Opening Bell: 10.17.17

Credit Suisse targeted for break-up by activist hedge fund (FT)
According to people briefed on Mr Bohli’s plan, he will argue for a three-way split of Credit Suisse into a Wall Street investment bank that revives the old First Boston brand; an asset manager; and a wealth management group that also encompasses Credit Suisse’s retail and business banking operations. RBR will attack the “dis-synergies” in the bank’s conglomerate structure and suggest the split could double the group’s current SFr40bn ($40.9bn) valuation, according to a copy of the plan seen by the Financial Times. SEE ALSO: Credit Suisse's Biggest Shareholder Dismisses Activist's Plan

Frankfurt Doesn’t Want London’s Bankers (Businessweek)
“Brexit will be very bad for people with a normal income,” says Hintz, an owner of the 37-year-old Karl Marx bookshop, echoing local activists seeking to protect what they say is a cozy, comfortable city with little need for the cash and glitz that legions of wealthy newcomers might bring. “It may be good for the city’s international competitiveness,” Hintz, 61, says from behind his impressively Marxian beard. “But what we need is affordable housing. And the population has no voice in this.”

A Shunned Industry Makes a Comeback in Ireland—Banking (WSJ)
John Cronin, a partner at Irish law firm McCann Fitzgerald, says there was an initial feeling among some finance companies that the central bank wasn’t as welcoming to their business. At meetings, if “the good biscuits aren’t put out, some people may feel they aren’t getting the right reception,” he says.

Why, Oh Why, Can’t We Have a Decent Stock Bubble? (WSJ)
After an eight-year bull market and the cheapest borrowing costs in history, the big surprise isn’t that the stock market’s high, but that it isn’t higher still. Where’s the irrational exuberance? Why are taxi—-well, Uber—-drivers still talking about politics and sports, when they should be offering stock tips and thinking about packing it all in and day trading? The simple answer is that after the dot-com bubble of 2000 and the housing and credit bubble of 2007, it’s hard to tempt the wider public into believing in market magic.

The Money-Losing Volatility Trade That Hedge Funds Can't Resist (BBG)
Brevan Howard Asset Management, 36 South Capital Advisors, One River Asset Management and at least three other firms are rolling out new funds designed to protect investors from rising market turbulence. While so-called long volatility strategies have been some of this year’s worst performers, everyone from Nobel laureate Richard Thaler to Larry Fink has warned that the unusual state of calm in markets may not last. “This is a multi-decade opportunity to buy volatility,” said Richard “Jerry” Haworth, who co-founded 36 South in 2001 and more than tripled investors’ money in the firm’s Black Swan Fund during the crisis.

Authoritarian Cryptocurrencies Are Coming (BBG)
The Russian and Chinese ideas are distinct from these projects. They are openly about central control rather than libertarian anarchy. The distributed ledger technology provides a tool that's fit for their purposes, too -- just like nuclear energy can be used to power a city or to blow it up.

Can We have an ETF Meltdown? (Rick Bookstaber)
Suppose there is a sudden rush for the exits in the high yield bond market. Those in the cash bonds know the drill. They will put in orders with the bank/dealer market makers. For a while those high yield bond trading desks will buy the bonds and hold them in inventory. But it won't take long for the trading desks to reach their capacity. After that point, they won't be buyers. They will act as agent -- also knows as riskless principal -- and look for someone on the other side of the trade. In the meantime the seller has to bide its time. The point is that on the cash bond side, it is not an intraday sort of a transaction. It can take days to find the other side for the trade. And anyone who is active in the high yield bond market knows that, so they structure their leverage and liquidity accordingly.

Daphne Caruana Galizia: Top investigative reporter killed by car bomb in Malta (Independent)
Galizia is believed to have just published the last post on her widely read blog, Running Commentary, just before leaving her house outside the capital Valletta. "There are crooks everywhere you look now,” she had written, “the situation is desperate." Soon after driving away in her Peugeot 108, Galizia’s vehicle exploded with such force it was sent flying over a wall and into a field.

Jets Fan Who Stands For National Anthem Sits On American Flag (Deadspin)
This man at Sunday’s Patriots-Jets game respects the United States and its national anthem so much that he turned the country’s flag into a picnic blanket.