private Credit Marks as SEC Urges Vigilance
Laura Benitez and Rene Ismail – Bloomberg
Apollo Global Management Inc. is beginning to roll out daily prices across its $850 billion credit business on Thursday, an effort that coincides with renewed attention from the US Securities and Exchange Commission on the valuation of private assets.
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WORK MGMT

NoBroker Seeks First Profit in Decade by Using AI to Curb Hiring
Sankalp Phartiyal – Bloomberg
Startup NoBroker is using AI to cut tasks previously handled by people, putting the Indian real estate company closer to profitability. The online platform, which offers rentals, property sales and services like home loans, movers, and interior designing, has harnessed AI for tasks such as sales and customer service, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Akhil Gupta said. It now envisages profit in about 10 months — its first since its founding more than a decade ago — paving the way for a stock market debut, he said.
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When the 4% Rule in Retirement Works — and When It Doesn’t
Derek Horstmeyer – The Wall Street Journal
The 4% rule is one of the most enduring guidelines for the decumulation phase of retirement. It is also one of the most debated. So my research assistants, Taha Abusaymeh and Anton Siren, and I decided to test this idea—in which savers withdraw 4% of their portfolio in the first year of retirement and then that dollar amount, plus more to account for inflation, each year after. We wanted to see where it fails and what is the biggest impediment to making it 30-plus years following this strategy without running out of savings.
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Wellness Exchange

Pennsylvania Reports Fifth Death From Measles in Widening Crisis
Avril Silva – Bloomberg
Pennsylvania has reported its fifth measles-associated death this year, as the US continues to suffer through its worst outbreak in decades. In a statement Wednesday, the state’s Department of Health said the fifth death was in an unvaccinated Lancaster County resident. Pennsylvania is the hardest hit state in the US. The announcement comes as the state and federal health agencies have been feuding over whether the deaths are measles related. After Pennsylvania notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about its first two measles-related deaths in August, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly questioned them and suggested Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro fabricated the deaths for political gain. Shapiro then blamed Kennedy for sowing distrust in vaccines.
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What Grip Strength Can Tell You About Your Health
Sumathi Reddy – The Wall Street Journal
What’s in a forearm? Turns out, a lot. Grip strength is increasingly being viewed as an important biomarker of our overall strength and fitness. While not used as widely as body-mass index, or BMI, as a screening tool for health, doctors and researchers say awareness of its value is growing. That’s happening as research shows that grip strength is associated with future health risks and even longevity. At the University of Michigan Medical School, many clinics test patients’ grip strength, says Mark Peterson, a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation. “We do it with our older populations but I have also gotten it pulled into clinics in our neurological population,” he says.
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Regions

Hong Kong’s 5-year plan underlines ‘DNA’ as a global city, market economy: John Lee
Edith Lin – South China Morning Post
Hong Kong’s inaugural five-year plan highlighted its DNA as an international city while emphasising the market economy, the chief executive has said. Speaking at a National Day reception on Thursday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the city needed a blueprint with strategic vision amid the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape and accelerated growth of artificial intelligence, as he highlighted three features of the plan that was unveiled last month.
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Fuel prices leave people in the South asking ‘what can we do?’
Ethan Gudge – BBC News
Record fuel prices across the country have left people in the south of England looking for ways to cope with the rising costs. Earlier this week, the RAC said diesel prices in the UK had reached an all time high, with the cost of petrol also rising, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. One garage manager from Berkshire said he had noticed a change in customer behaviour, with customers more likely to put £20 of fuel in, rather than fill their tanks up.
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Ken Griffin’s $3 billion gift exemplifies Florida’s new mindset: from attracting innovation to creating it
Michael Simas – Fortune
Yesterday, Ken Griffin announced a $3 billion gift to Carnegie Mellon University, the largest gift by an individual in the history of American higher education. Two billion dollars will support CMU Miami, a new campus in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood that plans to enroll its first students in 2028. Fortune Daily breaks the traditional barrier between audience and newsroom. The show transforms Fortune’s trusted reporting into actionable, conversational, and entertaining insights for an emerging class of business leaders. Watch here. About the Author By Michael Simas Follow See full bio Add Fortune on Google for similar content. Add us on Google
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