Article: Is repo madness predicting a crack-up?

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Is repo madness predicting a crack-up?

Rick Ackerman, 21 June 2021

[The following was written by a San Francisco friend from the hedge fund world, Shawn Brown. It buttresses the suspicion that while there seems to be plenty of credit money available for speculation, the collateral behind it is getting thinner and shakier by the week. The Fed, with $8 trillion of Treasury paper and other top-shelf collateral on its balance sheet, has monopolized the supply, leaving lending banks to scramble for collateral for their own that hasn’t already been hocked twentyfold. As a result, central bank interventions are becoming more frequent, more complex and bigger, to the point where even the experts are having trouble determining whether the banking system is headed for a crack-up far larger than the one that took down Archegos a few months ago. RA] Continue reading “Article: Is repo madness predicting a crack-up?”

Article: Former SEC chair on the market risks even meme stock traders can’t afford to ignore

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Former SEC chair on the market risks even meme stock traders can’t afford to ignore

Eric Rosenbaum, 20 June 2021

The Wall Street establishment and the Reddit, Robinhood-fueled meme stock traders don’t see eye to eye, on just about anything. In fact, rolling eyes at the stock market’s traditional ways is inherent in trades like GameStop and AMC Entertainment.

Warnings from the market greats, like Warren Buffett, may as well be a badge of honor among the new traders. But one thing Buffett hasn’t noted in his criticisms of the “casino” atmosphere of this bull market and companies like Robinhood, which he has thoroughly beat on, is that when he was a young investor himself he had a fondness for “cigar butt” stocks — the dregs of the market, companies with a few puffs left in them — before he graduated to a more refined kind of investing that made him a billionaire. And that Buffett footnote raises an important point about the market’s newest investors. Continue reading “Article: Former SEC chair on the market risks even meme stock traders can’t afford to ignore”

Article: China to shut down over 90% of its Bitcoin mining capacity after local bans

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China to shut down over 90% of its Bitcoin mining capacity after local bans

GT staff reporters, 20 June 2021

Many Bitcoin mines in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province – one of China’s largest cryptocurrency mining bases – were closed as of Sunday, according to after local authorities ordered a halt to mining in the region on Friday amid an intensified nationwide crackdown against cryptocurrency mining.

The ban also means that more than 90 percent of China’s Bitcoin mining capacity is estimated to be shut down, at least for the short term, as regulators in other key mining hubs in China’s north and southwest regions have taken similar harsh steps. Continue reading “Article: China to shut down over 90% of its Bitcoin mining capacity after local bans”

Article: SPRK to check if Augstsprieguma tīkls imports Belarusian electricity from Russia

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SPRK to check if Augstsprieguma tīkls imports Belarusian electricity from Russia

LETA, 19 June 2021

SPRK has received a request from Nord Pool. In it the exchange requests SPRK and Lithuanian National Energy Council to check if Latvian transmission system operator Augstsprieguma tīkls and Lithuanian transmissions system operator Litgrid AB haven’t breached Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT). Article 5 states that any involvement in market manipulation is strictly prohibited. Continue reading “Article: SPRK to check if Augstsprieguma tīkls imports Belarusian electricity from Russia”

Article: Pakistan Customs Uncovers Trade-Based Money Laundering

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Pakistan Customs Uncovers Trade-Based Money Laundering

Web Desk, 19 June 2021

KARACHI: The post-clearance audit of Pakistan Customs has unearthed an under-invoicing and trade-based money laundering case of an importer engaged in consignment clearance on fake invoices, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said in a statement issued on Saturday.

It said the Directorate General of Customs Post Clearance Audit had conducted a detailed examination on the case forwarded by the Chief Collector of Customs Appraisement South, Karachi. Continue reading “Article: Pakistan Customs Uncovers Trade-Based Money Laundering”

Article: China Pushes Back Against Threat Of Inflation – Analysis

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China Pushes Back Against Threat Of Inflation – Analysis

Michael Lelyveld, 19 June 2021

China’s government has suffered a setback in its campaign against inflation as consumer prices accelerated last month despite pressure on producers to keep commodity costs down.

On June 9, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the consumer price index (CPI) for May rose 1.3 percent from a year earlier, quickening from the 0.9-percent pace the month before. Continue reading “Article: China Pushes Back Against Threat Of Inflation – Analysis”

Article: Court acquits Nwaoboshi of N322m money laundering charge

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Court acquits Nwaoboshi of N322m money laundering charge

Joseph Onyekwere, 19 June 2021

Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, discharged and acquitted a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, of the N322 million money laundering charge levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The judge held that the case of the prosecution collapsed when it failed to call vital witnesses and provide concrete evidence to prove and establish its allegations. Continue reading “Article: Court acquits Nwaoboshi of N322m money laundering charge”

Article: Influencers Are Luring Investors Flummoxed by Meme Stonks and Options

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Influencers Are Luring Investors Flummoxed by Meme Stonks and Options

Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou and Donald Moore, 18 June 2021

The U.S. was already doing a poor job of teaching people how to manage their money. Then meme stonks came along.

Now with everyone desperate for financial advice, a deluge of new companies and their influencer leaders are all at your service, fighting to be the first place you turn to chat about stocks, budgets or finances — at times, for a fee.. Continue reading “Article: Influencers Are Luring Investors Flummoxed by Meme Stonks and Options”

Article: The EU clears banks that ban bond transactions after the “declaration of honor”

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The EU clears banks that ban bond transactions after the “declaration of honor”

Agnes Zang , 18 June 2021

The previous eight banks Banned After promising “integrity” and providing evidence of “remedial measures” after historical violations of antitrust rules, the bond sales of the EU’s 800 billion euro recovery fund have been approved to process future transactions.

Earlier this week, the European Union launched the largest lending boom in its history, issuing 20 billion euros of bonds, but due to previous scandals involving market manipulation, 10 banks were unable to participate in the transaction. The European Commission stated that eight of the lenders are now free to deal with future bond syndicates under the plan. Continue reading “Article: The EU clears banks that ban bond transactions after the “declaration of honor””

Article: Shell company hijack: Men used SEC filings, fake press releases for stock pump-and-dump scam, feds say

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Shell company hijack: Men used SEC filings, fake press releases for stock pump-and-dump scam, feds say

Dan Mangan, 18 June 2021

Three men engaged in a brazen scheme to “surreptitiously hijack” and take over dormant shell companies, whose stock they then fraudulently inflated to dump to unwitting investors, according to charges in an indictment that was unsealed Friday.

The men from 2017 through 2019 allegedly used fake resignation letters to seize control of four shell companies and then used the Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR public filing system and bogus press releases to fraudulently “pump up” their share prices by claiming new business opportunities, the indictment says. Continue reading “Article: Shell company hijack: Men used SEC filings, fake press releases for stock pump-and-dump scam, feds say”

Article: Bitcoin Ban Upheld at Danske Bank Amid Growing Client Demand

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Bitcoin Ban Upheld at Danske Bank Amid Growing Client Demand

Christian Wienberg and Niclas Rolander, 18 June 2021

Danske Bank A/S says it won’t lift a ban on trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on its platforms, despite growing interest from clients.

Denmark’s biggest bank pointed to a lack of transparency and regulation in crypto trading, in a statement on its website. It also warned of volatile and “opaque” pricing, and noted that the carbon footprint of mining cryptocurrencies is at odds with Danske’s goal of doing sustainable banking. Continue reading “Article: Bitcoin Ban Upheld at Danske Bank Amid Growing Client Demand”