Opening Bell: 10.19.21

Bit-TF; Brexit bites; Apollo aims at Blackstone; seeing stars at SpaceX; and more!

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Bit-TF; Brexit bites; Apollo aims at Blackstone; seeing stars at SpaceX; and more!

First bitcoin futures ETF rises 4% in trading debut on the NYSE [CNBC]
“Trading volumes are exceptional,” Hershey said of BITO’s day one trading activity. “BITO has traded in excess of $700 million notional. That puts its first day well ahead of retail ETF favorites like BUZZ and ARKX when compared to their respective launch days earlier this year….”
“What you have here is a product that’s been overseen for four years by the U.S. federal regulator CFTC, and that’s being wrapped inside of something within our jurisdiction called the Investment Company Act of 1940, so we have some ability to bring it inside of investor protection,” Gensler said of the new ETF on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday. “It’s still a highly speculative asset class and listeners should understand that underneath this, it still has that same aspect of volatility and speculation.”

Is Brexit Hurting the U.K. Economy? Trade Data Flashes a Warning [WSJ]
“U.K. PLC has become harder, slower, more expensive, more difficult to deal with as a result of Brexit,” said Dale Harris, chief executive of ATL Turbine Services Ltd., which repairs turbine components for customers world-wide in Dundee, Scotland…. The U.K. stands out for the weakness of its recovery in trade. CPB’s gauge of U.K. export volumes at the end of July was 16% lower than it was at the end of 2019, while imports were flat. Over the same time frame, U.S. exports were only 4% lower and imports were 7% higher.

Apollo Targets $1 Trillion in Assets, Aiming to Outpace Blackstone [WSJ]
Apollo expects the merger with its insurance affiliate Athene Holding Ltd., which is scheduled to close in January, to power much of the projected growth…. To reach the $1 trillion mark by 2026, Apollo would have to grow its assets even faster than Blackstone, which managed $684 billion as of the end of the second quarter….
“I think people have always known us as good investors,” Apollo Chief Executive Marc Rowan told The Wall Street Journal. “I don’t think they’ve understood what a good business we have in addition to being good investors.”

Yellen to extend extraordinary debt management measures through Dec 3 [Reuters]
“It is imperative that Congress act to increase or suspend the debt limit in a way that provides longer-term certainty that the government will satisfy all of its obligations,” [Treasury Secretary Janet] Yellen wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders.

Investor-Backed Group Aims to Analyze 10,000 Companies’ Climate-Change Plans [WSJ Pro]
The Transition Pathway Initiative said it plans to open a research center next year at the London School of Economics, called the TPI Global Climate Transition Centre, that will publish the assessments.

Morgan Stanley says SpaceX’s Starship may ‘transform investor expectations’ about space [CNBC]
“As one client put it: ‘talking about space before Starship is like talking about the internet before Google,’” [analyst Adam] Jonas added…. “What SpaceX is doing on the shores of South Texas is challenging any preconceived notion of what was possible and the time frame possible, in terms of rockets, launch vehicles and supporting infrastructure,” Jonas said….
“More than one client has told us if Elon Musk were to become the first Trillionaire... it won’t be because of Tesla. Others have said SpaceX may eventually be the most highly valued company in the world – in any industry,” Jonas said.

Opening Bell

Brexit, Brexit, Brexit; Banks pass stress tests; Lindsay Lohan live tweets rant on European Union referendum, attacks 'Brexit' voters; and more.

Former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg (Getty Images)

Opening Bell

Greenberg won't see any more green; Hertz bet bites Icahn; Jimmy John denies humping shark in the nude; and more.

