Fed’s latest move needs a name.

QE, or not QE? That is the question bedeviling the monetary-policy peanut gallery after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced on Tuesday that the central bank had decided to increase its purchases of short-term Treasurys, but that the move shouldn’t be considered a form of quantitative easing.

“This is not QE. In no sense is this QE,” Powell said.

-- The Wall Street Journal

Money managers gain sway over muni market

A larger-than-ever share of municipal bonds is being managed by professionals, shaking up a market that has traditionally been the domain of mom-and-pop investors. (The Wall Street Journal | Oct 9)

Volcker rule overhaul gets final approval as Fed signs off

The Federal Reserve signed off on an overhauled Volcker Rule, making it the last of five agencies to approve changes that will dial back the regulation’s restrictions on Wall Street banks’ speculative investments. The rewrite, which takes full effect at the start of 2021, is meant to provide lenders a clearer picture of which trades are prohibited by Volcker. Four other financial agencies had already signed off on the effort and had waited weeks for the Fed to add its approval. Fed governor Lael Brainard voted against the changes, saying in a statement that the revised Volcker “weakens the core protections against speculative trading within the banking federal safety net.” (Bloomberg Markets | Oct 8)

Repo market is telling Washington that debt and deficits still matter

These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find many people in Washington who are all that worried about the US budget  deficit . Republicans seem more interested in tax cuts, Democrats have ambitious spending plans for everything from health care to infrastructure, and  Modern Monetary Theory , a manifesto for free-spending governments, is  all the rage  in progressive circles. But on Wall Street, bond dealers provided a small, but pointed reminder that, just maybe, debt and deficits do matter after all. (Bloomberg Economics | Oct 8)

Volatility index signals further chaos in US credit markets: DiMartino Booth

A former Dallas Federal Reserve Bank adviser has warned that a spike in bond market volatility and recent chaos in the money market could be indicative of a looming credit crisis. Wall Street’s most watched bond market volatility index spiked in turbulent trading last week, signalling further turbulence in the credit markets. (Investment Magazine | Oct 7)

A secretive committee of Wall Street insiders is the least of the New York Fed's concerns

Accusations of furtive elections, opaque decision-making, and privileged access haunt the most prominent outpost of the Federal Reserve. (Institutional Investor | Oct 2)

(Oct 9) — A Securities and Exchange Commission asset management advisory committee will be formally established on Nov. 1 with an initial two-year term.

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Fighting cybercriminals with deception: A new approach

Many organizations are incorporating deception technology into their cybersecurity efforts, allowing attackers to think they are succeeding in their efforts while the organization is, instead, quarantined and protected. This facilitates improved response times and allows security teams to gather detailed information on the attack attempts.

—  TechRepublic

Cybercriminals, nation-state hackers grow indistinguishable

Cybercriminals and nation-state hackers are copying each other by using similar methods, with increasing success, as they seek to befuddle investigators, states an Optiv Security report. Meanwhile, US government agencies have been warned by Check Point Software Technologies about a novel attack, created by a Chinese government-supported hacking group, that involves documents in formats similar to those of government documents.

—  ZDNet

Cyberinsurers finding ways to avoid payouts for breaches

Insurance companies are getting more careful about paying out cyberattack claims because of the huge increase in the number of claims being filed, warns John Selby, a member of the Optus-Macquarie Cybersecurity Hub. Businesses need to be savvier about whether their policies cover things such as third-party damage, self-caused errors, cyberextortion and impersonation of legitimate service providers.

—  CSO

Wiretapped calls show mobsters still quote ‘The Godfather’

Mobsters are still quoting “The Godfather” nearly 50 years after the Mafia masterpiece came out, according to  reputed Colombo capo Joseph Amato’s wiretapped phone calls.

—  New York Post

Bond-trading bots on verge of becoming masters of the Universe

They were the “golden crumbs,” those bits of money that fall off as bonds get traded around the world. Those crumbs were enough to make bond traders the Masters of the Universe in Tom Wolfe’s 1987 novel “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” But those days are long gone.

—  Bloomberg Future Finance

Why Is the NBA in Xinjiang?

The league is running a training center in the middle of one of the world’s worst humanitarian atrocities.

—  Slate