Opening Bell: 7.7.17

Deutsche Bank's London Trading Heart Faces Long Carve-Out (BBG)
People in the German trading unit under Jain frequently chafed at the fact that London called the shots even though the business was legally headquartered in Germany, said a former Deutsche Bank managing director who worked under Jain and Ackermann. Several people at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed satisfaction that the focus is shifting back to the bank’s hometown, while employees in London say they’re worried about reductions in their portfolios, a person familiar with the matter said.

How Do Investors Price in Nuclear Armageddon? (BBG)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime has conducted rapid-fire ballistic missile and nuclear-weapons tests in an escalating standoff with the United States. In any war-game scenario imaginable, Seoul would sustain massive loss of life and damage should a full-on, military conflict breakout on the Korean Peninsula. Yet none of that seems to register at the Korea Exchange, where the Kospi Index of stocks has touched record highs and delivered about a 22 percent return this year in dollar terms.

Robots enter investment banks’ trading floors (FT)
One of UBS' new systems uses machine learning to develop new strategies for trading volatility on behalf of clients. It examines vast amounts of trading data and builds a strategy based on learning from market patterns. UBS claims it is the first “adaptive strategy” product offered by an investment bank. It has been marketing the offering to clients for a couple of months and they have been “very receptive”. While the bank is yet to convince a client to put its money into it, it expects to secure its first contract within a few months.

Whiff of animal spirits in the air on Wall Street (FT)
For a few hours this week it looked like the biggest bank in the US was heading into a bidding war of the kind not seen since the pre-crisis boom years. Worldpay, the UK payments processor listed on the FTSE 100, disclosed that JPMorgan Chase had made a takeover approach in what would have been the largest acquisition since 2009 by a “big six” US bank. That JPMorgan even considered such a move is enough to kindle talk that animal spirits are again stirring among the largest US banks.

London's Shrinking Stock Market (Businessweek)
Waving farewell to prized businesses would be no bad thing if there was a pipeline of replacements. But the U.K.'s public markets are thinning out: the number of London-listed firms tracked by the FTSE All-Share Index has fallen to 642 from 692 in 2006, according to Bloomberg data. In dollar terms, the average U.K. firm's market value has been shrinking in recent years, a trend exacerbated by Brexit.

Central Banks’ Reversals Signal the End of One Era and the Beginning of Another (Ray Dalio)
Generally speaking (depending on the country), it is appropriate for central banks to lessen the aggressiveness of their unconventional policies because these policies have successfully brought about beautiful deleveragings. In my opinion, at this point of transition, we should savor this accomplishment and thank the policy makers who fought to bring about these policies. They had to fight hard to do it and have been more maligned than appreciated. Let’s thank them.

Elliott Advisors makes fresh legal move against Akzo Nobel's chairman (Reuters)
"Elliott finds Chairman Burgmans’ views on shareholder democracy to be archaic and wholly unacceptable in today’s capital markets," it said in a statement. "A board which holds itself accountable to no one is not an appropriate governance paradigm. If shareholders are not able to regulate the conduct of Akzo Nobel's boards, who can?"

Are Millennials Having Sex? An Investigation (VICE)
"What has definitely changed is the frame for the sexual activity," Wade says. She explains that for past generations, two people going out on a date was typically understood by both parties as an exploration of a romantic relationship. Of course, that wasn't always the case. But at the very least, that was the assumption, or the acceptable lie. Now, though, that backdrop has changed, because "I just want sex" is a socially acceptable alternative to "I'm seeking out my life partner."