Opening Bell

Sandy Weill: Break Up The Big Banks (CNBC) “What we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking, have banks be deposit takers, have banks make commercial loans and real estate loans, have banks do something that’s not going to risk the taxpayer dollars, that’s not too big to fail,” Weill told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” He added: “If they want to hedge what they’re doing with their investments, let them do it in a way that’s going to be market-to-market so they’re never going to be hit.” Bank Of England Spotted Risks At JPMorgan (WSJ) More than a year before JPMorgan racked up billions of dollars in losses from bad trades in its London investment office, Bank of England officials raised concerns internally about potential risks arising from some of the office's activities, but didn't formally alert other regulators, according to people involved in the central bank's talks. In late 2010, employees at the central bank worried that the London arm of J.P. Morgan's Chief Investment Office had come to dominate some important corners of the city's financial markets—including residential mortgage-backed securities—and they were concerned about the potential impact that could have on the stability of U.K. markets, these people said. The concerns were relayed to a top central-bank oficial. But the Bank of England doesn't appear to have acted on the concerns or flagged them to regulators responsible for supervising J.P. Morgan. Private-equity bigs: no proof of bid-rigging (NYP) A handful of the country’s wealthiest and most powerful private-equity firms have asked a federal judge to toss an explosive investor lawsuit that claims the group conspired to rig the bids on $270 billion in deals over four years. The firms — including KKR, Bain Capital, Blackstone Group and Apollo Global Management — agreed not to bid on specific deals headed by a rival, thus fraudulently depressing the value of the deal. As a result, investors in those publicly-traded companies were short-changed. The group of 11 financial giants named in the suit, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, claim there is no evidence of a vast bid-rigging conspiracy. New York Fed Faces Questions Over Policing Wall Street (Dealbook) In recent years, the New York Fed has beefed up oversight. Under the president, William C. Dudley, the regulator has increased the expertise of its examiners and hired new senior officials. Even so, the JPMorgan debacle and the interest-rate investigation have raised questions about the New York Fed. They highlight how the regulator is hampered by its lack of enforcement authority and dogged by concerns that it is overly cozy with the banks. Fed Moves Closer To Action (WSJ) Amid the recent wave of disappointing economic news, conversation inside the Fed has turned more intensely toward the questions of how and when to move. Central bank officials could take new steps at their meeting next week, July 31 and Aug. 1, though they might wait until their September meeting to accumulate more information on the pace of growth and job gains before deciding whether to act. Sidekick of Soccer Mom Madam to court: It's not prostitution if you just pay to watch (NYDN) Jaynie Mae Baker, the woman busted with accused Manhattan brothel operator Anna Gristina, revealed in court papers filed Tuesday that the undercover cop who arrested her watched two women have sex but didn’t participate in any. Baker’s lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, says the only recorded conversation in evidence that includes Baker took place July 19, 2011, at a Manhattan restaurant where his client, Gristina and the cop had lunch. The cop tells Baker and Gristina he is “looking for a little adventure" and to “please corrupt me," but there's no talk of arranging payment, Gottlieb says in the filing. Six days later in the sting operation, the cop is secretly videotaped in a room with two other women at Gristina's alleged brothel on E. 78th St., but he does not participate in the sex. “The undercover officer apparently remains fully clothed and merely observed the two women perform for him,” Gottlieb writes...Gottlieb says there “was not a scintilla of evidence that was produced ... establishing Ms. Baker’s involvement in arranging payment in exchange for any kind of sexual activity.” What occurred not prostitution because the undercover cop was not a participant, Gottlieb says. If watching is prostitution, then every strip club and porno director is guilty, too, he said. Germans React Coolly To Moody's Warning (WSJ) Wolf Klinz, a German member of the European Parliament from the pro-business Free Democrats, Ms. Merkel's junior coalition partner, said he doesn't dispute Moody's conclusions about Germany's risks, but rather the timing of the announcement. "There are no hard facts yet" about Germany's ultimate price tag, Mr. Klinz said. "Why come out with this right now? It may have political implications" even if that wasn't the intention, he said. Preet hit with suit by law student (NYP) Second-year law student Benula Bensam sued Bharara, along with the US Marshals Service and the Justice Department, in Manhattan federal court for “unreasonable search and seizure” after the marshals took her cell phone away during the trial of ex-Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta. The 25-year-old Bensam, who is representing herself, said the marshals kept her phone overnight after she refused to answer their questions about letters she wrote to Judge Jed Rakoff during Gupta’s insider-trading trial. Bensam, who attends law school at Yeshiva University and lives in the Woodside section of Queens, stopped writing Rakoff about the case after he reprimanded her. In the complaint, Bensam said Bharara “may have instigated” her dispute with the marshals. Euro Zone as We Know It Has 2 Years Left: Jim O’Neill (CNBC) “Two years maximum is my perception of the time the euro zone has left to survive in its current form, though the reality is probably far less than that. Markets being markets we’ve unveiled a degree of speed with the Spanish and Italian bond yields and I can’t see us getting through the summer without some serious consequences,” said Jim O’Neill, Chairman at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Child Treated After Being Bit By Rabid Bat Woman Gave Go-Ahead To Touch (CBS) Even as the summer fun rolls on for JoJo Keefe, a freshly healed cut on the 10-year-old’s finger reminds her of a scary detour. “I was like oh my God it bit me!” She’s talking about a rabid bat that sunk its tiny teeth into her finger last Tuesday during a visit to the Spencer Town Beach on Lake Whittemore. The small bat was attracting quite a bit of attention on the shoreline just beyond the picnic area. The trouble really began when a woman picked it up and began asking the children gathered around her if they wanted to hold it. “Another little girl said ‘oh I want to hold it will it bite me?’ And the lady was like no it’s the friendliest thing ever,” she says...Her mother retrieved the sick animal which then tested positive for rabies. Soon after, JoJo was getting the first in a series of life saving antibiotic shots (you can’t wait with rabies).